Dragon Ball Z
ABOUT
Dragon Ball Z (Japanese: ドラゴンボールZ, Hepburn
Doragon Bōru Zetto, commonly abbreviated as DBZ) is a Japanese anime television series produced by
Toei Animation. It is the sequel to Dragon Ball and adapts the latter 325 chapters of the original
519-chapter Dragon Ball manga series created
by Akira Toriyama which ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1988 to 1995. Dragon Ball Z aired in Japan on
Fuji TV from April 1989 to January 1996, before getting subtitled or dubbed in territories including
the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Asia, India and Latin America. It was broadcast in at
least 81 countries worldwide.[4] It is part of the Dragon Ball media franchise.
Saiyan Saga
Dragon Ball Z picks up five years after the end of the Dragon Ball anime, with Goku now a young
adult and father to his son, Gohan. A humanoid alien named Raditz arrives on Earth in a spacecraft
and tracks down Goku, revealing to him that he is his long-lost older brother and that they are
members of a near-extinct alien warrior race called the Saiyans (サイヤ人, Saiya-jin). The Saiyans had
sent Goku (originally named "Kakarot") to Earth as an infant to conquer the planet for them, but he
suffered a severe blow to the head shortly after his arrival and lost all memory of his mission, as
well as his bloodthirsty Saiyan nature.
Raditz along with two elites, Vegeta and Nappa are the only remaining Saiyan warriors, so Raditz
comes to enlist Goku's help in conquering frontier worlds. When Goku refuses to join them, Raditz
takes Goku and Krillin down with one strike, kidnaps Gohan and threatens to murder him if Goku
doesn't kill 100 humans within the next 24 hours. Goku decides to team up with his arch-enemy
Piccolo, who was also defeated by Raditz in an earlier encounter, in order to defeat him and save
his son. During the battle, Gohan's rage momentarily makes him stronger than Piccolo and Goku as he
attacks Raditz to protect his father. The battle ends with Goku restraining Raditz so that Piccolo
can hit them with a deadly move called Special Beam Cannon, mortally wounding them both. Before
Raditz succumbs to his injuries, he reveals to Piccolo that the other two Saiyans are much stronger
than him and will come for the Dragon Balls in one year's time.
Frieza Saga
Upon their arrival on Namek, Krillin, Gohan, and Bulma discover that Vegeta and his superior, the
galactic tyrant Frieza, are already there, each looking to use the Dragon Balls to obtain
immortality. Vegeta is stronger than before, as Saiyans become stronger when they recover from the
brink of death, so he seizes the opportunity to rebel against Frieza. A triangular game of
cat-and-mouse ensues, with Frieza, Vegeta and Gohan/Krillin alternately possessing one or more of
the Dragon Balls, with no one managing to possess all seven at any given time.
Vegeta manages to isolate Frieza's lieutenants one-by-one and kill them. When Frieza sees that
Vegeta is posing too big of a problem, he summons the Ginyu Force, a team of elite mercenaries led
by Captain Ginyu, who has the ability to switch bodies with his opponents. Vegeta reluctantly teams
up with Gohan and Krillin to fight them, knowing that they are too much for him to handle alone. The
Ginyu Force proves too powerful, but Goku finally arrives and defeats them single-handedly, saving
Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin. Vegeta believes Goku may have become the legendary warrior of the
Saiyans, the Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人, Sūpā Saiya-jin). As Goku heals from a brutal fight with Captain
Ginyu, Krillin, Dende and Gohan secretly use the Dragon Balls behind Vegeta's back to wish for
Piccolo's resurrection and teleport him to Namek. Vegeta finds them using the Dragon Balls without
him, but the Grand Elder dies and renders the Dragon Balls inert before he can wish for immortality.
Just as this happens, Frieza arrives and decides to kill the four of them for denying him his wish
for immortality.
Androids/Cell Saga
One year later, Frieza is revealed to have survived and arrives on Earth with his father, King Cold,
seeking revenge. However, a mysterious young man named Trunks appears, transforms into a Super
Saiyan and kills them both. Goku returns a few hours later, having spent the past year on the alien
planet Yardrat learning a new technique: Instant Transmission, which allows him to teleport to any
location he desires. Trunks reveals privately to Goku that he is the son of Vegeta and Bulma, and
has traveled from 17 years in the future to warn Goku that two Androids (人造人間, Jinzōningen, lit.
"Artificial Humans") created by Dr. Gero will appear in three years to seek revenge against Goku for
destroying the Red Ribbon Army when he was a child. Trunks says all of Goku's friends will fall to
them - while Goku himself will die from a heart virus six months prior to their arrival.
Majin Buu Saga
Seven years later, Goku is revived for one day to reunite with his loved ones and meet his youngest
son, Goten, at the Tenkaichi Budōkai (天下一武道会, "Strongest Under the Heavens Martial Arts
Tournament"). Soon after, Goku and his allies are drawn into a fight by the Supreme Kai against a
magical being named Majin Buu (魔人ブウ, ”Demon Person Buu”) summoned by the evil wizard Babidi. After
numerous battles that result in the deaths of many of Goku's allies as well as the destruction of
Earth, Goku (whose life is fully restored by the Elder Supreme Kai) kills Kid Buu (the original form
of Majin Buu) with a Spirit Bomb attack containing the energy of all the inhabitants of Earth, who
were resurrected along with the planet by the Namekian Dragon Balls. Goku makes a wish for Buu to be
reincarnated as a good person and ten years later, at another Tenkaichi Budōkai, he meets Buu's
human reincarnation, Uub. Leaving the match between them unfinished, Goku departs with Uub to train
him to become Earth's new defender.
