Defining fandom generations

[THEGOKU]

Only time will tell how much of a impact the new generation of fans can have on DragonBall. I personally think us older fans are the reason why DB is still popular and why a lot has been done since its airing back in the 90s because a lot of anime series don't last this long in terms of new content and being so relevant. I would say if there is to ever be a Dragon Ball version of Kai done then this generation has proven they are into it us much as us. Of course with how long Super can last too.

[Zephyr]

If I were to strictly talk American fandom, it would go:

1st generation:
Anyone who was into it before 1995. Anyone at all.

2nd generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1995-1998, spanning FUNimation's first attempt with Dragon Ball and first two seasons of Dragon Ball Z.

3rd generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1999-2003ish, spanning FUNimation's run of DBZ on Toonami.

To piggyback off of this, I'd go:

4th generation:
Anyone who got into it after the end of Z's run on Toonami, but before Kai. So 2004ish-2008ish. The "quiet period" generation.

5th generation:
Anyone who got into it during Kai's run, but before Battle of Gods. So 2009ish-2012ish. The Kai generation.

6th generation:
Anyone who got into it between Battle of Gods and now. So 2013ish-the present. The "new" generation.

---

As for myself personally, I got into it during the 3rd generation. It was on Toonami, but it was pre-Season 3, as I was in re-run hell for a bit.

[ShadowBardock89]

If I were to strictly talk American fandom, it would go:

1st generation:
Anyone who was into it before 1995. Anyone at all.

2nd generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1995-1998, spanning FUNimation's first attempt with Dragon Ball and first two seasons of Dragon Ball Z.

3rd generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1999-2003ish, spanning FUNimation's run of DBZ on Toonami.

4th generation:
I have no idea where to go from here.

Well, when categorizing this way, I'd say that I'm a 2nd generation fan, but I arrived almost at the end of it. By the time I got into DBZ, I was watching the Ocean dub on Cartoon Network, and there was no talk yet of "Season 3." Within a few months, however, the first promo indicating that the series would continue aired.

Of course, this is VegettoEX's attempt at categorizing, so I don't mean to speak for him, but if I were to plagiarize Yamamoto this into my own list, I'd say...

4th generation:
Anyone who got into it from 2005-2009, during the "Orange Brick" era.

5th generation:
Anyone who got into it from 2010-2013, during Kai's run on Nicktoons and the CW4Kids/Vortexx airings. It's actually been pretty cool to read posts like, "I grew up on the Nicktoons broadcast." Granted, it makes me feel old, but still, it's cool, especially since this generation of fans was introduced to a significantly more loyal adaptation of the original Japanese show. Also, while I'll be the first to admit that I haven't done any formal research to back this suspicion up, I suspect that, post-Cartoon Network, this generation is probably the one that saw the biggest wave of new fans.

6th generation:
Anyone who got into it from 2014-now, through the movies and Toonami's airings of Kai.

Prediction: 7th generation:
Anyone who gets into it as a result of the Super dub whenever it finally is released.

I would reclassify the 4th generation. That is when the Ultimate Uncut edition aired, so the franchise was still being aired at that point. I would put the third era (the Toonami Era) from 1999 to 2006 (That's when Movie 13 aired on Toonami). 4th generation (2006-2010) is maybe the "Lost Era," when nothing Dragon Ball was in syndication and new fans came in through other media (video games, especially, DVD releases, and when the series was being streamed). Sure, during this era we got the 2008 Jump Special (first real piece DB animation since GT's ending) and, unfortunately, Dragon Ball: Evolution, but did either generate new fans?

5th Generation (2010-2013) is the Kai Era because of DB Kai's airings.

6th Generation (2012-current) is the Revival Era. We Toonami's Revival (I'm including the 2012 April Fool's Day in this, as it had the episode where Gohan defeats Cell, and the response to this event lead to both returning to Cartoon Network) and Kai is currently being aired on it, we have 2 new animated DB movies that was released internationally roughly around the same time, and Dragon Ball Super was created and is airing.

The 7th Generation will probably see the Buu Kai and Super dubbed and possibly aired on Toonami. Maybe we'll future movies with the Super brand on it, so maybe we could call this the Super Era?

[nite_jay]

I'm part of the 5th an maybe newest generation. I started watching when Kai started airing at first, and then I went back and started reading some of the manga. I then kinda stopped caring, but when BoG came out I became more invested in the series than ever.

[Kunzait_83]

If I were to strictly talk American fandom, it would go:

1st generation:
Anyone who was into it before 1995. Anyone at all.

2nd generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1995-1998, spanning FUNimation's first attempt with Dragon Ball and first two seasons of Dragon Ball Z.

3rd generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1999-2003ish, spanning FUNimation's run of DBZ on Toonami.

4th generation:
I have no idea where to go from here.

This would all be completely different for any other country due to their own internal licensing, distribution, broadcast, etc.

This is a pretty damn good breakdown. I've only one small quibble with it.

There is actually a very definable split in the pre-1995 era. Starting around when the Cell arc episodes began airing in Japan (somewhere in the 1992/1993 range) there began a HUGE bump in Western fans/interest in DBZ. Dragon Ball had always been a prominent name in anime fandom since pretty much the getgo, but I would say that a LOT of its fans & followers Stateside (with exceptions obviously) tended to very often be Akira Toriyama fans/Dr. Slump fans who were mostly into the series specifically because of the author and his previous work; and who tended to be much more focused on the manga end of things more so than the anime (though the anime certainly got its degree of discussion). That dynamic REALLY began to change massively when the Cell arc started and pulled in tons and tons of new fans, and there was a very noticeable and definable split between fans who were following DB pre-Cell (Akira Toriyama fans) and post-Cell ("pure" DB fans).

I'd first heard of DB around maybe 1990 or 1991 (where it was still a pretty prominent buzz title being bandied about), but I didn't start getting really into it until maybe the tail end of 1992 or very early 1993. At the time in NO way would I have considered myself "1st generation". There was clearly a TON of people who'd been around well, well before me, and I know I was one of a whole ton of new people who were just starting to join in on the party around that point.

If I had to guess what caused the giant bump, it was probably the fansubs: 1992 marked a period where DBZ fansubs from Metal Freeza/Mirai Trunks' debut and onward began to become much more massively widespread (especially Movie 8 once that first came out: Movie 8 was pretty much inescapably ubiquitous in the early 90s anime fansubbing community, regardless of whether or not you were into DBZ at all) and distributed by newer fansubbers who were just hungry for interesting/cool anime series that were happening at the time, whereas before that the spreading of fansubs for DB/Z seemed to be largely contingent on the Toriyama-centric fanbase, whose enthusiasm for DB in many of their cases began to wane somewhat as it went further into the Freeza arc (and who seemed to place a greater degree of importance on the manga over the anime anyway).

The point being, I was into DBZ before 1995, and there's NO way anyone back in 1992 or 1993 would've considered me, or anyone else getting into the series at that point in time along with me, to be "1st gen" fandom. I came in during the early-ish goings of the Cell arc as part of a giant wave of brand new fans while there were still a lot of even older timers who'd been hanging around for years before that with much different views and perspectives on the whole thing (interest in the author vs interest in mainly DB as an entity unto itself, as well as emphasis on the manga vs emphasis on the anime).

And in case anyone's curious, no there wasn't a particularly tremendous degree of "bitterness" and heated bickering between those two sects of fans during those years. A few minor flame-ish squabbles here and there certainly, it definitely was not 100% wine and roses all the time; but nothing particularly earth shatteringly catastrophic or vitriolic that drew a huge line in the sand. The real heated drama in that capacity didn't start until the dub began and started roping in its own distinctly different breed of fans. Prior to that point the overall tone in fandom was, comparatively speaking at least, far more laid back in general (with most of the worst drama and acrimony being reserved for behind the scenes nonsense between fansubbing groups; but that was more a universal thing with anime fansubbing groups in general rather than anything specifically DB-oriented).

And no, Power Levels/Battle Powers were NOT AT ALL anything even resembling a thing in fan discussions during those earlier years: once again, the dub is what truly started that whole fiasco.

So to modify Mike's generations chart a little, I would mark it as:

1st generation:
Anyone who was into it during the 1980s. Anyone at all.

2nd generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1992-1995 as part of a large 2nd wave of fans drawn in by Cell and Boo arc fansubs.

3rd generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1995-1998, spanning FUNimation's first attempt with Dragon Ball and first two seasons of Dragon Ball Z.

4th generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1999-2003ish, spanning FUNimation's run of DBZ on Toonami.

5th generation:
I'm as clueless as Mike here on this front and leave it to the younger folks who know far more about this than I would to fill in the blanks.

[VegettoEX]

I really appreciate that input. I was seriously considering putting 1992/1993 as a split point in there, specifically because I've been going through gaming magazines recently and that's precisely when the gaming culture started picking up on the curiosity of the show (and THAT was likely a result, not a contributing factor to, the fansub and tape trading culture starting up). All the other stuff you added that contributes to that point makes sense.

[Nejishiki]

Going by the criteria everyone listed, I'm either a part of the first or second generation of the fandom (I lean towards the latter). I was into the tape trading scene, mostly for martial arts films. "Dragon Ball Z" was a chance acquisition, as I never heard of it before. I expected it to be just another animated movie based on martial arts before I was hooked. I'm not that rooted in its origins because this happened around the closing years of the 20th century, so North American syndication should have been active already. I know I was made aware of English dubs existing at all, then censoring and cutting the series, after I was deep into absorbing Dragon Ball content. If that sounds weird, I wasn't subscribed to cable nor was I actively seeking communities. I researched enough to get what I wanted and I suppose I just got curious enough eventually.

[Kunzait_83]

(and THAT was likely a result, not a contributing factor to, the fansub and tape trading culture starting up). All the other stuff you added that contributes to that point makes sense.

Just to make sure we're clear here: "fansubbing/tape trading culture" wasn't just "starting up" in the early 90s. All that happened with regards to Dragon Ball in that time was that a fresh new batch of fansubbers on the prowl for eye-catching anime series had glommed onto it and gave it a significant boost in notoriety among then-newer/younger anime fans (like myself).

Fansub tape trading as a subculture has its roots LONG before that and functions as the real beginnings of anime fandom in the U.S. going back as far as the late 1970s. Fansubs and VHS trading of un-licensed anime (and tons of other media for that matter, like Hong Kong martial arts/action films, Italian horror, etc) was a huge thing all throughout the 1980s and the heyday of VHS in general, and there'd been DB/DBZ tapes in circulation well back during those even earlier years pre-1992.

[MozillaVulpix]

As someone who got into the series from Abridged...not saying that should be included as a major factor, but it was also something that corresponded with the Kai era. And I think it helped revive a lot of people's love for the series who weren't involved enough to know about Kai.

[Ringworm128]

If the kids who watched it on Toonami are the fourth generation then I'd be from the fifth, from after it had finished airing in the west up until the 08/09 revival. The 6th generation would be the kids who watched Kai on Nicktoons back in 2010. And I suppose their would be a 7th gen now due to Super airing,

[THEGOKU]

As someone who got into the series from Abridged...not saying that should be included as a major factor, but it was also something that corresponded with the Kai era. And I think it helped revive a lot of people's love for the series who weren't involved enough to know about Kai.

If by Abridged you mean TFS I am sure there are many others that would find themselves on the same boat as you. I'm sure it has had an impact on the generation but it probably did more to bring back older fans that had let go of the series than it did to maybe bring in new ones as maybe of the jokes and gags would probably be hard to get. It does need to be noted though somewhere within the timeline as that is a small factor.

[B]

Building off of what Mike and Kunzait have already said, The U.S.'s "5th generation" would have to be the "video game" generation. I know that's super-broad and sort of diminishing DB's history with gaming, but the 3 DBZ PS2 games plus the Sparking! series definitely kept the show relevant and people engaged when the Toonami broadcast ended.

I guess "6th generation" has to be whoever Kai brought in, and I'm not entirely sure if this "generation" is over and if splintering these people off from whoever Battle of Gods inducted would be premature.

(according to this metric, I am squarely "4th gen".)

[Zephyr]

Amending myself to be in 4th gen.

I guess "6th generation" has to be whoever Kai brought in, and I'm not entirely sure if this "generation" is over and if splintering these people off from whoever Battle of Gods inducted would be premature.

I think it's worth splintering off. Kai was a retread of old material, whereas Battle of Gods was the start of fresh material (for most people, at least; most casual fans probably don't know that the 2008 special was a thing).

I'm somewhat torn between Super being the start of another generation, or not. On one hand, it's still relatively the same batch of new material, new animation, and new music. On the other hand, it's the start of a new generation American fans being forced to watch the new material in Japanese. Namely, it's an age where dubbies are forced to watch subbed, in a post "Sub vs Dub wars" fandom.

[Ringworm128]

Building off of what Mike and Kunzait have already said, The U.S.'s "5th generation" would have to be the "video game" generation. I know that's super-broad and sort of diminishing DB's history with gaming, but the 3 DBZ PS2 games plus the Sparking! series definitely kept the show relevant and people engaged when the Toonami broadcast ended.

I guess "6th generation" has to be whoever Kai brought in, and I'm not entirely sure if this "generation" is over and if splintering these people off from whoever Battle of Gods inducted would be premature.

(according to this metric, I am squarely "4th gen".)

The "orange brick or season sets generation" would also be a good name, since as bad as they are the season sets did get a lot of people including me into DBZ during that time. But yes I remember games like Budokai 3 coming out long before I got into the series and games like Burst Limit and Super Sonic Warriors 2 were a big part of my early DBZ days.


Also would "The Curtis Hoffman Genration" work as a name for the fans who started watching fansubs back in 92-93 or 96-2000 as an alternative to the Toonami broadcast?

[Hellspawn28]

5th generation:
I'm as clueless as Mike here on this front and leave it to the younger folks who know far more about this than I would to fill in the blanks.

I would say the 5th generation is the GT/Orange Bricks/Video Game era from 2004 - 2009. DBZ popularity did seem to die down a bit around late 2003 and I felt like DBZ was not as big as it was in 2005 and 2006 thanks to Naruto and Bleach being huge at the time. I say this current gen of fans is the "Modern Age" with Kai, the new movies and Super which would be 2010 - current.

[ShadowBardock89]

I'm part of the Toonami Era (1999-2006), sorry if I didn't put that in my previous post.
I was in 4th grade when the Freeza Saga began airing on Toonami and I remember talking with my brother on the way to school the day after the episode that Vegeta was by Freeza in.

Amending myself to be in 4th gen.

I guess "6th generation" has to be whoever Kai brought in, and I'm not entirely sure if this "generation" is over and if splintering these people off from whoever Battle of Gods inducted would be premature.

I think it's worth splintering off. Kai was a retread of old material, whereas Battle of Gods was the start of fresh material (for most people, at least; most casual fans probably don't know that the 2008 special was a thing).

I'm somewhat torn between Super being the start of another generation, or not. On one hand, it's still relatively the same batch of new material, new animation, and new music. On the other hand, it's the start of a new generation American fans being forced to watch the new material in Japanese. Namely, it's an age where dubbies are forced to watch subbed, in a post "Sub vs Dub wars" fandom.

Unless you are being patient until the dub eventually comes out.

Honestly, this discussion could be a podcast topic. *wink* *wink*

[TheBlackPaladin]

Honestly, this discussion could be a podcast topic. *wink* *wink*

I second that, I think that could be a fun discussion!

[kinisking]

I'm part of the 5th an maybe newest generation. I started watching when Kai started airing at first, and then I went back and started reading some of the manga. I then kinda stopped caring, but when BoG came out I became more invested in the series than ever.

People like you make me happy. Dragonball can still make new fans! As for me, I don't remember when I got into dragonball. I've obsessed over it for as long as I can remember.

[Xeztin]

If I were to strictly talk American fandom, it would go:

1st generation:
Anyone who was into it before 1995. Anyone at all.

2nd generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1995-1998, spanning FUNimation's first attempt with Dragon Ball and first two seasons of Dragon Ball Z.

3rd generation:
Anyone who got into it from 1999-2003ish, spanning FUNimation's run of DBZ on Toonami.

4th generation:
I have no idea where to go from here.

This would all be completely different for any other country due to their own internal licensing, distribution, broadcast, etc.

I agree with this list the most, but I'd also add that the 3rd generation had the first Budokai games. I had a lot of friends that got into the series because of the first Budokai and such and the PS2 was on fire. I think the 4th generation would be those that got into it via Kai and Heroes in Japan, which would be from 2009-current. I guess BOG+ could be the 5th generation actually. (I fall into the 3rd generation)

[ShadowBardock89]

I am honestly curious about the next generation of Dragon Ball fans, though.
Will they get introduced through Super? Future video games?
Will they stumble across it on internet streaming providers like Netflix?

I'm also curious about the fandom in Japan, in terms of generations.
If I were to divide that up, I think this would be close to it:
1) Jump/Manga Generation (1984-1986)
This is the generation was introduced strictly through the manga.

2) Franchise Expansion Generation (1986-1997)
This is where the original bulk of the fans in Japan came from.
The anime, the films, and video games are involved here.

*There seems to be a gap here in between 1997-2002. I could call this the "Lost Era."
Maybe Mike can expand on this era in Japanese Dragon Ball fandom?

3)Dragon Box Generation (2002-2008)
This is the generation that came up when the Dragon Boxes were released. Maybe video games like Dragon Ball Z: Budokai should included here?
It's arguable that this kept the lifeblood alive during this generation.

4) Kai Generation (2008-2015)
I'm including the 2008 Jump Special in this as it was the first animated Dragon Ball feature since 1997.
This the Dragon Ball Kai era. 'Nuff said.

5) Super Era (2015-present)
Dragon Ball Super is the key to this era.