Reviews

I just finished a rewatch of The First Dragon Ball TV series and it still holds really well. Like I was surprised by how well made this first series was. For context this was my first time watching this series since 2012 back when I first into anime so really remember much about this series out side of handful the biggest battle that’s happen towards the end. But honestly this series overall better than action adventure shonen series as it was pretty well pace for the most part outside of the red ribbon arc and the writing was actually top notch has most fights followed a logical progression (well as logical as dragon balls weird cartoon superpower chaos can be), there was meaning to most of training arcs , and power up like when Goku learned for Korrin that he needs to focus on anticipating his opponents actions, with was actually really well training arc. Now here’s my ranking on each of the arcs:

Pilaf arc:a solid start tho this series did start off as comedy and by todays standards some may find the humor that funny as it’s very dirty that said I still found to be fun, nothing too original (probably because this popularized a bunch of these tropes) but still dumb fun.7/10
1st World martial arts tournament arc: This arc was a ton of fun some really cool and creative fight scenes, a legit good characterization for Roshi who seems like perverted old man at first but is actually good person who cares about students. I had a blast watching this arc 8/10
Red Ribbon arc: the first two thirds of this 40+ epsiode arc was boring mainly due to the fact that Goku was fight a bunch of enemies who posed no threat to him which result in there being little tension in the story. The last third is when this arc actually get enjoyable because Mercenary Tao (the first serious dragon ball villain) appears and kills one of good guy and beats the living crap out of Goku immediately adds tension to this story. The few episodes of this arc were actually pretty great. So I would this arc is a 6/10.
Baba tournament arc: this arc was so faster paced than the previous one, was filled with a bunch really creative fights were won in cool and clever way (like the invisible man fight). Also seeing Goku get reunited with his grandpa was absolutely heartwarming, almost made me cry. 8/10
2nd World martial arts tournament arc: this arc is when dragon ball starts move way from it comedy roots and into serious storylines which I personally didn’t mind. Tien gets introduced here and gets really well character arc. 8/10
King piccolo arc: This arc is actually just straight up epic. King piccolo was fantastic who actually wins and manages defeat most of good guys. Goku hatred for was personal and you legitimately wanted to see him defeat King Piccolo. Tiens great character continues into this arc as well.
3rd World martial arts tournament arc: This arc was a pretty epic and bombastic way to end the first dragon ball series 8.5/10

Conclusion if you skipped this show and went straight to dbz your an idiot because your missing out on some of the best storylines in of action adventure shonen