Do you think you will always enjoy Dragon Ball?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I've heard a few people talk about "retiring" from the fandom, and wanted to get peoples thoughts on this, or the alternative, which is always having some level of investment in this franchise.

For me personally, Dragon Ball has been a part of my life for over 25 years, and I always come back to it so I don't see my fandom ever going away entirely. Of course, as with anything it's healthy to take a break from time to time, so I will take months off watching or reading Dragon Ball to consume other media, although in that time I still chat about the series here and there, but then I end up doing another rewatch or something (usually once a year), give it a rest for a while and so on and so fort.

[JulieYBM]

Change is s normal part of life and I don't think that there is anything wrong with moving on and moving away from parts of your life, especially in regards to a hobby. If that happens with Dragon Ball, so be it.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

I've been a fan of the classic material for over 20 years now, so I don't ever see that changing. Do I consume DB 24/7 ? of course not, but that doesn't mean I stop liking it when I'm doing other things not related to it.

[Tian]

Maybe, maybe not.

I used to have a strong interest in anime in general when I was on my teens but that interest has been gradually waning away to the point that the only anime series I currently watch and re-watch are Dragon Ball and Yu-Gi-Oh!.

So, there's the possibility that in the near or far future Dragon Ball may be no longer of my interest but that would be ONLY and only if the upcoming productions are not appealing to me.

[Kaboom]

I'll always enjoy classic Dragon Ball. I can always pick up the original manga, the various movies, GT, and so forth and have a good time with them. But modern Dragon Ball decisively lost me years ago after I already gave it way more chances than it deserved. And I don't see any hypothetical future Dragon Ball being any better or somehow reversing that.

[ZombieVito]

Daima was shit but not enough to make me quit the series.

Hopefully the only thing they take from it is animation and continue with DBS.

[Dr. Casey]

I don't actively watch or read anything Dragon Ball-related (Dragon Ball Daima was my first time engaging with the anime since watching all of the movies around 2019 or 2020, which in turn was the first time since watching Dragon Ball through GT for the last time from 2008-2011), but I know that I'll always enjoy the series if I sit down and watch it. Tastes are an incredibly stable thing in many ways. I liked animation as a 3 year old and I like anime as an adult. I liked videogames as a 3 year old and I enjoy them now. I loved JRPGs as an 11 year old and I still really enjoy them. My tastes have changed on a micro level - I'm meh on most of the JRPGs I enjoyed as a kid, I'd rather not marathon Winnie the Pooh episodes like I would have as a four year old, and the anime I loved at 16 or 17 I'm now lukewarm to - but on a macro level there's nothing but 100 percent consistency going back to toddlerhood (minus playing with toys, obviously, maybe the only thing to completely drop off the radar).

On a macro level, I think tastes are probably consistent, more or less, throughout your entire life. I don't know when they stabilize on a micro level, which is the question most relevant for Dragon Ball, but that point probably comes before you're 37.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

Daima was shit but not enough to make me quit the series.

Hopefully the only thing they take from it is animation and continue with DBS.

You think Daima was bad but want a continuation of something that was far worse ?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I used to have a strong interest in anime in general when I was on my teens but that interest has been gradually waning away to the point that the only anime series I currently watch and re-watch are Dragon Ball and Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Same, I've seen my fair share of anime (though probably not as much as most here) but apart from Dragon Ball I'm more a casual fan of the medium as I don't keep up with seasonal shows like a lot of enthusiasts do and if I want to see more anime I tend to check out classics that I haven't got around to (I've never seen Utena for example). Right now I'm slowly trying to catch up with the 20 or so seasons of The Simpsons I've missed, after that I'd like to get back into reading (specifically some books on spirituality), I've also went through a lot of music phases in my life, so my media intake tends to be quite eclectic.

Once you've been exposed to a lot of different forms of art there is something comforting about revisiting what is familiar and holds sentimental value. Dragon Ball and Star Wars will always do the job nicely for me, even if its just the classic stuff I've seen countless times.

[JulieYBM]

Did some extra thinking: I feel like Dragon Ball could kind of be filled in with a lot of pop art. Like, I'm just not watching much of anything these days, outside of films like Mullholland Drive—my friends took me to a screening the other week—and doing a re-watch of Twin Peaks with the girls. When I'm not going out with friends, I'm reading or writing. When I am watching stuff, it's what my friends want to introduce me to. A lot of pop art television and film (Marvel, Star Wars) bores me these days.

People change, tastes change, and the times change. Who knows, maybe in ten years I'll be off replying to threads like these about how I've been marathoning Star Trek again for the first time in twenty years.

[ZombieVito]

You think Daima was bad but want a continuation of something that was far worse ?

Worse to you, not to me.

Learn the difference.

[SupremeKai25]

I enjoyed Daima's final episodes, but found it very boring for the most part.

I will most certainly enjoy Super's Season 2 as I think Super is much better than Daima.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

Worse to you, not to me.

Learn the difference.

Super is factually worse than Daima. You can still prefer it though.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Worse to you, not to me.

Learn the difference.

Super is factually worse than Daima. You can still prefer it though.

No piece of entertainment is factually better than another, it's subjective. This is art, not science.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

No piece of entertainment is factually better than another, it's subjective. This is art, not science.

There are certain standards that are expected of an anime that Daima reached while Super didn't. For example, Super had 3 or so months worth of pre-production time, while Daima had around two years. That's going to make a difference in the shows' overall quality. You can't say that Daima's 20th episode looks worse than Super's 5th for example, that's just factually not true. Art is indeed subjective, but only to a certain degree. There are aspects of a piece of art (in this case, anime) that are not subjective. Production quality is one of these aspects. Consistency in writing is another. A show that regularly contradicts itself is factually worse than a show that puts in the effort to keep everything in line with pre-established lore.

[ZombieVito]

Super is factually worse than Daima. You can still prefer it though.

I didn't ask or care.

[Alruneia]

I do think I'll always enjoy Dragon Ball. Toriyama's manga and the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z (+ Kai to a lesser extent) anime series are very, very easy for me to get back into and instantly have fun with all over again. In the future, I do imagine I'll interact far less with the Dragon Ball fandom than I do right now, though. Personally I think there's a big difference between being a fan of something and actively partaking in that something's fandom, and at some point I probably will go from the latter to the former.

[VegettoEX]

Super is factually worse than Daima. You can still prefer it though.

I didn't ask or care.

Your other posts were perfectly fine. We’re entitled to like what we like for whatever reasons. That’s part of what makes discussion so fun!

But you’re not here for discussion. You’re here to be obnoxious and shut down any counter-discussion. That’s not cool, not welcome, and we don’t have to put up with it.

If you’re going to actively share an opinion and then challenge other opinions, prepare to be challenged back. That’s the whole point of entering an ongoing discussion.

Since you already have account strikes, some kind of ban is being placed on your account — this may be temporary or permanent, depending on further moderation review.

Let this be a showcase of a few things (including for some of you active in this thread):

There is nothing “factual” in each person’s individual review of art, commercial or otherwise.

Being an obnoxious bully will get you nowhere here. Ain’t nobody got time for that. More than happy to just remove you and go on with our lives.

We likewise won’t tolerate reports on posts that you simply don’t agree with — wasting our time investigating this stuff is just asking for a strike for yourself. See again: ain’t nobody got time for that.

[Dr. Casey]

Isolated elements of art can have a much more objective nature to them, but preference for the entire whole is more subjective. It's fairly objective that Dragon Ball is a more focused and coherent story than Dragon Ball Z, but whether that amounts to one series ultimately being better and more enjoyable than the other is completely subjective - in the end the totality balances out to where I enjoy both equally and maybe have a slight preference for Z. I hope the ban is temporary because even though I haven't seen anyone here in any other thread due to not visiting much, Vito didn't come across as someone who wanted to shut down any counter-discussion but just as someone that felt as though he was on the defensive due to the posts aimed at him being somewhat overbearing and needling.

[GokuHater]

I started watching DB when I was 12 - specifically Tenkaichi Budokai 23.

In years to come I got to know the manga, all of the anime and the OG movies.
I had a moment when I was really tired of the franchise and put it away but got back in my 20s.

Now I am 35 and still enjoy the story for what it is - be it og, Z, Super or GT.
I don't see any of them as ideal or a perfect storytelling but all of them have so much heart in them and I think it isn't a stretch when I say Goku inspired a lot of people to be constantly better - be it at sports, training but also just at life, challenges and relationship with others.

I recently also started DB with my son, who is 12 just like I was when I started and we are really having a good time.

So yeah - I don't think I will be going anywhere