For the older fans...

[Perfect]

I'm not 21 yet (I'm only 18) but some people at course who are over 21 have had no problem with me liking Dragon Ball. One who is a major otaku has gone addicted to DBZ: Abridged since I showed him and they often talk about some of the sagas or mention weird moments like the "5 Minutes till Namek explodes". But none of them don't really have any merchandise, manga, DVDs etc, probably some games though I'm unsure.

But some people I knew at high school did take the mickey out of me whenever I had a wallpaper or pictures on my drive, saying I'm pathetic for liking a kids show and would act very immature about it, they judge their opinions by the broadcast version (with censoring and cut scenes). Maybe I should of shown the Dragon Boxes. lol The weird thing is, they have no problem with Pokemon.

For the show itself, I'd say it has had an impact on me. As well as Pokemon and Cardcaptors, it's opened me towards the world of Anime and introduced more. There were times where I lost interest or was put off Dragon Ball but later on, I eventually got interest in it again.

I don't understand how anyone could say Pokemon is at a different maturity level (higher) than Dragon Ball, if anything the initial target audience was lower (Seems to still be; especially with various merchandising) than DB (Mainly in America).

[nathantheguitarist]

I'm 20 and I thought I was one of the young ones here...

That's all I have to add. I haven't really talked to anyone since high school regarding anything I'm into, like Dragonball. Though my Uncle laughed at something in a One Piece episode I was watching and wondered what the hell I was watching. Same sort of thing I guess, which is why I don't bother with it anymore.

I'm only 10 years old,

If you're serious that explains a lot...

so I've only seen Kai.

Bullshit. Aside from saying in your sig previously that your favorite dub is the Mexican one (which there isn't for Kai... yet), didn't you post this http://daizex.fanboyreview.net/viewtopi ... 52#p404752 ...?

[obiwan23s]

I am 23 and I have never really run into anyone who looked down on me for liking Dragon Ball. When I was in middle school, DBZ was at the height of its popularity on Toonami. That was when the Cell saga first started running on TV. By the time I got into high school, I owned a lot of the Boo saga DVDs. By then FUNimation had released well past what they had given to CN so everyone was always asking to borrow my DVDs so they could watch ahead. I guess I was just in school during the right time period for DBZ to not really give you any kind of stigma. I played on the football team and most of those guys watched it too. These days if I'm with friends and the topic of discussion somehow migrates to video games or anime, I'll always bring up DBZ and get positive reactions. Hell we were even playing that one drinking game last week where if you draw a certain card you have to make everyone in the circle name something out of a certain category and the first one to miss has to drink... forget the name of the game but you can do like "NFL quarterbacks" or "types of beer," etc. I'm sure someone else here in the +21 crowd can spot me on the name of the game but I drew the right card and went with "Characters in Dragon Ball Z". Made it through about eight people, but of course the chain died once it got to the first girl.

[T Pac]

I think you're talking about King's Cup/Circle of Death.

I'm 24 and got into Dragonball in middle school. Even at that point, I considered it pretty nerdy and outside of a few friends and family, nobody really knew that I watched. At this point, it's pretty much my own secret that I'm still a fan, especially since I don't watch any other anime. I do get excited if I find anyone else to talk DB with (which doesn't happen to often), but even then I never real my true level of fandom.

I guess I'm kinda embarrassed that I'm embarrassed of being a Dragonball fanatic.

[Suupaa Gohan 2]

I drew the right card and went with "Characters in Dragon Ball Z". Made it through about eight people, but of course the chain died once it got to the first girl.

Hope I'm not the only female fan on this board who takes that comment offensively.

[Hellspawn28]

Unlike most people, I never got into Dragon Ball until the 4th or 5th Grade back in the early 2000's. So I feel somewhat left out sadly.

[Travis Touchdown]

I dunno how I "keep" my love for Dragon Ball. I just do. It just never got old for me. Toriyama-style art is also the only art style that I can draw well, so that probably helped a lot. I love heroics and martial arts and Dragon Ball satisfies both for me.

I don't keep it a secret either. That doesn't mean I wander around waving a big Dragon Ball flag, but I don't go out of my way to hide it. I doodle DB stuff all the time and if people see and ask, I tell them. So my friends and co-workers react about the same as someone who talks about loving Law & Order SVU. They just don't care.

[Sshadow5001]

I'm 22 and Dragonball has quite a bit of nostalgic value to me. I'm collecting the Dragonbox's and watching it all in Japanese with subtitles and its like watching a new show.

Dragonball was my second anime I ever watched (the first being Laputa Castle in the Sky) and it was so different from anything I'd ever seen. I watched it everyday to the annoyance of my family (the constant grunting got on there nerves lol). the show gave me confidence to fight when I needed to (I was the kid a school who got picked on) and the adrenaline I got from fighting that bully felt like Kiaoken to me, a sudden burst of energy from me and I kicked his ass.

I watched through every episode of the Freeza fight on the edge of my seat wondering how it was all going to end. the characters I had watched over the last year or so fighting the most powerful being in the universe. seeing Goku getting destroyed by Freeza wondering how the hell is he gonna pull this off? Freeza isnt even trying yet. that Humongous Spirit bomb didnt work and Krillens dead. Then..... BAM the Legendary Super Saiyan. I nearly craped myself at how awesome it was and to this day I'll never forget it.

The Faulconer music between the Ginyu and Trunks saga has huge nostalgic value to me since it had the best moments in my Anime history in it and i can't imagine watching them saga without it so even though i'm gettin the Dragonbox's I still have a few singles with my favorite moments in around if i ever wanna go back to watch them awesome moments the way I remember them.

Thinking back on all of this keeps my love for the series alive and all the posters in my room i wake up to every morning help too lol.

EDIT

I also don't care who knows it so I'm buying T-shirts to wair out to show my love for the series and if anyone mentions it we usually end up having a chat about the series (usually in the nostalgic sence "oh yeah I remember that show")

[nathantheguitarist]

the show gave me confidence to fight when I needed to (I was the kid a school who got picked on) and the adrenaline I got from fighting that bully felt like Kiaoken to me, a sudden burst of energy from me and I kicked his ass.

Best story ever.

I always wanted Kaioken the shit out of kids at school, but I usually just got in trouble by getting on the bad side of the teachers lol. There wasn't room on my "rap sheet" to kick kids asses.

[Castor Troy]

21 is an "older" fan? Psssssh.

Us really-late 20's-30's-possibly 40's fans will probably feel much more awkward telling people about our DB fandom.

People my age are talking about stocks and prostate while I'm still oogling the Dragon Boxes.

[Brakus]

I think I might have all of you beat, since I'm well past age 21.

I think Mike and Meri once discussed this on a podcast episode a long time ago. I still like Dragon Ball (and Z/Kai) because I haven't yet seen every single episode yet. There's still more things I need to discover. Oh, I know the general idea of DB and DBZ, but there's lots of chunks of episodes I haven't gotten through seeing yet. I still haven't seen all of the Cell Games portiion of the Cell saga, and I haven't even gotten past the Great Saiyaman saga yet. I've seen almost half of the original Dragon Ball, right before Tao Pai Pai first comes on the scene, and I've only seen about half of the DBZ movies so far.

I wear DBZ tee shirts without any qualms as to what people think I'll get compliments from the people I least expect sometimes. Since DBZ had so much exposure 10-12 years ago, I have people in their 20's, 30's, and 40's occasionally tell me, "That's a cool shirt there."

I don't mind that I'm a much older fan and I still enjoy watching DB / DBZ/Kai. Don't get me wrong - I watch other anime as well, and fun watching them too. But the Dragon Ball (and Z/Kai) series somehow makes me feel happy / pumped up / excited at times. Having these memories makes me feel something that resembles joy, I think. I want to caress them.

[Duo]

I'm 23, right around where a great number of the fans here are. A lot of people in our age group are at least moderately aware of the series and its popularity and don't look down on it so much, so I don't feel uncomfortable at college making references now and then. I know who I can and can't nerd out with about it, and I generally don't talk about it to folks much older or much younger. It all works out.

[Kendamu]

I'm 27. I like Dragonball, but I like other things, too. If I'm amongst people who like Dragonball, I'll talk about it with them. If not, then I'll talk about something else we have in common. It's not a big deal either way. The same sort of logic applies to all of my friends with their likes, dislikes, and what we have in common no matter what it is.

[Super Sonic]

I'm 28 and the Toonami broadcasts started when I was in high school. Knew a few guys who were watching back then, and never really got crap for it. Though few times guys joked that I would name my kid Goku or Vegeta.

[Chuquita]

I'm 25 and I used to watch Dragon Ball Z back during the weekday Toonami days when I was in high school. I don't really talk about DB much in rl anymore, but that's because I don't know anyone else around here who follows the series anymore (used to, but it's harder after you graduate college).


As for why I'm still here; I really can't think of any reason other than I still must have an at least semi-strong interest in this series. I know I'm not the hardcore fangirl I used to be (back when I could name Japanese episode titles and their corresponding episode numbers and all that stuff) but I still like it here, and I've met a lot of nice people through DB.

[Travis Touchdown]

I guess I forgot to post my age. I'm 25.

I started watching DBZ when I was 14. Back then, it was the same old Ocean Dub up until Goku arrives on Namek and then it started all over. I remember, after FUNimation FINALLY decided to dub the rest of the series, freaking out with my friends on the next episode preview when they showed Super Saiyan Goku.

Dragon Ball was one of the 2 things that inspired us to get into martial arts. We used to joke about getting ready to spar and just seemingly disappearing with only loud crashes being heard around the gym and then we'd blink in and out at super speed.

I used to be a huge anime nerd. Today, not so much. Dragon Ball is really the only anime I've held onto. There's a couple more, but not much and certainly not anywhere near as much as I used to be into as a kid.

Damn. Now I made myself feel old.

[GizmoKSX]

I just turned 24, and I still love Dragon Ball. I've been a fan since the Pilaf arc started airing in the US, so I have pretty deep nostalgic ties to it. I only started watching the Japanese version a few years ago, and I didn't buy all of the orange bricks, so I'm experiencing the true version of the show for the first time with the Dragon Boxes. I've known the plot forward and backward, but there's still a lot that's new for me to discover. I've been keeping up with Kai on Nicktoons as well; even though I prefer the Japanese version nowadays, I like hearing the FUNi cast doing a fantastic job this time around.

As far as DB being a kids' show, I have pretty broad interests in entertainment anyway. I've got no problem watching DBZ after an episode of, say, Six Feet Under (and I know I'm not the only one on this board ). Whether it's complex, realistic, adult drama or pure fantasy, I can find something to enjoy as long as there's integrity to it.

None of my friends have ever given me flak for it. Some love it in an all-encompassing way like I do, some are following Abridged, some just remember it nostalgically, and some can't stand it but respect my opinion.

[Gaffer Tape]

Gonna be lazy and just post this.

Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

That's an awesome quote. Thanks for posting it.

I'm 24, and I'm a Dragon Ball fan. I don't really associate with anyone in real life who's a fan. And like others have said, it's Daizex and its weekly podcast that helps keep me "in the loop." Granted, I don't think it would keep me from being a fan if I wasn't. Since I was 12 (so half my life, huh?), it's been one of my strongest interests. And like someone else said, collecting the DBoxes has been like starting over completely. I own the entire manga, but there's still plenty of the TV series I've never seen before. I could spend days picking apart all the flaws in DB, but that doesn't mean I couldn't spend as much time talking about things I enjoy about it. I still have a few DB-related t-shirts (although some have succumbed to time and wear). I don't hide or closet my fandom. But I don't really dwell on it in real-life circumstances either. That's not due to shame. It's simply due to not having many people around in which to share it. My roommate would tease me mercilessly (and groan excessively) every time a new DBox would arrive, but her boyfriend came by once when I was watching it and got a kick out of it, having watched it a bit when he was a teen.

[Minigt]

I'm 38 (seriously) and when I tell anyone that I love DBZ they laugh. I'm used to it. I don't care. DBZ has been a part of my life for 15 odd years and I still love it. They can suck it. My wife just puts up woith it and my son it too young to be corrupted.

[rereboy]

I`m 24. I love comics, mangas and animes, so naturally I love Dragon Ball. It was also one of the first shows I watched that really got me addicted to it, so there is also a component of nostalgia in it. I keep my interest alive by visiting this forum and by buying the manga, but like I said, Dragon Ball is just one of my interests, even though its a BIG one.

I have no complexes for liking it. I fully agree with the quote Bussani posted. Its exactly how I feel about it.

Gonna be lazy and just post this.

Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.