Just how well known is Dragon Ball/Z with the general public?

[DBZAOTA482]

I like to believe it's still big with the average folks but I'm not sure. I don't go out of my way to talk to people about it.

Does anyone else know?

[VegettoEX]

I'm not exactly sure how you'd quantify an answer like that. All we could really do is give anecdotal evidence from various conversations we've all had, which at the very least would represent a pretty far-reaching and diverse group of age ranges and locations.

I'd say I'm surprised by the roughly greater than 50% of folks I speak to who, if/when it happens to come up, know what it is on even more than a cursory level.

[sintzu]

I'd say out of every 10, 6-7 would at the very least know it's a thing.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

In my experience its a mixed bag. I've talked to a lot of people who have never heard of it as all. I've talked to people who have heard of it but are only know a few vague (a friend I recommended it to asked about the main characters not being human).

I think with Super ongoing and gaining traction in most western countries and fantasy and action being more commonplace in film and TV we will see it being better known to the general public over time. Fans of Game of Thrones and Marvel I've spoken to would be more likely to have heard of Dragon Ball as they would be more open minded to fictional stories and super powered warriors, but then there are people who don't watch that kind of content who haven't a clue about the series' existence or heard a reference to it and just forgot because it sounded ridiculous and silly to them.

In general though I would say maybe 35-50% of people I know have some level of awareness about the franchise, and maybe 7% have watched or read the series and enjoyed it to an extent.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

Anime/Manga as a whole is still sadly not even nearly as popular or well known as live action. My college friends except one or two barely know anything about animation works.

Some of the younger generation know about stuff like Pocket Monsters through video games and toys, but that's about it.

Dragon Ball, since it's revival and especially now has become a franchise with merchandise selling as it's primary success factor, so I'd say the younger generation might've heard about it at least.

[floofychan333]

It depends on who you're talking to. The people I know in their early 20s and late teens know DB super well, though people older than that who don't have any involvement with comics and nerd culture don't know it exists. People my age know of Dragon Ball (but almost exclusively hate it), while very few people younger than 13 or so know of Dragon Ball at all.

[Hellspawn28]

I feel like most people know about Dragon Ball by name only. They remember it was a popular kids show like Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, Rugrats, Transformers and Pokemon was. My mom still remembers DBZ, but she never watch it. Anyone in their mid-late 20's and early 30's probably grew up with DBZ on Toonami. The younger people probably know about it from Nick Toons or currently Super on TV.

[precita]

I think more people would have known back in the early 2000's when it was a fad in the U.S. and aired everyday on Cartoon Network and had toys in stores and everything. Nowadays the series is probably a bit more obscure to people who didn't know about it before. There's a big difference between 2017 and the year 2000 for example...especially since back then social media did not exist and people watched things on TV. Even youtube didn't come out till 2005 which was after DBZ's dubbed run was already over.

[SaiyanGod117]

It's still extremely well known, it's referenced in pop culture multiple times and on social media. The games also sell pretty well and the the mobile app (Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle) regularly stays in the top ten for the App Store and Google Play. Just last month, it was the top-grossing app and a lot of people at my school know what it is too, and it crashes Crunchyroll every time a new episode launches. Even if some people don't watch the anime, the games are relatively well known, they probably caught a glimpse of it at stores. Or word of mouth which spreads around quickly. You don't have to be someone who's in their 20s to mid 30s to know about Dragon Ball.

[ABED]

I think a lot of people have heard about it. I wouldn't consider it a mainstream success, but it's not nearly as niche as most anime, though not as popular as Pokémon, but that's conjecture.

[Boo Machine]

Unlike with, say, Bugs bunny or Superman, I feel if I go up to a random person and ask who Goku is, there is a good chance they will not know. As popular as Dragonball is I don't think it's THAT popular among most of the population of the planet. At least as far as I can tell

[Bullza]

It's something I'd think was somewhat well known amongst people in their teens and in their 20's.

Anything older than your 30's and they're not likely to have a clue what is at all. If I went up to some 50 year old woman on the street and asked her what Dragon Ball Z she wouldn't have clue.

I recently went to New York on holiday and most days I wore the same Orange Gi Goku T-Shirt and I had quite a few comments on it but again mostly from people in their 20's and mostly black people. I went in a GameStop and there was a big Goku cardboard cutout.

It's definitely more well known than most people here would probably think it was. Videos on YouTube get millions upon millions of views, it charts high on Google Trends, movies released in a few dozen countries, games that sell millions around the world, references in movies/cartoons and TV shows, there's celebrities who are fans etc.

As far as anime goes it's almost surely the most well known after Pokemon. Compared to western comic series it's obviously not as well known as Superman or Batman or Spider-man though.

[ABED]

I think people in their 50s and older have heard of DB, but they probably haven't seen much if any of it.

[DBZAOTA482]

I think people in their 50s and older have heard of DB, but they probably haven't seen much if any of it.

My parents know about it (even if just through DBZ) and they're well into their 50's. In fact, DBZ and Pokemon are pretty much the only anime they know.

[MajinMan]

I'd say it depends on age. If the person is 18-40, there's probably like a 90% chance he or she has at least heard of Dragon Ball. Younger than 18 is tricky, but probably still around like 70%, maybe a bit less. Over 40 I would say around 40%. These are estimates I think are fairly accurate, but this is only taking in account the US. I'm sure in Japan pretty much every single person knows Dragon Ball.

[Cipher]

In the U.S., very, but for the wrong reasons.

In Japan, very and for the right reasons.

Anything older than your 30's and they're not likely to have a clue what is at all. If I went up to some 50 year old woman on the street and asked her what Dragon Ball Z she wouldn't have clue.

In this thread: A very skewed perception of how old people in their early thirties are. When you're in the second half of your twenties, you start having friends in their thirties and there's no noticeable difference.

[precita]

It really depends if you were around for the huge anime fad in the U.S. which went from roughly 1997-2005. Dragonball Z and tons of other anime were huge back then. Anyone who was too young or wasn't around back then probably has no idea what DBZ was like when it had "fad status" in the U.S. It was just short of Pokemon level.

[ThatFanaticJackatoo]

Almost everyone at my school has at least heard of Dragon Ball Z. Plus at my local mall you can find DBZ posters and shirts

[Forgotten Hero]

I was surprised to find a lot of my co-workers grew up on DBZ on Toonami. It's always fun to make some work friends with the Piccolo fan. I introduced one of my supervisors to DBZ Abridged and he's addicted. I'll even see memes on Facebook from people I haven't seen in years or from people I've recently made an acquaintance with. There's a potential romantic interest who wants to watch the series together. As Vegetto EX said it's hard to tell how well know the franchise is with the general public; however, I've been pleasantly surprised with the level of knowledge my colleges and peers have of Dragon Ball.

[DragonBallLove]

Here in Peru everyone knows who Goku is. Dragon Ball itself as a franchise, perhaps not so much, insofar many people calls the show "Goku". But a general awareness of the thing is pervasive, comparing only to Pikachu and perhaps akin to Superman, Spiderman, Bugs Bunny or Billy Bat... I mean, Mickey Mouse.