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Dragon Ball (Warning: Untagged Spoilers)


FourCartridge

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This series always had, and always will have a soft spot for me. I first watched it when I was about 7 years old at a friend's house because he had some VHS tapes. I wasn't very interested, and it was around this time that I was a Nickelodeon junkie. A few years later, when I started to feel Nick was getting stale, I migrated on over to Cartoon Network where I first experienced the Namek arc on Toonami.

I couldn't believe that I brushed it off a few years back! I was addicted, and I watched it religiously from there on out until Toonami wrapped up the Boo arc. Throughout its run, though, I would do tons of research of it online. I would watch episodes of all three series subbed that had yet to be dubbed, and I couldn't get enough. Shortly after, the dub of Dragon Ball premiered on Toonami. I really enjoyed it, but after DBZ and DB wrapped up, GT's dub was starting up and I realized how different it was from the original and never bothered watching it.

Then after that, I gradually started to pay more attention to all the differences between the dub and Japanese version of the Dragon Ball series. I found myself watching the dub less and less and the Japanese version more and more. Then there came a point to which I just couldn't watch the dub anymore. It's pretty bad. Years later, though, Kai was announced and then a dub of it started production the following year. I really enjoyed it! Kai's dub redeemed FUNimation's trainwreck of an attempt that was made a decade prior.

I own all 42 volumes of the manga, all seven Dragon Boxes, all five blue bricks of Dragon Ball, both green bricks of GT, and several Kai BDs. To this day I still go through my manga and DVDs and watch some episodes here and there because I find it so enjoyable to go back and re-read/watch.

^ Just beautiful.

EDIT: Oh, and I love Dr. Slump too. I only read the manga and watched a little bit of the anime dubbed in Spanish. It's fun!

Edited by MugiMikey
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DB/DB Z is fucking awesome. My favorite anime series of all time. And i can assure you all that i say this without "nostalgia glasses" affecting me in the slightest because i never saw a single episode of the show untill just three years ago. I can totally see why it became such a phenomenon, and it saddens me that i didnt get to grow up with the show (it has never been shown on TV in my country).

Watching DB/DBZ gives me emotions that i think are similar to what i used to feel as a child playing with my action figures; i just completely lose myself in this fantastic universe where awesome guys with amazing powers have spectacular, super-cool battles. In its own way, i guess you could say that the show somehow actually manages to make me feel more like a little boy again than most shows i actually did watch as a little boy can, and that makes it pretty special in my eyes.

Edited by batson
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I got into the series when Dragon Ball was broadcast in Mexico during the early 90s in Mexico. I still remember the series ending with Goku being married etc etc and thinking that was it.

Imagine my surprise when the next week Dragon Ball Z was announced and that Goku was an alien and that he died ohmy.png

I like the series and is very nostalgic for me (never got into the dub here though especially because of its music YUCK)

Talking about the filler the series had though. I remember in the Saiyan Saga how long it took for Vegeta and Nappa to arrive to earth. And then how long it took Goku to arrive to the fight but damn did that make it more excited when he came (that is my favorite memory of the series)

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DBZ is a terrible series. Sorry, but it is, and I say that as something of a fan and as someone who grew up on the show.

As I was saying in the status updates, it's an atrocious adaptation of a story that was pretty much 6/10 material at best to begin with. Even without the agonisingly horrendous pacing issues of Dragonball Z (so in other words pretty much the manga or Kai), the story's really not all that great even if it does have its moments.

There are a few cool ideas in there, but the series is fundamentally broken in many places at its core. The story is largely crude and shallow throughout, with it ultimately being little more than skin-deep reasons for people to fight. Hell, Toriyama himself wanted to end the series with the original Dragonball, but was pressured to continue due to its success. He then wanted to end it with Frieza, yet was again pressured to continue it not only into Cell but then again into the Buu arc before he finally managed to get out of it. It's not hard to see how little he cared and how much he was being forced to asspull by the end.

To its credit, I think, at least in concept if not execution, the Saiyain and Frieza arcs are a pretty damn epic idea. With a significant teardown and rewrite, DBZ could actually be a pretty awesome (if still fairly shallow) series; as it stands, it's an overrated and heavily flawed series with the odd moment of enjoyment buried in a sea of tedium. Regardless of the perceived quality of the source material, Z was a terrible adaptation in my opinion. The pacing destroys any enjoyment one might get from the series and just makes it horrifically and painfully unwatchable. :/

Edited by -Mark-
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DBZ is a terrible series. Sorry, but it is, and I say that as something of a fan and as someone who grew up on the show.

It is. It really is. No knock on anyone who loves it, because I'm not completely immune to it's... "charms" either. I own a majority of the DBZ movies on DVD as well as a number of the imported videogames for the Saturn and PS1. But the reason I enjoy those is because you get your DBZ fix in small doses with them.

I dislike the series for pretty much the same reasons most do. Bad (HORRIBLE) pacing, many many useless characters and the plot can just be a royal mess most of time. Even Vegeta is one of the ultimate badasses of all time (early on), but he gets annoying as the series goes on. It's amazing to me why this show is as popular as it is. But as one person once told me, if you want something to be successful in this day and age... JUST DUMB IT DOWN. And that fits DBZ perfectly.

Even the abridged KAI series couldn't make this series good at all. And don't even get me started on GT.

Edited by Snatcher2047
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Though I love the manga, flaws and all, the anime adaptations of both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z were fucking terrible and I can't stand to watch them.

I'm with Mark.

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There are a few cool ideas in there, but the series is fundamentally broken in many places at its core. The story is largely crude and shallow throughout, with it ultimately being little more than skin-deep reasons for people to fight. Hell, Toriyama himself wanted to end the series with the original Dragonball, but was pressured to continue due to its success. He then wanted to end it with Frieza, yet was again pressured to continue it not only into Cell but then again into the Buu arc before he finally managed to get out of it. It's not hard to see how little he cared and how much he was being forced to asspull by the end.

While it's true that the series went on for longer than Toriyama had anticipated, he hasn't said a thing about wanting to end it after the Freeza arc. Hell, he hasn't even said where he originally wanted to end it. All of it is just fan speculation. It's not that he "didn't care" for his work, it's just that he was exhausted. He loved his job despite having some first world problems.

Edited by MugiMikey
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I love everything about Dragon Ball. Absolutely everything. It's a show I grew up on next to Yu Yu Hakusho, Sailor Moon, Outlaw Star and Trigun. It was a big part of my childhood and I am glad I got to see it. However because the majority of us watched on Toonami, there was some content that edited out and cut so you did not get to see the uncensored version unless you got the season DVD's (which I got and I love it) So its a nicer experience watching it uncut because well you are watching it as it is meant to be seen. I notice some people here don't like it, which is fine. Maybe the show just was not for you. But there is no denying the impact DBZ had in anime and just in general pop culture. It left a mark and its obvious why the show exploded in popularity. Its just awesome and I will leave it at that. OH! Can't wait for the new movie next year and I am sure funimation will get the license for it!

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I admit to having every manga volume of Dragon Ball but yeah, it's not the greatest thing ever. Mostly inspires nostalgia from coming home from school and Cartoon Netweork playing it and the artwork very much holds up better than Tenchi that they played afterwards.

The story though, Journey to the West x Superman pretty much.

*edit* If I start charging now, I can unleash my Ki in three pages or so.

Edited by Andrew Albacia
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However because the majority of us watched on Toonami, there was some content that edited out and cut so you did not get to see the uncensored version unless you got the season DVD's (which I got and I love it) So its a nicer experience watching it uncut because well you are watching it as it is meant to be seen.

Having 20% of the picture omitted, oversaturated colors, and a messed up script isn't exactly the way DBZ was meant to be seen. tongue.png

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Guys, let's be fair, Dragon Ball Z is an incredibly shallow, trite series, but that's the entire appeal of it; We didn't watch it for the writing or pacing, we watched it to see muscular guys beat the shit out of each other, and it does a damn good job at it, in fact I find myself watching it mainly for the fights, and specific moments that I find cool, but I'd never sit down and watch a whole episode nowadays.

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I found the series enjoyable at times. Not cult following worthy imo, but still good fun. The characters are goofy and I like that in characters. If I had to pick a favorite villain in the series it would be Evil Buu. Something about him I just like a lot.

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/thread

Best DBZ moment has been posted.

We can all go die now.

Edited by Nintendoga
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Having 20% of the picture omitted, oversaturated colors, and a messed up script isn't exactly the way DBZ was meant to be seen. tongue.png

The funny thing is I never really noticed that and I never actually cared about it either.

I love Dragonball and Dragonball z, I never had a problem with the slow pacing as some people have, but that's just due to my patience with most old anime.

THANK YOU!! People need to remember this was made way back.

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Speak for yourself :/

I personally don't subscribe to the crass idea that I only enjoy the show specifically to get a shallow fix, sure the fighting is cool and all, but I actually do care about the characters and the situations they find themselves in.

Eh, I cared about the characters too, but I cared more about the actual fighting than their reasons for fighting, which mostly boiled down to "I'll blow up the earth, fight me" "Ok". Yes, there was development, but that doesn't change the fact that eventually every character who wasn't Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan got severely shafted and only served to show how inferior they were to the godly Saiyans, the villains didn't really have particularly deep motives for their plans, and the focus grew less and less on marital arts as it drifted away from it's DB roots.

I love the series to death, but it's not amazing by any means.

Edited by Ragna the Bloodedge
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Also women are completely useless in the universe. Which isn't very compelling.

GYnoid 18 doesn't really count since she's enhanced with cybernetics and STILL doesn't get much action. All the other women get stuck washing up...

Edited by Andrew Albacia
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I personally don't subscribe to the crass idea that I only enjoy the show specifically to get a shallow fix, sure the fighting is cool and all, but I actually do care about the characters and the situations they find themselves in.

Even as a DBZ fan, I gotta admit, some of the situations (particularly in the later Sagas) weren't as threatening as they were at the beginning. It became more and more evident towards the end that there really any severe consequences that could last forever because whatever problem there is, Dragonballs can fix it. Planet blown up? Dragonballs. Death of a friend we've all known and loved throughout the show? Dragonballs.

The show would've been alot more interesting if they kept that "Dragonballs are mystical items that can only be used in rare dire situations every couple of centuries" theme that the original had for the first few seasons.

Random fact but I just can't watch DBZ Kai. I need Bruce Falconer and the original Funimation Voices in order to fully appreciate DBZ and it's Wackiness.

By the Way FourCartridge, I noticed you forgot to mention something in your OP.

db.jpg

Just a daily reminder that yes, no matter how hard you try to deny it, THIS did indeed happen

I could bash GT for hours if I wanted to, but for now I'll point out something that always stuck to me when I saw it.

There was this one episode, where Goku and Pan were finding the Dragons who were re-incarnated, and there was this one dragon. The one that polluted everything for some reason. Goku fights the Dragon for a bit, realizes he's too weak, so he tries to power up to Super Sayian 4 and get this over with quickly. He powers-up and what happens?

"COUGH COUGH Oh no! The pollution's too strong, I can't go Super Sayain 4!"

8Cz6F.gif8Cz6F.gif8Cz6F.gif8Cz6F.gif

No FUCK YOU GT. What sense does that make? Someone here, please explain to me how it's impossible for Goku to not be able to transform because of the pollution, cause if this was the case, he should've died when Namek was nothing but a polluted deathball.

Oh that's right nobody can explain it to me,

Because that would've required someone to actually watch the show.

Yes, there was development, but that doesn't change the fact that eventually every character who wasn't Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan got severely shafted

250px-KrillinBU01.png

Also women are completely useless in the universe. Which isn't very compelling.

GYnoid 18 doesn't really count since she's enhanced with cybernetics and STILL doesn't get much action. All the other women get stuck washing up...

Bulma was useful during most of Dragonball and during most points in Dragonball Z. Her tech and knowledge has saved the Z-Fighters lots of times.

Videl was...just there. She fought every now and then but...she never really did anything but tsundre Gohan.

Chi-Chi was a bitch

Marron was...filler ( in more then one way)

I think that's all of them.

Edited by Nintendoga
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250px-KrillinBU01.png

Ahh, I have the perfect response to this:

I know it's the Abridged series, but it kind of gets the point across.

I'll give Krillin credit tho, he fared better than any other human character at least, and he got the hottest chick in the series, so that's a plus.

Edited by Ragna the Bloodedge
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Not allowed to be a Super Saiyan either because they'd rather give Goku another strapping lad :P

Bra doesn't have that excuse so let's just throw her out most of the time!

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I heard it was because Toriyama was too lazy to think of a Super Saiyan form for females. I guess it was for the best, the female gender is virtually non-existent in this series....in fact, it's probably worse than Naruto, yeah females don't contribute a whole lot but at least they do something, in Dragon Ball their only purpose is making babies, and yes Bulma served no other role after Dragon Ball ended.

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