Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールＺ aka 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 26, 1989 to January 31, 1996, before getting dubbed in territories including the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Central and Southeast Asia, and Latin America. It was broadcast in at least 81 countries worldwide, making it the most widely distributed non-Disney animated program. Dragon Ball Z was the #1 program on all of television with tweens 9-14, boys 9-14 and men 12-24, with the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday telecasts of Dragon Ball Z ranked as the top three programs in all of television, broadcast or cable, for delivery of boys 9-14 and sales of DBZ related merchandise has topped five billion US Dollars worldwide.
Dragon Ball GT (ドラゴンボールGT aka Doragon Bōru Jī Tī) is a the third Japanese anime series based on Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga. Produced by Toei Animation, the series premiered in Japan on Fuji TV on February 7, 1996, spanning 64 episodes until its end on November 19, 1997. Unlike the previous two anime in the Dragon Ball franchise, Dragon Ball GT does not adapt the manga by Toriyama, but is a sequel show to the Dragon Ball Z anime with an original story using the same characters and universe. Notably, the original Dragon Ball hero Goku is transformed back into a child version of himself for much of the series.
This original, lead-animator production drawing features a tight close-up of the most important hero of the entire Dragon Ball franchise, Son Goku –pictured here in his Kid Goku form, which is indelibly connected (and unique to) the Dragon Ball GT season. This is a truly iconic artwork from arguably the most important episodic anime of alltime.
GOON NOIR #2 by Eric Powell
