Texas' New Attorney General Nathan Johnson Scored 67 'Dragon Ball Z' Episodes

Nathan Johnson, just elected Attorney General of Texas, composed the musical scores for 67 episodes of "Dragon Ball Z" and five of its movies — years before he ever ran statewide.

Johnson confirmed the credit himself. "If you grew up watching 'Dragon Ball Z,' you might know me better than you think: I composed the musical scores for 67 episodes and five movies and had a great time doing it," he posted on his official Facebook page.

Which titles did he actually score?

His composing career covered some of the franchise's best-known films:

• "Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest"
• "Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might"
• "Dragon Ball Z: Broly — Second Coming"
• "Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn"
• "Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon"

That's a substantial body of work for a composer who would later make law his day job. Anime scoring is unusually demanding: the music runs "wall to wall," meaning it underscores nearly every second of an episode rather than appearing only at key moments.

What did Johnson say about the experience?

In an interview with Texas Sen. Taylor Rehmet, Johnson described the work as a lot of fun — and as a source of street cred with his kids and their friends. "I wrote the musical scores, wall to wall, of 67 episodes of 'Dragon Ball Z' and five of the movies," he said. "I had a one-year-old at the time, and I remember him sitting on my knee and stuff blowing up. He's like, 'Oh, Daddy Goku!' He thought it was super cool. It gave me a creative outlet and a cultural connection that very few people have had the opportunity to have."

The quote is revealing in what it shows about the mechanism of the story. A politician's past career usually stays invisible; a composer credit on a globally recognized anime franchise doesn't. It follows him into office.

How does this fit his political record?

Johnson won a state Senate seat in 2018. Over four sessions in the state Senate, his website states, he "passed 134 bills into law — defending constitutional principles and holding government accountable."

So the attorney general-elect arrives with two very different track records: 134 laws and 72 screen compositions, counting the episodes and films together.

What does this change for the arts?

Practically speaking, not much — Johnson isn't moving into a cultural policy role. What it changes is the visibility of composition as a career path that can lead anywhere, including the top legal office in the second-largest state. Few working composers can claim an electoral mandate on top of a discography.

His win came on a night when Democrats decisively won control of both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. MS NOW called the House for the Democrats just before 10 p.m. ET, with CNN following several minutes later, then NBC News and CBS News.

Johnson's attorney general term will now test whether the discipline of scoring 67 episodes — deadline-driven, detail-heavy, collaborative — translates into the state's top legal job. His son, at least, already thought it was super cool.