The first time you watched Dragonball?

gotenx · Post by **gotenx** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:04 pm

I can't remember how old I was and what year it was, but I do remember that the first time that I saw it and actually new what it was was when I was in 1st grade and the Frieza Saga was airing on Cartoon Network. It was the episode where Goku first went "Super Sam". The next time I saw it was when I went to Best Buy, and saw the "Mysterious Youth" VHS. This was the one when Trunks first shows up. I was lucky to see one of the interesting episodes, or else I probably would've stopped watching it. The NEXT time I saw DBZ was on one of my Birthdays, but I can't remember which one (I think it was my 10th). That was when USSJ Vegeta was beating up 2nd form Cell. That got me hooked even more, and ever since then, I'd buy the VHS or watch it on TV whenever I could.

Brad Redfield · Post by **Brad Redfield** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 8:42 am

I was about 12 years old when I first saw DBZ back in '97. It was on FOX at noon after the FoxKids block and my first episode was the Namek filler where Gohan and Kuririn are fighting some octopus thingies. The style interested me and I tuned in the next week and got hooked.

I remember having to order figures seeing as none of the stores carried DBZ stuff.

Chaos Saiyajin · Post by **Chaos Saiyajin** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:45 am

Ah..Memories...I had seen maybe one episode of DB on FoxKids once, and thought it was stupid. I was around...oh eight or so...then, my cousin got into it, and my best friend at school; so I decided to watch it. The first episode I saw on CN was Piccolo killing Radditz and Goku. I was around nine years-old and became obsessed with Dragonball, much like I am today. I began getting Viz's single issues of the manga and bringing the to school to show my other friends in third grade...They liked them because they cussed.

And that's how I was introduced to DBZ...waaay back I'm '99. I'm celebrating seven years of DBZ love this year by buying Movie 12. Kick ass.

kvon · Post by **kvon** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 12:28 pm

I was four when I saw Dragon Ball airing on TV in Taiwan(around 1990). It was actually very interesting at the time but I lost the interest since I didn't start from the beginning. Now I wished I had watched as much as possible!

ulisa · Post by **ulisa** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 4:27 pm

Well, for me, the first time I saw Dragonball and the point to where I actually became interested in took about 5-8 years! But then, I didn't get interested in anime until I was about oh, 13 or so.

The first anime I fell in love with was Sailor Moon, the original dub that played on Cartoon Network. I loved the deep character development and a lot of the emotional themes, such as forgiveness, love and friendship, themes I'd also love in Dragonball later. After about a year of watching it and getting involved online, I discovered that what I was watching was not the original...needless to say, I bought the first season finale uncut off line and promptly never again watched it uncut...still liked the english voices but refused to watch it uncut.

Now as for Dragonball and Dragonball Z, I heard about it when I was in high school. My first boyfriend tried to tell me about it but the way I heard it was a fighting fest of nothing but beating other people up, something I wasn't interested in. That and he always tried to convince me it was better than Sailor Moon which at the current point in time was one of my favorites shows. I had no problem with him telling me about it but I didn't like how he always degraded what I watched in comparison.

Skip ahead about a year and I catch one episode of it on a tape I used to tape another show I liked. It happened to be the episode where Piccolo dies to save Gohan. I thought at that point, "this is completely bizaree" namely because, to be blunt, I had no clue what the hell was going on. I didn't even attempt to watch for about two more years when I met my best friend who was a Dragonball Z fan.

She wasn't pushy in telling me about it but I did finally agree to watch an episode or movie except now I actually had someone EXPLAIN to me what was going on. The emotions and character relationships perked my interest and I bought a cheap 3 movie set online, the first three movies.

After Dead Zone, I was even more interested and wanted to know this from the start. Started to watch the dub on Cartoon Network and then got the Freeza, Cell, Android, and a few movies. Soon as I saw Goku go Super Saiyan the first time uncut, I was hooked. Bought all of Dragonball and now have most of Dragonball Z on uncut DVD. Am just missing some of the Saiyan Saga and the Namek Saga because FUNimation hasn't released them uncut yet...just like I was with Sailor Moon, I refuse to watch it editted...hasta be uncut.

So, it took me forever to get into it but now I love it. Am still a Sailor Moon fan as well but I believe Dragonball Z has pushed its way in front:) However, now, whenever I think of introducing it to someone, I remember wha tturned me off and refuse to introduce them with anything except one of the first episodes or a movie...because I was completely lost the first time I saw it!

Ulisa:)

Mr. Announcer · Post by **Mr. Announcer** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:04 pm

Uh.. I used to not watch much except Ronin warriors and disney movies, but when I was around 9 years old, my mother started watching some of those annoying japanese dramas on the I channel and I caught the tail end of a DBZ episode which was on right before it/after it? can't remember. Anyway, I thought it looked pretty interesting so I watched it the next week as well and pretty soon it was a tradition. my mom even had the TV moved out of the living room because she didn't want me watching while we were eating. Of course, the fact that I could barely understand what they were saying bothered me and my mom wasn't gonna sit around and translate cartoons for me so I started watching the Funimation version that was showing on CN almost parallel with the I channel one so yeah, that's howI first saw both versions

chronocross · Post by **chronocross** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:15 pm

The first time i saw dragonball was back on 95. I watch the very first episode of Dragonball and it was just plain hilarious.
Who would have know that that little, innocent child would become the greatest warrior in the universe and an icon of japanese animation.

Tenka-Ichi · Post by **Tenka-Ichi** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 11:40 pm

It's kinda hard to remember, but I'm pretty sure my first exposure to anything dragonball was watching the first 13 episodes of Dragonball at like 10 or 11 am or something on saturdays on YTV. I'm pretty sure I didn't see all 13 episodes, as I didn't really know when they were on (I was only like 5 or 6 and didn't have YTV's schedule memorized as I would a few years later). Then they started playing Dragonball Z, and I would watch that every once in a while too. It wasn't untill it started airing daily during the zone when I really got hooked.

Dayspring · Post by **Dayspring** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:44 am

Tenka-Ichi wrote:It's kinda hard to remember, but I'm pretty sure my first exposure to anything dragonball was watching the first 13 episodes of Dragonball at like 10 or 11 am or something on saturdays on YTV. I'm pretty sure I didn't see all 13 episodes, as I didn't really know when they were on (I was only like 5 or 6 and didn't have YTV's schedule memorized as I would a few years later). Then they started playing Dragonball Z, and I would watch that every once in a while too. It wasn't untill it started airing daily during the zone when I really got hooked.

Me too, only I think I was around 9 or 10.

SonGokuGT · Post by **SonGokuGT** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 3:02 am

I first saw Dragonball when it premiered in Spain. I was 4 or 5 back in 1989-1990. That's when I got into it! It was a phenomenon that put the preceding Saint Seiya fad to shame! ^_^

ItsAllGood · Post by **ItsAllGood** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:27 am

Believe it or not, second year of University! Wondering what to study for another sub-major, and friends who were doing Animation at the time introduced me to DBZ.

At the time, I dimly remembered "Something Ball Z" when I was watching Transformers as a child, so I decided to do more research.
First episode I ever watched was Kaioken Goku smashing Freeza, and I had to see more!

More research unearthed another childhood favorite, Monkey Magic, shared obvious ties to Dragon Ball, which led to DBZ.

Long story short, Sub-Major in Animation because of DBZ!

lost in thought · Post by **lost in thought** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:02 am

Ah, another fun topic!

Now gather 'round children, for this is a tale of long, long ago. In 1997...
...Right, I saw DragonBall Z when I lived in the boonies (read: in the middle of nowhere,) at the tender age of 12. At this time I had no idea what it was, because I didn't have cable, a tv guide, or anything we take for granted these days to explain what the program may have been, all I knew was that it was different than anything on television at the time.
It was airing at about the mid-point of what I would later learn (in 1999) as the Freeza arc.
After seeing two episodes, I could never find it again. O.O.

This wasn't my first experience with it though, for two or so years prior I had seen figures (Japanese casings and all) strewn at an event called "7 Mile Fair"; and having no idea what they were, I never took much notice.

The best was yet to come though, as of November of 1999, I moved back down to my home city of Cudahy, and got Cable for the first time-- which then my cousin clued me into a (as he put it) "kick ass cartoon", which lo' and behold was that mystery cartoon I saw not too long ago that dissapeared on me!

DragonBall Z is also the only thing I willfully remember about living out in the boonies.

Cunobelin · Post by **Cunobelin** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 2:37 pm

The first time I saw Dragonball, was in the summer of '97. I was in my second year of college, 19 years old. I didn't really see much of it then, but it was the following summer ('98) when I saw the Saiyajin saga on Cartoon Network. And, yeah, I was hooked. I still am too, at age 28.

Kula · Post by **Kula** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 3:34 pm

I saw the first episode of DBZ on it's first showing on Cartoon Network in the UK. I still have vague memories of the promo commercial for it that I saw a few weeks before it aired. I remember thinking 'Just some anime show'. My sister convinced me to watch it, and I was hooked from the get go. It was some time in 1999. I was 15 or 16 at the time.

Oh and Meri, you swear like a trooper, just like Mike said in one of the podcasts!

t-bone135 · Post by **t-bone135** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:46 pm

A while back I would have said that I got into it during the episode in which Cell finally became perfect. But a while ago, I was talking with my cousin, we begin to elaborate on the fact that we used to be brothers practically growing up. Anyway, he comes out and is like, "Oh yeah, you remember that one show we used to like a lot? Dragonball Z or something."

Come to find out, I used to watch that show at my Grandma's back when it first aired on CN with my cousin's.

So, in spite of my memory, I had actually seen all the episodes of Dragonball Z up until Goku drops the Spirit Bomb on Freeza. Then jump ahead to when I move in with my step-dad where I meet some new friends who like it, and que the episode where Cell becomes perfect. I don't know why, but I just don't remember it though.

So, long story short, I don't really know anymore.

Hyper Sora · Post by **Hyper Sora** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:47 pm

The episode that got me hooked is when Goku transformed into a SSJ. I thought it was pretty cool.(at that time I was hooked into Ronin Warriors.)

Kanzenshuu

The first time you watched Dragonball?

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