How were you introduced into the franchise?

[Thanos]

It was evening in the summer of 1999, I was spending it in the most “9-year-old boy in 1999” way imaginable; at a sleepover with friends playing N64 Smash Bros. Anyway, they started watching the show on Toonami and it was an episode during the Cell Games with Mr. Satan, so that being my first exposure lead to my thinking it was a wrestling cartoon . I had a tape recorder at the time and I just recorded the show on potato audio; somehow I listened back at it sometime later (didn’t have cable) and it became my mission to absorb as much information as possible and get my parents to get cable. I’ve been obsessed ever since.

[mogi67]

Toonami, the episode where Gohan and Kuririn were spying on Freeza and his henchmen in the Namekian village. I remember being hooked instantly and the whole thing was really intense for me. I really liked the scouters and power levels too when those Namekian warriors came in and hid their power levels at first.

As time went on, I assumed that weird guy lifting weights on the space ship was a side character.

I must've found the show soon after you did / around the same time

I turned to cartoon network and Toonami was on, and it was that episode on Namek where Gohan hides the dragon ball in the water. Must have been sometime in 1999

[mogi67]

It was evening in the summer of 1999, I was spending it in the most “9-year-old boy in 1999” way imaginable; at a sleepover with friends playing N64 Smash Bros. Anyway, they started watching the show on Toonami and it was an episode during the Cell Games with Mr. Satan, so that being my first exposure lead to my thinking it was a wrestling cartoon . I had a tape recorder at the time and I just recorded the show on potato audio; somehow I listened back at it sometime later (didn’t have cable) and it became my mission to absorb as much information as possible and get my parents to get cable. I’ve been obsessed ever since.

Hell yeah, those were the days

Although I think your timeline is a little bit off...according to this->http://toonami.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z/Episodes the cell saga aired in late 2000. Damn that was a long time ago

[Kakacarrottop]

Dragon Ball is honestly something that I've been a fan of since I started forming memories as a toddler, another is Power Rangers. I would probably be considered at the tail end of the Toonami era fandom, having only been 6 years old in 2003 when Funi wrapped up dubbing DBZ and anime mania died down in Western countries.

[NaosZ]

In the late 90s, as most kids in my country (Italy) I used to watch cartoons on TV at lunchtime, when I came home from school. One day there was this new series about a girl meeting a monkey-boy in a place that looked like somewhere in China and they were going on a quest to find some magical balls that would grant wishes. I thought it was cool, and I remember that the next day kids were already talking about it in school. As a 10 years old girl I didn't really care that it was probably meant mostly for boys. Also, it didn't take long before I discovered it was from a manga and I had to (make my parents) buy it already so that I could know what was going to happen before it happened on TV.

[KBABZ]

In the late 90s, as most kids in my country (Italy) I used to watch cartoons on TV at lunchtime, when I came home from school. One day there was this new series about a girl meeting a monkey-boy in a place that looked like somewhere in China and they were going on a quest to find some magical balls that would grant wishes. I thought it was cool, and I remember that the next day kids were already talking about it in school. As a 10 years old girl I didn't really care that it was probably meant mostly for boys. Also, it didn't take long before I discovered it was from a manga and I had to (make my parents) buy it already so that I could know what was going to happen before it happened on TV.

Awesome that you got into it via the actual start of the story!

[JohnnyCashKami]

I was around 5-6 and then saw Dragon Ball on TV, if memory serves, it was the Pilaf Gang vs Goku that was shown at that precise moment and thus, I just wanted more of it.

[MasenkoHA]

It was evening in the summer of 1999, I was spending it in the most “9-year-old boy in 1999” way imaginable; at a sleepover with friends playing N64 Smash Bros. Anyway, they started watching the show on Toonami and it was an episode during the Cell Games with Mr. Satan, so that being my first exposure lead to my thinking it was a wrestling cartoon . I had a tape recorder at the time and I just recorded the show on potato audio; somehow I listened back at it sometime later (didn’t have cable) and it became my mission to absorb as much information as possible and get my parents to get cable. I’ve been obsessed ever since.

I’m not here to dictate your memory but didn’t Toonami not get to the Cell Games till like late 2000?

[kemuri07]

I actually started watching DBZ a bit before its run on Toonmai. Watched the Ocean dub when it was showing on (I think) UPN9 back in the day. Unfortunately, at the time, they only aired up until Goku lands on Namek, so I was ecstatic when Funimation finally showed the rest of the Freeza saga on Toonami.

[Hellspawn28]

Saw the trailer on cartoon network back in the day.

Always felt in a bit of an odd spot for an anime fan. I'm was born in 89, so dragon ball was not around until I was until I was in my later primary school years. I don't know when DB started airing in America but from my understanding, it had a small presence their even before the show took off. I've often got the impression that I'm in the middle of the Old Guard generation who were teens in the 90s and the 90's kids. However I was watching anime from a younger age then most, I remember watching Bio-Booster Armour Guyver and Dominion Tank Police long before I even saw Pokémon, Sailor Moon and DB or anyone I knew talked about anime.

I take a little bit of pride in the fact I was an anime fan before anime became mainstream.

I'm in the same boat as you. I first saw My Neighbor Totoro (The Fox Home VHS release), Speed Racer (re-runs on CN), G-Force (Same with Speed Racer), Venus Wars, Lilly CAT, Dominion Tank Police, Robot Carnival, Demon City Shinjuku, They Were 11, and even Revenge of the Ninja Warrior before I saw Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and Digimon. This was back in 1995-1997 and Pokemon didn't exist as anime until 1997 (America didn't get it until 1998). I remember a few people that I knew in the 1st grade back in 1997 thought anime was weird and people thought it was strange for me to like stuff from Japan like Godzilla and Anime.

[SSGSSmomo]

I got a free Xbox play day with xenoverse 2 and enjoyed it very much. I decided to read up on the lore of dragon ball and watched it as I fell in love with the franchise.