What version did you start off with?

[thejeremymenace]

I started out catching bits of the Saiyan arc in the mid-nineties (on Kids! WB when that was still a thing).

I thought DBZ aired on the short live Toonami block on Kids! WB sometime after 1999? I remember watching the Fake Namek episode around that time.

I can't recall anything about that to be honest -- but when I saw it, it was before Toonami started showing it, I'm fairly sure.

[Polyphase Avatron]

The Ocean dub I think - one of the early English dubs on Toonami

[BojGrass]

I'm going to echo that I think it's awesome that some people got into this think because of Kai on Nicktoons! If anything is negative about it, it's just the fact that it makes me feel old. >_>

If we're talking DBZ specifically, I got into it with the original dub that was airing on Toonami. I remember picking it up around the point when Yajirobe was listing off his super hero team of the Z-Fighters that was going to save everyone to the news media while stuffing his face. I do remember being a kid at my grandmother's house and catching this weird cartoon with this kid going up against a pig that transformed to save a town. Had no idea it was related to DBZ until years later when I picked up the VHS box set that someone showed off earlier.

Random aside: hello my name is Boj, I've been in hiding for the last year. Glad to be back if even for just a moment. o.o;

Edit:

I started out catching bits of the Saiyan arc in the mid-nineties (on Kids! WB when that was still a thing).

I thought DBZ aired on the short live Toonami block on Kids! WB sometime after 1999? I remember watching the Fake Namek episode around that time.

Didn't they just show five episodes that were completely out of order?

[simtek34]

I grew up with Kai. I was on vacation in Germany when my cousins had Burst Limit for PS3. I didn't really play it though. When we came back in the fall of 2010. I went downstairs to watch 4kids on tv, when I saw Dragon Ball Z Kai. It was the one where Nappa and Venegta were planting the Saibamen. Then, in March 2011, I went to Virginia during Spring Break I saw Episode 63 of Kai. (Fun Fact: That was the last Yamamoto episode on tv, because the show went on a 2 month hiatus before they got the Kikuchi episodes.) My cousin had the Kid Bui Funimation Singles, then I got confused. Then me and my cousin were arguing for Z and Kai. Then I was on Nicktoons.com a lot of the time then I hit the hiatus point. I needed more Kai! So I started watching the Japaneese version (Illegally. I was 7 then) and I loved it. I still watched On 4kids and Nicktoons.com I also watched DBZ Free the future, and the other world tournament saga. Then Nicktoons showed the movies. Still love the movie US opening, then they got GT... Then Buu Kai, then Battle of Gods with"Bills", then vortex then I watched a lot more JP, Then the trailer for that new movie and the worst wish and watched the Baby Saga on Nicktoons, I can still hear buy calling out "Hercule" before he fused with Uub. I started to fade away from dragon ball, occasionally searching for buu Kai English sometimes. Then this year, I came back in, watched resurrection f, all of Funi dragon Ball, all of JP Kai,All of super, except for the FnF saga, watched fusion reborn in Japanese and English, GT In English with the Japanese music, and the rest is history.

[404FILENOTFOUND]

I think I have an interesting one. I got into Dragon Ball Z through some videos of the Japanese audio with English fansubs that my older brother had burned through a CD in the early 2000s. It had old music videos such as that one with when worlds collide and Fusion Reborn with another video just being a clip of Goku teaching Goten and Trunks the fusion dance. There was more but I can't remember :/

[dario03]

Harmony Gold dub of DB. Though it was only a couple of episodes and that spliced movie. After that a few episodes of the Funi DB dub, but it was the DBZ dub with the Ocean cast when I really got into it. Or more so that's the version that actually got popular so was available.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Harmony Gold dub of DB. Though it was only a couple of episodes and that spliced movie. After that a few episodes of the Funi DB dub, but it was the DBZ dub with the Ocean cast when I really got into it. Or more so that's the version that actually got popular so was available.

Wow, I cant believe the extraordinary circumstances required for this.

[ゴクウブラック]

It's amazing hearing how you guys got into the series

Something about first exposure stories just make me smile y'know?

[Danfun64]

Japanese with subs mixed with DBZ Abridged...long before that was the over 9000 meme and Super Mario Bros Z... didn't really get into Dragon Ball proper until a couple years ago...

[samuraix123]

I got into Ocean when it started airing on Toonami many moons ago. haha

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

LatAm dub of DBZ, I believe it was the filler episode of Gohan training in the Saiyan Arc where he meets an abandoned robot, this was back in 2003 via Cartoon Network.

[Cure Dragon 255]

OMG that's so cute I love that episode. I have always liked you but I love you now!

[Esfír Dedragón]

It was more than likely the Latin American dub during the late 90's

Initially, I saw the commercials for the show but eventually saw a few episodes from different sagas, raging from when Goku was little to when he grew up. The earliest ones I can remember were probably when the Z-Fighters were being beat up by Android 17 and 18, Future Trunks killing Frieza, and WereMonkey Vegeta crushing Goku. I don't remember the exact order in which I saw these episodes.

[Hellspawn28]

It's amazing hearing how you guys got into the series

Something about first exposure stories just make me smile y'know?

I remember when I used to go on Dragon Ball forums back in 2001-2005 that it was way different on what version people would start with. I remember a lot of people said that they saw the series in Japanese first before the English dub while others say the Ocean Voice cast dub from 1996-1998. I remember most of them where fans long before I was and I always felt embarrass by it at the time. The fan sub era fans seem to die out by 2006 and you rarely see them now these days.

[Cipher]

I grew up with Kai. I was on vacation in Germany when my cousins had Burst Limit for PS3. I didn't really play it though. When we came back in the fall of 2010. I went downstairs to watch 4kids on tv, when I saw Dragon Ball Z Kai. It was the one where Nappa and Venegta were planting the Saibamen. Then, in March 2011, I went to Virginia during Spring Break I saw Episode 63 of Kai. (Fun Fact: That was the last Yamamoto episode on tv, because the show went on a 2 month hiatus before they got the Kikuchi episodes.) My cousin had the Kid Bui Funimation Singles, then I got confused. Then me and my cousin were arguing for Z and Kai. Then I was on Nicktoons.com a lot of the time then I hit the hiatus point. I needed more Kai! So I started watching the Japaneese version (Illegally. I was 7 then) and I loved it. I still watched On 4kids and Nicktoons.com I also watched DBZ Free the future, and the other world tournament saga. Then Nicktoons showed the movies. Still love the movie US opening, then they got GT... Then Buu Kai, then Battle of Gods with"Bills", then vortex then I watched a lot more JP, Then the trailer for that new movie and the worst wish and watched the Baby Saga on Nicktoons, I can still hear buy calling out "Hercule" before he fused with Uub. I started to fade away from dragon ball, occasionally searching for buu Kai English sometimes. Then this year, I came back in, watched resurrection f, all of Funi dragon Ball, all of JP Kai,All of super, except for the FnF saga, watched fusion reborn in Japanese and English, GT In English with the Japanese music, and the rest is history.

I just want to say, it's cool to see younger fans with such a different introduction into the series than most of us in the twenty-something age range got. Especially one that had you seeking out the Japanese version so quickly (not to mention it was actually easily available to you!).

It'll be wild to see this generation of casual U.S. fans come back to the series in a few years.

The 2008 JSAT special is what got me into DB. I loved the Kikuchi score so much that I decided I need to watch this just for the music. Then I started from the beginning thanks to my brother or else I would've also skipped the first half of the series like many fans do. Within 2-3 eps I fell in love with Son Gokuu's character and rest is history. Everything in JPN(original) version not to mention.

- Travis

While not quite the experience of a casual viewer in any decade of the series' history in the U.S., I also really enjoy hearing about people who were recently exposed to it and watched the entire thing in Japanese in chronological order. You're actually the only other person I know of who's had this experience, and the other is someone I personally introduced the series to and watched it with.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

I too was introduced through Kai on nicktoons. Then it was GT eng dub, then Dragonball manga (viz), then Boo arc via DVD, I bounced all over the place until i experienced everything in some form.

[DBS916]

I was introduced to the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z thanks to Toonami. Back then I was shocked to see to it because how fast paced and all the martial arts portrayed within the show. That's when I feel in love with the show.

[Shiyonasan]

I was introduced through the Funimation dub back in 1999 on Toonami in the US. Pretty sure it was the popular Funi dub that a lot of American fans are accustomed to, but it had JUST transitioned into that dub from the Ocean dub.

[Steven Bloodriver]

I only remember seeing Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball Z for the first time on Cartoon Network too, but I hate it how the FCC decided to slowly take away all the shows worth watching on television and left us with poorly-made programming that forced me to pretty much stop watching TV almost completely for years now.

[floofychan333]

I started with FUNimation's dub of the original Dragon Ball in May 2015. Still watching now (I'm on the Other World Tournament of Z)