What if Kai was the original TV airing?

[xmysticgohanx]

Do you think the DB franchise would be more or less popular? (For anyone that's confused I'm saying if Z never aired and it was Kai from the beginning)

[Ajay]

I assume you mean in English?

I think it would be just as popular. As much as FUNimation thinks their dub and score was the reason for the show's success in the west; they're absolutely wrong. Dragon Ball is and was an international hit regardless of differing dubs or scores. People fall in love with the characters, the transformations and the battles over anything else.

Kai has proved incredibly popular with kids today. It will never have the status it once had simply because it's not fresh content. Anime was pretty new back in the 90s and kids were eating that up at every chance they got. Z, Kai, whatever, if it had been released back then, the success would have been just as high.

[Hellspawn28]

Kai made introduced some people into the franchise, but I won't call the show super popular. I feel like not much has changed since 2003 or 2004 after DBZ ended and GT started. To me 1996 - 2003 was the best age for DBZ in the US since the show was hot and people just got into it. By GT started, the popularity started to die down and people move on to other things. After GT ended in 2005, people move on and Naruto took over.

If DBZ never came out until 2010 or 2011 in the US, I don't think the show make DBZ into a big thing. Back in the late 90's and early 2000's, they did a good job on marketing DBZ since you can find DBZ stuff pretty much everywhere. Kai was poorly market and is on two TV channels that are not even that popular with kids.

[Ajay]

It was my understanding that Kai had topped all of the charts on the channels it appeared on.

My point, and I believe the point of this thread, is to discuss whether Kai airing instead of Z in the 90s would have affected the show's popularity. My line of argument is that it absolutely would not have and that the reason it seems less popular now is because it's a reairing on yet another anime show in an era filled to the brim with others.

Unless I'm mistaken and he means; would Dragon Ball be as popular if it had aired now? In that case, yeah, it most certainly wouldn't be. Assuming the whole anime revolution in the west still happened, there would have been tonnes of shows of a similar nature that would have taken its popularity.

[Hellspawn28]

It was my understanding that Kai had topped all of the charts on the channels it appeared on.

Yeah, but Kai never meet the same ratings as DBZ did back in the day. Kai had zero marketing and I see a lot of causal people still think DBZ is no longer relevant. Kai is not very popular as people make it out to be in my opinion. I still think the ratings come from older casual fans since they would know about it then kids would since they have better access to the Internet. To me, nothing has changed since 2004 and DBZ is still a niche franchise in the US.

If Kai aired in Japan and DB-GT never happen then who knows what happens. In Japan, they market their kids better then we do and I think Kai could have been popular in Japan back in 2009. Maybe the show could have bombed back in 2009.

[Kuwabara]

If DBZ would have just been like Kai is in terms of pacing then yes, I think it would have been a hell of a lot more popular than it was already destined to be. The general nature of the show aside, one of the biggest complaints from non-fans is the pacing.

DBZ is still a niche franchise in the US.

No it isn't.

[xmysticgohanx]

My point, and I believe the point of this thread, is to discuss whether Kai airing instead of Z in the 90s would have affected the show's popularity.

Yup. You don't think the faster pacing would've helped? Maybe it would've been less popular because less episodes = less air time

[Ajay]

My point, and I believe the point of this thread, is to discuss whether Kai airing instead of Z in the 90s would have affected the show's popularity.

Yup. You don't think the faster pacing would've helped? Maybe it would've been less popular because less episodes = less air time

Nah, not at all. Repeats, repeats, repeats. Kids love it.

I know that when I was younger, I was perfectly happy to spend an entire Saturday watching Dragon Ball from 6am til 6pm. Was never bored once!

But yeah, now we're clarified the era; I refer you back to my initial post. It would have been a huge hit just like before!

[LordCrumb]

I assume you mean in English?

I think it would be just as popular. As much as FUNimation thinks their dub and score was the reason for the show's success in the west; they're absolutely wrong. Dragon Ball is and was an international hit regardless of differing dubs or scores. People fall in love with the characters, the transformations and the battles over anything else.

Kai has proved incredibly popular with kids today. It will never have the status it once had simply because it's not fresh content. Anime was pretty new back in the 90s and kids were eating that up at every chance they got. Z, Kai, whatever, if it had been released back then, the success would have been just as high.

There is no way Dragon Ball Z would be as big if it wasn't for the English dub, whether you hate it or not, Funimation launched DBZ skyward worldwide.

I don't think Kai would have been as popular as Z if it was the original show.. it's a good action series, but the short length and rushed character development is kind of a downer compared to Z.

[dbboxkaifan]

Do you think the DB franchise would be more or less popular? (For anyone that's confused I'm saying if Z never aired and it was Kai from the beginning)

You mean in the 90's? If the original Dragon Ball Kai (2009-2011) and Majin Boo Kai (2014) is any sign of its quality then no, it would haven't been as good as Dragon Ball Z.

Yup. You don't think the faster pacing would've helped? Maybe it would've been less popular because less episodes = less air time

The more episodes the better they show on TV because people love watching more of their favourite series and this is also profitable for the company too.

[Ajay]

There is no way Dragon Ball Z would be as big if it wasn't for the English dub, whether you hate it or not, Funimation launched DBZ skyward worldwide.

I don't think Kai would have been as popular as Z if it was the original show.. it's a good action series, but the short length and rushed character development is kind of a downer compared to Z.

It absolutely would have been. It's a downer to us because we're familiar with the original show. We're talking about a time where none of that would have existed.

In an era where anime simply wasn't a thing in west; Dragon Ball Kai would have absolutely destroyed viewing figures. It doesn't matter whether it has an altered soundtrack or a westernised dub; that's been proved well enough by Kai's current ratings on TV right now.

So no, there's not 'no way', there absolutely is a way. Your feelings towards Kai don't speak for uninformed minds of kids around the world. It would have been a brand new action show in a time where things like that simply did not exist. I'm am quite sure kids would have fallen in love in the exact same fashion that we all did.

[dan2026]

It would of been more popular in my opinion.
We wouldn't have nearly so many 'drag-on ball' jokes. Or 'are they still on Namek?'.

Also the lower episode count wouldn't put so many people off.

[The Monkey King]

We would have none of those annoying 'It takes 10 episodes to charge an attack' memes.

[Vijay]

Dragonball is a HIT material regardless of any era.

Kai may have been a good hit in Japan, US or even UK.

As far I've seen here in Malaysia & Singapore, its absolute failure. It hardly matches the sales of Naruto, Bleach, One-Piece. One can say its not all about quantity. But even quality-wise, Kai simply failed making its mark.

U could see kids 6-19 years old speak about DBZ 10 years ago. Even now, some guys into late 30's still could name who's Goku, Frieza, even Buu.

I hardlysee kids above age of 8 that talks about Kai.

[ABED]

I assume you mean in English?

I think it would be just as popular. As much as FUNimation thinks their dub and score was the reason for the show's success in the west; they're absolutely wrong. Dragon Ball is and was an international hit regardless of differing dubs or scores. People fall in love with the characters, the transformations and the battles over anything else.

Kai has proved incredibly popular with kids today. It will never have the status it once had simply because it's not fresh content. Anime was pretty new back in the 90s and kids were eating that up at every chance they got. Z, Kai, whatever, if it had been released back then, the success would have been just as high.

There is no way Dragon Ball Z would be as big if it wasn't for the English dub, whether you hate it or not, Funimation launched DBZ skyward worldwide.

I don't think Kai would have been as popular as Z if it was the original show.. it's a good action series, but the short length and rushed character development is kind of a downer compared to Z.

How many kids shows back then had much character development?

[Valerius Dover]

I definitely think it would've been popular. As for the lack of music, the current airings prove that kids (excuse my French) DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS ABOUT MUSIC. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that we have the US score, especially since it's optional, but what I'm saying is that there's really no reason for it to exist in the first place. Same goes for any other show that had similar treatment. Most kids won't notice or care about music at all, and as said, the fact that it airs with Kikuchi's music now proves it.

[dbboxkaifan]

It would of been more popular in my opinion.
We wouldn't have nearly so many 'drag-on ball' jokes. Or 'are they still on Namek?'.

Also the lower episode count wouldn't put so many people off.

We would have none of those annoying 'It takes 10 episodes to charge an attack' memes.

Dragon Ball Kai has it worse due to its technical HD-ish isn't that great and the music oh my.. let's not get there.

At least those are jokes that are funny but DBK's technical flaws are just nothing to laugh about.

By the way, One Piece is probably going to hit 1000 episodes and has it put off people from watching? No. They want more and know when Luffy hits the One Piece. Doraemon & Crayon Shin-chan also have a ton of episodes but it's an ongoing series in Japan (also very popular in Spain & Portugal) without any chance of being cancelled (I think).

[Quebaz]

I probably wouldn't have got into the series because of the lack of Portuguese dub.

[Teddy_Beer1983]

There is no way Dragon Ball Z would be as big if it wasn't for the English dub, whether you hate it or not, Funimation launched DBZ skyward worldwide.

Oh puuuuuuuhhhhLEAAAASE!!!

The Dragon Ball franchise was pretty damn popular worldwide WAYYYYY before it was licensed in the USA. I mean hell, where I grew up in the early 90s, all we had was the manga and it was HUGE!!!!

[dbboxkaifan]

Yeah, it was actually thanks to AB Groupe (the assholians who named Mr. Satan as Hеrcule) that made the Dragon Ball series so popular before US even had any idea what it was about.

They did make a lot of unnecessary changes to the script but at least they still kept the original Kikuchi score and the power level was 8000 not 9000. One of the popular being "By the power of Kaio-sama!" (instead of "I am Son Goku!!").

Love 'em or hate 'em AB Groupe is the reason that Dragon Ball is so famous in Europe and France gets the Japan Expo which allows its residents to try out the games of Namco Bandai before they're released everywhere.