Dragon Ball Kai, known internationally as Dragon Ball Z Kai, was born in 2009 to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Dragon Ball Z. It is not a remake drawn from scratch: Toei Animation restored and re-edited the original episodes in high definition, cutting almost all of the filler to follow the manga closely. The result is 159 episodes broadcast in Japan, against the 291 of Z. "Kai" (改) means "revised": the same story, told at the pace of Akira Toriyama's comic.
Dragon Ball Kai episodes
Kai has no episode pages of its own: it is Dragon Ball Z restored and re-edited, the same story with nearly all the filler removed. To follow it episode by episode, use the Z episodes: the sagas marked “Z only” are not in Kai.
The story in brief
The story is that of Z, from Raditz's arrival to the defeat of Majin Buu. Goku learns he is a Saiyan, dies and comes back to face Vegeta and Nappa; his friends fly to Namek, where the battle with Frieza gives birth to the Super Saiyan. Then come Trunks from the future, the androids and Cell, all the way to the Cell Games won by Gohan. The second part covers the final arc: the World Martial Arts Tournament, Babidi, Majin Buu, fusion and the last Spirit Bomb.
What changes is how it is told. The first episode opens with six minutes from the TV special about Bardock, Goku's father, plus a recap of the original series. Anime-only episodes disappear, like the robot in the desert or the driving school, and so do the Garlic Jr. and Other World Tournament arcs. Fights and long pre-battle speeches are trimmed to match the scenes and length of the manga, and much of the dialogue was rewritten to sit closer to Toriyama's text.
A few examples give the idea. In the first episode, Gohan getting lost in the woods, which took up almost a whole episode in Z, shrinks to two or three minutes. In episode 88 the scenes of Trunks's ruined future, the ones that inspired the special The History of Trunks, are cut and the story jumps straight to Cell against Goku. In the Majin Buu arc the cuts are lighter and several anime-only scenes survive.
Sagas and episode counts
| Saga | Episodes | No. (Japan) |
|---|---|---|
| Saiyan | 1–18 | 18 |
| Frieza | 19–54 | 36 |
| Androids and Cell | 55–82 | 28 |
| Cell Games | 83–98 | 16 |
| World Tournament | 99–115 | 17 (24 international) |
| Majin Buu | 116–133 | 18 |
| Evil Buu | 134–159 | 26 (27 international) |
The first part (April 5, 2009 – March 27, 2011) ends with the Cell Games. The Majin Buu arc followed after a three-year break, from April 6, 2014 to June 28, 2015, and is known outside Japan as Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters. Sixty-nine episodes were produced, but the Japanese broadcast cut them down to 61 to free the time slot for Dragon Ball Super, which premiered on July 5, 2015.
Main characters
Kai introduces no new characters: the cast is that of Z, from Gohan to Vegeta, from Piccolo to Trunks, through Goten, Videl and Mr. Satan. What changes is their Japanese voice track. The original cast went back into the booth to re-record every line, with Masako Nozawa once again playing Goku, Gohan and Bardock. A few roles went to new actors because the original performers had died or retired: Tien, for example, is now voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa.
Production
According to Kazuhiko Torishima, Kai was born when Bandai asked Toriyama for a brand-new series to boost merchandise sales. Toriyama declined to write a new story, so the decision was made to recut Z into a version closer to the manga; the author, Torishima said, was happy with the idea.
Direction is by Yasuhiro Nowatari for the first 98 episodes and by Naohiro Terazaki for the rest, with character designs by Minoru Maeda and later Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru. The original footage was cleaned up and damaged frames were redrawn; the opening and ending animations and eyecatches are new and change as the story progresses.
The first part's score is by Kenji Yamamoto. The opening is "Dragon Soul" by Takayoshi Tanimoto, who also sings the first ending, "Yeah! Break! Care! Break!" (episodes 1 to 54); from episode 55 the ending is "Kokoro no Hane" by Team Dragon from AKB48. In March 2011 Toei announced that Yamamoto's music infringed on third-party rights, and episodes 96 to 98 reverted to Shunsuke Kikuchi's classic score. The Final Chapters has music by Norihito Sumitomo and opens with "Kuu-Zen-Zetsu-Go", again by Tanimoto.
In Japan, Kai aired on Sunday mornings at 9:00, right before One Piece. The first episode drew an 11.3 rating and the show stayed among the week's top ten anime for most of its run. For that morning slot some scenes were toned down: most of the blood was removed and the rude gestures of Vegeta and Mr. Satan became clenched fists.
Kai around the world
Funimation licensed Kai for an English release in 2010. The dub aired on Nicktoons from May 24, 2010 to January 1, 2012, setting the channel's record for the highest-rated premiere in total viewers; an even more heavily edited version ran on The CW's Toonzai block, where Mr. Popo was notoriously tinted blue. The Final Chapters aired on Adult Swim's Toonami from January 7, 2017 to June 23, 2018, alongside the English dub of Super. Elsewhere the reception varied: Spain got a brand-new Castilian dub on Comedy Central in 2025, while in Italy no dubbed TV edition appears to exist.
Legacy and why you should watch it
Kai answers a question every fan has asked: what would Z look like without the padding? The answer is convincing. The Frieza saga, which ran for almost seventy episodes in Z, lasts 36 here, and the tighter pace brings back the tension of the manga. The limits of a recut remain, though: the widescreen broadcast version crops part of the original frame, and some transitions show their seams.
For our team, Kai is the best entry point for anyone discovering the saga today, while for those who grew up with Z it is a fascinating experiment: the same scenes, with a different energy.
Where to start
- New viewers: Kai is the quickest way to experience the story of Z without missing anything essential. Ideally, watch at least part of Dragon Ball first.
- Already know Z: try the Frieza saga, the one that benefits most from the new edit.
- The comic: Kai closely follows volumes 17 to 42, covered in our Dragon Ball manga guide.
- After Kai: move on to Dragon Ball Super, or follow our watch order to slot in the movies.
Did you know? Episode 98 of Kai never aired during the original Japanese run: after the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake the series ended with episode 97, and the finale was released only on DVD, in August 2011.