Toonami To Air Dragon Ball Z Kai Marathon in Honor of Akira Toriyama

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After the unfortunate passing of Akira Toriyama, series creator of Dragon Ball and many other works, Toonami is hosting a marathon of the anime in honor of the artist.

The network announced the news in a post on Facebook, stating that on Saturday, March 16, it will air the first eight episodes of DBZ Kai from 2 AM to 6 AM. The post's caption reads:

"As a tribute to anime legend Akira Toriyama (1955-2024) we're celebrating his legacy Saturday night with a DBZ Kai marathon from 2a to 6a. May he rest in Super Saiyan power."

Dragon Ball Z: Kai is a recut and remastered version of the original DBZ anime, and includes re-recorded audio, and upscaled visuals. The remaster also cuts down heavily on filler, reducing the episode count from the original’s 291 to 167 episodes. The remastered version is closer to Toriyama’s manga, as it does not feature content exclusively created for the original DBZ anime.

It’s also a better watch for newcomers, as Toonami’s marathon may be watched by younger anime fans who never watched the hugely influential show. Toriyama, and by extension Dragon Ball, influenced many areas of entertainment, including movies and video games.

While Toonami’s DBZ marathon is nice, fans should also note that they can watch more of Toriyama’s work in the upcoming Dragon Ball Daima, which continues the story of Son Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and the rest of the cast after the ending of Dragon Ball Super. The anime will start airing on Japan’s Fuji TV this fall, and we’re still waiting to hear where international viewers can watch it.

That's not the only Toriyama-related work coming soon, as a video game and anime based on Sand Land are coming soon. Besides that, fans of the Budokai Tenkaichi games have Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero to look forward to, while existing DB games like Xenoverse 2 and FighterZ are getting ported to current-gen consoles.

Related: Dragon Ball Daima Confirmed To Air on Fuji TV This Fall

While Dragon Ball Daima will start airing this fall, you can watch the English dub of Dragon Ball Super now on Crunchyroll.