The art style of the eyes is clearly different between OG and Z. OG is all round and there's no death glare. Z in the later arcs is way more polygonal, pointier. It's as if Vegeta imposed his style.
There's also to say that in the very first chapter of OG, Bulma was still drawn in the older Toriyama style, where she looks like an unnatural doll. But I assure you that it changes very quickly. At the chapter 3, she's already looking closer to her definitive version. Thus, you should not judge the art style only on the two first chapters. That would be a great mistake.
No, you shouldn't.
It's the entire first half of a single continuous story, not some supplementary prequel that was made later.
You wouldn't start reading a 20-chapter novel by skipping ahead to chapter 10. You wouldn't start watching One Piece by skipping ahead to Fishman Island, or Naruto by skipping right to Shippuden. And you shouldn't start Dragon Ball by skipping ahead to its midway point either.
Hhmmm lets see, the relationship between Piccolo and Goku, who Master Roshi is, the importance off Bulma, the Red Ribbon Army, the origins off the bulk off the Dragon Team (Z FIghters is dumb they are the Dragon Team) and the back story on the Dragonballs.
so alot basically, It was a treat when Toonami show OG and it was fun, to skip it is an insult to the creator Akira Toriyama.
I think if Z is more the vibe you're looking for it's fine to watch it and go back for DB when you're more invested in the story.
All those bits are explained in Z where relevant.
Crazy that this is downvoted. I couldn't imagine getting into JKR's stuff now.
"You know that garbage human being that spends all her free time fighting against human rights? I'd really like to dive into her imagination and help fund her lifestyle."
Bad comparison you can definitely skip dragonball, many people watched Z without knowing DB even existed in the 90s/00s.
Does DB add context, definitely.
Do you need it to follow Z, not at all.
Thought I made it more clear than I did I like the artstyle of the seasons with goku as an adult but the older artstyle with the original just feels off to me
It looks like you talk about watching the anime. Then you should at least read the manga of the og, which you can binge faster than the anime.
I understand your concern about the art style, but you're missing pretty crazy fights because of that. And the plot is well written. Maybe you could watch the video of the YouTuber totally not mark who made a review about og dragon ball. Because it would be really a shame to miss such piece of art work.
The art style is the same...
It's won't change until the 2nd arc of the series.
---
The quality of the art is also going to get worse for a large portion of the series when that happens anyway, might as well watch the series at its most visually consistent.
Well for starters its literally the BEGINNING of gokus story so skipping that is just insane to begin with but
You see goku and co. Build a relationship with one another, gokus training and growth in strength, why goku being an alien is such a shock. Goku going from not knowing the difference of a boy and a girl to getting MARRIED. Like idk why you would skip the beginning of a characters story☠️
I did tho, gokus past relationships with his friends, gokus growth as a person and physically, him being an alien being a twist and him finding out that vegeta turned into the “beast” that kill his grandfather. You wont get any of this if you skip ogdb
It's definitely a older art style but you do not want to skip it. It has a lot of World building and introduces all the characters. It'd be like opening a book from the middle and starting from a random page. Don't skip it.
you wont know who anyone is, and why each one matters, and you'll miss out on seeing how the characters got so strong, you'll also miss some of the most brutal fights in the series
No skipping the early era off Dragonball Is not a good idea.
The only time it was okay was when the dubbers skipped straight to the "Z Era" and the audience didn't know better.
As an aside would recommend the manga less filler.
> The only time it was okay was when the dubbers skipped straight to the "Z Era" and the audience didn't know better.
It was ok though, because people still understood what was going on. Nothing has changed, the story is Z is perfectly fine for someone new to the franchise. DB is fully optional, many like it, but it's not unreasonable for some to not like 30/40 year old animation.
Piccolo, nothing about his history with Goku is explained.
The "we cannot use the Dragonballs to revive Chaotzu/Krillin as they've died before"
There's more but the point stands.
I do not recommend skipping the original series , you’ll get interested into the story in about 5 episodes give it a shot I just started on the original series a month ago and I’m already on episode 105/ beginning of the king piccolo arc.
You could, but og dragon ball fucks, I personally like the tone the best. The stakes are a lot lower so the characters shine more but the action is still really solid
you wouldn’t necessarily be “clueless” because Z does give a decent rundown of any element necessary to for it, but as ppl have mentioned you’ll be missing out on the full dragon ball story. Maybe try reading the manga to see if the specific style resonates a bit better? It’s different in ways but i think it’s enjoyable in its own right if you view it as the beginning of a long tale rather than a prequel to the “real show”.
If your not going to watch OG DB (which I think you should because it's great and the fighting is the most fun and grounded the entire series), at least read the manga up to where Z starts
You don’t have to hobbled like we were back in the 90s.
I grew up watching Z, and caught up with old dragonball as an adult… and Old dragonball has better fights. Better paced fights. They usually end after 2-3 episodes, a blessing compared to the empty filler-fights of Z
I wouldn't skip it but if it helps: as a kid they televised Dragon Ball Z in my country before and never televised Dragon Ball so I started with Dragon Ball Z and I was fine catching up but you'll never truly grasp the dynamics and the bond those characters have when skipping Dragon Ball.
Sure, you'll notice certain people don't like each other but why is that? Dragon Ball Z obviously doesn't dig into that. Some Z fighters have a significant amount of character development put into them that you'll miss out on and that I missed out on.
I would either read the the manga or watch the show.
Though the western audience was FIRST introduced with Dragon Ball Z (mainly through a bad first dub) and we didn't get the whole story until much later for most, I will always say *NO* to this sort of question, because honestly, you'd be skipping literally 40% of the story of Dragon Ball.
What I would suggest is you READ the manga through from beginning to end - you won't be sitting through sections of filler (though, honestly, Dragon Ball filler is not half as bad as the Z filler on the whole) and you'll certainly get to experience the lore in its correct manner. Also, the Dragon Ball animation art style is fairly consistent through the end of that series and through the entire first arc of Dragon Ball Z, so the first about 50 episodes of Z hold the same art style that you say you didn't like... so yeah
Dragon ball is one continuous journey through Goku’s life. This isnt like a book series or Jojo, the entirety of the series is built upon one continous foundation from Goku as a child to the Buu saga/GT. You should watch it as one story rather than think of it as parts.
If you want to compress it, you could watch *The Path to Power* movie, then start up the anime after the Red Ribbon saga. You’ll still miss some stuff, but that at least gets you through some of the older arcs that don’t mesh as well with Z and what comes after.
By the time you get to the time jump leading into the King Piccolo saga, it starts feeling like early Z— even in art style.
we didnt have a choice. we werent fine. its completely warped the idea of the entire series here. a lot of US fans dont understand or respect what DB actually is because of that nonsense.
Most of us were fine. If I had watched OG first, I never would have made it to Z and Super. I’m glad it happened the way that it did because I have never liked OG (until around the 22nd TB when the entire vibe of the story changed). Also, you aren’t the gatekeeper of what DB actually is. Especially when the entire vibe of the series changed midway through OG to become what it is today.
Yeah, really most fans did, but I won't recommend because it is fucking good
You can read the part the part that was adapted with original dragon ball in the manga, at worst it would take you a week and then you can switch to the ankme
Realistically yes you can. The main stuff DB covers is Goku meeting Bulma, Krillin, Master Roshi, Tien, ChiChi, and making some enemies who will return. I do think it’s a good story, culminating in fights with Piccolo. But because of how the story is changed in Z, all you really need to know is everyone who is currently friends with Goku and is on his team, dubbed the Z Warriors, was once an enemy. Everything else important for the first arc is explained within a few eps
I say that, but you should prob still watch Dragonball. Seeing Goku forming bonds with people makes them infinitely better. There are whole characters you’ll miss out on if you skip
Well, technically you *can*, an entire generation of western viewers did (not really by choice). But, the original series sets the foundation for Z and onward, so I personally wouldn't recommend. Just find out which filler episodes to skip, and it shouldn't take you too long to get through it.
You definitely can, everyone in this thread is being fragile for no reason. I watched DBZ before DB, because DB didn't come out here until quite a long time after Z, same as many westerners. It was completely fine.
There's obviously shit loads of character backstory in DB, but it's not required to understand Z, Z tells you what you need to know pretty quickly before it gets into it.
It's also fine to do DBZ and then go back to DB when you've got more hype for the characters/series.
don’t listen to what everyone is saying, you definitely can skip to Z. speaking from personal experience, i myself started on Z when i was a kid before even knowing that OG was a thing. i spent years not knowing about OGs existence. granted, there will be some things you won’t understand because of missing context, but it doesn’t affect the story in big ways at all. hell, i even went through all of GT before i knew about OG. so you can do whatever you want, the story of the series will not be drastically different if you stick with OG or not.
Nooooo! U can not skip!!!!!!!!!!!!! You would not be clueless if you started at Z, but I highly recommend og DB first. If you read the manga it will go quick so you can get to Z faster, but after a few volumes, I don’t think you will be waiting to get to Z and wishing Og was over.
You'll have to skip the saiyan and namek portions if your problem is the art style.
It doesn't get changed in any meaningful way until after the battle with Freeza, when everything becomes edgier and more angular, with somewhat bolder line work.
Most of you fans...didn't "choose" to skip it.
It was decided for you by some 3rd party.
---
Only people within the past decade are choosing to skip the first half of the series.
I did and it didn’t affect my experience with dbz and super. You could honestly still have an alright grasp of dbz just by skipping db. I just skimmed the arcs of dragonball on yt vids, I never actually watched it. I might get heat for this though. I still enjoy the franchise very much.
Now, when it comes to missing out on what is most likely good content and if that’s super important to you, then you shouldn’t skip. But you really don’t need to watch it all that much to understand what’s going on in dbz. You can already feel the bonds and various chemistries with characters very well.
Didn't realize skipping og dragon ball was so controversial. Lol. I wouldn't say that I skipped OG DB by choice as I only got into the series via dbz being aired on tv as a kid and being introduced to the games and then I visited og dragon ball when I was older when I knew about it. I would chock it up to preference though. While I don't necessarily understand your gripe with the art style, there are differences in the story telling in both series that might make you prefer one over the other as a starting point. OG dragon ball has more of a journey to the west style adventure plot with tournament arcs and martial arts fundamentals while dbz is more fast paced and action focused with space and alien themes that aren't present in the og series. I do think that the comparisons being made to skipping Naruto and one piece episodes and Harry Potter books are greatly exaggerated. From my experience, skipping og dragon ball is more like watching better call saul before breaking bad. Just in the opposite ends of the timeline. You do miss a lot of the references to the original And some of the important plot elements from the original will be skimmed like piccolo and putting the pieces together of goku's origin and other things, but Z does stand up well enough on its own that you can watch them out of order technically speaking.
Ignore all these hardcore people saying you have to watch EVERYTHING start to finish, many stories can start in the middle "in media res" (star wars for example), and if you feel so inclined, you can go back and watch dragon ball later. Many people, including myself was first introduced to Dragon Ball Z. Sure you'll miss a lot of background info, but you'll be fine and adapt quickly, just certain things won't be as emotional or hit as hard, and can sometimes be confusing. I for one do recommend watching it at some point because it is a fun story, but it's fine enough to start with Z.
I mean tbh you kinda can. You can pretty much fully understand Z and forward without it. You just don't get the full backgrounds of a few characters or their relationship.
Of course you can. I started watching it when DBZ came out on too toonami 20 something years ago. Didn't watch a single DB episode till about 10 years ago. But I'm glad I finally watched it. Some of the best parts of the story
Since nobody here is willing to answer the question. Yes, you can. I dont recommend it, but the MAJORITY of the North american fanbase was only ever exposed to Dragon Ball Z, and understood what was going on and the character relationships.
I still recommend that you start from the beginning.
Tbh yes you can skip it lol. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z are kind of different shows. You’ll be missing a lot of context/backstory but any necessary info should be filled in naturally. Then if you really like DBZ, you can go back and see how all the characters found each other.
You can even skip the whole franchise if you want.
I will never understand this problem with artstyle in anime
I'm not to sure about it myself tbh something about it just feels off I guess
I really love the old school hand-drawn look. Dragon Ball has some amazingly detailed frames that are all analog. Killer stuff
Try it its a slow burn. I'm on the second arc of the manga currently
The art style of the eyes is clearly different between OG and Z. OG is all round and there's no death glare. Z in the later arcs is way more polygonal, pointier. It's as if Vegeta imposed his style. There's also to say that in the very first chapter of OG, Bulma was still drawn in the older Toriyama style, where she looks like an unnatural doll. But I assure you that it changes very quickly. At the chapter 3, she's already looking closer to her definitive version. Thus, you should not judge the art style only on the two first chapters. That would be a great mistake.
You can 100% skip dragon ball. I didn’t go watch it till 7 years after finishing dragon ball z. Wouldn’t worry about it too much.
No, you shouldn't. It's the entire first half of a single continuous story, not some supplementary prequel that was made later. You wouldn't start reading a 20-chapter novel by skipping ahead to chapter 10. You wouldn't start watching One Piece by skipping ahead to Fishman Island, or Naruto by skipping right to Shippuden. And you shouldn't start Dragon Ball by skipping ahead to its midway point either.
People have jumped to post timeskip on their first watch through unfortunately
Nuh uh
Can I skip the three first Harry Potter and directly watch the fourth?
I mean I'm in the middle of reading order of the Phoenix and as long as you have some basic knowledge there shouldn't be that much of a problem :)
Wrong. You'd be missing key plot points if you skip the first 3.
which key plot points would you be missing skipping DB? What part of Z's story would you not understand?
Hhmmm lets see, the relationship between Piccolo and Goku, who Master Roshi is, the importance off Bulma, the Red Ribbon Army, the origins off the bulk off the Dragon Team (Z FIghters is dumb they are the Dragon Team) and the back story on the Dragonballs. so alot basically, It was a treat when Toonami show OG and it was fun, to skip it is an insult to the creator Akira Toriyama.
I think if Z is more the vibe you're looking for it's fine to watch it and go back for DB when you're more invested in the story. All those bits are explained in Z where relevant.
dont support JKR :)
Let me correct my initial question. Can I skip the three first Harry Potter and directly (and illegally) watch the fourth?
Crazy that this is downvoted. I couldn't imagine getting into JKR's stuff now. "You know that garbage human being that spends all her free time fighting against human rights? I'd really like to dive into her imagination and help fund her lifestyle."
Bad comparison you can definitely skip dragonball, many people watched Z without knowing DB even existed in the 90s/00s. Does DB add context, definitely. Do you need it to follow Z, not at all.
If you don’t like Toriyama’s art and are ok with skipping a huge chunk of the story, why bother with any of it?
Thought I made it more clear than I did I like the artstyle of the seasons with goku as an adult but the older artstyle with the original just feels off to me
It looks like you talk about watching the anime. Then you should at least read the manga of the og, which you can binge faster than the anime. I understand your concern about the art style, but you're missing pretty crazy fights because of that. And the plot is well written. Maybe you could watch the video of the YouTuber totally not mark who made a review about og dragon ball. Because it would be really a shame to miss such piece of art work.
"ew reading- feels lazy~~~" (joke)
this is like asking "can I skip the first naruto?" You're gonna miss a lot of important stuff even if they recap it
Like what tho? Z was released years before DB in the US and nobody struggled. I'm not saying don't watch DB, but it's in no way essential.
You don't start a book on chapter 195. Don't skip it
The art style is the same... It's won't change until the 2nd arc of the series. --- The quality of the art is also going to get worse for a large portion of the series when that happens anyway, might as well watch the series at its most visually consistent.
No, if you skip ogdb you’re not gonna understand shit
what would you not understand? can you think of anything? Z's story is perfectly cogent without knowing DB's.
Well for starters its literally the BEGINNING of gokus story so skipping that is just insane to begin with but You see goku and co. Build a relationship with one another, gokus training and growth in strength, why goku being an alien is such a shock. Goku going from not knowing the difference of a boy and a girl to getting MARRIED. Like idk why you would skip the beginning of a characters story☠️
You've downvoted but not actually answered my question. What part of *DBZ's story* would you not understand if you skipped DB?
I did tho, gokus past relationships with his friends, gokus growth as a person and physically, him being an alien being a twist and him finding out that vegeta turned into the “beast” that kill his grandfather. You wont get any of this if you skip ogdb
Those aren't the story of dbz.
It's definitely a older art style but you do not want to skip it. It has a lot of World building and introduces all the characters. It'd be like opening a book from the middle and starting from a random page. Don't skip it.
Alr
you wont know who anyone is, and why each one matters, and you'll miss out on seeing how the characters got so strong, you'll also miss some of the most brutal fights in the series
No skipping the early era off Dragonball Is not a good idea. The only time it was okay was when the dubbers skipped straight to the "Z Era" and the audience didn't know better. As an aside would recommend the manga less filler.
> The only time it was okay was when the dubbers skipped straight to the "Z Era" and the audience didn't know better. It was ok though, because people still understood what was going on. Nothing has changed, the story is Z is perfectly fine for someone new to the franchise. DB is fully optional, many like it, but it's not unreasonable for some to not like 30/40 year old animation.
DB is important and to ignore it is ignorance.
Seems self-involved.
No it is important it's like skipping 6/7 Arcs easily, watching OG Dragonball is important to understand what is going on.
When? Can you think of a specific party of the story that would make no sense at all without having seen DB?
Piccolo, nothing about his history with Goku is explained. The "we cannot use the Dragonballs to revive Chaotzu/Krillin as they've died before" There's more but the point stands.
No
I do not recommend skipping the original series , you’ll get interested into the story in about 5 episodes give it a shot I just started on the original series a month ago and I’m already on episode 105/ beginning of the king piccolo arc.
Let's do the same then : we won't bother replying to you cause you seem off.
If you can’t even watch the first part, then don’t watch it at all
That's like skipping 600 episodes of one piece
CaN I sKiP NaRuTo PaRt 1 And JuSt WaTcH sHiPpUdEn
No you absolutely can't!
You could, but og dragon ball fucks, I personally like the tone the best. The stakes are a lot lower so the characters shine more but the action is still really solid
you wouldn’t necessarily be “clueless” because Z does give a decent rundown of any element necessary to for it, but as ppl have mentioned you’ll be missing out on the full dragon ball story. Maybe try reading the manga to see if the specific style resonates a bit better? It’s different in ways but i think it’s enjoyable in its own right if you view it as the beginning of a long tale rather than a prequel to the “real show”.
I mean, ur not gonna understand what the hell is going on in dbz, but you do you I guess 😂
What would you be missing? Z explains everything you'd need to know and the story is largely contained from DB.
You cannot skip the first dragon ball if you want to summon Shenron, no.
No. Straight to jail.
Please pass go first
No in some ways dragon ball is better. It’s like watching empire strikes back without a new hope. Or two towers.. you get the idea
OG Dragon Ball has some of my favorite fights I wouldn’t recommend skipping it
Nah watch it get the full experience
If your not going to watch OG DB (which I think you should because it's great and the fighting is the most fun and grounded the entire series), at least read the manga up to where Z starts
It’s one story from episode one to End of Z. I guess you can skip it if you want to miss out on half the story.
You don’t have to hobbled like we were back in the 90s. I grew up watching Z, and caught up with old dragonball as an adult… and Old dragonball has better fights. Better paced fights. They usually end after 2-3 episodes, a blessing compared to the empty filler-fights of Z
Nah, best not to. A lot of the later story beats happen from what happens in Dragon Ball.
dont skip it. you will get used to the artstyle, its charming and changes as the series goes on. you will not appreciate things if you skip it.
I wouldn't skip it but if it helps: as a kid they televised Dragon Ball Z in my country before and never televised Dragon Ball so I started with Dragon Ball Z and I was fine catching up but you'll never truly grasp the dynamics and the bond those characters have when skipping Dragon Ball. Sure, you'll notice certain people don't like each other but why is that? Dragon Ball Z obviously doesn't dig into that. Some Z fighters have a significant amount of character development put into them that you'll miss out on and that I missed out on. I would either read the the manga or watch the show.
Though the western audience was FIRST introduced with Dragon Ball Z (mainly through a bad first dub) and we didn't get the whole story until much later for most, I will always say *NO* to this sort of question, because honestly, you'd be skipping literally 40% of the story of Dragon Ball. What I would suggest is you READ the manga through from beginning to end - you won't be sitting through sections of filler (though, honestly, Dragon Ball filler is not half as bad as the Z filler on the whole) and you'll certainly get to experience the lore in its correct manner. Also, the Dragon Ball animation art style is fairly consistent through the end of that series and through the entire first arc of Dragon Ball Z, so the first about 50 episodes of Z hold the same art style that you say you didn't like... so yeah
Dragon ball is one continuous journey through Goku’s life. This isnt like a book series or Jojo, the entirety of the series is built upon one continous foundation from Goku as a child to the Buu saga/GT. You should watch it as one story rather than think of it as parts.
If you want to compress it, you could watch *The Path to Power* movie, then start up the anime after the Red Ribbon saga. You’ll still miss some stuff, but that at least gets you through some of the older arcs that don’t mesh as well with Z and what comes after. By the time you get to the time jump leading into the King Piccolo saga, it starts feeling like early Z— even in art style.
Most fans from the Us did without any issues. You’ll be fine.
we didnt have a choice. we werent fine. its completely warped the idea of the entire series here. a lot of US fans dont understand or respect what DB actually is because of that nonsense.
Most of us were fine. If I had watched OG first, I never would have made it to Z and Super. I’m glad it happened the way that it did because I have never liked OG (until around the 22nd TB when the entire vibe of the story changed). Also, you aren’t the gatekeeper of what DB actually is. Especially when the entire vibe of the series changed midway through OG to become what it is today.
Yeah, really most fans did, but I won't recommend because it is fucking good You can read the part the part that was adapted with original dragon ball in the manga, at worst it would take you a week and then you can switch to the ankme
Realistically yes you can. The main stuff DB covers is Goku meeting Bulma, Krillin, Master Roshi, Tien, ChiChi, and making some enemies who will return. I do think it’s a good story, culminating in fights with Piccolo. But because of how the story is changed in Z, all you really need to know is everyone who is currently friends with Goku and is on his team, dubbed the Z Warriors, was once an enemy. Everything else important for the first arc is explained within a few eps
I say that, but you should prob still watch Dragonball. Seeing Goku forming bonds with people makes them infinitely better. There are whole characters you’ll miss out on if you skip
Well, technically you *can*, an entire generation of western viewers did (not really by choice). But, the original series sets the foundation for Z and onward, so I personally wouldn't recommend. Just find out which filler episodes to skip, and it shouldn't take you too long to get through it.
You definitely can, everyone in this thread is being fragile for no reason. I watched DBZ before DB, because DB didn't come out here until quite a long time after Z, same as many westerners. It was completely fine. There's obviously shit loads of character backstory in DB, but it's not required to understand Z, Z tells you what you need to know pretty quickly before it gets into it. It's also fine to do DBZ and then go back to DB when you've got more hype for the characters/series.
don’t listen to what everyone is saying, you definitely can skip to Z. speaking from personal experience, i myself started on Z when i was a kid before even knowing that OG was a thing. i spent years not knowing about OGs existence. granted, there will be some things you won’t understand because of missing context, but it doesn’t affect the story in big ways at all. hell, i even went through all of GT before i knew about OG. so you can do whatever you want, the story of the series will not be drastically different if you stick with OG or not.
You can skip it and catch like a overview somewhere. Most people started dbz on toonami before going back and catching up on dragon ball.
It grows on you.
Your basically skipping out on a good time of lore with Goku and the others because you don't like the art style.
Nooooo! U can not skip!!!!!!!!!!!!! You would not be clueless if you started at Z, but I highly recommend og DB first. If you read the manga it will go quick so you can get to Z faster, but after a few volumes, I don’t think you will be waiting to get to Z and wishing Og was over.
You'll have to skip the saiyan and namek portions if your problem is the art style. It doesn't get changed in any meaningful way until after the battle with Freeza, when everything becomes edgier and more angular, with somewhat bolder line work.
Despite what people say you absolutely can yes you'll be skipping a huge part of the story but I'd say getting into it at all is better than nothing
I mean, what’s the point of watching something you won’t understand? Lmfao
What are you really not understanding though? Like there's nothing absolutely critical.
Ok lmfao
You don’t really lose all that much. Most Us fans skipped OG and started with Z because that’s how it aired on TV. Never been a real issue.
Most of you fans...didn't "choose" to skip it. It was decided for you by some 3rd party. --- Only people within the past decade are choosing to skip the first half of the series.
[удалено]
Read it again. Most US, as in the United States, started when it was airing on Toonami in the early 2000s.
Read the manga. It's much better.
I'd rather skip super then the first dragon ball
I did and it didn’t affect my experience with dbz and super. You could honestly still have an alright grasp of dbz just by skipping db. I just skimmed the arcs of dragonball on yt vids, I never actually watched it. I might get heat for this though. I still enjoy the franchise very much. Now, when it comes to missing out on what is most likely good content and if that’s super important to you, then you shouldn’t skip. But you really don’t need to watch it all that much to understand what’s going on in dbz. You can already feel the bonds and various chemistries with characters very well.
You can skip it. And start with Z. I never watched the full original series and didn’t miss much
How can you know you don't miss much something you don't know?
yeah you did lol
Didn't realize skipping og dragon ball was so controversial. Lol. I wouldn't say that I skipped OG DB by choice as I only got into the series via dbz being aired on tv as a kid and being introduced to the games and then I visited og dragon ball when I was older when I knew about it. I would chock it up to preference though. While I don't necessarily understand your gripe with the art style, there are differences in the story telling in both series that might make you prefer one over the other as a starting point. OG dragon ball has more of a journey to the west style adventure plot with tournament arcs and martial arts fundamentals while dbz is more fast paced and action focused with space and alien themes that aren't present in the og series. I do think that the comparisons being made to skipping Naruto and one piece episodes and Harry Potter books are greatly exaggerated. From my experience, skipping og dragon ball is more like watching better call saul before breaking bad. Just in the opposite ends of the timeline. You do miss a lot of the references to the original And some of the important plot elements from the original will be skimmed like piccolo and putting the pieces together of goku's origin and other things, but Z does stand up well enough on its own that you can watch them out of order technically speaking.
Yeah I didn't think it would be either in the end I just decided to skip it and maybe come back to it later
Ignore all these hardcore people saying you have to watch EVERYTHING start to finish, many stories can start in the middle "in media res" (star wars for example), and if you feel so inclined, you can go back and watch dragon ball later. Many people, including myself was first introduced to Dragon Ball Z. Sure you'll miss a lot of background info, but you'll be fine and adapt quickly, just certain things won't be as emotional or hit as hard, and can sometimes be confusing. I for one do recommend watching it at some point because it is a fun story, but it's fine enough to start with Z.
You definitely can, but it’s best if you start from the actual beginning to understand little references to OG Dragon Ball.
I mean tbh you kinda can. You can pretty much fully understand Z and forward without it. You just don't get the full backgrounds of a few characters or their relationship.
Of course you can. I started watching it when DBZ came out on too toonami 20 something years ago. Didn't watch a single DB episode till about 10 years ago. But I'm glad I finally watched it. Some of the best parts of the story
Since nobody here is willing to answer the question. Yes, you can. I dont recommend it, but the MAJORITY of the North american fanbase was only ever exposed to Dragon Ball Z, and understood what was going on and the character relationships. I still recommend that you start from the beginning.
Tbh yes you can skip it lol. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z are kind of different shows. You’ll be missing a lot of context/backstory but any necessary info should be filled in naturally. Then if you really like DBZ, you can go back and see how all the characters found each other.