List of censorship in the Dragon Ball series

"UNDER CONSTRUCTION" ‎This article is currently under construction and is incomplete as of this moment. The terms and contents in it may change once the accurate data is obtained. Please feel free to help us build it.

This is a list of various edits, significant dialogue changes and scenes that have been removed in early releases of the Dragon Ball series. Most of them are often for covering up violence or sexual references. It should be noted that most of these edits were done by Funimation, although they were being demanded by outside companies Funimation were working with early on (such as Saban Entertainment and BLT Productions).

Dragon Ball

Emperor Pilaf Saga

The Secret of the Dragon Balls

The digital painted thong was added in the Blue Water dub to avoid showing Goku's junk.

• In the BLT dub, Goku is wearing underwear in the scene where he skinny dips to catch a Giant Fish. Also the part where he pees in the water, just before he starts fishing with his tail, was removed. In the Blue Water dub of this scene, Goku is wearing a thong.

Original (Left) Edit (Right)

• The part where Goku lifts Bulma's skirt up to see if she has a tail is still present in the BLT dub but her panties are oddly repainted pink to match her skirt. The part was absent from Toonami's broadcast of the Funimation dub.
• The part where Bulma shoots Goku with a gun was completely removed in the BLT dub and Toonami's Broadcast of the FUNimation dub.
• The scene where Bulma lifts up her skirt and offers to let Goku touch her butt if he gives her the Dragon Ball was completely removed in the BLT dub and the Toonami broadcast of the FUNimation dub.

The Emperor's Quest

Goku's private area being covered by a stool

• When Goku is naked standing in front of Bulma in the beginning of Goku's bath scene there is a stool digitally added to cover his private in the BLT dub. During his bath scene, the lower part of the screen was cropped to make it so his crotch was not visible.
• The dialogue in Bulma's bubble bath scene was completely changed in all of the English dubs. In the Japanese version, Goku is talking to her about her breasts, but in the English versions, he is saying that he wants to scrub her back.
• The scene of Pilaf passing out due to the gas he used against the Pilaf Gang is cut from the Toonami broadcast.
• In the BLT dub and Toonami broadcast, the scene where Goku takes off Bulma's panties and discovers that girls don't have male private parts was completely removed.

The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi

• In the BLT dub, the blood in the fight between Goku and the Bear Thief was removed.
• The scene of Bulma lifting her dress up for Master Roshi was removed from the BLT dub. Instead, Roshi just gives her the ball.
• When the episode aired on Toonami, Roshi asks to see Bulma's belly button instead of her underwear. The scene of her exposing herself was removed, but the later shot of her lifting her dress back up to get the ball was curiously left in.
• In the BLT dub and Toonami broadcast, the scene where Bulma loads her machine gun and shoots at Goku for taking off her underwear was completely removed.

Oolong the Terrible

• Goku touching Pocawatha's crotch was removed from the BLT and Blue Water dubs but him touching Grandma Paozu's is still present in the Blue Water dub, but the dialogue is changed to make it seem like Goku is dusting off the old lady's apron.

Yamcha the Desert Bandit

• Goku touching Oolong's crotch to check to see if he is male or female was cut from the BLT and Blue Water dub.

Original (left)/Edit (right)

• The scene where Bulma lured Oolong as a fish with underwear was changed to dollar bills. However, the Blue Water dub retained the scene.
• The scenes of Oolong's diarrhea in the bush and coming out with toilet paper were cut from the BLT dub.
• The scene where Oolong turns into panties in front of an angry Bulma was removed from the BLT dub. However, the Blue Water dub version retained the scene.

Keep an Eye on the Dragon Balls

• In the BLT dub, the sequence of Bulma in the shower is shortened, and is risque shot of Yamcha seeing Bulma walking around naked is replaced with a tamer silhouette.
• When a nude Bulma looks out the camper window, there is glare covering her breasts. There is a common misconception that this glare was added for the edited dub. The glare was originally there, but was thickened to cover her entire cleavage.
• Bulma was digitally covered up in the early dub with the Dragon Balls in one scene, and just with more covers in another. This was also done to disguise the original plot of Oolong attempting to molest Bulma in her sleep.

The Ox King on Fire Mountain

• The scene in which Chi-Chi decapitates the dinosaur is edited and it shows the shadow instead.
• The moment when Yamcha hits Chi-Chi is edited in the BLT dub. Instead, it shows Puar's face with the sound effects of Yamcha knocking her out in the background.
• A paint error in the original version left Bulma's legs naked in one scene. When the episode was dubbed in English, FUNimation caught this and changed the color of her legs back to the blue of her pantyhose. While this could be seen as a correction rather than censorship, the eventual unedited English dub restores the original cels with Bulma's legs, incorrectly matching her skin tone.
• In the original uncut Japanese version, Chi-Chi pushes Goku off the Nimbus for patting her crotch. In the edited dub, it is because he criticizes her revealing outfit.

The Kamehameha Wave

• Master Roshi's desire to see Bulma's breasts is covered up with dialogue of him asking for something else in edited dubs.
  • In the BLT dub, he wants Bulma to set him up on a date with a woman around his age.
  • In the edited FUNimation dub shown on Cartoon Network, Master Roshi wants Bulma to walk on the beach with him.
• In the early English dub, the scene where Oolong disguised as Bulma and exposing his breasts to Master Roshi giving him a nosebleed was completely removed.

The Penalty is Pinball

• The scene where Bulma shows the middle finger to Emperor Pilaf while being captured was removed from the BLT dub.
• A scene where Yamcha freaks out from Bulma exposing her cleavage while waking up Goku is removed from the BLT dub.
• The English TV airing removed Oolong's private part, which was visible when he was in his bat form.

A Wish to the Eternal Dragon

• Like the previous episode, the penis that is visible in Oolong's bat form was removed in the American TV airing.
• Oolong says that he wishes for the world's most comfortable underwear in all of the English dubs, but in the Japanese version he says that he wishes for some hot chick's panties.
• The panties Oolong wishes for has Shenron on it in the BLT dub.

The Legend of Goku

A flower covering Goku's crotch in the BLT dub

• When Goku turns back into his normal form from a Great Ape, there is a crude digitally painted flower covering his private area as an edit in the BLT dub.

Tournament Saga

Goku's Rival

• In the edited dub, the dirty magazines are altered so the women on them appear to wear clothes, and word "dating" is added to the cover of the most prominent one.
• When Master Roshi takes Goku behind the house to inquire about the second girl he brought him, he asks (In the English translation) for him to invite her on a walk, much like his invitation to Bulma in the last saga. In the Japanese version, he instead tasks Goku to retrieve the girls panties and bring them to him. In the English version, Goku returns to tell him that she will not walk with him, and would rather they went for a swim together. In the Japanese version, he returns to tell him that she is not wearing panties, and has nothing but a t-shirt on. Master Roshi then has some inner dialogue, in which he declares his plans to oggle her behind the cover of his sunglasses, while pretending to make polite conversation. 

Look Out For Launch

• Master Roshi asks Launch for a walk around the island, but in the Japanese version he asks her to take a bath with him. 

Milk Delivery

• The scene of Master Roshi and Goku accidentally waking up Launch was shortened in the TV airing. The part where she is still in her panties and shoots and gets knocked out by Goku and Roshi attempting to touch her breast after she gets knocked out was removed from the English TV airing.

The Turtle Hermit Way

• Goku and Krillin's penises were not shown when they swim in the shark infested waters naked during the English TV airing.

The Tournament Begins

• The scene of Roshi touching the flight attendant's rear was taken out of the Toonami broadcast.

Elimination Round

• All the panty shots you see of Bulma were taken out of the Toonami broadcast.

Smells Like Trouble

• The speech the announcer makes about hitting in the private parts along with the part of Ranfan replying with "What about my parts" was taken out of the Toonami broadcast.
• Krillin farting in Bacterian's face was edited in the Toonami broadcast to make it look like he was simply mooning him.

• Master Roshi buys Bulma some gifts, and then askes her to try them on for him to "show off her curves". In the original Japanese, he instead asks her for "pafu pafu" (trans: puff puff) which is a slang term for burying your face in between a woman's breasts. 

Quarterfinals Continue

• Ranfan's stripping was removed in the Toonami broadcasting. Instead, the scene of one of Nam's failed attacks is shown followed by her twitching foot to show she was knocked out. This is strangely not edited in the recaps in later episodes, which clearly shows her in her underwear.

Krillin's Frantic Attack

• The scene of Goku dropping his pants in front of the crowd and shows his bare bottom to the stage to prove his tail is real was still present in the Toonami broadcast but the shot showing his penis was not shown.
• The scene of Krillin trying to distract Roshi by throwing a pair of panties was taken out of the Toonami broadcast.
• Jackie Chun (Chun Chan in Japanese version) sings a song before his fight. In English, it is a narcissistic rap-ish thing. In Japanese, it has a childishly naughty line in it.  Here are the lyrics:

​​​​That cute kid over there is a girl

She has boobies but she doesn't have a peepee

I invite you to the village festival, we'll take my tractor

When you dance with the drums, it becomes a Bon Festival Dance

The Grand Finals

• Roshi's Drunken Fist attack was changed to Mad Cow Attack in the Toonami broadcast. The uncut dubbed version from the DVDs uses the more accurate name of "Drunken Boxing."

The Final Blow

• Any shots that show Goku's penis when he was naked was removed from the Toonami broadcast as well as a shot that shows his balls from the rear.

Red Ribbon Army Saga

The Roaming Lake

• The scene of Master Roshi at the Underwear store was completely removed in the Toonami broadcast.

Danger in the Sky

• The scene where Goku shows Hasky his testicles after misinterpreting her request to see his Dragon Balls is edited in the Toonami version by showing her his boxers with Dragon Balls on them that Bulma made him.

The Pirate Treasure

• Bulma and Krillin's accusations of General Blue being homosexual were altered, such as referring to Blue as being "scared easily" for a big guy, a "prude" (both occurring when Blue first ignores Bulma's advances), "weird" (when crying about a nosebleed Krillin gave Blue), as well as Bulma claiming that she was a "powerful sumo wrestler" (she claims she is a man in the original version).

The Strange Visitor

• The scene with General Blue and Obotchaman's encounter is changed in the dub to have Blue mistake Obotochaman for his long-lost brother Samuel due to the original scene passing for pedophilia (Blue crushing on Obotchaman). The European Spanish dub largely kept Blue's attraction to Obotchaman, although they changed Obotchaman's gender to female in order to remove hints at Blue's homosexuality and possible pedophilia.

Fortunerteller Baba Saga

Deadly Battle

• Originally to help Yamcha defeat the Invisible Man Krillin brings over Master Roshi and Bulma from a picnic, he then yanks down Bulma's top exposing her breasts and causes Master Roshi to have a massive nosebleed that covers the Invisible Man in his blood. In the Ocean and Toonami dubs, this was edited so that Master Roshi hands Krillin a can of tomato soup, using footage from a previous episode, and splashes the soup on the Invisible Man.

King Piccolo Saga

Tambourine Attacks

• In the uncut version, Tambourine tells King Chappa that he has come to kill him, while in the Toonami airing, the former says that he has come to "end" the latter instead. The same occurs with nearly all subsequent uses of the word "kill" throughout the entire saga.

Mark of the Demon

• The scene where Bulma beats Master Roshi for looking at her underwear was cut from the TV airing.
• The scene with Man-Wolf's dead body floating along a river stream with a trail of blood behind it was cut from the Toonami broadcast.

Here Comes Yajirobe

• The pages of the "family album" that Emperor Pilaf tries to show to King Piccolo are blanked out in the TV airing.

Goku vs. King Piccolo

• In the Japanese version, King Piccolo insulted Goku by saying that the latter "amounts to nothing more than ant shit", while in the English versions (cut and uncut), it was changed to "tiny and pathetic". Likewise, Goku's "slug shit" retort was changed accordingly.
• The blood shown when Goku bites Piccolo's hand is edited out.

Roshi's Gambit

• The blood that Master Roshi wiped off his face after getting struck by Piccolo was painted over.

A Taste of Destiny

• The scene where Piccolo chokes King Furry for speaking against him during the broadcast was removed from the TV airing.

The Final Showdown

• Although most of the scene with King Piccolo using Tien as a shield was left intact, the part where the former began squeezing the latter's head to keep Goku in place was cut.
• When Goku used the Penetrate! ability on Piccolo, nothing was shown other than a flash of white light. The following scenes which showed a large hole in Piccolo's stomach ended up getting removed entirely. Additionally, the blood on Piccolo's hands was painted over in the process. Strangely enough, the scene was left entirely unchanged during a flashback in an edited episode of Dragon Ball Z.

Piccolo Jr. Saga

Changes

• The conversation that Master Roshi and Oolong have in the Japanese version regarding the latter's collection of women's underwear is changed to them talking about Oolong's ear length in the English versions (both cut and uncut).
• Although the scene of Bulma elbowing Master Roshi is left intact, the TV airing never shows precisely why it was done. In the uncut version, Bulma elbows Master Roshi for touching her butt, while in the TV version, it is seemingly done in response to him asking "Hey, remember me?"

Preliminary Peril

• The scene where Master Roshi gets slapped by a random woman in the crowd for "accidentally" burying his face into her breasts was cut out of the Toonami airing.

Goku Hangs On

• The blood that oozes from Goku's right shoulder as a result of Piccolo blasting a hole through it is edited out. One of the following scenes, where the blood is shown dripping onto the ground, is cut.

Dragon Ball Z

Raditz Saga

The Arrival of Raditz

• After the farmer gets killed with the bullet Raditz threw back at him, a voiceclip of him saying "That smarts..." was added in.
• In the scene where Master Roshi is holding a mug of beer, the beverage has its color changed to blue.
• The scene with Bulma bashing Master Roshi in the head for trying to touch her breasts was removed.

The World's Strongest Team

Gohan's tears edited out in the Saban dub (left) uncut (right)

• Gohan's tears were censored as he was being kidnapped by Raditz.

Gohan's Hidden Powers

• The blood that was dripping from Piccolo's shoulder after getting his arm blasted off was recolored green.
• The scene where Raditz backhands Gohan was cut. However, Gohan can still be seen rolling across the ground as if he had been knocked down.

Goku's Unusual Journey

Goku and Raditz die (censored FUNimation/Saban version)

• While Goku and Raditz are being blasted by the Special Beam Cannon, the blast is only seen going through the latter. Additionally, all of the blood was edited out.
• As Goku's dead body was phasing into "another dimension", the glob of blood he left behind in the grass was edited out.

Vegeta Saga

Gohan's Metamorphosis

• When Krillin was on his way to Chi-Chi's house to deliver the news about Goku's death, he claims that the latter was "trapped in another dimension". From this episode and onward in the Saban dub, that term is frequently used to sugarcoat most death scenes.
• For unknown reasons, the thought bubble where Gohan is imagining an apple tree is edited out.
• In the original Ocean Group dub, Gohan's genitals is not shown.

Princess Snake's Hospitality

• The scene where one of Princess Snake's attendants plays (and loses) Russian Roulette is cut from most major dubs.

A Black Day for Planet Earth

• Shortly after Nappa and Vegeta landed on East City, the latter says "Too bad it's Sunday. Those buildings would've been filled up tomorrow". For further emphasis, after leveling the city, Nappa goes on to claim that it was "evacuated".

The Battle Begins... Goku, Where Are You?

• There are two scenes in which Nappa destroys manned helicopters; the first, where an off-screen news crew member says "They blew up the cargo robot!" while in the next, Tien Shinhan exclaims "Look! I can see their parachutes! They're okay..."

The Saibamen Strike

Yamcha's dead corpse is painted over in the Saban dub. Original (Left) Saban dub (Right)

• Various shots of Yamcha's lifeless corpse are painted over to show an empty crater.
• Master Roshi groping Bulma's rear is cut.

Nappa... the Invincible?

• When Nappa chopped Tien's arms off, the latter claims that he could grow his arm back, very likely to tone down the severity of such amputation.

Tien Goes All Out!!

• When Nappa goes on a rampage to pass 3 hours worth of waiting, various lines are inserted to cover-up the fact that Nappa killed all those people. For example, when Nappa destroys a city, he claims that "these Earthlings are such cowards! A little target practice on some empty buildings and they scatter!".

The Return of Goku

• When Piccolo dies, his body fades away. In the uncut version, his lifeless corpse remains on the battlefield.

Goku Strikes Back

Saban dub (left) uncut (right)

• This episode marked the debut of "censorship stars", which were used to cover direct hits to the face in the Saban dub.

The Battle Ends

Funimation and Saban placed a blue piece of Vegeta's clothing onto Gohan, in order to cover his buttock

• Vegeta's fist is never actually seen connecting to Yajirobe's face; instead, the latter was immediately seen flying across the ground. The following scene where Vegeta beat Yajirobe while he was on the ground ended up getting removed entirely.

Namek Saga

The Ruthless Frieza

• The scenes with the dead Namekian bodies had breathing and moaning sounds added to them in order for them to appear as if they were still living.

The Nameks Versus Frieza

Saban dub (left) uncut (right)

• When Dodoria stabs his hand through one of the Namekian warriors, the hole was painted over to make it seem as if he simply punched him in the back.
• In addition to breathing noises being added to the dead body of the Namekian that Dodoria killed, the blood was edited out.
• The scene where Dodoria kills Cargo with a Energy Cannon was cut. Instead, some dialogue was added in order to make it seem as if Moori was the one that he was aiming for. Additionally, Dodoria later on claims that Cargo simply ran away.
• Dodoria killing Moori by snapping his neck was removed. Instead, sound effects were added as the camera cut to the Namekians' reactions, not showing exactly why Moori was seen falling to the ground shortly afterwards.
• The scene where the nurse was getting angry at Master Roshi for touching her butt was removed.

Zarbon Transformed

• Before Zarbon transforms, he has some blood running down his lower lip and on his hands, both of which were edited out.
• Zarbon's beat-down of Vegeta is heavily cut. After Zarbon transforms, he proceeds to headbutt Vegeta eight times in consecutive succession. This entire scene was edited out. Additionally, Vegeta has some blood trickling down his forehead during the entire fight and this is also edited out.

A Heavy Burden

Zarbon's censored death in the Saban dub

• The scene where Vegeta jammed his fist through Zarbon's stomach was cut and edited to make it look as if it was an average stomach blow. In addition to the blue blood being erased from Vegeta's gloves, the Final Galick Cannon blast is never actually seen going through Zarbon. Instead, a flash of light occurs during the camera's close-up on Vegeta, and then Zarbon is sent flying shortly afterwards while shouting Vegeta's name.

Time Tricks And Body Binds

Guldo's decapitation was censored with digital paint by FUNimation and Saban

• The scene where Vegeta slices Guldo's head off was edited to look as if the latter's head was still on his body. The following scene where Guldo's disembodied head was speaking was removed entirely. Instead, they skipped to the part where Vegeta finished him off, while claiming that he has been sent to "the next dimension". This marks the final time that phrase was used during an on-screen killing.

Goku's New Power

• The scene where Recoome flips off Goku in response to his power was removed during airings of the episode.

Cell Games Saga

Cell's Break Down

• The scene where Cell vomits up Android 18 after Gohan's crippling blow is cut out. Instead, while Cell is clutching his mouth, it cuts to Gohan forming a smirk as Cell is heard screaming in agony off-screen.

Majin Buu Saga

Find the Dragon Balls

• The scene where Master Roshi buried his face into Android 18's breasts after the airplane crash was removed.

Buu's Mutiny

• The scene with Videl slapping Master Roshi for attempting to touch her breasts was not shown in the TV airing.
• The scene where Babidi flipped Goku off (shortly after grunting in annoyance) was cut out of the Toonami broadcast.
• In the Toonami airing, the scene where blood was gushing out of Babidi's headless body was removed.

The Fusion Dance

• The scene at the beginning with Babidi's headless body was cut out of the Toonami broadcast, skipping straight to the part where Majin Buu disintegrated it with a Ki Blast.

Fusion Saga

The Evil of Men

• Most of Mr. Satan's near-fatal confrontation with Van Zant was removed from the Toonami broadcast, with the only indication of it being the sound of a gunshot, and the latter fleeing the scene shortly afterwards.
• The scene where Van Zant attempts to kill Evil Buu by shooting him was removed from the TV airing.

Empty Planet

• In the uncut version, Piccolo says to Super Buu, "There's plenty of people you could kill for your amusement while you're waiting for this fight.". In the edited version, it was changed to, "There's plenty of people you could amuse yourself with while you're waiting for this fight."
• Any scenes that involved people getting killed by Super Buu's Human Extinction Attack were removed from the Toonami airing.

Time Struggle

• The scenes where Master Roshi touches Bulma's butt and gets slapped for burying his face into her breasts as they were watching Piccolo lead Super Buu to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber were cut.

A Whole New Gohan

• In the uncut version, Gohan tells Super Buu that he wants to kill him, while in the TV edited version, it was changed to "destroy".

Mind Trap

• The scene where Super Buu materialized an outhouse toilet was removed from the TV airing.

Dragon Ball Z movies

Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone

• In the Saban TV dub the scene of Gohan urinating on Krillin's head was removed.

The Tree of Might (three-part television episode)

A small digitally painted Tree is used to cover Gohan's genitals and buttocks

A censorship star and fog-like substance covers a blow to Tien

• Blood has been removed from all characters in the Saban TV dub.
• In the Saban TV dub there is an infamous censorship edit to Gohan's face while it is being held by Turles, in which digital paint is used to cover Turles' fingers.
• In the Saban TV dub the scene where Gohan is falling nude after Goku cuts off his tail is edited using digital light to cover Gohan up. The scene where Icarus wakes up a nude Gohan is edited using a digital bush, also covering Gohan.
• Various digitally painted "stars" are used to cover blows to the head in the Saban TV dub. A white fog-like substance was also added for the same reason.
• The violence in the fight between Goku and Turles is toned down in the Saban TV dub. For example, two kicks to Goku by Turles from when he uses Kaio-ken x10 are cut.

Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!

• Televised airings of the film have Android 13's dialogue altered slightly when first meeting Goku, due to his use of the word "ass" twice.
  • Incidentally, the last bit of Trunks' sentence (when he referred to Android 13 as a "Red Ribbon Redneck") was cut towards the end of the sentence.
  • Similarly, it also cuts out Super Android 13's exclamation of "Damn you!" when he fires a blast at Goku.
• Televised airings and the first DVD release censors Android 13's punch to Goku's groin with a digitally painted "star".

Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming

• The scene where Videl proudly declares herself as the "daughter of Mr. Satan" was changed to "the great Hercule" in the Nicktoons version.
• Broly's beat-down of Trunks and Goten is heavily cut in televised airings. Shortly after Broly appears after firing a Planet Geyser at Goten and Trunks and attacks them, he proceeds to slam Goten and Trunks' faces into concrete hard enough to leave noticeable cracks twice. The slams were edited out.
• Trunks' distracting Broly by mooning him is heavily censored.

Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly

• Like above, Trunks' mooning of Bio-Broly in the climax was heavily censored by zooming in close to Trunks' face.

Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn

• While the Nicktoons airing of this movie was almost entirely uncut, this did not apply to any scenes that included The Dictator.

Manga to Anime censorship

Even the original Japanese manga was censored for the Japanese anime adaptation.

Dragon Ball Z

• Tien Shinhan's arm is dripping blood after Nappa cut his forearm off, in the anime it's clean, with no-to-less blood.
• After being hit by his own attack, Frieza has guts hanging out in the manga, in the anime it's a clean cut like a light saber.
• Dr. Gero actually cuts his victims head off in the manga, instead of dropping his dead body off on the ground like in the anime.
• Android 16's death is more gory (and somewhat comical) in the manga.
• When Gohan kills Cell Juniors, guts are seen from their corpses, in the anime they explode.
• The old man was shot by Future Android 17 in the manga, he was "saved" by Future Trunks in the anime.
• Yakon's eyeball is seen in the manga after he was overloaded by Goku's ki.

See also

• BLT Productions Ltd.
• Funimation dub
• Ocean Group dubs