Is Dragon Ball REALLY a Kid's Show?

[Mystery Person X]

To me it seems like the United States is the only place that regards animated series as "kid's stuff". Anyone over the age of 13 how likes these things gets looked down upon.

It's the same in Japan. Anime aimed at older audiences are seen as part of a geeky niche subculture (although one that's been in fashion lately because of the popularity of Densha Otoko). The only exceptions are a few "family" anime like Sazae-san.

Manga is different - most people read manga in Japan. However, manga is segregated into different magazines based on the age and gender of its target audience. (Admittedly, from my limited experience, quite a lot of young adult males read Shonen Jump.)

[Super Sonic]

To me it seems like the United States is the only place that regards animated series as "kid's stuff". Anyone over the age of 13 how likes these things gets looked down upon. In other countries, it seems that everyone enjoys comic books and cartoons. This is especially stange because I remember reading some where that the early Looney Toons cartoons were aimed at adults.

That's true. Saw some old documentaries where the old animators (when they were still alive) admitted the cartoons they did weren't aimed at kids.

[omae no kaasan]

Dragon Ball/Z/GT was aimed directly at elementary school aged children with the accuracy of a sniper rifle.

It never changed its target audience. It was what it was.

Now a question for Americans, since when in the hell was anything wrong with liking a 'children's show'?

Freakazoid is one of the shortest and sweetest animated ventures to grace the USA but whispers of its legendary power are still whispered by the water cooler in cubicle-laiden offices of those lucky enough to have seen it.

"BUT Greg!!! It's VIOLENT!!!!!!1111"

Yeah? So? Violent instantly means adult? Just like American standards quickly change regarding what's appropriate or not, so have/do Japanese broadcast standards. Some of the more violent scenes in DB of exploding human heads and whatnot would not cut it today. But they did back then, just like an American cartoon character named Bosco who parodied Black people was perfectly fine back in the day. I watched Bosco back when I was a kid on Nickleodeon. Not anymore.

Face the facts. You like a kid's show. If you have a problem with it, then I highly consider whether you like DBZ because of how it defines you, or whether you think it's simply a kickass story.

[EricM]

I don't know what to think. Some stuff was very sexually mature. Stuff like Roshi always looking at porn, or all the scenes with Marron's large cleavage and skimpy bathing suit. Even in Japan I would expect a lot of parents not to approve of it.

[Super Sonic]

I don't know what to think. Some stuff was very sexually mature. Stuff like Roshi always looking at porn, or all the scenes with Marron's large cleavage and skimpy bathing suit. Even in Japan I would expect a lot of parents not to approve of it.

There was a time when "Red Hot Riding Hood" nowadays gets watched by kids, and it has a crap load of innuendo.

[Adamant]

To me it seems like the United States is the only place that regards animated series as "kid's stuff". Anyone over the age of 13 how likes these things gets looked down upon.

It's the same in Japan. Anime aimed at older audiences are seen as part of a geeky niche subculture (although one that's been in fashion lately because of the popularity of Densha Otoko). The only exceptions are a few "family" anime like Sazae-san.

Manga is different - most people read manga in Japan. However, manga is segregated into different magazines based on the age and gender of its target audience. (Admittedly, from my limited experience, quite a lot of young adult males read Shonen Jump.)

That's pretty much how it is in Norway as well - while you won't really get any comments for stumbling upon a Disney/Looney Tunes/Tom & Jerry short while zapping and deciding to watch it, actually following a serialzed cartoon series is not really considered normal. Comic books, on the other hand, everyone read those, and Disney comics are extremely popular among all ages.

Not really too much in the way of censoring, though - people can get shot to death or flash their breasts in the cartoon airing directly after the Teletubbies, and no one will really bat an eyelid. It's not considered a taboo here in the same way as the US (however, if the characters start having sex on-screen or chop each other's limbs off with swords, you'd get our show cancelled fairly quickly - stuff like South Park is required to air late at night so kids won't stumble upon it).

[Jerseymilk]

I don't know what to think. Some stuff was very sexually mature. Stuff like Roshi always looking at porn, or all the scenes with Marron's large cleavage and skimpy bathing suit. Even in Japan I would expect a lot of parents not to approve of it.

You have to realize that what Japan regards as harmless and funny is different. Remember it's a completely different culture. Heck they still consider "drunks" a very funny joke. Whereas in North America nowadays, we'd all say, "Hey that's not funny! Alcoholism is a disease and that man is an addict that needs rehab!" They still see it as, "Ha ha! Look at that silly lush!"

Same goes for sexual type humour. Dragonball isn't the only children's show to have it. There's a very perverse scene in Sailor Moon for example with Chibi Usa. She's looking to make friends and is in a park and spots a boy her age. If memory serves, she's no older than six. She begins talking to him and he proceeds to start singing a little song asking her if she wants to see his "elephant". Guess what his "elephant" is? Then he pulls his pants down and flashes her. His mother comes over and mildly scolds him and I stress "mildly", and drags him off.

Bathroom humour is also very popular as well. North America, is more "puritan" about that stuff. Naked bodies and farts are immoral! An ESL teacher I knew, who taught in Hokkaido for years used to cringe whenever she watched her preschool students play "kancho", but the other Japanese teachers, paid no attention or chuckled away at it. And just to let you know, "kancho"(now made a little more famous to Western audiences by Kakashi in Naruto) is a game played by little kids in which they chase one another around and poke their two index fingers up another's butt. Then they run away laughing and the process begins again.

As omae said, what is so criminal about admitting it's a kids' show that you're a fan of? In my opinion, absolutely nothing.

[caejones]

What bugs me is when I hear people say, "You're too old for that cartoon stuff! Watch <popularsitcomorseriousRratedmovie> instead like normal adults!" *Thwack*.

Yes, it's a kids' show. That appeals to many out-of-target-audience people, just like a lot of popular series.

And one of these days I'll believe myself when I say that nudity and porn are not the same. *Points to a certain episode of Rugrats*.

[Mystery Person X]

Same goes for sexual type humour. Dragonball isn't the only children's show to have it. There's a very perverse scene in Sailor Moon for example with Chibi Usa. She's looking to make friends and is in a park and spots a boy her age. If memory serves, she's no older than six. She begins talking to him and he proceeds to start singing a little song asking her if she wants to see his "elephant". Guess what his "elephant" is? Then he pulls his pants down and flashes her. His mother comes over and mildly scolds him and I stress "mildly", and drags him off.

Note that this scene is a reference to Crayon Shin-chan, an insanely popular series (it's been airing continuously for 15 years) where the main character, a small boy, often takes his pants down to show off his "little elephant" (with an elephant's head drawn around it). Only, unlike in that Sailor Moon scene, they actually show his little elephant on screen.

[Pieter]

Let's say the show is aimed for 13 year olds, that's around the time I first saw it, by the time you've finished watching all three shows you're well into your adult years :p

By the way, do the Dbz dvd's in Japan ever have pg-ratings?

[Jodaku]

I imagine Dragon Ball in Japan to be similar to my experince with The Lion King in the "west" in that I first watched TLK when I was 7 or 8 years old and loved it and now at the age of 21 I still consider it to be in my top 5 favourite films of all time. Although different in nature (one a film, and the other serial manga/anime), both DB and TLK are definitely aimed for kids (taking into account the cultural differences in their respective countries of origin), but both are material that have great stories, characters, humour and personailty that can be enjoyed by all ages and can stand the test of time.

[omae no kaasan]

Let's say the show is aimed for 13 year olds, that's around the time I first saw it, by the time you've finished watching all three shows you're well into your adult years :p

Let's not and say we didn't.

Because you saw it at 13 instantly means that the show was designed for 13-year olds? How ego-centric is that?

I believe Mike brought this up at one point but LOOK AT THE FUCKING COMMERCIALS PEOPLE!!!

Super Power Desk? You know who those desks are designed for right? Students entering elementary school. It's a customary/traditional gift from parents/grandparents the spring of a student's successful entry into elemetary school.

BUT THE CARD VIDEO GAMES!

Yeah, I can think of some other card games....like Pokemon.....or Yu Gi Oh.....or Digimon....

BUT THE TUNA COMMERCIALS!!!

Packed lunches prepped for Japanese elementary school children by their moms.

SB CHIPS!!!!!

A snack item popular in aforementioned school lunches.

SD GUNDAM!!!!

The only Japanese individuals that would admit to collecting SD Gundams either have serious issues or don't have pubic hair.

Denial is so ugly.

I don't know what to think. Some stuff was very sexually mature. Stuff like Roshi always looking at porn, or all the scenes with Marron's large cleavage and skimpy bathing suit. Even in Japan I would expect a lot of parents not to approve of it.

And how long have you studied Japanese language/society and lived/worked there to be able to make such an assumption?

DB is for kids but enjoyed by all. Get over it. It still kicked ass.

[Pieter]

Because you saw it at 13 instantly means that the show was designed for 13-year olds? How ego-centric is that?

I was just making an example, the fact that that's the age where I first saw it was simply a side-note (!).

I also asked about the pg-rating, maybe since you live in Japan you know if they even have one. Here they are 13+. It always seemed like common sense that pokemon for instance was certainly aimed at a younger audience than dragonball. There's a huge difference between the two.

Unfortunately I can't find the video clip of the Japanese Voltron in which kids and women are brutally cut to death by ghosts with scythes. I wanted to show it because no matter what age Japan shows are aimed at, it's always too young.

[omae no kaasan]

I also asked about the pg-rating, maybe since you live in Japan you know if they even have one. Here they are 13+.

There are no TV ratings in Japan.

It always seemed like common sense that pokemon for instance was certainly aimed at a younger audience than dragonball. There's a huge difference between the two.

Same audience.

Unfortunately I can't find the video clip of the Japanese Voltron in which kids and women are brutally cut to death by ghosts with scythes.

Well, they did have people vaprized and sickened by two atomic weapons and practice ritual suicide in high classes. Not to mention a figure as grotesque as Godzilla is the staple of children's entertainment here. Never look at things the way you think they should be because from Day 1, you've been brought up to think differently.

People seem to think American cartoons have a spit-clean record but you'll find that in many cartoons of the 80's and 90's there was plenty of violence, sexual innuendo and reference to alcohol, even in programs like Tiny Toon Adventures where they freely uttered "beer". But things have changed. Same in Japan.

There may exist a big gap in standards between the two countries even today, but that doesn't change whom the show was designed for.

[Super Sonic]

Unfortunately I can't find the video clip of the Japanese Voltron in which kids and women are brutally cut to death by ghosts with scythes. I wanted to show it because no matter what age Japan shows are aimed at, it's always too young.

Don't have the second set, but the first box set extras has clips of that while the American producers talked about it being one of the things they couldn't leave in.

[omae no kaasan]

It always seemed like common sense that pokemon for instance was certainly aimed at a younger audience than dragonball. There's a huge difference between the two.

I was wandering around Kawasaki City the other day while waiting for my girlfriend to get out of work when I stumbled upon the equivalent of a Fatality regarding this particular topic.

http://www.thegrandline.com/jp2006/dbpk.JPG

And yeah. There you have it. The 'difference' being one is on the right, and one is on the left.

[MisterFlashdude]

It always seemed like common sense that pokemon for instance was certainly aimed at a younger audience than dragonball. There's a huge difference between the two.

I was wandering around Kawasaki City the other day while waiting for my girlfriend to get out of work when I stumbled upon the equivalent of a Fatality regarding this particular topic.

http://www.thegrandline.com/jp2006/dbpk.JPG

And yeah. There you have it. The 'difference' being one is on the right, and one is on the left.

I love how the pokemon are all ' ' and the DBZ characters are all ' '.

[Chuquita]

If those were clicky pencils instead of the traditional wooden ones, I'd buy 'um. XD

[Vhanos]

I thought it wa for all ages.

[omae no kaasan]

DB can be enjoyed by all ages. It was made for kids.