Dragon Ball Z's Long Battle To Become a Hit in The USA

Between the hype for the arrival of Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero and Dragon Ball Daima and the outpouring of love and adoration for series creator Akira Toriyama following his passing, there’s no denying that Dragon Ball is a global phenomenon, but it wasn’t always a sure thing in the United States. Despite already being a champ in Japan, Goku’s off-screen journey to the west was a long one, so let’s take a look back at how exactly Akira Toriyama’s martial arts epic got its start (or rather, starts) and reached an English-speaking audience more than a decade after Goku and company had become household names in Japan. From the ill-fated Harmony Gold USA “lost” dub of Dragon Ball, to Funimation’s failed attempt to get Goku’s early adventures to catch on and subsequent success with DBZ once it landed on Toonami. But still, the average Dragon Ball Z viewer probably had some questions, especially if they strolled through their local toy aisle. Still, DBZ rules, and it became a hit! (Obviously.)

[@MacklinGaming]

ah yes the Fall of 1998, the time to be alive as a kid. DBZ on Cartoon Network, Ocarina of Time released. Great video Max thanks

[@IGN]

You're welcome, thank you for watching! -Max

[@Rude_Boi]

Vegeta had a gun because of his signature move, Galick Gun. lol

[@IGN]

I just spit out my coffee. -Max

[@shateeqsmith]

You mean “Garlic Gun”😏

[@nabintamrakar1]

Nice one! 😂

[@asifkarim75]

The greatest anime 😮😮

[@Lavin2285]

@@Rude_Boi it wouldn’t surprise me if there was truth in this

[@Mr.Coffee576]

If y’all give Sparking Zero a 7……😡

[@federicomanueldavila9853]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣who cares???!!!!. People will buy it anyway

[@Mr.Coffee576]

@@federicomanueldavila9853True. 😂

[@andreaskarlsen3071]

7/10 is a pretty good score, or has gamers twisted that to be bad now?

[@Rude_Boi]

​@@andreaskarlsen3071 People have been demonizing a 7/10 score for YEARS now. Where have you been ? Lol

[@IGN]

...It's because we were trying to give it a Z out of 10 and spelled Z wrong. (But seriously I have nothing to do with that review, please don't get mad at me for whatever we give it.) -Max

[@MrWolfchamp-xi3cu]

That crazy that the whole Mexican Government organized public screenings of the final episodes of DBS Man if only the government here in the US had that kind of appreciation for Nerdom.

[@jetla22]

That might really been the Cartel idea tbh

[@ling8956]

@@MrWolfchamp-xi3cu that occured against the will of Toei,,and there were consequences. Specifically on what Dragon Ball content is licensed in Mexico. Its a totally different culture. But its very difficult to get away with that in most countries

[@MrWolfchamp-xi3cu]

@@ling8956 what consequences?

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

Vegeta with a gun: "Out of ki, but not out of options."

[@RÅNÇIÐ]

That's his Galick Gun.

[@andrezparker4284]

Kilt me 😂😂😂😂

[@teezyroyalty100]

@@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache 🤣🤣🤣

[@RyudanX]

You can tell who hasn't watched the video by how many people commented that it only failed in the US, when Max specifically says that this is about the multiple failures in the US within the first minute.

[@IGN]

I can't tell you enough how deeply refreshing it is to see this reasonable a comment on here. Thank you for actually watching

[@CYB3R2K]

They changed the title

[@cvanims]

Whew. Got me teary-eyed. Been on this crazy Z train since the debut of the Ocean Dub. :')

[@Attivian]

I'm crying at the end of this video...yes, even you Kakarot...

[@jterrorify95]

Vegeta with a gun predicted Fortnite

[@sosakobe1538]

This made me realize that early on Dragon Ball Z didn’t make any sense we watched it cause it looked cool lol. Can you imagine if Naruto started at Shippuden

[@Zeldafan-zy1pb]

@@sosakobe1538 we liked the action of DBZ. The Shippuden comparison is bad. Dragon Ball and DBZ are entirely different types of shows. Dragon Ball got low ratings internationally, while DBZ generally ranked up 20+ million views. As such mostly just DBZ replayed. Naruto Shippuden is just more Naruto with slightly worse pacing

[@IGN]

Exactly! Then again, Star Wars started with Episode IV and we got The Lord of The Rings movies before The Hobbit. If something's cool enough, people will catch on. -Max

[@genorem]

@@Zeldafan-zy1pb they're the same show. That's like saying Shippuden is different from Naruto because the tone shift. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, Naruto and Naruto Shippuden continued a story that never ended with the title changes being exclusively anime.

[@malbosc1087]

@@Zeldafan-zy1pb dragon ball didn't at all got bad ratings it was a massive success worldwide not just in japan the success didn't started with z the world is not usa

[@Zeldafan-zy1pb]

USA has the highest sales of DBZ merch outside Japan. Its why Toei gives high priority in marketing to USA audiences. Also, the 10-20 million views of DBZ on USA TV exceed Japan's max

[@wastelandwanderer2693]

I've seen a lot of anime and none have ever came close to taking the top spot where DB is. It is the GOAT imo.

[@ENGRtube]

A very unexpected amazing video from IGN.

[@IGN]

♥

[@TalFx]

Such passion from you Max. Dragon ball is love, happy you are there on IGN, keep it up :)

[@almiro-so7tu]

Goku is the face of anime

[@IGN]

Then who's the butt of anime? -Max

[@MantashaMonster]

@@almiro-so7tu not anymore

[@qbnking04]

@@MantashaMonster who else is it??

[@rodneybillingsley219]

FACTS

[@rodneybillingsley219]

@@MantashaMonsterif we put 50 non anime fans in a room an showed them a picture of goku and asked them to”what is this characters name” how many people out of the 50 do you think would give the correct answer

[@Pekupekaya]

Dragon Ball is and will be one of the greatest anime of all time!

[@dub88acc]

Toonami was 🔥 they should definitely bring it back

[@change023]

It’s still around or at least a version of it

[@dub88acc]

@change023 mind blown 🤯

[@eroc7077]

It is in rn as we speak dbz kai comes out Friday and Saturday

[@IriaChannel]

I watched the DBZ that aired in 1996 with the Ocean dub, but in NYC we had china town where bootleg VHS tapes began circling around schools. So even though the dub hit a wall when Goku arrived at Namek, a lot of us New York DBZ fans just began watching the Japanese version. But, due to kids trading tapes we all watched it in an even MORE scrambled way than the average American. I went from Goku arriving on Namek to watching SSJ3 Gotenks, Bio-Broly and SSJ4 Goku VS Baby. We were comfortable with the continuity because it was epic and the amount of questions it stirred up gave a lot of room for rumors and imagination. By the time DBZ went to Toonami, a lot of us had already watched most of DBZ, GT and all the movies too. Japanese was my favorite and I loved the Ocean dub voices but by the time Toonami came around the iconic funimation voices were too strange/weird for me (hate them to this day).. but I still tried to record as much as possible on my VCR. Best thing about Toonami's DBZ was those sick intro edits

[@LiLTailormade]

0:12 THIS PIC THOOOO!!! 😂😂😂 this lil boy completely captured the cocky essence of Vegeta in one shot!

[@John-Doe-Lorem-Ipsum]

One piece and naruto owes its success in west thanks to dragon ball expansion in the west

[@joshsweeney5305]

Great video Max! This hit some nostalgia buttons for me. Definitely still have those weird 2000’s action figures too.

[@darrianwiggins9133]

Great piece guys. Thanks for this @IGN

[@shehbaazsingh9532]

What a beautiful video ign

[@tinlunlau1]

I learned how to read Chinese on my own because of my early teen obsession with Dragon Ball. English translated manga wasn't as widespread in Canada back in those days and the only way for me to tune in is thru VHS recordings of Cantonese dubbed episodes and the manga translated into Chinese. It influenced me so much that I can read Chinese and that says alot considering I'm a Canadian-born Chinese. I eventually landed a translating job for Jackie Chan and worked on the fully subtitled Hong Kong DVD release of "The Myth" and "Rob-B-Hood". That actually comes into full circle with the whole Jackie Chan/Toriyama connection.

[@gavinj1511]

Videos like this is why I’m still subbed to IGN

[@nitish5636]

Thanks IGN, this was a great video. Can you believe, my friends and I ( all mid 30s now ) went through the exact same thing in India during the 90s and early 2000s. We could only watch until Goku fights burter & Jiece, we also got confused with merchandise ( especially all the future trunks and grown up Gohan stuff ) We also managed to get the remaining episodes from guys who were in college then ( high level weebs who had the episodes until buu saga finished ) We all went through the same trajectory hunting lore. Man those were the days. I’ve been enjoying reading super now, after not touching manga since 2015 and that along with this video is very comforting for me today.

[@greendro6410]

You mean how Dragon Ball Z almost failed in America

[@Ashwork-e6b]

The west is America he mentioned this

[@Wahiro]

you mean in the US

[@yep8673]

Among my friends there were always discussions on what would happen during the next episode and then we would go on the internet and look at clips of DBZ fights on KZbin and look at forums which usually argued about power levels and Goku vs Vegeta or Gogeta vs Vegito. That was peak childhood tbh.

[@ARPelayre]

In 1995, my family was in and out of the hospital a lot because of my ailing grandfather. Funny enough, that's how I was able to catch those first few episodes of original Dragonball by Funimation. No one knew what I was talking about when bringing it up in school. Though I was able to get my friend interested in checking it out and we both became fans of those few episodes. We managed to collect a couple of the VHS tapes but that was it. Eventually it either went off the air or we kind of lost interest. Fast forward to when DBZ airs for the first time and my friend calls me up like "Hey.. remember that show with that kid Goku? It's back, but he's an adult now??" We were then hooked on Dragonball once again, scouring the internet for anything about it and buying cards and toys from Japanese hobby shops. It was an absolutely wild time trying to piece everything together, but god did we enjoy every second of it.

[@lockhartlucis]

Ngl some of this was super fun to watch 🤝

[@jonathanmelendez7489]

This is the exact reason why the States needs more Taquerias

[@shadowfall5278]

It’s weird to think of an alternate world where Dragon Ball is popular everywhere except the English speaking countries. It almost became a Dorameon, Captain Tsubasa, and Saint Seiya situation.

[@dominickelly74]

Here in minnesota In the early 90's dragon ball z would come on at like 530 or 6am and it was the ocean dub and it was always the sayian saga lol

[@TecmoBowlPlayer]

thank you, journey to the west and toriyama.

[@TYfariguy]

12:45 “Gohans in trouble” we were all In my friends living room after school so confused seeing that commercial 😂

[@SSJ3Goku90]

It's so insane that Janemba and Hildegarn were in the last 2 DBZ movies for YEARS yet they were still included in this strange batch of figures.

[@taylorhession1905]

Max is really out here replying to all the comments trying to separate himself from the rest of the IGN staff 😂

[@Meccdos]

The Bruce Faulconer music in the dubs is always the best to me!

[@raskeen27]

The humor in Dragonball is the best,,,like goku telling bulma she missing her balls

[@jfeutz2011]

Glad to see that IGN still uses their resident Dragon Ball fan to cover this stuff. Please more stuff like this IGN!

[@kharashimjoseph1037]

why did vegeta had a gun? because he is vegeta duh.

[@Gion-x3t]

@@kharashimjoseph1037 Galic Gun taken too literally

[@stacks215]

6am to 7am on WB starting 96 in Philadelphia

[@chrisd7993]

What!!! Dragon Ball z was and still is a HUGE success in the US

[@rasputinafreak]

You’d think so until you try to talk to ANYONE about the show 😢😅

[@NARUTOUZUMAKI-hi8zb]

@@rasputinafreak u can talk to them it’s more like too keep the conversation going that’s hard 😅

[@DhutchOven]

This was awesome. Vegeta with a gun is now my sole purpose in life.

[@RuffLife784]

🇻🇨 All in de Caribbean we Watching DBZ !

[@DanDringle]

Hirudegarn: Tf is Hildigarn

[@_SYDGAMING_]

4:42 it wasn't the final episodes it was episode 110-112 Goku vs Jiren first fight

[@IGN]

Okay, but they also screened the final episodes like that, the Jiren footage was the best I could find. -Max

[@marquesdunn4934]

DRAGONBALL NEVER CAME CLOSE TO FAILING

[@IGN]

IF THE TITLE OF THIS VIDEO WAS ALL I HAD TO SAY IN THE VIDEO THE VIDEO WOULD NOT BE FIFTEEN MINUTES LONG Please, PLEASE, just actually watch the video instead of yelling at a headline that was extensively workshopped to get the point across while also making you curious what the video had to say. -Max

[@Truebaked]

I first was introduced to dragonball z when my family were traveling leather merchants at biker rallies. 6 kids a great dane a chihuahua and my parents all in one rv. My oldest brother would buy the vhs as soon as it was dubbed and we would all crowd around a 12 inch tv to watch.

[@gespenst1329]

Glad that you went over the proper history of licensing. Should also be noted though that Funimation was a new company in 1994 that only got the license after being initially rejected, because its founder, Gen Fukunaga, had an uncle at Toei. In other words…

[@IGN]

Also worth noting that Bob Brennan, the guy in the article, was Gen's brother-in-law. -Max

[@gespenst1329]

@@IGN True, Cindy Brennan-Fukunaga was his wife. Lots of nepo round these parts…

[@shecklesmack9563]

Imagine if Dragon Ball had a proper, established licensee back then. Probably a lot of the head-scratching, bizarre localization choices that still infect the western meta today could have been avoided.

[@ragnaazure6231]

I thought IGN didn't want to talk about Journey To The West!?

[@jadenalvarado4912]

No it was never a failure it was very Lucrative in Japan. Its just there was Worry the West wouldn't accept it. It was huge in the west so much so that Japan started buying the single Dvds back in the day because there was no DragonBall home release at that time in Japan

[@VideojugadorIrritado]

Dragon Ball was already big in america, in latin america and Brasil was a bomb sucess. The only country with most problems was in the U.S. than other country. This video show mostly those problems in that country only, change the title honestly to "how DBZ almost failed in U.S.A" instead.

[@Wahiro]

imaginate hablar español y decir america y latin america

[@Rodriguez-ib8oi]

@@VideojugadorIrritado The video creator expects most views to be American

[@stephenchambers7972]

maybe whosoever was creating those action figures heard that vegeta had a move called galick gun and thought that it was a actual gun he was using and not the standard energy based attacks.😂

[@IGN]

Even weirder, the figure of Trunks (kid, not future) came with a Panzer Faust -- a WW2-era rocket launcher that DOES appear in early Dragon Ball, wielded by Yamcha was a desert bandit, but the Trunks figure couldn't hold it because his arms were posed with his hands on his hips. From what I can tell those guns were original sculpts for the Irwin Toy line, and they were based on weapons that appear in Dragon Ball, but included in totally nonsensical ways. -Max

[@stephenchambers7972]

@@IGN facts

[@shecklesmack9563]

@@IGNmy theory is that they had an excess of guns versus their matching original figures from a completely different line and had to get rid of them so they just stuck them in the Dragon Ball Z ones.

[@andydossantosloureiro3735]

great watch

[@roberthuff4763]

Dragon ball is so under utilized and needs to be run by another owner. They take waaayyyy longer then any other anime to produce and also in almost any other categories aside from hot topic shirts

[@talonskye5577]

I first encountered Z & hated it. I had to watch the OG series before I could appreciate Z. To this day, I still believe OG DB is the best the series has ever been. Z is an undeniable classic & now I love it. However, without the first part of the series, it has no foundation. GT is an underappreciated gem; it might be my favorite part of the series.

[@Omegaslashbuster1]

If your Sunday Morning Cartoon line up was Street Sharks, Dragonball Z & Richie Rich then your a legend.

[@00yaseen]

Nostalgia in overdrive watching this

[@levilogstrom8534]

It’s obviously Vegeta’s “Gallick Gun!”

[@frankjerome3329]

I’ve never seen someone explain the craziness of the early toys and always wondering who they were

[@Johnnykamlon]

Toriyama's formula for success is simple. "FIGHTING IS FUN" And Toei liked that and they milked the manga series even more. And Bandai Namco liked that and said hey this is a great start of another line of video games and toys.

[@nathanrodriguez4972]

Dragon ball forever 🐉

[@kishengounden1891]

In South Africa they showed Dragon Ball Z on SABC2 during the 2000s and it's still good to watch the anime.

[@Rickyexplores]

Toonami Midnight Run is what saved it for me Uncut and Raw

[@TheOutpost1]

00:53 well in my case I happen to turn the channel on to toonami one afternoon after school and saw this blonde man fighting this gray alien girl. And was hooked immediately. I had to wait to when until they stopped at nameks destruction and back to the beginning of a before I filled in all the blanks…that was 30+ years ago. Been watching all the way through super ever since and I STILL to this day haven’t seen the original dragon ball.

[@SonicTheBlueBlur15]

Dbz is peak anime

[@amunra7390]

Dragon Ball Z is the godfather of anime

[@levig3576]

@@amunra7390 *shounen*

[@Jonas-ej7id]

*shounen anime

[@mohabalserafe3795]

For the last craptemillion it's astro boy who is the godfather of anime not dragon Ball that's for the shounen genre

[@Berssange55]

Lil bro don't know Osamu Tezuka

[@Zeldafan-zy1pb]

Astro Boy isnt a godfather. He is a boy.

[@KnockOut101inc]

Super was special to me, because it was the first time I watched the series un-dubbed..

[@RAAA_505]

Just pre orderd it lastnight!!

[@jhonnycultura4455]

Dragón ball in mexico took over since dragon ball but it really took over with the z saga.... They didn't edited out blood. The voices are so cool

[@mohdimansaifullizan6193]

Marvel & Star Wars in Us🇺🇸 vs Pokemon & Dragon Ball in Japan🇯🇵

[@user-bw4lb3py4t]

Dragon ball Daima will also be in theaters. I think November 10th

[@asifkarim75]

The greatest anime gonna break the internet 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

[@MrYakada]

All I know as soon as it got to a good part it starts over. 😂

[@twetch373]

Z airing 7am Saturdays on local Fox affiliate in mid/late 90s… Huge fan for a decade or so, while Funimation tried to figure it out. Peter Kelamis was best Goku dub, IMO.

[@emanuel5109]

Dragon ball is definitely the anime that impacted the most in Latin America

[@gil_gunderson]

Max, MAX. This is some good stuff

[@wuichowrx1352]

In Mexico is not just an anime is a religion

[@TheJohnnMarstonn]

lmaao that cease and desist is wild

[@NFLDude56]

Scoville's internet rabbit hole, just saiyan!

[@ComicPhreak]

Toonami help made DBZ more popular in the States.

[@Vic4vendetta]

5:54 I was one of those kids 😂😂😂 on channel 11

[@JodaroKujo]

Thank you Toriyama

[@byrdy-da-mighty5635]

Shooting people with beams coming out of their hands does kinda sound like they're using guns 😆

[@xen3588]

no way whiskers the wonder cat what even is dragon ball bro 💀

[@JustinMBailey]

DBZ didn’t almost fail we almost failed!!!

[@CanriScrub1]

The difference in style between the first half of the series and Z make it nothing like starting in the middle of a book. Ones a comedy and the other isn’t

[@gabrielurbina6044]

The greatest show of all time!!!!!

[@JohnHopper-o3p]

Seen it on YTV in 97, it was the ocean dub, it is my favorite version of them. Before funamation took the license

[@Twomp209]

the reason vegeta had a gun is because it was a going to be a marvel legends situation. collect all the figures and assemble the farmer.

[@mitchenigma1698]

Hilldigarn? High-Roo-deh-garn! Hirudegarn

[@mikeuk66]

Lmao no it didn't, stop using clickbait titles to generate clicks, DB and DBZ were a big success throughout their entire runtime, there was no indication of any failure whatsoever.

[@Blballerboy]

@@mikeuk66 continues to ignore the 2 DB American dub failures and censorship issues…

[@rickbrees3297]

Geez calm down lol, the title is sensationalized to help show appreciation for its success via production history, every show has had challenges. Wouldn’t that make it even better, knowing it’s been fire-proven?

[@JasenMinus]

@@Blballerboy failing in America doesn't mean failing. It's not the only place that matters.

[@lockhartlucis]

😂 what was the former topic

[@secoTheSonicFan]

​@@Blballerboy10 million views is not a failure. Thats literally a higher view count than homeland

[@gummasonik]

Aquí en México vemos a Goku casi como una figura nacional

[@thedadlife247]

dbz is a massive hit in america

[@Speedyoart97hm]

Tbh dragon super made dragon uninteresting with op characters and gods

[@devinco1]

Max Scoville talking about this is pretty on-brand.

[@SenzuGreens]

Le’mil meeteh or however it’s actually spelled in French goes kinda hard

[@TevyaSmolka]

for me it was watching toonami growing up

[@JreyKent]

I use to have that ss3 Goku figure with the halo lol

[@SkyTightGaming]

Watching this video made me tear up