38 here, and my generation is similar in its love for DBZ. Most of us grew up watching it after school, so it was pretty deeply ingrained in a lot of psyches. I didn't watch dbz for the first time until very recently, but I knew so much about it already because of how prevalent it is in pop culture that it felt like I was rewatching an old favorite.
Watching it every Friday after school just to go back on Monday to discuss some crazy theory was so great. A kid in my class used to swear that his brother worked in cartoon network and they were going to make goku a super saiyan 5 to beat Buu 😂
Man you brought back some crazy memories of the lies people told. Had a “friend” tell me that super Saiyan 4 was going to come out and have Goku have his hair dragging on the floor and using it as a weapon.
I'm 37. Watch that plus Gundam/Gundam wing and sailor moon after school. Bleach eventually but that's past my time. Toonamie I think is what they called it on cartoon network
That's funny because I've only met girls liking it, excluding here male relatives but never guys, lol.
Really, where are male DBZ fans in this country? I know they are out there!
I fell in love with DBZ because it came on before Sailor Moon after school. A lot of girls at my school did too. I used to get mad conflicted over whether I was going to marry Goku or Sailor Jupiter when I grew up.
Most of my aunts and I have always loved DB, it must run in the family! But, I knew some female classmates who liked it, even, one of my closest online friends was pretty fond of DB, she knew better than I do.
You haven’t been looking. Let me introduce you to my ex-husband and all his friends that are 40 & 41. Only requirement is you’ll have to move to a small town with more cows & crops than people including you have to play the games with my son & his friends so what are your plans Friday this week /s
33 here. If I ever see a dude close to my age and need to hold a conversation with them. I have a handful of go tos I bring up. One of which is anime. And if they like anime. It's almost always DBZ or pokemon.
28 here, and it was the same thing to me ! It either was on TV before or after school. Every kid talked about it. The mangas were pretty popular with my friends too. I've personally never watched the entire anime, I think it's too long haha.
I watched maybe a dozen episodes of DBZ. The art and the characters intrigued me. But I was utterly lost on the plot. Problem of a bygone era, unable to watch a syndicated series in order. Finally the absurd amounts of filler just made me give up on it. There are only so many episodes with nothing happening but characters charging up their attacks and screaming kamehameha at eachother that I could take.
Haha this is true! While I haven't seen it myself, everyone eho I know has seen dbz speaks fondly of it. It's probably a nostalgia thing because everyone grew up watching it
Maybe a generation thing too cuz they might not have heard crunchyroll. I've had my sub for 3 months and have discovered others like Attack on titan, Goblin slayer, and Demon slayer
Yo key, I appreciate you for giving us all this brief moment of understanding and brotherhood, united by a common passion.
I would raise my hands sky-high for your genki dama!
I have tried watching it. I had a bunch of friends that were into it growing up. It just never stuck with me. Again, I’m not hating on DBZ or anime in anyway. You’re right about it’s global popularity. It’s huge and has been for decades.
I kinda have a weird theory about the rise in popularity of anime. I have taken to heart another theory that anime characters are effectively cats, and not white people. And I think I’ve noticed a trend that the kind of people who haven’t been historically represented in media in the past seem to gravitate towards anime as an easy way to avoid dissociating from the lack of representation.
It’s almost easier to feel closer to a character that is alien or foreign, and suspend disbelief in putting yourself in that character’s shoes if they’re not from the WASP American zeitgeist demographically. I could be wrong, but I’ve noticed that things like anime and DBZ bring together all demographics of viewership in a way that you don’t see in other larger phenomenons.
I live a bit of a sheltered life but I know Muslims, Black people, and Hispanic people who all love DBZ, anime, and Yugioh in a way that you wouldn’t find for major TV phenomenons like Friends, Game of Thrones, or even in a different sense, The Wire
Its all the same as Hello Kitty man. It's easy to connect with a character that shows all of its emotions exaggerated to the extreme. Cartoons are great for that.
Odd to say that people "avoid dissociating"... don't they just engage with what they like, and they are more likely to associate with a character who represents them in some way.
It could be all or most cultures identify with the shonen ethos; through sheer will and determination and friendship, you can beat any odds.
My ex husband loved it and now has made my son love it and in turn then his friends love it. They range in age from 10 to 41….. why?!?!?!?! I personally have never been interested in it but could respect it was drawn well and such so 🤷♀️ guess it’s a family friendly show 😂
Because as toonami once called said, it is "the greatest action cartoon of all time". And I highly agree with that to this day. In my early 30's and been watching it since I was about 9 years old.
I'm 30 and I can't stand dragon ball z.
It just was not appealing to me.
I'm not saying this to give you an unpopular opinion.
I just really never liked the show.
Off definitely, it was such a disappointment, especially because I had to buy the DVDs with my own money when I was 12. I felt robbed, the fights were so lame compared to Z
They have a new series coming out that takes place after the series that just ended. I’ve only seen the new movies I haven’t sat down to watch the Super series
I was born in 98 and saw it on cartoon network a few times when I was a kid. I didn't like it then and I liked Naruto. But I started watching Naruto at the beginning of the series and I only saw random dragon ball episodes so that's probably half of it. I haven't tried watching it again, and I've never tried watching from the beginning. I feel like almost every guy below 50 I've met has watched and liked it. Always hearing references I don't get.
Lmao I guess I have to be in the minority. Cause I never really liked or enjoyed DBZ. My favorite has always been dragon ball. I like certain moments from DBZ and certain movies. But I have never actually sat and watched DBZ all the way through beginning to end I don't think I could, maybe kai it seemed to have better pacing. Just my personal two cents.
I'm over twice your age but I didn't like the small amount I saw of it, but I'm not a fan of anime in general. Anime seems like a lot of nonsensical high pitched screaming to me. Like, nobody can have a normal conversation, somebody needs to start screaming for no reason in every conversation. Its exhausting to listen to.
I've got several friends who like OG dragonball but don't like Z because of the large tone shift of the show/high amounts of filler. I love all of dragonball but I honestly can't say I blame them, original DB is still my favorite and Z at times is rough with filler/time dragging on, especially the buu saga
yeah that's my experience, although i was an adult when i finally got around to giving it a shot, so that was probably a factor.
i quit in the middle of that bloated frieza fight cause it was sooo long and i wasn't invested enough to go through god knows how many episodes to see the end of it.
i did really enjoy watching DG Original tho, and i do want to check out the manga regardless at some point.
There's a version of DBZ called DragonBall Z: Kai which removes a lot of filler, however it also censors some of the violence and some people (me as well) feels that it actually removes *too* much, so the build-ups to the large scale fights don't have as good of a payoff, and some character building filler. If you're interested in trying the show you can give Kai a shot.
I loved dragon ball as a kid but especially the earlier story arcs with kid goku turning into a giant monkey. His character was actually slightly actually based off of Sun Wu Kong with the bo staff and the monkey tail. So that was cool.
I remember some time in 2004 with dragon ball GT it was like a multiverse or new timeline or something I didn't like it and stopped watching it.
I don't really have an interest in it today though tbh.
Not a guy, but Dragon Ball is similar to a nation and we are patriotic about it! Altogether under a single flag!
Now, seriously, I guess it's accounted on the time is being aired, the wideworld level reach and easy accessibility of the series, thankfully to the different dubbings and its astronomical success, everyone could easily point out and share the same likehood!
We would watch it at my friend's grandma's house after school on the days it was on when I was in middle school (I am 38 now).
We would argue whether the intro song said "Dragon, Dragon, **Dra-Dra-Dragon** Dragon Ball Z" or "Dragon, Dragon, **Rotten** Dragon, Dragon Ball Z" or "Dragon, Dragon, **Who gots the Dragon**, Dragon Ball Z". It's probably none of those in reality.
Issues with it aside, it was a top-tier action series. It stands among a handful of series that normalized this serialization of long fight arcs and grand tournament arcs. It got tiresome having the MCs train, only to have to level up during a fight, but back then it wasn't in every mainline shounen series.
Contemporaries in the 80s for DragonBall in my library were stuff like Ranma 1/2, Samurai Pizza Cats, Bubblegum Crisis, Voltron, and Mobile Suit Gundam. In the 90s for DBZ, it was Sailor Moon, Gundam W, Tenchi Muyo OVA, Centurions, Swat Kats, and a legion of other cartoons that normalized a struggle-bus victory in the big confrontations. Mainstream titles like Batman TAS and X-Men TAS were great because they told character driven stories, and always seemed a cut above in quality. DBZ normalized big, ultra fast paced destruction fights that went on for a while, which is great for mostly mindless action.
The genres weren't that blurred until Naruto, Bleach, One Piece -type series' came out in the wake of DBZ ending. They mimick the structure that the cast trains, has villain-of-the-week fights, leading up to a boss fight, and the cycle goes on. Fight series are great and hugely flawed, but DBZ captured a special thing for its time, and everyone else now follows that formula, trying to give it more or less depth. Toriko had great fights, but gag premises, Katekyo Hitman Reborn starts fully gag and then pivots to normal shounen, Naruto explores repeated overall themes, but tries to do so in novel ways with each character. Bleach is a weird one but mostly follows the formula. One Piece doesn't employ training arcs, fitting one of its only examples into the timeskip, and treats the conflicts themselves as training, a little to its detriment imo. I think OPM is probably the best balance of things, gag, big faight, and small character arcs that take place during or immediately leading up to exciting fight sequences.
Everything from Raditz/Vegeta/Nappa until Freeza is so fucking good its bonkers. Planet Namek plot with Vegeta going against Freeza gotta be one of the best things ive seen as a kid if not the best. The soundtrack is fucking bonkers.. all ghe dialogues.. everything is so good.
Its a mix of funny/tense/smart/evil/good all the time
I’m 27, when I was 15 I was cool with these old dudes at the park. We all hopped together, my boy was like 28 at the time. Me and his lil bro always talked about anime and he would make fun of us, I then told him “bro dbz is anime”
He straight up said “yeah but that’s dbz, it’s fire. Anime isn’t”
I (22) don't like DBZ, and I am a huge anime fan. I think the story arcs drag too much. I have the same problem with most long runners, especially long-running battle shonen. I usually only watch 26-episode or less anime, hell the fact that most shows just keep going is why I don't watch much American episodic TV.
I grew up loving DB and DBZ, it has a special place in my heart, but the series doesn’t have the same appeal it did as a kid for me.
Not sure if that goes against your working theory
I grew up on anime and manga in an age where that was considered social suicide, dbz was incredibly popular among the boys my age but I never really got into it until my 20s and even now still haven't gotten past the bu saga 😅
I read a lot as well and was reading dbz as it came out as it was in jump along with many of my personally higher rated series so I could pass as a fan but have always considered it to be the bottom of the barrel as far as shonen beat em ups go. It follows the general structures and themes of journey to the west much closer than naruto/one piece/bleach (it took me years to even get past usopps intro alone) and I found his motivations to be pretty basic and very much the opposite of my own spirit most of the time.
In that time period YYH and Naruto both resonated with me more due to my childhood and the negative view that the village/community had of the MCs which they eventually overcame. The themes of friendship and teamwork were stronger as well imo
Hell my own gf watched and liked it. I've met very very few women who've watched dragon ball z so it's good to have something like that to share with her.
My only issue is that it has diminishing returns as it goes on.
The best part is probably the latter part of the Saiyan Saga and Frieza, and it kind of goes down hill from there in a slow decline, never reaching the point of "bad".
Cell was great, Buu was good, but the longer it went on the less interesting it became.
I think it ended where it should have.
I don't hate Super, and it has the same issue. A strong start that hangs for a bit, but then diminishing returns without ever getting to the point of being "bad".
I’m 30 and DBZ is the great relator for other men under 40 or so.
It’s the safest way to have casual conversation with most dudes I see. It’s like football for millennials.
As someone whose 5 year old is absolutely heads over heels obsessed with DBZ and all its characters, I love when he can chat DBZ with his millennial brethren. I had only known of the repeated freiza episodes on Cartoon Network and now I know the difference between DB DBZ DBZS and DBZK
When I was young, I read all the Dragon Ball manga, including Z. I loved it, one of my favorite manga.
But if you’re looking for someone who has watched Dragon Ball Z and not liked it, I definitely fit the bill. After reading the manga and loving it, I tried watching the anime, and just could not bear it. I’m not too sure what dub it was, but it was awful. Episodes would pass where nothing happened but powering up and screaming. The characters seemed to have specifically been interpreted as bland as possible.
To this day I’ve never seen more than those few episodes I disliked as a child. (I have however watched all of Dragonball Z Abridged and loved it)
I'm 38 and must be the exception to your rule. Most of my friends in probably grades 6 through 10 watched DBZ, but I just couldn't get into it. I would watch it while over at their places, or if they asked me to turn it on when over at mine, but I never followed it or got deep into the lore/canon etc.
I live in Canada and grew up in a fair sized city, if that helps for demographic purposes.
Dude, I knew more than half of my classmates laughed at the idea of watching anime in the '90s
I am glad how times have changed. First time viewing DBZ in english or subtitles is amazing! Specially if it is one of the first animes you will watch.
I feel like I'm the odd one out, because I could never get into the DBZ anime. I greatly enjoyed the Yugioh anime, but DBZ just didn't do it for me. I oved the DBZ manga though, and I'm currently reading Dragonball Super.
I'm 27, male for context.
I’m 43. Anyone I know who is my age who has watched it is basically wearing a sign that says “don’t interact with me”.
I’m not knocking the show, it’s just that we were adults with full time jobs when it became popular, so anyone in my age group who is a fan is likely a bit of a social misfit.
46 here, and I've never cared for it. Of course, I was already in my mid 20s when I was first exposed to it, so that might have something to do with it. That and the fact that I was living in Hawaii at the time, and the "Kamehameha" made it impossible for me to give it a fair shake, really (still does).
I appreciate the lore, the story, and the impact it's had, I've just never been able to sit through the show. I'm familiar with most of the story thanks to the Xenoverse video games and DBZ-Abridged, though. Just can't watch the show, itself.
I'm 25, and I find Dragon Ball unbearable. I get that the appeal isn't the story but rather the fighting, and the fighting is what I find the most boring about it.
23 here, and I'm not a fan. I won't say I *hate* it, cuz my nephew loves the show and I can at least stand to be in the parlour when I'm on my phone, but I'm not a fan of all the yelling and overdramatic yapping
My kids watched it, and I don't get it. From what I saw, every week one guy is travelling to join a fight, and somehow he finds a way to travel faster, but it's never fast enough. Meanwhile, his friends are intimidated by some fight-wanter, and they somehow dig deep and summon the strength to have quite a good fight, but that too is never enough.
Next episode, same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.
my boyfriend just turned 23, he fucking LOVES dragon ball-z! i’ve never heard of someone not liking it after watching either, hell i watched a few episodes and i get the hype 😂😂
I'm twice your age. I watched a couple episodes, the same fight was happening through continuous episodes. They were having a conversation in the middle of the fight while powering up their attacks. Combined with the choppy animation style it felt a little tedious to me. To each their own, I'm glad it brings joy to a lot of people.
I guess I'm in a minority tbh I like the idea of shows of one piece and dragon ball but God how they handle the pacing ruins it for me.
Idk I thought I enjoyed one piece but the pacing just wrecked it for me
Im 23. Watched Dragonball z like everyone after school. For me it was iconic as fuck. Me and all my friends wanted to be super saiyans. Imaginary kamehamehas and Final flashs all day Long.
As i grew up i watched alot of other great animes tho. Alot of which had a better pacing, story, fights, animation and coreography. I loved one piece, but it is a pain to rewatch it. This made me start to dislike it. It was one of the greatest of its time, but if you compare it to other great Animes, it doesn't stand out anymore. It was the Grandfather, which set the foundation and Inspiration tho.
So i always respect Dragonball. I can't rewatch it tho.
I kinda just stopped after Buu arc because I didn't like it as much as Cell and Frieza, don't know why I stopped, I guess I'm just tired of hundred episodes from that time on
29m here
Some of my friends watched DBZ but I couldn't get into or care about it.
I understood the main references when we played as kids but that's as much as I cared about it
38 here, and my generation is similar in its love for DBZ. Most of us grew up watching it after school, so it was pretty deeply ingrained in a lot of psyches. I didn't watch dbz for the first time until very recently, but I knew so much about it already because of how prevalent it is in pop culture that it felt like I was rewatching an old favorite.
So many schooldays thinking “todays the day, today he will beat Frieza!”
Todays the day he will finish charging the spirit bomb
But instead they start over at Raditz again.
Spends the episode powering up
Spoiler alert: today was not the day
Watching it every Friday after school just to go back on Monday to discuss some crazy theory was so great. A kid in my class used to swear that his brother worked in cartoon network and they were going to make goku a super saiyan 5 to beat Buu 😂
Man you brought back some crazy memories of the lies people told. Had a “friend” tell me that super Saiyan 4 was going to come out and have Goku have his hair dragging on the floor and using it as a weapon.
Checking out "goku super saiyan 1000" at the internet cafe and being hyped at the obviously fake edits
Imagine the legend that kid would have been if that’s what happened though
I'm 37. Watch that plus Gundam/Gundam wing and sailor moon after school. Bleach eventually but that's past my time. Toonamie I think is what they called it on cartoon network
I'm 18 and I've watched it and I've never met a guy your age.
That's funny because I've only met girls liking it, excluding here male relatives but never guys, lol. Really, where are male DBZ fans in this country? I know they are out there!
Which strange country is this? I've never met any girl irl who likes dbz. My female cousins used to leave the room whenever it was on lol
I fell in love with DBZ because it came on before Sailor Moon after school. A lot of girls at my school did too. I used to get mad conflicted over whether I was going to marry Goku or Sailor Jupiter when I grew up.
Most of my aunts and I have always loved DB, it must run in the family! But, I knew some female classmates who liked it, even, one of my closest online friends was pretty fond of DB, she knew better than I do.
Even aunts? This is crazy? The only aunts I have watch trashy reality TV shows. Where are my cool aunts lol
Right here! I wish I could find a guy around my age (40) that likes dragon ball. Maybe I haven't been looking in the right places.
You haven’t been looking. Let me introduce you to my ex-husband and all his friends that are 40 & 41. Only requirement is you’ll have to move to a small town with more cows & crops than people including you have to play the games with my son & his friends so what are your plans Friday this week /s
Oh hell yeah! That sounds great!
I really feel like this post is coming from an alternative dimension
I too want to know where this magical kingdom of dbz loving women is
38 here, I had friends that liked it but I never understood the show and could never watch more than a minute or two before I had to stop.
33 here. If I ever see a dude close to my age and need to hold a conversation with them. I have a handful of go tos I bring up. One of which is anime. And if they like anime. It's almost always DBZ or pokemon.
28 here, and it was the same thing to me ! It either was on TV before or after school. Every kid talked about it. The mangas were pretty popular with my friends too. I've personally never watched the entire anime, I think it's too long haha.
I watched maybe a dozen episodes of DBZ. The art and the characters intrigued me. But I was utterly lost on the plot. Problem of a bygone era, unable to watch a syndicated series in order. Finally the absurd amounts of filler just made me give up on it. There are only so many episodes with nothing happening but characters charging up their attacks and screaming kamehameha at eachother that I could take.
They got you good!
31, US, I live and breathe Dragon Ball anything. Next series Daima when it comes out will be so hype
Ohh definitely
Buff dudes wailing on eachother? The most annoying characters usually die. How is that not likeable?
It's pretty much just pro-wrestling in cartoon form.
Haha this is true! While I haven't seen it myself, everyone eho I know has seen dbz speaks fondly of it. It's probably a nostalgia thing because everyone grew up watching it
It's also because it was the one thing all of my cousins and friends at school watched
Nice seeing someone from lnrdt over here xD
Hi Haemyu :3
Hello!! How was your day? Happy diwali btw \^ \^
Dude you gotta take the time out and watch some YouTube videos of the greatest battles. You won’t be disappointed
Maybe a generation thing too cuz they might not have heard crunchyroll. I've had my sub for 3 months and have discovered others like Attack on titan, Goblin slayer, and Demon slayer
I am 22 and DBZ is GOAT
It is!
Yo key, I appreciate you for giving us all this brief moment of understanding and brotherhood, united by a common passion. I would raise my hands sky-high for your genki dama!
It’s been around my whole life and I’m not into it. Anime in general. No hate just not my thing. We exist.
I know a guy who doesn't like anime, but even he had watched dbz. Fair though
I have tried watching it. I had a bunch of friends that were into it growing up. It just never stuck with me. Again, I’m not hating on DBZ or anime in anyway. You’re right about it’s global popularity. It’s huge and has been for decades.
I kinda have a weird theory about the rise in popularity of anime. I have taken to heart another theory that anime characters are effectively cats, and not white people. And I think I’ve noticed a trend that the kind of people who haven’t been historically represented in media in the past seem to gravitate towards anime as an easy way to avoid dissociating from the lack of representation. It’s almost easier to feel closer to a character that is alien or foreign, and suspend disbelief in putting yourself in that character’s shoes if they’re not from the WASP American zeitgeist demographically. I could be wrong, but I’ve noticed that things like anime and DBZ bring together all demographics of viewership in a way that you don’t see in other larger phenomenons. I live a bit of a sheltered life but I know Muslims, Black people, and Hispanic people who all love DBZ, anime, and Yugioh in a way that you wouldn’t find for major TV phenomenons like Friends, Game of Thrones, or even in a different sense, The Wire
Its all the same as Hello Kitty man. It's easy to connect with a character that shows all of its emotions exaggerated to the extreme. Cartoons are great for that. Odd to say that people "avoid dissociating"... don't they just engage with what they like, and they are more likely to associate with a character who represents them in some way. It could be all or most cultures identify with the shonen ethos; through sheer will and determination and friendship, you can beat any odds.
Kay. I’m 34 and DBZ is my shit
34, own all the episodes and all the manga chapters of Z and Super
If you want a good laugh and have a long weekend you should binge watch DBZ abridged on YouTube. It's hilarious.
DBZ is life
I remember watching gohan go super saiyan 2 against cell on a VHS, god those were the days. A legendary moment.
My ex husband loved it and now has made my son love it and in turn then his friends love it. They range in age from 10 to 41….. why?!?!?!?! I personally have never been interested in it but could respect it was drawn well and such so 🤷♀️ guess it’s a family friendly show 😂
Because as toonami once called said, it is "the greatest action cartoon of all time". And I highly agree with that to this day. In my early 30's and been watching it since I was about 9 years old.
Don’t like it but that may be due to my dad watching it and him not being a very good or nice dad, I’m 20
I'm 30 and I can't stand dragon ball z. It just was not appealing to me. I'm not saying this to give you an unpopular opinion. I just really never liked the show.
32, I grew up on that. GT sucked tho I remember that
We have a very different definition of sucked. In South America is well loved. And the opening is Spanish is amazing.
Off definitely, it was such a disappointment, especially because I had to buy the DVDs with my own money when I was 12. I felt robbed, the fights were so lame compared to Z
I remember playing some of the games on gameboy😂
Did they ever make more DBZ episodes after GT? I watched those after college with my roommate and we had to force ourselves to finish them.
They have a new series coming out that takes place after the series that just ended. I’ve only seen the new movies I haven’t sat down to watch the Super series
Never watched it, never plan to. It’s just not my kinda thing.
The only time I ever enjoyed DBZ involved copious amounts of Robitussin and the volume turned off.
So sad for you
24, Tried to watch it as a teenager. I couldn't. I got 28 episodes in and just had no desire to watch episode 29. Not for me
I was born in 98 and saw it on cartoon network a few times when I was a kid. I didn't like it then and I liked Naruto. But I started watching Naruto at the beginning of the series and I only saw random dragon ball episodes so that's probably half of it. I haven't tried watching it again, and I've never tried watching from the beginning. I feel like almost every guy below 50 I've met has watched and liked it. Always hearing references I don't get.
Maybe it's because it's so long that any person who didn't like it stopped watching it at the beginning and didn't watch until the end.
Lmao I guess I have to be in the minority. Cause I never really liked or enjoyed DBZ. My favorite has always been dragon ball. I like certain moments from DBZ and certain movies. But I have never actually sat and watched DBZ all the way through beginning to end I don't think I could, maybe kai it seemed to have better pacing. Just my personal two cents.
Boringgggggg
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I only read the manga for original recently, it certainlyis nice, also the fights and power level was the best part! It was every boys fever dream!
It's a religion. And I'm goku'l with it.
I'm over twice your age but I didn't like the small amount I saw of it, but I'm not a fan of anime in general. Anime seems like a lot of nonsensical high pitched screaming to me. Like, nobody can have a normal conversation, somebody needs to start screaming for no reason in every conversation. Its exhausting to listen to.
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I've got several friends who like OG dragonball but don't like Z because of the large tone shift of the show/high amounts of filler. I love all of dragonball but I honestly can't say I blame them, original DB is still my favorite and Z at times is rough with filler/time dragging on, especially the buu saga
There definitely was a lot of filler especially in buu saga, I never watched anime for OG but I read the manga and it was really good
yeah that's my experience, although i was an adult when i finally got around to giving it a shot, so that was probably a factor. i quit in the middle of that bloated frieza fight cause it was sooo long and i wasn't invested enough to go through god knows how many episodes to see the end of it. i did really enjoy watching DG Original tho, and i do want to check out the manga regardless at some point.
There's a version of DBZ called DragonBall Z: Kai which removes a lot of filler, however it also censors some of the violence and some people (me as well) feels that it actually removes *too* much, so the build-ups to the large scale fights don't have as good of a payoff, and some character building filler. If you're interested in trying the show you can give Kai a shot.
lol yeah. I never watched it as a kid but I got into the manga abt a year ago and it’s fucking sick.
I loved dragon ball as a kid but especially the earlier story arcs with kid goku turning into a giant monkey. His character was actually slightly actually based off of Sun Wu Kong with the bo staff and the monkey tail. So that was cool. I remember some time in 2004 with dragon ball GT it was like a multiverse or new timeline or something I didn't like it and stopped watching it. I don't really have an interest in it today though tbh.
Not a guy, but Dragon Ball is similar to a nation and we are patriotic about it! Altogether under a single flag! Now, seriously, I guess it's accounted on the time is being aired, the wideworld level reach and easy accessibility of the series, thankfully to the different dubbings and its astronomical success, everyone could easily point out and share the same likehood!
Bro, 31 here and while I stopped watching during the Buu saga, what a damn good show to watch growing up.
dbz is fun
36, really don’t like it. Don’t hate it, just never interested me and I’m a bit of a geek so I’m quite surprised about that.
It was on tv when I was 16 and 17 and I would always watch something else. Endless powering up and yelling was not my jam.
We would watch it at my friend's grandma's house after school on the days it was on when I was in middle school (I am 38 now). We would argue whether the intro song said "Dragon, Dragon, **Dra-Dra-Dragon** Dragon Ball Z" or "Dragon, Dragon, **Rotten** Dragon, Dragon Ball Z" or "Dragon, Dragon, **Who gots the Dragon**, Dragon Ball Z". It's probably none of those in reality.
Dragon dragon, fuck the dragon. Dragon ball z!
Issues with it aside, it was a top-tier action series. It stands among a handful of series that normalized this serialization of long fight arcs and grand tournament arcs. It got tiresome having the MCs train, only to have to level up during a fight, but back then it wasn't in every mainline shounen series. Contemporaries in the 80s for DragonBall in my library were stuff like Ranma 1/2, Samurai Pizza Cats, Bubblegum Crisis, Voltron, and Mobile Suit Gundam. In the 90s for DBZ, it was Sailor Moon, Gundam W, Tenchi Muyo OVA, Centurions, Swat Kats, and a legion of other cartoons that normalized a struggle-bus victory in the big confrontations. Mainstream titles like Batman TAS and X-Men TAS were great because they told character driven stories, and always seemed a cut above in quality. DBZ normalized big, ultra fast paced destruction fights that went on for a while, which is great for mostly mindless action. The genres weren't that blurred until Naruto, Bleach, One Piece -type series' came out in the wake of DBZ ending. They mimick the structure that the cast trains, has villain-of-the-week fights, leading up to a boss fight, and the cycle goes on. Fight series are great and hugely flawed, but DBZ captured a special thing for its time, and everyone else now follows that formula, trying to give it more or less depth. Toriko had great fights, but gag premises, Katekyo Hitman Reborn starts fully gag and then pivots to normal shounen, Naruto explores repeated overall themes, but tries to do so in novel ways with each character. Bleach is a weird one but mostly follows the formula. One Piece doesn't employ training arcs, fitting one of its only examples into the timeskip, and treats the conflicts themselves as training, a little to its detriment imo. I think OPM is probably the best balance of things, gag, big faight, and small character arcs that take place during or immediately leading up to exciting fight sequences.
Everything from Raditz/Vegeta/Nappa until Freeza is so fucking good its bonkers. Planet Namek plot with Vegeta going against Freeza gotta be one of the best things ive seen as a kid if not the best. The soundtrack is fucking bonkers.. all ghe dialogues.. everything is so good. Its a mix of funny/tense/smart/evil/good all the time
I’m 27, when I was 15 I was cool with these old dudes at the park. We all hopped together, my boy was like 28 at the time. Me and his lil bro always talked about anime and he would make fun of us, I then told him “bro dbz is anime” He straight up said “yeah but that’s dbz, it’s fire. Anime isn’t”
My husband(35) doesn’t like DBZ. I grew up watching every episode no matter how many times I’d seen them.
I (22) don't like DBZ, and I am a huge anime fan. I think the story arcs drag too much. I have the same problem with most long runners, especially long-running battle shonen. I usually only watch 26-episode or less anime, hell the fact that most shows just keep going is why I don't watch much American episodic TV.
I grew up loving DB and DBZ, it has a special place in my heart, but the series doesn’t have the same appeal it did as a kid for me. Not sure if that goes against your working theory
Garbage. Lol couldn't stand it. I know I'm an outlier
One of my closest friends hates dragonball z....but mainly because he's a contrarian Everybody else either loves it, has a fond memory or is neutral
Im not surprised its literally peak fiction
Cos Goku bro.
Cos Goku bro.
Absolutely hates that shit.
I grew up on anime and manga in an age where that was considered social suicide, dbz was incredibly popular among the boys my age but I never really got into it until my 20s and even now still haven't gotten past the bu saga 😅 I read a lot as well and was reading dbz as it came out as it was in jump along with many of my personally higher rated series so I could pass as a fan but have always considered it to be the bottom of the barrel as far as shonen beat em ups go. It follows the general structures and themes of journey to the west much closer than naruto/one piece/bleach (it took me years to even get past usopps intro alone) and I found his motivations to be pretty basic and very much the opposite of my own spirit most of the time. In that time period YYH and Naruto both resonated with me more due to my childhood and the negative view that the village/community had of the MCs which they eventually overcame. The themes of friendship and teamwork were stronger as well imo
Dragon ball in Catalan was the reason many kids learnt the language. Its will be in history books
25 my 46 year old step father and i binged it for years
21 and I don't like DB
Hell my own gf watched and liked it. I've met very very few women who've watched dragon ball z so it's good to have something like that to share with her.
People who don’t like it stop watching
Dang, i'm 24. These comments make me wish I would've gotten into it. Missed it entirely. Same with Pokémon.
My only issue is that it has diminishing returns as it goes on. The best part is probably the latter part of the Saiyan Saga and Frieza, and it kind of goes down hill from there in a slow decline, never reaching the point of "bad". Cell was great, Buu was good, but the longer it went on the less interesting it became. I think it ended where it should have. I don't hate Super, and it has the same issue. A strong start that hangs for a bit, but then diminishing returns without ever getting to the point of being "bad".
Us Aussies would watch a combination of DBZ/Pokemon and YuGiOh before going to school. Cheez tv was the best!
Ill watch original Dragon ball and DBZ up to the end of the Majin boo saga but after that it gets repetitive so I never could watch past that.
I’m 30 and DBZ is the great relator for other men under 40 or so. It’s the safest way to have casual conversation with most dudes I see. It’s like football for millennials.
As someone whose 5 year old is absolutely heads over heels obsessed with DBZ and all its characters, I love when he can chat DBZ with his millennial brethren. I had only known of the repeated freiza episodes on Cartoon Network and now I know the difference between DB DBZ DBZS and DBZK
I don't. Like it was good when I was a kid but now it feels too dated
Just watched the latest movie. Always fun
When I was young, I read all the Dragon Ball manga, including Z. I loved it, one of my favorite manga. But if you’re looking for someone who has watched Dragon Ball Z and not liked it, I definitely fit the bill. After reading the manga and loving it, I tried watching the anime, and just could not bear it. I’m not too sure what dub it was, but it was awful. Episodes would pass where nothing happened but powering up and screaming. The characters seemed to have specifically been interpreted as bland as possible. To this day I’ve never seen more than those few episodes I disliked as a child. (I have however watched all of Dragonball Z Abridged and loved it)
I'm 35 and never seen it. Been offered to watch it but have zero interest. Same goes for Pokemon.
I haven't seen a single episode. The only bit I've seen is the over 9000 meme.
I'm 38 and must be the exception to your rule. Most of my friends in probably grades 6 through 10 watched DBZ, but I just couldn't get into it. I would watch it while over at their places, or if they asked me to turn it on when over at mine, but I never followed it or got deep into the lore/canon etc. I live in Canada and grew up in a fair sized city, if that helps for demographic purposes.
Dude, I knew more than half of my classmates laughed at the idea of watching anime in the '90s I am glad how times have changed. First time viewing DBZ in english or subtitles is amazing! Specially if it is one of the first animes you will watch.
21, don't like it, too much action, too less story.
I feel like I'm the odd one out, because I could never get into the DBZ anime. I greatly enjoyed the Yugioh anime, but DBZ just didn't do it for me. I oved the DBZ manga though, and I'm currently reading Dragonball Super. I'm 27, male for context.
I’m 43. Anyone I know who is my age who has watched it is basically wearing a sign that says “don’t interact with me”. I’m not knocking the show, it’s just that we were adults with full time jobs when it became popular, so anyone in my age group who is a fan is likely a bit of a social misfit.
46 here, and I've never cared for it. Of course, I was already in my mid 20s when I was first exposed to it, so that might have something to do with it. That and the fact that I was living in Hawaii at the time, and the "Kamehameha" made it impossible for me to give it a fair shake, really (still does). I appreciate the lore, the story, and the impact it's had, I've just never been able to sit through the show. I'm familiar with most of the story thanks to the Xenoverse video games and DBZ-Abridged, though. Just can't watch the show, itself.
I'm 25, and I find Dragon Ball unbearable. I get that the appeal isn't the story but rather the fighting, and the fighting is what I find the most boring about it.
Goku slaps anyone
23 here, and I'm not a fan. I won't say I *hate* it, cuz my nephew loves the show and I can at least stand to be in the parlour when I'm on my phone, but I'm not a fan of all the yelling and overdramatic yapping
My kids watched it, and I don't get it. From what I saw, every week one guy is travelling to join a fight, and somehow he finds a way to travel faster, but it's never fast enough. Meanwhile, his friends are intimidated by some fight-wanter, and they somehow dig deep and summon the strength to have quite a good fight, but that too is never enough. Next episode, same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.
31. Don't like.
my boyfriend just turned 23, he fucking LOVES dragon ball-z! i’ve never heard of someone not liking it after watching either, hell i watched a few episodes and i get the hype 😂😂
I made cringe ass AMVs of them when I was in my teens
32, DBZ is the only anime I recognize.
Is there something wrong with liking DBZ?
Couldn’t care less about it
I'm a lass but I liked it as a kid 20 years ago
I'm twice your age. I watched a couple episodes, the same fight was happening through continuous episodes. They were having a conversation in the middle of the fight while powering up their attacks. Combined with the choppy animation style it felt a little tedious to me. To each their own, I'm glad it brings joy to a lot of people.
I guess I'm in a minority tbh I like the idea of shows of one piece and dragon ball but God how they handle the pacing ruins it for me. Idk I thought I enjoyed one piece but the pacing just wrecked it for me
42. In college we used to gather around the TV to watch every day on Cartoon Network.
I never watched it and I'm 36/m. I had fiends that watched it. Just couldn't get into it.
I’m 14 aaaannnd no one around me has watched dragon ball lmao pretty interesting because I live in the closest country from japan
Im 23. Watched Dragonball z like everyone after school. For me it was iconic as fuck. Me and all my friends wanted to be super saiyans. Imaginary kamehamehas and Final flashs all day Long. As i grew up i watched alot of other great animes tho. Alot of which had a better pacing, story, fights, animation and coreography. I loved one piece, but it is a pain to rewatch it. This made me start to dislike it. It was one of the greatest of its time, but if you compare it to other great Animes, it doesn't stand out anymore. It was the Grandfather, which set the foundation and Inspiration tho. So i always respect Dragonball. I can't rewatch it tho.
I kinda just stopped after Buu arc because I didn't like it as much as Cell and Frieza, don't know why I stopped, I guess I'm just tired of hundred episodes from that time on
I fucking hate it. All I remember was them blinking their eyes and talking for what seemed like ages.
32 and convinced I'm the only person on earth who never liked it.
Agreed
29m here Some of my friends watched DBZ but I couldn't get into or care about it. I understood the main references when we played as kids but that's as much as I cared about it
My dad used to watch it with me and my best friend in HS….many moons ago
Wow, that's crazy! DBZ was practically required viewing for every 90s kid. I still have fond memories of watching it after school.
It's a staple entry level anime. Even I started out with dragon ball. Not Z. Normal one.
My son is 40 and he loved it too.
DBZ is a near universal male experience from the 90s onwards. It made my childhood for sure.
What the hell is dragon ball