Why do so many Z fans refuse to watch the original Dragon Ball?

[emperior]

I can’t understand it either, considering how good it is and how it is half of the story - and it is very much needed in order to understand the whole story.
It is also easy to read the whole story by buying the manga. There is literally no reason why a fan of Dragon Ball shouldn’t watch or read what happens before Raditz arrives on Earth.
You can’t consider yourself a fan of this franchise if you have no idea about what happens in half of the story. You can’t, or should, even comment about Goku’s characterisation if you only know half of his story. Same for every character who first appeared before Raditz.

[TheGreatness25]

I think they just don't like the tone of Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z is so much more of a sci-fi story. I'm not saying that Dragon Ball isn't, but Z takes it to a whole other level. Space fighters, crazy powerful fights, able to blow things up. They also have characters like Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, etc. The villains are pretty awesome for the most part. Dragon Ball is a lot more subdued and obviously has a different feel than Z. It's not that it's a worse feel necessarily, but it certainly is different. The crowd that likes Z and not Dragon Ball clearly like the Z feel more.

I've never once met someone who was a fan of Z that refused to watch Dragon Ball. I know people who liked Z but didn't like Dragon Ball, but to flat out refuse to watch it? Never met anyone like that.

[Cetra]

It's the same principle as Pokemon's "genwunners" or the whole "Ocarina is the only good Zelda game" mentality.

I am a genwunner and still think Red/Blue/Green/Yellow are only in the solid midfield of the Pokémon games, being worse than Gold/Silver/Crystal and a lot worse than Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. Maybe even worse than X and Y.

[ABED]

Most "Z fans" of which OP speaks grew up with only Z in the 90s, on toonami or whatever. As such, it's a nostalgic thing and anything that doesn't fit into their very specific and altered idea of what Dragon Ball is doesn't gel with them, even if that thing is what Dragon Ball really is. It's the same principle as Pokemon's "genwunners" or the whole "Ocarina is the only good Zelda game" mentality. It's not about dealing in facts, it's a personal thing that they're just not open-minded about, possibly because it was a spot of solace in their childhood, an escape from woes, and having that altered with anything else feels like a personal insult to them.

That said, anyone new getting into the series doesn't have an excuse. To ignore the entire first half of the show you're watching, that's like starting on season three of Steven Universe, or hell, playing Metal Gear Solid 2 before 1. It's just obtuse.

I've never played MGS, but I find video games, even ones with stories, to be inherently different. They are about the gameplay. I think I played Halo 2 before Halo 1. I love Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past, but I don't need to have played LttP to fully understand and enjoy Ocarina of Time. Their stories are independent. Hell, I don't have to have played the two Zelda games from the NES to enjoy subsequent games. Thankfully as I could never get very far in either.

I haven't seen Steven Universe either, so I don't know how serialized it is.

A very apt example would be like starting One Tree Hill with Season 5. It begins after a 4 year time jump, and the previous storylines were wrapped up. In some ways, the season 5 premiere acts as a pilot. However, so many of the relationships have a history that add necessary context, much like seeing DB first adds context to the Piccolo/Goku relationship.

I think they just don't like the tone of Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z is so much more of a sci-fi story. I'm not saying that Dragon Ball isn't, but Z takes it to a whole other level. Space fighters, crazy powerful fights, able to blow things up. They also have characters like Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, etc. The villains are pretty awesome for the most part. Dragon Ball is a lot more subdued and obviously has a different feel than Z. It's not that it's a worse feel necessarily, but it certainly is different. The crowd that likes Z and not Dragon Ball clearly like the Z feel more.

I've never once met someone who was a fan of Z that refused to watch Dragon Ball. I know people who liked Z but didn't like Dragon Ball, but to flat out refuse to watch it? Never met anyone like that.

It's comments like these that I find flat out baffling. DB isn't one thing. It's tone changes over time, even in DBZ. DB shifts, sometimes radically, in tone over the course of the story. DB also has awesome villains and characters. There were always scifi elements in DB, but I don't see how them being more pronounced in Z radically alters the story from being at its core a martial arts fantasy. The scifi elements are window dressing. Fine, they fly around the universe in spaceships, but they all fight using ki. Lastly, I have met people, including on this very forum, who refused to go back to watch DB.

[TheBigBoy]

I think they are absolutely missing out if they don't watch/read DB...but I can see how someone who started watching DBZ on Toonami during I dunno, the Cell arc or whatever watching DB for the first time, seeing all the dick jokes and Goku getting beat up by Yamcha or whatever and thinking "yeah this isn't for me."

[KBABZ]

I've never played MGS, but I find video games, even ones with stories, to be inherently different. They are about the gameplay. I think I played Halo 2 before Halo 1. I love Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past, but I don't need to have played LttP to fully understand and enjoy Ocarina of Time. Their stories are independent. Hell, I don't have to have played the two Zelda games from the NES to enjoy subsequent games. Thankfully as I could never get very far in either.

Those games are a bit serialized, and Halo has a story but also heavily influences gameplay. On the other hand, while you could keep up with the plot of Mass Effect 3 or Uncharted 4 just fine, you're just not going to get as much out of their highly emphasized stories in a manner similar to if you came into The Two Towers without watching The Fellowship of the Ring. Or indeed, watching DBZ without bothering with Dragon Ball first (or in a more modern take, GT or Super without watching Z).

[TheGreatness25]

[spoiler]

I think they just don't like the tone of Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z is so much more of a sci-fi story. I'm not saying that Dragon Ball isn't, but Z takes it to a whole other level. Space fighters, crazy powerful fights, able to blow things up. They also have characters like Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, etc. The villains are pretty awesome for the most part. Dragon Ball is a lot more subdued and obviously has a different feel than Z. It's not that it's a worse feel necessarily, but it certainly is different. The crowd that likes Z and not Dragon Ball clearly like the Z feel more.

I've never once met someone who was a fan of Z that refused to watch Dragon Ball. I know people who liked Z but didn't like Dragon Ball, but to flat out refuse to watch it? Never met anyone like that.

[/spoiler]
It's comments like these that I find flat out baffling. DB isn't one thing. It's tone changes over time, even in DBZ. DB shifts, sometimes radically, in tone over the course of the story. DB also has awesome villains and characters. There were always scifi elements in DB, but I don't see how them being more pronounced in Z radically alters the story from being at its core a martial arts fantasy. The scifi elements are window dressing. Fine, they fly around the universe in spaceships, but they all fight using ki. Lastly, I have met people, including on this very forum, who refused to go back to watch DB.

I don't know why it's so baffling. If you can't see that there's a huge change in the type of story throughout all of Dragon Ball and even the earliest of Z, then that's on you. It's clearly got an entirely different feel and some like the feel of Z more than DB. I don't know what's so confusing about it. Clearly the story has evolved and not everyone has to like what it evolved from. Yeah, I think they're missing out because I like Dragon Ball, but to say that at the end of the day it's still the same story, is silly. Up until the King Piccolo arc, the story is mostly centered around a journey of self-discovery and martial arts. The King PIccolo arc is a little bit more stakes-heavy, while PIccolo Jr. kind of goes back to the martial arts story. Z hits you right in the face with space aliens, the battle for the world, which quicly becomes a battle for the universe. The stories are not the same. Some prefer the latter. Some prefer the former. Some like the whole thing.

Your argument that "DB isn't one thing" and the "tone chang[ing] over time" sound like a "take the whole series or leave it" approach, when it doesn't have to be. By that logic, you should be telling people that they have to like GT and everything else DB-related because it's just the next change of tone.

Clearly DB feels different than Z, for better or worse, and it doesn't matter what you think of someone's opinion, doesn't matter how great you think the DB characters are, doesn't matter -- what matters is that some people just don't like the original series and that's okay. Everyone has an opinion and if they don't want to sit through Dragon Ball, I don't think they should be forced into it or told that they don't understand the story, blah, blah, blah. I'm just happy for them that they get to experience some sort of happiness from the series regardless of which incarnation it is.

[Gaffer Tape]

Sadly, I do think the juxtaposition is what part of the problem is. As ABED said, DB is not one thing. And there's also not a huge tonal shift between the end of DB and the start of DBZ. They flow as naturally as any ongoing story would. However, I find it rather akin to the lightsaber fights in the first six Star Wars movies. In terms of their creation, each subsequent fight builds on the previous one. More ideas are added, choreography is expanded, etc. And if you start at Star Wars and work your way to Episode III, you can clearly see that progression. However, unfortunately, a lot of people, at George Lucas's prompting, now watch the movies in chronological order, and that just screws the whole thing up. Now you're starting the progression at the fourth iteration. You make your way to the final, most ridiculously over-the-top CGI action fest. And then you follow that up with... two guys in a hallway for a couple of minutes. Suddenly, what might have been seen as a satisfactory showdown between the wise old warrior and the dark knight looks like a dinky little toy fight in comparison to every other lightsaber fight that had been previously seen.

I think it's the same with Dragon Ball. Sure, there's little difference between the 23rd Budoukai and the Saiyan Arc. But that's not what most fans in the U.S. saw. They finished the Cell Arc, with its beam struggle climax to save the world, and then were asked to go back and watch Goku hit a dinosaur over the head with a stick. Most likely a lot of them didn't feel like sticking around to get to the point where it became similar to what they enjoyed.

And I say all this as someone who doesn't really care for the prequel lightsaber fights (I was much happier when the new sequels scaled them back to something that was actually relatable) and typically prefers "pre-Z" Dragon Ball. I didn't start seeking out original DB until after the Freeza Arc, which isn't really much different, and I was watching the sanitized '95 dub, and I had no trouble being intrigued by it. From the first moment they showed flashbacks in Z, I was pointing at my screen going, "Oooh, I want to see that! What's that about? How do I learn more about those stories?" So the mindset I just illustrated is not one I really personally understand at all. But that is the impression I get.

[ABED]

My point about video games is that it's not nearly as much about the story as it is the gameplay.

Greatness, I acknowledge the differences. It's ALWAYS a martial arts story. The stakes aren't relevant to whether it's a martial arts story. DBZ at no point becomes a superhero story. The stakes get higher, but the fundamental goals stay the same. Goku constantly puts the world and even the universe in danger in his goal to challenge himself as a martial artist. Fighters coming from space doesn't change that they are still martial artists who fight using ki.

Your argument that "DB isn't one thing" and the "tone chang[ing] over time" sound like a "take the whole series or leave it" approach, when it doesn't have to be. By that logic, you should be telling people that they have to like GT and everything else DB-related because it's just the next change of tone.

Huh? I have zero idea what your point is. I never said they have to like GT. My point was that DB doesn't radically change when Raditz arrives. It's the next change in a line of constant development over the course of the story. DB goes from a gag manga/Journey to the West parody to a more earnest martial arts action adventure story, then starts to get more earnest, especially around the 22nd Budokai. Piccolo Daimao is a radical change from what came before and begins the trend of big bads that continued even into GT. Raditz was a change, but not nearly as radical as you seem to imply. DB isn't all one tone, nor is DBZ.

Yes, Z feels different, but the end of DB feels different from the beginning of DB. Based on your post, I can't tell how you view DB. Far too often these conversations are because someone implies all of DB is in the same vein as the first arc. It's objectively untrue. All the things you claim DBZ is began in DB.

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

I am shocked by what I read in here

That's not how it happened here in France where we started with OG Dragon Ball, I've saw it all from start to finish all of that thanks to AB Production and the Club Dorothée. But what's interesting is that many french fan are pissed because they think Dragon Ball is what it is today because of the American fans, and I saw many French fan sad because they want Dragon Ball to be more in the vibe of the OG Dragon Ball.

[TheGreatness25]

[spoiler]My point about video games is that it's not nearly as much about the story as it is the gameplay.

Greatness, I acknowledge the differences. It's ALWAYS a martial arts story. The stakes aren't relevant to whether it's a martial arts story. DBZ at no point becomes a superhero story. The stakes get higher, but the fundamental goals stay the same. Goku constantly puts the world and even the universe in danger in his goal to challenge himself as a martial artist. Fighters coming from space doesn't change that they are still martial artists who fight using ki.

Your argument that "DB isn't one thing" and the "tone chang[ing] over time" sound like a "take the whole series or leave it" approach, when it doesn't have to be. By that logic, you should be telling people that they have to like GT and everything else DB-related because it's just the next change of tone.

Huh? I have zero idea what your point is. I never said they have to like GT. My point was that DB doesn't radically change when Raditz arrives. It's the next change in a line of constant development over the course of the story. DB goes from a gag manga/Journey to the West parody to a more earnest martial arts action adventure story, then starts to get more earnest, especially around the 22nd Budokai. Piccolo Daimao is a radical change from what came before and begins the trend of big bads that continued even into GT. Raditz was a change, but not nearly as radical as you seem to imply. DB isn't all one tone, nor is DBZ.

Yes, Z feels different, but the end of DB feels different from the beginning of DB. Based on your post, I can't tell how you view DB. Far too often these conversations are because someone implies all of DB is in the same vein as the first arc. It's objectively untrue. All the things you claim DBZ is began in DB.[/spoiler]

Saying that the beginning of Z feels like the ending of DB is silly. I'm sorry, but it is. It took DB the entire series to build up to that. Z starts off feeling like a natural progression of the end of Dragon Ball and then within a few episodes kicks it into a completely different gear. Right off the bat, we get an afterlife, we get power-ups that are completely insane, we get fighting styles and attacks that were never done in Dragon Ball, we get an extremely fleshed out story of the Saiyans and then Freeza.

Yes, if you watch the first episode of DBZ after the end of DB, it resembles the same series, but the story in its totality is completley different. Dragon Ball never had insane stakes. The first arc was what it was. The Tenkaichi Budokais had low stakes because it was just about Goku wanting to be the best. The Red Ribbon Army stuff was very contained to Earth and always had a feel that Goku would win in the end because for the majority of the Red Ribbon Army, the villains were goofy. The King Piccolo arc really kicked things into a whole other level, but that was one arc very deep into DB. And then even with Piccolo Jr., there were no real stakes. Yeah, he was the reincarnation of King Piccolo, but he signed up for the Tenkaichi Budokai and it was just another villain whose motivation was to show that he was stronger than Goku.

In Dragon Ball Z, right off the bat, the world is in peril -- real, serious peril with a villain that Goku could not overcome on his own. Then as soon as he died and he went to the afterlife and increased his power exponentially, the entire story felt different than anything in DB.

The point is that the DB and DBZ series in their totality feel nothing alike. Trying to come up with the excuse that the last episode of DB and the first episode of DBZ feel pretty much the same, is a cop-out because that doesn't exactly last very long. So, if I like aliens, crazy fights, planets blowing up, Super Saiyans, villains trying to enslave the universe, time travel, after life components, and ancient villains resurrected through sorcery, I'm definitely not going to get that in Dragon Ball.

[Kokonoe]

Because they're idiots. I hate to sound like an asshole, but that's the truth. Who in their right mind would voluntarily decide to skip out on nearly HALF of story? And on top of that, debatably, the better half of the story?

They're idiots for not preferring something? Yeah that does make you an asshole, no offense.

[ABED]

[spoiler]My point about video games is that it's not nearly as much about the story as it is the gameplay.

Greatness, I acknowledge the differences. It's ALWAYS a martial arts story. The stakes aren't relevant to whether it's a martial arts story. DBZ at no point becomes a superhero story. The stakes get higher, but the fundamental goals stay the same. Goku constantly puts the world and even the universe in danger in his goal to challenge himself as a martial artist. Fighters coming from space doesn't change that they are still martial artists who fight using ki.

Your argument that "DB isn't one thing" and the "tone chang[ing] over time" sound like a "take the whole series or leave it" approach, when it doesn't have to be. By that logic, you should be telling people that they have to like GT and everything else DB-related because it's just the next change of tone.

Huh? I have zero idea what your point is. I never said they have to like GT. My point was that DB doesn't radically change when Raditz arrives. It's the next change in a line of constant development over the course of the story. DB goes from a gag manga/Journey to the West parody to a more earnest martial arts action adventure story, then starts to get more earnest, especially around the 22nd Budokai. Piccolo Daimao is a radical change from what came before and begins the trend of big bads that continued even into GT. Raditz was a change, but not nearly as radical as you seem to imply. DB isn't all one tone, nor is DBZ.

Yes, Z feels different, but the end of DB feels different from the beginning of DB. Based on your post, I can't tell how you view DB. Far too often these conversations are because someone implies all of DB is in the same vein as the first arc. It's objectively untrue. All the things you claim DBZ is began in DB.[/spoiler]

Saying that the beginning of Z feels like the ending of DB is silly. I'm sorry, but it is. It took DB the entire series to build up to that. Z starts off feeling like a natural progression of the end of Dragon Ball and then within a few episodes kicks it into a completely different gear. Right off the bat, we get an afterlife, we get power-ups that are completely insane, we get fighting styles and attacks that were never done in Dragon Ball, we get an extremely fleshed out story of the Saiyans and then Freeza.

Yes, if you watch the first episode of DBZ after the end of DB, it resembles the same series, but the story in its totality is completley different. Dragon Ball never had insane stakes. The first arc was what it was. The Tenkaichi Budokais had low stakes because it was just about Goku wanting to be the best. The Red Ribbon Army stuff was very contained to Earth and always had a feel that Goku would win in the end because for the majority of the Red Ribbon Army, the villains were goofy. The King Piccolo arc really kicked things into a whole other level, but that was one arc very deep into DB. And then even with Piccolo Jr., there were no real stakes. Yeah, he was the reincarnation of King Piccolo, but he signed up for the Tenkaichi Budokai and it was just another villain whose motivation was to show that he was stronger than Goku.

In Dragon Ball Z, right off the bat, the world is in peril -- real, serious peril with a villain that Goku could not overcome on his own. Then as soon as he died and he went to the afterlife and increased his power exponentially, the entire story felt different than anything in DB.

The point is that the DB and DBZ series in their totality feel nothing alike. Trying to come up with the excuse that the last episode of DB and the first episode of DBZ feel pretty much the same, is a cop-out because that doesn't exactly last very long. So, if I like aliens, crazy fights, planets blowing up, Super Saiyans, villains trying to enslave the universe, time travel, after life components, and ancient villains resurrected through sorcery, I'm definitely not going to get that in Dragon Ball.

It doesn't take the entire series. Piccolo is introduced 2/3 of the way through.

Not all of the RRA villains were goofy. Tao Pai Pai was a huge tonal shift from the villains that came before.

If Piccolo Jr. defeats Goku, he finishes his/his father's dream. He reigns supreme and kills everyone. His goal didn't stop at defeating Goku and winning the tournament. Your statement that DBZ starts off with world ending stakes (as if that's enough to make it exciting) drops ALL kinds of context. It took DB years to get to that point. You make it sound like the change was a light switch turning from off to on. DB to DBZ was like a person, constantly growing with periodic growth spurts.

There are a lot of things that are opinion, but your view of DB and DBZ not feeling anything alike are verifiably wrong.

[sintzu]

To ignore the entire first half of the show you're watching, that's like playing Metal Gear Solid 2 before 1.

Playing 2 before 1 is better than what I did which was just playing 4 and the phantom pain.

[TheGreatness25]

Because they're idiots. I hate to sound like an asshole, but that's the truth. Who in their right mind would voluntarily decide to skip out on nearly HALF of story? And on top of that, debatably, the better half of the story?

They're idiots for not preferring something? Yeah that does make you an asshole, no offense.

Also let's not forget that a lot of fans didn't really have a choice but to "voluntarily decide to skip out on nearly half of the story." First of all, it's not nearly half of the story; Dragon Ball has 153 episodes, DBZ has 291, totaling them at 444 episodes. Dragon Ball encompasses a little over a third of the story. But I digress.

You know, it doesn't help that the series is not looked at as one series because the marketing clearly divided Dragon Ball and Z. Lots of people were exposed to Dragon Ball Z first and had no idea that Dragon Ball even existed until years later. And when you're coming off of the Cell arc, being thrust into the first two arcs of Dragon Ball, I'm sure you can understand how lots of fans were quick to dismiss the series.

It's not about your preference, it's about theirs. As I've stressed, I think that Dragon Ball is a great series and I definitely love it, but I understand why others wouldn't.

There are a lot of things that are opinion, but your view of DB and DBZ not feeling anything alike are verifiably wrong.

There really is nothing left to say about this. If you think that the totality of Z and DB feel the same, then what can I do? lol Yes, I'm "wrong." I'm so wrong that there are a bunch of people who refuse to watch Dragon Ball for that very reason. Ever stop to think that maybe you're wrong and you're just letting your love for DB kind of cloud your judgment on this one?

[PFM18]

[spoiler]My point about video games is that it's not nearly as much about the story as it is the gameplay.

Greatness, I acknowledge the differences. It's ALWAYS a martial arts story. The stakes aren't relevant to whether it's a martial arts story. DBZ at no point becomes a superhero story. The stakes get higher, but the fundamental goals stay the same. Goku constantly puts the world and even the universe in danger in his goal to challenge himself as a martial artist. Fighters coming from space doesn't change that they are still martial artists who fight using ki.

Huh? I have zero idea what your point is. I never said they have to like GT. My point was that DB doesn't radically change when Raditz arrives. It's the next change in a line of constant development over the course of the story. DB goes from a gag manga/Journey to the West parody to a more earnest martial arts action adventure story, then starts to get more earnest, especially around the 22nd Budokai. Piccolo Daimao is a radical change from what came before and begins the trend of big bads that continued even into GT. Raditz was a change, but not nearly as radical as you seem to imply. DB isn't all one tone, nor is DBZ.

Yes, Z feels different, but the end of DB feels different from the beginning of DB. Based on your post, I can't tell how you view DB. Far too often these conversations are because someone implies all of DB is in the same vein as the first arc. It's objectively untrue. All the things you claim DBZ is began in DB.[/spoiler]

Saying that the beginning of Z feels like the ending of DB is silly. I'm sorry, but it is. It took DB the entire series to build up to that. Z starts off feeling like a natural progression of the end of Dragon Ball and then within a few episodes kicks it into a completely different gear. Right off the bat, we get an afterlife, we get power-ups that are completely insane, we get fighting styles and attacks that were never done in Dragon Ball, we get an extremely fleshed out story of the Saiyans and then Freeza.

Yes, if you watch the first episode of DBZ after the end of DB, it resembles the same series, but the story in its totality is completley different. Dragon Ball never had insane stakes. The first arc was what it was. The Tenkaichi Budokais had low stakes because it was just about Goku wanting to be the best. The Red Ribbon Army stuff was very contained to Earth and always had a feel that Goku would win in the end because for the majority of the Red Ribbon Army, the villains were goofy. The King Piccolo arc really kicked things into a whole other level, but that was one arc very deep into DB. And then even with Piccolo Jr., there were no real stakes. Yeah, he was the reincarnation of King Piccolo, but he signed up for the Tenkaichi Budokai and it was just another villain whose motivation was to show that he was stronger than Goku.

In Dragon Ball Z, right off the bat, the world is in peril -- real, serious peril with a villain that Goku could not overcome on his own. Then as soon as he died and he went to the afterlife and increased his power exponentially, the entire story felt different than anything in DB.

The point is that the DB and DBZ series in their totality feel nothing alike. Trying to come up with the excuse that the last episode of DB and the first episode of DBZ feel pretty much the same, is a cop-out because that doesn't exactly last very long. So, if I like aliens, crazy fights, planets blowing up, Super Saiyans, villains trying to enslave the universe, time travel, after life components, and ancient villains resurrected through sorcery, I'm definitely not going to get that in Dragon Ball.

It doesn't take the entire series. Piccolo is introduced 2/3 of the way through.

Not all of the RRA villains were goofy. Tao Pai Pai was a huge tonal shift from the villains that came before.

If Piccolo Jr. defeats Goku, he finishes his/his father's dream. He reigns supreme and kills everyone. His goal didn't stop at defeating Goku and winning the tournament.

There are a lot of things that are opinion, but your view of DB and DBZ not feeling anything alike are verifiably wrong.

...yeah it really isn't "verifiably wrong", it is an opinion that you cannot just declare to be wrong. Furthermore, in my opinion, they are completely different. The tone has an entirely different feel to it, DBZ doesn't focus nearly as much on comedy, and it completely removes the aspect of the story of helping every day people or just interacting with every day people in general. Sure, when it comes down to it both are series about fighting, but they are just so different in their own ways.

[ABED]

it is an opinion that you cannot just declare to be wrong. Furthermore, in my opinion, they are completely different.

I can and I will. Are there world ending stakes at the end of DB or not? Is the end of DB as comedic as the beginning or not?

You say THE tone, but DB doesn't have a uniform tone. It shifts. That's not opinion. That's a fact. Why are you ignoring the completely different feel between the first few arcs and the last few?

[90sDBZ]

It is strange considering it actually aired alongside Z at the height of its popularity in the US. I guess the change in focus and tone was too much for some to get past.

I remember OG DB airing in the UK a few months after GT had ended and completing its entire run in just over a year. While Z was constantly on UK TV for 5 years OG DB was only on for about a year and a half, getting taken off a few months after its final episode aired. I remember being surprised at the time and realised it must be down to lower ratings.

What surprised me even more was finding out a few years ago that GT performed better than DB in the US. From all the hate I'd seen for GT I was a bit taken aback that it performed better than OG DB. It seems that while GT is the series people love to hate DB is the series that most haven't seen so have no opinion of. And now looking back I can remember GT staying on UK TV for longer than OG DB, so I guess the situation here was the same as the US. Maybe stuff like SS4 gave GT the edge over it despite the hate GT gets.

[TheGreatness25]

it is an opinion that you cannot just declare to be wrong. Furthermore, in my opinion, they are completely different.

I can and I will. Are there world ending stakes at the end of DB or not? Is the end of DB as comedic as the beginning or not?

Just to be clear: There are plenty of fans that feel that way. You can't say that all of their opinions are wrong. It's a feeling not fact. It's clearly not wrong because lots of people feel it. So... I dont' know where you're coming from.

Sailor Moon also has world-ending stakes and comedy, but I wouldn't say it's just like Dragon Ball. Like... I don't even know what you're arguing anymore. You're arguing feelings and because you feel one thing, you're saying that others' feelings are "verifiably wrong." I'm not getting it. But whatever. As long as you keep that mindset, then yeah, you'll never understand why others could like Dragon Ball Z but not Dragon Ball. It's not that you can't understand, it's that you just don't want to accept the fact that not everyone shares your feelings.

[ABED]

It is strange considering it actually aired alongside Z at the height of its popularity in the US. I guess the change in focus and tone was too much for some to get past.

I remember OG DB airing in the UK a few months after GT had ended and completing its entire run in just over a year. While Z was constantly on UK TV for 5 years OG DB was only on for about a year and a half, getting taken off a few months after its final episode aired. I remember being surprised at the time and realised it must be down to lower ratings.

What surprised me even more was finding out a few years ago that GT performed better than DB in the US. From all the hate I'd seen for GT I was a bit taken aback that it performed better than OG DB. It seems that while GT is the series people love to hate DB is the series that most haven't seen so have no opinion of. And now looking back I can remember GT staying on UK TV for longer than OG DB, so I guess the situation here was the same as the US. Maybe stuff like SS4 gave GT the edge over it despite the hate GT gets.

GT doing better in the US than DB both does and doesn't surprise me. On one hand, I find it baffling that the inferior show was seen by so many more people, but on the other hand, given all the emphasis placed on power levels and such, it doesn't surprise me that the sequel series had more viewers.