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DragonBall Kai


Series Information
Original Run: April 5, 2009 – March 27, 2011 (2 years; spent 7 weeks on break)
Corresponding: 
DragonBall Kai Episodes 001 – 097 (97 episodes, 1 unaired episode)
DragonBall Chapters 195 – 418 (224 chapters; approx. 2.3 chapters per episode)
Filler Content: To Be Determined
Rating Shares: To Be Determined
Main Staff:
Series Director – Nowatari Yasuhiro
Series Organization – Sado Kazutaka & Caramel Mama
Planning – Matsuzaki Youko & Morishita Kouzou
Music – Yamamoto Kenji (original) / Kikuchi Shunsuke (replacement)


In early 2009, Toei Animation officially announced (in Weekly Shounen Jump issue #11) that a "refreshed" version of the DragonBall Z TV series, re-titled DragonBall Kai (改 meaning "renewed" or "revised"), was being produced for a high-definition presentation in honor of its 20th anniversary. The first episode of Kai aired on April 5, 2009 (Toriyama's birthday) as part of Fuji TV's new hour-long Sunday morning anime block, "Dream 9". The block began with Kai at 9:00AM (hence the "9" in the block's name), and was followed by Toei Animation's other mega-hit anime series, One Piece, at 9:30AM.


The series featured re-recorded dialogue, new music, updated sound effects, and new digital effects, but the majority of the footage was recycled from DragonBall Z. Toei's announcement stressed that the series would have a higher "sense of excitement", indicating that the majority, if not all, of the "filler" would be cut. This indeed turned out to be the case, as a pre-title card shown before the first 13 episodes stated that Kai was the "Toriyama Akira Original Cut Version". This meant the series would follow the manga much more closely than DragonBall Z had originally, and would consequently shorten the series from its original episode count.

Soon after the initial airing, it was announced that DragonBall Kai would have both standard-definition DVD and high-definition Blu-ray releases. This was the first time that any DragonBall property would be released in a high-definition format, truly bringing DragonBall into the digital age. Although the series was being broadcast in widescreen, due to Japan's new broadcasting standards in an effort to transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, it had been digitally remastered in its original fullscreen aspect ratio. All of the high-definition Blu-ray releases featured this original fullscreen format, as opposed to the DVD releases which featured the widescreen format used for the series broadcast.

Although the series had been consistently pulling in high rating shares, it was ultimately canceled in March 2011 following the conclusion of the Cell arc due to financial reasons. Shortly before the series ended, Toei Animation acknowledged issues of musical infringement in the series' background music and promptly removed Yamamoto Kenji's score, replacing it with Kikuchi Shunsuke's original score from DragonBall Z. The last two episodes (96 & 97) of the series were broadcast exclusively with Shunsuke's score, as well as all subsequent re-airings of the series. Due to the horrific earthquake that struck Japan on 11 March 2011, the series broadcast was delayed one week and consequently the final episode of the series was not aired as originally scheduled. So far there are no future plans from Toei Animation or Fuji TV to continue the series on into the Majin Buu arc.

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Story Arcs
Select a story arc to view an episode-by-episode break-down of that specific arc, with additional information pertaining to the original broadcast run, filler content, and rating shares. We've also included detailed pages for each individual episode, which includes screen shots from the original episodes, episode summaries, next episode information, complete opening and ending credits, and much more. If you would rather view a quick list of every DragonBall Kai episode, please click here.

Saiyan arc
April 5, 2009 (#001) – July 26, 2009 (#016)
Goku and Piccolo face-off against Goku's older brother Raditz, but they soon find they must face their fiercest opponents yet... the Saiyans! They are a warrior race with a Prince hell bent on using the dragonballs to gain eternal life. With Goku dead, the Z Warriors must train harder than ever to prepare for the Saiyans arrival on Earth.

Namek arc
August 2, 2009 (#017) – November 1, 2009 (#030)
Following the battle with the Saiyans on Earth, our heroes head to Piccolo's home planet, Namek, in search of new dragonballs to revive their fallen commrades. Unfortunately, the most dreaded villain in the universe, Freeza, is also searching for the dragonballs. Our heroes join forces with Vegeta, and take Freeza's men head on.

Freeza arc
November 8, 2009 (#031) – April 25, 2010 (#054)
Having defeated the Ginyu Special-Squad, our heroes must recompose themselves, but it's too late... Freeza has arrived! The true battle on Namek unfolds, but our heroes are no match for the all-powerful Freeza. Goku's anger swells as he watches his friends die right before his eyes, and he attains a new Saiyan form.

Artificial Human arc
May 2, 2010 (#055) – August 8, 2010 (#067)
Trunks returns from the future to warn the Z Warriors that the Red Ribbon Army has returned, in the form of artificial humans?! Dr. Gero has created the greatest killing machines known to man and their target is Son Goku!! Everyone trains for their arrival, but it is all in vain, for a much more terrifying enemy has appeared...

Cell arc
August 15, 2010 (#068) – March 27, 2011 (#097)
The artificial human Cell has appeared, and he will stop at nothing to achieve his perfect form. After absorbing No. 17 & 18, Cell holds a martial arts tournament to celebrate his new perfection. While preparing for the Cell Games, our heroes attain new levels of Super Saiyan, but in the end Goku must say goodbye to his friends.


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Information/Images by: Hujio