Dragon Ball Composer Is Elected Texas Attorney General

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Published Nov 5, 2026, 5:44 AM EST

Francesco is an editor with a background in academic research, journalism, and content strategy, specializing in entertainment news and curation. He works across all of Polygon's verticals, specializing in tabletop games, with a focus on D&D and Magic.

Nathan M. Johnson was making Dragon Ball music before running for Senate

The "blue tsunami" that swept America in the latest midterm elections will be remembered for years to come. Amid all the political turmoil, however, one small detail might go unnoticed: Nathan M. Johnson, who was just elected Attorney General of Texas, used to make music for Dragon Ball.

Johnson, who has held the 16th district seat in the Texas Senate since 2018, had a prolific legal and music career before pursuing politics full-time. He owned a music-production company, which produced music for many episodes of the Funimation dub of the Dragon Ball Z anime and five of the franchise's films.

Nathan Johnson Attorney General of Texas

Texas' new Attorney General has a history with Dragon Ball

Goku powers up in a still from Dragon Ball Z

The Funimation dub was the second English dub produced for Dragon Ball Z. The first one, made by Ocean Group, was panned for the excessive cuts and edits to the story imposed by Saban Entertainment. Later, Funimation parted ways with Saban and started producing the dub in-house, creating the version of Dragon Ball Z that most viewers are familiar with. It was a pioneering time for anime in the West, and the popularity of Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network's Toonami block contributed to opening the floodgates for what is now one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the world.

Johnson composed the musical score for 67 episodes of Dragon Ball Z and five movies: The World's Strongest, The Tree of Might, Broly - Second Coming, Fusion Reborn, and Wrath of the Dragon — as he said in a Facebook post. In a past interview, Johnson said that being associated with Dragon Ball earned him a lot of credit with his kids and their friends: "It gave me a creative outlet and a cultural connection that very few people have had the opportunity to have."

Curiously, the newly-elected Attorney General has a namesake who is also a famous composer, Nathan Tyler Johnson, who scored most of the movies directed by his cousin Rian Johnson (Knives Out).

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