Dragonball... "Sucks" ?

'lo Legends · Post by **'lo Legends** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 9:06 am

Hello, everyone. I'm new here, and this is my first post. This is about a topic that has probably come up on this board before, and I want to see people's thoughts on the subject.

If you would go to a place like ANN (Anime News Network) and post on their forums, and say that your favorite Anime/Manga is Dragonball...The general reaction would be...?

"What are you, like, 12?"

"Dragonball Z sux"

"That stuff is horrible. Watch Naruto instead!"

I have come to the conclusion that Dragonball is my favorite Manga, and that it is of VERY high quallity. It isn't deep, or doesn't have a thought wrenching story. But it's VERY enjoyable to read, much like the fairly recent "One Piece". Not deep, doesn't have complex characters, but it's FUN. Most people don't seem to grasp this concept and say it "sucks".

What I am getting at here is... why do you think Dragonball is regarded as a "horrible" manga/anime? As in, one of the worst, by the general Anime-watching/Manga-reading audience?

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 9:41 am

It's usually people that have only watched the 'full-of-filler' anime. They most likely assume that the manga sucks too, when it's quite the opposite.

Heritic · Post by **Heritic** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 11:00 am

Naruto fanboys, they hate everything that isn't Naruto. Also there's those people who hate something as soon as it becomes mainstream like DB has.

The arguments I hear from people that hate DB are:
"It's so old"
"It became popular and only little kids like it now"
"nArUt0 is t3h aw3s0m3! dbz is t3h gay!"
"Goku? More like Gay-ku!"

Of course there are people that don't like it for legitimate reasons but there are the people that hate it because it's cool to hate DB.

LaRésistance · Post by **LaRésistance** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 11:14 am

In France, the "DBZmania" died in 1997 but the fans never really stopped liking it (that's why Dragon Ball video games still sell very well). Now younger kids get into it thanks to the video games, but it's not as big as it once was (at one point, DBZ movies were released in theatres).

It's not "uncool" to like Dragon Ball here, the older generation of fans (like myself, I've known it since 1989) and the kids get along pretty well. Dragon Ball is a respected manga. Of course, some people don't like it but most manga fans (or anime) fans do.

Sun_Wukong · Post by **Sun_Wukong** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 11:55 am

LaRésistance, no offense, but you must be pretty old. I was 3 in 1989. I was still hyped up on Ninja Turtle and Fraggle Rock then ^^. God the '80s ruled. So much good stuff came out of it.

Tanooki Kuribo · Post by **Tanooki Kuribo** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 11:59 am

Well I always thought certain types of fans make themselfs look like there 12 when they bring up such stupid topics as power levels, who would beat who in a fight, ages of fighters and just stupid things like that. I always just want to shout to them that its not real, its a cartoon (for kids) stop making yourself look like an idiot.

Ehh, maybe I'am being to harsh.

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 12:02 pm

Tanooki Kuribo wrote:Well I always thought certain types of fans make themselfs look like there 12 when they bring up such stupid topics as power levels, who would beat who in a fight, ages of fighters and just stupid things like that.

Power levels? That's the best hobby there is!

LaRésistance · Post by **LaRésistance** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 12:07 pm

Sun Wukong, I'm only 19. I was 4 when I started watching Dragon Ball (along with the TMNT, Japanese Sentai shows and other stuff from the time).

SpaceKappa · Post by **SpaceKappa** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 2:07 pm

I'm a Naruto fanboy but I don't diss Dragon Ball. Probably because I've been watching/reading it for almost 11 years (I'm 20 now) and I'm one of the few people who got into it BEFORE FUNimation did. Yes, I am of that rare breed. KNEEL!

Just kidding. Get up. Arise, my son.

B-kun · Post by **B-kun** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 3:19 pm

I'm a Naruto fan too, but I love Dragon Ball. So, that's kind of a lame excuse.

;;

Frobman · Post by **Frobman** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 3:35 pm

I only started reading Naruto too, but Dragonball and all of Toriyama's mangas are my favourites (second - Kinnikuman, third - One Piece (only read up to vol. 8. Need to read more). You can get those remarks here since there's more non-DB fans than fans in UK. Or that most don't have digital and satalite TVs.

*PINHEAD* · Post by ***PINHEAD*** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 4:56 pm

Heritic wrote:"Goku? More like Gay-ku!".

I laugh. Harharhar.

Dragon Ball is disregarded and shunned aside by anime "elitists" who don't want to be considered by other elitists as fans of a kid's show. DB hating probably also stems from the immature fanboys who think they know everything about the series. I don't know much about anime and manga, but from what I've seen, even a kid's series like DB has many stronger qualities than some of the more "mature" series.
I like Naruto as well, but that probably comes from my love of DB. Naruto is more developed plot-wise, but Dragon Ball still seems more enjoyable to me.

DBW · Post by **DBW** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 6:44 pm

In general, I think a lot of it has to do with the dub and how DB has been marketed in North America. I mean, I'm a huge Dragonball fan and everybody knows that, but when those Burger King kids meal commercials started airing (paired-up with Power Puff Girls) it was just flat out embarrassing. Add that to the TV dub which is geared for audiences as young as 3 years old, and I can understand why most people don't want to even consider watching Dragonball. When I try to get my friends to check out Japanese Dragonball, the typical response is "My little brother watches that show, I've seen it, it's stupid..."

As for the other anime fans on the internet, I think a lot of it still has to do with what I said above, as well as just mainstreaming in general. Another reason is obviously because they have their own perception of what's good, or what anime truly is. "Anime is only shows like Helsing and Berserk, everything else is just Pokemon garbage!" Some people also like to stay loyal to their shows, like the Naruto fans...

"That stuff is horrible. Watch Naruto instead!"

Those people really get on my nerves, especially since *gasp* Naruto is a Dragonball clone! (I still love Naruto, I'm just not in denial of the truth)

Anyways, none of this shit really matters anyways. We all know that Dragonball is an important and influential work in anime/manga history (almost every manga author alive acknowledges it), so I just say ignore what people say and let them miss out.

Heritic · Post by **Heritic** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 7:16 pm

Mizugi wrote:I'm a Naruto fanboy but I don't diss Dragon Ball.

Well, I'm not saying that all Naruto fans hate Dragonball, I'm a fan of Naruto myself (as indicated by avatar). But the Naruto community is where I see a majority of DB bashers.

Frobman · Post by **Frobman** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 7:41 pm

Funny how all the manga and anime I like watching/reading are mainly kid-teen stuff. I ain't really keen on the teen-mature ones though.

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 9:12 pm

Like what YOU want to like, dislike what YOU want to dislike and screw everyone else!

Mike D · Post by **Mike D** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 10:02 pm

I'm down with that. Besides, people do tend to go overboard when they criticize DragonBall (seeing as how they have no clue what they are talking about most of the time). It is mainly those that have probably watched three episodes of the dub and rated it from that.

It shows that if you have given the show a chance then you would appreciate it like any other anime. I have never met an ex-DragonBall fan.

SonGokuGT · Post by **SonGokuGT** » Fri Dec 24, 2004 10:05 pm

LaRésistance wrote:Sun Wukong, I'm only 19. I was 4 when I started watching Dragon Ball (along with the TMNT, Japanese Sentai shows and other stuff from the time).

Heh heh, just like me! Except I was in Spain...

But yes, There are many that hate Dragonball, mainly the "Elitists" previously mentioned that discredit it for being it being "dumb" or "old. But they don't matter, after all in Japan and other countries [most Asian, South American, and European] revere Dragonball as a classic, and a pioneer that allowed anime to catch on.

I also can't stand these people that hate DB and mention how great Naruto and One Piece are, when their main influence is Dragonball.

Dai · Post by **Dai** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 10:22 am

I agree, but... There are many ''ex''-Dragon Ball fans. Over half of the people I've spoken to who hate and despise Dragon Ball and bash it on every occasion used to be huge fans of the show themselves. Now they pretend to be ashamed of it and bash it, because the general idea apparently has become that hating Dragon Ball is cool. These people are most of the time just wanting to be part of the anime web community. And that ain't gonna happen if you say you like Dragon Ball.

I believe about two percent of every person I've heard say he or she hates Dragon Ball actually does dislike the show for good reasons. Another 50 percent is just pretending so they can be part of the group and another 48 percent doesn't even know what they're talking about yet bash Dragon Ball all the same because it's apparently cool to do so.

Frobman · Post by **Frobman** » Sat Dec 25, 2004 12:34 pm

We can do one of these things: Ignore it, go to war against them, or try to act cooler than them, fight fire with fire (sounds better than war.).
My little bro. pretends to dislike it too. But he's just plain silly these days.

Kanzenshuu

Dragonball... "Sucks" ?

Dragonball... "Sucks" ?

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