Countries that start with DBZ really missed a lot

[coola]

Not sure if other countries beside US started with DBZ (I dont count Harmony Gold dub for US) but people really missed quite a lot by starting with Z:
- Goku turns out to be alien, sent to Earth to destroy it
- Piccolo, previous villain who everyone feared, who almost killed Goku, now seems like a joke in front of Radditz
- Cast people grew attached to got massacred by Saiyans, and we weren't sure, if they can travel to Namek

[nite_jay]

There's also a larger detatchment from Goku. You get to watch him mature and grow in Dragonball but a lot of people just "grew up" with Gohan instead.

[sintzu]

I was one of the many who saw Z first and although I think it can be watched and enjoyed on its own, I wish I would've started with the original cause my experience would've been 10× better and the moments you mentioned would've been a lot more impactful.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Also it explains the importance of Freeza killing Krillin and why it sent Goku over the edge into SS.

[TheBalishChannel]

Even if you don't count Harmony Gold's English dub as the start of Dragon Ball in the United States, you would still have the 1995 FUNimation/BLT Productions dub to consider. Dragon Ball was in syndication almost a year before Dragon Ball Z started airing, so technically the United States didn't "start" with Dragon Ball Z.

[MetaMoss]

Even if you don't count Harmony Gold's English dub as the start of Dragon Ball in the United States, you would still have the 1995 FUNimation/BLT Productions dub to consider. Dragon Ball was in syndication almost a year before Dragon Ball Z started airing, so technically the United States didn't "start" with Dragon Ball Z.

Except that and the 1996 syndication airing of DBZ were relatively obscure (the DB dub even more so, I'd say). The vast majority of North American fans got their introduction to Dragon Ball with the Cartoon Network airing of Z, and Dragon Ball didn't begin airing there until 2001.

[eledoremassis02]

Even if you don't count Harmony Gold's English dub as the start of Dragon Ball in the United States, you would still have the 1995 FUNimation/BLT Productions dub to consider. Dragon Ball was in syndication almost a year before Dragon Ball Z started airing, so technically the United States didn't "start" with Dragon Ball Z.

Except that and the 1996 syndication airing of DBZ were relatively obscure (the DB dub even more so, I'd say). The vast majority of North American fans got their introduction to Dragon Ball with the Cartoon Network airing of Z, and Dragon Ball didn't begin airing there until 2001.

This is very true and also must have been very confusing. I still dont understand how a lot of people didnt see the original dub because toonami overstayed it's welcome with it lol. I started with the 1996 dub and there were a lot of confusing moments like

- Why did everyone fear piccolo?
- Krillin and Master Roshi died before??!!
- Master Roshi was once the worlds strongest fighters in name only
- Them reminiscing about collect Dragon Balls seemed out of place
- Gokus grandfather died at the tournament (This was that rechanged line of Goku blaming vegeta)

[ABED]

I was one of the many who saw Z first and although I think it can be watched and enjoyed on its own, I wish I would've started with the original cause my experience would've been 10× better and the moments you mentioned would've been a lot more impactful.

Same here. You can understand the backstory, but that's not the same thing as experiencing it. Piccolo's change isn't nearly as meaningful if you don't see who he was before. It's not like Star Wars where episode 4 is written without there having been previous movies.

[Soppa Saia People]

Yeah, I've never understand why some people say original Dragon Ball can be skipped. Stuff like Gokuu dying in the first 5 episodes, it has a lot more impact if you have that back story.

[ABED]

Yeah, I've never understand why some people say original Dragon Ball can be skipped. Stuff like Gokuu dying in the first 5 episodes, it has a lot more impact if you have that back story.

It's not truly backstory. It's just story.

[precita]

Yeah, I've never understand why some people say original Dragon Ball can be skipped. Stuff like Gokuu dying in the first 5 episodes, it has a lot more impact if you have that back story.

Because 90% of us started with DBZ first and were able to get into it just fine. All I knew at the time was Piccolo was evil, I learned about all the other characters from watching through the filler in the Saiyan saga.

You know, I have to say all the filler in the Saiyan arc worked for this reason. We got to learn Goku's character during his adventures on Snake way, we learned about Gohan in the wild, we saw Piccolo training, we saw some of Krillin, Yamcha, etc. with Kami. Us Americans are glad for the filler.

[ABED]

Yeah, I've never understand why some people say original Dragon Ball can be skipped. Stuff like Gokuu dying in the first 5 episodes, it has a lot more impact if you have that back story.

Because 90% of us started with DBZ first and were able to get into it just fine. All I knew at the time was Piccolo was evil, I learned about all the other characters from watching through the filler in the Saiyan saga.

You know, I have to say all the filler in the Saiyan arc worked for this reason. We got to learn Goku's character during his adventures on Snake way, we learned about Gohan in the wild, we saw Piccolo training, we saw some of Krillin, Yamcha, etc. with Kami. Us Americans are glad for the filler.

Learning a character's personality and their relationships isn't what we're talking about. If you watch the episode of Frasier where Woody visits, you can understand the character and his friendship with Frasier without ever having seen Cheers, but that's not the same thing as watching Cheers.

[sintzu]

Because 90% of us started with DBZ first and were able to get into it just fine.

That's probably why Toei decided to rename the show cause they knew the story was written in a way that allowed new viewers to jump in even if they didn't see the previous arcs.

Toriyama intending for the Saiyan arc to be a new jumping on point was never mentioned as far as I know so it could've been just a coincidence.

[ABED]

Because 90% of us started with DBZ first and were able to get into it just fine.

That's probably why Toei decided to rename the show cause they knew the story was written in a way that allowed new viewers to jump in even if they didn't see the previous arcs.

Toriyama intending for the Saiyan arc to be a new jumping on point was never mentioned as far as I know so it could've been just a coincidence.

But it wasn't written in a way that allowed new viewers to jump in any more than the previous episodes. The only arguement you could make is that there's a nice gap of time and Dragon Ball isn't a complex story.

[sintzu]

But it wasn't written in a way that allowed new viewers to jump in any more than the previous episodes.

The only argument you could make is that there's a nice gap of time and Dragon Ball isn't a complex story.

The other arcs were following previous ones while the Saiyan arc felt like a new start cause it wasn't following a cliff hanger from the previous arc.

The gap and simplicity definitely helped.

[ABED]

But it wasn't written in a way that allowed new viewers to jump in any more than the previous episodes.

The only argument you could make is that there's a nice gap of time and Dragon Ball isn't a complex story.

The other arcs were following previous ones while the Saiyan arc felt like a new start cause it wasn't following a cliff hanger from the previous arc.

The gap and simplicity definitely helped.

The break between Fortuneteller Baba's tournament and the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai is similar. It's not the exact same, but very similar. It doesn't end on a cliffhanger.

[sintzu]

The break between Fortuneteller Baba's tournament and the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai is similar. It's not the exact same, but very similar. It doesn't end on a cliffhanger.

It doesn't end on a cliff hanger but it wouldn't make any sense to start there cause it would feel like you were starting from the middle of an ongoing story, unlike the Saiyan arc which feels like a beginning.

Take the dark knight trilogy for example, where would it make sense to introduce someone to it, at the middle of begins or at the start of the dark knight ? you'll miss part of the story either way but which one would feel like a natural beginning ? that's how I see the Saiyan arc, it's not the beginning but it's the 2nd most logical place to start.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

The break between Fortuneteller Baba's tournament and the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai is similar. It's not the exact same, but very similar. It doesn't end on a cliffhanger.

It doesn't end on a cliff hanger but it wouldn't make any sense to start there cause it would feel like you were starting from the middle of an ongoing story, unlike the Saiyan arc which feels like a beginning.

Take the dark knight trilogy for example, where would it make sense to introduce someone to it, at the middle of begins or at the start of the dark knight ? you'll miss part of the story either way but which one would feel like a natural beginning ? that's how I see the Saiyan arc, it's not the beginning but it's the 2nd most logical place to start.

You could start at the Boo arc just as easily. I really don't get the continued insistence that pre-raditz is not impotant to understanding the story.

[sintzu]

You could start at the Boo arc just as easily.

I really don't get the continued insistence that pre-raditz is not important to understanding the story.

There was too much going on including Goku being dead to start there. if it was suitable to start there they probably would've changed the name again.

It is important but you won't be completely lost if you didn't see the original DB before Z.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

You could start at the Boo arc just as easily.

I really don't get the continued insistence that pre-raditz is not important to understanding the story.

There was too much going on including Goku being dead to start there. if it was suitable to start there they probably would've changed the name again.

It is important but you won't be completely lost if you didn't see the original DB before Z.

Sorry, but this argument just seems like doublethink to me. There's a lot going on at the beginning of the Radditz saga too. Such as: all the characters and their history.