Dragon Ball Z is an anime produced by Toei Animation, and based off of the last twenty-six volumes of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga. This series has less emphasis on comedy and more emphasis on science fiction themes than the original Dragon Ball anime. Dragon Ball Z aired on Japanese television from April 26, 1989 to January 31, 1996. The Dragon Ball Z franchise includes thirteen movies, two television series, an OVA (Original Video Animation) that has not been released in the United States, video games, action figures, and soundtracks.

Dragon Ball Z continues the adventures of Son Goku and his companions, who defend the Earth and other planets from various supervillains. While the original Dragon Ball anime followed Goku from childhood into adulthood, Dragon Ball Z shows Goku’s adult life and the maturation of his son, Son Gohan. Piccolo and Vegeta are the main villains, and during the course of this series, the viewer sees their evolution from evil to good.

Dragon Ball Z was introduced to American audiences with FUNimation teaming up with Saban to produce an English dub of the series. Due to US broadcast standards, there was extensive editing done to the series; the amount of cuts that were made is the equivalent of cutting fourteen of the first sixty-seven episodes. This version features dialogue not found in the original script, which resulted in minor changes to the original story. The entire musical score was replaced, and many character names, terminology, and locations were renamed.

The English dub of Dragon Ball Z began airing on the WB network in September 1996. The show was canceled by the WB in May 1998 due to low ratings. In August 1998, Cartoon Network added Dragon Ball Z to their Toonami block. The series found a new life, and new heights in popularity, after being included in Toonami. By 1999, FUNimation had earned enough money to continue dubbing the series on their own, and dissolved their distribution agreement with Saban. FUNimation also eased up on their content restrictions a little bit.

In 2003, FUNimation began to re-dub the first fifty-three episodes, and ultimately restored them to the original sixty-seven. In April 2005, these new dubs were released on DVD under the name of the Ultimate Uncut Special Edition. That summer, Cartoon Network began airing these uncut episodes; this ultimately earned the series a rating of TV-PG.

I would have to agree with this rating. Ultimately, I think in order to determine whether or not your child can handle this anime, you need to know how squeamish your child may be about seeing blood. While there isn’t a lot of blood shown, there is still some that is seen. Outside of the blood, I really haven’t seen anything in Dragon Ball Z that I wouldn’t want my children to see.