What part of the series did you start watching first?

[saiyangerl]

Out of curiosity I was just wondering at what part of the series did you start watching DBZ when you got into it. And what did you think of it having been introduced at that part? Were you totally lost? Did you think it was weird? Did it have any effect on your views of the characters for example if you started seeing it pretty far into the series when characters had already been developed?

Me personally, I was a night owl so I caught it late at night and just started watching it out of curiosity. I had heard the name Dragonball Z thrown around among the boys at school and wondered what it was. The very first episode I saw, the very first scene I saw, was where Krillin is getting his power unleashed by Guru. Nothing really made sense to me at first but I kept watching out of curiosity. I also thought at that time that Krillin was stronger than he actually was, that part having been my first exposure. Soon it repeated since I believe it was pretty near to where the season ended and I saw it all from the beginning and it all made sense.

[ShadowDude112]

The first airing of the english episode callled Super Saiyan 3!? So that was around 2002.

[Shiyonasan]

I believe the first part I watched was somewhere in the "Saiyan Saga" as they called it back in 1997 when Moltar was still the host on Toonami. I didn't start watching it regularly until the "Namek Saga" in 1999.

The episode that got me hooked was the one where Gohan and Kuririn sneak off with the dragon balls while Vegeta is taking a snooze. I don't remember what episode that was, but that was definitely the one that got me hooked.

[Kaboom]

I saw a few scattered episodes during the Androids and Cell arcs on Toonami. I didn't really start getting drawn in until the 25th Budokai, and didn't start actually seriously watching until the Majin Buu/Fusion arcs.

[ShinRogafuken]

Episode 199- Goku vs. Pikkon, Teen Gohan's debut

Good times ^_^

[IncompetentOverlord]

I first saw the episode where Freeza-sama blows Kuririn up into a bajillion little bits of Kuririn Krunch (From Kellogs!). I was 6 or 7 at the time, and though I loved it, I could only watch that one episode because we were in a motel and I didn't have cable at the time. Later on, when I was about 9, I saw an episode of the Saiya-jin arc where Vegeta kills Nappa,as well as an episode of the Cell arc where those adorable little bastards, the Cell Juniors, kicked the crap out of EVERYONE. After that, I had some serious love for the show, but the problem with cable remained. Aside from a few Buu and Red Ribbon Army arc tapes I rented in the following years, I drifted slowly away from the series. One day at Borders, I picked up Volume numero uno of the DBZ manga ( Wierd translations and all!). One thing led to another, and here I am.

[NeptuneKai]

I didn't watch Dragonball Z religiously when it was on T.V, I feel like I missed out. I started getting into the series after playing Budokai 1. The accurate yet abridged story line was an excellent introduction to the characters and the plot. I then researched where the show began and realized there was a prequel series called Dragonball so I went out and bought the first 13 episodes of DB dubbed and censored. I then proceeded to buy the Ocean dub of the Saiyajin arc, that's when I started reading the manga.

I really didn't understand a few concepts at first like the whole Piccolo/Kami ordeal but I wasn't too lost. It helped I started from the beginning. I remember being incredibly interested at the fact that Piccolo was a bad guy at some point.

[Big Momma]

Out of sheer luck/coincidence (It was the first time I'd ever pulled an all-nighter) I happened to catch the very first airing of the very first episode of the Ocean dub of DBZ at 5:30AM on my local FOX network.

[Gouki*]

The first episode in about 2000 when it started airing in Australia. Hooked from day one but lost interest about the time of the Cell saga, I just couldn't care anymore with the languid pace.

[Hellspawn28]

Well I remember getting a type of the ocean dub of DB back in 1997 or 1998, never care for it back then. I saw a few scattered episodes during the Sayain and Namke arcs on Toonami back in 1999. I didn't really start getting drawn in until the end of the Cell saga.

[B]

Goku saving everyone from Reacoom during Toonami's summer reruns.

Not a bad place to start.

[SSJ Helldog]

Somewhere in the preparation for the Saiyans' arrival, probably the second time through on Toonami.

But I still remember seeing Dragonball on UPN at about 5 a.m. in '88 or so. Must have been the Harmony Gold dub. I remember thinking that it didn't look very funny and I didn't feel like learning who all the characters were.

[Chuquita]

I'd seen some random saiyajin arc episodes...but I didn't really start watching regularly until the episode where Goku arrived on Namek. This was the summer before the fall where the Cell arc premiered on Toonami.

[penguintruth]

Yikes, it was so long ago, but I can still recall.

It was the episode where Freeza and his henchmen are first in a village, threatening the inhabitants for their Dragon Balls. This was the Ocean dub cast version, and it was on in the afternoon on UPN, along with Ronin Warriors and Samurai Pizza Cats.

My friend and I had been playing his SNES, and he switched it off to watch his "shows", which he invited me to join him in watching. I hadn't heard of any of them. He told me, though I had no idea how he knew, that they were Japanese, or that he had heard they were. I noticed the big differences between them and the other cartoons I was watching at the time right away.

This must have been a re-airing of the episode, because my friend corrected me when I referred to Freeza as a woman. Seeing as how this was the first episode wherein Freeza even did any real speaking, it was hard to have known ahead of time, and since he had that "grandma who smoked six packs a day" voice, and woman-like lips, I just assumed it was a female character, like some wicked witch.

I also laughed at the name of the show. "Dragon Ball Z. Man, is that 'z' there to pluralize 'Dragon Ball'? EXTREME 90s SPELLING?" Even as a kid, I was pretty jaded. You watch an episode of G.I. Joe Extreme and tell me you wouldn't be. He corrected me again. "No, the 'Z' is separate. I think there was a show that took place before this." He may have seen the early Dragon Ball dub, but he couldn't recall.

I had so many damn questions, too, and ended up not really caring for the show at first. I attached myself to Ronin Warriors, instead, until I watched all of that. I only casually watched DBZ, whenever I was over my friends house. I watched through to the last episode of the second season, and a few episodes of the first season re-aired again, but didn't think that much of it yet. Then it moved to Cartoon Network and I began watching it more frequently and enjoying it more.

But I still recall... "Stand by... for... Dragon Ball Z!"

Dragon, dragon, rock the dragon, etc.

[Ichigo Storm]

I recall my first exposure to DBZ vividly. It was late at night on Toonami, (a school night no less so it either had to be winter or spring). The episode was the one with Cell running around causing havoc, eventually attacking a woman and a young boy (can't recall if they were mother and son or not) at an airport. Thankfully Kuririn came to the rescue. I was hooked from that moment forward. Which is ironic cause up until this point I had bashed the show every opportunity.

Ah third grade. You never know what twists and turns you'll experience.

[SSJSteve]

I think the first thing I saw of Dragonball Z was the Namek Saga. So from then on everyday after school at 5:00pm I would be watching it.

[.:PoetikaL:.]

I could of seen it at 2 places.

First one was when I used to watch Mega Man on the weekends, and somehow Dragonball Z just popped up after or at some point. I still remember the commercials for it.

The other would have to be Toonami, when Moltar was still host. I remember watching Sailor Moon and then DBZ came on, and I remember seeing them in fighting Vegeta and Nappa.

It was long ago... but more or less it was around 1997-1998 that I remember watching it fully.

[Hellspawn28]

I still remember when I saw the episode where Piccolo and Freeza fight against each other and I thought it was stupid at the time. By the time I got into DBZ back in 2000 or 2001, I catch up thanks to a Friend of mine and DBZ beckett at the time.

[laserkid]

I don't remember which episode it was, but it was fairly early on in the 1995 FUnimation dub of Dragon Ball's Pilaf Arc.

[Herms]

I first started watching regulary at some point during the first run of the android/Cell episodes on Toonami, but I had seen various bits and pieces of the Saiyan and Freeza episodes before then (Goku in his spaceship heading for Namek, Bulma being captured by Freeza's goons, etc).