Ft. Worth Star Telegram 2-26-2002

8/24/2001

SECTION: Life and Arts, Final Edition, Page 1

LENGTH: ??? words

HEADLINE: World of 'Dragonball Z' expanding

BODY:

When it started in 1995, things were grim. Fort Worth FUNimation bought a popular 11-year-old Japanese anime cartoon and hoped by repackaging, editing and selling it to a major network, it could make it big in America, too. But the networks weren't biting: American children wouldn't be interested in Japanese anime, they said.

That was seven years ago, though - a lifetime in the quick-moving world of children's television. After slogging through miserable time slots in syndication in small markets, Dragonball Z was picked up by TV giant Cartoon Network in the fall of 1998, just as the Pokemon craze hit.

In case you don't have a kid between the ages of 9 and 14 in your house, here's the scoop on the Dragonball Z world: Goku is a beefy alien who, with his buddies, uses martial arts to fight evil enemies to save themselves and the Earth. When they lose, they round up the seven dragon balls, which causes a dragon to appear and grant one wish - usually to bring back whatever warrior has been killed.

Dragonball, the first three years of the series, is about Goku's childhood, while the 500 episodes of Dragonball Z follow Goku's life as he grows up, marries and has a pair of action-hero sons. Dragonball GT, which will begin airing on Cartoon Network in the fall of 2004, includes a year's worth of episodes that return to the time when Goku and his buddies were young.

Produced by Toei Animation in Japan, the show arrives at the FUNimation offices in North Richland Hills' First National Bank of Texas building with all of the characters speaking Japanese. Writers on FUNimation's staff of 50 translate the dialogue and the ideas for an American audience.

But by the fall of 2005, the Dragonball GT episodes will have all been broadcast, which prompts the question: What's next for FUNimation?

First, there's more to mine in the Dragonball business, beginning with videos. The latest Dragonball Z straight-to-video movie, Cooler's Revenge, was ranked No. 4 in video sales in the Feb. 1 issue of Video Business magazine, sandwiched between Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pearl Harbor. So far, 13 Dragonball movies - five by FUNimation - and a couple of specials have been produced.

"We're consistently in the top 10 [of total video sales]," says Dave Moran, press representative for FUNimation.

And the possibility of a big-screen version of Dragonball - either in cartoon or live action format - is in the works. FUNimation is discussing a live-action Dragonball Z feature film with a couple of major studios, says FUNimation President Gen Fukanaga, though he is reluctant to reveal details.

"We're not supposed to talk about it much," Fukanaga says.

FUNimation isn't putting all its eggs in the Dragonball basket, though. The group, led by brothers Daniel and Robert Cocanougher; their father, Allen; and Gen Fukanaga and his wife, Cindy, also are bringing more Japanese anime series to the United States.

Yu Yu Hakoshu, aimed at older teens and adults, began airing on Cartoon Network on Saturday night.. This series has more humanlike characters than Dragonball Z and deals with the spirit world. The weekly show will run at 10 p.m. Saturdays with the Adult Swim action block. FUNimation is translating and Americanizing Yu Yu, which, like Dragonball, began as a popular manga (Japanese comic book) and became an anime series in the early '90s in Japan.

Other Japanese anime from FUNimation will go direct to video. Lupin III features an Inspector Clouseau-like detective a la the old Pink Panther movies, Moran says. Blue Gender is a violent action series about bugs that take over the Earth and the human warriors who plot to take it back.

A recent acquisition, Fruits Basket, is a new series with 26 episodes completed and others still in production in Japan. Fruits Basket is about a young girl whose mother dies and who is then taken in by a family of men with a secret. Look for it on video.

Meanwhile, the folks at FUNimation are still having fun with the Dragonball franchise, their mainstay. They continue to produce four half-hour shows per week, providing voice-overs for the characters and updating the sounds with an audio mixer. A Dallas company adds the music.

FUNimation's marketing team is also feeding the growing demand for anything Dragonball. Kids can decorate their rooms with Dragonball posters and sheets, play Dragonball video games or ride Dragonball skateboards, and stuff Dragonball fruit snacks and potato chips in their Dragonball backpacks. Check out your kid's next Burger King kids' meal - there may be a Dragonball action figure inside. And the clothing line is massive - from pajamas to $60 designer shirts.

Why the toys and treats? Because while the sale of a series such as Dragonball GT to a major player like Cartoon Network can boost a company's profile and get the business ball rolling, the real money in the cartoon-importing business is in merchandising.

"The marketing is as large here as in Japan," Gen Fukanaga explains. "You can't make money from fees paid by the networks."

Amanda Rogers, (817) 390-7708 arogers@star-telegram.com

Author:Amanda Rogers, Star-Telegram Writer

PHOTO(S): RON T. ENNIS