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Dragon Ball Z and Kai comparison
Dragon Ball Kai: Saiyan Saga
Dragon Ball Kai: Cell Saga
Last pose in Dragon Ball Kai
And this is still only a *partial* cast shot...

The Dragon Ball Z series, created by Akira Toriyama, is one of the most famous and exciting animes in the world. The series is a sequel to Dragon Ball, and begins to add more science fiction elements to its fantasy roots. Like Dragon Ball, DBZ was also a manga produced almost at the same time. While Dragon Ball had much of its basis in the ancient stories of the Monkey King (known as Hanuman in India, Sun-Wukong in China and Son-Goku in Japan), Dragon Ball Z adds to that a secret origin for its main hero Goku, lifted partially from the basic story origin of Superman. Goku's amazing strength, skill and endurance, not to mention the tail he sported as a child, are explained by way of his being a member of the Saiyan (or Saiyajin) race, late of the planet Vegeta before it was destroyed by its sometime employer, the cosmic tyrant Frieza. This aspect of his existence dominates the series in many respects. The show consists of nine seasons each with different sagas (eg. Season 3- Namek Saga). Most of the series has various battles and fights with powerful beings and creatures. On some occasions, in order to keep the manga ahead of the anime, the anime would undergo 'filler' arcs, with adventures not counted as full canon by many. The series begins five years after the end of the original Dragon Ball, which culminated in Goku's defeat of Piccolo Junior, the son/reincarnation of the evil Demon King Piccolo. Goku's choice at that time to let his opponent live would have huge reprecussions ever after, starting in the very first season of DBZ. As shown at the end of the prior series, Goku married his childhood friend, sparring partner and sweetheart Chi-Chi, and the new series shows that they have a young son, named Gohan after Goku's Grandpa and original sensei. When Goku takes Gohan to Roshi's island home for a reunion with his friends, a spaceship lands in a distant field. The saiyan emerges from his spacepod looking for someone, and his eyewear-sensors (called scouters) locate Piccolo Junior (Hereafter called simply Piccolo), who battles near to this newcomer's level but not near enough for his own ego and comfort.

The alien visitor seeks and finds Goku on Roschi's island, and after overwhelming the warriors present with his power, & identifying Goku as Kakarot, reveals that he is Goku's older brother, Raditz. He then tells Goku that they belong to a race of warriors known as Saiyans, who are employed as mercenaries, & asks Goku to assist him & 2 other saiyans who survived their homeworld's destruction conquer a planet. Master Roshi confirms to Goku that Grandpa Gohan found him as an infant inside a spaceship, and that he tended to be rather violent until he hit his head, turning him into a happy little boy. When Goku refuses to join them on their mission, Raditz kidnaps Gohan, & as things seem at their worst, a self-interested Piccolo arrives. He and Goku form an alliance to defeat Raditz. After grabbing Raditz by his tail, Goku lets go of it, hearing his brother beg for mercy. This is merely a trick, with Raditz beating up Goku, which angers Gohan to the point that he busts out of the spacepod & attacks the saiyan. Goku tells Piccolo to fire his Special Beam Cannon, after getting Raditz in a full-nelson, even though it would kill them both. While he is dying, Raditz reveals that his saiyan comrades heard everything on their scouters & that they would arrive in 1 year, after Piccolo revealed that Goku could be wished back using the dragon balls, to which he laughs as they are both stronger than he was.

After regenerating his arm, Piccolo trains Gohan to fight the Saiyans. Meanwhile in Other World, Goku takes Snake Way to train with King Kai.


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Oz Bezarius
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