Arabic dub

This article is about the real world.

Modern Spacetoon logo.

Venus Centre logo.

دراغون بول is the Arabic dub of the Dragon Ball anime airing in the Arab world. The dubbing is handled by Venus Centre, a Syrian-based dubbing company closely affiliated with Spacetoon, the most recognizable Arabic anime distributor to date.

Continuity errors in translation and Censorship

In recent years, the localization work seen in a handful of Venus Centre dubs from the past gained a divisive reputation within the Arabic-speaking anime community. Their track record of handling the Dragon Ball began with a rough start and continued with underwhelming commercial support from Spacetoon compared to their treatment and advertising for other high-profile IPs within their catalog such as Detective Conan and Beyblade, which initially rendered the finished product an outcry from the fanbase's high expectations compared to what the studio produced in its hay-day.

Pre-Venus Centre era (1976-1992)

Introduction to animation in the Arab-world

Japanese animation in the Arabic-speaking part of the Middle East dates as far back as 1976 with Nicolas Abu Samah/FILMLEY's dub of Nippon Animation's Arabian Nights: Sinbad's Adventures, the first Arabic dub of a TV-show and the first children's program to be televised in the regions. The dub was directed by the revered director Weam Al-Saidi who pioneered the artform with genre-defining Arabic dubs for staple Lebanese studios that the late pioneer outsourced the ADR work to such as the first Arabic dubbing studio UNIARTS (Al-Ittihad Al-Fanni) and Baalbeck Studios, well-regarded staples among anime fans include but not limited to Go Nagai and Toei Animation's Grendizer and Osamu Dezaki and Tokyo Movie Shinsha's Treasure Island that all went on to premier on Lebanese government's national television followed by syndication in each and every Arabic country's TV department as well.

The late Nicolas Abu Samah, responsible for kickstarting the first Arabic dubbed anime in 1976.

Some of Weam Al-Saidi's most revered Arabic dubs he directed. (Sinbad, Grendizer, Treasure Island, etc.)

The companies and dubbing studios that helped the late Nicolas Abu Samah in producing the Arabic dubs.

As anime was the dominant form of animated media to be readily available in the Arab World for as long as the inception of Arabian television, (Aside from Tom & Jerry and Walt Disney's Snow White, which both are sited to have great staying power in Japanese pop-culture anyway.) it naturally became the established frame of reference for what constitutes as the mainstream kind of animation, and by extension children's entertainment that the average Arab family watches with little concern over where it originated from and as a mundane part of life in the cultural osmosis of the Arabic market and pop-culture that ironically was what made anime's omnipresence in the Arab World invisible to the Anglosphere as for the most part, it wasn't recognized as Japanese or anything other than kid's cartoons in the regions. This rather wholesome and wealthy position the medium founds itself at is a complete whiplash to the perspective the Anglosphere perpetuated towards it around that point in the late 20th century, where Japanese Animation was notoriously characterized to be brazen and exotic in a pejorative sense that corporate figures envisioned it would halt a chance for it to garner any favorable appeal from Western audiences without the liberties that Star Blazzers, Battle of The Planets and notoriously Robotech and Manson International's botched release of Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind known as Warriors of The Wind would commit in favor of profitability first and foremost in withdrawal of integrity for the author's intentions for the source material.

Grendizer historian Osama Al-Khodairy next to giant mural of Grendizer in Kuwait by Lebanese activist graffiti artists 'Ashekman'. (January 2017.)

The mangaka Go Nagai at Kuwait's Japan embassy with Bou Saleh, founder of the world's first gaming & otaku store in Kuwait.

Sami Clark and Isao Sasaki, singers of Grendizer's Arabic and Japanese theme songs respectively, holding the Saudi-themed Jungle-Mighty-Mecha-series Grendizer figure. (Image: Saudi Anime Expo, 2019.)

Syrian Arabic republic's ministry of culture and GARDENIA CHOIR's opera event for cartoon opening theme songs from the golden age of Arabic children's television, which is heavily dominated by anime. (Damascus' Opera House, Umayyad Square. 2016-since.)

Contrary to popular belief shared among most recent English-speaking articles that were a result of overgeneralization and limited information on the history of Arabic dubbed anime in non-Arabic sources, (such false assumptions are that Arab countries ban anime and misinformation that attributes Venus Centre as the first and only Arabic studio to dub anime, which is the result of the studio's biography coincidentally consisting of the world's most easily recognizable anime titles such as Pokémon and Dragon Ball that remain to be the majority of Western culture's only knowledge of the medium with no alternative frame of reference to examine with anime's presence in the Arab world, which leads to such lacking and/or naive conclusions to spread more often than not.) these standard and practices however, weren't commonly adhered to in Arabic dubs. Despite being the forefront and inception of Arab children's entertainment, the practice of censoring graphic violence, blood, death, traumatic themes, tobacco references, witchcraft, cleavage, religious symbolism, and visual alcohol references, was hugely nonexistent for the staggering majority of anime broadcasted national television and in spite of how widely popular many of those titles were, especially the aforementioned Grendizer and Sinbad that were just as, if not what paved the way for such lenient regulations in the first place, not a single case of backlash towards it ever taking place. This is in part due to the Arabic foreign-imports industry, especially the Arabic dubbing industry being in its infancy with yet to be established guidelines for its first 20 years.

Scenes of cleavage, smoking, and scenes of characters drinking (the alcohol isn't explicitly hinted at) that still remained in broadcasts of Grendizer's popular Arabic dub to this day with Spacetoon as the only exception. (Source: Kuwait TV Al-Qurain airing and Syrian Satellite Channel from 2019-2020.)

Christian crosses were never edited out in any release of Grendizer's Arabic dub that wasn't by Spacetoon.

However, the first case of censorship made first-contact with Arabic dubs of animation was when the high-profiled critically renowned Lebanese actor Wahid Jalal was caught guilty of being involved in acting in the British live-action drama-documentary critical of the Saudi government Death of a Princess in April 9, 1980. This has led him to getting blacklisted from the industry and resort to continue operating in it through surnames or going completely uncredited in many then on-going productions to avoid repercussions up until a little over two year after further notice confirmed he was innocent from having any knowledge of the film's political message when partaking in its production. This was going on during the broadcast of Maya The Bee and Osamu Dezaki's Nobody's Boy: Remi that already contained his name for no further than the first 12 episodes, and the pre-production of 5 then-new Lebanese Arabic dubs of anime (Manga Sarutobi Sasuke, The Adventures of Pepero, the aforementioned Treasure Island, Astroganger, and Hello! Sandybell.) also had their credits effected due to the blacklist, this time not just by removing his name, but also using multiple surnames, giving other unrelated actors surnames, or not having credits altogether to avoid all possible suspicions. Even older works that finished their run-on TV like Sinbad had his name removed from the last 26 episodes he was credited for before reruns from during the blacklisting.

The Arabic dub of Hello! Sandybell marks as the first documented case of religious imagery and cleavage getting censored in Arabic imports of anime in 1983, with the scenes of the main character Sandybell in underwear believed to have been dubbed in full as not only were there multiple versions that either have more or less cuts that were also rushed abrupt, but a never before seen clip from the 2nd episode of the Japanese title card dubbed that surfaced in 2020 has led many to speculate if more cut content originally existed in the Arabic dub and never released. Before this, edited versions were never the mainline version but rather an optional second-hand version by whatever TV channel or home video for whatever standards it conformed to while the majority were content with the uncut form. Numerous uninfluential and isolated cases consist of examples such as Saudi Channel 1 making its own unique title card for its broadcast of Nobody's Boy: Remi 4th episode that completely differs from all other broadcasts of the episode everywhere else from "Son of Predestination" into "Home of orphans" due to the Arabic dub's translation of the episode's title having Christian undertones that Saudi TV guidelines didn't approve of back in the 80's, Qatari airings of Sinbad painting over nudity and banning the 20'th episode from broadcasting or bootleg re-releases of the anime on Betamax with ambiguous edits such as removing scenes of Sindbad praying similarly to Iran's Persian dub when no other Arabic iteration ever tampered with.

The first episode of Hello! Sandybell had 15 seconds completely cut from it, a scene of Sandybell in underwear laying on the grass. The earliest known case of anime having its content censored in Arabic dubs. (1983)

Recently discovered Saudi version of Osamu Dezaki's anime adaptation of Nobody's Boy: Remi, with a completely different title card over 80's Saudi TV guidelines. (Image: Saudi old programming and nostalgia-channel 'Thikrayat' airing, 2020.)

Despite all that, the standard & practices in Arabic dubs made by both the aforementioned Nicolas Abu Samah and even competing dubbing studios such as Jordan-based Al-Aradhi Al-Moqadasah Studios/Media Fusion with their dub of Space Battleship Yamato from 1979 (No relation to the unpopular Egypt-based redub from the 2000's.) and the modestly popular dubs Sharif Wahid bringed Weam Al-Siadi and Baalbeck Studios to simultaneously direct around 1987, which consists of no more than Tokimeki Tonight, Igano Kabamaru, Plawres Sanshiro and Chōdenji Robo Combattler V continued to get away with more than what the GCCJPPI ever could have.

A series of scenes with nudity from the Arabic dub of Tokimeki Tonight. (Images: Betamax, VHS and DVD releases, airings unknown.)

Juzo Naniwa, a main protagonist shown armed in a plane with a long gun in the Arabic dub of Combattler V. (Image: Dubai Zaman 2016 airing.)

Venus Centre in 1991-2001 (Pre-Poké-ban era)

Young Future

Young Future LTD. is the parent company of both Venus Centre and Spacetoon who oversaw the majority of Dragon Ball's Arabic imports throughout the years. They began as a publishing company located in Ohashi, Meguro-Ku, Tokyo-Japan translating imported comic books to be distributed in Arab Gulf states by Tihama Distribution. It began with their magazine of The Go-Bots in either 1982 or 1984, and following the publication of print material from the likes of Barbie, Popeye, Mighty Mouse, Tom & Jerry, Pink Panther, Woody Woodpecker and the Looney Tunes by agreement with Editoriale Cenisio and Western Publishing Co. in each of those title's magazines collectively, (For example, The Go-Bots magazine containing comic strips from Tom & Jerry that would get their own magazine afterwards.) the company began developing what came to be the multi-media juggernaut widely known as the localization of Captain Tsubasa, Captain Majid.

The earliest known piece of media that Young Future has ever released. (Circa 1982.)

Promotional material of Young Future's magazines & comics lineup.

All the known magazines that Young Future released pre-Venus Centre.

While it's unclear when exactly it came out, the 'Captain Majid' brand seems to have started out as one of Young Future's published magazines before Yoichi Takahashi's franchise were brought over in 1990 as the magazines had no relation to Captain Tsubasa for well 3 months of its publication prior to issue 4. Instead, the 'Captain Majid' name was originally created for Billy's Boots comic strip, published by the British IPC Comics, that was the basis of the magazine. Even during the name and magazine's restructuring into a Captain Tsubasa localization did it remain albeit, silently shelved and retitled as 'Majid' after yet another unrelated soccer property substitutes the name in its place. Soccer Sakikage was a short-lived manga published by Kodansha that ran for 3 volumes, the Arabic release is the only known release of the manga outside of Japan. But since Soccer Sakikage was a one-shot, it couldn't sustain the magazine on its back, thus it didn't take long for the actual Captain Tsubasa manga to get published on the magazine and become the finalized rendition the mass public recognize.

The first ever usage of the 'Captain Majid' name, used for Billy's Boots, no relation to Captain Tsubasa.

Beginning with issue 4, the 'Captain Majid' became indefinitely associated with Captain Tsubasa ever since.

The unrelated manga Soccer Sakigake was used to tie-in with the Captain Tsubasa Arabic dub. The only known release of this manga outside of Japan.

The actual Captain Tsubasa manga eventually getting licensed in Arabic in the mid-90's. Notice the usage of the original Japanese name in the branding.

Alamiya/World of Sounds & Vision Distributions: (1992-1994)

While Venus Centre was founded on May 1st, 1985, it wouldn't make its first production until 1992 with the Arabic dub of Nippon Animation and Mondo TV's The Jungle Book Shonen Mowgli that was initially distributed by Alamiya Media & Advertising and World of Sounds & Vision Distribution on both home-media and television. WSV previously published FILMALI's late 80's dub of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many of Jordan-based Al-Sharq Al-Adnaa Studio's dubs such as Lady Lady!!/Hello Lady Lynn, Miracle Giants Dome-kun, Ganbare! Kickers, and the first 55 episodes of Captain Tsubasa Young Future and Alamiya commissioned them to dub in 1990.

But with no more than just 2 productions in its biography at the time, (Second being Odin: Starlight Munity}}.) Alamiya was hugely impressed with the critical and commercial success of the Arabic Shonen Mowgli dub, especially when only 26 out of the 52 episodes were dubbed at first allegedly due to initial uncertainty in both the project and the newly operating studio, that not only did they and Young Future favored Venus Centre to continue dubbing the remaining 26 episodes of Mowgli, but as well as the remaining 73 episodes of Captain Tsubasa over Al-Sharq Al-Adnaa Studios who were well experienced with dubbing over 20 productions under its belt. Shortly after Shonen Mowgli finished airing all 52 episodes on Saudi Channel 1, all mentions of Alamiya were later removed in all future rereleases and broadcasts, as well as dropping the separation of the show into 2 seasons. The same goes for the movie Odin: Starlight Munity that WSV originally released in two parts, but interestingly neither of which were applied to Captain Tsubasa where those companies' names and the 'seasons' tag remained anyway.

For over 25 years, the original early iteration of Venus Centre's first Arabic dub wasn't seen until October 19, 2020, on Thikrayat channel.

Changes made in the wide-spread version of Venus Centre's first Arabic dub, from removing mentions of past-distributers to even down to the title cards.

The same changes to the credits were applied with Odin: Starlight Munity, Venus Centre's second Arabic dub.

All copyright information to the Arabic Captain Tsubasa dub has remained intact ever since.

Animation International MENA: (Phase one, 1993-1997)

One of the most crucial companies in the longevity of Young Future, Venus Centre, and Spacetoon's staying power are the Hong Kong-based Animation International that are behind the acquisition and distribution of all anime licensed, dubbed and aired by the three respectively. While partnerns since inception, it took until 1993 for their name brand to be amplified commercially right as the second wave of Venus dubs was on its way. (Tsurikichi Sanpei, Dash! Yonkuro, G.I Joe (1989), The Bots Master, Ikkyū-san, Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi, Tiger Mask II, Tekken Chinmi, handful of Nippon Animation productions and adaptations such as Coral Reef Legend, King Fang, Christopher Columbus, Trapp Family Story, Manxmouse, and The Story of Fifteen Boys and Tatsunoko Productions and Mondo TV's Robin Hood (1990).)

Venus Centre/Spacetoon in 2001-2006 (Post Poké-ban era)

The Pokémon fatwa smear-campaign reaching the headline page of an Egyptian newspaper on April 15, 2001.

On March 15, 2001 (coincidentally on Spacetoon's 1st anniversary) an anonymous user online claiming to be located in Saudi Arabia, Qatif City, posted a forum thread on the then big Arabic message-board site 'Montada' makes questionable claims of the Pokémon franchise being tied to Darwinism, Zionism and Satanism. The post contains the following fabricated evidence of the character's names having anti-Islamic meanings and Zionist undertones when translated in English:

1. Pokémon meaning 'I am a Jew'
2. Pikachu meaning 'Be a Jew'
3. Charmander meaning 'God is weak'
4. Magikarp (misspelled as 'Magmar') meaning 'God is stupid'
5. Growlithe meaning 'God is lazy'

The following months would see those questionable claims get spread around by either word-of-mouth or anonymous printings of those very misleading rumors that originated off of that forum, which spiraled into a perplexing social smear-campaign movement that succeeded in convincing a number of Arabic nations to outright ban and limit the presence of the Pokémon franchise such as in Egypt where Mufti 'Nasser Fareed Wasel' declared in April 06, 2001 the forbidding of remotely interacting with any of its content. These strange events began severely hindering any of Spacetoon's then-upcoming productions (including 'Kogo the Adventurer' and the original Dragon Ball series) mainly from around 2001 to 2002 where the campaign was highly prominent.

Censorship in Dragon Ball (2002)

The titular artifacts, the Dragon Balls, lost all connections to any dragons. Scenes of Shenron being summoned with the balls to grant wishes were removed, and it was explained that that the balls themselves had the power to bring characters back to life, and etc. All references towards evolutionary concepts have also been removed, thus it was explained that Goku's monkey-tail and the Saiyans were artificial machine-like. Instead of the Saiyans transforming into giant apes under the moonlight, the giant apes were regarded as separate entities who were merely summoned to the scene by the Saiyans, as any form of transformation or darwinist evolution conflicts with Muslim religion.

Sexual innuendos were consistently removed, whether it's close-ups of cleavage such as Bulma in her Bunny costume, or Master Roshi and Oolong's perverted antics in the series. While most scenes showing female characters in skirts or shorts were cut by a method in which they're replaced by loosely related shots or scenes of those said characters that don't necessarily contain any presence of said soft cleavage, it didn't prevent occasions of such censorship not taking place.

Scenes of Bulma in shorts were occasionally kept intact.

Examples of what could be shown of Bulma in her Bunny-costume.

The American flag edited out in Episode 37

In episode 37, Goku manages to find Ninja Murasaki hidden behind an American flag in a game of hide and seek. The scene showing the flag was skipped over in the Arabic version to a frozen shot of Murasaki hiding behind the side of the flag he intended to cover himself with in the original version, and Goku points out how he noticed Murasaki's feet were visible instead.

Censorship in Dragon Ball Z: Season 1 (2003)

Raditz was rewritten from Goku's evil brother to his nemesis friend (Despite the dub retaining the implication of it being the first time that they met canonically, yet the plot (such as Gohan's kidnapping) was rewritten to fit this change).

Dragon Ball

Arabic Dragon Ball logo

In summer of 2002, Spacetoon premiered the first instalment in the anime franchise. As usual with all of Spacetoon's productions, the dub was produced by Venus Centre. Goku's name has been changed to Gogo. Similarly, Krillin is called Hoshi, in this dub. However, the dub concluded with only 52 episodes, abruptly ending on a cliffhanger that resulted in numerous plot-holes. (The battle between Goku and General Blue, the fate of the Red Ribbon Army, how Goku met Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu, and how Goku married to Chi-Chi.)

The anime was broadcast and re-broadcast in Spacetoon during these years until 2008. The series also were later re-broadcast by other stations across the Arab world like Kuwait Television, Qatar Television, 2M in Morrocco, Télévision Algérienne in Algeria and Tunis 7 in Tunisia.

Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z ranking in 3rd place in Spacetoon Magazine's polls.

In September 2003, Spacetoon began airing Dragon Ball Z alongside Sunrise's Gundam Wing and Nippon Animation's 1999 anime adaptation of Shonen Jump's Hunter X Hunter . While the first 12 episodes kept the Arabic logo used for the original Dragon Ball, a different one replaced it in both the show and it's merchandise. Unlike the channel's previous attempts at importing the franchise for the Arab market, this installment proofed to be more popular than its predecessors, ranking at 3rd place in issue 24 of Spacetoon Magazine's monthly polls for the "Top Ten Toons'" (with Toei Animation's adaptation of Shonen Jump's Slam Dunk and Gundam Wing ranking at 2nd and 1st place respectively).

However, only the Saiyan Saga and later the Frieza Saga (with the excluding of Garlic Jr. Saga) were dubbed, initially concluding with 53 episodes similarly to the Korean dub and Saban's syndicated run of the FUNimation/Ocean English dub on American television. After fan-outcry over the dub's sudden cancellation, Spacetoon's now-defunct sister channel/now late-night programming-block Space Power that targeted an teenager demographic renewed the dub for a second season in February 2010 from where it last capped off back in 2003. It also briefly air on Spacetoon around the tail-end of Ramadan and the start of Eid of the same year. But unfortunately, the show abruptly ended yet again the following year, leaving out 187 of the 291 episodes undubbed. Unlike the majority of Venus's dubs that use the exact same footage for both intros and outros, the second season went footage Detekoi Tobikiri ZENKAI Power! for the ending credits, albeit with only the first half looped.

Spacetoon 2 also broadcast Arabic dub, but for unknown reason, this version had subtitles in English.

First Dragon Ball Z logo (Episode 1-12)

Second Dragon Ball Z logo (Episode 13-Onward)

Dragon Ball Z logo in Season 2 (Episodes 54-104) (2010-2011)

Alternate logo used in UAE Al-Wadi VHS tape

Arabic end-credits used "Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Power!" visuals in Episodes 54-104.

Dragon Ball GT

Dragon Ball GT never got dubbed or broadcasted in Arabic. This may be due to the anime series gaining low popularity in other countries (especially Japan). Despite that, there have been instances where promotional material made for the previous Dragon Ball shows used stock-art of GT anyway. The known examples of which are a promotional ad for UAE Al-Wadi's VHS releases of Spacetoon's dubbed anime showing a tape of Dragon Ball Z featuring Super 17 on the front-cover, and the main 3 protagonists (Goku, Trunks, and Pan.) on a page from Spacetoon Magazine's first issue from 2001 which shockingly contains stock-art of Sailor Moon on the top-left corner, a franchise that never saw an Arabic release of any kind to date.

Cover to the first issue of Spacetoon Magazine.

A page from the 1st Spacetoon Magazine issue containing art of Dragon Ball GT and Sailor Moon.

Promotional ad for Spacetoon VHS tapes with the Dragon Ball Z one using art of Dragon Ball GT featuring Super 17 and Spopovich on the cover taken from the issue 35 of the Spacetoon Magazine.

Dragon Ball Z Kai

Cell Saga footage used in official ad for Spacetoon Go.

On February 13, 2015, to celebrate Spacetoon's 15th anniversary, Toei Animation announced the launch of Dragon Ball Z Kai's Arabic dub premiering around April. Only the first 54 episodes were dubbed and kept getting reruns up until the premiere of Dragon Ball Super in 2020.

Prior to the announcement of the Dragon Ball Super Arabic dub, one commercial made for Spacetoon's SVOD platform, Spacetoon Go, contained a short clip from the Cell Saga, fans took notice of the clip and started speculating the potential continuation of Dragon Ball Z Kai's Arabic dub, which internally prompted Spacetoon to silently delete any trace of that commercial on their social media accounts.

Dragon Ball Super

Dragon Ball Super toyline by Spacetoon's merchandising department 'Toy Pro'.

On February 9, 2020, when the official Venus Centre Facebook page posted a teaser for the Arabic dub of Dragon Ball Super, the announcement received a mixed response from fans skeptical of how the show will be handled in general. It was set to premiere on March 22nd (around the week Spacetoon celebrated its 20th anniversary similarly to Kai's aforementioned premier around the 15th anniversary), then be available a day after on their SVOD app, Spacetoon Go, followed by the launch of a toy range in Middle East. However, the 1st episode ended up premiering on Spacetoon Go just two days prior to the intended TV premiere date. From March 25th to September, episodes began to frequently get delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with its TV timeslot replaced by a number of shows including, but not limited to Power Rangers: Dino Charge, Doraemon (2005) and Detective Conan.

But around early July, a number of Algerian TV stations began airing the dub starting with El Badil TV, Fans began speculating whether or not the channels had the rights to broadcast the anime as Spacetoon never stated it would air elsewhere on TV, and after efforts from the community to contact Spacetoon, they responded with having no prior knowledge nor approval of the ordeal and confirming the illegality of the Algerian channel's broadcasts which immediately backed off from airing the show all together in early August.

Photo of the unauthorized broadcasting of Dragon Ball Super on El Badil TV.

Screenshots of Spacetoon's response to fans addressing the Algerian broadcast.

Venus Centre's now deleted Twitter addressing the delay of Dragon Ball Super Arabic dub over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like many International dubs, it used Blu-Ray animation correction version instead of the original Japanese airings for the video. Eye-catches initially lacked any logo, which was fixed with later episodes. From then on they were dubbed until episode 46.

After a hiatus of 2 years, in 2022, the remaining episodes starting with the episode 47 began to be dubbed and aired weekly in Spacetoon and Spacetoon Go being the only Dragon Ball series to have a completed Arabic dub.

Movies

The first 3 Dragon Ball movies were dubbed in Arabic by Venus Centre in the year 2001, making them the first piece of media in the franchise to receive any official Arabic localization. (Aside Arabic-subtitled VHS releases of the FUNimation dub by IVC and broadcasts on Cartoon Network UK provided by Orbit's cable network) Not counting the home-releases, The branding made for the dubbed movies completely had no relation to the titular Arabic Dragon Ball name that came after, and sort of played as its prototype by the name of Kogo the Adventurer.

1. Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies (Arabic name: المغامر كوغو Al-Mughāmir Kogoh, "Kogo the Adventurer")
2. Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle (Arabic name: المغامر كوغو الجزء 2 Al-Mughāmir Kogoh Al-Juz' 2, "Kogo the Adventurer Part 2")
3. Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure (Arabic name: المغامر كوغو الجزء 3 Al-Mughāmir Kogoh Al-Juz' 3, "Kogo the Adventurer Part 3")

While some of Funimation's English dubs had Arabic-subtitled VHS releases by IVC in Gulf countries, none of the Dragon Ball Z movies were dubbed in Arabic.

Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies Arabic Logo

Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle Arabic Logo

Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure Arabic Logo

On 16 April 2009 Dragonball Evolution was released in Bahrain and Kuwait.

On January 14, 2019, Dragon Ball Super: Broly was released in Saudi Arabia, followed by Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria on February 24, 2019, where it grossed $174,527 in the United Arab Emirates.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was released in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and United Arab Emirates on August 18, 2022.

Music

The opening/ending theme used is a custom theme song written and composed by famous high-profile Arabic dubbed anime/cartoons song writer/director, singer and composer Tarek Al-Arabi Tourgane and performed by Assim Sukkar. Typical for 90's and 00's international dubs, visuals in the opening are a mix of the OP and some scenes from the anime series. The same theme song was kept in Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z Kai, and got a special revamp for Dragon Ball Super's ending theme until "Future" Trunks Saga.

Meanwhile, another theme song was used in the movies was composed, written and singed by Rasha Rizk which was also used as both the opening and ending with mixed scenes of "Makafushigi Adventure!" with scenes from the first movie.

For the first 24 episodes in Dragon Ball Super, the opening used was "Chōzetsu ☆ Dynamic!" but shortened to 25 seconds featuring the instrumental portions of the song, and visuals feature parts of the opening and a few scenes from the actual anime itself. However, for the ending, the song was a newly orchestrated version of "Dragon Ball" by Tarek Al-Arabi Tourgane. Then beginning with the 25th episode, an entirely original opening theme replaced the shortened Japanese theme. Later, starting with the episode 47, the theme song was a dubbed version of "Chōzetsu ☆ Dynamic!" written and performed by Rasha Rizk used until the final episode. Unlike the other openings, this one used all the footage from the original opening.

Voice Actors

Dragon Ball

• Goku - Samar Kokash
• Krillin - Hanan Choucair
• Bulma – Amnah Omar
• Yamcha - Rafat Bazoo
• Puar - Amal Omran
• Master Roshi – Ayman Al-Salek
• Oolong - Amal Saad Al-Din
• Chi-Chi - Amnah Omar
• Emperor Pilaf - Muhammad Hadaki
• Mai - Amal Omran
• Shu - Mammoun Al-Farkh
• Launch - Fatima Saad
• Ox-King - Muhammad Hadaki
• Turtle - Mammoun Al-Farkh
• Narrator - Mammoun Al-Rifai

Dragon Ball Z

• Goku - Ziad Al-Rifai (episodes 1–53), Rafat Bazoo (episodes 54–104)
• Gohan – Samar Kokash
• Frieza - Muhammad Khair Abu Hassoun
• Piccolo - Rafat Bazoo (episodes 1–3), Mohamed Khair Abu Hassoun (episodes 4–104)
• Raditz – Adel Abu Hassoun
• Krillin - Hanan Shokair (episodes 1–53), Amirah Hudhaifi (episodes 54–104)
• Vegeta – Muhammad Khair Abou Hassoun (episodes 5 and 11), Ayman Al-Salek (episodes 21-104)
• Bulma – Amnah Omar
• Master Roshi – Ayman Al-Salek
• Yamcha - Mamoun Al-Farkh (episodes 1-12), Rafaat Bazoo (episodes 13-104)
• Tien Shinhan - Mansour Al-Salati (episodes 1-12,54-104), Ziad Al-Rifai (episodes 13-53)
• Chiaotzu - Amnah Omar
• King Kai - Mansour Al-Salati (episodes 18-20,54-104), Rafat Bazoo (episodes 21-53)
• Chi-Chi - Taghrid Gargour
• Captain Ginyu – Adel Abu Hassoun
• Narrator - Mammoun Al-Rifai

Dragon Ball Z Kai

• Goku - Rafat Bazoo
• Gohan – Leena Dawa
• Krillin – Amirah Hudhaifi (episodes 1–40), Hanan Shokair (episodes 41–54)
• Raditz – Adel Abu Hassoun
• Master Roshi – Ayman Al-Salek
• Vegeta – Ayman Al-Salek
• Frieza - Muhammad Khair Abu Hassoun
• Piccolo - Muhammad Khair Abu Hassoun
• Bulma – Raghda Al-Khatib
• Yamcha - Muhammad Mustafa
• Ten Shinhan - Adel Abu Hassoun
• Chiaotzu - Leena Dawa
• Chi-Chi - Amirah Hudhaifi (first voice), Rasha Beidas (second voice)
• Shenron - Adel Abu Hassoun
• Narrator - Mammoun Al-Rifai

Dragon Ball Super

• Goku – Rafat Bazoo
• Vegeta - Basil Al-Rifai
• Piccolo - Muhammad Khair Abu Hassoun
• Gohan - Tariq Al-Maski (episodes 1-46), Adel Abu Hassoun (episodes 47-131)
• Goten – Samar Kokash
• Mr. Satan – Muhammad Mustafa
• Beerus – Muhammad Khawandi
• Whis - Ahmad Hijazi (episodes 1-46), Fadi Hamwi (episodes 47-131)
• Krillin - Rasha Beidas
• Bulma – Raghda Al-Khateb
• Chi-Chi - Nada Mahfouz (first voice), Amirah Hudhaifi (second voice), Eitab Abu Saada (third voice)
• Master Roshi – Marwan Farhat (episodes 1-46), Samer Al-Jundi (episodes 47-131)
• Tien Shinhan - Wiam Ismail
• Yamcha - Muhammad Mustafa
• Trunks - Muhja Al-Sheik (kid), Taleb Al-Rifai (future)
• Android 18 - Muhja Al-Sheik
• Android 17 - Wiam Dreibati
• Videl - Eitab Abu Saada
• Pilaf - Tariq Al-Maski
• Mai - Raghda Al-Khateb (kid), Sayrin Al-Warar (future)
• Shu - Basil Al-Rifai
• Jaco - Muhammad Etonb (episodes 1-46), Raed Aswad (episodes 47-131)
• Majin Buu - Muhammad Khair Abu Hassoun
• Frieza - Muhammad Khair Abu Hassoun (episodes 16-46), Hamada Selim (episodes 47-131)
• Narrator - Mammoun Al-Rifai

Staff

Dragon Ball

• Script: Sanna Bikrati
• Proofreading: Ramadan Ayoub
• Sound and Mixing: Nadim Sulaymān
• Montage: Samir Abu Hamad
• Theme Song Lyrics and Composition: Tarek Al-Arabi Tourgane
• Theme Song Performance: Assim Sukkar, Tarek Al-Arabi Tourgane
• Theme Song Recording: Samir Qusaybati
• Computer: Basil Taja
• Production Tracking: Radwan Hijazi
• Administrative Coordination: Imad Al-Shaik Khaled
• Financial Tracking: Muhammad Hassan Muhanna, Abdelkader Naban
• Assistant Director: Mayyadah Awdah
• Production and distribution: Animation International (Maher Al-Hajj Weiss)
• General Supervision: Manna Hijazi
• Dubbing Studio: Venus Centre
• Artistic Supervision: Mammoun Al-Rifai

Dragon Ball Z (Saiyan Saga/Season 1)

• Script: Mahmoud Baytar
• Revision: Dr. Shafiq Baytar, Imad Akir
• Proofreading: Ramadan Ayoub
• Translation: Jala Mardini
• Sound Engineer: Aḥmad Farraj
• Mixing: Muhammad assan Bakr
• Montage: Samir Abu Hamad
• Theme Song Lyrics and Composition: Tarek Al-Arabi Tourgane
• Theme Song Performance: Assim Sukkar, Tarek Al-Arabi Tourgane
• Theme Song Recording: Samir Qusaybati
• Computer: Basil Taja, Raqi Sulayman
• Production Tracking: Radwan Hijazi
• Financial Tracking: Muḥammad Hassan Muhanna, Abdelkader Naban
• Assistant Director: Mayyadah Awdah
• Production and Distribution: Animation International (Maher Al-Hajj Weiss)
• Dubbing Studio: Venus Centre
• Artistic Supervision: Mammoun Al-Rifai

Dragon Ball Z (Frieza Saga/Season 2)

• Script: Mahmood Baytar
• Revision: Dr. Shafīq Baytar, Imad Akir
• Proofreading: Ramadan Ayoub
• Translation: Nawwar Al-Humsi
• Mixing: Manar Al-Samkari
• Montage: Samir Abu Hamad
• Credits: Muḥammad Al-Qazzah
• Theme Song Lyrics and Composition: Tarek Al-Arabi Tourgane
• Theme Song Performance: Assim Sukkar, Tarek Al-Arabi Tourgane
• Theme Song Recording: Samir Qusaybati
• Production Management: Radwan Hijazi
• Financial Tracking: Muhammad Hassan Muhanna, Abdelkader Nabhān
• Assisatnt Director: Khaldoun Kharout
• Production and Distribution: Animation International (Maher Al-Hajj Weiss)
• Dubbing Studio: Venus Centre
• Artistic Supervision: Mammoun Al-Rifai

External links

• Arabic Dragon Ball opening by Spacetoon
• Arabic Dragon Ball Z Kai opening by Spacetoon
• Official Arabic Dragon Ball Super Teaser Trailer by Spacetoon
• Arabic Dragon Ball Super opening by Spacetoon