This series has held up so good to me.

[samuraix123]

I was watching Z last night because it's been awhile since I got enough free time to do it and I'm always amazed at how every time I come back to the series not just Z but the original as well, it's never stale to me. out of allllllllllll the childhood cartoons I grew up with the dragonball series is by far my favorite show I wouldn't want to live without it. I was having such a fun time watching Goku train on king kai's trying to catch bubbles. Dubbed or Subbed, I love this series and I can't wait to see how it holds up 20 or 30 years from now. I will admit I'm not huge into Super as most though.

[Robo4900]

I personally make the effort to rewatch the full run of DB+Z+GT and the TV specials in their proper order every couple of years. Only stuff I've found to not hold up so well is a couple of filler bits that were initially fun but get tiring on rewatches. Though even at that, I find a lot of filler actually gets better on rewatches, since you're more willing to chill out and let things unfold as they are, without being anxious for the plot to move on so you can see what happens next.

I think OG DB overall holds up the best out of the three series, but really, I think all of them are best appreciated together as a singular, consistent whole. That's one reason I prefer Z over Kai for such rewatches, it's just a much more consistent experience going from DB to Z to GT than DB to Kai to Super, particularly subbed.

[JohnnyCashKami]

Last time I actually watched Dragon Ball Z series or binged it, it was like 2011 or so. I want to watch it again but I also want to see it in high definition, yeah.. the Dragon Box quality is really good but it's still SD no matter how you slice it.

[MasenkoHA]

going from DB to Z to GT than DB to Kai to Super, particularly subbed.

Kai is best watched in isolation with Super as a follow up I think. It just doesn’t work as a sequel to Dragon Ball because its attitude is straight up “This Goku kid is an alien here’s a quick recap of his early adventures “ It just kills momentum to go from Dragon Ball to Kai

So to me Dragon Ball>Z>GT

Kai>Super

[samuraix123]

Last time I actually watched Dragon Ball Z series or binged it, it was like 2011 or so. I want to watch it again but I also want to see it in high definition, yeah.. the Dragon Box quality is really good but it's still SD no matter how you slice it.

I'm going through the new Blurays and I like the quality but not as much as the dragonboxes but I just wish it was 4x3 lol

[JohnnyCashKami]

I'm going through the new Blurays and I like the quality but not as much as the dragonboxes but I just wish it was 4x3 lol

Oh, you bought those. You should have just been patient because any day know we'll likely see TOEI announce a proper remastering of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT in high definition on Blu-ray.

After all, TOEI's already remastered the Bardock TV Special and that looks amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQOlUqktjtQ Original Music + HD Quality = Perfection

[samuraix123]

I'm going through the new Blurays and I like the quality but not as much as the dragonboxes but I just wish it was 4x3 lol

Oh, you bought those. You should have just been patient because any day know we'll likely see TOEI announce a proper remastering of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT in high definition on Blu-ray.

After all, TOEI's already remastered the Bardock TV Special and that looks amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQOlUqktjtQ Original Music + HD Quality = Perfection

I'm not talking about toei's new bluray movies I was talking about Funimation's new bluray of the z series. I bought em as they released them.

God that Bardock footage looks so good dude.

[JohnnyCashKami]

I know, that's what I meant with that snarky comment. Waste of money that was, imo, because they hardly have any resale value if you'd want to sell to get the real deal.

[90sDBZ]

I'm going through the new Blurays and I like the quality but not as much as the dragonboxes but I just wish it was 4x3 lol

Oh, you bought those. You should have just been patient because any day know we'll likely see TOEI announce a proper remastering of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT in high definition on Blu-ray.

After all, TOEI's already remastered the Bardock TV Special and that looks amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQOlUqktjtQ Original Music + HD Quality = Perfection

I think you're jumping the gun a bit on this new remaster for the series. Even if it comes out in Japan sometime next year, it could be several more years before it gets released in English speaking territories if it does at all. With Funimation's current Blu-rays still being very profitable there likely won't be an incentive for them to release new ones any time soon. They won't want to over saturate the market like they did a few years ago with the Bricks, the Dragon Boxes, the Level sets, and Kai all being released over the span of a couple of years.

I know some will import the Japanese release, but that won't have subs or a dub so will have to be watched raw which many fans don't want to do.

[JohnnyCashKami]

^ A fan who appreciates quality products is willing to wait as long as it'll take, that's why I'm still waiting for the Ocean Dub Kai to be premiered. Between FUNimation's shitty Season Blu-rays and piracy, I hate to admit but I'd rather take the latter over torturing myself with that disgrace.

[Robo4900]

going from DB to Z to GT than DB to Kai to Super, particularly subbed.

Kai is best watched in isolation with Super as a follow up I think. It just doesn’t work as a sequel to Dragon Ball because its attitude is straight up “This Goku kid is an alien here’s a quick recap of his early adventures “ It just kills momentum to go from Dragon Ball to Kai

So to me Dragon Ball>Z>GT

Kai>Super

I disagree. Even if you're making the rather silly assumption that DB and Z are vastly different stories, Kai works perfectly well as a follow-up, especially because of the recap. Like many follow-up series such as Kai TFC or Super, it opens with a recap(In fact, because of TFC and Super doing recaps, it would be inconsistent if it didn't open with a recap). However, Kai 1.0 keeps things interesting by opening with a part of the story you haven't seen yet that puts the recap in a different light, and sets up for Raditz's arrival.
So... I don't see how that doesn't work. It'd be like saying going from Kai 1.0 to Kai 2.0 doesn't work, because Kai 2.0 opens with a recap of the events of Kai 1.0, which takes up a quarter of TFC #1's runtime. In fact, Kai 1.0's recap is quite short, and very purposeful; it opens showing us Goku's origin, which you won't have seen before, then briefly gives us the recap of what we've already seen, then gives us the info it's been leading up to -- despite the relative peace Goku and co. have brought about on earth, there's now a threat coming from space, which is what the brief narrated recap at the beginning of Z explained, just in much longer fashion, and with the Goku being an alien reveal placed at the beginning to start you off with an immediate "Things are different now."

I think DB+Z+GT works better, but DB+Kai+Super isn't totally non-functional, and it's far better than skipping DB, which is always a stupid thing to do.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

It may be the collector in me speaking, but I agree with 90sDBZ that Funimation's Season Blu-Rays aren't obsolete until TOEI announces a remaster that later gets licensed for English-speaking territories. Even then, I'll likely keep my Season sets, even if its just for the special features and artwork.

I personally bought the Blu-Rays as I was fortunately in a position to sell my orange bricks and make my money back and I didn't want to shell out for the Dragon Boxes I didn't have or wait potentially years for a TOEI Blu-Ray.

Even now, for new fans getting into the series its understandable if they just want to own the series on Blu-Ray and don't want to pirate it.

That said I'm hoping MangaUK can hang in there a little longer and not release their own version of the Season Blu-Rays as I don't know if the UK market specifically is big enough to support 3 competing versions (4 if you count Kai) of the same show if they do eventually acquire a future HD remaster of the series from Madman/Funimation.

I too am still awaiting the Ocean dub of Kai, although the silence on WOW TV is killing me.

To get back to the original topic, I agree. I can't think of any show from my childhood that still holds up after all this time quite like Dragon Ball, and like others I look forward to rewatching it every few years.

[Kunzait_83]

Outside of SOME filler (that's more extraneous padding than it is complementary additional material: and contrary to popular belief, there is indeed a huge distinction to be made there) and some of the Muten Roshi-related jokes (which were cringe-inducing even at the time: people saying "we didn't know any better back then" should only speak for themselves), there isn't very much in the original DB/Z anime run that doesn't hold up exceedingly well, provided you're tackling the series...

A) in its proper order

B) in Japanese

and C) knowing full well what type of story you're in for (heavily Chinese-inspired martial arts fantasy that blends a little bit with a few other more modern genres) without misconceptions that its some type of Justice League/Avengers sci fi superhero team type of thing.

That's unfortunately a fair amount of caveats - most of them brought on by totally senseless baggage from its horrifically botched English-language releases and mis-marketing - but provided one is capable of overcoming past all that nonsense, there is indeed a genuinely timeless classic of a both whimsical and gripping children's martial arts fantasy epic that's waiting for you at the end of the day; one that's both creatively fresh and well crafted enough to be of genuine enjoyment to people of ALL ages as opposed to just its target audience (something that I'm in the unpopular opinion of viewing as a VERY rare quality among the vast overwhelming majority of children's properties out there).

GT is a slightly different matter and is much more flawed than its predecessors: but its short and brisk enough thankfully that it still works extremely well overall when all's said and done as a final coda and period on the whole thing that definitively wraps everything up (and with probably the single best "final episode" possible for this series no less). Its still, in my view and for all its faults, the absolute best ending this series has ever had (of its now 3 or so, and probably counting).

Kai is completely and wholly without any merit or justification for its existence whatsoever: and that didn't have to be the case, provided it was edited with vastly better care and regard for both the manga and the original episodes' direction, contained no censorship or redrawn scenes of any kind, and simply used Kikuchi's score from the beginning and with better placement that complimented the original intent of the episodes. In my view, Kai is just completely worthless and adds nothing of any real merit to the series' presentation.

Quite the opposite, it largely degrades it by helping to totally neuter what made the original anime play less as a typical children's cartoon and more like a weekly serialized animated Shaw Brothers' wuxia series. Like, imagine if Toei made a long-form animated series out of something from the Shaw catalogue along the lines of Holy Flame of the Martial World while taking cues from more genre-bending late 80s/early 90s stuff like A Step Into the Past, and you're pretty close to the mark of where the original Dragon Ball/Z is as an anime.

Between Kai's shoddy editing and its godawful dull and generic Yamamoto score (and its careless misuse of Kikuchi cues later on), it all but completely dilutes the cinematic flavor of the original anime's direction and makes it play far, far more akin to any of the countless stale 2000s Dragon Ball-wannabe Shonen knockoffs that sprang up in the series' wake (and if we're really being totally honest with ourselves, even at least slightly more along the lines of the mid 90s edited Saban/Ocean English dub). And no, a further incrementally improved FUNimation dub in no way makes it worth its existence in any way whatsoever.

And Super, while it has some genuinely really good moments and some fantastic new ideas present, is overall just an entirely extraneous continuation for its own sake that's largely far too conservative, risk-adverse, and reliant on familiar beats from the original series while maintaining a stagnant and never-evolving status quo that is the direct antithesis to everything that the original series embodied (including GT, which for all its missteps was nothing if not surprisingly ballsy and unafraid to shake up the series and try new things) and that furthermore doesn't allow some of its promising new ideas any room to blossom into anything that moves the series forward much. Once again, this didn't have to necessarily be the case, as it has such good core concepts present that could've easily helped justify its existence and moved the characters and story into fresh new places.

But yeah, in essence, the two best ways of experiencing Dragon Ball overall are, of course first and foremost the original 42 volume manga run. Followed then closely by the original 1986-1997 anime run of Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z/and even Dragon Ball GT as an optional final coda (and most of their accompanying anime movies and TV specials). There's a smattering of interesting and fun bits in Super that are worth a spot check or two, but otherwise the original 80s and 90s series run stands very much on its own as an overall remarkably well realized and fully complete entity that very much speaks for itself why it has stood the test of time for so many years the whole world over (and is resistant even to the utmost worst that tastelessly bad and cringe-worthy Western localizing and marketing could do to it).

[ABED]

I have to disagree a little with you Kunzait. I didn't know (even well into adulthood) what genre DB fell into, but the quality of the story and characters came across anyway, as I think it should for any story. You shouldn't have to know the influences and antecedents to enjoy a particular work.

[Forte224]

^ A fan who appreciates quality products is willing to wait as long as it'll take, that's why I'm still waiting for the Ocean Dub Kai to be premiered. Between FUNimation's shitty Season Blu-rays and piracy, I hate to admit but I'd rather take the latter over torturing myself with that disgrace.

This is just such a ridiculous comment. A fan that wants to watch Z legally will watch it legally in whatever way possible. The blu rays are currently the easiest and most financially sound way to do so outside of streaming it on FUNimation's website. Why are you sitting here dictating what a fan would do?

[Kunzait_83]

I have to disagree a little with you Kunzait. I didn't know (even well into adulthood) what genre DB fell into, but the quality of the story and characters came across anyway, as I think it should for any story. You shouldn't have to know the influences and antecedents to enjoy a particular work.

I generally agree with you mostly. I mean its fair to say that a depressingly VAST majority of U.S. children from circa the late 90s/early 2000s clearly didn't have the slightest clue about DB's genre either, despite Wuxia enjoying possibly the apex of its mainstream popularity throughout the Western world during that very same timeframe.

I was simply highlighting this due to a lot of the unfortunate and mistaken preconceptions that have been built up around the series for the past 20 or so years that its been in mainstream Western pop culture. Most of them stem of course from both FUNimation's presentation and marketing, as well as an onslaught of internet memes.

I would never presume to imply that NOTHING of the series' inherent merits shines through without being able to see past all that: that much is demonstrably, factually untrue just based upon the sheer magnitude of its Western success. But unfortunately, as we've seen time and time and time again on just these forums alone (ans certainly elsewhere), mistaken preconceptions about the series' genre and character archetypes is what fuels a LOT of just plain incorrect and faulty readings and interpretation of the series' story and themes, which seriously damages and corrodes public discourse about it.

By the same logic you're going by, one can still take plenty of the series' inherent merits even from its horrific English dub and watching it out of chronological order. And indeed, its English language success certainly bears that much out plainly, as do the testimonials of many if not most folks here.

I'm simply talking about the ideal-most way into the series that punctures past all of its built-up baggage within the English speaking world. We all have discussed on this site at great, great length the importance of viewing it both chronologically as well as in its native language in order to have the ideal-most experience with it that's free of all that other nonsense. I simply would also add onto that list being at least just PASSINGLY/casually aware of and familiar with its genre (by no means any kind of vast-reaching expertise or anything close to that extreme), so as to even further better avoid a lot of the same, tired misconceptions that its English dub, Western marketing, and internet memes have already instilled over the course of the last couple decades now.

Obviously these annoying factors have not now, nor have they ever, fully hindered its innate core appeal to even the most wholly ignorant and uninformed or misinformed of audiences. The last 20 years of Western success is a firm testament to that fact.

But generally speaking, when you mention something like a Western to the average person: virtually EVERYONE, no matter how inexperienced they are with actual Westerns, will immediately picture in their mind gunslingers at high noon, saloons, horses, tumbleweeds, etc. You say "horror", everyone will en masse default in their mind to monsters, ghouls and ghosts, vampires, zombies, grave yards, haunted houses, chainsaw wielding psychos in hockey masks, etc. You say "sci fi", people think of aliens, spaceships, laser guns, robots, mutants, etc. You say "fantasy", and people default to sword and lance-wielding knights, dragons, wizards, princesses, elves, fairies, castles, etc.

Wuxia, if not in that exact term then certainly as a baseline concept, in most Asian parts of the world has that same innately reflexive instant recognition in the mainstream among plenty of average people: you reference it, and people in certain parts of the world immediately see in their head Kung Fu warriors in a faraway ancient Chinese setting (or some variation thereof) flying around the skies, knocking down mountains with their palms, projecting Chi from their bodies, wielding magic weapons, and fighting demons and other martial artists for honor, pride, etc.

So long as you at a bare-most minimum have THAT basic-most understanding, the same way people do with those other genres, then you're generally golden. I certainly do not believe, nor have I EVER insinuated, that one needs to have seen every single King Hu movie and read every last Gu Long novel from A to Z and have a scholars' understanding of ancient medieval Chinese poetry and literature within the genre. All you need is that same instant "average person in a supermarket"'s grasp of its basic-most tropes and imagery that most every other nerdy genre has in the mainstream zeitgeist. Dragon Ball generally doesn't ask much more of its audience than that: don't forget, its main target audience was Japanese 7 year olds.

I mean, lets throw the shoe on the other foot for a moment: imagine the bewildered confusion that might arise if you were to take a whole swath of people who had somehow NEVER in their entire lives even heard of the faintest remote concept of such a thing as a fantasy or a fairy tale... and then plopped them down in front of Lord of the Rings. Will they still enjoy it or take something of value out of it? Very much likely, sure. But their ensuing discourse and general thinking about it afterward is likely going to be greatly muddled and riddled with mistaken and incorrect assumptions without even just the VERY baseline basic-most universal grasp of what a high fantasy epic even is.

[JohnnyCashKami]

^ A fan who appreciates quality products is willing to wait as long as it'll take, that's why I'm still waiting for the Ocean Dub Kai to be premiered. Between FUNimation's shitty Season Blu-rays and piracy, I hate to admit but I'd rather take the latter over torturing myself with that disgrace.

This is just such a ridiculous comment. A fan that wants to watch Z legally will watch it legally in whatever way possible. The blu rays are currently the easiest and most financially sound way to do so outside of streaming it on FUNimation's website. Why are you sitting here dictating what a fan would do?

Ridiculous is to assume everyone would be willing to watch DBZ cropped to 16x9, DNR'd and doesn't even look remotely good.

You might be okay watching that shit but not me.

[Lord Beerus]

I actually re-watched all of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT, over the last year and all three shows hold up very well.

I even covered the movies and Bardock's stories for the upcoming DBS Broly movie.

[PFM18]

Dragon Ball GT, over the last year and all three shows hold up very well.

Uhh are you sure?

But yeah DB especially holds up really well IMO. I rewatched DB/DBZ and it was fantastic but the latter half of DBZ seemed to drag a bit.

[Lord Beerus]

Dragon Ball GT, over the last year and all three shows hold up very well.

Uhh are you sure?

But yeah DB especially holds up really well IMO. I rewatched DB/DBZ and it was fantastic but the latter half of DBZ seemed to drag a bit.

Yeah. I think GT is pretty good. It works efficiently as epilogue to Toriyama's story.