Dragon Ball Z first came out in Japan on April 26, 1989 , airing on Fuji TV and running until January 31, 1996.

In the United States , the series debuted later, with the English dub premiering in September 1996 (commonly cited as September 13 or 30, 1996, depending on the broadcast/version).

So if you’re asking “when did Dragon Ball Z come out?” in the most general sense, the key dates are:

  • Original Japanese premiere: April 26, 1989.
  • First U.S. TV premiere (English dub): September 1996.

From a fan perspective, people in Japan have been watching DBZ since the late 80s, while many international fans remember it as a mid‑90s phenomenon that helped push anime into the mainstream in the West.

TL;DR: Dragon Ball Z came out in Japan in April 1989, and reached U.S. TV in 1996.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.