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Akira Toriyama with his pet cat, Koge (1987)

The European Portuguese dub of the Dragon Ball anime started airing in Portugal in 1995.

Dragon Ball / Dragon Ball Z / Dragon Ball GT[]

Dragon Ball was broadcast in 1995-1996 by SIC and in the later years on SIC Gold, SIC Radical and SIC K. The channel received French dub of the anime from AB Groupe. Dragon Ball Z was broadcast from December 1996 by SIC and in later years on SIC Gold, SIC Radical and SIC K and once again it was a French version. Dragon Ball GT was released from July 1998 to 1999 on VHS tapes by Prisvideo and was broadcast from March 1999 on SIC, SIC Gold (2002-2004), SIC Radical (May 2005-October 2016), and later also on SIC K. This was Japanese version, but it was once again bought from AB Groupe. Series that were later broadcasted on SIC Gold and SIC Radical, where continued to be successful, but SIC K broadcast was aired with little to no success. The series was dubbed by NOVAGA studios, with voice actors such as António Semedo, Cristina Cavalinhos, João Loy, Henrique Feist, Ricardo Spinola among others.

The European Portuguese version, based on the French dub, "inherited" most of French dubbisms and incoherencies, such as Space Warriors (Guerreiros do Espaço), Piccolo's name (translated as Coraçãozinho de Satã, or just Satã) and the normal usage of Songoku, Songohan or Songoten. The opening theme songs were a recomposed versions of the Ariane Carletti's theme songs from the French dub and song from DB is called Dragon Ball de Puro Cristal which repeats the wrong French name of Dragon Balls as Crystal Balls. During Dragon Ball Z airing, after many complaints from parents saying that the show was too violent for TV (even though the European Portuguese dub, which was based off the French dub, was already very censored), SIC and NOVAGA came up with the idea to make the dub funnier and lighter, so the show wouldn't get canceled (and it was already very popular then). Around the Saiyan Saga, the dub started to insert lots of jokes and cultural references that only Portuguese people would understand, such as references to Portuguese pop culture. These moments are thoroughly compiled on Youtube and affectionately called "pérolas" (pearls). Also, many characters (especially in the Namek Saga) were given bizarre distortion effects to their voices to make them sound more alien, due to heavy casting limitations. Some characters, including Dodoria and Captain Ginyu, sang opera or made humorous girl-screams when they were supposed to be shouting. Changes in the dubbing cast were at times pointed out as well, breaking the fourth wall. For instance, after Vegeta's voice actor was recast, he says "If he (Piccolo) doesn't come out I'm breaking the door! And I'm so mad that my voice has changed again!"

This gives the impression that the European Portuguese dub was in fact a parody dub, but that wasn't the real intention. And although the European Portuguese dub was made this way, it proved to have quite an impact on almost everyone at the time, who still remember it fondly to this day, even though they are aware that the dub was heavily changed, most fans often play along or quote some of the lines. Regardless of this change though, the plot remained consistent at most times and told the exact same story as in the original dub.

Dragon Ball Z Kai[]

Dragon Ball Z Kai was aired on SIC Radical around 2012 with the original Japanese version and European Portuguese subtitles. There wasn't a European Portuguese dub for Dragon Ball Z Kai. Oddly enough, until the Android arc, the subtitles appeared to actually be a European Portuguese translation of FUNimation's uncensored English dub rather than of the original Japanese version itself, even though it was indeed the original Japanese version that was heard and broadcast on Portuguese TV. At some point in the Android saga, SIC Radical hired a new translator, and the subtitles were far more accurate from there on out.

Unfortunately, it is less known about the in European Portuguese broadcast. It was cancelled before it had a complete run, so it is not known if The Final Chapters will be aired or not. 

Dragon Ball Super[]

Dragon Ball Super has been airing on SIC since September 24, 2016, and later on SIC K, SIC Radical and Biggs. Unlike Dragon Ball Z, it was based off the original Japanese dub, but still maintained the majority of the previous Portuguese dubbisms, such as Space Warriors (Guerreiros do Espaço - Saiyans) and Piccolo's name in Portugal, Coraçãozinho de Satã. The dub maintained most of the original actors, except António Semedo (Narrator, Yamcha, King Kai and many, many others), who died in 2005 and Fernanda Figueiredo (Krillin, Chi-Chi, Videl, etc.), who also didn't participate in the European Portuguese dub of Dragon Ball GT. Those had to be replaced by newer actors, such as Romeu Vala and Rui de Sá.

The dub was put on hold on episode 104 due to licensing issues, according to SIC. This issue was also occurred on the Hebrew dub. After that, Henrique Feist, Ricardo Spinola and João Loy left the dub due to legal conflicts with SIC (the broadcaster) and the dubbing studio, Audio In. However, João Loy still participated in the Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which was available in Portugal movie theaters back in 2019. For the remaining episodes of Dragon Ball Super, the channel Biggs has acquired the broadcasting rights and dubbed the rest of the anime with replacing actors for Feist, Spínola and Loy's roles. Only Cristina Cavalinhos (Bulma, 18 and others) and the newer voice actors from Super remained.

The DBS anime was also available on Crunchyroll from 2017.

Movies[]

Prisvideo-Edições Videográficas, Lda bought the rights to distribute films and DBZ specials on VHS tapes in 1997. They have aired in SIC in 1999 and 2005. Although the tapes are Japanese, the text was purchased from AB Groupe and is translated from the French version, also the intro music has been replaced with Portuguese TV series intros (which are based on French ones).

On August 1, 1997, movies 12 and 13 were introduced in cinemas. They have aired in TVI and SIC in 2000s.

Movies 10 and 11 were aired by TVI on March 7, 2000, and later by SIC in 2005.

SIC aired GT movie and special.

On March 14, 2019, Dragon Ball Super: Broly was released in the Portuguese cinemas.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was released on August 18, 2022.

Known Voice Actors[]

  • Mr. Popo - Antonio Semedo (DBDBZ and DBGT), Quimbé (DBS)

Trivia[]

  • Most of the series was dubbed by a small handful of people of around 6 people.
  • The episodes ended with the narrator saying "Não percam o próximo episódio, porque nós também não!" ("Don't miss the next episode, because we won't either!"), which has become a mythical phrase among Portuguese fans.
    • Despite António Semedo's death (the original narrator's dubber) in 2005, the phrase continued in Dragon Ball Super.
  • João Loy, the voice actor for Vegeta (and some other characters) was asked to do his usual voice when dubbing him, since the producers thought the character would only appear for a few episodes. Little did they know that Vegeta would be the deuteragonist of the series.
  • Both João Loy and Henrique Feist, the latter of which dubbed Goku since the beginning of his adult phase, have left the cast halfway through Dragon Ball Super anime series, meaning that the latest Broly movie had a different cast for Goku, but oddly enough, not for Vegeta, who had João Loy again. This would be the last time he'd be dubbing Vegeta, and some consider this to be his best performance in the series.
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