If you took the nostalgia out, would you still like DB?

[rereboy]

Not being a pessimistic but the Portuguese dub for the most part really is utter shit though the dub of Dragon Ball: Path to Power was definitely good imo, I'd dare to say even better than the GT dub was. Also, besides that I quite liked that on the GT dub Goku (as per the dub it was Songoku) referred to Majin Boo as Majin Boo not "Bubu".

It's a shame that Kai 1.0 / BoG was never dubbed in Portuguese but considering most of the anime dubs in PT are mediocre then it's for the best that it doesn't exist.

Doesn't matter if its bad or not, I liked it when I first saw it and it has huge nostalgia appeal since I was a kid when I saw it.

The fact that I don't really like the anime now (whether it's the portuguese dub or any other version of the anime, including the original), means that nowadays I appreciate Dragon Ball without it being dependent on nostalgia.

[Vegitofaxx]

I'm a relatively new fan, so i don't have a lot of nostalgia. Except for Rock The Dragon. Funny, the DK dub used the original unedited Japanese visuals, but for some reason they put Rock The Dragon in. With the credits being Japanese, I was so confused.

[BlackCatScott]

To be honest I find it hard to believe people would be posting on Kanzenshuu if their feelings for Dragon Ball were purely nostalgic and nothing else. There's got to be a genuine liking for the series right now, hasn't there? I don't think we'd all be here if we didn't still like Dragon Ball for what it is as a series, regardless of how it made us feel growing up. Maybe that's just me.

[Akumaito Beam]

That's an interesting question. I've actually been thinking a lot about this lately.If I were to experience the story nowadays in chronological order I definitely think I'd drop the series once it hit Raditz or shortly afterwards. There are so many things I despise about the "Z" portion of the story that I simply ignore due to fond childhood memories. I can see myself being extremely hard on the series actually. When I think Freeza I don't think 3 worthless time wasting transformations and a final battle that is obnoxiously long even in the manga. I think of my 11 year old self watching Goku go Super Saiyan for the first time in Budokai 1 y'know?

As for the Pilaf-23rd Tenkaichi Budokai material I could probably still enjoy that. It would probably come off vastly more jejune to my current mindset but most battle shounen does. Nevertheless I think that material still holds up fine.

[SansrivaaL]

For me, OFC. Nostalgia aside DB has been one of the best shonen franchise I have encountered (I didnt really like OP/Naruto that much, too generic, MC's are all IMA SAVE MAH FRIENDS! FRIENDS ARE EVERYTHING) and all that. DB doesnt use it that much. As of now, Goku's character is what got me more interested in the series lately.

[gohann]

Dragon Ball? Almost certainly. I doubt I'd like the other stuff that came after, though.

[TheGreatness25]

Honestly, I'm not really certain. I try to get into anime. I really, really do. I saw that a year subscription to FUNimation was $60, so I did it, hoping to find SOMETHING that I like in anime. Meh. The only anime I ever liked was Dragon Ball, Street Fighter, and Cowboy Bebop. Dragon Ball speaks for itself, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie I saw one day when I was home sick from school as a kid and of course the whole "OH EM GEEEE STREET FIGHTERRRR!" and Cowboy Bebop was the very first thing that I ever saw for Adult Swim and thought it was amazing. Well, not to mention that Cowboy Bebop is a freaking masterpiece.

I'm not an anime fan and as for animation itself, I kind of feel like if I didn't watch it as a kid, I'm not interested. So that's nostalgia.

[Dyno]

I think so, after all, it's not only the series itself that hold me in the fandom.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Considering that I still watch and read it every so often nowadays and still enjoy it despite knowing exactly what's going to happen, then I'd say so. Heck, I actually think that an ability to point out where there are certain issues with the material, suggest how it might have been done better, but still enjoy it for what it is, has made me enjoy the series even more than I ever did before.

[Lord Beerus]

The only kind of nostalgia I have for Dragon Ball is the original FUNi dub and Ocean Dub of the show. Then Kai became a thing. The manga is a timeless classic and most of the new material has been really good on it's own regard. So even without nostalgia, I'd still love Dragon Ball.

[fadeddreams5]

Well, considering I'm enjoying the hell out of Kai, I can say that I'd enjoy it regardless of nostalgia.

DBZ, that is. DB... eh. I found GT boring even when I first watched it. But DBZ, I will always love. I also want to purchase the manga one day. Only reason I never have is because Viz's translations are weird...

DBZ is just cool and fun. The art, over-the-top action, and characters have always been its main appeal, and that's timeless, unlike other shows that are more orientated towards deep story-telling. You may find these stories profound during your youth, but then grow up to realize that they are not only bad, but pretentious and boring. With DBZ, that's not the case because it's purposely simplistic and to-the-point--not to mention, tongue-in-cheek at times.

[Hellspawn28]

I don't go back to the series for nostalgia memories like I do with other series. I still like the series after being a fan for nearly 15 years and I do think the series has both it's pros and cons. I do think reading the series again critically made me feel like the writing is better then what most people give it credit for, but I'm not going to say that the series is the best written series of all time. I do feel like looking back on the fillers, DBZ Movies 1-13 and GT that they are pretty bad expect for a few. Toriyama is the only one who can handle Dragon Ball in my opinion while other people try to and they always end up failing pretty bad.

Well, considering I'm enjoying the hell out of Kai, I can say that I'd enjoy it regardless of nostalgia.

So I'm as well with Kai on Toonami. Kai to me feels like the best version of DBZ. There's no reason to go back to watch the old DBZ again expect for better acting in the Japanese version. The dub for DBZ after 1998 is pretty bad to sit through.

[Kakacarrottop]

I grew up watching FUNimation's Toonami/Faulconer dub and only saw a few Ocean dub episodes as a child, yet these days i basically only watch the Ocean dub (and occasionally the Big Green dub for laughs), so yes.

[One_Instance]

People starting liking new things every day so, it really depends on the person. For me personally, I think I'd like it. Hell, I thought Dragon Ball looked stupid before I actually watched it and did a complete 180 practically over night.

[dbboxkaifan]

Doesn't matter if its bad or not, I liked it when I first saw it and it has huge nostalgia appeal since I was a kid when I saw it.

The fact that I don't really like the anime now (whether it's the portuguese dub or any other version of the anime, including the original), means that nowadays I appreciate Dragon Ball without it being dependent on nostalgia.

Well, back in my childhood I loved it all and didn't care about the quality of the dub but as I've gotten older I just couldn't put up with those trashy Portuguese dubs, which made me ditch it for the Japanese audio track.

[Metalwario64]

I have tons of nostalgia for Dragon Ball (though the nostalgia is mostly for Z), but I still find it to be an excellent series. I only ever saw a handful of the original Dragon Ball back in the day, and when I finally got around to watching the whole series when the Blue Bricks were released, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

On the other hand, I have lots of nostalgia for GT (mostly before it reached America and FUNimation butchered it), but I really don't like it...

I am able to separate what I'm nostalgic for, what I like, and what I think is genuinely good.

[Makai]

I grew up with dbz and have watched the whole series like a thousand times. But I had never seen Dragon Ball, and so I got into it not too long ago. And now I love it. Wasn't too interested at the start, but as it progressed, I started to love it more and more. Now I go back and watch it almost as much as I do dbz.

[Shinsa]

Hmmm hard question....

If i were to watch DB now as if it were the first time ever, id prob like it for its silliness and childish plot and adventure. But id probably not really think much of it.

DBZ however i know i would think it garbage. I love dbz and its a huge part of my childhood but the show and characters are flawed in so many ways that even as a kid i questioned it. So now that I'm an adult id want to watch a more well thought out story, characters and world.

Good example is One Piece, i never saw it as a kid so i tried to watch it a couple years ago and i thought it was terrible....guess I'm getting to old for these type of animes

[Kid Buu]

Not really. Everytime I read or watch the series again I like it less and less each time.

Still interested in the new material though, so I keep around.

If you're reading something over and over you're bound to get bored of it.

I've only gone through the series a total of 3 times since 1999.

[MCDaveG]

Well, I would. What I wouldn't like probably are the new anime series going on. I don't know if I am getting older, but the new series are shit in my opinion and the Japanese popculture is at it's worst.
Really, I am not getting turned on by drawn/animated girls in cat costumes with bouncing breasts... for example. Second thing I seriously hate is Japanese pop-music at which I have to tear my ears off like Piccolo.
So if I didn't knew about Dragon Ball, I don't know if I will be able to discover it trough anime.

But, I do love all those series from 70's-90's like Space Battleship Yamato, Captain Harlock, Saint Seiya, Hokuto No Ken and Gundam and real robot genre.
I am just watching Patlabor and love it. Dragon Ball has the same quality to these shows. Appealing designs, easily memorable characters, clean and great looking action.
That's what got me hooked on before and probably will if I didn't knew. The 30 episodes long fights gave the tension I never saw before as most cartoons are based on episodic format of stories and villains,
and man, as the cards turned in favor of the heroes, the episode ends with cliffhanger and vice versa.

Naruto for me is the closest to Dragon in modern shonen, tough it is pretty much stretched out beyond my tollerance.
One Piece - I don't like the designs, I don't like story arc being 100 episodes long where 70's of episodes feels like filler or they are stretched out.
After 500 episodes, I forgot 80% of the encountered characters and after on and off train watching One Piece casually for few years, I completely quit during the Fishermen's Island arc (which was reinforced by that annoying anime-cliché princess).

So yes, I think that Dragon Ball is one of the best shows that came out of a Japan with legendary status like Gundam and I would watch it even a new without knowing it before.

PS: Yeah, I do think that some of the humour is rather embarassing and not funny nowadays (like Goku taking Bulma's pants off) but I still laugh on Roshi's and Vegeta's particular Chi-Chi no chi-chis and the classic Japanese humour of wordplays
Kaio's jokes in original are dead on.