Dragonball \ DBZ - deserving of respect?

T

t0ffe3m4n^

Kiznaiver
Im not impressed with all of the Dragonball bashing here either. Don't you think its become a bit redundant? Can't we for once focus on how Akira Toriyama's story single-handedly defined the shounen genre as we know it today? ... and also the fact that the series itself was one of the biggest franchises in anime history?

Na... I guess thats asking too much I suppose... lets just all stick with "zomg it suked loads bcauz ppl cud fire laser beamz n stuf rofl lol", it seems that its the "cooler" thing to do these days.

Without Dragonball, Bleach wouldn't even exist. Neither would Naruto, One Piece, and many of the other popular shonen titles currently running. It's also the series that got many people, including myself, into anime in the first place. So it deserves a little more credit and respect I say.


/ slighty off-topic rant over

NOTE FROM PAUL: This topic has been split from the "Bleach Filler?" thread.
 
I think this is an interesting subject; Dragonball (Z) takes a lot stick within the anime community but I know of a lot of people who watch no anime except for DBZ. I myself had a bit of an addiction to DBZ during 2003, addicted enough to tune into the day long marathons that were aired on CNX and Toonami.

It's certainly not a dire series, for a start the unpretentious chracters, while not the most complex of creations, strike a chord with me and the stories themselves are often quite exciting-- the appearance of Future Trunks is possibly the series highlight for me (the series itself is really good right up until the end of the Cell games; the whole Maijin Buu thing was a bit too repetitive). I remember feeling enthralled the first time I saw Goku go Super Saiyan and Frieza makes for such a bastard of a villain too :) Gohan saving the day during the Cell games was a great moment too.

I can't really understand why a lot of people are so hostile over DBZ (I haven't seen the original Dragonball series yet); it is not the perfect anime series, but its merits far outshine its weaknesses.
 
Now, I haven't had all that much experience of Dragonball. But what I do know is that it's based on the novel Saiyuki (which also inspired the TV series Monkey, amongst other classics of 20th-century pop-culture ;) ). Yes, Toriyama did a lot for the shounen-fighting genre. But he did it by taking a well-respected work of literature and turning it into, well, something that from my non-initiated perspective to something that seems to be all about the fighting.

That's my main beef about the Dragonball franchise. I re-stress that I have only ever seen parts and pieces of the show here and there. And some of the somewhat rabid fans I have personally met (IRL, not on this forum) don't help my opinion of the show much either ;)

Of course, if anyone would care to enlighten me by showing me where I can find the series or original manga, I would be only too happy to experience the phenomenon from the beginning.

The gauntlet is thrown, people. Make me like Dragonball :p

/Simon
 
Paul said:
I remember feeling enthralled the first time I saw Goku go Super Saiyan and Frieza makes for such a bastard of a villain too :)
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I remember joining the series pretty much at that exact moment and I thought it was the greatest thing I'd seen in my life!

DBZ was the thing that really started my exploration into anime in the first place and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I remember watching the Cell Saga, jumping up screaming my head off and whacking the TV whenever a "good guy" lost or was injured, and running around the house when Gohan hit SSJ2. Okay, maybe parts of that I'm a little ashamed to admit :p

It's like an old grandad really: it's been around for years but still has some exciting stories to tell, keeping the kids enthralled and the grown ups nostalgic :wink:
 
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I dont necessarily hate DBZ, I have a DBZ t-shirt...
But the dubs Toonami had with DB and DBGT absolutely sucked! Not Toriyama's fault, but it put me off watching it (since I'm not gonna waste money buying the whole Merchandise, of which I've practically seen all of...)

I enjoy the DBZ games (Budokai mainly), but the series has been played a lot. For me, enough's enough to watch. Not saying DBZ isn't for new-found anime fans, just not me.

The only bashing I do with DBZ is the hours of fights they have for each one... The moves, V.A's and animation work for me otherwise. But I don't wanna hear hours of trash-talking etc...

So in total... DBZ = Owns (if not re-run numerous times)
DB/GT = May have liked if Toonami didn't cut it to shreads, like with One Piece

Edit: I liked Frieza most of the Bad guys (Except Sayian Saga Vegeta... He was sooooo Bad-ass) ;)
 
... and is it just me, or did anyone else fall in love with the original Japanese version of Dragonball GT? It pretty much "schooled" DBZ's in my opinion...
 
Hehe, actually DBZ was the thing that got me into anime in the first place, I totally loved it up until the Buu saga. The one thing that annoyed me was how much the VA's changed, and I hope i'm not the only person who was totally annoyed by how they changed the opening theme song from something I actually liked to "Dragon Dragon Ball... ZZZZZZZZ" =_=;;

In my humble opinion though, DBGT sucked. The colours, the clothes, the corny... stuff. Argh, i couldn't stand more than 5 episodes.
 
t0ffe3m4n^ said:
... and is it just me, or did anyone else fall in love with the original Japanese version of Dragonball GT? It pretty much "schooled" DBZ's in my opinion...
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Never saw it. The dub completely put me off. I know that's a fairly crude reason but there was something about it that just didn't hook me as well as DBZ did.
 
The trauma of a few episodes of DBZ (Freiza Saga, I believe) back in the old days made me not touch anime for a few years; the whole style of the thing seemed completely comic to me, so bad that it was worth watching for the comedy value.

With that in mind, I haven't returned to the series for a renewed perspective since I really became interesting in anime a few years ago. If I watched it now, I'm uncertain of how I'd find it - while I like some examples of it, the appeal of the "shounen jump" style of anime can sometimes elude me, and DBZ seems the pinnicle of old-school, ten-grunts-a-second shounen jump fighting anime, yet I could also find a new appreciation for it; I certainly respect the series for both contributing to the US anime boom and the development of later Shounen Jump titles, although like Daedalus said it does seem to destroy the story it is based on, which is a shame.

Has any anime captured Saiyuki accurately? Saiyuki the anime itself is somewhat "updated."
 
and DBZ seems the pinnicle of old-school, ten-grunts-a-second shounen jump fighting anime
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This makes it sound more like Fist of the North Star. DBZ isn't mindless fighting, it more or less established the now familiar routine of face to face, drawn out martial arts with multiple moments of personal introspection during battle- often leading to the discovery of another level of power. It also strongly promotes the importance of friendship and comradery. But really, DBZ is all about the action and if you dislike supernatural martial arts, the entire series is pretty much a write off for you. It is a "superhero" story.
 
I'll come clean, I like all things Dragonball, even GT, its not exactly high brow entertainment but it does its job, and as for Akira Toriyama I must admit he is one of my favourite mangaka's, Sandland, Dr Slump, Cowa, Kajika and Neko Majin Z, I love them all, it has become some what fashionable to hate DB, I can see why lots of people hate it but at the end of the day if you enjoy it nothing else matters really.
 
Never seen DBZ but I think it deserves respect for getting people into anime, if nothing else. How many people have seen it when they were young, then caught the anime bug and sought out other stuff?

Sure, it's not something I'd watch personally but it sure beats Pokemon!

*dodges flames*
 
Without it, I would never have started following anime and manga. I went through a phase of loving it when I was 15/16 and for that, it will always be special for me. And just look at all the debates you can have over just one series... Would Gohan have beaten Dabura if they had finished the fight? Was Chao Gohan really stronger than Goku SSj3 at the end of it all? Did Vegeta ever reach SSj3? - There is so much in there to spend hours wasting your time on!

The manga however, of both DB and Z, if far superioir to the T.V show.
 
Dragonball Z actually put me off anime for an extended period of time. When I first came across it flicking through channels on Sky it seemed so ugly, dull and simplistic that I turned it off in disgust. I was later told by a freind that this was anime, and I (admitedly foolishly) made the association that all anime was like this. I did learn my lesson a few years later, but im afraid for a while my association was "Anime = that awful cartoon I saw on Toonami".

In hindsight I do realise that Dragonball/Z is key to winning many fans over to anime, which is obviously a good thing, so I can respect it for that I suppose. But for me everytime I see a glimpse of it Im left totally bemused as how anyone can enjoy the show in any of its guises. Although judging by the legions of fans out there I am in a minority with this.
 
Whoops, I spelt Superior wrong... I hate it when I do that...

Tha manga is much better though. The battles are much less drawn out and it takes a lot less time to develop the story...
 
I adore Dragonball/Z/GT. It is an excellent series worth of respect. I'll say this about anything, but if you don't like something, sure, its ok to not like it, but do not bash. It'll only piss off people who do like it.

DBZ bashers can't win anyway, because if DBZ was no good, it wouldn't be the second biggest global anime franchise (behind Pokémon). I notice people often bash Pokémon too (not seen here, but in anime fandom in general). The more popular something gets, the more vocal its bashers become.
 
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