Although Dragon Ball Z the series gets all the attention, the movies have provided us with some of the most memorable moments in the franchises history. With epic villains like Broly, King Cooler and Bojack, the Dragon Ball Z movies put you on the edge of your seat imagining if Goku and the gang will actually make it through. This list contains both theatrical releases and TV specials, so you don’t have to choose between the two.
- Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods is the eighteenth Japanese animated feature film based on the Dragon Ball series, released in theaters on March 30, 2013. It is the first Dragon Ball movie in 17 years to have a theatrical release, the last being the tenth anniversary movie in 1996, which followed the first three Dragon Ball films and the thirteen Dragon Ball Z films. Battle of Gods is the first-ever Japanese film to be screened at IMAX Digital Theaters, and was released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 13, 2013.
2. Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku
Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: A Lonesome, Final Battle – The Father of Z Warrior Son Goku, who Challenged Freeza, is the first Dragon Ball Z TV special, which is based on the popular manga Dragon Ball. It was broadcast on Fuji Television on October 17, 1990, between Dragon Ball Z episodes 63 and 64. AB Groupe’s title is Dragon Ball Z: The Father of Goku. FUNimation first released the special on DVD in January 2001 and later re-released this and the Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks TV special on a digitally remastered double feature DVD on February 19, 2008; a Blu-ray Disc version was released on July 15, 2008.
3. Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks
Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks, known in Japan as Defiance in the Face of Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors: Gohan and Trunks is a single-episode special based on the Dragon Ball manga series. Originally airing in Japan on February 24, 1993, between episodes 175 and 176, the special is based on an extra chapter of the manga series.
4. Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan
Vegeta is lured to the planet New Vegeta by a group of Saiyan survivors in hopes that he will be the king of their new planet.
5. Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound
Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Z: The Galaxy’s at the Brink!! The Super Incredible Guy, is the ninth Dragon Ball Z feature movie. It was released in Japan on July 10, 1993 at the Toei Anime Fair, where it was shown alongside the Dr. Slump movie N-cha! Pengin-mura yori Ai wo komete and the first YuYu Hakusho movie. The English version was dubbed by FUNimation and released on August 17, 2004. This is one of the few films in the franchise that can be slid into the series timeline without serious issues, taking place sometime after the Cell Games and before the Buu saga
6. Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13
Legend has it that krilin was an android too before he became human’…Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13, known in Japan as Extreme Battle! The Three Great Super Saiyans, is the seventh Dragon Ball Z movie. Originally released in Japan at the Toei Anime Fair along with the third Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibōken movie and the Rokudenashi Blues movie.
7. Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock is a three-chapter manga series written and illustrated by Naho Ōishi, based on Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball. It serves as a spin-off sequel to the 1990 animated television special Dragon Ball Z: A Lonesome, Final Battle – The Father of Z Warrior Son Goku, who Challenged Freeza. Bardock survives the destruction of his home planet and the genocide of his entire race, having been sent into the past to a strange planet where he battles Freeza’s ancestor, Chilled
8. Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans
Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans is a 2010 anime original video animation based on the Dragon Ball franchise by Akira Toriyama. It is an updated version of the older OVA Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, which was released in 1993 as strategy guides for the Family Computer video game of the same name.
9. Dragon Ball Z the Movie: The World’s Strongest
Dragon Ball Z the Movie: The World’s Strongest, also known by Toei’s own English title The Strongest Guy in the World, is the second feature movie in the Dragon Ball Z franchise. It was originally released in Japan on March 10, 1990, between episodes 39 and 40 of DBZ, at the “Toei Manga Matsuri” film festival along with the second Akuma-kun movie and the 1990 movie version of Sally the Witch.
10. Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!
Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! is a 35-minute Dragon Ball animated short film that premiered at the Jump Super Anime Tour in September 2008.
11. Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure
Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure, is the third Dragon Ball feature film, originally released in Japan on July 9, 1988 at the “Toei Manga Matsuri” film festival as part of a quadruple feature along with the second Bikkuriman movie, the movie version of Tatakae!! Ramenman, and the second Kamen Rider Black movie.
12. Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly
Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly, known in Japan as Super Warrior Defeat!! I’ll Be The Winner, is the eleventh Dragon Ball Z feature movie. It was released in Japan on July 9, 1994 at the Toei Anime Fair, and dubbed into English by FUNimation in 2005.
