Dragon Ball Thoughts of Others

[Kamedak]

Whenever Dragonball is mentioned in the presence of my other anime-loving friends I usually hear a response like, "Eeeeeeeeeeewwww!" When of course it obvious they've never even really seen the show.

This is what bothers me more than the "outsiders" expressing their disapproval of the series. The anime community in America is extremely "trendy." To but it bluntly (and I mean no offense to anyone here, we are all DB fans afterall^^), it consists of nerds and unaccepted geeks who cling to trends and thrive for acceptance in their niche community. To put it simply: "Other anime fans don't like DBZ, so I don't like it either." They just want to fit in their "group" really, this is the reasoning I have seen in the anime fanbase today in America from my experiences.

I knew many people in High School who loved Dragonball, and I was close friends with a number of them. Today I rarely see them, their complete 360 turnaround of their opinion on DB and Toriyama is funny really. I hear jokes and groundless complaints about the series from these once "hardcore" fans. I have called one of them out on it in a "group" of anime fans and he was uncomfortable with it from what I could tell.

I am seeing the same thing happening with Naruto in many ways. When it was "cool" and niche the hardcore ate it up, but once it went mainstream these once lovers of the series turn on it. As you can likely already tell, I have a strong dislike for the majority of current anime fans in America.

[GizmoKSX]

I am seeing the same thing happening with Naruto in many ways. When it was "cool" and niche the hardcore ate it up, but once it went mainstream these once lovers of the series turn on it.

Happens with music, too. People love to be in on "underground" acts, but dismiss them as soon as they get mainstream appeal. It's like you have to wear a flak jacket when you say you like Metallica in a crowd of hardcore metalheads.
"Just the old stuff, right?"
"No, I think Load is a great album."
"*insert inane 1337 babble*"

[Jerseymilk]

Oh yes that happens all the time. First it was DBZ, then it was Naruto, then after that Naruto was a "loser anime" and Bleach and FMA were superior. Now I'm slowly starting to see people saying the *exact* same things about those two that were said about DBZ and Naruto. The trendy ones now are Death Note and The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. I predict next it will be insulting Death Note in favour of D. Grayman. Seriously, anime fandom is so predictable at times it's pathetic. -_-

[DemonKingPiccolo]

Well, we all know that everyone here is a Dragon Ball fan. Anyway, I'm in 8th grade and I like Dragon Ball, yet I don't seem to be "accepted" for that unless I am with my friends. They all think of it as a cartoon.

One time, I asked a friend if he liked Dragon Ball Z. He said no, because it was "for little kids." Also, I was bringing some Dragon Ball manga to school to let someone borrow, and one of my bastard friends says sarcastically, "Wow that's some good reading material," and he later compared it to shows like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh.

This easily relates to why I hate the companies that ruin anime. I believe that it's because of them for making anime fans have such a bad reputation.

Does anybody here have similar problems?

Where have I seen your name before? ~.^

Anyway, I'm a 20 year old chick and I love Dragon Ball. You should show them the adult material in the manga and then ask them, "Now do you think it's for little kids?"

Show them the one where Bulma lifts up her nightshirt for Roshi to see her "underwear", which actually turned out to be......NOTHING!!

Or you can just show them my tribute to Roshi on YouTube. I'll PM you the link.

[Conan the SSJ]

Or you can just show them my tribute to Roshi on YouTube. I'll PM you the link.

Why not just post the link? :p

Anywho, being a 23 year old (going on 24 this month) law school student, I still don't attempt to shun away my feelings of the series if someone asks things I'm into. Much like a lot of you have said, if they think it's for kids, I'll show 'em Yamcha and Tenshinhan being brutalized in the Pendulum room. Or something like Kuririn being gored.

[GizmoKSX]

Yeah, when I run across people that think the show is for kids, I'll make them watch the scene from DBGT where Pan flies up to golden oozaru Goku and shows him a photo. Nothing helps to convince people of your maturity like cartoons about girls flying up to giant, golden, insane apes, showing them family photos, and saying, "Grandpa, remember our time at the beach?"

[Slickmasterfunk]

You see this is weird for me, I'm almost 21 and in college so when I was in 8th grade DBZ was in it's crazy popular phase here in the U.S. So pretty much all of my friends watched it and loved it. It was a few years later and up until now that I run into people who scoff at me for enjoying it. Funny thing is, these are the people who used to love it just as much as I did! Anyhoo, I don't let it bother me, people like what they like. "To each his own".

[Bomber Greek]

Well, we all know that everyone here is a Dragon Ball fan. Anyway, I'm in 8th grade and I like Dragon Ball, yet I don't seem to be "accepted" for that unless I am with my friends. They all think of it as a cartoon.

One time, I asked a friend if he liked Dragon Ball Z. He said no, because it was "for little kids." Also, I was bringing some Dragon Ball manga to school to let someone borrow, and one of my bastard friends says sarcastically, "Wow that's some good reading material," and he later compared it to shows like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh.

This easily relates to why I hate the companies that ruin anime. I believe that it's because of them for making anime fans have such a bad reputation.

Does anybody here have similar problems?

Where have I seen your name before? ~.^

Anyway, I'm a 20 year old chick and I love Dragon Ball. You should show them the adult material in the manga and then ask them, "Now do you think it's for little kids?"

Show them the one where Bulma lifts up her nightshirt for Roshi to see her "underwear", which actually turned out to be......NOTHING!!

Or you can just show them my tribute to Roshi on YouTube. I'll PM you the link.

Thanks. I saw it.

I can't think of anywhere I you would have seen my name. The only thing I use it for is this place and my email.

[jjgp1112]

The people I hate the most are the internet reviewers who relentlessly bash DBZ for ridiculous reasons because "They've been exosed to better anime."

[Brakus]

I think I might have you all beat... I'm twenty-twelve (do the math), and I like Dragonball and DBZ. It was thanks mostly to this website and their podcast that I got into DB/Z in the first place.

I used to be one of those haters. I mean, I used to have an extreme dislike for anything DB/Z related. I used to make fun of people who dressed up like Goku and wore DBZ shirts at the arcade. I had an irrational feeling of superiority for liking more "grown-up" stuff like Trigun and Cowboy Bebop and Fullmetal Alchemist.

After attending an Otakon a few years ago where I'd made a snide comment about too many DBZ AMVs being made, someone told me to "oh, shut up". I'm pretty sure it may have been Mike LaBrie sitting in the audience (I know for sure he wasn't on the panel). Later on, after they showed the AMV "This is DBZ Life" at the panel (and being utterly dazzled by it), I thought about it, and decided to myself, "Maybe I should open my mind up about this. Is this Dragonball Z really worth all the hype?"

I found this website, got a few discs for very cheap, and checked it out. I liked what I saw. I sort of understood why some people didn't like it in English, but I liked it anyway because I figured this was a kid's show, and most characters in kid's shows talk that way. (Yeah, some people say it's stupid and kiddyish, and others point to certain points in the manga/anime and say "not really" but when all is said and done, DB/Z was -- and still is -- a kid's show!) I checked some episodes out in Japanese, and I started to appreciate the show from Mike & Meri's point of view. Thanks to them, and this website, I have a much greater appreciation for DB/Z in both Japanese and English.

Most anime fans are pretty protective of the shows they like and will take down any other shows they don't like. A lot of anime fans are very trendy, as it were. They're big into the hot things like Bleach and Death Note and Lucky Star (Haruhi is still big, but it's starting to get that "it's so one year ago" stigma), and won't even give any other show a second thought. I myself still like Trigun, I still adore Cowboy Bebop, and I absolutely love FMA, but there are other anime series that deserve some of my time and money. Thanks to this website, DB/Z is now one of those series.

I think that any age would be good for some mind-opening, and they should see DB/Z for more than the "endless staring matches" and "eternal death matches" and such. DB/Z is a very good series. If I could have my mind changed from a Dragonball hater to a Dragonball admirer, others should have that same opportunity.

Bottom line - don't knock it 'til you've tried it. You might be very surprised at the results.

[Kaboom]

(Haruhi is still big, but it's starting to get that "it's so one year ago" stigma)

Best description of anything I've read all week.

[caejones]

I think I might have you all beat... I'm twenty-twelve (do the math), and I like Dragonball and DBZ.

I'd say something, but Jersey would... kill me or something. ^_^


You know, your post actually made me remember what I forgot during this whole discussion (what with being all pissed off about the "you're too old to watch cartoons; but you'renot too old to be told what you can and can't like" stuff...)...
And that goes back to Mike's answer to why he likes the series... and I think he well sums up why DB/Z sticks out as one of the classics with universal appeal... no, it's not the serious angst dilemma of the week drama anime (But I do like FMA..)... it's something else entirely that ... well... owns all our base.

[Jerseymilk]

I think I might have you all beat... I'm twenty-twelve (do the math), and I like Dragonball and DBZ.

I'd say something, but Jersey would... kill me or something. ^_^

Why does everyone assume I'll get mad if they say my age? 0.0

[caejones]

It was... umm... a joke... yeah... I ... joke too much... Hehehehe...
Sorry.

[Jerseymilk]

It was... umm... a joke... yeah... I ... joke too much... Hehehehe...
Sorry.

Oh no, no don't be sorry. I was seriously wondering. ^^;

[Hero 004]

I can imagine that kids in middle school would give fans a hard time. Just because at that stage of adolecence many are struggling to be cool and since a bunch of kids might be at the point where they are just now stopping to watch Cartoon Network and what not, it is seen as "un-cool".

Once people grow older and mature, they are able to realize that Dragon Ball means a lot to certain grown up people and even though it is not their thing, they understand and respect that it has qualities beyond being a cartoon that appeal to people, thus causing them to like it from child hood to adult hood.

Dragon Ball has appeal to kids and it's supposed to, that's when I got into it. But because I have grown up with it and still like it, people who know me well understand that if I've liked it for this long, it's got to have meaning and qualities beyond just a saturday morning cartoon.

When someone chuckles at the intrest of Dragon Ball, I'm anything but embarrased, I'm thinking "Aren't you a little old for or past making fun of people's intrests", because there really is no logical reason to be making fun of Dragon Ball. I hate to be Doctor Phil-ish, but it just means they are insecure and for some reason feel that they need to poke at someone.

It gets better, Bomber Greek, don't let it get to you.

[SaiyamanMS]

I never really got any flak for liking DBZ, however I did with Pokemon (and funnily enough, everyone who gave me flak had actually loved the series when it was 'cool').

I remember one time, a friend of mine was like "Seriously dude, Pokemon's so old now, why don't you move on to something else?" and I replied "Well, you're even older than Pokemon, are you suggesting that you're not worth hanging out with?" he accepted it immediately.

By my last years of high school, everyone was cool with it, sometimes I'd even have guys come and talk with me about the latest Pokemon GBA games or the episode they managed to catch that morning.