Thoughts on Red Ribbon Army Arc

[Vijay]

Arguably, DB's peak in terms of writing. Its essentially a big, adventurous tale culminating into a big climatic showdown with plenty of twists.

As opposed to solo Big Baddy in Z (Frieza, Cell, Buu) Red Ribbon Army Arc has a ton of villains with distinct personality & impact to Goku's character.

Silver Shogun, White Shogun, Blue Shogun, Violet Taisa, Yellow Shogun (a freakin tiger), Tao Pai Pai, Commander Ted, Commander Black...phew!

Personally, I consider this arc to rank as best (in terms of writing) as it infuses DB's funny, comical side into a serious, focused tale of Chibi Goku facing a mean organization.

Thoughts?

[Cipher]

Love it in the manga. I think it drags a little in the anime, with its more languid pacing.

The Haski filler is incredible though.

[trick007z]

One of the best arcs. The most diverse set of villains and locations. Fleshes out the world more than any other arc. It put Goku in more situations than any other point in the series. It wasn't just a back and forth story of "strong villain, need to get stronger to beat them". It was there in the Tao portion, which really set up the Dragon Ball formula, but it didn't' dominate the story.

It was really the perfect blend of an adventure story and a fighting story.

[Gyt Kaliba]

It does drag a little bit in the anime, but even there, I think it's one of the more diverse and enjoyable arcs. It's got a ton of great characters, incredibly varied locales, and actually a bit of breathing room in-between major battles rather than them more or less being back to back. I also love, love, love Goku's final raid against the army, just running through and taking on soldiers left and right. It's great.

That said though, there's a couple of things I'm not so fond of, even beyond the dragging. I do wish the other characters got to join in for longer periods of time, rather than it just being us following along Goku the entire way. What moments we do get of them are pretty fun, but I'd definitely like to have more. It also ends on kind of an odd note, in a way, with the Baba arc. The Baba arc is kind of simultaneously it's own thing, while also being the end of that arc due to finishing off that hunt for the Dragon Balls, so it makes it all a little difficult to place - especially in the anime, which launches from that right into some training filler, and introduces us to Tenshinhan and Chaozu before the next arc where they're going to be major players.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

Definetly the best arc in the franchise, it´s a shame it doesn´t get enough love just for not being from the Z era.

[Kuririn Fan]

Easily the most underrated arc in the whole franchise. Greatest adventure Toriyama has ever written combined with martial arts introduced in the previous arc. World building is incredible, Goku literally goes to all 4 corners of the Earth, each part representing some new exciting challenge.

Spoiler:

top right corner is silver and white's part, bottom right is blue's, green area "far far in the west" is tao's and rra base portion and finally bottom left is baba's place

I'm not gonna lie, i wasn't the biggest fan of this arc before, but GafferTape's review changed my mind and it was very, very enjoyable when i rewatched it and read it in the manga. Great stuff. 500th post, yay

[Lord Beerus]

It was the only arc in Dragon Ball that felt like an actual adventure and provided some of the best world building the franchise had ever seen until the Saiyan arc. It's perfectly paced in the manga and is an immensely underrated arc as a whole that deserves way more attention than it gets.

[generalred3]

Obviously based on my name I love the arc. The thought of an Army and ranks (General, Colonel, Sergeant, etc) was fascinating for me when I was younger. With Red being my favorite color and Commander Red being leader of the army was more than enough reason for the kid in me to love the arc. So much so that years and years ago I made a Red Ribbon Forum which is why I made my user name was it is. Good times.....

Lol but anyway yes, very under-rated but great arc in the story.

[JulieYBM]

Love it in the manga. I think it drags a little in the anime, with its more languid pacing.

The Haski filler is incredible though.

I always loved how the beginning of the arc in the 1986 animated series really built up Colonel Silver as this cool, fearsome guy. It ultimately amounts to nothing, but it is entertaining nevertheless.

[ShaneisMC]

Somewhat mixed feelings. I appreciate all of the things that all of you have already pointed out. However that being said I also just dont feel utterly captivated by some of the different parts of it. The General Blue stuff like going into the pirate cave was ok I suppose. Same with the Penguin Village stuff. Also kinda felt the same about Muscle Tower. I liked it, but at the same time it occasionally wasnt holding my full interest either. I'd say I feel somewhat mixed on the first half of the arc actually. I really like some parts, and others just kinda bore me a little bit. Just a little. I definitely like the second half much more consistently than the first half. Once Tao Pai Pai enters the story and Karin/Korins tower becomes a thing followed by the final actual assault on Red Ribbons HQ.

[B]

I always loved how the beginning of the arc in the 1986 animated series really built up Colonel Silver as this cool, fearsome guy. It ultimately amounts to nothing, but it is entertaining nevertheless.

Agreed on this account.

I'm in the middle of a rewatch right now. The added material's inconsequentiality aside; I enjoy the slower build. There's this cool shot in Episode 35 of General White lounging in his control room, and pondering what kind of kid could take out Silver; the camera slowly zooms out showcasing the dark, empty room he's in, and then cuts to a close up on his eyes. If my memory serves me correctly, this is the closest thing White has to an introspective character moment, as Goku takes him out pretty swiftly in both the anime and the manga.

The arc as a whole is beautiful. The General Blue/Penguin Village portion is easily my favorite part of this series. Everybody who complains about it being "The Goku Show" gets plenty of Kuririn, Bulma, and Penguin holdovers.

[Polyphase Avatron]

I really liked it

[Wezenheim]

The Red Ribbon Army arc is one of my absolute favorites, if not my favorite, especially if you want to consider the mini Baba arc as the end of it. It's either that or the Saiyan arc, just depends on the day.

I don't have much to add that others haven't, but I love the characters, the settings, and the sense of adventure. There are some slower segments but as a whole it's great.

[FoolsGil]

For what it's worth, the Red Ribbon and Namek Sagas are are the greatest adventure arcs in the series. It started slow and the plot was initially nothing to write home about, when General Blue arrived on scene, everything started going at a great pace with great writing. It represents the best of Dragonball.

[Jackal puFF]

There's some good moments in this arc but it's far from my favorite. It felt so long while watching it especially the muscle tower part.

[Man-Child]

I think it's one of the first really "epic" arcs of Dragon Ball. The world of the series just seemed to open up tremendously, with so many locations, situations, and challenges, and they seemed to hit the mark in all emotional departments. Villains like Tao Pai Pai (The first villain to defeat Goku, if I recall), General Blue, Murasaki, Commander Red, and Staff Officer Black provided entertaining drama and strife for Goku. Many of the new supporting characters introduced were memorable (Upa and Bora, Cyborg Eight), and Karin, with his great teachings and personality, made him the Yoda of the series for a while. Even established supporting characters, like Krillin and Bulma had some nice moments to shine.

All in all, I think the Red Ribbon Army Arc was an early "Great", and definitely one of my personal favorites.

[LightBing]

My second favorite arc, despite having the Dr.Slump crossover which I don't care for. The perfect combination of adventure and fighting, always new places and characters.
This arc saddens we reached the Earth ceiling so fast. There could still be so much between this and Goku reaching Kami.
Looking at what we got out from the rest of the Universe, Earth seems awfully rich.