Is Dragon Ball Your Favorite Anime Ever?

[Gyt Kaliba]

I would say it's an easy favorite for me, yeah. I would never say it's the 'best' thing I'm into though, just that it's one of my favorites. Not just in regards to anime though, it's easily one of my favorite franchises I'm into period, and would definitely be on a short list of select titles that I could basically talk about at any time with ease. That puts it alongside such things as TMNT, Digimon, Animorphs, Lupin the 3rd, and the works of Masakazu Katsura and Nobuhiro Watsuki.

[Zephyr]

It used to be my favorite anime, but I've become less interested in anime that are adaptations of a manga (unless the adaptation is unconventional and done by another auteur entirely, like Masaaki Yuasa's take on Go Nagai's work with Devilman Crybaby), especially serialized ones that are created while the serialized manga they're adapting is still ongoing. So, my favorite anime are ones that are either anime only (such as the works of Satoshi Kon, other works by Masaaki Yuasa, Cat Soup), anime first (Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion), or anime adaptations of manga I've yet to read (Azumanga Daioh, Yu Yu Hakusho, Fist of the North Star).

When it comes to manga, though, yeah, Dragon Ball's still my personal favorite. It's got an insurmountable volume of historical/biographical importance to me to be dethroned any time soon. That said, Berserk, Vinland Saga, Devilman, The Enigma at Amigara Fault, and the works of Naoki Urasawa would otherwise give it a run for its money, had said historical/biographical importance not exist.

[FFJamie94]

No. Not really.
I love Dragon Ball, but it's far from my favourite. Cowboy Bebop is probably my favourite.
Dragon Ball is just dumb fun.

[ClutchBangstrip]

Yes. No doubt. No anime or catoon exists in comparison.

[prince212]

No , there’s a bunch of short anime runners that I can place in front , death note , AoT ..
But as a long runner , it’s on top , just behind one piece .
Talking about manga is my favorite, no doubt .
Some anime make better than the manga , but dragon ball wasn’t the case , I.m.o

[majinwarman]

It’s in my top 10 favorite anime but I think One Piece or Hunter x Hunter is most likely my favorite. I have to really think about but I know Dragon Ball is not lower than 9.

[Logania]

It isn't my favorite, as that goes to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, but it is in my list of favorites.

It is however the longest series I've been a fan of and is probably the series I've committed the most of my time into watching, playing, reading, etc.

[Thanos]

I'm actually not into anime at all. I mostly watch live action series such as Game of Thrones, Shameless, Ozark, Always Sunny, etc. Dragon Ball is the only animated series I watch aside from, I dunno, South Park on occasion. I don't even really see it as "anime" per se, it's just an amazing franchise that just so happens to be Japanese and animated (or in print form)--despite my interest in Japanese culture and in fact having spent a good amount of time in the country itself. It sort of just happened that back in 1999, Pokemon was all the rage. Then, Oh shit, there's this cool new thing called Digimon! It's way better than Pokemon! Then oh, there's this cool thing called Dragon Ball Z that's way better than Digimon! ...and I never really looked back or beyond it since then for whatever reason. I somehow have this unrelenting interest and need to stay up with the series to this day which I could very easily see lasting until I die or the series ends for good, whichever comes first. People I know in real life tend to accuse me of being close-minded on the subject, but I feel too old and set in my ways and really don't have any interest in getting into anime for the sake of it. *shrug* I do think it's interesting, though, that people tend to assume I'm a "weeb" or automatically am interested in other series simply because I like Dragon Ball. I have nothing against it, obviously. To each their own.

To answer the question: Yes, by default!

[IM21]

favorite yes, but I wouldn't say it's the best one.

[NewKakarot]

Dragon Ball is my favorite anime, but I wouldn't say it's the best I've watched. But I also don't watch a lot of anime, so...

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

I would lie if I say that Dragon Ball is not my favourite anime.

But this anime even though I love it with passion I love others anime show as quasi equal. Here is a bunch of anime that would be as equal in my heart as Dragon Ball.

-Mobile Suit Gundam (The Whole UC lore love it also some AU are awesome too)
-Pretty Cute/Precure franchise (I love it too)
-The Bioboosted Armor Guyver (2005 serie + manga also MEGA SMASHERRRRRRRRRRRR)
-Tekkaman Blade (You gotta love how D-BOY TEK SETTA YOU !!!)
-High School DxD (Every serie and manga)
-Code Geass (Gotta love some LELOUUUUUUUUUUCH !!!)
-s-CRY-ed (the anime serie mostly)
-Saint Seiya (a personnal favourite who for me rivalise with Dragon Ball)
-Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA)
-Macross (Damn that univers that music ♪♥)
-Yu-Gi-Oh! (DURAW MONSTA CARDO)

[dragon boss z]

Yeah, overall it's my favorite. Like others have said, it isn't the best written or anything, but it's my personal favorite. Kind of like how Star Wars is my favorite movie series, even though I know they aren't the best movies.

[Kinokima]

It was my gateway drug and I’ll always be very fond of it and it has a special place in my heart. But no and it’s not even in my top 10, probably not even in my top 25 truth be told.


Top 3 would be Mushishi, Natsume Yuujinchou and Princess Tutu.

[Kunzait_83]

Dragon Ball is easily in my top 3 favorite martial arts fantasy anime for sure (alongside Yu Yu Hakusho and Fist of the Norths Star). Absolutely not a question there.

Is it my favorite anime ever, or anything close to it? Not even remotely. In fact, and I've actually said this off the forums a lot in the past, but I'll put it up front here:

I value and prize Seinen (actual adult-skewed anime and manga) SO much more highly overall, that if it meant doing away with the overall dominance of Shonen series in the overall mainstream of Western fandom, I'd more than happily sacrifice ALL of DB's influence and popularity over the past 20-ish years now (again, among mainstream Western fandom), and not even lose a wink of sleep over it.

If that meant no official U.S. Dragon Box release (or ANY official U.S. Dragon Ball anime releases), no Viz manga, no Kanzenshuu, no nothing of that sort... but stuff like Me and the Devil Blues, Ultra Heaven, Legend of Mother Sarah, Real, Lone Wolf and Cub, Shamo, Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Wings of Honneamise, Take the X Train, Patlabor, Tatami Galaxy, Kemonozume, Mind Game, Mononoke, Angel's Egg, Robot Carnival, Belladonna of Sadness, Golgo 13, Jin-Roh, etc. took up the level of mass fandom real estate and prominence that the Weekly Shonen Jump and Toonami lineups have had a stranglehold on since the turn of the millennium instead, and the overall central focus of anime fandom as a whole was VASTLY more axed overall on bold experimentation and genuinely challenging and provocative material like it once was, as opposed to brainless escapism, franchising, and pandering to manchildren and creepy, socially inept shut-ins...

....then I'd HAPPILY make that trade. In a millisecond, and without thinking twice. And I wouldn't regret it for a microsecond.

For a Seinen/art house-dominant and more introspective/intellectualized overall anime fandom to still exist and still be the focal prominent "face" of the overall community going forward into the 2000s and 2010s (as opposed to the complete and utter bloodcurdling freakshow that anime fandom overall has been for most of the past 15 to 20 years now), you bet your ass I'd gladly throw this whole community, all of Dragon Ball's influence/popularity, the whole "Toonami generation" of the late 90s/early 2000s, and quite literally EVERYTHING that they've all collectively embodied with regards to both anime fandom and anime itself as a medium into a fucking garbage fire and let it all burn away. And like I said, I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep over it.

I love owning the entire original Dragon Ball anime in Dragon Box form with Simmons' subtitles. I love owning the entire manga, in multiple formats. I love having both Super DBZ and FighterZ be available on U.S. consoles. I'll always love and cherish Dragon Ball itself, as a singular, self-contained work.

But ALL this other crap? The Naruto/One Piece/Bleach/MHA/HXH obsessives? The narrow, myopic, OCD fixation on children's merchandise properties (Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh, Digimon, Power Rangers, etc) above practically ALL else? The creepy and utterly brainless obsession with "nostalgia" and "this was what I saw first, ergo nothing else will ever be better"? The "Toonami Faithful" and everything that they've broadly stood for in having all these things be the central planks that has overall defined and crystallized Western anime/manga fandom since the turn of the millennium?

Not being able to go basically ANYWHERE within supposed "anime and manga fandom" without having almost basically everyone there not have the slightest blessed clue what on Earth you're talking about when you name off or reference your favorite titles (despite their being award winning, critically acclaimed classics both in Japan and in non-Weaboo/non-children's circles) because most of them are toy and kiddie "pow pow!" cartoon obsessed man-babies insofar as their nerd interests go? Largely because they're too self-obsessed with their rose-tinted, romanticized memories of being ten years old banging action figures together in their room to actually give genuinely new, different, and mind/sensibility-broadening experiences and concepts an honest chance for five seconds?

Fuck AAAAAAALL that noise. I like Dragon Ball: more than a lot. It is however in NO blessed way worth ANY of this other shit. I'd happily set my whole Dragon Ball collection on fire in a heartbeat if it meant having the sort of mainstream Western anime/manga/Japanese media landscape where stuff like an official, fully translated version of all of Teito Monogatari would be widely available or have Gekiga-focused artists like Keiichi Koike, Suehiro Maruo, Hideo Yamamoto, Hiroshi Hirata, Ryoichi Ikegami, and others of their general style and ilk were the celebrated and influential toasts of fandom overall rather than the likes of Hiro Mashima, Kazuki Takahashi, Masashi Kishimoto, Tite Kubo, Eichiro Oda, etc. along with whatever other various Moe/Ecchi artists out there (Yuji Shiozaki, Kiyohiko Azuma, etc.) and the whole "Light Novel" subgenre entirely.

[MasenkoHA]

... but stuff like Me and the Devil Blues, Ultra Heaven, Legend of Mother Sarah, Real, Lone Wolf and Cub, Shamo, Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers, Wings of Honneamise, Take the X Train, Patlabor, Tatami Galaxy, Kemonozume, Mind Game, Mononoke, Angel's Egg, Robot Carnival, Belladonna of Sadness, Golgo 13, .

Shit this reminds me that I’ve still been meaning to watch Perfect Blue at some point.

[Kunzait_83]

Shit this reminds me that I’ve still been meaning to watch Perfect Blue at some point.

Pffft, the fuck you waiting for? Get on that shit! Perfect Blue is downright masterful. Still my favorite Kon anime, easily (though Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers are both REALLY close behind it).

[MasenkoHA]

It’s been on my list ever since I found out Black Swan shamelessly ripped it off.


Probably set a day aside to mark a bunch of movies off my watchlist

[ABED]

How many of those afformentioned titles can I find on Hulu and Netflix or rent on Amazon?

[MasenkoHA]

How many of those afformentioned titles can I find on Hulu and Netflix or rent on Amazon?

Shoot. I just wanna know if there is any anime on Netflix or Hulu worth watching period. Hulu has Akira at least.

[ABED]

I haven't watched much anime, but I do like branching out and watching at least one new TV series a month. After watching some heady, adult, often dark material I understand the inclination to watch something familiar, silly and lighthearted, childish even. After watching Mad Men all the way through (something I will never do again), I had to watch something fun and familiar.