As an avid lover of anime and manga, I have to ask the DB fans out there..why do you like it? I understand that the Anime has mostly fighting, but do any of you ever notice that the characters are all the same? Or that they have absolutely no depth? What about the plot? The plot is extremely boring and monotonous, since all they do is fight guys who were stronger than the last bad guy. Even the fight scenes aren't that great. Yu Yu Hakusho has better fight scenes and effects than any DB series. Since they were made by the same creators, I feel that I can fairly compare the two. I love Yu Yu Hakusho, but it has a plot that actually goes somewhere and their characters actually have some depth. While Yu Yu is a lot like DB, I think it is far superior. I just don't understand why DB is popular. Please explain?

-- (vega19@msn.com), May 31, 2004

Answers

I think with Db what makes it great is that good always wins and even evil can find redemption and join the forces of good. It also didnt hurt matters that it was very very cute (they even stoped by the land of Dr. Slump) And DBZ is just a continuation of this, however the CN version of this seams happy to lope off big chunks of this and your right this version just sucks try giving the original a chance sometime you might like it a little more..goku is the second cutest kid in the world. and in the land of the rising sun cute is a marketable commoddity.

-- Roger Smith (omegaprime11@yahoo.com), May 31, 2004.

DBZ is popular because they rerun the show 800233884320 times. Popularity because of a 10 year re-run is not the same as popularity because the show has redeeming quality.

-- ubb (demonreaper73@hotmail.com), June 01, 2004.

just thought id say that DB is boring. And DBZ has more action and a better plot. (well until the frieza saga [;) at least])

-- Pearson (none@aol.com), June 02, 2004.

You know I would answer this but I would need a few hours to get into all the stuff I would like to say...So I won't respond except for saying that while incredibly repetitive it just has a way of sucking you in. You have to have tolerance for long, long, INCREDIBLY LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG drawn out episodes of nothing but fighting, but it is very enjoyable. Oh, and also the English version sucks ass and anyone who enjoys that is a total retard. But yes, even though DBZ is my favorite Anime of all time I must admit it is really pretty boring, and that's why nowadays I'm focusing my main attention to my new "favorite" Anime (Inuyasha) and Manga (Flame of Recca). However DBZ will always be my favorite and have a place in my heart. But if time allowed I would go into INCREDIBLE details that most people would probably never even read, but I have to go to class in 10 minutes and...Damn, I just couldn't even cover .5% of why DBZ is so great in that time. But it's not for everyone, that much is for sure.

-- Suupaa Gohan 2 (dragonballz@aol.com), June 03, 2004.

First of all, I don't know exactly why or how I got into this site, but since I'm here, I might as well contribute an opinion.

I absolutely agree that Dragon Ball and/or Dragon Ball Z really, REALLY SUCKS. As the original question stated, the series is no doubt boring and monotonous, and the plot is one-sided. All the characters are shallow and flat, which is ironical though with their buff physiques. All they do is fight, fight AND FIGHT, and they do nothing more than that. Yeah sure, good wins over evil, but isn't it always like that? Unlike other anime series, Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z has NO SPECIAL WAY WHATSOEVER in showing this; no internal conflict, no self-doubt, no thnking at all; they just slug it out. Booooring. It's actually a very lame anime series if it weren't completely for its airing length, fortunately or unfortunately for the viewers, and bases its attractiveness solely on the quantity of fights rather than a deep, invoking storyline, or characters one could really admire. And even if there are a lot of characters in the series, they basically do the same special moves, all that is different is the energy beam color and name. I hate Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z. And I would like to repeat that, I hate Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z.

To all those reading this, I am proud of what I state here as my answer. To those hating me right about now, you can't say that I'm wrong, and if you need proof that Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z is definitely an inferior anime series, watch the following...

Cowboy Bebop Trigun Neon Genesis Evangelion Niea_7 Ghost In The Shell (Movie/Stand Alone Complex) Gundam Gunsmith Cats Now and Then, Here and There

...and feel your minds explode because of the superb characters, action sequences, intricate plots, and real symbolism and depth. Watch these and see your beloved DBZ keel over and die right in front of your faces. I'm out of here.

-- Xiand (xiand_orange@yahoo.com), June 29, 2004.

Why are you calling me a total retard SG2???

-- )v(ajin\/egita (info@smserve.co.za), June 30, 2004.

Xiand, you are totally right. As I mentioned in my earlier post, Dragonball IS extremely repetitive to the point of being boring. The characters DO all have similar powers. It IS too easy to predict the outcome of every battle. And yes, there really ISN'T anything deep or meaningful in the show.

But still, if Dragonball sucked so much people would have lost interest in it LONG before the series ended. Fact is the CREATOR lost interest in it before the fans did!! Despite all the above things being true, there is just something about Dragonball that draws you in. You really get to know the characters as if you've known them all your life, despite them being fictional. You get excited to see the next episode after seeing the "Next Time" preview, despite having seen every episode millions of times (Side note-It's a damn shame the next time previews aren't on the DVD's because hearing the gang comment on what happens "Jikai" on the series is really fun). And despite the fights being monotonous and constant, and even that most of them aren't unique, they are brilliantly done. And even if the Animation isn't on par with more recent series such as Naruto and One Piece, it is still perfect. Plus, Dragonball is hillarious and despite DBZ being constant fighting it still retains that humor. There is just something about Dragonball, and that's why it is so popular and has been for over 10 years. Toriyama-Sensei is a genius.

So I won't blame you if you love Anime and then look at DBZ and hate it, because it would fail in comparison to deep-plotted, well animated series. But Dragonball was the first Anime I ever saw. And despite me maybe not being so interested in it nowadays as I am in GetBackers, Flame of Recca, and Naruto, it will always have a place in my heart as my favorite Anime ever. It's truly a classic. Seeing it's genius is not something that can be done by watching a few episodes. You have to see the entire series from beginning to end--From when Gokou is run over by Bulma's car to when he flies off with Uubu to train--to see it. And you have to see it in Japanese because the English version MADE it into nothing but a huge commercialized waste of time. Even I admit that if I had gotten into Anime like InuYasha or Flame of Recca BEFORE I ever saw Dragonball I would probably think "What the Hell is this?" also.

So you can hate it all you want. But you cannot say that it sucks. Dragonball is a genius piece of work and if you fail to see that...Then oh well, I guess hope is lost on the foolish.

Oh, and all those Anime you listed, Xiand, with the exception of Trigun, are pretty stale and boring themselves.

And Majin Vegita, when did I call you retarded? I would never say that!

-- Suupaa Gohan 2 (dragonballz@aol.com), June 30, 2004.

You said that anybody who liked the English eps (the Funimation dubs, mind, not the Blue Ocean ones) are retards. And I like the Funimation dubs. The voices are more suited (especially Vegita's (and its still unnerving to think that the strongest fighter in the universe in the jap episodes sounds like a girl)).

BTW, nice one SG2. I couldn't have said it better myself.

-- )v(ajin\/egita (info@smserve.co.za), July 01, 2004.

I really don't know.It is surpream cheese. The people have stupid lines and always state the obvious. i agree dbz and db suck alot.

-- water dragon (shonenjumpnow@yahoo.com), September 27, 2004.

Not to argue with you Majin Vegita, but I stand by my opinion that the English version (ALL of them) sucks. and how the Hell is Chris Sabat a better Vegeta that Ryo Horikawa-san? NO WAY, NOT A CHANCE. Maybe you're just used to Sabat's craptastic performance as I'm used to Horikawa-san's, but still the Japanese cast was carefully assembled to fit each character and their personalities. It may also be that you're not used to Japanese speech, but I'm sorry if it's one thing that's worse than the dub's music it's the voice cast. The rest is, well, TOLERABLE to say the least, but still...

-- Suupaa Gohan 2 (dragonballz@aol.com), September 29, 2004.