Post
by Akira » Mon Aug 24, 2020 5:58 pm
My wife was curious about all this Dragonball stuff I had back when we were dating. She wanted to watch it, so we did. I told her it was at least a 25 episode commitment to give it a fair shake. The reason being because the first story arc, while it contains character introductions, and some key long term story elements, is a little on the goofy side. I said she had to at least watch into the second story arc a bit to really decide if she wanted to watch it or not. She agreed, and we started from the beginning. We watched DB, and then Kai, and then about half of Super before we took a break (the break because at that time, the rest of the series hadn't been released on home video yet.)
Now, let me tell you the value you can get from watching it anew, from the beginning, with someone who has never seen it before. Most western fans saw things out of order. Me especially, as I got into it in the 90's and watched random fansub episodes as I could get my hands on them, so I saw major chunks, out of order, and didn't always have access to the connecting episodes or training segments or whatnot to explain everything that was happening.
Watching everything in order, with someone who has never seen it before, lets you live vicariously through them, watching their reactions to various plot lines and story elements. For example, I saw the Raditz stuff long before I saw the Piccolo Daimao arc, so the impact of Goku teaming up with his arch nemesis didn't have as big of an "oh wow" moment for me. My wife (then girlfriend) despised Piccolo because Krillin, Master Roshi and Choutzu all died as a result of his attempted conquest of earth. During the 23rd Budokai, she was all like "Goku needs to get over winning the tournament and just kill this guy for good before he starts killing his friends again!"
She was shocked when they teamed up to fight Raditz, and then said she was done with the show when Piccolo killed Goku and Raditz in one go. "They should have known better than to trust him!" It was so much fun watching her watch it in order and anticipate what was going to happen next. Of course she wasn't done and had to see what happened next, plus, she enjoyed asking questions along the way, and having me explain key points (minus spoilers). If you "skip" DB, then it is hard to appreciate all the background information and how the characters all have a history together.
Oh, and about Piccolo? He's my wife's favorite character now, and she is firmly in the camp that he got shortchanged at the Universe 6 vs 7 tournament. She's even said that it was way better to watch the beginning, that the pilaf arc was a little silly to sit through, and that the Red Ribbon Arc dragged on a bit much, but otherwise, it wouldn't have been the same experience without watching it all in order.
So, whatever version you watch, subbed, dubbed, whatever, I don't have much to say about that, and I'll leave others to help you hash that out. I will say that letting someone you care about experience it in order is an opportunity you don't want to miss out on. I had a blast sharing it with her.
"Of" =/= "Have"
Contractions:
-Should have = Should've
-Could have = Could've
-Would have = Would've
The heck does "should of" even mean anyway? Think about what those two words mean individually, and then try to read them back to back in a sentence and make sense of it. Are you forming a prepositional phrase, is "should" a part of a larger grouping, or are you just typing random words based on how you think you hear them used verbally? Perhaps take a moment to contemplate this, and see if it becomes as mind jarring for you to look at as it does for me..