How Would You Introduce Someone to Dragon Ball ?

[goku the krump dancer]

Anything can be water cooler talk if enough folks are interested in said show. When the T.O.P was airing a few coworkers and I talked about it at work, it’s no different from football games, wrestling or any other show/movie.

Filler can slow the pace down a bit but not so much that it detracts from the experience especially for first time viewers.. most people who’ve lost interest in the show back when it was being aired did so because they were tired of the reruns not really put off by filler.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Anything can be water cooler talk if enough folks are interested in said show. When the T.O.P was airing a few coworkers and I talked about it at work, it’s no different from football games, wrestling or any other show/movie.

That's the exception, not the rule. Sadly a lot of people still look down on Dragon Ball and anime in general for being nerdy. It would be an extremely hard show to sell as a water cooler talking point.

[goku the krump dancer]

Anything can be water cooler talk if enough folks are interested in said show. When the T.O.P was airing a few coworkers and I talked about it at work, it’s no different from football games, wrestling or any other show/movie.

That's the exception, not the rule. Sadly a lot of people still look down on Dragon Ball and anime in general for being nerdy. It would be an extremely hard show to sell as a water cooler talking point.

Yeah man, you’d be surprised at what some people are down to talk about when you’re just being yourself and chill about it. You’d also be surprised at what some people might call weird or lame despite it being popular at that particular moment ( and I’m not even talking about just anime) granted folks are definitely entitled to an opinion.

[MasenkoHA]

Anything can be water cooler talk if enough folks are interested in said show. When the T.O.P was airing a few coworkers and I talked about it at work, it’s no different from football games, wrestling or any other show/movie.

That's the exception, not the rule. Sadly a lot of people still look down on Dragon Ball and anime in general for being nerdy. It would be an extremely hard show to sell as a water cooler talking point.

Eh that might be regional. I haven’t known anyone to look down at people who watch anime since like high school. Everyone I know under 40 either likes anime or is completely indifferent to it. Dragon Ball might have a bit of reputation for being “basic bitch” anime but I still know a lot of people in their late twenties to late 30s who enjoy it

[JulieYBM]

I know a few people who do do still look down on anime—Japanese art in general—but they're also in their later 40s, so I wouldn't really count that.

Everyone else I know likes it, but that's also because I only surround myself with queer people lol

That being said, again, Dragon Ball is a 39 year old cartoon, not exactly on the level of recognition as Game of Thrones in the "Talk to your co-worker Francis about it during work hours."

[goku the krump dancer]

That being said, again, Dragon Ball is a 39 year old cartoon, not exactly on the level of recognition as Game of Thrones in the "Talk to your co-worker Francis about it during work hours."

What’s relevant to talk about at work or in public is relative to the people/person.

Given Dragon Ball’s age and the fact that Goku has had a ThanksGiving Parade Balloon for the last 4-5 maybe even 6 years definitely speaks to its relevance in pop culture and that’s just a small example. To deny other wise is needlessly pedantic at best and a little delulu at worst.

[JulieYBM]

That being said, again, Dragon Ball is a 39 year old cartoon, not exactly on the level of recognition as Game of Thrones in the "Talk to your co-worker Francis about it during work hours."

What’s relevant to talk about at work or in public is relative to the people/person.

Given Dragon Ball’s age and the fact that Goku has had a ThanksGiving Parade Balloon for the last 4-5 maybe even 6 years definitely speaks to its relevance in pop culture and that’s just a small example. To deny other wise is needlessly pedantic at best and a little delulu at worst.

Delusional is harping on this idea that a slowly-paced, poorly animated cartoon from 1986 is being discussed at length by quantifiable swaths of people at work, when any and all additions to the franchise—Thanksgiving parade balloons included—for the past 40-some odd years have been largely confined to promoting the era of the series connected to the Saiyans and various transformations. Nobody is talking about how they're getting into Dragon Ball specifically through the 1986 series, unless you have some quantifiable data lying around that I am not privvy to.

[Kid Buu]

I’ve definitely met DB or anime fans at work that I can talk nerdy stuff with, but the default conversation at my workplace is usually just weather and sports. So I see both sides — I can totally imagine anime being the main topic if there’s a big enough fanbase in the office, but I wouldn’t automatically assume that’s the norm.

[goku the krump dancer]

@JulieYBM Your mistake here is thinking that I’m claiming that hoards of people at work, the bar, the gym, the grocery store etc are just standing around making small talk about Dragon Ball the same way they do about The NFL or NBA or any of the other shows I named earlier. The conversations happening at all is my point in general whether it’s to any significant amount of people is irrelevant, and Dragon Ball keeps making itself pop culture relevant by having a revived and on going story since 2013, video games come out almost yearly since 2002, countless action figures in stores that sell toys, and even basic apparel like book bags, t-shirts, socks and even gym gear. People at this point whether they’re big DB fans, anime nerds or completely disinterested all together know who Goku is or at least know of him almost to the same level as Superman, Batman and Spider-Man and neither of those super heroes are talked at any real length unless there’s a new movie coming out but it’d be crazy to say either of them are culturally irrelevant.

I’m confused at what frame of reference you’re coming from that exemplifies what you mean by culturally relevant and why whatever that thing is, is somehow the ONLY standard to uphold in regards to what’s okay for people to talk about amongst themselves in public areas.

[MasenkoHA]

@JulieYBM Your mistake here is thinking that I’m claiming that hoards of people at work, the bar, the gym, the grocery store etc are just standing around making small talk about Dragon Ball the same way they do about The NFL or NBA or any of the other shows I named earlier. The conversations happening at all is my point in general whether it’s to any significant amount of people is irrelevant, and Dragon Ball keeps making itself pop culture relevant by having a revived and on going story since 2013, video games come out almost yearly since 2002, countless action figures in stores that sell toys, and even basic apparel like book bags, t-shirts, socks and even gym gear. People at this point whether they’re big DB fans, anime nerds or completely disinterested all together know who Goku is or at least know of him almost to the same level as Superman, Batman and Spider-Man and neither of those super heroes are talked at any real length unless there’s a new movie coming out but it’d be crazy to say either of them are culturally irrelevant.

I’m confused at what frame of reference you’re coming from that exemplifies what you mean by culturally relevant and why whatever that thing is, is somehow the ONLY standard to uphold in regards to what’s okay for people to talk about amongst themselves in public areas.

I agree with this. Dragon Ball isn’t a current show so of course it’s not gonna come up as often as [insert current hot show on Netflix or Amazon Prime] but it does come up from time to time and most people know what you’re talking about. Dragon Ball is just one of those things that’s well known enough to pop up from time to time in conversation but nobody’s really talking about it like they do with White Lotus or The Bear or The Boys or what not.

[Hellspawn28]

I feel like some anime are easy to bring up with a casual person, like Dragon Ball, and even One Piece now thanks to the Netflix show.

[BootyCheeksJohnson]

This discussion is probably one of the best examples of why a Dragon Ball remake would be beneficial at this point.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

This discussion is probably one of the best examples of why a Dragon Ball remake would be beneficial at this point.

Kai starting from DB rather than Z would've gone a long way in introducing people to that part of the franchise.