U.S.-based FUNimation Entertainment and Toei Animation Co., Ltd. have teamed up to present Japan’s evergreen animated series Dragon Ball Z at Hulu.com, North America’s online leader for streaming TV shows and film in North America.

Yesterday (Jan. 15), FUNimation began streaming the series’ first 15 episodes via Hulu, the official Dragon Ball Z website (www.dragonballz.com) and www.funimation.com.

FUNimation will offer its professionally-produced, uncut, English-tracked and English-subtitled adaptations of the massively successful series beginning with the first episode as well as other chapters of the Dragon Ball franchise: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Z Kai. Kai, a revised version of Z that commemorates the original series’ 20th anniversary, airs daily in the U.S. on Nicktoons and on Saturday mornings within the CW4Kids Toonzai block. It currently has 26 English dubbed episodes for streaming available online.

“We are pleased to offer the first legal streaming of this seminal anime series,” said Gen Fukunaga, president and CEO of FUNimation Entertainment. “Dragon Ball Z and [anime series] One Piece are the crown jewels of our digital content strategy and we are proud of the diverse selection of series that entertains established fans and new ones as well.”   

Originally airing on Fuji TV in Japan from 1989 to 1996 spanning 291 episodes, the explosive sequel to Dragon Ball follows the adventures of a grown-up Goku and his son Gohan as they team up with their friends to battle evil forces throughout the universe to protect their beloved planet Earth. The series first aired in the U.S. in 1996, and has remained on the air in multiple countries ever since.

Based on the legendary Akira Toriyama’s original manga, Dragon Ball debuted in the Japanese children’s comic magazine Weekly Shonen Jump in 1984. This monstrous hit—one of the most influential in Japanese pop culture history—has gone on to surpass 42 volumes and has consistently remained a best-seller, moving more than 120 million copies worldwide. In North America, the Dragon Ball Z manga appears in the monthly Shonen Jump magazine sold by VIZ Media, LLC, which also sells the individual volumes.

The franchise is also the top-selling anime series of all time in home video sales and is one of the most successful video game franchises ever. FUNimation Entertainment will release the next home entertainment volume of the franchise, “Dragon Box, Vol. 5” on DVD Feb. 8.

Watch Dragon Ball Z online at www.hulu.com/dragon-ball-z and Dragon Ball Z Kai at www.4kids.tv/show/dragon-ball-z-kai. Visit FUNimation’s homepage at www.funimation.com.

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