Did you grow up with Dragonball?

[samuraix123]

Hello everyone!
I'm just curious how many people here actually grew up watching the original Dragonball series before Z ever existed! And! What did you think when Z came out? did you kinda look at it like fans who grew up on Z looked at GT? thanks guys!

[Luso Saiyan]

I grew up with it. But when Z came out I didn't make much of it. It was just a (more interesting) continuation of the same story.

[Weejus]

Just Budokai 1. I was aware of it growing up, I just didn't watch it.

[dbboxkaifan]

Shows I primarily saw as a child:

1) An anime series about guys with vehicles in space (I forget what it's called now).
2) Cartoon/anime about a giant ape that'd scare a little girl and would frighten me whenever I'd see it (I'd like to know what the hell it's called as I've been wanting to rewatch it for years!)
3) Dragon Ball and then the other series came along.
4) Also watched a lot Knight Rider back then and was addicted to it.

Despite Dragon Ball isn't the first option it's the one that I spent overall more time with.

[thomas1up]

Well I only watched it when I was 12, so at the time, no. But I guess when I'm older the answer would be yes.

[Wibbs]

I was first introduced to DragonBall when I went to Thailand one time; I saw a volume of DragonBall, 2 I think it was, sitting on a shelf and I asked my Dad to buy it for me. It was in Japanese though so I couldn't read it, I really enjoyed the art though. Ever since then I just started to get my hands on as much of it as I could and watching it on TV when I was able to, though that was a little confusing as I had volume 2 of the first DragonBall and they were showing Z so I had no idea what was going on. I remember liking GT the most as I was growing up because it reminded me a lot of the volume of DragonBall I had, until after episode 40 when decided to ruin it.

[Rukura]

Definitely. Followed every single episode since Dragon Ball started airing here when I was 4 or 5. (in 1995, I think?) Then I got to re-discover the franchise all over again, as a young adult, when I searched for the original version out of curiosity
I guess me posting this on this forum shows that I haven't looked back since

1) An anime series about guys with vehicles in space (I forget what it's called now).

I think I know exactly what you mean, though I didn't really watch it all that much. (More into Power Rangers myself.)

[samuraix123]

Awesome! Yeah I was born in 89 so I didn't grow up on the original but I was there when Z aired on Toonami(I forgot what year? lol) But I was able to nab a couple movies in Japanese when I was kid. But I went through a phase in school were I kind of forgot about Dragonball sadly. but I can't remember if this site got me back into it or not haha I was here long before I made an account.(lurker) but 1 of the reasons why I even got into Dragonball it just seemed dark to me as a kid and I loved anime from the 80's and 90's but it's interesting to read the comments of people who originally grew up with Dragonball. so keep it up and tell me some good stories!

[KentalSSJ6]

If I didn't I wouldn't be here.

[DonZ]

The original ? no. Z ? yes.

[FortuneSSJ]

First aired here 1995/1996. I saw everything in the correct order.
I was 5 years old,

[bkev]

I guess I'm cheating since I did start with Z, but during the Toonami run I ended up paying [far more attention to DragonBall than its more successful counterpart. It just grabbed my attention more, possibly due to the emphasis on hand to hand combat rather than beam struggles and staring for days.

DragonBall is going to be the part of the series that stays with me beyond recalling iconic pieces of BGM. I've watched it in full, and I can't say the same for Z.

[Hellspawn28]

I saw Dragon Ball before I saw DBZ, so yes.

[hulkty]

DB? No.
DBZ? Yes.

[Nanotchi]

I grew up with both together :p and well, I liked them equally. Still, it's quite odd to watch different parts of what is basically the same show at once. Makes me wish I was Japanese, and I got to see the whoooole series from beginning to end like they did XP

[Hellspawn28]

Sometimes I feel like the only American fan that saw DB before DBZ. Everyone seems to start with DBZ or sometimes GT.

[jda95]

When Z was first airing over here, I was far too young to watch it, so by the time I was of the age to get into cartoons Dragon Ball had already begun and I was definitely a fan of that as well. Of course Z was the one that became a cultural phenomenon so I don't particularly remember a lot about enjoying it specifically but I definitely recall a few things from watching it when I was little.

[Kendamu]

Being 30, I didn't grow up with Dragonball from childhood. I'm sure that if I had lived in a more metropolitan-ish area where I could get bootleg VHS tapes, I would've been into it a lot earlier on as I would've definitely stumbled into it in a Chinatown shop.

As I lived in a small "Midwest USA" type town at that point, I didn't see DBZ until I caught the dub in the mid-90s super early in the morning on TV. I was probably about 12 or 13 then. I would sort of watch it half-awake and thought it was kinda cool, but didn't really know what was going on. It wasn't until it was on Toonami playing on repeat over and over again in my early teens that I really became a fan.

In some ways, I wish I had grown up with DBZ. However, I'm alright with having gotten into it when I did because it was all the more interesting going from my childhood US-produced cartoons to anime right as it was about to explode into the spotlight.

[Darknat]

I grew up watching Dragon Ball in spain. It started either 89 or 90 so I was either 5 or 6 years old. I remember watching it from the very first episode and loving it.

When Z started I didn't like it that much at first, it was more serious. Eventually I bought the manga and was hooked again to the show.

I watched the Valencian dub (from Spain), so when the majin buu saga started I couldn't continue watching it because it got cancelled. I watched a few episodes of the buu saga from the Catalan Dub, until eventually the spanish dub was released for all Spain.

GT on the other hand, I watched it from VHS from a friend of mine. Didn't like it then, and still don't like it now.

[ABED]

I first saw DB when I was 6 or 7, while living in Japan. My memories are fuzzy since I was so young, but I do recall remembering the names Gohan and Goku. Then in 96, I was flipping through the channels on a Saturday morning and saw some dude in an orange gi jumping through the trees, and a woman shouting "Goku!" I hooked ever since.