Dragon Ball Z

Five years after winning the World Martial Arts tournament, Gokuu is now living a peaceful life with his wife and son. This changes, however, with the arrival of a mysterious enemy named Raditz who presents himself as Gokuu's long-lost brother. He reveals that Gokuu is a descendant of the once powerful but now virtually extinct Saiyan race, whose homeworld was annihilated. When he was sent to Earth as a baby, Gokuu's sole purpose was to conquer and destroy the planet; but after suffering amnesia from a head injury, his violent and savage nature changed, and instead was raised as a kind and well-mannered boy, now fighting to protect others.

With his failed attempt at forcibly recruiting Gokuu as an ally, Raditz warns Gokuu's friends of a new threat that's rapidly approaching Earth—one that could plunge Earth into an intergalactic conflict and cause the heavens themselves to shake. A war will soon be fought over the seven mystical Dragon Balls, magic objects that can grant any wish. Only the strongest will survive.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Son, Gokuu Main

Nozawa, Masako Japanese

Vegeta Main

Horikawa, Ryo Japanese

Son, Gohan Main

Nozawa, Masako Japanese

Piccolo Main

Furukawa, Toshio Japanese

Kuririn Main

Tanaka, Mayumi Japanese

Future Trunks Supporting

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Freeza Supporting

Nakao, Ryusei Japanese

Trunks Supporting

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Bulma Supporting

Tsuru, Hiromi Japanese

Muten-Roushi Supporting

Masuoka, Hiroshi Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer, ADR Director

Seki, Hiromi Assistant Producer

Nishio, Daisuke Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Yamauchi, Shigeyasu Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

May 1, 2024

No_following247

Recommended

I had been meaning to watch DBZ for YEARS. I remember watching one episode of it on Adult Swim when I was a kid. At the time, I had definitely heard of the show before but I hadn’t seen a single episode. I don't remember exactly what episode I watched (I think it was during the Planet Namek saga where Vegeta and Frieza or maybe it was Piccolo floating in the air and talking to one another about something idek) but I do remember changing the channel after 5 minutes because 13 year old me thought it was boring as shit. I was like: "Where's ... the fighting at?"

I was always curious in watching this show somewhere around that age but I just never got around to doing it. I think watching that small part of whatever episode I happened to stumble across dashed my interest in watching it. I think I just wasn’t really the patient type back then as I ended up watching SpongeBob instead because that was more of my speed. But even though I never got to watch this show as a kid, I somehow knew so much about DB lore.

Like I knew some of the character's names, knew what a Spirit Bomb and Kamehameha Wave was and knew what going Super Saiyan meant. I think that just shows how iconic DB as a franchise actually is. Even my parents know what Dragon Ball is and they don’t even watch anime. I was also very familiar with the "It's over 9000!" line but that's only because I saw a YouTube video of Rocket Jump doing a music video parody on it. Yeah, anyone remember that? So anyway, now that I have finally watched it and completed it, I can safely say that this is the greatest anime ever made…if you’re like 12 years old.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked it and I can definitely see why it’s considered an anime classic, but I didn’t love it. It’s kind of how I feel about Dragon Ball as a series overall. I like it, but it’s not a huge favorite of mine as far as shounen goes. I think ever since I’ve gotten into anime, I feel like I’ve seen better shounen than this. Sorry, there’s just a lot of hits in this genre. Also I think if I had given this show a chance on the day I had randomly stumbled across that one episode, I might’ve enjoyed it way more and maybe had been a fan of it. But watching it as an adult, it didn’t really hit that hard for me tbh.

I think the reasons for this, starting with the first one, has to be easily my biggest problem with this series, and that’s the pacing. Yeah, that whole meme about this show being only like 9 episodes straight of powering up and screaming is very accurate. Because there’s a difference between making a purposeful slow burn and just being slow for the sake of it. Now on one hand, I think this very slow pacing actually works if you watch it in the context of when this show came out. But on the other hand, if you don’t watch it with that framework and just judge as if you were watching it today, this approach is very dated and it’s apparent why most shounen nowadays aren’t made like this anymore.

Because manga artists don’t seem interested in writing long stories anymore and it becomes more obvious when you see manga artists blatantly shut down plot points or aspects about it that could milk their series for longer. Unfortunately, Dragon Ball was made during a time where mangakas didn’t really care about that, which is the reason why this show can be difficult to come back to by today’s standards. Now I have heard that DB Kai fixes the pacing issues and adheres more to the manga’s story so I might check that out someday to see if that’s true, but as of now, the pacing in this show fucking sucks, I’m sorry.

Another problem I have is that this show has that one trope that I absolutely hate in shounen. It’s the trope where during a fight between two characters, they’ll stop it for no reason other than to talk to one another about their powers or to give small character development. And every time I see this it pisses me off because I feel like there should be a more efficient and nuanced way to give this kind of information. I know that anime isn’t the most subtle medium ever and that’s just part of the appeal, but why does it have to be like that? Some of my favorite anime at least have some subtlety to it. I’m very much a show don’t tell guy and this series isn’t really like that.

Anyway those are my dumb nitpicks, so let’s talk about why I actually like this show. First of all, I cannot deny the massive impact of Dragon Ball. Like this series created anime fans period, and if you think about it, it’s no wonder why this series is so influential. One weird thing that I love about Dragon Ball as a series overall is just how cute it is. Idk some of the characters in this show and their designs like Pan and Majin Buu and Goten are just so adorable to me. I also thought this show was surprisingly funny, which is something I didn’t expect. I mean it’s not lol funny but I chuckled a few times. And this all makes sense because the author of the DB manga, Akira Toriyama (RIP) did start as a gag humor mangaka.

And this series' characters and their designs are pretty much iconic at this point. You’d have to travel miles to find someone who doesn’t know who Goku is and it doesn’t matter if they watch anime or not. And I pretty much like every character in this show (except for Yamcha) but if I had to choose one character that I like the most, I think it would be Piccolo. I just love how he goes from this evil villain who wants to destroy Goku to becoming a huge softie once he gets closer to Gohan. And moments like this that remind me why I like this show as much as I do.

Because for me, I could give less of a fuck about powerscalling or Saiyans or whoever is the strongest in this series because that doesn’t really interest me. I’m more interested in character interactions and relationships and figuring out if the story flows in a logical and engaging way. Speaking of story, I’ve heard people complain that Dragon Ball has no story to it, and idk if these people have even watched the show. Because there is actually a story, believe it or not. Yeah it’s pretty simple and not very complex and super overarching compared to other shounen, but in the context of this show, I think it works just fine. Because with this show in particular I really tried to watch it with the mindset of someone who is living in the early to mid 90’s (or the 2000’s if you watched it on Toonami) and just casually watching it weekly. I think that’s the most ideal way to watch it because binge watching it through a modern lens isn’t the most fun compared to other shounen.

Personally, I try to enjoy watching movies or shows with the mindset of when they were originally released whenever I can, but if I try to compare this to other shounen that I’ve seen out there, it’s pretty standard fare for me. So again, putting myself in the mindset of a little kid watching this show while it was first airing or doing reruns definitely saves it for me. But I can’t deny that without that framework, the show is kind of ok, but it does get points for its cultural significance.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 26, 2024

SnocZz

Mixed Feelings

This show means everything to me, and forever will. It's my personal favorite (FAVORITE, not best) piece of media in existence and I don't see that ever changing. And honestly? Whilst there's so much of the show that I adore, from the aesthetics, to the individual arcs, to the themes and storytelling...The main thing that solidifies it as my absolute favorite piece of fiction is the characters.

Goku's my favorite fictional character, Vegeta has the greatest character arc ever done in all of fiction imo (even goku, gohan, trunks and piccolo for example have phenomenal arcs), Cell's the coolest villain ever to me, and fellas like ... Chi-chi and Krillin just make me happy. Characters are the most important thing in any piece of fiction to me, if you're trying to write a defined story than the only way it'll stick with me is if it has characters I gravitate to, and DBZ has some of my favorites.

I sure as hell can't recommend this show though, I think that's impossible with how many asteriks there are when trying to introduce this franchise to people. You fr gotta spawn into reality with Dragon Ball in your blood to get the most of it (like I did), and if not, you'll either have an extremely hard time as you either start with Z and have no idea what you're watching, orrrr you start with the really poorly aged embarrassing Pilaf arc. Or maybe somehow you'll thug out the whole franchise and become a lunatic obsessed with it, I dunno, still doesn't change the fact that I find it difficult to recommend lmfao

Regardless though, as I've made clear, this show rocks imo. Yeah I grew up with it, yeah a lot of it could be better, but none of that holds any barring towards how much I adore it. I could write a whole ass several-paragraph thesis or several-hour-long youtube video detailing everything I adore about this show and why it's so special to me, but uhhh I kinda just got here and this is my first MAL review and it's like 2am right now so i'll just leave it at this for now lmao

also i personally prefer the inaccurate cheesy funimation toonami dub with the techno music and the more selfless goku characterization fuck u fight me

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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May 6, 2024

YoungVagabond

Not Recommended

Funny

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 boring 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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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