Dragon Ball

Ah, Dragonball. The beginning of one of the longest and arguably most popular anime franchise on both sides of the pacific. Unfortunately, this anime seems to be shunned by a few based on its affiliation with its sequels. That's a shame, really.

One huge reason why this anime holds its own is that the entire franchise is in its infancy. There are no Super Saiya-jin stages to worry about, and the fights aren’t stretched out to their barely tolerable limits. The various quests that the young Z-Senshi embark on are just that: quests. There are no interstellar enemies to fight (early on), and the majority of ... the time spent is on the team simply trying to find the dragonballs. The comedic element in Dragonball shines just as brightly and flows smoothly with the story. The characters have such a genuinely portrayed chemisty between each other. Dragonball never seems to take itself too seriously, allowing the viewer to sit back and enjoy the ride.

For a twenty-year-old series, Dragonball looks the part. Time has taken its toll, as the art and animation haven’t aged very well, though by 1980's standards, it's pretty good. On the other hand, the fights are better planned out, particularly during the Tenkaichi Budokai. Instead of the “beat-down-to-the-brink-of-death-only-to-tap-in-to-a-hidden-power-and-win-at-the-last-second” routine, combatants actually have flaws and human weaknesses, including Goku. Some are actually enjoyable with comedic moments placed within them. As the series begins its final arc, however, we begin to sees shades of the future for this franchise. Fights begin to grow longer and longer and the comedy slowly begins to wane.

Like I said earlier, it’s a real shame that this series gets such a bad reputation because of its successors. Sure, it eventually parts into its lackluster sequels, but as the saying goes, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’ Dragonball is a fun series that should be worth anyone’s time, be you a newcomer or a seasoned veteran.

This won’t be an in depth review because everyone knows about Dragon Ball and its influence and there are already numerous reviews written about it. This will just give you an idea of whether you should watch it or not, for those who haven’t yet.

Dragon Ball undeservedly doesn’t receive the same attention as its more popular sequel. The Dragon Ball series does receive a lot of flack for being really repetitive and for its unnecessarily long fight sequences but it’s really unfair to compare the franchise to what the shonen genre has become today. Because of this people tend to overlook Dragon Ball.

Story
Dragon Ball ... is divided into multiple story arcs, some longer than others, which are hilariously funny and manage to entertain with fantastic battles. Dragon Ball is gut bustingly hilarious, and it might surprise people how sexual the jokes are and how comfortable Goku is naked but the gags never got stale. The fights were always entertaining and well thought out. It was never just a case of running in, attacking and (if a foe was just too great) tapping into a hidden power. Although the first two thirds of the show are quite funny, the tone grows a lot more serious starting with the last third, a lot like the tone throughout Dragon Ball Z.

Characters
Goku might come off as one dimensional since he was one of the first traditional shonen hero archetypes, but the more you watch the show, you’ll realise he isn’t just some stupid and strong fighter. The rest of the cast move the plot along pretty well with some of them playing major roles, which is a shame really because in the sequels they basically serve no meaningful purpose, not in the story or with the fighting.

Art
The animation is dated, but one does get used to it rather quickly. Sometimes the same animated shots are reused but this doesn’t detract from the enjoyment. Characters designs are also exaggerated for comedic slapstick purposes that manage to gain quite a few chuckles.

Sound
I saw the dubbed version and all the voice actors fit their roles well, especially Barbara Goodson as Goku and Mike McFarland as Master Roshi. The English OP was really catchy (some may disagree) but the ED was forgettable. The Japanese songs scattered throughout the series were not too shabby but were usually drowned out by the chatter of the characters.

Enjoyment
A classic that will forever be in the shadow of its sequel that manages to be fun from start to finish. Despite a few hiccups in the animation, Dragon Ball is truly a remarkable and fun show to watch. It’s long, but it never stops being entertaining. If for some unexplainable reason you have yet to watch the Dragon Ball franchise, this is the perfect place to start.

10/10

Oddly enough not alot of people know of the anime that started it all. Yet most of them have probably watched the sequel. Why is this? I catch myself in this thought all the time, because the prequel is strikingly good when compared it to it's Z counterpart.

This anime succeeds despite it's shortcomings in my book. This is simply because it know's it's a goofy fighting anime and thus dosen't try to be anything else. The focus is therefore put on fighting, cracking jokes and gags, and last but certainly not least: The journey that Goku goes on in itself.

The story in here is very ... simple; finding the Dragonballs. At least that's what the gang spends a large bulk of the series doing. Due to the length of this series it's obvious that there will be fillers. However the fillers do more than just fill in the time where we aren't fed the canon story. The fillers generally retain the quality of the canon episodes, and there aren't that many of them either. his is largely due to the fact that the humour in Dragonball is fantastic and feels naturally woven in with all the characters and the story. This also applies to the fillers.

Some viewers may criticize Dragonball for the reptitive nature of the story, saying that it's the exact same thing over and over again. And to a certain extent they're correct. But this leads back to what i was previously talking about; a "proper" story would do more bad than good here. It would leave less freedom to make this anime as goofy and hilarious as it is. And you shouldn't be watching a fighting shounen for the story.

The characters in Dragonball are all lovable. No matter the size of their role in the story. They are all fleshed out over time and you will either love or hate them. Goku in particular is very fun to watch, because the majority of Dragonball viewers saw Z first, which may have left you wanting to see what Goku was like during his early years. He is truly a treat to watch, and is quite clearly the staple for all other shounen protagonists.

The fights are the main driving points of this anime along with the comedy aspects. Thankfully they don't make the fights ludicrously long in an attempt to make them exciting. The pacing of the fights is well done the fights well thought out. Strategy plays an integral role in the majority of the fights earlier on the series, and as the series progresses it slowly reaches the point Z is at.

The anime is old and you can easily tell by the art and the visuals. (hehe penises.) No, but seriously. The animation and art are average for their time, which means that it obivously pales in comparison to modern standards. But if you look at it through a more objective scope it has suprisingly aged quite well. Remaking this series with updated visuals would be mistake because I feel there is a charm in the old art style. The magic of the show would certainly go lost along with the old feel of it.

Dragonball is an anime that cannot be missed. Do not let the length or the visuals of this anime discourage you. It's truly worth your time.

Join Goku in his mystical adventure for the Dragonballs!

Dragon Ball... 11\10 if I could!:

This show is a masterpiece, kicking off with an amazing story, great characters and some of the best anime humour! The art is quite obviously outdated, but not awful! And to top it all off, the music is awesome!

At the time of this review, I have only seen the Goku and The Tournament sagas but they have been great and have beaten what I have seen of Dragonball Z and Dragonball (Z) Kai.

Overall, Dragon Ball is a funny, action-packed anime and definitely worth watching!

The Dragonball Series, is the first in a line of series. It is about the adventures of a young boy Goku, and his travels as he quests to find the 7 magic dragonballs, which can grant anywish! This series is both a comedy and a fighting anime. I enjoyed it quiet a bit and it even enjoys a home in my personal anime collection.


Story

At times the story can be pretty simple, or obvious, or completely random. But overall the general story and the progression through it are very good. Although it doesnt measure up to other animes as well, its own orginal story and characters ... keep your interested and coming back for more.

Animation

To say it is simple is an understatement. They do recycle alot of animation, like in chase sequences, but over all well done animation, Sometimes it can be a bit crude but it never gets as bad as say: Scooby Do (an American Cartoon from back in the day.)

Sound

A decent sound tract, the intro song I always fast forward through because it is annoying. But other then that the series has decent soundtracks within the series.

Characters

Probly the main draw of this anime. The Characters are funny and orginal and have all kinds of quirks and flaws that makes you laugh. Alot of the characters are exteremly skilled in Martial arts and other techniques which gives the shows action sequences some major rewatchability and excietment.

Enjoyment

I loved this series it made me laugh, or at least chuckle, quiet a bit. A solid favorite of mine that i even went to the trouble of buying the commercial DVDs for the series. In fact writing this review has inspired me to crack it out and rewatch the series.

In Closing

If you enjoy silly humor, amazing martial arts fighting (which comes in later in the series the first several are very light on any actual fight sequences of any length.) But I love this series and Im pretty sure that you will too. So please give it a try.

Thought that i should update this review at the end of 2022. I wrote this review like 2 years ago, and it was kinda cringe lol. Anyways, DB is the first Anime that i ever really completed. Yes i have seen some that aired on TV in early 2000s but i dont count them. Dragon Ball is basically a parody of Journey to the West, and has literally NOTHING to do with what DBZ became. Some weird space alien planet buster type....... There is so MUCH to say about the OG Dragon Ball, all i can say is WATCH IT NOW. This is by far ... the best Anime i have ever watched in my entire life. I started around 2014 after i got a recommendation from a friend, then i tried to watch and i got hooked instantly. The storyline, the characters, the voice actors ( Japanese ) it just blew my MIND because at that point in my life i have never even watched anything like that. It was a surreal experience, and im glad i got to enjoy it. Again, all i can say is, that if you have not seen it, you SHOULD. Also i would like to say that the sequel DBZ and DBS is far different from this. There is no space aliens, planet buster op stuff.
Thanks for reading my review - Häxkarl

This series simply doesn't get the credit that it should, instead DBZ seems to get majority of the praise. I enjoyed both series and have watched them a ridiculous amount of times, but Dragonball has something that DBZ didn't, I don't know what that something is, but it's what makes Dragon ball the better series.

-Comedy (Not much of this carried over to DBZ)
-The series based around the tournaments
-Jackie Chun

Three things that made DB great; don't get me wrong, I would still rate DBZ perfect as well, I just don't think it's as clever as Dragonball.

#1: Emperor Pilaf Saga

Just like it happened with so many other people of my generation, I instantly fell in love with Dragonball. And I am talking about the original series, not Z which was what most watched in America and didn’t know there was more before it. By then, the plot had become the stereotype everybody was copying, instead of something completely different from everything else that was airing at that moment. Unless for some reason you were lucky enough to get another action adventure comedy series, with plot continuity, where everybody was a selfish idiot, instead of picture perfect boyscouts and one-dimensional bad guys. ... It’s funny to think how Dragonball, which came to be the monolith of fighting shonen formulas, began as a deconstruction of the typical hero’s journey and a satire of Chinese epics.

I won’t get into many details regarding the plot, which was all over the place and still full of creativity, and I will focus on its strongest element. Although you can easily separate the cast into good guys and bad guys, most of them were selfish and had their own agenda. They were moving as a group, but they had no unity. This was making it so fun to watch, as you never knew when would someone betray his allies and steal the Dragonballs. Furthermore, they were so different from one another, and had a negative trait to offset their positive one. This was creating a small and very balanced cast with fantastic chemistry during their interactions. And even the Dragonballs were seen as a way to fix their negative side, so they were in effect a form of catharsis, instead of a cheap way to come back to life all the time. You don’t get that as the number of characters increase and their features become less and less distinctive.
- Goku: Strong but dumb
- Bulma: Smart but vain
- Oolong: Cunning but naïve
- Yamcha: Ambitious but afraid of women
- Roshi: Super strong but slave to lust
- Pilaf: Has a huge armory but no leadership skills

Also, a big part of the appeal was how everyone was sexually frustrated, which was adding a lot to the comedy and the chemistry. It may not seem like much today, and can even be considered creepy, since it involves underage girls getting constantly naked and groped, but back when it was airing it was very bold and kinky, without striking as politically incorrect by excusing it as gag comedy. And the best part is that it never became a lame ecchi show, where they dig each other but always chicken out at the last moment. They were proactive about it, and by the end of the arc they got what they wanted.
- Bulma: Got a boyfriend
- Yamcha: Not afraid of women anymore
- Oolong: Got the underwear of a hot babe
- Chichi: Got a husband (eventually)

Just like it happens with every arc, Toriyama did not develop every concept, which was part of what caused inconsistencies and plot holes down the line. For example, a thing that was abandoned fast was Goku’s ability to communicate with animals. It was fun seeing him understand simple-minded creatures like himself. It was adding to his feral side, as opposed to the civilized humanity, which was relying on technology. Another dropped idea was the transformation school Oolong mentioned, and we never got to see. As much as I am glad there are no schools in the show, having the ability to change your shape would offer an aspect of strategy and deception to the battles. You could say Naruto picked up that idea, and even there you see how creative the battles were at first for being based on deception rather than huge energy beams, and how it lost its magic when it became all about chosen ones and sharingans. Just like a certain other show, which after a point on, it became all about saiyans and prophesies. It’s almost as if they repeat the same mistakes.

A last thing I want to point out was how short and compact the first arc was. It’s only 13 episodes long (12 if you remove the pinball filler) and the pacing was fast, with constant developments. It wasn’t letting you get bored, unlike later arcs which were dragging everything to last as much as possible. Thus, as a whole, it was a fantastic arc, and it even ended in a way that excuses a continuation, since it had already introduced Muten Roshi and his wish to train Goku. It’s easily a 9/10, with the only negative thing being the pinball filler.

#2: First World Tournament

Unless you were living in Latin America, this was the first time you would see an animated tournament arc. This is what would popularize it as a concept in the decades to come, to the point people were hyping the completely generic school festival of My Hero Academia. The one in Dragonball was still a fresh concept, thus it didn’t need to resort to the gimmicks of later arcs, such as getting interrupted before completion, once the outcome becomes predictable, or to be used as a cheap excuse to introduce new characters who will be important down the line. The new opponents in the first Dragonball tournament were pretty much fodders, so you were watching just to see how far the established heroes would go.

As always, the plot and rules during fighting are all over the place, but unlike the first arc, over here it is a much bigger issue. You don’t have rules to follow when you travel in the wilderness. Messy tactics and random events makes sense there. It is not the same when you are in a tournament and you get disqualified if you break the rules. Toriyama tried to stabilize a bit the complete chaos of his previous arc, but didn’t follow his own rules, as many contestants were using tools or left the arena before the end of the match and were not disqualified. It felt more of an oversight than a gag.

A downgrade is how we had less selfish agendas and distinctive personalities, compared to The Emperor Pilaf Saga. Bulma and Oolong became spectators, Yamcha begun his carrier as the guy who always gets defeated first, Chichi and Pilaf were absent. What was left was Goku fighting everyone who gets in his way, and Roshi who wanted to motivate his students.

From new faces, there was Kuririn as the new rival, as well as the best character of the arc. Despite sharing the same goal as everyone else in the tournament, he was the only one shown to have an inferiority complex and the only one adjusting to the tactics of every opponent he faced. Compared to him, Goku was a complete blockhead and Roshi was just there as a mentor instead of an opponent. Meaning, he was the typical underdog of sports and fighting shonen, in the role of the deuteragonist instead the protagonist. Funny how many call One Punch Man a deconstruction for doing the same with Genos, while Dragonball is the monolith despite doing the same 3 decades ago. Not many copy cats to be noticed yet, I guess.

From the best new character we move to the worst new character. Lunch was there just for pervy humor and some fairly one-note gag jokes. Toriyama had no idea what to do with her and eventually made her disappear. Many say he forgot about her, but the truth is he wanted to reuse her transformation and would feel weird if she was still around. What, don’t tell me her turning from a naïve black-haired person, to a blond battle maniac doesn’t remind you of something.

In terms of catharsis we got some, but it’s fairly one-note compared to The Emperor Pilaf Saga. There was only the message of Roshi, telling his students to keep training because there were stronger people out there. Not a bad excuse for Goku to go find the Dragonballs in the next arc as part of his training, but also not much for Kuririn or anyone else to do something about it.

The pacing was slower in this arc and not many things happened per episode. There wasn’t much action or adventure to the most part, as it was either a very long training session, or a static arena. Although the training episodes were vital for showing the fruits of their labor, they were also empty of things to care about. It was way better than instantly getting power ups or skipping training altogether, but something plot-relevant should have been happening in the meantime for making these episodes rewatchable. Thus, as a whole, it was still a fairly good arc, but not as good as the first one, so I give it a 7/10.

#3: Red Ribbon Saga

The Red Ribbon Saga was devoid of character chemistry, making it very boring to the most part. Despite trying to copy the plot of The Emperor Pilaf Saga by having Goku looking for the Dragonballs again, there were no companions with him to make his journey fun. He was meeting new allies for a few episodes, but as soon as he was leaving that place, he would be alone and they would never be seen again. Watching Goku steamrolling his enemies was fun for awhile, but it also felt hollow with no allies to add something more to his fights. Toriyama probably wanted to show how after his training Goku was now capable to fend for himself, but that came at the expense of less tension and no multiple agendas.

The Red Ribbon villains were all generic megalomaniacs, with nothing to offset it. Despite having a huge army at their disposal, they were far less interesting that a comic relief like Pilaf. He had his lack of leadership to offset the ridiculously varied weaponry he was using, whereas General Red had only a one-note joke about being short and wanting the balls to become tall. There was nothing to build from it, and he was disposed of quickly. In fact, all the bad generals were disposed of quickly and were never seen again, just like it happened with the new allies. Despite having plot continuity, this arc felt like a series of standalone missions, since nothing was added or resolved at the end of each one, besides Goku getting a ball and the bad guys losing redshirts. I didn’t care about Muscle Tower, the sunken pirate treasure, or the cross over with Doctor Slump.

In my mind all these episodes before the introduction of Tao, should have merged with the training ones from the previous arc. Imagine how cooler it would be for Goku to be fighting these guys not for gathering the Dragonballs, but as part of his training, while also delivering milk or doing construction work. By the time he was ready to go to the tournament, he would have gained enough battle experience to excuse his place in the finals.

Anyways, back to the canon plot, the only thing Toriyama could think of for saving this snorefest was introducing a fighter stronger than Goku. This begins the transition to the formula we came to know in Z. No more selfish and flawed teams of characters, trying to help out each other while also having personal agendas. From here on it’s constantly introducing stronger and stronger opponents for Goku to beat after he trains and gets a power up. Plus, the Dragonballs turned into an excuse to bring dead allies back to life, than offering some sort of psychological catharsis, as it was the case in the beginning. The show became way more repetitive and straightforward because of this shift.

But if I limit my scope in this arc alone, I gotta admit, Goku kicking the crap out of Tao and then storming the enemy base was one of the coolest battles I have seen in my life, even if it came very late in the arc, it was one-sided, and had no strategy whatsoever.

As a whole, it was a dull arc, with a bombastic finale, so I give it a 5/10.

#4: Second World Tournament

What followed the most satisfying Red Ribbon battle, were more boring missions with little to no consequence behind them. First they had this mini tournament for finding the last ball, which was only about resurrecting a guy we didn’t care about, and who will play no part later on. The only true payoff was Goku meeting his dead grandpa, but even that didn’t matter once it was over, since he also plays no part in later arcs. After that, Goku goes on another trip around the world soloing nobodies and we get another bunch of standalone missions with no consequence.

Then the second world tournament begins and you clearly see how little to no engagement there is compared to the first one. It was no longer much of a gag comedy, Goku had already proven to be stronger than Roshi at this point, Kuririn being insecure was hollow once you know he is stronger than anyone else past the known heroes, and Roshi was there for the heck of it. They tried to make it seem like he was afraid of killing Goku but it was disregarded soon afterwards.

The new main opponent was Tien, a badly handled character who was introduced in this arc without Toriyama doing something with him or his friend, Chiaozu, in later arcs. He had plans to make him an alien and Lunch his girlfriend but after the declining popularity of the series, he scrapped his initial plan and never bothered to even give him a backdrop. That is why as cool as the final showdown between Goku and Tien was, you were given no reason to care about who wins. They couldn’t kill each other, and there was nothing at stake as opposed to the Red Ribbon arc.

Heck, the only reason Tien was there was so he could avenge Tao, a guy he didn’t even care about. At least he got some catharsis by rejecting his master’s command, but even that came before the finale, rendering the outcome pointless. Even the finale was not as good as the one in the previous tournament, since it didn’t feel like they were stronger than Roshi. There was nothing remotely close to an Oozaru transformation or a blowing up the moon situation. So, why this arc was even made besides having a fighting tournament for the sake of hyping the shonentards?

In my mind, this is where Tao should have been introduced, as a merciless killer who along with his students was paid by the Red Ribbon army to kill the Turtle team. The tournament would play out in the exact same way, with Goku versus Tao and the attack on the base taking place after the tournament. It could even end with Red Ribbon releasing Piccolo in their desperation or something. It would have given far more meaning to the tournament, and even an opening for the next arc. Without any of that, it was an almost skippable arc and I give it a 4/10.

#5: King Piccolo Saga

The arc starts with a bang and remains sky high in tension from beginning to end. Not only the new villains can kill even the strongest fighters with a few hits, they also have a personal connection to the heroes. Goku makes it his personal vendetta when they kill his friend, while Roshi was still around when Piccolo attacked in the past and remember the horror. The death count was ridiculously high, seemingly killing half of the cast, and the battles were brutal as hell for their time.

Still, it had become “Goku does everything” at this point, which was quite disappointing, since the secondary characters were completely incapable to achieve something significant, or even add something extra to the dynamics of each other. Goku was the one taking everyone out and saving the day, by predictably getting a power up first. The plot was basically the exact same as the one with when he fought Tao, only with many more deaths of characters we know and care about. By the way, the latest power up was one of the lowest points in the series, since it was lazily thrown in and was never mentioned again. No training was involved, all Goku had to do is drink a potion. Bah!

Still, the final showdown with Piccolo was an amazing fight, and had enough collateral damage to make you believe they were far more powerful than anyone else that came before. If the series had ended here, it would have been the most amazing finale of any shonen, period. But it didn’t. A great arc nonetheless, with the downsides being the lack of meaningful secondary character interactions and the very lazy power up. I give it an 8/10.

#6: Third World Tournament

Oh great, another tournament, even more hollow than the second one. If the first was about Goku and Kuririn testing their skill, and the second about Tien avenging Tao, the third had nothing. None of the secondary characters had something to do or prove.
-Roshi didn’t bother participating, since he accepted being surpassed by the new generation.
-Yamcha, and Chiaozu were jokes at this point, complete jobbers to be thrown away without a second thought.
-Chichi was a jobber as well, and also evidence of Toriyama not knowing how to write dynamic female characters. As soon as she was beaten by Goku, she became a submissive housewife and never fought again in her life. And by the way, she didn’t even need to fight Goku to have evidence of his superior strength. Just being a spectator would be enough. Being forced to fight was just chauvinistic bullshit.
-Tao was also a jobber, and on top of that a discount Tien and Piccolo Jr. since he too was there just for revenge. We are totally not rehashing ideas. By the way, he was still alive for no apparent reason, and became a cyborg without ever explaining how. Great writing there, Toriyama. Furthermore, the only thing he did was making Tien look cool for awhile. The once proud mightiest assassin devolved into a throwaway plot device.
-Tien had nothing to prove anymore, and on top of that he already knew he had no chance against Goku. Defeating Tao was his best moment, but even that was hollow since he had already denied his past when he disobeyed his master. There was nothing for him in this battle.
-Kuririn wasn’t even afraid this time to the point of stupidity. He gets defeated by a guy he never saw before and doesn’t even wonder who the hell besides his allies is powerful enough to best him.

The only ones who mattered were Goku and Piccolo Jr. but even they were just there for a rematch. The objective was the exact same one from the previous arc, without something different to make it worth it. Not only that, it took away all the consequences by resurrecting everyone who died and destroyed the serious atmosphere it was going for.

There was no point for this arc to exist. What did it add or change?
-We got an origin story for the Dragonballs, but it was more like dressing.
-We got a backdrop for Kami and Piccolo, which retroactively ruined the tension of the previous arc, since it turns out there was never any actual threat coming from Piccolo. If Kami was really afraid of him, he could have simply killed himself, which would have ended Piccolo as well. He could have killed himself to erase Piccolo Jr. as well, but he didn’t, because piccolo was never much of a problem. Kami didn’t even need to personally go fight in the tournament, or even to train Goku. Mr. Popo was much stronger than all of them put together. He could always move his ass out of that sky palace, teleport anywhere he likes with his flying carpet, and capture Piccolo in a few seconds.
-Goku was taller, and Piccolo looked different, but how did that change their dynamics? I mean, it did change when the Saiyans became a common enemy, but this does not matter in this arc. As a standalone event, it was meaningless and nobody got any catharsis; unless Chichi marrying the guy who was the first to touch her privates somehow counts. Heck, it even ends with Goku letting Piccolo leave so they can fight FOR THE THIRD TIME, while also refusing to be the new guardian deity of Earth. Everything ended the way it began. The filler arc with the wedding was also the worst possible way to end the original series.

Here is what I would have done if I had the means to write the reboot. The previous tournament would be interrupted in the finals by the Piccolo spawns. This would leave Tien with a grudge against Goku, that wouldn’t be resolved until he fought Tao later on. All those who got killed would be minor secondary characters that got shelved by Toriyama (like Crane and Lunch) and do not get resurrected later on. When Goku gets defeated by old Piccolo, he would be taken straight to Kami for training. Piccolo would rule the world for 3 years and then would arrange a tournament for gathering everyone who would want him dead in one place. Goku and the others would train all this time and join there, with the goal being to take out Piccolo. This takes out the stupid potion power up and merges the two fights of Goku versus Piccolo into one. As for Jr., his egg could have come from Piccolo when he got killed, promising a rematch when he grows up. There, this instantly made everything ten times better and doesn’t change the overall plot of later arcs.

But this is just fan fiction, and the canon is a terrible conclusion to the original Dragonball. 3/10

Overview:

Today I pay my respects to one of the all time classics of shonen anime. Some of you might be thinking, "seriously? This filthy casual weak sauce!?" As someone who has always loved reading classical literature, biology, history, and art, the gradual evolution and shaping forces on a medium is of great interest to me. It is impossible to discuss shonen anime without bringing up Dragon Ball. The tremendous influence that Dragonball had on both the fighting Shonen genre and anime in general must be acknowleged, even by those that dislike the series. What the hell made this series so freaking popular and influential? That ... is what I wish to delve into.

Story: 8/10

The story as most people reading this review are no doubt aware, was based on the Chinese novel Journey to the West. In addition to this novel, Dragon ball also spoofs many East Asian folk tales that would all be instantly recognizable to the young Japanese audience in the same way the fairy tales being spoofed in Shrek are well known to Western audiences. In addition to folk tales, Toriyama REALLY likes Kung fu movies. The training from Master Roshi seems to be heavily inspired from the 1978 kung-fu movie "36 Chambers of Shaolin". Goku is based off the Monkey King Sun Wukong and instead of going on a Buddhist journey to India, he must accompany the daughter of a famous scientist to collect the Dragon Balls, which will grant any wish, such as immortality, or the panties off a hot babe. The first villain of dragonball is not a super powerful being that threatens the existence of the universe, but instead the bumbling "emperor" Pilaf. Although what country he is supposedly the emperor of is never explained. Dragonball starts out with a LOT less action focus and more comedy, similar to Toriyama's previous manga Dr. Slump. In fact, some of the early chapters of Dragonball reference running gags from Slump (like poop on a stick)... don't ask. The series gets more and more action oriented as tougher villains emerge like Tao Pai Pai, Tien-Shinhan, and Piccolo. However, the humor throughout dragonball is far more balanced with the action portions unlike DBZ, which often takes itself a bit seriously for such a silly story and characters. Another advantage that Dragonball has over its far more famous sequel is that prior to Kai, Dragonball had a LOT less filler. There is some bad filler to be sure, including an episode of nothing bu Piccolo powering up, but the total amount is FAR less than the original run of DBZ. The fight scenes in Dragonball are also more interesting to me because the emphasis is actually on martial arts and not JUST on screaming and lasers. By the time it got to DBZ, the battles were far more like a wizard duel firing spells back and forth and flying around than an actual martial arts match. In Dragonball however, people actually kick and punch each other, and it doesn't just show 2 blurs colliding across the screen because "they are moving too fast to see", which may be the laziest artist excuse in the history of comics. Even Toriyama himself admits this.

Characters: 7/10

The characters may not be very deep, but they are a lot of fun. In DBZ only a few characters actually mattered and the rest were pretty much worthless. In Dragonball it is far more balanced and the human characters actually manage to help out a LOT more often. The human characters that helped in all of DBZ were: Yajirobe once and Mr. Satan twice. That is really about it. I don't even think it is up for debate that Mr. Satan is the most useful fully human character in DBZ, which is pretty sad for humanity. Note that I said the most useful, NOT the strongest. The strongest fully human character in DBZ according to Toriyama is Krillen, so apparently Tien and #18 don't count as fully human? I guess since one is a cyborg and the other is...a mutant maybe? Either that or Toriyama simply forgot about Tien in that interview because he hasn't given a flying fuck about DB/DBZ in 20 years. Back to Dragon Ball, I also like the use of more comedic villains including General Blue (a psychic, gay Nazi) General Red (a guy who wants to collect the Dragon Balls so he can wish to be slightly taller) and Tao Pai Pai (a hilarious spoof of 70s Kung Fu movie masters that kills people with his tongue and throws objects so he can jump on them and ride them for hundreds of miles).

Sound: 8/10

The soundtrack is pretty awesome overall, although some tracks are repeated a bit too often.

Art: 5/10

The art and animation is not exactly gold standard today, but was acceptable considering this was the 1980s.

overall: 7/10

Along with spoofing already famous and well liked stories and characters, Dragon Ball manages to do an excellent job combining action and comedy together into a fun adventure with a little something for everyone. This formula may seem obvious now, but in the 1980s, most anime was VERY niche and most of it was not written to appeal to a very wide, general audience. Anime consisted largely of giant robot series including: Mazinger Z, the original Gundam, Macross, and Go Lion (known as Voltron outside Japan). These giant robot and sentai series were the most wide reaching and popular anime of their day, but still couldn't capture that large a demographic. Female viewers especially seemed to show ZERO interest in giant robot series. The martial arts anime that existed in the 80s were bloody, dark, and had little to no humor in them, except of course for the unintentional humor caused by the amount of sheer 80s action cheese. Some of the big martial arts anime prior to Dragon Ball were Fist of the North Star, Violence Jack, and the dozens of ripoffs that followed in their wake. Dragon Ball changed shonen manga and anime forever by finding a much larger audience and bringing it more into the mainstream, at least in Japan. The popularity of shonen anime and the magazine Shonen Jump exploded thanks to Dragonball and the entire industry began to grow rapidly and spread out demographically. Without the existence of Dragonball, anime may have stayed extremely niche and never really expanded outside of Japan with few exceptions. Were that the case, I wouldn't be writing this because no english language site devoted to anime reviews would exist.

Oh DragonBall, I consider this the greatest anime of all time. Better than DragonBall Z or DB GT (in my opinion).
The story of a boy (with a monkey tale) Goku and a girl Bulma who travel the world looking for the 7 dragon balls that when brought together grants a wish. They eventually make friends who join their team…
I prefer DB over DBZ because DB Kid Goku was a clueless kid which was adorable. DBZ Adult Goku is a clueless adult not really interesting.
DB had more actual fighting hand-to-hand while I found that DBZ had too much standing around charging energy and firing energy.
DB was ... a nice simple, enjoyable, funny adventure with great characters that were useful, but in DBZ these loved characters were put aside and the show focused on Saiyans (monkey-like warrior aliens from a planet called Vegeta).
DB had a great villain King Piccolo. DBZ also had great villains such as Frieza and Broly, I find the rest of the villains of DBZ to be the same thing repeated…
DBZ introduced us to the SuperSaiyan which was cool but then I find that they went overboard with SuperSaiyan 2, 3, 4…too much.
DB will always have a special place in my heart, I consider kid Goku to be the best anime character of all time.

Well, this review might seem overrated and that might be true as I am a little biased to this anime.

I came to know about Dragonball through Dragonball Z. To be honest, I thought this would be another action-packed masterpiece like Dragonball Z when I started to watch it.

Don't get me wrong. This one is a masterpiece. But unlike Dragonball Z, this anime focuses heavily on comedy. You will see a lot of slapstick-style comedy everywhere throughout this series. (Even from the first episode)

The art style also focuses on comedy. Sometimes it does get serious. But most of the time, it will make ... you smile, even in the midst of a serious fight.

This story is mainly about Goku. But others are not totally neglected. They all have their signature style, unique stories, unique contributions to the story. The character development may not be perfect. But it looks good enough to me.

Apart from these, there is one more thing that makes this anime unique. That is Akira Toriyama's art style. Yes, the typical funky hairstyles are there. But after watching a single episode (or just watching a picture), you will be able to find many uniqueness in his artstyle.

Well, that's it. I hope you enjoy the anime like I did.

This has got to be one of the best anime out there! I was first introduced by this how when I was but 5 or 6 years old, the american version! I hated it! But now that I watched the Japanese version with English sub. I was taken into a more colorful, more expressive world!

Art 9/10: What can I say? It has it's own unique quality and although I something think Goku looks more like a frog taking, his cute personalities, as well as the other characters, just keep me watching it!

Sound 10/10: Epic, classic!

Character9/10: I ... thought the character could have developed, more maturely, throughout the series, but, I was guessing the humor just made up the more "dramatic" development I was looking for that I normally fancy! Also, I wanted other characters to develop such as Bulma and Master Roshi, but it's forgivable!

Enjoyment 10/10: I enjoyed every episodes! I sometimes find myself laughing my ass off and rolling on the floor! Hahaha! Really loved it!

Overall 10/10: This is classic! If I wasn't introduced to Dragon Ball episodes, I wouldn't be where I am today, right! Writing a review!

If you haven't heard about Dragon Ball then you are not a true anime fan. I rate this keeping in mind that the art and sound is what it is because it was created in the 80's. Dragon Ball was NOT a part of my childhood although I truly wish it was. Most people I know were exposed to the series because of it's sequel, Dragon Ball Z (so was I). Several years back I decided to download the entire series already having watched Dragon Ball Z on TV in my teen years. I wanted to know Goku's back story, how he and his friends ... came to be and the genesis of this anime classic. I was definitely not disappointed. Many a times, watching something backwards from it's sequel, one can get a little disappointed because you already know how powerful the character is and to go back and see him crawl his way to the top in 150 episodes might be kinda draining and dull... but that's not true. Sometimes understanding and learning about a beloved character's past can be just as interesting and exciting.

I watched all episodes and was entertained and gained knowledge of these characters and appreciated them far more than I would have in Dragon Ball Z alone. To watch and grow along with them, and see the long journey unfold into something more intense is exciting and worth the watch. If this is to be watched by any one, I recommend the uncensored version because watching it the way it's meant to be watched makes it way more interesting and at times, funnier.

This was the first one I saw.
It is clear it is written for preschool kids.

My review is from the stand point of a adult who is a anime fan. A reminder that Anime in japan is generally watched by adults and not kids.... Like action seems to be the preference for kid viewing.

Overly simplistic story, hero is rather dim witted, plots are ... well... non-existent it seems.

It seems to be the source of the further mythology later on. Kinda sad to base a series on something so dull witted.
Another problem is EVERYONE is on steroids....
Again this is were it kinda started ... off on a bad footings.....

Doing this to help save people's sanity and intellect.
If you're like me and a adult and looking for content, not animated WWE/WWF then I suggest moving on....

Dragonball is overrated. There is no story. Goku is a obnoxious little kid. Bulma is annoying and abusive. The music is awful as well as the art. The pacing is slow and there are so many filler episodes. There is nothing good about this anime. Everything is bad from music, art, character design, fighting scenes, villains, solutions, endings. All of it is just awful. After skipping around and watching 50 episodes of this nonsense I dropped it. If you value your time and have a life then stay away from dragonball. Especially if your 18+. But if your an autistic 9 year old then go ... ahead and watch this cardboard wrapped piece of terd flavored candy.

I am giving "Dragon Ball" 10/10, and not just because this is a classic anime. A lot of people prefer "Dragon Ball Z" over the original, and I don't doubt I will like it. But... I don't think the sense of friendship and adventure seen here can be recreated anymore. As the series went on, it just became a way to show great animation and impressive battles, but little by little, the soul of simplicity and adventure was lost. Here is where it will always remain. A story that began with a weird boy with a tail and a girl on a mission to find ... all the dragon balls. And nothing can ruin the experience, even the fillers and perversion of Master Roshi and Oolong can be excused. These 153 episodes gave me so much hope, joy and entertainment over the years it took me to watch them all that I cannot put it all in one review. I can, however, say I always rooted for Goku with enjoyment as he beaten bad guys! And the first time he defeated Piccolo, I almost had a heart attack due to intensity of the scene. "Dragon Ball" really does deserve a place in a hall of fame and I recommend it to everyone. It is truly an amazing tale and I am both happy and scared of the sequels because of the changes they introduced... Thank you Akira Toriyama, from the bottom of my heart, thank you! You are going to heaven for this!

(May contain Spoilers) I give this Anime an 8, here is why. First reason, GOKU. If this anime was crap, had audio that made me want to listen to Nickelback, and visuals that made me want to poke my eyes out with rusty spoons, and a plot so bad, that it made School Days seem like a Quentin Tarantino film, This would still get at least a 5. It is like a Katy Perry song. You can feature Based God in it and it would still number 1 because of Katy Perry. Goku is the superman of Anime. He can do whatever he wants and ... not get into trouble. He smacks Bulmas coochie a few times, lives alone, and uses the 4 star ball as a butt plug. Bulma's character is kind of annoying, is never happy, tries to kill Goku with Second Degree murder, but Goku is still nice to this dumb gatorade color hair broad. Goku's strength increases tenfold throughout the film. If he started out as Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory, he ended up as Arnold Schwarzenegger in his Prime. One thing I do complain about is the Red Ribbon Saga, especially the Muscle tower part. I would rather watch golf, or live in England, or shove Deodorant sticks and ghost peppers up my urethra. I will end this off by saying, If you want to know how badass Goku is when he was a child, and how many porn mags Master Roshi keeps in his rock he calls home, watch this Anime.

During the winter of 2018 I decided to watch an airing anime, that anime being Goblin Slayer. What does Goblin Slayer have to do with Dragon Ball, you ask? I'll get to that in a moment. As melodramatic as it may sound, Goblin Slayer essentially made me quit anime. It wasn't a lone effort, I had started many shows around this time that I also hated, like K-On, and shows that I found criminally boring, like Orange. I realized that at this point I wasn't even watching anime because I wanted to, I was simply watching anime to watch anime. This sort of dispassionate approach ... to watching a show sapped all the enjoyment for the medium, and so I quit. For around a year and a half I didn't watch any anime, outside of a couple movies. But one thing kept nagging in the back of my head "I gotta finish Dragon Ball".
See, in that time where I was watching bland, uninteresting shows, I began to watch Dragon Ball as well, arguably the most famous anime of all time. I got through the second story arc, but because of how burnt out I was by the other things I had read, I took a break. A much longer break than I expected. But that nagging thought kept coming back into my head. I started Dragon Ball because I wanted to experience a show that had redefined the Shonen genre as a whole. But I also did it for very similar reasons that I started Goblin Slayer and those other shows, simply to watch anime.
It was in August of 2020 that I bought a game called Dragon Ball FighterZ, and I played it excessively with my friends, I still do. I had outrageous amounts of fun, and seeing all of the flashy combos and cool moves was always a joy. But I didn't understand the context of any of it. It was this that inspired me to watch Dragon Ball. A few weeks later and I had finished the show just before school started, and I went right into Dragon Ball Z. And then Super. And then GT, for better or worse. I watched the movies, even the terrible live action one, and I read the spin-off manga, I was well and truly obsessed. In the span of 3 months I had consumed nearly every piece of animated Dragon Ball media. But there was a marked difference between this and the anime watching I had done in 2018. I was truly in love with Dragon Ball, flaws and all. It helped that my friends were watching it at the same time, so I could crack jokes with them about the less than stellar parts and rave about the parts we loved. To this day we still reference the show daily, much to the chagrin of our friends who haven't watched it.
What, you may ask, is this story doing in a review of Dragon Ball? Well, it is to explain why I have such a high rating, a 10/10, for a show that is far from perfect. It is to explain that Dragon Ball reignited my passion not only for anime but for media as a whole, in that year and a half where I didn't watch anime, I didn't watch any shows really, but Dragon Ball inspired me to take the plunge and watch other shows I had been wanting to watch for ages, like Breaking Bad or Stranger Things. Dragon Ball is honestly tied for my favorite anime, alongside JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. And while yes I do have hazy nostalgia for the show, I would occasionally catch an episode or two when Kai was airing, and my friends in elementary school talked about it a lot, my main reason for loving the show is because of what it represents.
Anime fans as a whole, and I'm sorry if this offends you, are generally incredibly annoying. I have never seen a funny meme related to something like Sword Art Online or Goblin Slayer, but Dragon Ball has a community filled with hilarious people who love the show, and love to poke fun at it. There is nothing I hate more than Reddit anime fans, but Dragon Ball is so mainstream that it doesn't attract the sort of annoying people I so often see talking about other shows online. Dragon Ball is truly a positive experience.
This review isn't as much a review for the show itself, as while I could talk about it for hours, there's nothing I could say about it that hasn't been said before. Instead, I thought I'd recount my experience with the series, and explain why I love it so much. Dragon Ball is the last series I really planned on watching. I will likely catch up with One Piece, and perhaps watch a few shows here and there, but when it comes to watching shows so impulsively and being so involved with the anime fandom as a whole, I think this is a good place to hang up my hat. And while there's a certain melancholy I feel when thinking about that, I won't restrict myself, because if there's something I want to watch, I'll watch it. But not just for the sake of watching it, instead because I truly think I'll love it.

In closing, Yamcha could destroy your favorite anime character.

The original Dragon Ball is the beginning of what became the most famous anime series of all time, everybody knows what Dragon Ball is. The original and the Z saga are the best 2 versions of Dragon Ball. I take the Z saga over the original but this one gets better with his progress and ends up in a high note. The Z saga the best parts are the sagas in the first half of the anime...

The second and the third martial arts tournament are fun to watch, the Red Ribbon vs Goku feud is also entertaining especially the sacred tower and the Tao Pai ... Pai parts. But the highlight of the anime is the Piccolo Daimao saga, it's in my top 3 overall Dragon Ball sagas with the Saiyans and the Frieza sagas...

One of Toei Animations (Galaxy Express 999) best franchises anime ever made, Dragon Ball. Spanning at 153 episodes this is the shounen epic of all shounen anime. Thanks to the work by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball was one of the first anime that came to the west and started a revolution.

The first arc in the epic starts with a little boy with a tail called Goku living alone in the forest when a teenage girl named Bulma runs into him looking for dragon balls (mysterious balls when all 7 are gathered together they grant one wish). In the beginning, the banter between the two is ... absolutely hilarious, and continues when they start adding companions to their quest such as Oolong the shape shifting pig and Yamcha the teenage bandit. During their quest together, they run into various villains and more comedy and what not ensues. And that’s only the first arc, episodes 1-13.

Afterwards the story continues with a couple martial arts tournaments all the way to Goku single handily taking on an evil army.
Goku, as a character is adorable, naïve, and super strong. He has a pure heart and wants to train in martial arts to be the strongest. No overpowered forms, power levels, or robots in this one. Just good old fashioned martial arts and fighting, and something as simple as flying is something to behold.

Of course there are many other characters met along the way, but telling about them all and each arc would ruin the fun. What else to do, but if the time allows for it, this is one of the best shounen anime ever made. Dragon Ball is a must watch, and a great anime for anybody to start out with.