Dragon Ball Z (1989)

Watchseries; Personally, I think the best part of Dragon Ball Z was the Buu saga.

Yes, I know, narratively speaking it was pretty uneven, introducing many plot points which are quickly abandoned.

And yet, I found it to be far more entertaining to watch than the previous sagas, due how unpredictable it was. By now, it seems pretty obvious than Toriyama largely prefers making comical stories rather than serious ones, which would explain the sudden change in tone once the main antagonist enters in scene.

I also like how in this saga the battle scenes are more varied and less repetitive, with the characters showing some bizarre and unusual techniques, instead of just exchanging punches or throwing ki blasts at each other. This saga also has a lot less of filler.

In many ways, The Buu saga feels like a parody of the "dramatic" path Dragon Ball Z was taking. That kind of turn probably wouldn't work for all series, but honestly, it worked quite well here, finding an appropiate mixture of comedy and action.

Both Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super totally failed at that.

Personally, I think the best part of Dragon Ball Z was the Buu saga.

Yes, I know, narratively speaking it was pretty uneven, introducing many plot points which are quickly abandoned.

And yet, I found it to be far more entertaining to watch than the previous sagas, due how unpredictable it was. By now, it seems pretty obvious than Toriyama largely prefers making comical stories rather than serious ones, which would explain the sudden change in tone once the main antagonist enters in scene.

I also like how in this saga the battle scenes are more varied and less repetitive, with the characters showing some bizarre and unusual techniques, instead of just exchanging punches or throwing ki blasts at each other. This saga also has a lot less of filler.

In many ways, The Buu saga feels like a parody of the "dramatic" path Dragon Ball Z was taking. That kind of turn probably wouldn't work for all series, but honestly, it worked quite well here, finding an appropiate mixture of comedy and action.

Both Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super totally failed at that.

Dragon Ball Z watchseries. First there was dragonball, then came DRAGONBALL Z which showed(I don't know if it was a first run or a rerun) in my country in 2000. I was 11 going on 12 that year and having loved Dragonball, i immediately grew to like its sequel. Oh how I enjoyed the toys, the keychains, the trading cards, even my water bottle which had pictures of both young and grown up Goku.

I was enthralled by the awesome action and captivated by the vast array of cool looking characters.

But that was a long time ago. Watching it now, 9 years later, the series does not hold the same amount of appeal as it used to. It's a "frog in a well" syndrome. Apparently I only thought Dragonball Z was that great because I was never exposed to anything better.

For starters, the characters I once thought were "cool" are still cool, but nothing else beyond that. There isn't really much character development to speak off as the stories are more focused on the plot and the characters are just pre-set anime stock characters, put in place to advance the plot from one fight to the next. There are a couple of instances where the characters get some development and really shine as being remotely likable, but those come rarely and tend to get buried under all the action.

The story is split into a number of distinct "sagas" but each of them progress slower than a sloth/snail hybrid. The pacing drags to the point of being unbearable only to the most patient and devoted of viewers. The horrendous story progression is not helped by the fact that every episode features lengthy rambling monologues, badly timed close-up shots that linger for too long, unnecessary dialogue and other cheap amateurish tactics just to fill up 25 minutes for an episode which contains no more than 15 minutes of actual story material. What starts off as an interesting premise soon falls into a set formula that goes from unoriginal to just painfully boring. The director's decision to follow different groups of characters on different adventures was a poor one and just made the convoluted plot so much more confusing.

The fights are intense, epic and would please any action junkie out there. However some exceptionally poor animation and an over usage of animation short cuts give this whole show a very cheap look even for its time.(Some of the worse episodes of G I Joe were better animated than Dragonball Z). Thankfully, it makes up for that by providing some stunning and highly detailed artwork.

So many anime fans extol the fact that Dragonball Z was so influential in making anime as famous as it is and influenced a whole generation of anime and manga creators. They cite Dragonball's numerous spin-offs and products as a testament to its greatness. Guess what, Adam West's Batman was influential too but I would hardly call it a good show.

A popular show does not mean a good show

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. To kids who are not exposed to greater world of animated series and graphic novels, Dragonball Z would no doubt be one of the best shows around. People's minds tend to get clouded by the fact that Dragonball Z was so influential or might have been one of the first anime they ever watched(and thus introduced them to anime in general) that they remember only the good points and overlook the numerous jarring flaws of the series.

Objectively speaking, Dragonball Z definitely does not deserve its current rating of 9.0/10. It is like a hot air balloon. It i

If you think DBZ is a bad anime you're sadly mistaken. It has everything a good anime needs: action, comedy, powerful evil guys and so on. A lot of you probably think that the Simpsons is a good anime. Its not cause its limited to what it can do. The things I love are: The bad guys and how they tourment the good guys (Super Buu with Gohan, The Androids with the Z fighters and so on). The themes are also cool. The Super Saiyan themes add that little extra to show the mood that the fighters are in when they power up.

My favorite character is Vegeta and Piccolo. They add a certain comic relief to the show especially when Kakarot does something idiotic.

The only reason i gave it a 9 is because in some sagas like Frieza for example the graphics kind of suck and the tendency of the series to"kill time" like showing us the terrain and stuff which clearly is annoying,other than that the plot is awesome with minor holes, basically this is my favorite anime of all time since i was in the 6th grade!I remember back when i couldn't wait to catch an episode of DBZ only the sad part was that the only network that actually aired it in my country was RTL II,but i quickly got used to it,learned German :P and actually understood the series,and in comparison to the us version it was pretty good,the soundtrack was the original Japanese one and it didn't have to chsese lines like funimation does,in other words good ol RTL II saved me some trouble :D

It always amuses me to read the comments section of each movie/TV show. The people who view classic series/movies such as this as negative obviously didn't really watch it. If you don't dedicate yourself to watch an entire saga, you won't grasp the full concept of the show. It is a continuous series and it's quite apparent other members don't understand the meaning.

Anyway, it is a kid show in Japan, but realize a kid show in Japan has violence, nudity, and profanity. I admit the FUNimation version isn't as great as the original Japanese, but it is still a great anime series, easily one of the best.

If you're new to the show, watch it from the very beginning to understand. You don't need to see Dragonball to appreciate this series because they do constant flashbacks.

Highest recommendation...10/10.

Dragonball Z, yet messed up by English editing and translation, is the greatest and best animated cartoon in the world. Kakarot, the star, with the help of Piccolo, fight off Raditz and that starts the show. Vegita and Nappa come and after some fighting, Nappa is destroyed and Vegita leaves to rejuvinate. Gohan, Kakarot's son, and his friend Krilian, leave for the Planet Namek to find the Dragonballs, 7 magical balls which when joined can call forth the Eternal Dragon who grants any three wishes you want. Frieza, another villain, is also on Namek and so is the rejuvinated Vegita. After a mess of episodes of fighting, Kakarot finally arrives, destroys the Ginyu Force, Frieza's private army, and fights Frieza, practically destroying the Planet Namek in the process. The show continues on and on but is always great to watch.