What Was Your Introduction to the Japanese Score?

[Jon Jon]

The anime labs fan subs of the Buu saga

[Reckoner]

1998 when DBZ started showing Sunday nights on the International Channel. It was hard as hell to go back after that.

[JulieYBM]

It must have been the first airing of The World's Strongest Guy. I remember finding the music very atmospheric. I don't recollect if I saw Return My Gohan on Toonami, though.

Afterward, the in-house Dragon Ball dub came along so I suspect that was my second foray. I know I own a few of the uncut tapes as well as the third film.

Then there was the International Channel, I remember catching the Anoyo'ichi and Boo arcs there, sporatically.

And now, since my return to the series in 2006-2007, I've completely switched over to the Japanese version.

[jjgp1112]

It was a Buu saga fansub I saw around 2001 or 2002. Being the Buu saga score, my first thought was, "Well, no wonder they changed it. This sucks." However, when FUNimation kept it for Dragon Ball, I thought it fit better for that since it was more lighthearted. However, I hated Nathan Johnson's score for the Saiyan and Namek sagas, so when I bought DBZ Season 1, I watched it with the Japanese score and thought it was really good. However, I continued watching it for the rest of the show and it just got worse and worse to me. My status on the Japanese music in the Buu saga is still the same - it sucks.

[Gouki*]

The clips Planet Namek and such used to have.

[Velasa]

Aaw man, I still remember standing there in Suncoast and staring up at wonder at the DBZ VHS- the ones that said -English subtitled.- While some of my memories of the time are fuzzy and I can't pick out the exact chronology, at some point between 99 and 00 (some time before Wing came out) my Aunt mailed me the VHS of World's Strongest for some occasion and I watched that baby as soon as possible. I got the Dead Zone tape shortly after and they're still two of my most loved pieces of my collection.

Funny thing though? One, the subtitled tapes only had the songs subbed for some reason. And two, outside the insert songs.... I really don't remember the music from those first watchings at all. As a matter of fact, when the music changed between the first two seasons and the third one I never noticed the difference either. It was with my first DVD (Trunks: Prelude to Terror) watching it in Japanese that I really noticed the difference. I don't understand why really, maybe I was just paying attention to the chars too much to pick up on it before then o_O

[Bura]

My first exposures of it were when I bought the Big Green dub of movie 6 which had the original score. I remember thinking "it sounds so old!" More exposure came also from watching old fansubs and finally when GT aired on TV (Blue water dub, which kept the original score).

I have to admit, I wasn't a big fan at first but it grew on me.

[Goku100xKamehameha]

The first time I introduce to Japanese score also the first time I watch the series and it's DBZ Indonesian DUB.

[bkev]

Definitely was The World's Strongest dub airing on Toonami, although I wasn't a regular watcher of the show so I probably didn't notice anything off. Then I saw DragonBall. And, well, I never thought anything was funny about Z - the Faulconer music fit in my 4th-grade mind. I only suspected a change once I saw Fusion Reborn at one of its obscure theater-airings and the music just didn't fit it at all.

Oh my, I posted on page one... XD

[G1Ravage]

It was Movie 2 and Movie 1 airing on Cartoon Network, although at the time I didn't know it was the Japanese music. It really wasn't until the surge of DBZ fan sites on the Internet and Chris Psaros' DBZ Uncensored that I learned of the extreme differences between the two versions of the show.

Then, around the time DBZ season 3 was premiering on Toonami, I happened upon Spanish DBZ on Telemundo in Las Vegas. I had zero experience with Japanese DBZ at this point, but I could tell by the much bloodier, raw picture that the Spanish version was much closer to the Japanese original than the English version was. I also recognized one powerful piece of music from one of the movies I'd already seen, and I actually e-mailed Chris Psaros to ask him if he thought what I was hearing was the Japanese music.

Then, in 2001 or so, I happened upon Japanese DBZ on the International Channel, and watched it through the bulk of the Buu arc. When the FUNimation uncut DVD's started coming out, I started buying those. So it was Japanese-only for me from that point on.

[Cipher]

My status on the Japanese music in the Buu saga is still the same - it sucks.

That's actually tied with GT for my favorite era of music in the series. Might I inquire why you hate it?

Anyway, like most people here, I first heard the original soundtrack through the Ocean dub of the first three Z movies. I thought it was okay, but didn't have much of an opinion on it. The next I heard was via a GT fansub I bought. I thought it was fantastic, and I still enjoy the GT score more than most of Kikuchi's work (although it's more fitting for a pastel-colored space opera than kung-fu pastiche, so it all works out). Finally, I saw the Dragon Ball dub had a proper, in-episode introduction to the Japanese Z score through the smatterings of Funimation DVDs I bought.

I still wasn't really sold on it though. It was just "okay." I think a few things have finally warmed me up to the original Dragon Ball and Z score:

1) Coming back to the series after a long hiatus and beginning to appreciate the fact that it's a lot of homages and camp.

2) Doing a study abroad in Japan, and getting a better feel for their pop culture and children's entertainment. (I think this is also why the music sounds nostalgic to me, even though it shouldn't.)

3) Being forced by the first two Orange Bricks to use the Japanese score, as the Ultimate Uncut music is super generic and bland. At least Faulconer's material has a distinct character, which is why I can still dig it in small doses.

That all said, while it's nostalgic, the most fitting soundtrack for the series, and quite good, I still don't think I'm as in love with it as most members here. It still reuses tracks like a mother fuck, and the best tracks seem like they're rarely played long enough or at the right moments. But that's kind of common among all Japanese media from that era. Music has always played a larger role in American cinema/television.

And real quick, opinion on Kai's soundtrack: Too overbearing and generic. For my money, only slightly more tolerable than the Ultimate Uncut music, and it goes a long way toward making Kai a chore to watch. It also ramps up the cheese factor to eleven when there's any remotely "sad" moment, which is just eye-rolling.

[Kendamu]

I was introduced to the Japanese BGM back when DBZ Movies 1-3 with the Ocean Cast played on Toonami very regularly. However, at the time, I didn't know that there were different soundtracks for the series and that what we were hearing was just the American soundtrack. So, I assumed that the music in DBZ Movies 1-3, which I found clearly superior, was "DBZ Movie Music." Because of this, I would always sit around while watching those movies and ask myself, "Why don't they use this awesome music in the series?!"

Of course, later I came to find out that it was the Japanese music and that it is in the series.

By that point I was mainly a manga fanboy, though, so I liked the DBZ music I lot but I hated the pace of DBZ and wasn't about to pay $25-ish for three episodes just to hear the cool music.

[Kid Buu]

1998 when DBZ started showing Sunday nights on the International Channel. It was hard as hell to go back after that.

Yeah I started watching DBZ International Channel during the Kid Buu fight. It blew me away in an instant.

[Kiyza]

I think the first time I actually heard the Japanese score was when Toonami was airing the original Dragon Ball on Cartoon Network, but I didn't really care much, since at the time I didn't really pay much attention to the show. For the longest time I read the manga and didn't bother much at all with the anime. Until the first Dragon Box set came out. That was my real introduction to the Japanese score.

[MCDaveG]

I'm always feeling like idiot in this kind of topics, because most of you are from USA.
But my first introduction was at the same time as I first watched Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z series.
Simply I turned on the TV and watch! ))

[Ringworm128]

The Japanese BGM was the first BGM I'd ever heard, because for Christmas 2008, my brother lent me seasons 1 to 4 of DBZ, and that's when I got into DBZ. It took me at least 4 months before I went to the audio menu and found the US score. It was great music, but it just didn't fit like the Japanese music did.

[Ringworm128]

The Japanese BGM was the first BGM i heard because in Christmas 2008 my brother lent me season 1 to 4 of DBZ and that's when i got into DBZ it took me at least 4 months before i went to the audio menu and found the US score it was great music but it just didn't fit like the Japanese music did

Actually, I was first introduced to the Japanese music in 2004 when I was about 8. My mom bought me DBZ movie 1 on VHS. Apart from thinking it was a great movie, I thought the music was great, but after 4 years I had completely forgotten about the music.

[The Time Traveller]

The season sets, I first gave it a go in English with US music, but it was all wrong, I was expecting good voice acting, or at least the ocean dub, I switched over and never watched it in English again.

I was used to the names and terms since I had read the first 16 volumes of the manga at the time.

[Jon Jon]

Watching random clips off of Pojo.

I remember a really old web site as well. I believe it was "www.dragonball-gt.com"? Something like that?

[OutlawTorn]

It had to have been some time in the late 90s, I had rented DBZ Movie 1 so it was my first exposure not only to the Japanese score, but Cha-la Head Cha-la as well.