Discussion regarding the entirety of the franchise in a general (meta) sense, including such aspects as: production, trends, merchandise, fan culture, and more.
DarkPrince_92 wrote:My roommate and I watched the Orange Bricks from start to finish a few months back while we were working on thesis. After seeing the series so many times on Toonami, it didn't faze me, but I noticed ALL of the things I hate about it; the Great Saiyaman arc was the worst of it, so much filler.
Really?
I dunno what it is about the Great Saiyaman stuff, maybe the change of pace and setting from what comes before it, but I always seem to be able to stomach it a little better than the likes of 'Fake Namek', 'Garlic Jr', the 'Pre-Androids' and the 'End of Z' filler.
I actually quite enjoy some of the earlier filler stuff during the Saiyan arc.
But anyway, as much of a slog as a lot of Z's filler is, none of it is as painful to watch as some parts of the Black Star Dragonball Hunt or the Shadow Dragon arc in GT. The staff involved in that almost need to be commended for how they have managed to take interesting ideas and render them so poorly into episodic content.
'Multiculturalism means nothing in Japan, for every outside culture must pass first through the Japanese filter, rendering it entirely Japanese in the process.' - Julian Cope.
I have to be in the right mood, and have plenty of watching time, to do a re-watch, but yeah, I find Dragon Ball as a whole highly re-watchable. I've actually been burning to re-watch it all again from the very beginning (dubbed this time, as my last watch through was in Japanese all the way, so I'm pretty curious to see where I stand going right back to the dub again), but I just haven't had the time with all the other stuff in my collection that I haven't even watched once yet, or stuff that needs it's second watch.
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DarkPrince_92 wrote:My roommate and I watched the Orange Bricks from start to finish a few months back while we were working on thesis. After seeing the series so many times on Toonami, it didn't faze me, but I noticed ALL of the things I hate about it; the Great Saiyaman arc was the worst of it, so much filler.
I actually quite enjoy some of the earlier filler stuff during the Saiyan arc.
Same here. I actually enjoyed the early filler during the Saiyan saga. The robot stuck in the cave being my favorite. The orphanage one was also good.. It seemed that some of that filler at least tried to develop Gohan's character.
It's during the Namek saga were filler because really boring and useless.. sort of like that episode with Bulma with the giant crab under the sea. Just horrible.
Gyt Kaliba wrote:I have to be in the right mood, and have plenty of watching time, to do a re-watch, but yeah, I find Dragon Ball as a whole highly re-watchable. I've actually been burning to re-watch it all again from the very beginning (dubbed this time, as my last watch through was in Japanese all the way, so I'm pretty curious to see where I stand going right back to the dub again), but I just haven't had the time with all the other stuff in my collection that I haven't even watched once yet, or stuff that needs it's second watch.
Marathoning all of Dragonball, from the first episode of DB to the last episode of GT can definitely be a test of will. That's pouring a lot of hours to watching the show. I've only done it once in my life, and while enjoyable, it was also really draining and consumed a lot of time. Definitely can't do it as easily as an adult with responsibilities.
Though marathoning the Z portion of the show with Kai makes things much easier now!
I'm in my 3rd run of the Japanese version in 5 years. And I find that if you watch 1 episode a day, it's much more satisfying. You get to actually let the last episode sink in, and look forward to watching more without burning yourself out. I don't think a show like this was meant to be marathoned like a "Breaking Bad". Although that's just my take. People are free to enjoy it as they like.
I've seen the English version twice through on top of watching Kai twice.
Very rewatchable at least when it comes to Kai and having it pertain up to the Cell arc. I'm really not of a fan of Cell and anything after, though I can still watch it from time to time.
Kyle Broflovski wrote:It's all real. Think about it. Haven't Luke Skywalker and Santa Claus affected your lives more than most real people in this room? I mean, whether Jesus is real or not, he - he's had a bigger impact on the world than any of us have. And the same can be said for Bugs Bunny and - and Superman and Harry Potter. They've changed my life - changed the way I act on the earth. Doesn't that make them kind of real? They might be imaginary but, but they're more important than most of us here. And they're all gonna be around here long after we're dead. So, in a way, those things are more realer than any of us.
Kai is rewatchable.
Z is not. The bad pacing and filler really irks me. I have rewatched Z a buttload of timea, the original Dragon Ball not so much, and GT a few times.
I think the worst filler arc is the Fake Namek arc, that arc completely killed the pacing and mood for me everytime i rewatched the series.
Flame Dragon wrote:Kai is rewatchable.
Z is not. The bad pacing and filler really irks me. I have rewatched Z a buttload of timea, the original Dragon Ball not so much, and GT a few times.
I think the worst filler arc is the Fake Namek arc, that arc completely killed the pacing and mood for me everytime i rewatched the series.
Why not just skip that arc?
Canon is Jaco, Dragon Ball except for EoZ, Dragon Ball Super anime and manga (both are separate canons)
Kai >>> Z
Current Roshi/Kulilin >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SSJ3 Gotenks
Flame Dragon wrote:Kai is rewatchable.
Z is not. The bad pacing and filler really irks me. I have rewatched Z a buttload of timea, the original Dragon Ball not so much, and GT a few times.
I think the worst filler arc is the Fake Namek arc, that arc completely killed the pacing and mood for me everytime i rewatched the series.
Why not just skip that arc?
Because when i watched DBZ as a kid, i didn't know what was filler or not, so i watched all the episodes as they aired.
Nowadays, i can recognize a filler episode of any series in about 5 minutes.
When i watched One Piece and saw the first five minutes of the Battleship Island Arc, i was like
"Mmm this smells like filler"
So i stopped the episode, checked the wiki and guess what? Filler.
Skipped that arc and went straight to canon.
I've rewatched DB, DBZ and GT twice each. I'm currently watching DB for the third time. I've also read the manga three times.
I've never watched Kai, I've always been hesitant to watch it because it lacks the Faulconer score. From what I've heard of the Kai score it's much better than the original score but still no where near as good as the Faulconer score. His score was a huge reason I liked the show so much, it gave me so many memorable moments.
I've seen some of these scenes with the original score and like the scenes where Goku goes SSJ3 or Vegeta uses the Final Flash they completely fall flat and it just sounds so dated. I'm worried I'll watch Kai and I'll realise that the show isn't as good as I thought it was and it was just Faulconers score that made it so good.
I rewatch it all the time! I just don't rewatch it on a serious hardcore level where I'm paying close attention all the time. Right now, I'm watching Gohan train with the Z-Sword. It's mostly background noise while I do other things like check Twitter, do a light stretching workout, make breakfast, or something like that.
When something important comes up, though, it usually catches my attention for a few minutes and it's not too hard to keep up. I do this with other things I'm pretty familiar with, too.
Last edited by Kendamu on Sun Jun 08, 2014 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I've watched/read everything twice each (DB, DBZ, GT, Kai, manga), and I plan to watch the anime again in the near future, and Kai as well when it's over in Japan.
James Teal (Animerica 1996) wrote:When you think about it, there are a number of similarities between the Chinese-inspired Son Goku and that most American of superhero icons, Superman. Both are aliens sent to Earth shortly after birth to escape the destruction of their homeworlds; both possess super-strength, flight, super-speed, heightened senses and the ability to cast energy blasts. But the crucial difference between them lies not only in how they view the world, but in how the world views them.
Superman is, and always has been, a symbol for truth, justice, and upstanding moral fortitude–a role model and leader as much as a fighter. The more down-to-earth Goku has no illusions about being responsible for maintaining social order, or for setting some kind of moral example for the entire world. Goku is simply a martial artist who’s devoted his life toward perfecting his fighting skills and other abilities. Though never shy about risking his life to save either one person or the entire world, he just doesn’t believe that the balance of the world rests in any way on his shoulders, and he has no need to shape any part of it in his image. Goku is an idealist, and believes that there is some good in everyone, but he is unconcerned with the big picture of the world…unless it has to do with some kind of fight. Politics, society, law and order don’t have much bearing on his life, but he’s a man who knows right from wrong.
Somehow, no matter what, I always revisit Dragon Ball. It might be clips of it (possibly to see other dubs of it and whatnot) or I'll watch a whole episode or movie again. I've watched Dragon Ball through completely a few times and I usually will watch a whole arc again just because I feel like it (usually it will be the 22nd and 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai tournaments, the Daimao arc, the Saiyan arc, and the Freeza arc). Something about Dragon Ball has replay value unlike any other series I've watched. It will always pumps me up!
My favourite art style (and animation) outside Toriyama who worked on Dragon Ball: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Masaki Satō, Minoru Maeda, Takeo Ide, Hisashi Eguchi, Katsumi Aoshima, Tomekichi Takeuchi, Masahiro Shimanuki, Kazuya Hisada
Dragon Ball has good rewatch value. I've sit through it twice in Japanese (skipping filler the second time), and probably at least once or twice in English.
DBZ on the other hand...it's only rewatchable if you cut to the parts you want to see. I can never marathon all 291 episodes. No way. Kai is the way to go for a marathon session while Z in Japanese is good if you don't marathon the whole thing.
Why Dragon Ball Consistency in something such as power levels matter!
Spoiler:
Doctor. wrote:I've explained before, I'll just paraphrase myself.
Power levels establish tension and drama. People who care about them (well, people who care about them in a narrative) don't care about the big numbers or the fancy explosions. If you have character A who's so much above character B, who's the main character, you're gonna be left wondering how in the hell character B, the character we're supposed to care and root for, is going to escape the situation or overcome the odds. It makes us emotionally invested.
If character B doesn't escape the situation in a believable way that's consistent with previous events, then that emotional investment is gone. It was pointless tension, pointless drama made just to suck in the viewer. It has no critical value whatsoever. The audience is left believing that the author can just create whatever scenarios he wants and what happens to the characters is decided by whatever the author wants to happen, regardless of the events that happened in the story. Which, in fairness, is what happens, but the audience wants to be fooled. The audience wants to know that the world they're following has rules. That the world they're invested in isn't going to bend to external factors that are irrelevant to them.
An author can do whatever he wants with the characters, that's not false. But the author should also have the responsibility to make sure it fits in cohesively with the other events in the narrative he has created.
DarkPrince_92 wrote:My roommate and I watched the Orange Bricks from start to finish a few months back while we were working on thesis. After seeing the series so many times on Toonami, it didn't faze me, but I noticed ALL of the things I hate about it; the Great Saiyaman arc was the worst of it, so much filler.
Yeah, I have to totally agree with your sentiments here regarding the Great Saiyaman arc. It was my least favorite arc BY FAR in terms of useless filler and boring scenarios. It was the most non-DBZ part of DBZ, and I never want to experience it again.
Kyle Broflovski wrote:It's all real. Think about it. Haven't Luke Skywalker and Santa Claus affected your lives more than most real people in this room? I mean, whether Jesus is real or not, he - he's had a bigger impact on the world than any of us have. And the same can be said for Bugs Bunny and - and Superman and Harry Potter. They've changed my life - changed the way I act on the earth. Doesn't that make them kind of real? They might be imaginary but, but they're more important than most of us here. And they're all gonna be around here long after we're dead. So, in a way, those things are more realer than any of us.
I'm in the middle of my second run through the Dragon Boxes. #16 is about to fight Imperfect Cell.
A few months ago I felt like watching the series again and didn't want to wait until I finally get the 13 movies or even Dragon Ball. I'm still waiting for a possible DBox like movie release. I'll probably get the darn blue bricks this year and watch those after I finish this run of DBZ....
I think it's very rewatchable especially if you include the movies and specials and stuff. There is a lot to watch and chunks of time in between watching it all. I'll always end up feeling like experiencing the anime.
Daimakku wrote:I don't know what makes DBZ to rewatchable to be honest. I think it might be the universe of the series. I simply love all the characters, the worlds, the villains, the ridiculousness of their powers. It's a shounen show that, in my opinion, still hasn't been matched yet. Even when many others have tried to imitate part of its charm ever since.
ss4songoku wrote:I find DBZ to the the only show I can watch over and over again and not get tired of.
I agree with you, although there is one more show where I can rewatch over and over again without getting tired of it: Cowboy Bebop. Actually, because it's only 26 episodes long, and Adult Swim has replayed it to death so many times, I think it's safe for me to say that I've watched CB way more times than DBZ. But it's still true that I can watch both shows whenever and I will honestly sit down and watch the whole episode.
I usually never rewatch any shows after watching them once, but not these two.
Gotta love Bebop however it really is apples and oranges. The two show are way too different to really be compared.
1-2 times a year I watch the complete series.
Been doing this for 3-4 years since before the first Orange Brick was released... How many years is that?
