Ask John: Will Dragonball Z Seasons 1 & 2 Ever Be Released Uncut?

Question:
Do you think it’s realistic for fans of the Japanese version of Dragonball Z to hope for seasons 1 and 2 to be released on a subtitled DVD format?

Answer:
While anything is always possible, my suspicion would be that an uncut release of American Dragonball Z TV seasons 1 & 2 is quite unlikely. I have several reasons for drawing this conclusion. The foremost reason is a matter of practicality. When Dragonball Z premiered in the US, no one knew how big of a success it would become, and at that time restrictions on what could be broadcast as “children’s animation” were a bit more strict than what they are now. Furthermore, because Dragonball is such a relatively slow moving story, by marketing necessity, the early American seasons of Dragonball were very heavily edited. The more graphic violence and controversial subject matter was edited out or digitally edited, and multiple Japanese episodes were either condensed or left out of the American version. In effect, the equivalent of 14 Japanese Dragonball Z TV episodes is missing from the first 2 US TV seasons. To release an uncut version of the early part of the show, Funimation would not be able to simply undue the edits made to the US episodes. They would have to completely translate the entire first 80-90 episodes from scratch. I’m sure you can image what an undertaking that would be.

Further complicating matters is the complexity of copyright ownership and licensing. While Funimation has always translated the Dragonball animation, they allowed Pioneer to handle the home video distribution of the first 2 American TV seasons. To see an uncut re-release of these two seasons, either Pioneer would likely have to give up manufacturing and distributing the existing, edited first two seasons, or Funimation would have to give up the right to translate these series and allow Pioneer to translate the episodes. Even if a compromise could be achieved, or even if one of the two companies would willingly give up control over part of the Dragonball franchise in order to have an uncut version created, the financial burden of such a task probably outweighs the benefit. The uncut Dragonball Z TV DVDs have been a popular item for Funimation, but they’re not “million sellers,” and uncut re-releases of the first two TV seasons would likely also only be marketable to the relatively small clan of Dragonball die-hards. Considering that the early episodes would essentially have to be treated just like an entirely new series, it’s simply more business minded to license and translate an entirely new series than it is to re-translate a series that’s already been released to the American market once before.