15 Years Since Z's North American End

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Super Sonic
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15 Years Since Z's North American End

Post by Super Sonic » Thu Jul 12, 2018 7:20 pm

Was thinking recently, while know it's a little late since the last dvd came out in March 2003, but noticed it has been 15 years since DBZ's North American run had ended. Yeah, the Ultimate Uncut had still to come out, and the movies at the time would be another three years before they were all released, but the series had ended as well as its tv run of eps at that time. Does it feel that long to you guys? Also look at how things had changed as Funimation wasn't the big top of things as they are now. Heck, a lot of stars of some of their sister titles were in the show's young demographic back then, or just high school students. Whether you were watching at the time, had you changed in anime fandom from then, to now? Me, I had only been to one convention in regular clothes, and mainly watched stuff on tv. Now I have a huge collection, am a cosplayer who usually hits 3-4 anime cons a year, as well as a comic one or two. DBZ still was what started things mainly, and had influenced me, so wonder had things gone similar or different in the last 15 years.

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Re: 15 Years Since Z's North American End

Post by precita » Thu Jul 12, 2018 8:23 pm

Man, I watched all of it up until FUNI's original dub run ended on Cartoon Network with the redub of Seasons 1-2 back in 2005.

After that I actually stopped watching Dragonball for an entire decade, only playing the ocassional videogames and stuff. I didn't even watch Kai when it came out. I watched the Beerus movie and the few specials, then came back full time in 2015 with Return of F and Super.

I literally went an exact decade from 2005-2015 without rewatching the series too.

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TheBigBoy
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Re: 15 Years Since Z's North American End

Post by TheBigBoy » Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:42 pm

I had stopped watching the dub about the time the Buu arc started but I remember sitting at the lunch table during my senior year of HS and one of my buddies saying "Sooooo I think I saw the last episode of Dragon Ball Z yesterday."

I was pretty much over the series in general at that point. I didn't like the dub and didn't want to shell out the cash for the DVDs. I downloaded some terrible quality fansubs over dialup and decided it was too much trouble.

In general, I was sorta embarrassed to be talking about it in public really, since the only people I knew who were real fans were anime silk shirt wearing dudes.

I actually liked the games a lot and played those. That was my only interaction with the series for years.

In 2005 I happened upon the uncut redub airing on CN. I was thrilled because I had never seen these episode uncensored before. I even got my girlfriend at the time into it. Then I made her watch subbed Japanese episodes. She broke up with me a couple days after we finished the Freeza arc. :lol:

Kai reinvigorated my interest in the series - mainly because the pacing of the show scared me from revisiting it. And the dub was...tolerable? Not great...but it was way ahead of what we were getting in the early 2000s. I know some people don't like Kai but I'm a fan, plagiarized soundtrack and all.

I dug Super - I think as fans we really take for granted that we get brand new Dragon Ball episodes subbed literally the day they air.

DBFZ is one of the best fighters I've ever played. I'm totally hooked.

The dub has improved by leaps and bounds over the years...but I'd still hesitate to call it good. There's been some good voice work as of late but the biggest problems lie in the people they've had since 1999 who also happen to voice most of the major characters. I think that discussion has been beaten to death though.

The series has come a long way worldwide since then. It's gotten where people nostalgically reference it the way people of my generation reference TMNT or Hulk Hogan or whatever. This is great! A part of me is kinda wistful for the old syndication days of the Ocean dub. DB as a whole was still pretty unknown in the states and Z aired in weird timeslots. Game magazines might have referenced it, but no one I knew talked about it. For an hour every Saturday morning at 6 AM, DBZ felt like *my* show and I was the only one in the world that knew about it. That was kinda neat.

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Re: 15 Years Since Z's North American End

Post by Hellspawn28 » Fri Jul 13, 2018 6:23 pm

I already seen all of DBZ before it was done on CN. I didn't bother watching the rest since I know what happens and I already seen the episodes subbed. I didn't see the rest of the Buu saga dubbed until 6-7 years later.
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