If Dragon Ball had been released now?

[SSJSteve]

Something got me thinking earlier, that doesn't happen too often!

How would Dragon Ball be received in today’s society?

On the front page of YouTube, there's a new trailer for a "One Piece" game, just by quickly glancing at the video you can see how positive the reaction is. This isn't me saying, "is One Piece better than Dragon Ball?” I'm just using that as an example because of the popularity of the show and how well it is doing now.

So, how do you think Dragon Ball would have been received in today’s society? Would it live up to the success it gained 10/20 years ago? Do you think the Dragon Ball franchise as a whole would be better?

Obviously we'll never know, but it's interesting to think what it could have been like.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Given the likes of One Piece, Naruto, etc. wouldn't exist without Dragon Ball, had it launched now I think it still would've had the same impact.

[Dr. Casey]

Hm, I'm assuming that for the sake of the hypothetical situation that the anime/shounen climate remains unaltered from what it's like in the present day (ie another series stepped in to fill Dragon Ball's shoes, Naruto and Bleach and every non-DB manga was published on schedule, etc). Personally, my guess is that although Dragon Ball would prove to be a perfectly successful and well-received series were it to begin in 2012 (I don't think there's anything fundamentally different about stories from the 1980s or 1990s), the phenomenal levels of fame it received were a product of the time it was released. I know that the shounen genre predates Dragon Ball by many years, but Dragon Ball was still in many ways an exceptionally unique and original series; I think that in 2012, it might no longer be able to make such a claim and that it might no longer come across as being such a one-of-a-kind series since the sea of shonen series had been given years to grow (17 since Dragon Ball's actual end, 28 since its beginning). I dunno, it's pretty hard for me to explain... Dragon Ball's quality would obviously remain unaffected no matter when its release date, and there's no doubt that many people would love it or that it would be one of the more popular anime of the modern day, but I do find it hard to believe that it would rival the absolute phenomenon that Japan was infatuated with during the '80s and '90s.

[Gonstead]

Personally, I think it wouldn't prove to be as successful as it was back in the day.

If it were released now? People would more than likely just pass it off as some Manga/Anime about a kid who fights bad guys and looks for innuendo sounding objects before moving onto nothing but muscle men beating each other bloody for reasons you forget after the 5th episode in a row of nothing but fight, fight, fight and more fighting.

I think the franchise was created at just around the right time for it to be memorable, especially in the 90's English adaption with Z when it was vastly different than anything else that was on at the time which made it as memorable as it was. It was because of this that Anime really started to boom as more and more people got interested in all these cartoons that seemingly did things that western cartoons never ventured into beforehand. Then perhaps as an indirect result, more western cartoons took notes from these Anime and started implementing more and more ideas to appeal to audiences and compete for ratings. Art style is just one of these ideas such in the case of Avatar: The Legend of Aang which has a distinct look to it that makes it look similar but not entirely like an Anime.

[Super Sonic]

I think the franchise was created at just around the right time for it to be memorable, especially in the 90's English adaption with Z when it was vastly different than anything else that was on at the time which made it as memorable as it was. It was because of this that Anime really started to boom as more and more people got interested in all these cartoons that seemingly did things that western cartoons never ventured into beforehand. Then perhaps as an indirect result, more western cartoons took notes from these Anime and started implementing more and more ideas to appeal to audiences and compete for ratings. Art style is just one of these ideas such in the case of Avatar: The Legend of Aang which has a distinct look to it that makes it look similar but not entirely like an Anime.

Did they rename that show in your country? Here it's called "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

[Dr. Casey]

Yep, that was the name of the series in Europe.

[Gonstead]

I think the franchise was created at just around the right time for it to be memorable, especially in the 90's English adaption with Z when it was vastly different than anything else that was on at the time which made it as memorable as it was. It was because of this that Anime really started to boom as more and more people got interested in all these cartoons that seemingly did things that western cartoons never ventured into beforehand. Then perhaps as an indirect result, more western cartoons took notes from these Anime and started implementing more and more ideas to appeal to audiences and compete for ratings. Art style is just one of these ideas such in the case of Avatar: The Legend of Aang which has a distinct look to it that makes it look similar but not entirely like an Anime.

Did they rename that show in your country? Here it's called "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

It's an odd case really. At first they began with TLA for when it initially first premiered or as a sort of preview thing but changed it to TLOA when it finally aired.

If going by what the poster said above me, it might be a country sort of thing where in my country it might be named something but in another it's slightly different like how in the US there's "Batman Beyond" while in Australia and New Zealand (And any other countries that I forget) it's called "Batman of The Future"

I don't really get it most of the time when they do this.

[Perfect]

Considering how poorly crafted (Naruto) and overall ridiculous (One Piece) shows are popular, yes most certainly. If something is meant to be popular or hidden, that's the way it'll be. Dragon Ball is something unique and ionic, people'll flock to it no matter when it's introduced. Of course many things would be different about it, making it nearly a new series. However, if it were released from a vault, that'd prove otherwise. If people can put up with over a year of Naruto filler, then Z would be a cakewalk. I really don't think "hitting at the right time" had anything to do with anything, because it didn't happen over night and it originally flopped in America. In fact one could argue the internet would excel it's popularity as an on going series, in fact the right marketing could make it explosive.

This DBZ oriented action is one of the many reasons it's such a great show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A0vkiVCpHk

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

This is a very good question, but I think that it would have made just as big of a splash if it made it to the US now instead of ten years ago. There is a lot of charm to the series and it's something that both kids and teens can eat up without question(I know I did). The evidence is also with Kai, The show seemed to be very successful on Nicktoons; enough to follow it up with GT(why not the Buu saga...I'll never know). So yea, I think it would have done well if it was released later. Dragonball is just one of those shows that can stand the test of time.

[Eire]

ATLA had the title changed in Britan because of some unfortunate slang associations and other countries had the title translated from that. In fact "ATLA" was a release title just for Noth America. And Germans changed it to Der Herr der Elemente

In fact one could argue the internet would excel it's popularity as an on going series, in fact the right marketing could make it explosive.

I'm afraid it might be the opposite. DB become a hit because it was new and refreshing comparing to cartoons people were given. Back then everyone relayed on the TV in terms of providing entertainment. The Dragon Ball success as a word-wide recognizable series started when widely available tv channels picked it up. Now younger generation is used to actively seek for entertainment on their own- it gives variety but also disintegration in a way that content liked and praised by one group can be ignored or unknown by another. In fact after formation of the Web communities no anime could be raised to the rank of the symbol. Of course DB would still have lots of followers, but not become a first association with word anime.

[Nikkolas]

By the time the Saiyans came around people would be passing it off as a Yu Yu Hakusho clone.

[gohan2k]

If going by what the poster said above me, it might be a country sort of thing where in my country it might be named something but in another it's slightly different like how in the US there's "Batman Beyond" while in Australia and New Zealand (And any other countries that I forget) it's called "Batman of The Future"

I don't know about Australia but here in New Zealand it was definitely called Batman Beyond

[Gonstead]

If going by what the poster said above me, it might be a country sort of thing where in my country it might be named something but in another it's slightly different like how in the US there's "Batman Beyond" while in Australia and New Zealand (And any other countries that I forget) it's called "Batman of The Future"

I don't know about Australia but here in New Zealand it was definitely called Batman Beyond

Huh, guess I remembered wrong then.

Batman Beyond (known as Batman of the Future in Europe, Australia, Japan, and Mexico)