Your DragonBall Story

[whitey]

Well really its my DragonBall story, but i do want to hear from the rest of you guys and girls out there. I'll try keep mine short. How did you get into the series?

My story starts years ago. I can not be sure exactly how old i was but i was probably 12-15. I first remember seeing DBZ at the Freeza arc. I was on holidays at my Grandparents and would wake up and watch it on Cheez TV (yeah i'm an Aussie now 22).

I remember when i started back at school i could only watch the 1st 10 minutes of each episode before i had to leave and sprint to my bus stop to get to school. Sometimes i left late and would have to walk a half hour to my school. Silly thing was i was recording it anyway and would watch it as soon as i got home. Up until recently i had seen nothing before the Freeza arc and nothing past Cell's defeat. At least 5 years had past without me seeing another bit of DragonBall goodness.

So mid last year i had been with my girlfriend for 6 months. We thought it would be nice to go out to dinner. I got her some roses and went to her house to pick her up. I gave her the roses but she probably should have waited until after dinner to give me my present. I unwrapped it and to my surprise it was DBZ season 1. I must have been a jerk at dinner because all i wanted to do was go home and watch it. I finished it within the week and wanted more. Onto the internet to find that in Aus we had only up to season 4 released. Within a month i had purchased and watched all 4 seasons.

To find out more about DragonBall i went searching the net. What i found was amazing. I stumbled onto the FUNimation forums DragonBall section which led me to here. From these two sites i found out all about the original Manga and all other goodies. So when Viz released the Manga boxsets early this year i imported them as soon as i had the money. I have read it 3 times through already and am part way into a 4th. My dad is also reading it after he remembered watching some of it with me when i was young. He loves it. He's 50!

At the moment i own DBZ seasons 1-8 and the first 4 movie double features, along with the complete Viz Manga. I am yet to see any DB/GT (am holding out for possible Dragon Boxes). I will be importing DBOX 1.

I have always watched the dub but have rewatched all the movies i own with the original Japanese audio this week. I can tell you i am hooked. All the debates on here got me into trying it. It is amazing. My only problem is i remember stuff i hear better than stuff i read but i will be watching the whole series with DBOX quality and original audio from now on.

Sorry if that bored you. I am wanting to get more involved with the forum when i can and thought with only 6 posts before this one in almost a year i better get it together.

I would like to hear your stories too. So what are they?

[SuperSaiyan3Goku]

Alright, here's my Dragonball story.

Back in the day, circa 1998, I was an avid watcher of Cartoon Network, being 8 and all. And that's around the time that DBZ was coming on. I don't specifically remember seeing the Saiyajin arc on CN, if not, I started in '99, with the Freeza dub. I may of heard about it in 98/99, but never got around to actually watching it. Then all the bad-ass trailers were put on Toonami. Peter Cullen rocked those trailers, and dragged me in without even knowing what the hell I was seeing! I remember watching (the majority) of the Majin Buu arc, the Trunks TV special, Movie 5, the Cell Games, and the Saiyajin arc from re-runs on CN.

How did I get news? From my weekly subscription to Beckett DBZ, of course! (Bad way to get news, by the way) That's how I found out that DBZ was a show from Japan, and since I had a Computer back then, I went onto the Internet for further info. One of my earliest memories was going onto a Goten shrine (I think it was actually called the Goten Shrine, or Goten Angel, or something like that) where I listened to clips from Movie 10. Specifically what Goten and Trunks were going to wish for with the Dragonballs. I think that was my first time listening to the Japanese version. Either that, or a fan-subbed tape of Movie 2.

A few years later, I stumbled my way onto Daizenshuu EX. It must of been 2003 or '04, cause that's around the time of the AF prank, and Doomrider. There, I started downloading music (guilty as charged) the openings, checking out the "Ask EX" archives, and just normal goofing off. And from then on, Daizenshuu EX has been my Number 1 source for Dragonball information!

How I found out about the manga: I don't specifically know the date when I first found out what the Manga was, maybe I heard it mentioned in the Beckett magazines, I dunno. But my first ever Manga volume was bought from a Schoolastic book-magazine-thing that my Grade School got every month. It just happened to be Volume 1, a great way to start collecting the Manga!

I have figures, DVDs, Manga, Games, all related to Dragonball in some fashion.

[Piccolo Daimao]

My Dragon Ball Story

I first got into Dragon Ball when I was 8 or 9. Unlike a lot of other fans, I ddn't have Cartoon Network, because I was only able to access analog TV. I know that many of my friends used to watch DBZ on Cartoon Network & Toonami when they were younger--although they didn't become Dragon Ball fans.

So anyway, I had this friend that used to go to the same swimming place that I did. Incidentally, I became friends with him sort of through my mother, who was friends with my friend's mother. It was one day that I went to town with him and he started telling me about Dragon Ball Z. Some of it I didn't really understand, but when the next time I went round his house, I saw that he had DBZ Ultimate Battle 22 and DBGT Final Bout on his Playstation. We began playing it, and it was from those games that I became more interested in DBZ.

Some time later, I bought DBZ Ultimate Battle 22 myself. Then I bought this magazine (can't remember which one, but the cover was like one of those chapter covers, with Cell taking up the background and Piccolo, #17, #18 and #16 on it), and I was reading about it and stuff. I remembered reading that Piccolo was Goku's rival, but Goku was also Vegeta's rival too. I was kinda confused.

A few years later (I am really crap with my chronology ), I bought DBZ Budokai 2. Became more interested. Stumbled across Daizenshuu EX some time after that. I must've done some research on DBZ some time after that, to know more information about it. But it was mainly the video games that drew me into DBZ. I don't have any DVD box sets or anything, because none of the shops in town that I know of sell them, or for that matter, any anime DVD box sets. I found a way to watch DBZ anime on the internet, though.

Then, for my tenth or eleventh birthday, my sister bought me the first volume of Dragon Ball. Back then, I didn't know that there were even manga on Dragon Ball, so I was very interested. I was pretty oblivious to Dragon Ball at the time, since I knew more about DBZ than I did DB. Then I found out that there were more manga on DB and DBZ, and I began buying them.

Then I found out that Daizenshuu EX had a forum, joined it and here we are now.

And that's my Dragon Ball story.

[Hellspawn28]

I think it was 1997 or 1998 where I got a DB vol.1 vhs type as a gift from my dad since he got it since back then I loved Godzilla a lot (I still do), and Japan in general. So he got me that for my birthday but I never did care for it since the first two episodes that I have watched at the time never grab my attention.

So later in 1999, I choose to check out DBZ on Cartoon Network at the time where they had the episode of Piccolo fighting against Freeza in his second form. I try to watch it but I turn it off since I found it annoying and stupid back then. So I was a DB hater back then until 2000 when I saw the episode where Cell blow up himself on Midnight Run and it was pretty cool. After my Family and I move back Columbia: Maryland, I had next door neighbor who was a big DBZ fan and he got me into DBZ more since we both watch the Ocean Dub of DBZ, and the rest of the Cell saga. I fell in love with it and became a big Dragon Ball fan since then.

So later around 2001 I got more VHS types of the series and watch re-runs of DBZ on TV so I can get into the series more and catch up with everyone else. To find out more about DragonBall I went searching the net and found some old sites like Planet Namke that give me info on the series. And I would also get the latest issues of DBZ Beckett in the mail also. I also lurn about GT at the time too and I thought it was going to be awesome. But boy I was wrong . So around 2003 as I already a big DBZ fan and stumbled my way onto Daizenshuu EX. And from then on, Daizenshuu EX has been my Number #1 source for the latest DB news. I also found MFG (My favorite games) back in 2004 too which is my second #1 site for DBZ info.

As time went on I became a big DBZ but I move on into other stuff too. Even today I still enjoy the series but I'm not a fanboy then I used too.

[Freeza Heika]

I first got into DBZ in 1998; I was about 7. The first episode I ever saw was when Tenshinhan died in the Saiyan battle. From then on, I came to my grandmother's house every day after school (she lived across the street and was suppose to watch me, but she left that up to the TV) to watch DBZ. I watched consistently up through the last episode of the Freeza arc. When I went to watch the next episode the next day, it was a repeat. I checked for the next few days and never saw a new episode. I must have figured it was over, because I quit checking soon after.

I'm not sure how long later, I was home sick from school. I happened to catch DBZ; this was the episode where Cell first makes an appearance. I was surprised to see it, and I was hooked again. From here, I watched the show strait through to the episode when Goku and Vegeta got out of Buu's body with the kids. My family was poor when I was little, and at this point, we didn't have cable anymore. Needless to say, I was pissed.

I'm not sure how much later, but after the series had finished on TV, I saw that my local video store carried the discs that covered a majority of the series, and luckily for me, they had the parts I had missed (Radditz, Garlic Jr.-Early Androids, and the end of the series). I also got to see a lot of the movies this way.

During the past 3 or so years around then, I had also picked up the Budokai games. I remember getting the first one and staying up all night when I got it on my birthday. I also played through all of the legacy of Goku games over and over right next to each other. I think at one point, I played LOG2 about 7 times in one week, to completion.

For the following years, I just played the new games and and occasionally rented the DVD's. Then, in around July 2008, I found Daizenshuu EX when I googled the live action movie. I started listening to the podcast and joined the forums. As I was listening to old episodes, I found out about the orange bricks. I bought all of the ones that had come out up to that point ( I think seasons 1-5). I watched them in Japanese for the first time and was hooked.

Now I still stay up to date with the games, I own all of the released bricks and double-features, the manga, and I look forward to the Dragonbox.

So yah... that's my story.

[Ultimate_DB_Fan]

It was in the seventh grade where my friends at the time kept talking about something called "DragonBall Z." I didn't know what the hell they were talking about, but soon I would get used to what they would discuss everyday. Fast forward to when I got CN, I would then see episodes in succession everyday.
Over the years since that time period, I bought some of the movies here and there, eventually purchased all the season sets, and then got both t.v. specials of Z. During those years, I would also get used to buying the PS2 DBZ Budokai games, and then the Tenkaichi titles, as well.
Fast foward to a couple of months ago, I came to know of this place's existence. During my research here, I would come to know that there were two other series next to Z, and that after so many years of not knowing, I learned that the series came out as manga in Japan first.
That's my story, kids.

[Kendamu]

Long story short, I got into the anime on CN back before Season 3, got on the Internet and saw DBZ Uncensored, got mad about the censorship but continued watching anyway because I had no other way, then between Seasons 3 and 4 I stumbled across the manga and have been happy ever since.

And for those going, "The mango is sensored, too, idjit!" I have the manga in both English and Japanese.

[Kibosuru412]

I'll make my story short too. Used to watch Dragonball and Dr. Slump back in the 80's and it stopped on TV. I never knew Z existed until in 1991, my sister woke me up at 12:30am on a Sunday to show me that Dragonball Z was on (episode where Gohan first turned into Oozaru). That same year, my friend showed me her brother's dragonball carddass cards and I started collecting them and became obsessed with Dragonball/Z since. Stopped for a while when I moved to California and focused in High School and basketball, went off to college then found ebay and started buying some cards again. Then focused on college again, graduated, got a job, then went all out again in collecting Dragonball cards and other DBZ items in 2003. 10k+ cards later, here I am.

[penguintruth]

I'm pretty sure I went into this in the thread about which part of DBZ I started with, but here goes, anyway:

Back around, I don't know, 1997, I guess? I would go to my friend Jon's house to play video games from time to time. He would stop at a certain point to watch a block of television shows on UPN or WB, I forgot which. These shows were cartoons, and two of them were Ronin Warriors and Dragon Ball Z.

"They're Japanese," he said. "Or so I've heard."

"Ah," I would say, and watch, too, as I had nothing else better to do, and we'd go back to playing video games after they were over, anyway.

And frankly, I was not that impressed by them, and more than a little confused. This was largely because I started watching while they were over twenty episodes in. He would explain certain things about these shows, but I would mostly scoff at them and poke fun at them. Still, I was watching. And as I watched, I became more involved in the storylines.

Ronin Warriors was the first I was ever really into. Dragon Ball Z was a little too weird for my tastes at first. I didn't really get into it until the first season reaired, and even then, I was still more of a Ronin Warriors fan.

Then I began looking up DBZ-related topics on the internet, back when I still had AOL, back when anyone still gave a damn about AOL. I started finding websites catering to DBZ fans, guides, discussion forums, and the like. VegettoEX's webpage, as it once was, before it became Daizenshuu EX, was one of them.

Eventually Cartoon Network picked up the show, and I watched the first two seasons again. And again. The movies aired. I started getting into the show at this point, between the airings and the internet info. I read about the censorship from DBZ Uncensored. I began buying second/third generation VHS fansubs from online buyers, watching them on a beaten up VCR. I watched later sagas at my cousins' house, because they had a huge collection of DBZ fansub tapes. I was ecstatic one Chrismas to receive a Mystic Gohan figure from my cousins. I still have it today.

DBZ's third dub season aired, and I had mixed feelings. I began buying VHS tapes of it, regardless. When the original Dragon Ball series aired, I bought a couple of tapes of that, too. I still have those, as well.

I continued going to different DBZ websites. Temple of Trunks led me to a message board called Otaku Revolution, where there was a ToT board, as well as others. I stayed a member there from late 2001 to when it finally shut down for good a few years later. I also browsed Big Bang Attack and Planet Namek, the other huge DBZ sites, aside from Vegetto EX's.

I continued watching the dub to the end, but I lost interest a short time later. I was interested in so much other anime at that point, the DB universe lost its luster in comparison. It became old hat, and almost embarrassing. I did what a lot of anime fans do now, distancing myself from my anime past in an effort to seem more sophisticated as a fan. My AOL days ended, and so did my DBZ fandom, for quite a while.

Since then, I did watch the new dub for seasons 1 and 2, but other than that, I pushed DBZ aside.

Then, years later, Dragon Ball Kai was announced, and I suddenly became interested in Dragon Ball Z again. I began roaming Daizenshuu EX. I found a link to Kanzentai. I purchased the boxset of the first three DBZ movies, the original Pioneer release. I learned of the Dragon Boxes. I preordered the first Funimation release as soon as I could. I signed up for this board.

And now you know the rest of the story.

[laserkid]

It was early spring, 1995, I was in middle school at the time, and it was a weekend. My room, as usual, was a complete and utter disaster area, and so on command of my parents, I was cleaning up my room. I had my TV on for some white noise, on the brand new station, UPN, which I was watching for Star Trek Voyager and The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.

On came a cartoon, and, me being a cartoon lover, I stopped to assess if this was something interesting or not. I’d never heard of this “Dragon Ball” before, but based on the art style I immediately assessed it as an 80’s cartoon that had somehow made it to reruns on UPN. A little back story on that, I have always been absolutely fascinated and enamored with 1980s animation, mainly because it is an inseparable part of my early childhood. He-Man and Thundercats meant, and still mean, as much to me as Dragon Ball and Megaman do now (granted I was well into my Megaman fandom by this point).

I was immediately lured into paying it much attention, and I thoroughly enjoyed the episode I saw, which was fairly early on in the Pilaf arc, maybe even the first episode. They aired a second episode right after, and from this point on I made it an absolute point to keep watching it every Sunday, around 10 AM.

Fast forward a year, and I’d seen all 13 episodes of what had been dubbed, and I was pretty familiar with the fact it was an old anime being dubbed. I’d known about anime before I’d seen Dragon Ball, just not enough to know that it was, in fact, what Dragon Ball was right away. I then found out, much to my extreme joy, that the dub would continue with “Dragon Ball Z”. I had no idea that we were skipping an entire shows worth of material at this time, so I was excited as a 15 year old 8th grader could be (I was older then everyone else due to a long string of comedy of errors with my first school district as a kid, a story far too long to get into).

I tuned in, Saturday morning, at 4 in the morning for Dragon Ball Z’s premier. Damn, was I confused, who was this Krillin guy, and WOAH PILAF GOT TALL AND MENACING! Yeah… I confused Piccolo for Pilaf, because I got they were old enemies, so I assumed since Goku grew up, so did Pilaf, only I didn’t remember Pilaf’s name, so I assumed it must’ve always been Piccolo. After this episode I figured something was skipped, so I turned to a friend of mine in the anime know. In an ironic twist of fate, he confirmed Piccolo was from Dragon Ball, cementing my idea he and Pilaf were the same, however he did also let me know that much of Dragon Ball was skipped. I tuned in for the subsequent 4 episodes on their premiers, going through the defeat of Raditz. I, however, being the night owl that I am, could not bear to get up at 4 AM anymore, and so my DB/Z fandom took a break for a while. That is, until I saw an ad for “The climactic ending to the Vegeta Saga NOW ON VHS!” on the back of a Dragon Ball manga comic I had picked up. I’m not sure about the exact timestamp on this, but at the latest it was 1998, because Cartoon Network hadn’t picked up the show yet.

So, I went and bought myself…the end of the Saiyajin Arc, and movie 3 on VHS at the time. Not my smartest choices for a starting point for my ownership collection, but it’s what I did. I went backwards at this point, moving to the ever elusive volume 1. You see, this was pre boom and the only place to buy anime around me was a Suncoast Video, whose anime selection was extremely limited, and that included DBZ. Soon, however I found that my local Borders and Books carried the Dragon Ball tapes also, so I managed to buy all of the “season 1 and 2” tapes of DBZ, as well as the first 13 episodes of DB, DB movie 1, and the first 3 movies, all on VHS.

Then came the Cartoon Network airings in 1998, and also my first computer in 1998. My folks had a computer since 1993, but I’d had limited acess to it. I was 17 in 1998, and a sophomore in High School, so I went to the internet. This is where I found Chris Psaros’ Dragon Ball Z Uncensored website and learned this show I absolutely ADORED was in fact terribly censored from its original. Through said site, as I’ve mentioned before, I found “Vegetto EX’s Ultimate DBZ Links Collection” (did I get it right this time Mike? )

However, much as I was annoyed that what I was watching was censored terribly, there were no DVDs yet, and I neither knew where to find fansub VHS tapes, nor had the desire to (due to my dislike of anime piracy). I DID however tape the Mexican Dub off of Telemundo, just to hear the Japanese music. I should note I know more Japanese then I do Spanish (at the time, about the same level of non knowledge), I was just happy to finally see many of the scenes that were cut completely out of the dub. Of course, come 1999, season 3 began, and I watched all of it dubbed, due to a lack of ability to choose any other way. I watched the 2000 airing of the entire Cell Arc the same way, and then the DVDs came.

When the DVDs came, I finally got to see the show as it was originally intended, and how so many other fans were telling me it was so much better. After about two episodes I got over whatever subtitle aversions I’d had, and also gotten over the fact that “ZOMG GOKU SOUNDS LIKE A WOMAN! OMFG!!!!111ONE”, and really enjoyed the show. I never turned back to the dub, and bought every single DVD release that was put out, finishing off my DB/Z ownership with the second Orange Brick in 2007.

It is now 2009, I am 28 years old, and I have hung around the Daizex community consistently due to it both being in my roots, and the most intelligent fanbase I know. So, that’s my Dragon Ball Story.