For more information on the Pioneer/FUNimation licensing agreement, please refer to the “ Newbie Guide“. FUNimation’s sub-licensing agreement with Pioneer expired on 31 August 2003, resulting in a complete return to FUNimation’s control. The Japanese episodes listed with these discs in this guide indicate which original Japanese episodes these dubbed episodes correspond to based on their visual content due to edits and episode splicing. These releases are edited, English-dubbed ONLY (with the Ocean Studios cast, as opposed to FUNimation’s in-house cast, which did not yet exist), and were distributed by Pioneer Home Entertainment (later renamed to Geneon). The episodes released on those discs are as-is from their original syndication run on American television beginning in 1996 (although in the original run episode 026 was considered part of season one, it is included on the season two box set). “ The Saiyan Conflict” and “ The Namek Saga” are the first and second season, respectively, of Dragon Ball Z for the North American syndication television market as produced by FUNimation.
The page is broken down chronologically by release, and further by release date (with the exception of the individual discs, which were released out of proper story order).
So far the series has gone through four distinct releases (including one canceled one) with two different home-format distributors and varying audio contents, such as musical scores and voice casts.
Of all products from the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball Z TV series has one of the most convoluted and confusing releases in North America.