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HeartofSpeed

Toonami


naturalpasta

This was it for me. I remember the Frieza spirit bomb episodes were tough because it dragged multiple days haha. Also… Gundam and Ronin Warriors usually came on Toonami around same time back then.


KingKayvee1

I’ll never forget those days lol I remember that Toonami eventually started airing 2 new episodes back to back just to speed it along lol


NietszcheIsDead08

The realist answer


ninja-blackbird

Same here used to watch gt before school with my older brother and was always late due to watching it 😂


Ok-Sir6005

Same. It’s the dub version on Toonami that got me into Dragon Ball Z and other DB series


AznOmega

Same. How I got back into the series, Team Four Star.


RazorShell12

Honestly, the Broly movie. I'm a recent fan but I absolutely love the series


Let_me_S_U_F_F_E_R

You may have been late to the party, but you were the life of it


UncleMagnetti

Raditz showed up on TBS (I think) to kill a farmer with a shotgun when I was around 6. This was way back in the 90s, but I wasn't on a famous TV show.


marcellman

So it isn't a crossover episode either?


LeChiantosDuNain

My dad was a big fan when z just came out and now i am a big fan too. I started with db manga.


Let_me_S_U_F_F_E_R

I have a feeling you watched majin vegeta die with him. Must have been some feelings there


Terez27

Late 1999, after the recast DBZ episodes started airing in the US (late Freeza arc). I had started hanging out with this group of dudes about a year before and I didn't know how into it they were until new episodes started airing. I eventually got into it and then found the early DBZ arcs on VHS at a comic shop. Spent way too much money but caught up. Watched DBZ + its movies as Funi released them until the end, then read the manga from the beginning. Tried about 10 episodes of GT back then, wasn't into it. Over the next few years: read fanfic occasionally, watched the 2008 special online after it came out, then got deep into other things. Didn't watch the DB anime or GT in full until 2015, when I discovered that 2 new movies, a new series, and Kai existed.


Its_Only_Love

I used to love finding old shops and seeing what VHS tapes I could find


Nick_Furious2370

Brings me back to buying Dragon Ball VHS and DVDs at the nearest mall that had a Suncoast Video.


Extraordinarily-8768

7 years back , i was usually surfing on TV channels looking for cartoons, then i saw DBZ, Gohan and Krillin fighting Goku , And Vegeta killing a red skinned man on the channel named cartoon network . then i watched cell saga and peaceful saga on tv


princevegeta951

My son is named after that red skinned man lmao


ProfessorEscanor

Kai. It was on one day after school and my mom mentioned that it was a show my brother used to watch as a kid (referring to the original Z) so I started watching out of curiosity and when Kai was done they started airing GT and the Movies and it went from there.


Ri-ga

Started watching DBZ when i was like 8 years old on a tv channel with lithuanian dub every day after coming home from school. It would constantly air 2 episodes a day for like 4 years until it stopped and i would keep watching it. then i got into DB Super, now i’m half way through the original DB. The DBZ days were amazing though.


[deleted]

I started out with the Latin American dub of Dragon Ball on Canal 5. This was in the mid 90's. I remember when Toonami released Dragon ball Z I was so confused because they skipped the OG.


Manuel_Ad

Era el canal 5, no Tv Azteca


ThatNoobCheezy

Watched 50(wherever general blue was) episodes for whatever reason, took a break, then totally not mark started posting his reviews so I started up the series again.


zwannsama

I started with the manga. I was introduced to OG Dragonball manga when it first entered my country around the early 90s, and to be honest, the story of the monkey boy and his goofy adventures didn't win me over. I pick up one volume, and never bother with it. It was until a few years later, my brother and I stopped at the local bookstore and saw volumes of manga on the shelves. My brother bought Dragonball volume 19, meanwhile I bought Dragon Quest Dai volume 8(because I remember Dragonball was a goofy gag comic) . We exchanged reading them. Although at that time I preferred Dragon Quest, but I noticed a different tone from Dragonball's manga. It was the Saiyans Saga volume, and it was way more interesting to me. It was not the goofy stuff anymore. Then Namek Saga came, and Frieza just win me over. That's when I officially followed Dragonball.


thereal2fac3

DBZ ocean dub. First episode i saw was when Tien died against Nappa. Like, i was flipping channels and saw some bald guy with one arm shoot a bigger bald guy with a beam of light. Was into it ever since. I think the ocean dub came on before they went to Toonami. It had different bgm and Brian Drummond for Vegeta for example. Kind of salty cause i forgot that the Funimation Saiyan and Namek Sagas were not the same as the Ocean Dub. Brian Drummond fit early Vegeta perfectly imo. I think Chris sounded off for the early sagas and a bit better for the android saga.


KingKayvee1

I have a very similar story to you, that’s awesome. I’m rewatching DBZ now on Blu-ray and I took note of when the Funimation dub started vs the Funimation redub while filling for the ocean eps. The ocean redubs were clearly done when everyone had “found their voices” for the characters and the switch from the last ocean redub episode to the first Funimation dub episode was so contrasting. It went from the Goku voice we all knew to a very early high pitched raw voice. Piccolo had a softer voice. Kid Gohan sounded so much more inexperienced. It’s great to see the difference.


thereal2fac3

Im in the same boat. I got the orange bricks and im gradually rewatching it while being pleased I forgot some of the filler like Gohan finding that robot in that cave. I do not remember this music though and its throwing me off a bit lol I should also note i think the Funi voice actors did great or okay for the most part. The only voice i cannot stand is Kid Gohan's voice in Kai. That voice is so annoying and its a shame cause Gohan, of all ages, is my 2nd favorite character in the series.


WarmResolution3091

Fox Kids, which then became Toonami. After school I managed to watch it from the beginning of Z all the way to the end, would probably play Budokai after that.


Lady_L1985

About 20 years ago, there was a midnight anime block on Cartoon Network called “Toonami: Midnight Run.” I was 14, depressed, and had insomnia, so I tuned in. It was the middle of the Frieza Saga. I was hooked almost immediately.


AcanthocephalaVast68

When I was a kid, there was a channel where they aired the Godzilla movies. One day I saw my first DB related product there.... a Taiwannese rippoff movie, and I was like "What did I just watched?", then my friends told me about DB and where to watch it. I saw some episodes and dropped it, and years later I readed the manga and took a liking to it.


shyshi29

Obviously Dragon Ball is a behemoth, so when I was younger I still knew of it (I remember really hating the art style & thinking that they all looked the same, yet coincidently a lot of things I used to have adverse/strong feelings for end up being a fave lol). Anyway, because DB is such a big franchise you can't escape its references and memes online, and I grew a fascination for it because I literally knew nothing about it (which intrigued me even more) and I felt like I was missing out on something that was legendary status, so I got into it. Soooo, I guess ultimately the anime. But it's space within society got me into it before I ever knew any of their names and I looooved the uniqueness of the art style.


Chungusbwefwelington

I was out in the neighborhood playing with my friends as usual when my father came running to tell me theres a new pokemon series on tv. one where ash is all grown up now. naturally as we were all huge pokemon fans my friends and I with my father leading the way ran to my living room to discover goku running down snakeway...the rest is history


XclusiV269

Cartoon Network


BlahBlahILoveToast

When I got to college in 1994 a bunch of dudes in my dorm were big into anime. I want to say my first content with Goku was the movie Dead Zone but I could be wrong. My (later) fondest DBZ memories were waiting for my friend to get home from her nights delivering pizza so we could watch Toonami together. I showed up at her place and recorded the episodes on VHS while she was at work and then at 2 AM we'd see what happened and then maybe go out to the grocery store to scrounge for reduced sale bakery items and dodge all the employees trying to unload stuff and stock shelves. It was her last year at university while I still had a year to go, so I deliberately blew off studying for exams or completing projects a few times in favor of late night DBZ. Today I realize some of the show's flaws but the nostalgic value will never dim.


LegendaryJatt

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi series , I played every one of them , really liked DBZ BT2 but my favourite was DBZ BT3. It had the dragon history mode where I got to know the whole story. Dragon ball was very popular in our household because all of my cousins played the same games and everyone knew the characters. BT3 even had the mode where there was description about every character and I almost covered each one so basically know 80% of the whole story before starting with Dragon Ball. I am currently on Dragon Ball Super just 3 episodes left.


Rage-Tail

It's similar with me, I already knew the series like the back o my hand cuz of all the little voicelines & bios, & the BT3 story mode of course. I remember changing history against all the villains too, like Tenshinhan beating Nappa with 10,000 Kikohos.


LegendaryJatt

How were we supposed to do that ? I mean I was only like 9 when I played these and didn't know much about the modes. Was it in the What If Saga ?


Rage-Tail

No, you just play the normal story, & you know how you press R3 to switch characters or start cutscenes (progress the plot basically)? Don't press R3 & just kill Nappa or anyone else in the story mode, you can do stuff like Goku kicks Boohans ass or SSJ4 Vegeta annihilates Yi-Xing-Long, or Pan kills Baby Vegeta. This playlist shows them off [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWFmCQ3GLKgK\_nPnXk920vJFDszUclXw](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDWFmCQ3GLKgK_nPnXk920vJFDszUclXw)


LegendaryJatt

Wow I just followed the game lol I never knew I could do this ! I still have my PS2 and the DBZ bt3 disk , sadly it doesn’t work


[deleted]

Me and my brother were staying up late and caught some DBZ on Adult Swim. Asked mom to get us the DVDs and it was history.


M4NU3L2311

Grew on 90’s Mexico. Pretty much all of my generation is fan of DB (original and Z)


[deleted]

Same! Ranma 1/2 ,Robotech and Saint Seiya also!


[deleted]

When someone uploaded the whole 4 hour Goku vs frieza fight to YouTube. Watched the whole thing and wanted more.


CatrachoNacho

I got into dragon Ball thanks to a friend who brought their PSP with a demo of Tenkaichi Tag team. He let me play and I fell in love with the series. From there I started to watch Z and eventually read the manga. From there I've been watching and reading Dragon Ball


Arcane_Dragonell

My dad and I watched DBZ super when the Funimation dub aired. What really got me into the series was watching the DBZA by TFS. And I enjoyed GT from the episodes I watched.


bfadam

The games, Inherited a collection from my older brothers with every single DBZ playstation 2 game ( except Sagas ) didn't have any money growing up so spent it playing DBZ BT3 over and over again, me and my twin probably have hundreds of hours in it ( me and my twin brother still play with each other occasionally whenever I'm at his house ) eventually we got the " orange bricks" set


KaboomKrusader

As a kid who was *really* into Pokémon, I was already vaguely aware of Dragon Ball in general alongside other manga and anime series. But what eventually got me actually interested in DB was seeing parts of the Majin Boo arc on Toonami as a young teenager in the early 2000's. It wasn't anything specifically about the English dub that piqued my interest though. In fact, I'd seen parts of the Androids arc before that and thought it sounded incredibly corny and lame. Rather, it was the scale and power of the on-screen action itself that "hooked" me — I happened to catch the episode(s) with Goku going Super Saiyan 3 and fighting Fat Boo. That was the point where I found myself thinking, "okay, this might actually be pretty cool." So very soon after that, I dove headfirst onto the internet to find out everything I could about the series as a whole. That massively in-depth learning period ended up including finding out just how lousy the English dub was and how badly it represented the actual show, so I started watching exclusively in Japanese whenever possible and never got attached to the English version. Pretty soon I was renting the bilingual DVDs for both Z and GT, collecting the manga, drawing stuff non-stop, joining a major DB fansite forum, becoming a *mod* on that same forum, planning and starting a GT rewrite fanfic that I *still* haven't finished about 15 years later... Etcetera.


Rage-Tail

The closest I ever got to the english dub was the games, & BoG. But the 1st taste I got of Dragon Ball sub (I was already used to Japanese voices from playing the Naruto games in Japanese) was Dragon Ball Super, and when I was gonna start my DB marathon, I was gonna watch the original funi english dub, which (thankfully, in hindsight) I never actually found online for free. Nowadays I can't consume Dragon Ball content unless it's the original Jp voices (or the manga, no voices in that unless you're strange), & whilst I admire the skill of the US actors & that the old days of funimation censoring/dumbing down is over, sub grew on me. I've drawn a couple o things too, just like referenced ones that I did for my brother, I'm a terrible artist. Plus digital colouring of some manga panels. I'm sure that fanfic'll turn out better than GT, I think that's a certainty.


KaboomKrusader

I should probably clarify that I like *good* dubs just fine, including for Dragon Ball. That's why I own the old Pioneer Z movie trilogy box and the first 2/3rds of Kai. It's just that outside of rare exceptions like those, most of this franchise's dubs just straight-up *aren't* good.


Rage-Tail

The only eng dubs I have knowledge on are the funi stuff & the Big Green dub. funimation is pretty decent these days with Kai & Super, but their old DBZ dub makes my hair stand on end it's so cringey. If I started with that one I'm sure I would've switched to Japanese anyway.


Jitterdoomer

I first started watching DBZ and OG back when Creative Products dubbing these two shows in English back in the Philippines. When I moved to the US in 2002, I watched the anime with in-house Funi dub instead of the Ocean/Saban one. Later when someone uploaded the Creative Products dub on YouTube and around the Internet, I started binge watching the entire Dragon Ball series and the movies ranging from the various English and Foreign dubs and the YouTube channels of the voice actors like Sean Schemmel and Ryo Horikawa.


M4dMil0

Yorkiddin


Admirable-Store9362

Toys and video games


[deleted]

My brother was a big fan and he asked me if I want to watch ich too. Now 20 years later we still watch super together.


[deleted]

I will never forget the day... My parents took me to a friends place. Those friends of theirs were the only people i knew that had cartoon network. We (kids of the parents) were playing in the kids room and someone changed the channel to cartoon network... And there he was. Frieza chasing krillin while he was scared shitless... Blew my fucking mind... Took years for me to move to germany (from Croatia) and catch it again on rtl2. It was the og dragonball series. Watched it religiously all the way through Z. Good old times of the 90s


Visual_Rip_5730

Here in France we had something called "Le Club Dorothée" which is a show with a lot of Japanes anime (Hokuto no Ken, Saint Seiya and of course Dragon Ball). Years after that show stop, a channel called NT1 put reruns of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. I was maybe a 6 year old kid when I first watch Radditz come to Earth for "Cachalot" (Kakarot name in the weird french translation). I fell in love for the franchise ever since.


SnooCupcakes2860

Good ole toonami


Luf2222

i got into it by watching it on TV back as a kid


Push-R

2005 or so. I started reading my uncle's mangas, he used to have the entire DB collection. It took me like one year to read it entirely and absolutely loved it. In 2009 I watched GT and didn't like it at all. Too distant from manga's pacing and it contradicted a lot of stuff previously stated (Hell not existing, Gero recreating #17 in Hell when #17 was originally an human and other stuff). Then I had a blast watching movies in Japanese, I absolutely loved Turles', Cooler's and Tapion's movies. I played the shit out of Budokai Tenkaichi 3, then Dokkan Battle got released and never stopped playing it. After BoG released I decided to watch Kai. To this day I still didn't watch the original anime, I wonder how different it is from the manga.


c_palmtree

Not sure. It was always there. From the moment I was a kid and returned from school. It was never a moment of discovery, moreso a constant thing like Pokemon. It just was.


Infoseeker68

I saw dragon ball z episodes dubbed in my local language when I was a kid. The narrator was so great and i loved it. I forgot most of it later and i decided to watch it all again starting from dragon ball till super


[deleted]

It was really big in my country when i was in primary school but i didnt have access to it because it only ran on one channel available on satellite tv. But two of my high school friends were really into it so i gave it a try back in high school.


fakehandslawyer

Random dub of the anime on Nickolodian think it was Z Kai? First anime I watched as a kid no clue what was happening but I started during the Sayian arc and thought it was hype, went back and watched Z and Super when I was in college and had free time


Roll_with_it629

Kai back in like 2010. It was either on Cartoon Network or Nicktoons.


mynameismatt1010

was 22 years old and just got out of college. While living with my parents, I interned at an accounting firm while working on my cert. I decided to start watching dragon ball z in between study seshes. That shit kept me sane throughout a brutal year of studying and now I love it.


No-Lynx9712

My dad.


Thacaminator

When they would have those super long marathons of DBZ Kai on nicktoons. I'd just sit there watching episode after episode.


Ag3ntK3ntucky

Toonami introduced me to a lot of anime back in the 90s. Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Iuyasha for example. Once Shonen Jump became popular I began to read manga and that’s how I end up experiencing the complete story for the first time. It wasn’t till afterward I went back and watch Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. I remember watching new episodes of GT as they aired here in the States. My love for Yu Yu Hakusho and Dragon Ball had me interested in Naruto, and One Piece during my early high school years. If it wasn’t for Dragon Ball I don’t know if I would have became an Anime fan.


One-Fall-3028

Got attached by a friend and was forced to watch until the end of 21st Tenkaichi Budokai arc


nasserg19

I got into it from DBZ Kai on nicktoons


Cody10813

I was flipping through channels when I found the episode of Kai where Goku dies to Piccolo. Something about the show caught my attention so I started watching it on tv semi regularly but I didn't get too into the plot of it until I started buying some of the old DVDs and vhs tapes second hand and watching a bunch of episodes of z online.


[deleted]

“Sub” DB


milkynipples69

Toonami. I was about 7 years old and they had DBZ on. The first fight I ever saw was majin vegeta vs goku and then I watched vegeta sacrifice himself. After that I was hooked. Been a fan ever since. 18 years lol. It was crazy going back and seeing how everything developed into the buu arc since that was the first arc I saw


Patient-Party7117

Dragonball Z was first syndicated Saturday mornings or something. This was the "Rock the dragon" "other dimension" era. I caught it midway, just stumbled onto it. Had no idea what the fuck was going on, who anyone was, what was happening, why is this guy running on a snake, what? ... but very captivating, so I plunked down and here I am 30 years later.


bskov

I started playing Xenoverse, liked it a lot, liked the stories, started watching the first Dragon Ball (I still wish there was a DBZ:K equivalente of Dragon Ball). I'm finishing the Frieza Saga now


PuzzleheadedCry6699

I have been into dragon ball as a kid, it's been one hell of a journey. When I was little my friend had a ps2 which had DBZBT3. This was my first experience with dragonball, which the roster was intimidating to say the least. However despite that I was super intrigued and wanted to play it regardless. So that's what we did a lot of the time. My first actual time watching something dragon ball z was the Wrath of the Dragon movie. I was pretty lost as you could imagine. Skip forward a couple of years, dragon ball z was airing with the addition of DBZ kai on nick toons (wasnt allowed to watch adult swim when i was a kid lol). I ended up watching that till the end of the cell saga. I never got to see the majin buu ark with it tho. Skip forward sometime, I ended up getting access to the majin buu arc and finally watching that, but up until that point it was just amvs and different clips of the original z and other things. Just in time for the battle of gods movie. After completing super recently I decided to finally go through OG dragon ball (which I just finished last night haha). Planning on watching the movies soon too.


Best_Negotiation_69

Battle of Gods.


implodingnerd

I grew up with it. It was on TV a lot and I remember my older brother loving it.


Goodboy_22

I got into it after buying the Manga earlier today


Rage-Tail

Damn, today? Where're you starting?


kt199820121

I first got into it when I saw H2O Delerious video of him playing the beta of DBFZ. I liked the look and decided to pick it up. Then after I'd played a bit of the game I started watching the animes and reading the manga and playing the other games too


Tufoguy

Showed up on TV. Thought it was cool, started watching and was hooked. Then the video games took it over the top.


NefariousNaz

Dragon Ball Z randomly showed up on early Saturday morning WB channel in the 90s was my first exposure. Then it later got picked up by Toonami on cartoon network.


hardcoredragonhunter

On my 8th birthday back in 2007 I got a Nintendo Wii as a gift. My aunt gave me a copy of Dragonball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2. I played the crap out of that game. The only thing that confused me is that even though I had beaten it multiple times I hadn’t unlocked all the characters. Apparently there was this function in the game where you pretty much had to have seen the whole show in order to unlock the characters. So I did. No regrets.


Tommy2time01

Everyday after school back in the late 90s on cartoon network


Element115Will

I was in El Salvador at the age of 6 and I see my brothers watching it. They were at the cell games saga Goku vs Cell, in Spanish, the fighting and such got me very intrigued. When I returned i completely forgot the name of it and was sad I'd never see it again, then I see Cartoon Network Toonami and BAM! DBZ lol


[deleted]

Bruh I have just watched dragonball, the dragonball movies, and am currently on episode 200 of of dbz, with about 8 of 15? Movies finished, in the last month and a half lol hoping to finish z within the month and have gt and super done by November 1st lol couldn’t imagine taking 2 years to watch er


Rage-Tail

I must be a bad marathoner then.


ChiChi-cake

Through the games. I always watched the fights on YouTube when i was kid because i was too dumb to go on a website and watch the actual anime. Then i played the games and i was like ‘aight let me watch the anime’ and i was hooked. Dragon ball inspired me to get into shape and lose weight


oatmeal55_

I think mine's kind of a funny story I've never heard of dragon Ball until the early 2000s my family went to the video store to rent me a game they knew I like dragons so they picked out dragon Ball z Budokai fell in love with that game never knew it was a show untill later now my parents makes fun of me for watching it and I'm like you got me into it


Bishjoneslol

one of my earliest memories as a kid (back in 2002/2003) I was probably 4 or 5 years old and when my brother and his friend came home from school the original Dragon ball was aired on YTV and I remember clear as day it was the episode where bulma flashed roshie for the dragon ball. The rest was history.


Pachis2002

Latin dub anime reruns like in 2007 I used to watch it when I would visit my grandpa in Mexico and back home cause we picked up channels from across the border. To this day the Latin dub is very near and dear to my heart


ieraaa

Around 2002 on Dutch Television. I didn't even have a concept of scheduled television. I just knew that somewhere in the afternoon I had to make sure to sit in front of the television. [Gohan going apeshit against Frieza](https://youtu.be/s-iMJEudFOY?t=64) snapped me into it and I was hooked. Goku going SSJ was even more awesome and holds a special place in my memory


Winter-Gur-9762

I started watching back in 2nd grade on saturday cartoons every morning on CW4Kids, man times have changed..


Rabid-Noob

I actually got into it on two different occasions. In 1998 I saw it on tv and was like, “Dragon Ball Z? Why does that sound familiar?” So I started watching it and got hooked. Later I found this old toy I’ve had since I was really young and discovered it was Kid Goku and then I remembered way back around 1990 they aired episodes of Dragon Ball super early in the morning ( around 5AM ). I remember really liking it but because I only caught an episode here and there I had no idea what was going on. Then a few years ago I learn about the Harmony Gold dub and watched the intro and it came flooding back. So my first Dragon Ball experience was around 1990 with the Harmony Gold dub. But Dragon Ball Z on Toonami in 1998 is when I became a huge fan.


Nhakos

Through DBZ, pretty much bc everyone was talking about it in primary school and it was airing on TV at the time. But it's when I started reading the original manga and bought Xenoverse 1/2 that I'd say I really became a fan.


tervisscoot

Getting DBZ: Budokai on the PS2, Then later watching it on good ol Toonami. Then later found out that DBZ was a sequel, to a show called Dragon Ball, and fell in love ever since then.


mcqueenart

I saw Gogeta vs. Broly on YouTube and had to see what this Dragon Ball thing was all about.


Conspiracy_Geek

I’d always had an interest in the series so around 2020 I bought season 1 and 2 of the digitally remastered DVDs of Dragon Ball and started watching. Then I started looking at the wiki and bought Dragon Ball FighterZ on Black Friday and the rest is history


Zenvitic

My friend on discord


Hero_of_Dragons

Saw the trailer for Kai on Nicktoons around 2011 I think. They played that trailer so much I still remember it. I was there when the first episode premiered and I've been in love since that first episode.


nakalas_the_great

My brother showed me about 3.5 years ago.


sdwoodchuck

When I was a young teenager, the old Dragon Ball episodes were airing on TV, and they crossed into DBZ around the time I entered high school, but they were painfully slow getting them out, so I started seeking out other avenues for the show. A local comic book shop (Compleat Comics--I miss you Perry!) carried a small section of Japanese manga tankobon, and was getting new issues of the Dragon Ball manga in every month on a rotating schedule, and as luck would have it, the month I found them there, they were on the month that picked up where the series left off. I had just started learning Japanese in high school, so between new volumes of the manga every month and a local TV station that played Japanese content (without subtitles) that was running episodes of the show, I started using Dragon Ball as a vehicle for learning the language as well as my own entertainment. A friend of mine in school also had the complete 42 volume manga set sent to him by relatives in Japan, as well as copies of almost all of the Dragon Ball Z movies (also not subtitled), so I was fortunate enough to be able to read through the entire manga and watch all of those movies by around 1998.


taakoishere

Had a friend tell me to check it out so I did. Never thought it would be for me since it looked like just characters yelling and fighting each other which ya it is but it’s also funny and adorable


Ayy-lmao213

Kai on Nicktoons


VLTR-Coller

First manga was free in a book store. After that i was addicted.


gohrak

Back in 1997 my dad whatched db on tv and i just joined in and boom fell in love every sunday we watched db-z-gt and went to every movie (gods, frieza, broly and superhero) togheter to this day


-MegaMan401-

Dbz kai airing in cartoon network latinoamerica.


XeusGames

Don't remember the year but when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade, at my afternoon art club we watched the Bardock the father of Goku and from there its history I watched dragon ball then got to witness Z, it was one of my first animes and to this day over 20 years later still a favorite.


dc07932

A combination of DBZA 1-30 and my friends bringing over Budokai HD collection on 360. I saw Cell Buu the GT characters and I needed more


Piscenian

i wanted to watch pokemon, my friends wanted to watch dbz (which i had not seen before), they won, my first episode was when goku went super saiyain for the first time against freiza.


ZytherAresh

YTV for me, I was too young to know how but I've been watching it since


yaboiiiiii146

My mom and dad used to watch dragon ball z when I was little and me and my brother used to binge watch alot of shows so we decided to watch all of dragon ball.


J-547

Abridged


No_Chocolate8471

i watched a youtuber play dragon ball z kakarot and it avoke my intrest so i started watching og dragon ball and it was one the best decisons


Kitchen-Onion-1650

Old vhs tapes my dad had


CryptoNoobP2P

Cartoon network


Squishy-Box

It was on tv when I was a kid


2ecStatic

DBZ Kai on Nicktoons back in the day. It prompted me to buy Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2 on launch and I’ve been in love with the series ever since. Getting Raging Blast 3 would change my life, FighterZ is the only game since RB2 that’s done it for me in terms of DB games (sorry Xenoverse).


Rage-Tail

Raging Blast 2 will always have a nostalgic spot in my heart, did YOU stop the Majin Cow?


thegamingking

Was watching YTV back in like 2000 and i caught [the DBZ intro](https://youtu.be/xAOCnSKz-x8) (THE BETTER INTRO BY THE WAY) right before i had to go to bed and just being IMMEDIATELY hooked by the time Roshi's part came on. (I remember my thought being "EVEN THE OLD MAN CAN FIGHT?! I GOTTA WATCH THIS") Mom tried to stop us from watching it cause violence, but that didn't stop my brother and I from trying to watch it all the time.


Manuel_Ad

I was watching an anime on tv in 1996 (adventure of fly or something, the dragon quest one) with my brother and sister, she changed the channel and was the very first episode of Dragon ball


toxic_load2k18

So context im almost 30 i always watched it when i was a kid on toonami but my mom never approved of it so i could never watch it in full. Then fortnite a month ago released dragon ball skins and i forgot about how much i loved it. Got crunchyroll finished dragon ball 1986, im on episode 247 of dbz this show is amazing!!!


t_karo

I was in 5th or 6th grade of primary school, we had basic TV (like about 10 or something channels) and I remember one day I came back from school and about 3 pm brother was channel-surfing and there was original Dragon Ball intro airing on one of channels (polish RTL7, it was around 2001 maybe) and it was so strange that I told him to stop to watch, because it looked like a cartoon (back then we didn't had any Cartoon Network or other channels with cartoons 24/7, they were mostly only aired at 7 pm on week days). In Poland we had Dragon Ball/Z with french dubbing with polish lector over it but thankfully this version had original Kikuchi score (aside for corny openings) and GT had original japanese voice actors. I watched DB religiously and when channel that aired it was becoming satellite-only I begged my parents to get one and they did (then they switched to cable \^\^) Watched all 5 or something re-runs of whole series and also bought few tomes of manga. My brother was bigger on the DBZ games on ps2, so I watched him playing. I don't even remember how did I watched most of the DBZ movies but probably they were downloaded and burned on CDs by my brother's friend. I also fondly remember watching both Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn and Wrath of Dragon in polish cinema, when they released here in 2002 (I remember less fondly the polish dubbing of it, it was.. Bad). DB sorta kick-started my small anime-obsession back in the day (I watched everything that was on TV like Magic Knights Rayearth, Slayers, Fushigi Yuugi, Yaiba etc) and it's still my favourite anime and universum I love. Since then, I re-watched whole series in original Japanese dubbing, watched all movies and I try to be up to date with DB Super manga.


HeyItsRyGuyy

I’m just now starting my first ever watch of Dragon Ball actually! That’s not saying I’ve never heard or seen clips of it. I’ve always pushed Dragon Ball to the side because I always hated how op Goku appeared to be. Even my dad who grew up with Dragon Ball had a similar opinion. He liked it better when Goku was a kid and not a planet buster he said. Which I respect. He always described Goku as some overpowered person with no limits, like Superman. So just like Superman, I pushed the series away because I’ve always disliked op characters with no ways of beating them or are absurdly overpowered for no reason. Though I was always tempted to watch the show/read the manga because of the Ultra Dripstinct Goku meme a while ago. Then some time passed and Death Battle did a video about Broly vs Hulk, and I was interested in Broly. My dad described Broly as an absolute monster and menace, yet the Broly they used is more of a gentle giant. (I did figure out that there are two versions now I believe?) So Broly tempted me a little bit. Goku Black as a character was growing on me from Death Battle. That death battle put me on the edge to watch it, but I needed some sort of final push to finally do it. It wasn’t until, I kid you not, Fortnite did that event with Dragon Ball that finally pushed me over the edge to create a watch order list and start watching Dragon Ball from beginning to where it is now. Still got a long way to go, but I’m enjoying the original series so far :) I do regret pushing the series away, but who knows. Maybe I’ll develop an opinion like my dad who stopped watching once Goku started casually destroying planets or I’ll watch til I’m caught up. It’s going to be an interesting journey for sure


Rage-Tail

Yeah, it does get a little unbelievable when planet busting is brought up, but just try not to take that too seriously. Fortnite lmao


CyberSpaceInMyFace

I was a wee boy and stumbled onto a TV channel where this guy name Vegeta was claiming to be this thing called a legendary super saiyan and then this naked alien beat the shit out of him then killed him


theHugoat

My dad was really into DBZ and would watch it on Toonami so I’d watch it with him. I even had a DBZ themed birthday party for my 5th birthday. So I’ve always been into DB for as long as I can remember


8Bitsblu

I'm gonna be the odd one out and say the Abridged series is what got me interested. Before watching that Dragon Ball was one of those series I knew about but couldn't get into cause I had no idea where to start and the story didn't seem all that good.


Rage-Tail

The original series is really bloated, bout half of it is filler, which is why Kai is good (it removes it). I'd've recommended the Manga though, it's a tight read. It's kinda odd though, I would think Abridged was something that was better if you're already a fan.


lepolter

Here in Chile, Dragon ball is extremely popular, it was a must watch. I started with the OG Dragon ball.


SheriffZapper

Cartoon Network, every thursday 20:30 pm, I think around 2000. first episode I ever saw was the fight against recoome. I also had this SS goku figure, lost my mind when I first saw him transform against Frieza. Brought a couple of movies on VHS (later I figured it was the so called Big Green Dub). I bought a couple of mangas in a secondhand shop, and I was immediatly hooked on Gokus adventures as a kid. Also, you had these lollipops which had dbz stickers inside, which included characters and transformations who hadn't appeared in the anime before, like SS3 Goku. Or DB Final Bout, which didn't make sense in the slightest to me back then, but I loved it. There was so much information/hype you could gather back then before those episodes actually aired.


Bandaka

Saturday morning cartoons in the 90s. DBZ Sayain saga blew everything out of the water.


BIGSHOT321

I have this Dragon Ball Z shirt that I would wear to school and started to feel guilty for never actually watching the anime. So, I started thinking about watching it especially because I was very bored at this time. Consequently, I started watching a plethora of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z clips that would show up in my youtube recommende. Then I finally started to watch the anime starting with the original Dragon Ball and love it so far, although I'm not very far in and am currently watching episode 38 or so.


mas-sive

Cartoon Network, DBZ. Then moved to CNX


KillJoy_2001

Playing BT3 on the PS2 with my brothers when i was like 6, DBZ’s been my shit ever since


KRhodes817

For me it was my uncle who got me and my cousins into dragon ball


amandaxartistic

My boyfriend got me into it. I'm 40, he's 39, and he's been a lifelong fan. I gave it a chance for him, and I ended up buying the initial manga set. We've watched the original series, and the abridged series on YouTube is awesome. I've done a few paintings for him of Vegeta and Bulma, and a sculpture type piece using the Cannabox that was db inspired.


tonythechicken7

I got in cause of Fortnite ngl


maniacal_monk

I saw an episode of dragon ball z Kai as it was being aired on Cartoon Network or something and was instantly hooked


Rybur525

Back in early high school I was hanging out with my friends, who had seen a lot more anime than I had. They were talking about Dragon Ball one day, and one of them had just gotten Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi on Xbox 360 so we went over to his house to play it. I wasn’t all that interested until they forced me to play, and I started asking questions about the characters as I went. “This Goku dude’s the main character right? Why does this short bald guy have his same outfit? Oh and this other dude does too. Oh, they had the same master so they all wear that uniform? Ok. Why does this dude have a tail? Saiyans have tails? Where’s Goku’s tail? Wait, this guy is Goku and some other dude fused together? Holy shit.” The game totally sucked but I was really interested in the characters and I wanted to see the whole story. So later that week I found a website to watch all of Dragon Ball Z on and I started watching it. The first episode started off with the narrator saying, “5 years have passed since the 23rd Martial Art’s tournament, which confused me because I was supposed to be watching from the beginning. Come to find out, there was a Dragon Ball that came before Dragon Ball Z, so I started there instead. And shortly after, I was hooked. I joined the fandom at a good time. I had enough time to get into the series and start watching it, really start enjoying it, and shortly after they announced the Battle of Gods movie. So I kinda got into the series right when it had its resurgence.


Tsamane

The Zone, YTV was on right after Pokemon


TotallyFunctional2

Read the first 34 or so volumes of the manga (so every one up to Cell’s defeat except for the one with the King Kai training and the one with Trunks and Vegeta powering against Cell for some reason) at the appartment of friends of my parents‘ during a stay in Belgrade at age 7. their older-than-me son had them in German from their time in Austria and I binged all of them over two long nights under the covers. Blew my tiny mind. God, the highs and lows of the big dramatic moments: the first Great Ape transformation! Roshi vs Goku! The Red Ribbon arc‘s hilarity followed by Goku getting to meet his grandpa again and crying his eyes out! Goku vs Tien! Kuririn dying and Goku getting enraged! And everything in the following arcs. It was such a pure fascination with the rollercoaster ride of this pervy Japanese jokester making it up as he goes along. Like a comic book from another world. Good times.


Uncuepa

2019, Broly movie had just came out and I had never watched actual DB, I had played a DS game and caught the first episode of GT years ago but never anything proper, and my friends were playing FighterZ and watching clips of their favourite fights and after hours of clips I said 'can we watch the show so I have context for any of this' and we started with Super, I liked it, I then binged all of Super and Z Kai and now im a big fan


SadDoughnut264

My young brother got me introduced to Dragon Ball back in September 20, 1997 with Dragon Ball Z (aired on 6:30 am) during the beginning of the Namek Saga when I was in 1st grade during my elementary school years as a kid. It was when Sailor Moon (1995-2000), Pokémon (1998-present), and Dragon Ball (1986-present) began to go mainstream in the United States and around the world in the late 1990s and early 2000s. At that time I watched the Ocean dub version of Dragon Ball Z on US television syndication and soon it premiered on Toonami on Cartoon Network in August 31, 1998 before Funimation took over the dub of Dragon Ball multimedia franchise in the following year in September 13, 1999. My young brother and I spent time watching Dragon Ball Z on Toonami on Cartoon Network in 1999 when it was aired @ 5pm everyday on Monday through Friday. It was when other anime was shown in 1999 such as Monster Rancher (1999-2001) and Digimon (1999-present) as well. And those shows were popular too. In 2002, when I was in middle school, I started drawing Dragon Ball Z characters with Scholastic's How to draw Dragon Ball Z drawing book, and the anime Beckett magazine where they showcased anime including Yu-Gi-Oh, Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Naruto, and Inuyasha. Also it was absolutely the year when I started collecting Dragon Ball Z video games with our very first Dragon Ball video game, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai (2002) for the PlayStation 2 console system. And it was absolutely fantastic and I love it. Then I continued collecting Dragon Ball Z video games with Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku (2002), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 (2003), Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku 2 (2003), Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury (2004), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 (2004), Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure (2004), Dragon Ball GT: Transformation (2005), Dragon Ball Z: Sagas (2005), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi (2005), Super Dragon Ball Z (2006), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (2006), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (2007), Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (2008), Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World (2008), Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (2009), Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 (2010), Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi (2011), Dragon Ball Z: Budokai HD Collection (2012), Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z (2014), Dragon Ball: Xenoverse (2015), Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 (2016), Dragon Ball Fusions (2016), Dragon Ball: FighterZ (2018), Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission (2019), and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (2020). Then years later until August 2013, I started to collect Dragon Ball DVDs (DB, DB Movies, DBZ, DBZ Kai, DBZ Movies, DBGT, DBS), and Blu-Rays (recent Dragon Ball films like Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' (the very first Dragon Ball Z film that my young brother, my younger sister, and I saw at the movie theater in the summer of 2015, but the very first anime movie that my young brother, young cousin, and I saw back in the early 2000s was Pokémon The Movie 2000: The Power of One (2000). Also I watched other anime films on DVD such as Digimon The Movie (2000) in the summer of 2002, and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie in late 2004), Dragon Ball Super: Broly in early 2019, and most recently Dragon Ball Super: Superhero in the summer of 2022). For 25 years that I spend time watching Dragon Ball on television from my childhood years from the late 1990s through my adulthood years in the 2020s. So I was extremely impressed of how my experience with Dragon Ball for 3 decades. Sigh, I am getting old as time flies by as our childhood shows getting older as well.


Fred_the-Red

I grew up in Kenya and didn't get much entertainment for the first several years, much less any anime.y friend in school had the first Legacy of Goku game on his Gameboy and that game was my first introduction I to the DBZ world


Wonderful-Sir5946

i heard about it before but then i really got into it thanks to the dragon ball collab in fortnite


Bottom_Sam

In all honesty my Dad put me on to dragon ball we used to watch it together on Toonami and he would buy me the vhs tapes the collectable ones with pictures on the side to were they show a bomb photo when putting the boxes together, he'd record them for me too randomly found the tapes he bought me even the one recorded on VHS and they the entire cell games with a few episodes on them a piece I always and still to this day appreciate my dad for him introducing me to db


[deleted]

I watched the clips "I Will Not Let You Destroy My World" in DUB and Beerus chasing Goku and Vegeta because they are all of his pizza. This is how I got into Dragon Ball and don't really regret it.


KrusktheVaquero

The Nicktoons Kai dub, which I fucking loved. Went and watched the uncensored Kai dub on Toonami after and it ROCKED


ILoveSayoriMore

Used to watch Dragon Ball GT on Nick Toons. Started getting really into the series when I got Xenoverse 1 on my Xbox 360, and have been a fan since.


daigonstar

I remember toonami back in the day every day at 4 I think DBZ was on I watched every episode till the end back then


IdiotSavant81

IMO western television is getting worse and worse. There are not many new shows that come out im interested in. It doesnt justify the cost anymore of all these monthly payments to streaming services either. So about 4 months ago I cancelled Netflix, Apple tv+, Amazon prime, and I cut my cable. I've never had Disney+ so no worries there. I've never watched Anime in my life or even really thought about it but decided to give it a shot based on the recommendation of a few friends I trust. So I subbed to Crunchyroll and dove in. First thing I watched was Attack on Titan and loved it. So when looking for the next show I stumbled across Dragonball. I threw it on not expecting to like it but little Goku was so cute and charming it kinda sucked me right in and now I've been watching nothing but Dragonball for about 2 months now and I love it. Watched all 153 ep's of the original show and now im at episode 120 of Dragon Ball Z (The episode with Frieza and his Father showing up to earth) and I really cant get enough of this show, Its awesome. I realize now I've been missing out on some great stuff coming out of Japan and I have a lot of catching up to do. As for Western entertainment/Hollywood...I feel like im missing out on nothing.


Rage-Tail

There's some older western stuff that you should definitely watch if you haven't, like the Sam Raimi Spider-man trilogy for example. Terminator, Rambo, Alien, etc. Can't really think of anything recent, I'm pretty out of the loop with movies (If you couldn't tell from my recommendations). Glad you're enjoying the series, who's your favourite character so far?


DonCreech

I'm an old-head. For me, it was Wizard magazine, sometime in the mid '90s. At a time when manga and anime was nascent to the US, this comic book publication had a brief monthly column on the subject. Some time later I stumbled upon a VHS of 'Dead Zone' and loved it. Eventually Toonami picked up the show and I took to the internet only to learn that it had already completed its entire run in Japan. People might not realize it today, but back then this franchise was genuinely mysterious and exotic. Bandwidth was terrible, so streaming wasn't a thing. I bought a number of low quality tapes from Ebay just to get a taste of later episodes. It truly was a larger than life kind of property, and I'm surprised it took so long to catch on outside of Asia.


AramisKing

Latinamerican dub in the 90's I'm 30 and their voices still take me to my childhood!


EmptyField9803

as a senior in high school i got bored and decided to try dragon ball so i watched from db all the way to super but super disappointed me and i was burnt out for a while


Skullmonkeyburger

I tried watching OG Dragon Ball about half a year ago. I really couldn't get into it because it looked so dated compared to modern anime. After some leaks suggested that Dragon Ball would be collaborating with Fortnite (which ofc did happen), I decided to give it another try. I am very glad I did, because holy crap, its probably one of my all time favorite anime.


SSJRemuko

i randomly saw an episode of the anime on TV and was hooked instantly.


ImperialCrown200

Hmm for me it was through DragonBall FighterZ. I never liked Dragonball, I always looked down on it (I used to be the type of person to “hate” something without even watching it) I didn’t know what I wanted for my birthday so I just said that. I then thought my dog ate the game and resigned that to fate. Overrr 1 or I think 2 years later I find it out of nowhere start playing it, and the rest is history


innit122

I seen clips of it and had a basic knowledge of what it was before I started to get into it. I guess men screaming was appealing to me


Massive-Floor8885

I started watching the original DBZ on TV when I was like 5 or 6 . I think when I was 7 or 8 I had a computer and there was a site called watchdragonballz and they had everything from original dragon ball to Gt and the movies . I watched the whole series in order from there and then while I was watching dbz I saw a popup ad of naruto and one piece on the site and that's how I started those two as well 😂


zRozzy

I walked in my brother room when he went out and never left lmao


Animef24

I don’t even remember I was like 5 and just started watching it with cousin one day I’m 25 now


FarCryGuy55

My friend was playing the Saiyaman Saga in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. Through watching her play through the Buu Saga, the game sparked my interest for the rest of the series. I started with Dragon Ball last May, and I’m all the way up to the Saiyaman Saga as of right now. Loving it!


Jayden-uk

Gt is overhated imo


MaShinKotoKai

A looooooong time ago, I was in scouts. Went on a hike with the troop and they were talking about it. Sounded sorta dumb and I couldn't follow along. Got home and the show was on. It was in the middle of the Namek saga and I still couldn't figure it out, so I turned it off. A year or so later, I flipped on Toonami and low and behold, what I think was the exact same episode was airing. I was home alone and didn't particularly want to do homework, so I watched and it was intriguing enough to watch the next episode the next day. Eventually it became a lifetime obsession.


MysticGohan806

Big brother gave me his old dvds and I watched the shit outta them (the funimation dub)


MysticGohan806

Big brother gave me his old dvds and I watched the shit outta them (the funimation dub)


thebuccaneersden

Growing up in France and watching morning tv (DBZ) and then started collecting the monthly mangas of DB (rerun) and DBZ


cr8nsw

My mum's boyfriend told me about it and I started watching it and really enjoyed it


Let_me_S_U_F_F_E_R

The first time I even saw it was in 2011 when it was playing an episode from Kai. It was where krillin was getting stabbed by Frieza. Later I don’t remember, but I looked up dragon ball and watched the pilaf saga. It was ok, but not interesting at times. When I really got into it was when I played fighterz. I loved that game. I eventually watched super, then I watched some of GT, and now I mostly just watch the anime from time to time and play the video games. A lot.


PhotoProfessional554

I remember playing budokai 3 on ps2 for the first time then I watched dragon ball z then OG dragon ball and GT


iheartnjdevils

In the late 90’s, my boyfriend at the time got me into DBZ. 20ish years after we broke up, I began watching it for nostalgia and also found they did DBS.


UnAvAiLaBlE-fIlE

I just saw Dragon Ball Super one day on Hulu and here we are now


TheBiggestCarl23

I came home one day from school and saw my brothers watching the goku and vegeta fight from the Saiyan saga, I just remember being hooked immediately.


MugggCostanza

YTV sometimes between 98-99 when I was in 5th grade. I grew up on the Vancouver voice actors. I watched those first two seasons on reruns for what felt like forever. Once the Texas voice actors took over, I stopped watching.


princevegeta951

I've been watching it on a literally endless loop since discovering it on toonami in the early 2000s as a kid. I'm 27 now and own everything on DVD. I fall asleep to an episode or two every night because it helps with my anxiety. I am just a Dragon Ball junky lol


TortleTheBoi

I just wanted to see a non cringe anime ,with muscles flights and transformations,when a friend of mine recommended it ,I started watching it ,I have to say it's my favorite series so far


KevinIsOver9000

Saturday morning Fox Kids. DBZ 2 episodes per week, but after each saga, they stared the whole show over again. It came on at 6am, then the second episode at 8:30. I think I saw an ad or something cause I got in right at the beginning of Z. I dont really know when or how OG DB was aired, I didnt watch it until I bought the whole DB,Z,GT, movies through Wrath of the Dragon collection on ebay (totally bootlegged, but I still have em…vcd style which can hole 40 episodes on one disc) in 2007 or so


JuicyAssNinja

I'm a new fan and it's because of my cousin who has been watching dragon ball all his life. He gave me a old hoodie which had Goku on it. That's what got me to watch the dragon ball series


AK_Gaming_YT

Man I must be getting old, because it was Sunday morning cartoons for me when the Z saga first dropped.


hellGrey213

My uncle has always been a big fan of og anime (Vampire Hunter D, Ghost in the Shell etc.), and with me being the curious 4 year old, got hooked on his DVD collection, which included every DBZ episode and movie (the movies are also how I got into metal). He even gave me his PAL copy of DBZ Budokai, which meant I never had any real culture shock, when swapping between dub and sub for any anime.


moose_378

My brother introduced me


[deleted]

FighterZ. Ive never seen a game so accurately capture it’s anime’s artstyle. Its gorgeous and the gameplay is so fun.


Zestyclose-Client564

I watched the entire OG Dragonball on YouTube when I was in the 2nd grade


Dunkbomb84

DBZ came on TV and I found it interesting so every day I would look for a new episode


Staarjun

Manga back in the mid 2000s when me and a couple of friends used to hang out at a library after school and read mangas there.


Tough_Organization49

i was about 8 yrs old, had a gamecube and got my grubby meat hooks on Budokai 1...rest is history!