Not all outsiders hate Dragonball (external reviews)

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:28 am

NOTE: This thread is not about the Orange Bricks. Yes, I referred to them once in my opening post as an example of the fact that there are a lot of fans of Dragonball Z. However, your reason for owning or not owning the Orange Bricks is not the topic of discussion in this thread. Please stay on topic. Thank you.

I know that Dragonball (especially Dragonball Z) generally has quite the stigma amongst anime fans and sometimes people in general. People like to pretend that they're above such a series or that it's a gateway series for newbies or something... and then they go on to talk about Naruto Yaoi or something.

My argument is, "If that's the case, then who the Hell is buying all of those Orange Bricks that tend to top Amazon charts?" But, that's beside the point.

The point is that VIZ's new VIZBIG releases are catching some eyes and having people who are into manga and anime in general give it the chance it deserves. I just got done reading an interview by a guy who, like most English-speaking anime and manga fans, jumped into Dragonball Z first. He's a pretty intelligent dude who gives the first Dragonball Z VIZBIG a damn good two-page review. It's recent, too! Check it out:

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2009/01/02/044050.php

Anyway, I just thought that it might bring a bit of joy into your lives to know that Dragonball in America isn't always looked down upon; even if the so-called anime elite turn their nose up to it and categorize it right alongside Pro Wrestling while enjoying the smell of their own farts.

jda95 · Post by **jda95** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:36 am

People buying the orange bricks are:

-Fans who need to own everything
-FUNimation fans who do not own the series, or want to explore it more after it's heyday.

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:34 am

You forgot the people who got suckered into believing that the orange bricks were "the way it was meant to be seen."

Rory · Post by **Rory** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:42 am

jda95 wrote:People buying the orange bricks are:

-Fans who need to own everything
-FUNimation fans who do not own the series, or want to explore it more after it's heyday.

Incorrect! People who buy the season sets also could be:
Living outside of America, say, England, and have NEVER had the chance to own their favourite show on DVD, and here we are, finally, an opportunity, heck, they even play on our DVD players! They arn't really expensive either, finally, importing the entire series won't cost us an arm, leg, and our unborn child!
What's that you say? 5.1 surround? Wow, English + Japanese voice track, some people might've been really wanting this.. Widescreen, wow, that's weird, I guess that's a tad needless, but I don't care too much. (I DO NOT want to start a wide screen debate).
The season sets are and always will be insuperior to Dragonbox etc, but it doesn't meaning owning them is being a Funifag (..wow, that was pretty cool), it just means we want to own the episodes for a reasonable price.
..You'd rather we bootleg or something?

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:01 am

jda95 wrote:People buying the orange bricks are:

-Fans who need to own everything
-FUNimation fans who do not own the series, or want to explore it more after it's heyday.

Tsukento wrote:You forgot the people who got suckered into believing that the orange bricks were "the way it was meant to be seen."

Rory wrote: Incorrect! People who buy the season sets also could be:
Living outside of America...

This is totally not what I meant by, "...who the Hell is buying all of those Orange Bricks that tend to top Amazon charts?"

The question was there to introduce the concept that there are enough people that like Dragonball Z that it's releases rival that of other current and classic popular anime in terms of sales. In no way did I mean, "What sub-division of the Dragonball fanbase purchases the Orange Bricks?"

In short, the correct answer is, "Fans."

Did any of you read that review? What are your thoughts?

Snail · Post by **Snail** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:18 am

I thought it was a pretty straightforward review. The readers are presented forth a brief hint at the writer's personality, a synopsis, and what to expect from the series. I'm leaning towards the notion that Bill Sherman's (the reviewer) feedback upon the series (thus far) should pretty much bode as an outline as to what newcomers' reaction would be towards the series.

It's not hard to get into the first chunk of the 'Z arc' of Dragonball. For starters, the artwork is unique, and current enough to compete against all-star titles: Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece. Right from the beginning, As the story reached the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, Dragonball was seemingly way ahead of it's time. Right off the bat, the protagonists, and antagonists are capable of insane feats. In addition, the story moves along quick and straight to the point. Most likely, leading these newcomers into the inevitible effort in the completion of the entire story.

This is the thing I love about Dragonball. It's got a bit of everything. Literally. In fact, let's have a quick rundown as to what was touched upon throughout the course of the series. Our hero Goku goes on a quest for the seven magic Dragon Balls. As the story unfolds he advances towards a martial arts tournament, rummaging through the best the world had to offer at the time. So right here, we've touched upon humour, fantasy, adventure, and martial arts. If you ask me, I wouldn't know how else the story would flesh out. it pretty much had everything that was appropriate for such a story. However, that's the beauty of Dragonball. There basically were no rules set in stone for this surprise of an epic. It could go anywhere it's author wanted it to go. Moreso, it wouldn't be deemed ridiculous, as it would be accidental(?) genius. Twas' something totally new, and fresh from what I could gather I suppose. Furthermore, in the aftermath we see our lead protagonist Goku raid a Pirate's dwelling, fight mythical beasts, face up against an entire army, and save the world from a demon. And just as the story seemingly reaches it's final climax; our protagonist's next playground would be set in space!. Nextly, we would follow our heroes pitted against the rigors of technology, and science. Finally, our heroes set foot unto the heavens itself for the final climax as the series came to a close. And...this was just the gist of it.

Now, I suppose that the ill-informed, would deem the entirety of the Dragonball series as overstuffed, and/or ridiculous, but I'd beg to differ. It's the first of it's kind, and possibly even the last; an intentional gag-manga turned into an action-adventure epic. It'd be hard for anything that came after, to ignore the leaps and bounds made effective (albeit possibly an accidental awesome final product of our dear Mr.Toriyama) thanks to the franchise. It was a series that wasn't afraid to make those leaps. It was a story that persevered. It was an epic that could triumph over any genre it wanted to.

Suffice to say; I feel that Dragonball, deservingly so, should be merited as the "be-all, end-all" of all manga.

In all it's awesome sexy, glorified fashion of course.

*edit
did a few touch-ups to the post. It's 4:30 AM in the morning, and I can't think straight enough to type out a decent few paragraphs.

Zenkai Power · Post by **Zenkai Power** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:50 am

*ahem*

I buy the orange bricks because it's a way for me to own the whole show at a reasonable price. I don't particularly LIKE what they've done to the show by cropping the image and all that... but I also don't participate in the lenghty posts I've seen on here that compare it to Dragon Box.

It's the first time, as far as I know, that you can hear the JAPANESE music WHILE listening to the dub. Which has been a huge plus for me. No, I don't love the dub... I prefer it Japanese, but I do like to have the choice since I saw the whole series via the dub on CN.

If the Dragon Box could do that for me I'd gladly pay the extra bit but I just don't want to spend my money on that.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:59 am

Let's pretend that I didn't make the Orange Bricks comment for a moment and talk about the topic, please.

Oh, and thanks, Snail.

Zenkai Power · Post by **Zenkai Power** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:15 am

Kendamu wrote:Let's pretend that I didn't make the Orange Bricks comment for a moment and talk about the topic, please.

Oh, and thanks, Snail.

Okay for all the heat DB gets the truth is, for those people to consider it a "gateway" anime or whatever they at one time liked it. I know some people like that. In fact, I know they secretly still like it even if they think they've moved on from it or whatever.

Dragonball has always been looked on in a positive light I'd say, it has it's flaws which are easy to poke fun at... but I think everyone who ever gave it a chance enjoys it. Whether they admit it or not.

And it's not my fault you mentioned the orange bricks!

B · Post by B » Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:50 am

People aren't familiar with the manga as they are with the anime, that's why it gets all this criticism. An example I noticed awhile back was when the aniem studio BONES anounced a new Fullmetal Alchemist series, and someone made a comment about he was glad that they were doing this, as he enjoyed the few chapters of the FA manga than the "boring episodes of the anime with a shit ending." He says he only read a few chapters, meaning he had not gotten to the point where the two diferent mediums split into separate storylines. He had seen the parts that were IN the anime and STILL preferred the manga. The Dragon Ball anime is filled with dragged out scenes, and it's not THAT surprising it gets negative feedback, but that's Toei's fault for being moneygrubbers. the VIZBIG edition covers the first 3 volumes of Z, about... somewhere between the first 12-20 episodes? those are filled with filler training scenes and such, and the canon things like the fight with Raditz moves along a lot quicker.

In a nutshell, This guy's positive look on the series is mostly because he's reading the manga.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:10 am

B wrote:In a nutshell, This guy's positive look on the series is mostly because he's reading the manga.

Does this mean that the manga is better? Hohoho!!!

[/manga fanboy]

Your post is a damn good observation. So you think his outlook would be different if he were sat down and told to watch the first 39 episodes within a week?

Zenkai Power wrote:And it's not my fault you mentioned the orange bricks!

Don't worry. I wasn't picking on you. I just wanted to end that conversation rather quickly before my thread was completely hijacked.

B · Post by B » Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:33 am

Kendamu wrote:Your post is a damn good observation. So you think his outlook would be different if he were sat down and told to watch the first 39 episodes within a week?

Probably. Not too drastically, since the anime is a failry faithful adaptation, but with the days he'd spend watching the Saiyan Saga as opposed to reading it in most likely the span of one day if he wanted, it's pretty much guaranteed his outlook on the pacing would be different.

It's the same with me. I find Raditz's fight with Goku and Piccolo unenthralling in the anime, but it's great in the manga, even though virtually the same things happen.

Innagadadavida · Post by **Innagadadavida** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:51 pm

I'm a fan of the show over the manga. Not that I have a problem with the manga, it's just that I don't own one (as probably evidenced by my continued pronunciation of "main guh"). I have been known to browse the manga sections at book stores seeking only Dragon Ball related books. I have read the entire beginning of the DBZ almost exactly what this guy reviewed.

I'm not used to reading backwards so that handicap prevented me from enjoying the story thoroughly. I'm also a so-called "dub fan" so there were things very different than what I was used to, such as Piccolo's speech.
I would be interested in purchasing the whole series if I knew that it was entirely uncensored.

At any rate, I've never met anybody who dismisses DBZ. I've been exposed to very little manga or anime fans who dislike DB as a whole. I'm actually surprised to read that there are people who dismiss it as childish. I've seen quite a few anime series and Dragon Ball Z remains one of my favorites.

Duo · Post by **Duo** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:48 pm

I've got 2 friends whom didn't really care for Dragonball Z when they watched it. Then, they saw the massive line of Manga in my room and asked me a question or two, and I got both of them to read all 42 volumes in order, beginning to end, and they both loved it (you'd have to in order to read that much.)

Needless to say, I think the presentation of the Manga is more accessible for the undevoted adult fan. I stopped caring about the orange brick fiasco at some point because I realized that no matter how they released it, the series would still feel longer than a run from coast to coast, so I'm happy with my grainy piece of trash singles that cover what few episodes I care to see now and then.

jda95 · Post by **jda95** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:52 pm

Oh, sorry for going off topic.

This is sorta how I got into DB, through Toonami. Afterwards I moved onto other anime, but about two years ago I found DB again.

GI_Judd2287 · Post by **GI_Judd2287** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:54 pm

FUNimation fans

Does such a thing exist?

jda95 · Post by **jda95** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:56 pm

GI_Judd2287 wrote:
FUNimation fans
Does such a thing exist?

Yes.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 4:08 pm

Can you folks please try not to purposefully derail the topic? GI_Judd2287, I deleted your other post for a reason.

Kid Trunks · Post by **Kid Trunks** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:11 pm

Kendamu wrote:Anyway, I just thought that it might bring a bit of joy into your lives to know that Dragonball in America isn't always looked down upon; even if the so-called anime elite turn their nose up to it and categorize it right alongside Pro Wrestling while enjoying the smell of their own farts.

But why is it that Dragonball is looked down upon? I've seen a few people saw that in a few places, but I don't get it. And what kind of anime do the "elitists" watch? Is it all those real serious animes like Elfen Lied and such?

jda95 · Post by **jda95** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:13 pm

Kid Trunks wrote:
Kendamu wrote:Anyway, I just thought that it might bring a bit of joy into your lives to know that Dragonball in America isn't always looked down upon; even if the so-called anime elite turn their nose up to it and categorize it right alongside Pro Wrestling while enjoying the smell of their own farts.
But why is it that Dragonball is looked down upon? I've seen a few people saw that in a few places, but I don't get it. And what kind of anime do the "elitists" watch? Is it all those real serious animes like Elfen Lied and such?

The majority of people move on to Naruto and the like, but others discover anime outside of the very-mainstream.

Kanzenshuu

Not all outsiders hate Dragonball (external reviews)

Not all outsiders hate Dragonball (external reviews)

Re: Not all outsiders hate Dragonball.

Re: Not all outsiders hate Dragonball.