Dragon Ball

#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

The granddaddy of shounen battle titles alongside Saint Seiya and Fist of the North Star, Dragon Ball popularized the genre that would spawn later titles like Bleach, Naruto and One Piece. While Dragon Ball Z is the most popular and widely known title in the Dragon Ball franchise among anime fans, Dragon Ball was what led the series to its start in becoming a popular franchise among anime fans. The series actually starts off as a gag comedy series spinning its own take on Journey to the West with its focus on Goku and Bulma seeking out the whereabouts of seven Dragon Balls that will ... grant any wish to whomever gathers all of them. A number of the characters in the series like Goku and the Ox King are based off characters found within the Chinese tale, who either adopt elements prominent to said character or are loosely adapted with aspects greatly exaggerated. After the first arc with King Pilaf, the series then goes off into a standard storytelling format for a shounen title that revolves between Goku and pals locating the Dragon Balls against enemy threats, Goku receiving training to get stronger and then entering a martial arts tournament.

Starting off as a gag comedy, Dragon Ball is mostly comical in its earlier episodes focusing on the exaggerated traits of its characters and their interactions with each other as the main source of humor for the series. It gets increasingly serious in later episodes as Goku encounters stronger and more deadlier enemy threats, as such where they challenge Goku's highly formidable martial arts prowess. The humor was a bit hit-or-miss for me as I did get some laughs out of some elements to the characters like Goku's naivete of understanding proper behavior in the outside world and Launch's angered personality wrecking havoc, while the show's focus on perverted characters like Oolong and Roshi had me feeling more indifferent towards their antics. Beyond the comedy, Dragon Ball does offer a good amount of world building in exploring the various areas that make up its world and the major characters/ factions in the series are fleshed out enough where you can understand their backgrounds and motives, even if they may seem a bit on the simple side compared to modern shounen titles. The battles for it were also more engaging for me than DBZ since there are a wider range of battle abilities characters demonstrated while DBZ got mostly monotonous with showing off transformations and energy attacks. The storytelling does have its bumps at points such as consistency in plot developments, the Dragon Balls eventually turning into a plot device used by the heroes to undo any of the evil deeds done by a major villain and the occasional filler episodes that add nothing to advancing the plot or exploring more elements to the world of the series. Plus, the show's not really groundbreaking in any way for what it offers up with its premise for a shounen title as later shounen titles milk use of its character types and storytelling cliches.

Visually, the show's drawing style is rather outdated in its rough lining and washed-out colors for scenery and character designs. Animation shortcuts are employed often during battle scenes such as speed stripes, reused animation frames and still shots. The music for the series consists of upbeat and energetic tracks meant to accompany the show's various comedic and tense moments that do their part well, but aren't really memorable in any way.

While I'm not the biggest Dragon Ball fan, I still find myself thinking that the first series was better over its overly hyped sequel since it had more appealing elements to it besides the fights. The animation's dated for it and it doesn't really offer anything groundbreaking since later shounen titles have milked its storytelling and character tropes to death. But its moments with comedy, world building and more engaging fights still made it a decent watch for its 153 episode run.

The whole dragon ball series, in my opinion, is so annoyingly repetitive.
Its just full of fights, and fights, and fights, and also theres a hint of FIGHTING in there. Not to mention a lot of shouting, and fights...

The only character development I noticed, were the characters getting stronger, but thats it, its all based on the fighting and shouting.
"I WILL NOT LET YOU DESTROY MY WORLD" was a sick moment when Goku tried defending the whole of earth against Beerus.

Overall i rated it a 5, but decided to keep it to myself to not lower the rating of the anime.
I find the MC (Goku) to ... be:
- Extremely Powerful - Gets Stronger.
- Average IQ.
- High Battle IQ - Has fought for ages.
- Incredibly High Endurance.
- Unlimited Power Potential.

One of the things i was very disappointed by was the repetitive transformation appearances the Saiyans had. They weren't unique at all compared to the other characters' transformations - like Frieza. The Saiyans just changed hair colour/length and got stronger. I honestly wish that they would change it up a bit.

if you had all seven dragon balls what would you wish for?

Story: for it time it wasn't bad i mean i have had a few chuckles along the way. i did find this to be very repetitive i mean basically goku goes on adventure and training when training is does he go to tournament and when the tournament is over go back on training and then back to tournament so can feel like it not going anywhere as much however the fight scene are pretty cool especially displaying one destructive power even if it on ... a small scale compare to the later series such as dragon ball z and super.

character: Goku as a kid is pretty funny i did enjoy his character for he never gives up and always fight to the bitter end although i can't say much about the other characters
Bulma is definitely the much annoying character of the series for she always complaining about something i do like her in the later series when she more calm down and actually help a lot with goku. but the other character like yamcha and krillin make more than enough to continue one with the series and let not forget about the pervy old man roshi which always give me a good laugh.


art/sound now i recognize this as an older series so the anime isn't gonna look as great as it older series but it was watchable didn't really bother me watching it which is great and the op is memorable and it is catchy though you can get bored of it after while but hey down the road anytime you hear it dragon ball would always come to mind.

overall: i did enjoy the series even though i not really a fan of the whole repetitiveness but you do see the character development and i do mean that you can watch them grow up becoming of age which i though is pretty awesome especially if it make you feel like you have been on the adventure with them the whole time. this is what makes for a classic anime series. if you like the repetitive cycle and the fight scene then you would enjoy it but if not then i recommend watching the later series like dragon ball z or super.

Can only really repeat mostly from my Z review. A show which score is solely based on nostalgia. It should be respected seeing how much its done the the industry. But as someone not affected by it and only judge it for its material this is no more than a mediocre 6/10 show. No story. Find the Dragon balls. Ok done. Ok now do it again. No point doing it or some greater story or lore about the world. Just wanting to be strong. Flat one dimensional characters without interesting backstories or personality. Some sick fetishes from the writer. One OP for the entire show. ... Its quite good but not that good. No OP is.

Ill give this a 6/10 in respect to its importance. But without being a 7 year old kid or having the nostalgia factor it simply cant go higher.

Here is one of the animes that have paved the way for many shounens we know.
This anime is one of the most entertaining i ever watched. the adventure of our MC, the fun cast, the comedy made me laugh so many times and some really good themes. There were some good fights with actual creativity involved in, and the fighting techniques are way cooler than your sequel. But i would say it kind of falls off later on, the main cast was forgotten, some arcs were sort of repetitive, and most of the villains were not it. Plus there were some unnecessary arcs and there ... were some moments where felt way too dragged.

Like watching paint dry, but with iconic moments.

Sometimes it's not worth watching shows from your childhood because it certainty didn't hold up for me. appreciated From a Distance but god damn Dragon Ball is slow really slow. I completed Dragon Ball z without a problem, but this one this was too much.

It has some humorous moment and I still enjoy the beginning of the show but when the fights begins they feel so drawn out and the tournaments are the worst part of it because we have the Spectators the people fighting and announcer talking about every fighting moves and it begins to ... take a long time for them to keep fighting.

The characters I like family to me after all of these years even if the show is slow. I still enjoyed a company when they are just relaxing and being at master Rashi it is as Show I appreciate From a Distance but will never watch again.

You I feel like The books are better and, The ep are a lot cringe, and yeah, so i dont Watch it anymore, The story, is ok, it is a bit intresting, and some nude, The drawing is pretty good, The stry, could be a bit better, and mabye Son Goko, should not beat some of The small bosses, and make it more Harder, BUT READ THE BOOKS OVER TYE EP, THE BOOKS ARE BETTER, so go and read the manga, and yeah, the ep are just a lot of cringe, and stuff, and I’m sorry if someone thinks, that I have written some spoilers ... whit the boss and stuff, I’m sorry, yea the story is giving mixed feelings,