Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z (commonly abbreviated as DBZ) is the sequel to the anime Dragon Ball. The DBZ anime is an adaptation of the Dragon Ball manga written by Akira Toriyama. The series premiered in the United States on September 13, 1996, but struggled to find a large audience and was ultimately cancelled after only two seasons. Dragon Ball Z was then re-released on Cartoon Network's Toonami on August 31, 1998 where the series gained immense popularity.

History
Dragon Ball Z does not exist in the Japanese manga, as all 42 volumes that span the original Dragon Ball hunt to the 28th Budokai are all just called "Dragon ball". Toei, the people who worked on the anime, decided that the series needed a new name after the 23rd Budokai ; so from the Saiyan saga onwards the original "Dragon ball" anime stopped and "Dragon Ball Z" started. The name "Dragon ball Z" was created by Akira Toriyama; he chose the name because he wanted to get the point across to fans, that this was the end of Dragon Ball. When Viz translated the manga into English they also seperated the manga, like the anime where Dragon Ball ends at volume 16 (End of the 23rd Budokai) the Saiyan saga starts at volume 1 of Dragon Ball Z.