Why is DB/Z/GT viewed as childish?

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Sun_Wukong
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Why is DB/Z/GT viewed as childish?

Post by Sun_Wukong » Sun Oct 23, 2005 6:19 pm

Mabey its just in the USA, I'm not sure, but it seems DB gets a bad vibe as being childish. Here, it gets thrown in the same category as Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Beyblade, ect. But if "anime elitists" hear someone call Naruto, One Piece, Full Metal Alchemist or the like, childish, theyll disown you. Why is this? It follows the same formula as all those other Shounen series out there. Why does this one get the least respect?

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Post by B-kun » Sun Oct 23, 2005 6:23 pm

Well.. .Dragon Ball and most anime like that ARE for kids. Dispite how much elitists whine and cry. As for why they disown you.. It's because DB was a "fad" and now it's "out of style".

Screw them. :D

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Post by Jerseymilk » Sun Oct 23, 2005 6:28 pm

Dragonball, One Piece, and Naruto are all shows that are aimed at kids, despite what fanboys in denial will say to you. It's just that when something for kids is done well, adults can enjoy it too There's no harm in that and nothing to be ashamed of.
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Post by Chaos Saiyajin » Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:08 pm

B-kun wrote:Screw them.
I totally agree! :lol:
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Post by VegettoEX » Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:43 pm

Chaos Saiyajin, please make sure "Disable BBCode in this post" is *not* checked when you post. I'm fixing your post, now. Also, don't put giant spaces between the quote tag, the text, and the end-quote tag.
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Post by Magnaboss » Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:56 pm

Because it is a kids shows. It's a kids show, where the point of sale is muscle-bound men and boys fly around, and fight aliens, robots, monsters and mutants with SUPER FAST AMAZING Martial arts and giant fireballs that destroy worlds.

However, don't worry about how Anime fandom labels it in comparison to other kids shwos such as FMA or Naruto. It's summed up byt the fact that Anime fandom is mostly filled with deplorable retards ;)

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Post by *PINHEAD* » Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:54 pm

It's because when Dragon Ball first gained popularity here in America, it became another one of those trends kids get into, like Pokemon. The other shonen series which aren't held in such light are fairly newer and have more developed plots/characters. I bet that in a few years, Naruto and One Piece will also be shunned by anime elitists.
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Post by Magnaboss » Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:19 pm

*PINHEAD* wrote:It's because when Dragon Ball first gained popularity here in America, it became another one of those trends kids get into, like Pokemon. The other shonen series which aren't held in such light are fairly newer and have more developed plots/characters. I bet that in a few years, Naruto and One Piece will also be shunned by anime elitists.
Naruto generally is already, and One Piece is so far under anyones radar that no one really cares.

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Post by DBW » Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:49 pm

*PINHEAD* wrote:I bet that in a few years, Naruto and One Piece will also be shunned by anime elitists.
Naruto *is* shunned by anime elitists, although I doubt that One Piece will ever be, since it's fandom hasn't picked up very well for some reason (in North America). There's also some major factors that set Naruto and One Piece worlds apart from each other, but I won't even go there...

And yeah, DragonBall is for children, but in Japan I think it had more of a timeless appeal. It was something that everyone could enjoy. The story resonated beyond simply "Grrr, I'm the bad guy" and "I will save the day!" You would get attached to the characters over time, and grow to love them for whatever reasons. Although the Japanese version very well may be a marketing machine, they hide it very well behind excellent storytelling and truly unforgettable characters.

However, DB was clearly marketed as a fad here in North America, and so like all fads, when it died it died hard. The show was marketed by FUNimation to get an explosive response out of children, without much thought of the long term effects. They're still doing this with their "Ultimate Uncut" release where people are now glued to the TV to count all the naughty words that Krillin spews out per episode. Six months from now nobody will give a shit, it's just a "you had to be there" type of thing. Something to get an immediate reaction out of fans, with no real lasting appeal. Instead of actually improving the dub, they just coated it with a new layer of "hardcore" paint (the blood/cursing).

I mean, just look at how the dub's handled. The characters all become caricatures (the speech giving hero Goku, the menacing villain Vegeta, the dumb bitch Bulma, and so forth...). The music is some user-friendly generic prattle. The themes are "the roxors!!!" And best of all, the script is usually turned into either nonsense or generic rhetoric, carefully laced with an onslaught of one-liners. It is cheap and disposable, and fancy that, 95% of the original fanbase from 1999 has already done away with it.

It's kind of like those new shoes out now that have the little wheels hidden inside them, so you can walk and skate in your regular shoes (and every fucking kid has these damn things!). It's just some bullshit bandwagon fad, and if it had any real lasting appeal, then we'd all still be walking around in shoes with lights in them!

Anyways, I don't even care about the whole "DragonBall is childish/gay/whatever" thing, because I know perfectly well that given enough time, hardly anybody will even remember what it is. I've been waiting patiently for about the past 4 years for the show to get yanked off TV, and now with DBZ yanked from Canadian airwaves, I'd say we're well on our way. Here's to another 5 years, and the complete loss of DragonBall from it's butchered existance in North American mainstream media! :wink:

By the way, this is all just my opinion. I know some of you guys love the dub, and that's cool. No offense to any of you. ^_^
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Post by *PINHEAD* » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:59 am

Yeah, I know even Naruto is shunned by many anime "elitists," but I was referring to those Naruto fans who constantly bash Dragon Ball.
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Post by Dayspring » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:13 am

*PINHEAD* wrote:Yeah, I know even Naruto is shunned by many anime "elitists," but I was referring to those Naruto fans who constantly bash Dragon Ball.
Those are the people B-kun mentioned: the DB fad is over and the Naruto fad is only starting.
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Post by Jerseymilk » Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:46 am

Don't forget Dayspring that the DBZ fad here in Canada was replaced before that with Inu Yasha.

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Post by Bejiita » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:05 am

It is a kids show in Japan, but more teenagers watch DBZ in other countries like US or UK. And if anything I think DBZ would get called a kids show much less if they showed the uncut episodes on TV from day 1. I doubt under 12's(which I consider as 'kids') would really find Freeza impaling Krillin and shaking him about pleasant or funny, not to mention all the blood there is, well I wouldn't if I was that young, especially since stuff like this happens to the good guys occasionally.

And since DBZ is originally uncut, it deserve to be labeled a kids show along the lines of Pokemon, but it's more of a tennagers show, a lot of people who went to my college said DBZ was and always will be a sick anime, and I mean sick in the good way, these people are some ghetto people that don't have it off of no one, and stab people who try to mug them off.

Someone here made a topic about Roll Deep, they are a music group that have only recently become commercial, but before they were underground they lived street lifes(not like the Blazin Squad pussies) and still do, and the boy blatantly wears a Super Saiyan Goku T-short, if it was that bad wouldn't it lose him street credibility? In the UK DBZ don't just get seen as some dumb kiddy shiw like in the States.
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Post by Sun_Wukong » Mon Oct 24, 2005 12:22 pm

I guess this is sortve in the same terms as Disney. Disney movies are clearly aimed at kids but everyone enjoys em. I dont see how shounen anime is any different.

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Post by Jerseymilk » Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:01 pm

Bejiita wrote:It is a kids show in Japan, but more teenagers watch DBZ in other countries like US or UK. And if anything I think DBZ would get called a kids show much less if they showed the uncut episodes on TV from day 1. I doubt under 12's(which I consider as 'kids') would really find Freeza impaling Krillin and shaking him about pleasant or funny, not to mention all the blood there is, well I wouldn't if I was that young, especially since stuff like this happens to the good guys occasionally.

And since DBZ is originally uncut, it deserve to be labeled a kids show along the lines of Pokemon, but it's more of a tennagers show, a lot of people who went to my college said DBZ was and always will be a sick anime, and I mean sick in the good way, these people are some ghetto people that don't have it off of no one, and stab people who try to mug them off.

Someone here made a topic about Roll Deep, they are a music group that have only recently become commercial, but before they were underground they lived street lifes(not like the Blazin Squad pussies) and still do, and the boy blatantly wears a Super Saiyan Goku T-short, if it was that bad wouldn't it lose him street credibility? In the UK DBZ don't just get seen as some dumb kiddy shiw like in the States.
I understand what you're saying, but it doesn't change the fact that DBZ is a kid's show. It was shown uncut in Japan at 7:30 in the evenings and was still called a kid's show. The commercials during it were for things like candy and video games. The Japanese kids didn't seem to have a problem handling it and actually, I know I would have been fine as a kid with it too. I don't know why people in North America are always so convinced that kids can't handle anything. As I said earlier, truly good kid's shows are able to be enjoyed by all ages. It's the same with great children's books, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, or more recently, Harry Potter.
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Post by Xyex » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:08 pm

I understand what you're saying, but it doesn't change the fact that DBZ is a kid's show. It was shown uncut in Japan at 7:30 in the evenings and was still called a kid's show. The commercials during it were for things like candy and video games. The Japanese kids didn't seem to have a problem handling it and actually, I know I would have been fine as a kid with it too. I don't know why people in North America are always so convinced that kids can't handle anything. As I said earlier, truly good kid's shows are able to be enjoyed by all ages. It's the same with great children's books, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, or more recently, Harry Potter.
Yep. Though even Harry Potter is starting to get flak for being too 'dark' for children. It's pathetic. The US is trying to 'shield its children' but all they're doing is leaving them unprepared for reality. It's sad.
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Post by laserkid » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:37 pm

Dragon Ball is considered childish because its aimed towards children, as many others have said. That doesnt mean adults can't enjoy it, in fact thinking adults cant enjoy things made for children is in and of itself a childish attitude really. Kids may not enjoy seeing Krilling being tortured by Freeza, but as an adult I can't say I enjoyed that scene either. But that was the entire point - you aren't SUPPOSED to enjoy that scene, its supposed to make you despise Freeza.

Ultimatly, like Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, and many childrens shows made in the US, Dragon Ball was made for children, but adults can enjoy it too.
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Post by MyVisionity » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:51 pm

Bejiita wrote:I doubt under 12's(which I consider as 'kids') would really find Freeza impaling Krillin and shaking him about pleasant or funny, not to mention all the blood there is, well I wouldn't if I was that young, especially since stuff like this happens to the good guys occasionally.
You're right, that isn't something for 12 yrs/under to be watching. Maybe under Japanese standards, sure. Dragon Ball is a series aimed at older kids, but does have many aspects, like said impalement, that should really only be seen by mature audiences, at least in America. This is why I agree that the teen audience would be more appropriate over here. Not that 9-12 year olds still don't eat it up, particularly with an edited version.

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Post by laserkid » Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:53 pm

You do realize that the Lord of the Rings was written for children and thats full of impalements, beheaddings, ect?
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Post by Bejiita » Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:05 pm

I also disagree with the censoring the US gives the Japanese anime. That's why when I let my sister watch DBZ she watches the uncut version in Japanese, she's only 7 but she might as well see thigs real, if anything showing scenes where blood is edited out like that can do the opposite for kids, imaging if they saw krillin getting impaled when there ws no blood and thinking they can stab someone and they won't bleed, they might decide to do it to someone!

It may sound crazy, but it could happen, by showing it in it's true colours the child can see the consequences of what would happen if they did stab someone, which could make them actually think twice before doing it. Like, by seeing blood they would know stabbing something sharp through a person will shed blood, and if they already do know then what is the harm in not cutting it out in DBZ?

Sensless really.
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