Does the original Dragonball need a reboot?

[8000 Saiyan]

I don't really see any need for one. It's good enough as it is.

[Yuli Ban]

That still though doesn't stop it from occasionally making a stray riff on Journey every now and again later on.

Or Son Goku challenging the gods (though not necessarily for dominance). Or Son Goku having loads and loads of transformations (we're still pretty far from him having 72 of them, but Heroes will make up the difference).

[SuperSaiyanPan]

The OG Dragon Ball is a masterpiece on it's own. A "Recut" or "Reboot" would ruin it. Also about what the OP said about the "Adult Themes" this was made in the mid-late 1980s and was broadcast in the United States in the mid 1990s. The OP mentioned it not being appropriate for the modern audience. Well back in the 1980s this stuff was and honestly today still a common theme. As for American audiences this stuff started to air just before the late 1990s, which was a different time for the USA.

This is the era where the WWE was formerly the WWF and the Attitude Era which had some of the most shocking and sexually suggestive things I've ever seen on TV. So as for Dragon Ball not being appropriate for the modern audience I have to disagree since it was made back in that era and today's anime still has such shocking themes.

Hence an anime that was dubbed in the last few years where the underlying theme was a girl constantly having an orgasm and made cookies out of her juices and fed them to a guy she was after.

[DBZAOTA482]

It's easy to say with retrospect that the Z portion of the story made Dragon Ball the cultural phenomenon that it is and that it wouldn't have reached the same heights of popularity

Common misconception there.

In actual fact, Dragon Ball was always pretty big. In fact, by quite a wide margin, the early run of the DB anime had the highest ratings the franchise has ever had, and quite consistently at that.

It's not really a misconception. Z was always the big dog of the franchise even in Japan.

Anyways, Dragon Ball doesn't really need a reboot. Like others said it isn't nearly as drawn out as Z (only RRA comes close to that level) and it's filler is better integrated into the story plus it's English dub is still pretty decent by today's standards.

[Robo4900]

It's easy to say with retrospect that the Z portion of the story made Dragon Ball the cultural phenomenon that it is and that it wouldn't have reached the same heights of popularity

Common misconception there.

In actual fact, Dragon Ball was always pretty big. In fact, by quite a wide margin, the early run of the DB anime had the highest ratings the franchise has ever had, and quite consistently at that.

It's not really a misconception. Z was always the big dog of the franchise even in Japan.

Any chance you want to attempt to refute what I've said, or are you just going to leave that to stand as basically just a "No, you're wrong" with nothing else behind it?

Anyways, Dragon Ball doesn't really need a reboot. Like others said it isn't nearly as drawn out as Z (only RRA comes close to that level) and it's filler is better integrated into the story plus it's English dub is still pretty decent by today's standards.

The dub sucks just as bad as the Z dub. People are just easier on it because it doesn't have an awful replacement score, and people just tend to focus their criticisms more on the easier targets of the Z and GT dubs.

But doing a modern remake/reboot/Kai-ification just for the purpose of redubbing would be silly IMO.

[Michsi]

Need? No. Would I'd like one. If done right, sure!

As far the sexual humor is concerned, I also think it would be a good idea to find a way to tone it down. Not remove it completely, as I suspect that would elicit more fandom drama than keeping it there, but not add more of those types of scenes like the original anime series did.
Even if raunchy humor still persists in anime, I can't remember seeing something like an old man asking a teenager sexual favors in recent times. And remember, those type of shows often are for niche audiences and have a pretty late time slot.

[emperior]

It doesn’t need it, and if they did it I fear they would ruin it with stupid censorship because parents can’t accept their kids seeing perverted jokes or people bleeding even though they watched such things as kids themselves.
But if they could do a reboot following Toriyama’s manga panel per panel, dialogue for dialogue, also following the art style changes, then I wouldn’t be against it at all.

[DBZAOTA482]

Any chance you want to attempt to refute what I've said, or are you just going to leave that to stand as basically just a "No, you're wrong" with nothing else behind it?

Well you only mentioned ratings so there wasn't much to refute but video games, retail, and overall marketing shows that Z is the one rakes in the money.

The dub sucks just as bad as the Z dub. People are just easier on it because it doesn't have an awful replacement score, and people just tend to focus their criticisms more on the easier targets of the Z and GT dubs.

But doing a modern remake/reboot/Kai-ification just for the purpose of redubbing would be silly IMO.

The Z dub is filled with weird discrepancies and objectively bad practices that aren't used anymore. The DB and (to a lesser extent) GT dubs aren't nearly as bad in that respect.

[Robo4900]

Well you only mentioned ratings so there wasn't much to refute but video games, retail, and overall marketing shows that Z is the one rakes in the money.

Z is the more marketable series for Toei =/= DB is significantly less popular than Z.

The Z dub is filled with weird discrepancies and objectively bad practices that aren't used anymore. The DB and (to a lesser extent) GT dubs aren't nearly as bad in that respect.

How do you figure?

[coola]

I wouldnt worry about censoring sexual humor, as there is still plenty of it nowadays Problem is, it would still be made by Toei, and it is Russian roulette with that company, it could be really good reboot, or half baked attempt, oth animation and story wise.

[KBABZ]

Anyways, Dragon Ball doesn't really need a reboot. Like others said it isn't nearly as drawn out as Z

Isn't it weird how we can talk about rebooting only half of a story rather than the entirety of it?

[Kunzait_83]

The Z dub is filled with weird discrepancies and objectively bad practices that aren't used anymore. The DB and (to a lesser extent) GT dubs aren't nearly as bad in that respect.

Oh yes they are. Original DB and GT dubs are more than chock full of drastically rewritten dialogue that heavily alters the story and basic characterizations in numerous areas. Again, as was noted before, they just don't get as much hyper-focus and scrutiny by fandom due to, I would argue at least, a general fixation on Z at the expense of the other series.

Just because people don't quite as often talk about how the GT dub tries even MORE to attempt to rework Goku as a superhero than Z's dub did or highlight how original DB went almost as much out of its way as Z did to secularize and demystify its more overtly Eastern religious/Buddhist elements, doesn't mean that those issues aren't still very much present.

The idea that the FUNimation dub actually "got better" as it went along, I have long argued, is overall largely a myth. The same general problems with specifically writing/translation, voice acting/casting, and overall presentation and creative approach have plagued it from start to finish, with only a very brief semi-reprieve from them in the earlier portions of Kai (and even that was kind of half-assed in itself, trying to split the difference between being an "accurate" dub and still remaining at least somewhat sort-of faithful to the nostalgia of the Toonami audience, ultimately not really satisfying either extreme).

[KBABZ]

The Z dub is filled with weird discrepancies and objectively bad practices that aren't used anymore. The DB and (to a lesser extent) GT dubs aren't nearly as bad in that respect.

Oh yes they are. Original DB and GT dubs are more than chock full of drastically rewritten dialogue that heavily alters the story and basic characterizations in numerous areas. Again, as was noted before, they just don't get as much hyper-focus and scrutiny by fandom due to, I would argue at least, a general fixation on Z at the expense of the other series.

Just because people don't quite as often talk about how the GT dub tries even MORE to attempt to rework Goku as a superhero than Z's dub did or highlight how original DB went almost as much out of its way as Z did to secularize and demystify its more overtly Eastern religious/Buddhist elements, doesn't mean that those issues aren't still very much present.

The idea that the FUNimation dub actually "got better" as it went along, I have long argued, is overall largely a myth. The same general problems with specifically writing/translation, voice acting/casting, and overall presentation and creative approach have plagued it from start to finish, with only a very brief semi-reprieve from them in the earlier portions of Kai (and even that was kind of half-assed in itself, trying to split the difference between being an "accurate" dub and still remaining at least somewhat sort-of faithful to the nostalgia of the Toonami audience, ultimately not really satisfying either extreme).

Personally, from my "grew up with the DB dub first" perspective, I think there in an improvement in how the performances are actually delivered (ignoring the inaccuracy of the performances themselves, obviously). Obviously I'm not trying to say that they supplant the Japanese dub (I don't have the first-hand experience to make that claim), but I'd much rather listen to the dub of the original anime than try to put up with the voicing attempts in the Saiyan and Namek arcs. In case it needs to be said, this is not speaking for the actual script of said dub.

[ABED]

They are full of them, but overall, I do think, having seen the dub with subtitles on and comparing the two, there was a moderate increase in accuracy. It went from an F for DBZ to a D in DB.

It was more than a small reprieve with Kai. It was far better. Yes, there are still issues but the overall accuracy is far greater and much better than you're giving it credit for.

The best reason to reboot something is if there's still an idea that hasn't been exhausted, but the timeline/canon, etc. is too convoluted. That or it was an idea that was poorly executed. DB was well executed and I would argue that the story has been exhausted.

[Kunzait_83]

How about this then: setting Kai aside (since that's something of a rabbit hole in itself) while small, incremental refinements in the dub were made, they overall don't amount to NEARLY the degree of substantive improvement that is too often accredited to them. An F to to a D for example, while technically an improvement, its overall still not really anything that's worth writing home about or celebrating as a significant accomplishment.

[ABED]

How about this then: setting Kai aside (since that's something of a rabbit hole in itself) while small, incremental refinements in the dub were made, they overall don't amount to NEARLY the degree of substantive improvement that is too often accredited to them. An F to to a D for example, while technically an improvement, its overall still not really anything that's worth writing home about or celebrating as a significant accomplishment.

Agreed. That's it. I have nothing else to add.

[MasenkoHA]

The Z dub is filled with weird discrepancies and objectively bad practices that aren't used anymore. The DB and (to a lesser extent) GT dubs aren't nearly as bad in that respect.

Oh yes they are. Original DB and GT dubs are more than chock full of drastically rewritten dialogue that heavily alters the story and basic characterizations in numerous areas. Again, as was noted before, they just don't get as much hyper-focus and scrutiny by fandom due to, I would argue at least, a general fixation on Z at the expense of the other series.

Just because people don't quite as often talk about how the GT dub tries even MORE to attempt to rework Goku as a superhero than Z's dub did or highlight how original DB went almost as much out of its way as Z did to secularize and demystify its more overtly Eastern religious/Buddhist elements, doesn't mean that those issues aren't still very much present.

The idea that the FUNimation dub actually "got better" as it went along, I have long argued, is overall largely a myth. The same general problems with specifically writing/translation, voice acting/casting, and overall presentation and creative approach have plagued it from start to finish, with only a very brief semi-reprieve from them in the earlier portions of Kai (and even that was kind of half-assed in itself, trying to split the difference between being an "accurate" dub and still remaining at least somewhat sort-of faithful to the nostalgia of the Toonami audience, ultimately not really satisfying either extreme).

While I’m not about to argue that GT was better (I would argue it’s actually worse because Funimation should have known better by 2004) Dragon Ball was, at the very least, “better” than Z and GT. Keeping the music from the beginning, getting an appropriate narrator, and not trying to turn Goku into Superman goes a long way in at least keeping the “essence” of the show.

Make no mistake. Dragon Ball is still not a good dub. The dialog tended to be way off sometimes screwing up plot points (Goku remembering a promise he never made in the dub being the biggest offender) they still refuse to talk about Ki/Chi (which is still a problem in Kai) or acknowledge Piccolo is a demon instead already treating him as an alien (also a problem that persisted in the era of Kai) and they had this bizarre fetish for down playing the sexualize dialog even when they’re forced to keep it in due to the visual elements. But it is a better dub than DBZ and DBGT not as bad. But a low D isn’t much better than a F.

I can watch Dragon Ball dubbed. I can’t stomach Z and GT nowadays.

[MasenkoHA]

Personally, from my "grew up with the DB dub first" perspective, I think there in an improvement in how the performances are actually delivered (ignoring the inaccuracy of the performances themselves, obviously).

The performances are about on par with the Buu saga due to being dubbed at the same time. Which is better than Namek and Android/Cell but worse than what came after.

Nadolny is more suited to play Kid Goku than Kid/Not a teen Gohan but her performance is still pretty atrocious.

Honestly most of the performances in Dragon Ball are bad with Mike Mcfarland doing the best of the main cast in my opinion. And Chris Sabat’s Piccolo Jr coming out okay (his King Piccolo is terrible) but they’re not unlistenable bad like Namek saga.

), but I'd much rather listen to the dub of the original anime than try to put up with the voicing attempts in the Saiyan and Namek arcs. In case it needs to be said, this is not speaking for the actual script of said dub.

The Saiyan saga has about as good or better acting as Dragon Ball depending on which version you’re watching.

If we’re talking the in-house redub it’s about as good as Dragon Ball even if Nadolny is still hilariously wrong for a 4-year old boy. And if we’re talking the Ocean dub for Funimation than the acting is better

[kemuri07]

But it's sorta ridiculous judging a dub solely on how "accurate" it is because it ignores its primary objective: to appease an english-speaking audience.

An adaptation of an anime has to split to difference: to be true enough to the source material, while also making it accessible to westerners who just want to watch Dragon Ball. That's the main audience. I know some of you guys may find it hard to believe--but you're not the target audience when Funimation is crafting its dub. That's why these releases also include the original Japanese audio: so that you purists have something.

So to say that the Kai Dub is barely a step up from the original dub is kind of ridiculous, because I'm taking into consideration not only its closer committment to the source material, but also the level of nuance found in the english dub.

[MasenkoHA]

But it's sorta ridiculous judging a dub solely on how "accurate" it is because it ignores its primary objective: to appease an english-speaking audience.

An adaptation of an anime has to split to difference: to be true enough to the source material, while also making it accessible to westerners who just want to watch Dragon Ball. That's the main audience. I know some of you guys may find it hard to believe--but you're not the target audience when Funimation is crafting its dub. That's why these releases also include the original Japanese audio: so that you purists have something.

So to say that the Kai Dub is barely a step up from the original dub is kind of ridiculous, because I'm taking into consideration not only its closer committment to the source material, but also the level of nuance found in the english dub.

The show did not need to be heavily altered to appease an American audience. Plenty of anime stayed faithful and did well. That is an excuse Funimation made because they saw what was popular with kids back in the day.

I’ll say it again Funimation changing characters, adding unfunny jokes, and replacing the score with shit music did not make DBZ popular in America. Characters getting punched made it popular.