Is original Dragon Ball really that unpopular?

[Cure Dragon 255]

Guys I didnt mean "NO LESS THAN 5 EPISODES" I meant "Five episodes TOPS." More than that is NOT NEEDED, you are more than free to drop anything at the first five minutes too.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

It's everyone's prerogative how many episodes or how many minutes into episode 1 a show has to prove itself, but the onus is on the fan of said show to give those they are recommending it for good reason why its worth sticking around for however long the show takes to "get good".

For the same reason I don't understand why people pick up random series Netflix dumps at the drop of a hat just for "something to watch", more power to them if that's how they roll but I'd rather do something else I enjoy rather than going into a show blind on the off-chance it might hook me at some point.

I don't hate One Piece, I've enjoyed what I've seen, but still haven't been sold on why it's overhyped as being the greatest thing in the history of anime, and while I'll eventually get back to it I'm not going to be rushing back to it because I'm told "just wait, it gets really good at episode 572".

Getting back to original Dragon Ball, I still have hope that there is still a lot of people out there who genuinely want it. In South Korea a new redub actually began airing last Christmas, its on Anibox Sundays at 8pm, they're airing four episodes this week, so clearly the channel must be confident as they could easily fill that quadruple timeslot with any of the movies since Battle of Gods, which are all heavy on the spectacle.

[kemuri07]

The irony of waiting for an anime to "git gud" is that the anime has to be good in the first place for it to "git gud." For example: Demon Slayer ep 19 is the episode that people commonly believe as the moment where the anime went from "decent shounen" to "hyped masterpiece." And i tend to agree with that. I remember that episode in particular it felt like everything just clicked and Tanjiro cutting that demon's head was the hypest shit imaginable. But I was only able to feel that way because I allowed myself to enjoy the series as a whole. Again, I didn't think Demon Slayer was amazing at the time, but I liked the characters and the world building and the animation and that kept me going each week until episode 19 dropped. And now I'm very much on that Demon Slayer hype train.

The problem with the "oh you gotta wait till this specific episode for it to git gud" is that it creates that expectation that you literally just have to wait for it to finally get good, which I think is a very bad way to engage with any type of show. Standing there, arms crossed acting like going through this anime is like work to get to the good part does a disservice to both the anime in question as well as you the viewer because you're not engaging with it in any meaningful way. I've been guilty of that myself.

[JulieYBM]

I think the importance of a really good first episode is often lost on a lot of fans, because not a lot of fans watch a lot of stuff, or think about factors like time.

If I am going to recommend a series with a good first episode, I'm recommending something like Re:Zero, which I think is not only a good double-length first episode, but really sets up the hook that helps keep the series so fresh.

One Piece isn't designed to be watchable. It's a disposable cartoon, that yes, has a ton of work put in, but the idea is to read the comic, not try and watch all 1,101 episodes of a cartoon. This is part of why I am so mixed on how Episodes #892+ have basically been produced during an era where the series is given a massive amount of staff and drawings per episode, but shorter and more accessible series have suffered.

[Kunzait_83]

This actually kind of seamlessly branches off into a WHOLE other tangent that warrants its own thread quite frankly, so I'll just stop here for purposes of not derailing this thread any further than it already has been.

I believe this has been done before but if you have any original ideas along those lines (which I wouldn't be surprised if you do) go for it.

Not even remotely what I was talking about or referencing.

[NeoZ Duwang]

I always assume that anybody telling me a show "gets good at episode X" actually enjoyed the show from episode 1, but something happened that made the series even better to them, so they think that anybody will love it when they get to that particular section of the story, even if they hate prior material

[Cure Dragon 255]

I always assume that anybody telling me a show "gets good at episode X" actually enjoyed the show from episode 1, but something happened that made the series even better to them, so they thing that anybody will love it when they get to that particular section of the story, even if they hate prior material

This , and this is the best take for trying out a new series.

[jjgp1112]

I think it's just the cost of escalation and the most iconic (and more importantly, marketable), series-defining moments and characters coming in much later. You can't even blame it on Funimation presenting the series out of order because even Japan puts Z front and center and treats the Kid Goku years as an afterthought.

The original sin was Toei splitting the anime to begin with.

[Piccolothesuper]

I recently bought the Dragon Ball complete series DVD box set. The exclusive set with the Goku card bundled with it. You know, it's actually kinda hard to find the official DVD blue brick season sets in USA. Everywhere i look there are Bootlegs. They now put them in slim box sets. Have any of you bought these dvd bootleg versions? They seem to be around 35-50.00USD. And of course, there is one person who actually took downloaded episodes and movies, and put all of DB on blu ray Discs. So yeah i was just wondering if anyone here bought the bootleg DVD sets or the Blu Ray copied disc and what they ultimately looked like compared to the blue bricks? I believe the blu ray set runs 99.99USD. Thanks everyone for reading and replying.

[GurixDr34]

I have been doing a Dragon Ball marathon starting with the original Dragon Ball I'm now in Buu saga and i must say that the original Dragon Ball is still very fun i think the most boring part was the story of Red Ribbon but in general the original Dragon Ball is worthy to watch i miss the martial arts focus of the original Dragon Ball and i loved the King Piccolo and Tenshinhan storylines

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

i loved the King Piccolo and Tenshinhan storylines

The King Piccolo arc is incredible, I don't know why not all Dragon Ball Z fans can appreciate it as it may not be as flashy as the Z major arcs but it still has the high stakes tension everyone loves. Even Funimation's half-hearted attempt to appease Z fans by throwing in references to power levels in their dub didn't help.

I haven't seen it but according to Kunzait_83 Jeong Chang-Hwa's movie Five Fingers of Death is exactly like the Tenshinhan arc/22nd Tenkaichi Budokai right down to the rival martial arts schools, with Roshi's mirroring the Shang Wu School and the Crane School mirroring the Pak Sing school. Goku, like Chao Chi-Hao are star pupils in the former. Tenshinhan, like Chen Lang is also honorable on the inside but has been on the wrong side leading to himself having a guilty conscience. Master Shen and Tao Pai Pai also have a relationship like Tung-Shang Meng and his son, with both becoming mad after the latter's accidental death

[SHINOBI-03]

To contribute something to the original idea of this topic, Dragon Ball in the Arabic world isn't that popular either despite airing a significant amount of episodes (around 1/3rd of the series).

I'm going with second-hand info from some of my peers but Dragon Ball Z was also known way before Dragon Ball. The first exposure many fans had were coverings of the anime series in the anime section in video game magazines. Bootlegs weren't unheard of but they were limited mostly to movies. Only the lucky few managed to a handful of episodes on home media format before it was even possible to do in the advent of the internet. And when it's not the anime it's with import video games. Again, for the lucky few who had access to it in the early 90s.

I told this story before but it was a friend of mine who had access to international cable where he told me about Dragon Ball as it was starting to air on Spacetoon channel telling me he saw a version of the show where the main character is grown up. It wasn't FUNimation's dub as I think it was too early for the late Boo saga (around 2001 and FUNimation's corresponding episode is listed as 2002) but another European dub I can't remember for the life of me, but that was another way some people were exposed to DBZ before the local airings.

But years later and even with access to the non edited version of the anime, Dragon Ball's popularity still pales compared to Dragon Ball Z to the point I felt like I was the only one who really favored it when everyone else was into Z and the movies more. When I ask them about it they give the usual answers: "Z has more action", "Dragon Ball is too childish" you get the idea.

[AliTheZombie13]

Right. I have heard claims that the original Dragon Ball is the more popular of the two in Japan, but I have my doubts.

Why was "Z Senshi" used as a term for describing the Dragon Team, even in Japan?
Why did Battle of the Gods release under the Z branding when Z had already ended ages ago?
How many videogames does the original Dragon Ball have compared to Z?
How many times have any arcs preceding Piccolo have been retold compared to the latter arcs?

It seems even Japan itself has some favoritism to Z.
In my good ol' country of Brazil, before Z even became a thing, we got the original Dragon Ball. It was popular, but apparently not popular enough to keep going. Got unceremoniously dropped after 60 episodes. Then Z became a thing, and the original finally got all of its 153 episodes dubbed and broadcast.

[Cure Dragon 255]

To contribute something to the original idea of this topic, Dragon Ball in the Arabic world isn't that popular either despite airing a significant amount of episodes (around 1/3rd of the series).

I'm going with second-hand info from some of my peers but Dragon Ball Z was also known way before Dragon Ball. The first exposure many fans had were coverings of the anime series in the anime section in video game magazines. Bootlegs weren't unheard of but they were limited mostly to movies. Only the lucky few managed to a handful of episodes on home media format before it was even possible to do in the advent of the internet. And when it's not the anime it's with import video games. Again, for the lucky few who had access to it in the early 90s.

I told this story before but it was a friend of mine who had access to international cable where he told me about Dragon Ball as it was starting to air on Spacetoon channel telling me he saw a version of the show where the main character is grown up. It wasn't FUNimation's dub as I think it was too early for the late Boo saga (around 2001 and FUNimation's corresponding episode is listed as 2002) but another European dub I can't remember for the life of me, but that was another way some people were exposed to DBZ before the local airings.

But years later and even with access to the non edited version of the anime, Dragon Ball's popularity still pales compared to Dragon Ball Z to the point I felt like I was the only one who really favored it when everyone else was into Z and the movies more. When I ask them about it they give the usual answers: "Z has more action", "Dragon Ball is too childish" you get the idea.

It just occurred to me why OG Dragon Ball would be unpopular in the Middle East. So many reasons specially the sexual humor, without it Dragon Ball is sorta boring (Until about the Red Ribbon arc) and devout Muslims wouldnt like the female nudity.

[SHINOBI-03]

It just occurred to me why OG Dragon Ball would be unpopular in the Middle East. So many reasons specially the sexual humor, without it Dragon Ball is sorta boring (Until about the Red Ribbon arc) and devout Muslims wouldnt like the female nudity.

TV censorship was brutal in the first arc and the entirety of the sexual jokes and naked Goku scenes were edited out but it's not like the American broadcast went through it unharmed either.

[MasenkoHA]

Right. I have heard claims that the original Dragon Ball is the more popular of the two in Japan, but I have my doubts.

Why was "Z Senshi" used as a term for describing the Dragon Team, even in Japan?
Why did Battle of the Gods release under the Z branding when Z had already ended ages ago?
How many videogames does the original Dragon Ball have compared to Z?
How many times have any arcs preceding Piccolo have been retold compared to the latter arcs?

It seems even Japan itself has some favoritism to Z.
In my good ol' country of Brazil, before Z even became a thing, we got the original Dragon Ball. It was popular, but apparently not popular enough to keep going. Got unceremoniously dropped after 60 episodes. Then Z became a thing, and the original finally got all of its 153 episodes dubbed and broadcast.

Let's not forget Dragon Box Z was released in Japan BEFORE the Dragon Box for the original series and Kai was celebrating 20 years of Dragon Ball Z with a "manga cut" that reduced the original series material to "oh yeah this stuff happened" meanwhile the og series got...a hybrid re-telling of the Shen Long/ Red Ribbon arc in GT drag for the 10th anniversary.

The claims that og is more popular in Japan seem to come from people just wanting to pretend Japan and America are so different from their taste (a similar thing happened to the Sentai series where it was claimed Carranger saved Sentai with its comedy where as its Power Rangers counterpart "Turbo" nearly killed Power Rangers for being too silly the latter might be true I dunno but the former definitely isn't as Carranger barely averaged higher ratings than previous Sentai's Ohranger and had significantly worse toy sales)

The original series did average better tv ratings in Japan than Z but I would attribute that entirely to more people watching tv in the 80s compared to the 90s and video games and home video had become way more common by the time Z was airing so less television was being watched.

[Cure Dragon 255]

It just occurred to me why OG Dragon Ball would be unpopular in the Middle East. So many reasons specially the sexual humor, without it Dragon Ball is sorta boring (Until about the Red Ribbon arc) and devout Muslims wouldnt like the female nudity.

TV censorship was brutal in the first arc and the entirety of the sexual jokes and naked Goku scenes were edited out but it's not like the American broadcast went through it unharmed either.

True, I guess then it must be because the Arabic dub NEVER got to the juicier parts of OG DB like the Piccolo Daimao Saga.

One thing that is interesting is that the comedic early parts of OG Dragon Ball actually saved the show in Latin America (All the sexual humor got edited out like you said SHINOBI) because there was a competitor show called Dragon Quest. Kids and parents preferred Dragon Ball because it was more fun and light than Dragon Quest, of course these kids also very much loved that DB got progressively more serious and badass and OG DB was a smash hit by the end.

[SHINOBI-03]

True, I guess then it must be because the Arabic dub NEVER got to the juicier parts of OG DB like the Piccolo Daimao Saga.

One thing that is interesting is that the comedic early parts of OG Dragon Ball actually saved the show in Latin America (All the sexual humor got edited out like you said SHINOBI) because there was a competitor show called Dragon Quest. Kids and parents preferred Dragon Ball because it was more fun and light than Dragon Quest, of course these kids also very much loved that DB got progressively more serious and badass and OG DB was a smash hit by the end.

And that's another example of culture clash as sexual humor is very frowned upon here and especially in children's cartoons so early Dragon Ball had to compensate with the slapstick humor moments instead. And on the opposite end of the spectrum it was Dragon Quest the more popular show and achieved a bigger cult classic status in the region than Dragon Ball ever did.

[Cure Dragon 255]

True, I guess then it must be because the Arabic dub NEVER got to the juicier parts of OG DB like the Piccolo Daimao Saga.

One thing that is interesting is that the comedic early parts of OG Dragon Ball actually saved the show in Latin America (All the sexual humor got edited out like you said SHINOBI) because there was a competitor show called Dragon Quest. Kids and parents preferred Dragon Ball because it was more fun and light than Dragon Quest, of course these kids also very much loved that DB got progressively more serious and badass and OG DB was a smash hit by the end.

And that's another example of culture clash as sexual humor is very frowned upon here and especially in children's cartoons so early Dragon Ball had to compensate with the slapstick humor moments instead. And on the opposite end of the spectrum it was Dragon Quest the more popular show and achieved a bigger cult classic status in the region than Dragon Ball ever did.

Ironically I said the sexual humor had indeed been removed from the Latin America dub but I just remembered that past episode 60 it was allowed back in again.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I'm okay with the sexual humour being cut, as much as I love original Dragon Ball a lot of it hasn't aged well, particularly the stuff with Roshi. I'm so happy everytime someone gives him a smack, especially a woman like Bulma.