Need everyone's opinions on arc divisions of the series

[Rukura]

I've seen the term "Goku saga" turn up more than once, but...why do people give the main character's name to a "saga"? Wouldn't "Goku saga" include...uhm...everything but Garlic Jr and Great Saiyaman? Or is that was it's called in the Dragon Box?

The Trimark/Kidmark release of those first 13 episodes and the Madman release in Austrailia were marketed under the "Saga of Goku" name. Why? Dunno...

Oh, I only remembered the whole "first 13 eps" debacle. Never clicked that it was named like that, thanks.
Do you know how it was named in the episode guide on the Dragon Box?

I guess I'll also go ahead with my Dragon Ball split:

Dragon Ball:
- Dragon Quest (har har)
- 21st Tenkaichi Budokai
- Red Ribbon Army
- Uranai Baba's challenge
- 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai
- Piccolo Daimao
- 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai
- Wedding Dress Rescue

Dragon Ball Z:
- Saiyan
- Namek / Freeza
- Garlic Jr
- Artificial Humans / Cell / Lolz Red Ribbon Army part 2
- Cell (Cell overlaps with the Artificial Humans / Androids but it ends up being a larger arc all about dealing with him....plus multiple transformations and Cell Games)
- Strongest in the Other World Tournament
- Great Saiyaman (self-contained enough)
- Majin Buu

Dragon Ball GT:
- Black Star Dragon Quest
- Baby
- Super nº17
- Evil Dragons

Not a fan of separating Namek, Ginyu Force and Freeza. Either all Namek or all Freeza.

[the_abberration]

I've seen the term "Goku saga" turn up more than once, but...why do people give the main character's name to a "saga"? Wouldn't "Goku saga" include...uhm...everything but Garlic Jr and Great Saiyaman? Or is that was it's called in the Dragon Box?

I went for that one because as TheDevilsCorpse pointed out, that was what it was named on the Madman version. I've also heard it referred to as "The Pilaf Saga" or "The Hunt/Search For The Dragonballs Saga".

Saiyan. It's only mistakenly referenced as "Vegeta saga" once. (that I've noticed, but a mistake none the less)

That's how they had it listed in Volume 1 of the Dragonbook, when I made the list. Also, I recall that was how they named the UUC's when they came out as well.

While I fully agree with the "Saiyan Saga" also, I can see why it possibly was referred to as the latter. Although there were other Saiyans, Vegeta was the "big bad" so to speak. So I chalked it up to how for example in Buffy, one might if they were so inclined to call it the "Vampire Saga" (since she would face more than one), but could also refer to the cumulative threats (The Master Saga, The Spike and Drusilla Saga, The Angelus Saga).

[Rukura]

I went for that one because as TheDevilsCorpse pointed out, that was what it was named on the Madman version. I've also heard it referred to as "The Pilaf Saga" or "The Hunt/Search For The Dragonballs Saga".

Fair enough. It never really clicked in my mind that it had been an official name somewhere

That's how they had it listed in Volume 1 of the Dragonbook, when I made the list. Also, I recall that was how they named the UUC's when they came out as well.

While I fully agree with the "Saiyan Saga" also, I can see why it possibly was referred to as the latter. Although there were other Saiyans, Vegeta was the "big bad" so to speak. So I chalked it up to how for example in Buffy, one might if they were so inclined to call it the "Vampire Saga" (since she would face more than one), but could also refer to the cumulative threats (The Master Saga, The Spike and Drusilla Saga, The Angelus Saga).

The Dragonbook is a translation of the japanese one...in which it says "Saiyan saga". In the american Dragon Box release they listed it as "Saiyan saga" everywhere else, making it...at least seem like it was indeed a mistake.

The Buffy analogy would make sense....if every villain in Dragon Ball Z was a Saiyan

[the_abberration]

The Buffy analogy would make sense....if every villain in Dragon Ball Z was a Saiyan

But up until they went to Namek (like the first three seasons of Buffy), that was the case. At some point Buffy moved on to other threats as well (The Initiative/Adam, Glory, Evil Willow, The First).

Maybe a better example would be how some lump "The Ginyu Saga" into the overall "Freeza Saga", since he was the biggest and ending threat. As opposed to calling it an all inclusive title, such as "The Evil Alien Space Pirates Saga".

Also FUNimation did officially refer to it as "The Vegeta Saga" with the UUC's.

Again I think either works, but I lean more to the latter since that's what the first DBZ arc culminated to.

[Adamant]

Do you know how it was named in the episode guide on the Dragon Box?

The Dragon book calls it the "Goku and Bulma arc".

The division of the rest of the DB series is the "Kamesennin traning arc", the "21st Tenkaichi Budokai arc", the "Red Ribbon arc", the "Uranai Baba arc", the "Training journey arc", the "22nd Tenkaichi Budokai arc", the "Piccolo Daimao arc", the "Heavenly training arc", the "23rd Tenkaichi Budokai arc" and the "Wedding Dress within the flames arc".

[DBZGTKOSDH]

What about DBZ & GT arcs in Dragon Box? And are there official arc divisions for Kai?

[Adamant]

What about DBZ & GT arcs in Dragon Box?

Z box 1:
Saiyan arc (1-35)
Planet Namek arc (36-74)
Freeza arc (75-107)
Garlic Jr. arc (108-117)
Android arc (118-147)
(don't have Z box 2, sorry)

GT:
Space search arc (1-22)
Super Baby arc (23-41)
Super Number 17 arc (42-47)
Evil dragons arc (48-64)

And are there official arc divisions for Kai?

The home releases divide the series into "Dragonball Kai" (1-54) and "Dragonball Kai - Android/Cell arc" (55-98), that's all we got.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Thanks a lot!

[Thanos]

Saga, good sir.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure 'Saga' is dub terminology. Or, was that the joke?

I can't really make a call on the original series... it's been ages since I've seen the entire series--in fact, now that I think of it, I haven't seen Dragon Ball since it ended on Cartoon Network--nearly ten years ago! Damn, that's my cue.

I think, in Z, there are four major arcs:
Vegeta Arc
Freeza Arc
Cell Arc
Majin Buu Arc

There are obviously sub-arcs, such as the Namek and Artifical Human Arcs, but I think they should only be noted in digression.

Obviously, the beginning of the series all the way to Vegeta leaving Earth are part of the same story... often this referred to as the Saiyan Arc, but for consistency's sake, they can all be referred to by their main villain's name. Vegeta Arc

The Namek/Freeza Arcs are directly interconnected. Freeza Arc

The Artificial Human, Cell and Cell Games Arcs are all interconnected. Cell Arc

The Tenka'ichi Budokai and Buu (all of it) Arcs are all part of one major interconnected story. Majin Buu Arc

The Garlic Jr. Arc is its own standalone/filler plot, so it's just kind of its own there... yeah.


In terms of GT, I'd say, probably...

Bebi Arc
Super 17 Arc
Yi Xing Long Arc

Obviously, the Bebi Arc = Start of series to Bebi's death (since the Dragon Ball search leads to the meeting of Rirudo, who is connected with Myu and Bebi).

[Pokewhiz7]

Or, was that the joke?

Bingo.

[Cipher]

Obviously, the Bebi Arc = Start of series to Bebi's death (since the Dragon Ball search leads to the meeting of Rirudo, who is connected with Myu and Bebi).

Um, we get Baby-related stuff long before Rilld shows up. The Para-Para Brothers first show up in episode 8, which is the beginning of the Lood arc. The entire Lood cult is a front to gather energy for Baby, Lood himself being a giant Machine Mutant.

[Saiga]

I agree with the whole Saiyan/Namek/Cell/Boo division of arcs, but I still refer to sagas so people know better what I'm talking about. So if I say "x happened in the Cell Games saga" or "Despite what happened to Gohan, I like the Kid Boo saga" it narrows it down a lot.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Going by the manga:

Search for the Dragon Balls arc
21st Tenka'ichi Budokai arc
Red Ribbon Army arc
22nd Tenka'ichi Budokai arc
Piccolo Daimao arc
23rd Tenka'ichi Budokai arc
Saiyan arc
Freeza arc
Cell arc
Boo arc

I don't merge the Saiyan and Freeza arcs together because, in my opinion, they're clearly two seperate arcs with seperate main villains, and in the Saiyan arc, there's not even the slightest hint of Freeza being the motivation for Vegeta's actions on Earth. In fact, it was retconned from Vegeta wanting "an eternity of battle" to "killing Freeza". And I name the Cell arc so because while the main villains shifts from #19 and #20 to #17 and #18 to Cell, it is Cell that ends up being the main villain, eliminating the previous main villains, who eliminated the main villains before them.

[DonieZ]

May I ask what this project actually is? Just curious..

[dbboxkaifan]

And concerning Kai. Are these episodes correctly listed below?

Saiyajins - 01 to 16
Freeza - 17 to 54
Cell - 55 to 98

Thanks!

Edit: Nvm got it!

[DBZ Mick]

For my own project I'm doing, I now have it like this...

Goku arc
The Turtle Hermit's Training arc
21st Tenkaichi Budokai arc
Red Ribbon Army arc
Fortuneteller Baba arc
22nd Tenkaichi Budokai arc
Piccolo Daimaou arc
Heavenly Training arc
23rd Tenkaichi Budokai arc

Saiyan arc
Namek arc
Freeza arc.

[Zephyr]

Dragonball arc: Obvious
21st Tenkaichi Budokai arc: Kame Sennin's training, 21st Tenkaichi Budokai
Red Ribbon Army arc: Red Ribbon Army, Urani Baba
22nd Tenkaichi Budokai arc: Solo training, 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai
Piccolo Daimao arc: Piccolo Daimao
Piccolo Jr. arc: God's training, 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai
-Wedding Dress arc-
Saiyan arc: Raditz, training, Nappa/Vegeta
Namek arc: Space, Namek, Freeza
-Garlic Jr.-
Artificial Humans arc: Trunks Special, Mecha Freeza, Artificial Humans, Cell, Cell Games, Trunks returning to future
-Anoyoichi Budokai arc-
Buu arc: Great Saiyaman, 25th Tenkaichi Budokai, Buu
-28th Tenkaichi Budokai-

Might edit to include GT later.

[GreggMays64]

Pilaf arc
Tenkaichi Budokai 21 arc
Red Ribbon Army arc
Tenkaichi Budokai 22 arc
Piccolo Daimao arc
Tenkaichi Budokai 23 arc
Saiyan arc
Namek arc
Android arc
Majin Boo arc

As for anime only arcs, Garlic Jr. arc, and Pikkon arc.

DBGT
Black Star Dragon Ball arc
Bebi arc
Super 17 arc
Shadow Dragon arc

Before I go on to the villains, the tournaments may not be arcs about Goku saving the world, but rather just fighting in a tournament, they do have bosses. They're not main villains or main antagonist. So the first one has Jackie Chun, the second one has Tenshinhan, and the third one has Piccolo. If you want to count the Fortuneteller Baba arc, his tournament has a boss too, Grandpa Gohan. So the main antagonist would be Pilaf, Commander Red, Piccolo Daimao, Freeza, Cell, and Majin Boo. Vegeta is really Freeza's henchmen along with Nappa and Raditz. He is those Shonen antagonist with their own arc like Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek, or Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine from One Piece. As for DBGT, Bebi, Hell Fighter 17, and Yi Xing Long.