Dragon Ball Z

Intro
This is my favourite out of Dragoball / Z / GT, Dragonball Z was the first one I could get ahold of, so for me, watching Dragonball was like watching Star wars the originals then phantom menace etc came out years later.

Story
Story is good, drags out a little but good if you get into it, you will be disappointed the episodes come to an end. Although the same thing happens, bad guy comes, people defend, the fight sequences and opponents are mostly unique to their powers and reasons to wanting to conquer Earth. This pretty much keeps it unique.

Animation
The animation is pretty good, can't fault ... it to the most part, animation not as good as GT but it's still pretty good.

Sound
The sound is good, I liked it at the most. Music came in at the right time, the opening theme changed with the Saga's which I liked, really portrayed the anime as action packed.

Characters
Good characters, advancing on the same idea as Dragonball with a bit more kick and intensity. few more kick ass characters with varying personalities. Many characters have their personalities develop slightly though out the anime too, although this is arguable when compared to deeper anime.

Enjoyment
I really enjoyed this especially the Freiza (if that's spelled correct) and Cell Saga's. Very re-watchable.

Overall
Overall, a good anime, it's action packed with a decent story, varying characters with various different flaws, few suprises and twists which should keep you interested. Not as detailed as the manga but it's still an overall great anime.

Dragon Ball Z is an anime that many grew up with, like me. Others grew up with anime like Saint Seiya or even Sailor Moon. Personally I am extremely glad I ended up with DBZ.

Nowadays you don't get anime like this. Without it, anime would not be where it is today. I am a major DBZ fan so I will try not to be too biased.

This is an anime where the weak rise up against the strong and eventually win in most cases. The main protagonist Goku is the best example of all. He first begins as a low level Saiyan but then ends becoming ... one who's talent is endless.

The never ending action occurring for several episodes just keeps your heart pounding. I assure you that there is no other anime out there that can even come close to comparing to the fight scenes in DBZ. Can you imagine mixing comedy and action and for it to turn into a huge success? The story never gets boring and is easy to follow. Each major arch takes around 80-90 episodes or so.(Frieza, Cell, Buu)

The sound is just amazing. You hear every impact made. They really put a lot of effort into every single detail so that it would sound more realistic. Every time I hear a blast I get goose bumps.

Art....PERFECT!!!!! You cannot tell that it is an anime from the 80s. It is that good. Honestly it just blew my mind when I started comparing it to other anime in the 90s! This anime dominated the art department until the 21st century.

The characters are extremely unique. Not very often do you get saiyans who eat and fight all the time. Not to mention a bold person with 6 dots on his forehead and dies countless times because of his rotten luck. They is a great sense of rivalry, comedy and a hint of romance which occurs in the latter half. The best characters in my book.

Everything about this anime is just astounding. The story just gets better and better as it goes along and wacky things keep occurring which just make you laugh till you cry. You don't need to be a crazy fan to enjoy this, nor an action fan. Just an anime fan.

P.S This anime is the only one in the world where the english dubbed version greatly surpasses the japanese version. Some may disagree but I am certain that the majority will agree.

Thanks for reading this review. Greatly appreciate feedback XD

What can I truly say about this show that would capture what Dragon Ball Z is, without any spoilers? Like many others I have watched this show from the Cartoon Network days, not from the very begining but close enough. Since I started watching it I knew there was something special. I've never watched or heard of anime before I watched Dragon Ball Z. At this point anime to me is the purest, most raw form of entertainment there is and Dragon Ball Z is the best there is. I haven't seen every anime out there but I call it the best because I think ... anyone can transition from it into anime pretty easy.

Story:
The story at times can be a little cliche and cheesy. The characters discover a newer, stronger enemy. Then they must over power this enemy some how. When ever they over come an enemy it's usualy very dramatic and not very possible by real life standards. The great thing about the series is there are several twists and turns. Sometimes through time travel, other dimensions, characters being pure evil near the begining becoming good later or newly found fighting power or strenghth. To go along with the story is amazing martial arts action and over the top energy based attacks that sometimes destroy entire planets.

Art:
The art is not spectacular but it serves its purpose. You may run into characteres or enviroments that clearly repeat the same animation. When the characters are flying over islands or plains they all look the same. Even some fight sequences have repeatitive animation. If you're looking for an art show, look else where.

Sound:
Depending on which dub you watch the music and sound for some is a mixed bag. If you watch the Funimation version of the series the music is a never ending, techno-rock based soundtrack that fits the intense action and drama quite well. There are also different voice actors for different dubs as well. For the purpose of this review I would watch the Funimation dub with the new american soundtrack. The sound effects are very good as well with decent explosion, punch/kick, electricity, and energy sounds to add to the action. As far as the voice acting goes there is some high quality work here. Some of the actors have multiple parts throughout the series but you probably won't notice them. Some of the voices can show what type of struggle these character went throught.

Character:
When you think of your typical heros and villians you expect a constant push and shove relationship. Dragon Ball Z has this in spades. The heros range from your run of the mill human beings with super human powers to your alien races that could kick the hell out of Superman anyday. There is a decent roster of good and bad characters from aliens to androids to demons to animal-like characters. The kicker with each character though is the pain and suffering they go through physically. Whenever the heros are faced with a seemingly invincible villian they end up pulling through in near death situations. Not to mention the resilience of the villians that seem to at times never die. Taking into account the strenghth and power of the characters is truly astonishing. The character development is beyond anything I have ever seen in any anime to date. Death and the after life play a big part in most of the characters development in which no character ever really dies.

Enjoyment:
I feel there is a little something for everyone hear. Enough action to blow Hollywood out of the water. Dry yet wholesome humor that will grow on you by the end of the series. With the combination of the action scenes, an excellent story with plenty of variety, strong heros that really make you feel at ease, and indestructable villians that can be ruthless and psychotic with abilities beyond comprehension. Since anime is the best form of entertainment (my opinion), Dragon Ball Z is the best form of anime.

Overall:
Not much else can be said about the greatest series of all time. I would recommend for any fan of anime to check this out if you haven't already. It is and all ways will be my favorite. Hopefully this review has persuaded you in the right direction and you watch Dragon Ball Z as soon as possible.

Review:
OHMERGAWD! Dragon Ball Z is clearly my favorite anime of all time! Even non-otakus know of the beautiful Dragon Ball series! Family members had me watch some scenes from the original Dragon Ball when I was about 8. It was hilarious, but I had no idea what Dragon Ball was. I recall being ten and witnessing its come-back on Nicktoons as "Dragon Ball Z: Kai" or "Dragon Ball Kai". I remember that right after turning on Nicktoons to see its "return", I ran up to tell my wayyyyy older siblings. I learned more about this anime than any other, and I pretty much know most ... of the lines by heart. I've been a girl who is typically into action Shonen, so this was a big treat to me. Falling in love with some of male characters over and over again, and witnessing the unique-ness of this anime. Mainly boys watch this anime, but it was my first anime, and therefore it became, well...my idol I guess you could say. I got hooked and it inspired me to start drawing manga and anime. As I got older and finished the anime, I became interested in similar anime (Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho, etc.). Nowadays, I have gymnastics all the time, but I manage to find a fair amount of time to watch anime, and even rewatch DBZ for the millionth time. I am working on the first series, Dragon Ball, and I must say that it too has been a treat.

Quick Summary:
Goku and his friends protect the earth they love from different villains seeking the magical orbs that grant any one wish, the Dragon Balls.

Conclusion:
A must-watch. Beautifully animated and even greatly dubbed! Have fun! :) (As you can see I am a big fangirl of this).

-gymnastcameron

It seems like you can't say something bad about Dragon Ball Z without fans getting on your ass about it. Well screw the fans. I'll give my honest opinion on the show.

The Bad. Well the first thing I feel that I have to mention is the length of the fight scenes, they are all horribly long and in my opinion get boring after the first episode that is dedicated to a fight. That's something I really disliked about this series, when it's in a movie it's fine, especially the Bojack movie, because that movie actually served to develop both 3 of the characters in the ... show. But when you only have 3 characters in the whole of the series that really go through massive character development then you are doing something wrong. Dragon Ball Z is also written like something that doesn't want you to take it seriously but it does want you to take it seriously. It would have been better if it were created as a parody to action series but it really isn't, it pretty much defines the genre which I find very unfortunate as there are a lot of much better action series out there including Black Lagoon and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Both stop to take a look at the characters and plot rather than focusing only on the action. And the soundtrack outside of the opening themes isn't really memorable at all.

The good. The animation is nice and the fight scenes are fluid in animation. I found myself enjoying them when they weren't going on for literal hours. And the opening themes are good.

Final Verdict:
Dragon Ball Z is one of those anime that people really need to put down in favor of other action series. was still good but not perfect by any standard.

6.25/10

Wait this is weird. Why so many bad scores for an anime you obviously enjoyed?
The thing is, a review is supposed to be objective. This is pretty hard when it comes to Dragonball Z. It's like talking about an ex-girlfriend. You loved her back in the days but now you don't cherish her like you used to do. DBZ was one of my first anime series ever and I was crazy about this show when I was a child. Now after almost 20 years I must say I like this show a lot yes but after having seen so many other anime shows I can't ... say that Dragonball Z lives up to the hype even though I still have awesome memories related to this show.

Dragonball Z has so many flaws I can't even decide where to begin.

Story: First of all the story. While Dragonball (where Goku is a kid) is a very lively show where many different things happen in a short period of time and is filled with interesting characters and events Dragonball Z basically consists of two ridiculously powerful guys staring and screaming at each other for hours until one of them get's defeated or even killed just to come back from the dead to continue to scream and stare at the guy who killed him.
There are some brief moments where the story shines but let's face it: it is not a good story.

Art: The art is one of the things that made DBZ shine back in the days. Toriyamas style is unique and all those places and the world he created are just so iconic for shonen anime. Each location, house, technical device and character is enshrined in the memory of millions of people worldwide. It is anime history.

Sound: DBZ has so many memorable tunes that I kept humming as a child and I still do as an adult. Like the art, the sound of DBZ is unforgettable but it consists of only a few repetitive themes.

Characters: Yes, also the characters in DBZ are unforgettable. But after over 291 episodes they became their own stereotype. Except for Piccolo and Vegeta, they do not have any true motivation for trying to become stronger and stronger and do not have any interesting twists. They don't really develop (except for Piccolo and Vegeta) and they barely surprise you as the show goes on.
The story is mostly focussing on Goku and sometimes on the other Sayans while many loved human characters from Dragonball just become irrelevant sidekicks who stand beside the battlefield cheering for Goku.

Enjoyment: If you have not watched this anime yet, you are either very young or you just started being interested in anime/manga.
In both cases let me say this: you probably won't enjoy this anime as much as I did when I was a kid or any other old fan did back then.
There are far more complex titles out there now. This anime is history. A little dusty, a little old and somehow likeable but many younger fresher ideas have now set higher standards in story-telling, character development, art and sound. If you really want to see this anime I recommend you to watch Dragonball Kai. It is a reworked DBZ where all those seemingly endless scenes of people staring and screaming at each other without anything interesting happening are cut out.

On the start, it's a good anime, the story runs nice and smoothly, and really enjoyable.

Sadly after Goku turns adult, the story is only between the way some random strong guy comes to earth to conquer or destroy it, and goku and his friends trains to beat them. Makes it not enjoyable anymore - at least for me, since it's turns like a "Smack Down" battle...

Not much special and unique things occurs after goku turns adult except new enemies, upgraded skill (yes only upgrade, it's just like : before : you only have a wild run missile, after : you add hovering ability to missile, ... after that you make it bigger for better firepower. Nothing special)

The art is Very Good, compared with another anime at those age, so do the sounds. Character development is good on the early episode, but turns so-so and slow in the middle-end.

Overall, If you wants to watch this series and still have good memories from it, just watch until the end of Tenka Ichi Budokain Tournament.
If you REALLY loves fighting scene (eventough it's only repeatable frame) you may wants to watch until the end.

this is my favorite anime i have watched over and over since i was a kid the story some people say it drags out but i think it has been done very well i love the art in this is well especially the hair it takes the hair to a whole new level super sayain ect theres a variety of combat techniques so you wont get bored it sustained the story even after the amount of episodes there have been there is also the element of comedy amoung lots of action it just awsome 10\10

This is one anime that everyone in the world knows about. For the majority of people, it's their favorite anime. The storyline has five sagas (over 200 eps) and has even two arcs which are just fillers. Also there are 13 movies related to the show alone. DBZ has no repeated stories at all like Pokemon does.

The story starts where Dragon ball (original show) left off. The first saga informs us about Raditz (Goku's brother) who tells Goku that he is a saiyan (alien race) and he does not belong on earth. As the story goes on, Goku learns about his heritage and makes friends ... will almost everyone. With every battle his strength increases enabling him to protect the planet he loves dearly.

The two main characters Goku and Vegeta are just opposite to each other. One is empathetic but the other is egocentric. Yet he also develops affection for everybody in his own way! There are even other main characters like Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Yamcha, Tien, Krillin and many more.

The fights are intense. Almost all the episodes have fighting scenes in them. The greatest fights are in Frieza Saga, the one between Goku and Frieza which lasts for about 30 episodes, and the one in Trunks Saga which is even better than Frieza Saga. And don't forget the fights in Buu Saga too!

It's a long series so it just cannot be explained in one review. So I am ending my review here.

This show is for everybody, the original version is suitable for everyone who is above 13!

(SPOILER FREE)

Dont get me wrong. The story is repetetive, the art is outdated and honestly ugly, the sound is in bad quality and it doesnt have much music. The quality of this anime doesnt stand a chance to amazing animes like FMA, Code Geass and many others. But this anime is still legendary.
This was the father of anime, it was one of the first animes that really got popular in the western culture. Its maybe the most popular anime ever. And without it, we might not have all the amazing animes we have today. I mean, its from the 80s! many people remember DBZ ... from their childhoods, with the memorable characters and awesome villains. Thats why you shouldnt compare this anime to todays amazing animes, this doesnt stand a chance! But the enjoyment is real, and the impact it did on the anime culture is legendary. And to me, this is the anime that is the nearest to my heart. So please, dont hate on this anime, it doesnt deserve that. And lets be honest here, which aniem fan doesnt remember Goku?

Thx fore reading my review, this is my first review ive done so tell me what i can improve.

The Saiyan Saga

Dragonball Z began by retconing a lot of details for the sake of leaving room for a continuation. Gods and demons, became aliens, what used to be mystical or magic was now replaced with science and bioengineering. In practice, the original show was inspired by Journey to the West with Goku being the monkey king, while Z was inspired by the Justice League with Goku being Superman.

These retcons were not very hard to accept and enriched the setting, since the plot was no longer confined on Earth. Goku and Piccolo were no longer the only ones with such powers, but rather representatives of ... alien civilizations, each one having its own history and culture. Despite being the strongest on the planet, they were also nothing compared to other aliens out there.

Furthermore, for the first time since the beginning of the series, we had multiple agendas and different points of view, which was making everything multi-layered once again. Every major character had something to contribute, the interactions were meaningful, and the plot was not straightforward.
-Goku: Faced his dark side by facing his own race and dealing with the realization of killing his grandpa
-Gohan: Anti-Goku, shy and smart, forced to become violent for the sake of protecting the world, but also brought out the good side of Piccolo
-Piccolo: Left behind his quest to kill Goku and rule the world, by finding kindness through Gohan
-Bulma: Fixed the scouter and gathered the Z warriors
-Kuririn: Helped Goku to use the spirit bomb
-Yajirobi: Severed Vegeta’s tail

But it was nowhere as great as the Emperor Pilaf arc, since there were still many characters existing as background decoration at this point, who ceased having something to do. Such is the curse of constantly introducing more characters and then doing nothing with them, while also refusing to get rid of them for the sake of selling merchandise.
-Yamcha was already a loser, and now became even less of a character by no longer having a relationship with Bulma
-Tien and Chiaozu were there just because Toriyama changed his mind during their introduction, but also refused to get rid of them
-Lunch disappeared forever
-Chichi stayed in the kitchen
-Roshi became a useless pervert old man
-Raditz was forgotten the second he was defeated and was instantly replaced with other saiyans with the same personality

There were lots of other retcons that came off as cheap in the longrun. One of them was turning death into something positive instead of negative. First, the senzu beans removed the recovery time from injuries. Then the Dragonballs did the same for death. What used to be tragic and permanent, was now a temporal inconvenience. And then, the option to train in the afterlife mutated death into an opportunity to get even stronger by the time you resurrect.

It was extra silly when the show was constantly trying to make you feel sad every time a hero was dying, when in effect it was only used as means to make him return with a power up. It was even more stupid when it’s revealed Mr. Popo had a flying carpet that could teleport someone anywhere on the planet. None of the Z warriors would have been killed if he had used it to bring Goku to the battlefield. Or, I don’t know, extending his training period by a few months by teleporting him straight on Kaio’s planet, thus allowing him to master Kaio Ken. Death had become fake tension at this point.

Another thing that began to break at this point was the power scaling. It used to be easy to follow up until now and made sense in how stronger someone becomes, based on progressively harsher training. This was no longer the case, since hereon someone is as strong as the plot wants him to be.

Before:
-Training with Korin, the teacher of Roshi, could excuse why Goku could defeat Tao
-Training with Kami, the good side of Piccolo, could excuse why Goku could defeat Piccolo

Now:
-Training with Kami does not excuse the Z warriors becoming as strong as Raditz within 1 year, when Goku was a third as strong after 3 years of the same training
-Training in the wilderness for a year does not excuse Piccolo becoming stronger than Raditz, when he was doing the exact same thing for 4 year before that and had only a quarter of the power
-With what logic can Goku rival the saiyans by training with Kaio? Kaio has no connection to them for forming a scale

A few simple excuses for fixing these nonsense would be the following, even if Toriyama didn’t care and neither did the fandom:
-The Z warriors train with the spirit of Raditz instead of some nobody saiyans, thus excusing being as strong as him. This also takes away the plot hole of Mr. Popo being powerful enough to kick the crap out of Piccolo all these centuries, but didn’t.
-Piccolo’s body was still maturing after his birth. This fits well with how I had proposed for Jr. to be born at the end of the original series.
-As for Kaio’s training, he could have simply said that Goku had the proper training but not in the proper gravity as the other saiyans, thus by training him on a planet with the exact same gravity would place him on their level, and the kaio ken could be used as a temporal boost for reaching the decades of battle experience they had on different planets.

Speaking of power scaling, this was also the beginning of one of the greatest misconceptions in the franchise. Battle powers were introduced for seemingly offering a measurable way to tell how strong was someone compared to someone else. It quickly proved to be erratic and seemingly random to have a fixed number, thus it was impossible to trust the numbers of a scouter. Someone could be using a power boost ability, or could be suppressing his ki; there was nothing certain about battle power readings. Toriyama gave many instances where it was just a trick for the enemies to underestimate the heroes. The fandom had other ideas and went on trying to calculate and fought over arbitrary numbers for decades after the creator himself stopped using them, since they were, in effect, bullshit.

Something else that was always an issue but never to such a degree, was the train of thought they use for defeating the saiyans. Why would they go through all the fuss of training for a year and resurrecting Goku, instead of simply wishing from the dragon to make the saiyan space pods blow up in space? Why risk everyone’s life on Earth just to bring Goku back? It was simply not worth it. It was as if everyone had accepted their fate as cannon fodder, instead of believing they could do something without Goku being around to save the day.

So, if you put all these issues together without letting nostalgia to cloud your judgment, you can easily see why the arc was not that great despite having a very good build up and a bombastic finale. If I remove a point for every mishap (useless characters, nerfing of death, broken power scaling, and wonky train of thought), I can’t give the arc more than a 6/10.

The Namek Saga

The Namek Saga is both the peak of the franchise, and also the point where it broke its consistency and should have never continued further. The most obvious evidence was the rewrite of what Saiyans were up to that point. Goku used to be a fast learner of new techniques, and every Saiyan had a tail. Saiyans no longer having a tail had no in-series excuse; Toriyama simply got bored of drawing them. Without this simple detail, nothing could visually distinguish Saiyans from humans, and removed what was making them special. And I know that you will probably think Saiyans were still distinguishable by their SSJ transformation, but let me remind you that as of then there was no indication there could be more than one SSJ every 1000 years.

And speaking of said transformation, it was essentially a cop-out for beating Frieza. Yes, it was foreshadowed by a prophecy, which is a cop-out on itself, but there was nothing to justify why Frieza didn’t kill all the Saiyans despite knowing that and having way stronger soldiers at his command, or why Goku unlocked the transformation by seeing Kuririn getting killed the second time, but not the first time. There were some indirect rules made up by fans to explain the unlocking of the transformation, such as having a high enough power level at base form, and seeing one of your friends dying in front of your eyes. They would all be proven wrong in later arcs, but even during its first appearance, it was all too convenient. What could have easily saved it was the excuse of Guru unlocking Goku’s potential with his ability, but this wasn’t meant to be.

Another downgrade was the plot hereon turning into “how to get 5 power ups in the same arc, in the least amount of time” instead of spending some time in meaningful characterization. Up until now, a character would need to train hard with a stronger master for getting a power up. From this arc onwards, this was not necessary, since all it took was getting a zenkai by healing your injuries. Thus another limitation was taken away, since now even defeat in battle was a victory.

And it wasn’t even only limitation taken away. The Dragonballs of Earth could only resurrect someone once. The Dragonballs of Namek could resurrect you as many times as you like, thus making death even less of an issue. As if that wasn’t enough, there was also Guru, who could instantly unlock your potential with a simple touch. What most of us didn’t seem to understand at the time of watching it in the 90s, was the importance of limitations for maintaining tension. Without them, the only way for having tension came through constantly increasing the stakes by making the next villain more and more powerful. And nothing proves this better than Emperor Frieza, who in his initial form alone was eclipsing every mortal in the universe. By the time he got to his final form (for now at least) he was over 200 times stronger, which was completely ridiculous and unnecessary for the fights to remain interesting.

Toriyama stopped trying to find a way for a character to need progressively harder means to get stronger, or spend years in training with a master. He realized the shonentards didn’t give a shit about training that would make a power up feel deserved. They just wanted to see some damn power ups goddammit. Thus, he just skipped the downtime of training, which was a fine way for the teacher and the student to bond, as well as an in-series explanation for what exactly the power up meant on a mental level, aside from having the result of punching the bad guy harder.

This in effect, made power ups to be hollow and a waste of time, despite being instant. Take the Ginyu force. They offered nothing to the plot and could be removed without changing a thing. They were in a sense the evil counterparts of the Z warriors and did help Vegeta to level up, but instant power ups are not plot and the zenkai excuse had no philosophy behind it, unlike the earlier power ups. Nobody was learning something new each time; they were just punching harder than before.

Dodoria and Zarbon shouldn't have been foddered from the very beginning. Frieza's foot soldiers and Cui were more than enough to show what a power house Vegeta was before them. Dodoria and Zarbon should have been Frieza's elite men. They were next to him all the time in flashbacks and had a personal history with Vegeta, unlike the Ginyu force which was retconned and had no past history from flashbacks. This way the arc could have been 20 episodes shorter, with stronger characterization for the villains, and wouldn’t be recycling the constant “get injured and healed” power up nonsense.

The same goes for Nail the Namekian. What a throwaway character. Powerful enough to take out Dodoria and Zarbon, yet did nothing and abandoned his people to get slaughtered, before jobbing to Frieza. He should have done more than becoming an excuse for Piccolo to get a power up. Speaking of Piccolo, the whole plan to waste the wishes on resurrecting him and bringing him on Namek made no sense. What exactly was he supposed to accomplish? How did he assume fusing with Nail would make him strong enough to take on Frieza? The train of thought of the heroes still makes no sense. Nail should be the one doing all that, traveling around the planet, fusing with other Namekians, thus excusing his power.

A last thing I have to mention is the pacing. By now, the anime was very close to the manga, so they had to slow down the pacing with characters yelling while slowly powering up, panning slowly through backgrounds getting destroyed, as well as making five minutes in-series to last five episodes. We didn’t mind it as much when we had nothing better to watch on television, but binge-watching the arc nowadays can be quite frustrating. The Saiyan Saga was at least short in comparison to later ones, which indirectly makes it easier to watch and better as an experience.

As a whole, the Namek Saga was like a second Red Ribbon Saga. Lots of pointless episodes, and meaningless power-ups, leading to an amazing finale. It also broke the consistency of the show forever after and it should have been the ending of the franchise, because everything that followed served only in making it worse as a whole. It was pure hype when watching it without caring about the quality of its writing, but from a critical standpoint, I can’t give it more than a 5/10.

Android Saga

Toriyama wasn’t planning ahead anymore. There was no more thematic continuity and he was making up shit as he went along, often changing his mind midway, based on what editors and fans were telling him to do next. Not to mention how the entire plot was about time travel, one of the laziest plot devices so you can have an infinite amount of retries to fix something. As much as he tried to make sense of it, he eventually broke his own rules by making Trunks return twice in the future at the same time without causing a paradox. And yes, it is a paradox since a new timeline is formed when you go back in time and not when you return from it.
-The show is called Dragonball Z, yet nobody cares about the dragonballs anymore
-Somehow, a grandpa used inferior technology to create androids far stronger than a super advanced space civilization with cyborg technology
-Somehow, filming the techniques of a fighter is enough to create an android using the technique
-Somehow, wanting to kill fighters you considered being around Saiyan Saga level, means you have to create androids that are above Frieza.
-Cell can regenerate as long as his head is intact, yet he still regenerated when his top half was blown to bits

And it wasn’t just the time travel. Everything was a mess of ideas, constantly replacing one another without ever connecting properly or making any sense. First the big bad was supposed to be Gero, until Toriyama was pressured to make up something less ugly. So, the big bads became 17 and 18. Not even that pleased the editors, so new the big bad became Cell. And even his design wasn’t very likable, so Toriyama was forced to make him look more human. This resulted in some really shallow characterization for the villains, since none had enough presence to be more than filler arc material.
-Gero: Wanted nothing but revenge (and then what?)
-17 & 18: Wanted simply to have fun (boring)
-Cell: Wanted to be the strongest (by killing everyone)

Traditionally, the main villain of every arc was giving Goku a reason to want see him defeated. It wasn’t simply because Goku loved fighting strong people. There was always a vendetta forming out of the deaths of his friends for excusing his battle frenzy. No such thing existed with any of the villains of this arc. None of them did something to make him want to kick the crap out of them. Saying they killed everyone in the future was not much of a motivation, since it hadn’t happened yet. If he really cared about it, he would have found Gero’s lab instead of waiting for the androids to attack. There was no personal connection up until the finale, and thus it truly felt like the heroes were fighting for the sake of fighting.

Gero was a 1-dimentional idiot who wanted revenge, so he could never be a cool villain. No.18 had the potential to be a great character; a villain who after an existential crisis becomes a good guy. But in the typical Toriyama fashion, she is quickly turned into a submissive housewife, before getting replaced by Cell, the worst written villain yet. He had no history of achievements like the previous big bosses, and had no special powers of his own. He was nothing but a patchwork of other characters. He looked like Frieza and Piccolo, he was behaving like a Saiyan, and was using everyone’s abilities. There was nothing creative about him. This changed a bit at the Cell Games, when he actively threatened to kill everyone and made Gohan to take it personally, thus finally giving the viewer something to care about. Unfortunately, it was too late to have much significance, and Cell wanting to prove to everyone he was the strongest by killing everyone made no sense.

In fact, nothing made any sense at all. The train of thought was all over the place, and was changing on every episode.
-Frieza didn’t simply blow up Earth from orbit
-Goku didn’t simply teleport to Earth and instead came with a spaceship
-Trunks didn’t go back at a time when he knew where Gero was, so he could stop him before creating the androids
-Gero didn’t know of Super Saiyans, yet he obviously took data from Frieza, while he was fighting a Super Saiyan
-Nobody bothered to find Gero’s lab for making sure he never creates the androids
-Bulma fell in love with Vegeta with no explanation
-The Z warriors went to face the androids, even when they knew they would never surpass them in power and Goku was the only one able to defeat them
-The Z warriors forgot to learn Kaio ken
-Goku forgot to take the medicine, and nobody made sure he used it in time
-Goku forgot to mention to everyone about the room of spirit and time, which could have made them ten times stronger by the time the first androids appear
-Goku didn’t simply teleport behind the bad guys and teleported them away from Earth, way before they threatened the planet
-The Saiyans forgot they get zenkai just by healing their wounds. The room of spirit and time was worthless, since training was not needed anymore. All they had to do is impale each other and have Dende heal them afterwards.
-Trunks changed his mind from destroying the androids to protecting them from Cell in a matter of seconds
-Nobody used the dragonballs for fixing any of the above
-Cell wanted to prove to everyone he is the strongest, by killing everyone

There was no plot. Everybody was simply one-uping each other, without the lore or the setting getting more enriched somehow. No new areas, no new themes, and just an alternative timeline that doesn’t even matter by the end of the arc. Power-ups were coming one after another, losing their importance in matter of minutes, and without ever having a visual escalation. The amount of damage they were causing was always the same, if not less.
-The SSJ form was nerfed from a unique legendary transformation that appears once every millennia, to yesterday’s news everyone can achieve and doesn’t have much of an effect
-Piccolo fusing with Kami had no change in his appearance or personality, and was rendered useless when Cell leveled up
-The SSJ grades were becoming useless within a single episode
-SSJ2 was the exact same thing as SSJ1

There was no epicness compared to the previous arcs, since the level of threat shrank considerably, despite everyone becoming a dozen times stronger. Frieza was ravaging the universe for centuries, wiping out countless civilizations. What did the androids do? Fooling around on Earth for 2 decades. Gohan turning SSJ2 against Cell was a rehash of Goku turning SSJ1 against Frieza and it didn’t have the same cool factor because what triggered the transformation was the destruction of a minor android nobody cared about, and everybody else was busy getting humiliated by a bunch of Cell babies.

The only thing this arc sort of did right was the interaction between fathers and their sons. Goku and Vegeta were terrible role models and it was nice seeing them trying to reason with the far more intelligent and down to earth Gohan and Trunks. It didn’t lead to something significant and even the sort of passing the torch to the next generation was taken away in the next arc. So as a whole, it was a complete mess and I can’t give it more than a 2/10.

Buu Saga

In the last arc of Z, Toriyama was given more creative liberty. Things had more consistency instead of constantly replacing one thing with another because of pressure from the editors. At the same time Toriyama had lost interest in the franchise, since he was rehashing old ideas, like Buu being a repeat of the Piccolo set-up and the plot mimicking the one of the Android Saga. He didn’t even bother to flesh out the new ideas he introduced. Setting and lore were enriched, something which was absent in the Android Saga, but the new concepts were left undeveloped.
-We have no idea how Goku learned the fusion dance
-We have no idea what the demon realm is
-We have no idea how Buu and Dibidi were stopped in the past

The older characters were also a shadow of their former glory. The new ones had nothing to offer.
-Kaioshin was foddered in a few episodes, despite being the strongest god as of yet
-Piccolo became a mentor of a technique he couldn’t use himself in the same way
-Gotten and Kid Trunks were quickly turned from the last hope against Buu, to useless comic reliefs
-Videl was supposed to be another dynamic fighter, but in the typical Toriyama fashion, she was quickly mocked in battle and became a submissive housewife

Gohan in particular was a huge middle finger, since he supposed to be the new protagonist. But Toriyama had no idea how to write a smart hero and Japan seemed to love Goku a lot more. Thus the finale of the Android Saga was contradicted, by mutating Gohan into a loser doing super sentai nonsense, and bringing back Goku to the role of the protagonist despite claiming he didn’t want to return anymore.

Vegeta was sort of cool for awhile, as he got possessed and killed a lot of innocents, before sacrificing himself to protect the planet he came to love. Unfortunately, it was hollow and cheap in the longrun. He had killed billions of people in the past and instead of getting punished in the afterlife, he was allowed to return for the fusion dance. Also, the deaths he caused were taken away when everyone was wished back to life, and his sacrifice was pointless since it failed to defeat Buu.

Also, his much anticipated rematch with Goku was the most pointless event in the arc, since it didn’t have the tension of the Saiyan arc. As if by magic, Vegeta was now as tall as Goku and was using the exact same techniques as him, effectively losing everything that was making him stand out. The rematch also got interrupted before there was a definitive winner, so there was no pay-off. Also, Goku would have won anyways, since he could go SSJ3 anytime he felt like it and kick the crap out of Vegeta. Effectively, the rematch was a troll and eventually a waste of time.

Speaking of waste of time, Toriyama was procrastinating at this point by making Goku act like a retard. By not defeating Vegeta right away, he allowed Buu to gather enough energy to be freed, and then changed his mind about personally defeating Buu with SSJ3, causing everyone on Earth and countless other planets to die. It’s the result of Goku no longer having a vendetta with his enemies after Namek, and playing around with them even if it endangers the entire universe. But, hey, it’s all done for the joy of the battle, right? No reason to blame him for having fun instead of protecting the innocent, as he seemed to be doing in the previous arcs. Turns out he was never the hero most of us thought he was. He was just a battle frenzy asshole.

As before, the plot was just the characters constantly one-uping each other with power-ups that were cheaply acquired, were not used properly, and were losing their importance in a manner of minutes. And this time it was worse than in the Android Saga because defeat meant getting absorbed by Buu, thus making him stronger the more they were trying to become stronger. By the time they managed to defeat Buu through a convoluted combo of wishes, I just wanted the damn thing to end.
-SSJ was a joke by now, as even little kids could unlock it with no effort
-SSJ3 was completely worthless and never defeated a single opponent
-Gotenks was too stupid to bother defeating Buu
-Mystic Gohan was too careless to bother defeating Buu
-Vegeto was too prideful to bother defeating Buu

Speaking of Buu, he was suffering from the same issues as Cell; not having any personal connection with the heroes, as Vegeta and Frieza had. Because there was no vendetta, Buu had a mentality of a baby, Goku was just fooling around, and death had lost its meaning, the story had become a playground for manchildren instead of a sinister plot full of tension and suspense.

Unlike Cell, Buu had a personality, although it was closer to multiple personalities coexisting in the same body. It was a good idea at first, showing how his emotions can make him flip from one persona to another, based on how he was treated by others. But, just like every good idea after Namek, it was ruined because Toriyama stopped giving a shit. The hints of complexity Buu’s personality was showing were taken away when he divided into good and evil bodies. It became a clear case of help the good side and beat the evil side. And even the evil side reincarnated into a good guy later on, thus making good and evil to lose their meaning if they can flip-flop so easily.

The only good part of this entire mess was mister Satan and his interactions with Buu. They were funny, tactical, and far more meaningful than the father and son interactions of the previous arc. Yes, Satan was introduced during the Cell Games, but he was just comic relief and filler material. It was in this arc where he became a part of the plot and manipulated everyone for his personal gain. And he did it without ever becoming a villain or needing a useless power-up for beating the bad guys with brainless force. He was essentially more heroic, than the main heroes, who at this point were procrastinating and looking for excuses to fight, instead of using their brains to stop the bad guys with something other than useless power-ups.

As a whole, I consider the Buu Saga to be slightly better than the completely throwaway time travel BS / no personality Cell. But not by much, since it’s still a complete mess with very few good parts to make it worthwhile. I give it a 3/10 and wish these two arcs would fusion dance into one. Their plots were pretty much the same (Cell = Buu, Gero = Babidi, Trunks = Kaioshin), most of the character had pretty much the same role (or none), and doing so would improve characterization and minimize the time wasted on useless power-ups.

I thought that this anime was indeed a masterpiece. not only was it one of the greatest anime of it's time but , it is still being watched and loved by the younger and older generation.

The story was good, though it was long, nerveless amazing. Whenever you thought that the story was going to end, new enemies showed up and the old ones that you thought were dead reappeared. Everything was connected to each other.It was one of those rare stories and i believe one of the first ones to actually see the characters grow up.

One of the down sides that i believed was Goku's ... death rate. In Almost every Saga he died at least once and did not return until the end when it was the final battle. I thought that it was a bit repetitive. Another down side was it took forever for the final battle, i.e. the Freeza Saga, it took about 10 episodes or so just for Goku to finish his Spirit Bomb and to finally throw it. The same goes for the Buu Saga.

The Characters were good though, supporting or main. There were not any characters that would of been completely annoying in my opinion.

I seen Dragon Ball Z 3 times already and although i'm a big fan of this anime that doesn't mean I won't talked about the flaws it has. Is my all time favorite because is not like most cliche anime, Dragon ball Z stand on it's own. I'm going to talk about the anime that got me started watching other animes.

Story- They story keeps changing but is really simple to follow, is the plot is basically Goku and his friend defend earth from evil beings. I Like how there is always a new threat that arrives and Goku and his allies has to find a ... way to defeat the enemy so earth won't be destroyed. Most of the time the pacing is really slow like when Goku is about to fight a villian and you have to wait like 10 episode for the fight to actually go down, lol. If you are unpatient this can be a bad thing for you.

Art- I like old school anime so I though it looked great for its age, so no complaints.

Sound- Great editing expectially in the fight scenes, very well done.

Character- They were none cliche characters that you see in a lot of animes, they all looked different and were unique in their own ways. I liked every of the Z fighters even if some of them weren't as strong as Vegita or Goku (like Krillin) they still wanted to fight for their lives and their friends life, you got to respect a character like that. The villians were also great. you knew right away that they were a threat and we the Z fighters had a lot to deal with if they want to defeat them. Great character development that you felt the connection with each of the characters that you also felt worried for them.
Love the protagonist Goku that never gives up ( Although he is a bit too trusting at times) and my favorite wich is Trunks.

Enjoyment- Like I said before, I rewatch Dragon Ball Z 3 times and will do it again because is a lot of fun to watch. With great characters, great story that changes with each saga, Dragon Ball Z is not an anime you want to miss. I recommend this anime to all anime fans.

Most people watched this when they were younger but for myself I watched it when I was around 10. (I'm not that old) Dragon ball z is a really good anime for many things but the story in it is not all that great. Yeah they change it up sometimes but it's a repeat. (7/10)

The art in dragon ball z at the time was really well done. Small things like how you could tell what was going to be smashed apart like rocks did not ruin this anime at all. (8/10)

The sounds of the anime are amazing and to this day are still amazing. (10/10)

The ... characters were really put together. At the end of dragon ball z you kinda feel like they're family and you'd to hate to see them go. (10/10)

Overall this anime is great. The fights are amazing.The characters are no doubt amazing. The story could of used alot of work but it did not affect anyone watching it. (9/10)

This is my first review.

I guess I am on of the really few people who watched Dragon Ball Z for the first time while being over 20 and never watched Dragon Ball Z in childhood. I just finished DBZ a few weeks ago.
So that should be an unusual premise.

Dragon Ball Z is along with Dragon Ball the only long lasting battle shounen I have ever watched. Usually I am not watching these shows, but Dragon Ball is an exception.

Story (7/10): I liked the story of DBZ, but it is pretty simple. A villain appears, beats the Z Fighters, then they train, get stronger beat him ... and repeat.
But DBZ also has something to offer about Gokus past, which you would never guess from DB. But also the backstory from other characters get revealed.
Negative points about the story are most of the fillers and the fact that so many times all have to wait for Goku to return from somewhere and stall time, this concept is used too much.

Art (9/10): I love the animation visuals and the style, that is one reason why I started watching Dragon Ball and considering its age it really does look good.
Sometimes scenes are reused, but in a way which is acceptable.

Sound (10/10): The music of DBZ is one of its greatest strenghts. Even after watching the first opening 200 times, I never skipped it and enjoyed watching it every time. Same goes for the entire ost, they are a lot of great and memorable tracks. I also love the voice acting in the original japanese version, voices are fitting perfectly and also memorable.

Characters (10/10): There are a lot of characters, a whole lot. While Goku from the original DB was by far my favorite character, he was not that awesome in DBZ. I still liked him a lot, but his personality does not work as magnificent when he became an adult. My favorite main character was Piccolo, I loved his character development (one if not the best in the series) and his personality. He never made stupid mistakes like Goku or Vegeta like giving enemies the chance to get stronger and endanger the whole world. So he was really refreshing and interesting.

Enjoyment (10/10): Which leads also to my overall rating, because I rate based on enjoyment. I loved DBZ, it has its parts in which it got a bit tedious, like a bunch of episodes on Namek (especially the Frieza fight) and most of the fillers were unnecessary. The lowest point on the show was the appearance of Gotenks who did not fight the situation the entire universe was in, like making stupid jokes and not to fight seriously. Gokus final fight could compensate that gladly.

The best arc was the android arc for me, especially because of C18, my favorite side character. The Cell arc itself was awesome. While of course the Frieza arc had a lot of awesome moments too.

So my rating is 10/10, to be more specific 96%.

Oh Dragon Ball Z, how you bring back so many fond memories of my childhood. Anyway, let's begin.

Story - Even to this day, I can still remember the story and sagas very throughly. It is one that sticks with you. The story of Dragon Ball Z takes place on Earth and a Saiyan named Goku and the perilous adventures that he and his friends and family must endure to ensure the safety of planet Earth.

Art - Very crisp, sharp quality for its time. Still one of the better looking animes for the 1989-1996 timeline.

Sound - You will hear lots of screaming, explosions and ... witty and sometimes funny comments or remarks. The dialogue is great, the voice actors are amazing. Even to this day Sean Schemmel (Goku) and Christopher Sabat (Vegeta, Piccolo) are still hot in demand. Overall in the sound department. Great opening and ending songs. No complaints from me.

Character - The characters in Dragon Ball Z are really special. You feel a deep connection with them. There are many characters as well. I'll list a few: Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, Trunks, Goten...and many more. The bond between Vegeta and Goku starts off as a strong and bitter rivalry, but then later on develops into a friendship.

Enjoyement - For me to still remember pretty much the entire storyline of Dragon Ball Z even to this day is saying something. I enjoyed every moment of it. While some may differ with the whole 'it takes three or more episodes just to power up' aspect of it, I didn't really mind it. It doesn't ruin the show or anything like that.

Overall - Dragon Ball Z will always hold a special place to me. Still one of my most cherished/beloved animes. Perfect 10/10 from me ^_^

Dragon Ball Z is truly a classic anime and perfect for even those who haven't seen Dragon Ball. The anime is a classic even among people whom have never seen anime before, and it's a much watch with it's classic battles and storytelling. I personally enjoyed each character's development throughout the series, hard set characters slowly changing into the characters we have then known to love. If there's any critique to be given about DBZ, it should be said that battle sequences do get boring after some time, the characters screams for maybe a solid 2-5 minutes before the battle actually starts, ... and the plotline of each of the three major sagas, Frieza, Cell, and Buu, can seem a little repetitive, but honestly what anime isn't? The fillers are entertaining and this anime is definitely worth watching for any anime fan.

I am so completely and utterly biased towards this anime that I can't even be sure that I'm fairly rating it. I have re-watched the episodes so often and so frequently that I have memorized the dialogue. This anime defined my childhood, like it did to many other people raised in the 90s and the early 2000s, and to this day I can't help but get giddy whenever I hear the opening song or re-watch the episodes. I have come to slowly understand over the years that just because DBZ is my favorite anime it doesn't mean that it is anywhere near perfect. I love ... this show with all my heart but looking at it objectively I have to point out the mistakes that ruin this series.

Story: The story only gets more interesting as the show progresses, gradually becoming better and better every arc. The peak of the series is the android/cell arc which, according to me anyway, is the best part of the series. This is also the point where the series should have ended in my eyes and where I always stop when I finish another marathon. The part that will turn many people away from this series is the extremely long and tedious filler arcs and the terrible pacing. DBZ is renowned for its heavy reliance on filler, used even during crucial fights to drag it out. The most infamous example being the goku vs. frieza fight.

Art: For its time the art really is some of the best. It may not hold up to the art from this generation that is very fluid and pretty but honestly this show wouldn't be the same without this art style and the fight scenes wouldn't be nearly as fun.

Sound: Well, now that I am older and, while I do love the dub very much, the voice acting isn't exactly the best. There are moments where the speech sounds odd and there are many lines that were ad-libbed. None of this detracted from my enjoyment as a kid or even now but it could turn away new fans so if you really can't stand the acting I would recommend watching the DBZkai version or watching the original japanese version(goku's voice takes some getting used to but once you get passed that its fantastic). The soundtrack is amazing for all of the versions so it really is up to whatever your preference may be.

Character: Other than the saiyans and piccolo on occasion, the other characters get left behind in terms of power and character development. In dragonball we were introduced to all of these amazing characters that were strong, rivaling goku throughout the series, that had all of these fantastic quirks to them. In DBZ they were tossed into the background without a second thought. While there are a lot of defining moments, rarely any of them are for the human members of the Z warrior gang which is very unfortunate.

Enjoyment: I have never enjoyed a show more. Probably because of all of the nostalgia but it really did have a huge impact in my childhood.

TL;DR DBZ is just fun to watch. The action scenes are amazing, and really, that is what made DBZ the legend it is today. It has terrible pacing, the plot gets repetitive after a while and there are so many plot holes that it stops making sense after a while. I can't say that everyone will like it because I know plenty of people who don't. This show is for people who love to watch super powered action scenes for fun. If you're looking for more than a fun ride with this series than I am sorry to disappoint.

I'm a fan of this show, no doubt - but the only reason for that is because I liked it when I was a kid, and it gives me nostalgia. As an actual show it is really painful to watch the whole thing due to toriyama's absolutely pitiful writing - it's a concept that could have worked well if pulled off correctly. The problems within the show are what you'd expect from a typical shounen. A good deal of the episodes are simply filler, and there are many instances where fight scenes and such are stretched out ridiculously long (the fight with frieza that was ... said to have taken 5 minutes took up several episodes if my memory serves). If you want to watch this go look up which episodes are filler and skip them, it'll save you a lot of time. There are tons of plot holes, every girl is a fucking tsundere bitch, the show is not funny anymore, Goku is a retard (so are most of the characters), and one my biggest problems - nobody ever explains how any of the "ki" stuff actually works. There is an episode where Gohan says like one sentence about it to Videl, but that's all. And nobody really talks about it in the first dragon ball either. So when you see something completely ludicrous, you have to assume it's possible because even if you've watched 200 fucking episodes you still don't know how their powers really work. Does their Ki increase with physical strength? Does their Ki act as a barrier around them at all times, or what? So many questions that the show doesn't answer. Now let's talk about the one redeeming thing about the show for me, the fight scenes. Not gonna lie they are pretty badass still, and I love them even if they don't make a lick of sense sometimes. Watching Goku scream for like 5 minutes straight is pretty cool. I think they weren't meant to be good but rather fun to watch, however they all play out in the nearly the same way and it can get repetitive. Also, throughout the show their powers theoretically increase but their actions don't change at all really. There is nothing to show that they are actually stronger. When Goku first goes super saiyan the spike in power goes from (if I remember correctly) 120 thousand (kaioken 20) to 120 million, and the only difference is the color of his hair. It is definitely possible to enjoy this show, but I wasn't able to do so very well because my tolerance for bullshit seems to be low. Good show for kids but otherwise, Fuck you Toriyama, this could have been great

Crappy popular anime can be split into two categories. Those whose appeal eludes me, and those where I perfectly understand the reason for their success. DBZ falls firmly in the latter category. Hell, I loved the series when I was a dumbass 14 year-old!

The premise is practically catnip for a male that age. Martial arts battles for the fate of the Universe against increasingly more powerful foes, with showdowns that destroy literal planets in their wake. As simplistic as it is, what could be fucking cooler than that? It's a young male teenager's power fantasy in anime form. Complete with over-the-top transformation sequences with entire ... minutes of pants-shitting yelling amidst intense music.

Alas, the execusion is as putrid, pathetic, and downright lame as it gets. To begin with, DBZ is a notable departure from the series, Dragonball, that preceded it.

The original was heavily based on the Chinese classic "Journey to the West", with Son Goku being based on Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, even copying his tail and magic staff. It focused more on fantasy and adventure, with a more light-hearted approach.

DBZ abandons all that to be a more simple, straightforward battle shounen centered around power levels, while taking itself far too seriously. Goku and his friends battle opponents across almost 300 episodes who fight exactly the same but we are told have much higher power levels; first Radditz, then Goku and Nappa, then Frieza and his henchmen, the androids, Cell, and finally, the Buus, with a filler arc featuring Garlic Jr.

And yet, DBZ manages to be a far worse fighting series than Dragonball in every way. It has several crippling flaws;

1. Crappy choreography.

While Dragonball featured the odd quality action scene and interesting sequence of moves based on actual kung-fu, DBZ is stripped down to a single punch, kick, or elbow either landing or missing, as well as a stock sequence of jerky animation where both combatants throw strikes and block, reused endlessly throughout the anime.

While the final series antagonist, Perfect Buu, is at a power level of 100 billion while the initial baddie Radditz is at 1500, they fight almost identically. In fact, Radditz's martial arts looks better, since the animators were trying harder back then.

Thus, enemies become more "powerful" while their techniques and fighting skill stay mostly the same. This power is simply demonstrated through the new antagonist being able to crush a previous antagonist with a single blow.

And how do Goku and his friends manage to overcome these beastly enemies? Through some clever strategy, new technique, or superior martial arts? Nope! It's from their own numbers going up, like a brain-dead RPG, usually through a transformation sequence and fusion, many of which are completely unmotivated deus ex machina and likely a cynical ploy for Toie Animation to sell more action figures and posters.

Choreography, or cool-looking, exciting battles is at the heart of battle shounen, and it sucks here. The resolution to the major battles is also disappointing, coming from a random spike in protagonist power levels, or worst of all, the "Spirit Bomb" attack, essentially a get out of jail free card for the writers when there is no reasonable way for Goku to triumph in battle.

2. Dangerously idiotic and unlikable heroes.

Time and again, Goku and company have an opportunity to easily defeat a threat to humanity only to forego it for utterly idiotic, selfish reasons, leading to the enemy becoming much stronger and beating them down.

Think Vegeta utterly wrecking the second form of Cell, only to allow him to absorb Android 18 because he wanted to face Perfect Cell. Think Vegeta joining Babidi or Goku not revealing his true power level in their fight, allowing Buu to be resurrected to begin with. Think Gotenks not taking the battle against a different version of Buu seriously.

If these supposed "defenders of Earth" don't give a shit about their suicidal actions and the countless billions of beings in the universe it would doom, why the hell should the viewer? And how can we possibly see them as heroes, as opposed to the overpowered, egotistical idiots (Goku) or outright villains (Vegeta) which their actions betray them to be?

3. Glacially slow pacing.

DBZ is the most painfully dull battle shounen ever devised. Entire episodes can be wasted on a single character powering up, composed of flashing lights and diarrhea screaming while a couple of music loops playing over and over. If we're lucky, an episode will feature a few punches and kicks in an episode in-between combatants standing menacingly and exchanging third grade level insults. As mentioned above, the choreography sucks, although it beats the idiot characters talking. Oh, and that's not even mentioning the endless filler, which this show is notorious for.

Battles can last for dozens of agonizingly episodes, and what's worst is that at least 90% of what happens is entirely meaningless. All the blows and energy blasts until the very climax don't alter or determine a damn thing.

The entire anime is an exercise in tedium and time-wasting.

I understand liking DBZ as a 14 year-old new to anime. I was one of those myself. But looking back on it now, it's embarrassingly bad. The fight choregraphy sucks in the rare moments where characters don't just stand around powering up or shout "You're going to pay!", and the protagonists are a bunch of narcissistic morons or evil-doers.