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Before you start reading, please keep in mind that I am a huge Dragon Ball Z fan. So that may influence my opinion a bit.

Dragon Ball Z marked quite a few firsts in its genre. One could almost argue that if it wasn't Dragon Ball Z, anime may not have become what it is today. It started in the 1980's in Japan, but did not reach American TV until the 90's. I remember coming home from school every day as a kid and turning my TV on to Cartoon Network to watch this show. Fast forward ten years later ... and I still find a lot of enjoyment in the series, even after watching each episode numerous times.

The story is pretty basic when compared to most mainstream anime these days, but it works so well for this particular show. I guess you could almost compare the main character, Son Goku, to Superman. There seems to be a constant theme of forgiveness and redemption through the show as well, as the viewer as well as the main characters always try to see the good in others rather then the evil. With that said, one could really learn a lot from a show like Dragon Ball Z. In a way, as a kid, it taught me a lot of important morals and values. A lot of the enjoyment value also came from the story. It was so well written and done for an action cartoon that I honestly do have a hard time finding a complaint. I guess if I did have one it would be that torwards the end things start to get a little same-y, but other then that it worked perfect.

The art of the show was also fairly good, but it could have been better. It always seemed like the environments used in many of the battles were re-used. Characters often would fight in the same desert based scenario or the same wilderness one. While detail was added to the art as time went on, it always seemed lacking to me. Even the recent Dragon Ball Z special that came out seemed like the art was a step or two behind its time.

The music and sound really did shine out in DBZ and made up for a few of the downsides in the art department. There were some pretty epic soundtracks that came with this anime and each one really fit the battle taking place. I really liked some of the themes that were associated with the main characters, as it really set the mood for the character's personality.

The characters were very well written, each having his or her own good and bad sides. What was interesting is the way the viewer could see the change in personality in some characters, who would start off evil but later become good. Again, the theme of forgiveness could be seen here and was backed up in one or two main characters. Viewers and fans would also get really attached to some characters, more so then in other animes I know.

To wrap this up, Dragon Ball Z is a great anime and could provide a lot more entertainment then a lot of mainstream action cartoons today. To be honest, I still find DBZ to be a better show then Naruto. Again, the fact I am a huge fan may interfere with that, but when I look it at it from a normal viewers point of view, I still see the same thing. Naruto lost its charm after the first 120 episodes or so and Dragon Ball Z maintained it all the way to the end. If you haven't seen this legendary anime yet, I recommend checking it out. It gets a 9/10 overall.