What Does Dragon Ball Have Over The Shonen Of Today?

[sintzu]

In general :

1- evry main charecter is likable and important to the story unlike naruto where it's just for the most part about him and sasuke

2- simple yet very strong story

3- villians that live up to thire name unlike orochimaru

4- each arc is bigger and better then the last unlike one piece or naruto

5- the epic fights

6- it ended at the right time unlike the so called big 3 that will continue for the $$$ regardles of the quality of the story

One Piece and FMA are series that few will disagree with them being better than DB

I haven't seen FMA but One Piece though good ,it dosen't have anything on dragon ball,and i'm sure a lot more then a few will agree

[thomas1up]

The main point of this thread isn't to discuss whether or not DB is better than FMA or One Piece, though, so why bother going into detail about it?

If you're looking for others' opinions, toss out some of your own. If you're going to provide two specific examples, explain why you're tossing out two specific examples.

Because One Piece and FMA are series that few will disagree with them being better than DB as opposed to me picking either Naruto or Bleach.

I'm not trying to personally attack you but I'm noticing a trend of you putting words in people's mouths in your posts, such as "most people" or "few will disagree".

On topic however, I strongly dislike One Piece and don't care much for other shonen, or even anime, Dragon Ball is the only anime that I've even kept interest in for a long period of time.

I feel it's edge over other anime is that it actually manages to keep interest for me, it's one of the few anime's I can watch and not get bored.

[sintzu]

I feel it's edge over other anime is that it actually manages to keep interest for me, it's one of the few anime's I can watch and not get bored.

It's the only anime i can watch and not get bored,one piece for example i can only watch 10 or so episodes then get bored and stop for 3 or more months before going back to it

[Freeza Soldier #156]

Since a couple of people have brought up the point of DB holding their interest when most manga/anime can't, I'd have to say that that is another advantage DB has over most of today's shonen. DB is one of the few series that has caught my interest from chapter 1 and never let it go. After reading the first few volumes of One Piece, I was bored to tears. People would always tell me that the beginning was boring and to keep reading, that it gets better. I'm sorry, but it shouldn't take a series 50+ chapters to become interesting. I also ran into the same problems with Bleach and Naruto. Besides DB, Toriko and FMA are the only other shonen series that I've really enjoyed from the beginning.

[sintzu]

Since a couple of people have brought up the point of DB holding their interest when most manga/anime can't, I'd have to say that that is another advantage DB has over most of today's shonen. DB is one of the few series that has caught my interest from chapter 1 and never let it go. After reading the first few volumes of One Piece, I was bored to tears. People would always tell me that the beginning was boring and to keep reading, that it gets better. I'm sorry, but it shouldn't take a series 50+ chapters to become interesting. I also ran into the same problems with Bleach and Naruto. Besides DB, Toriko and FMA are the only other shonen series that I've really enjoyed from the beginning.

It caught my interest from the first picture i saw of it

And unlike shippuden,one piece,ect is that with each arc something big and diffrent happens unlike shippuden where the first 175 episodes are all about the akatsuke and the second half is about the war,one piece goes like this : luffy meets zoro,askes him to go with him,he doesn't agree,luffy finds out he's in trouble with someone,helps him then he goes with him and the same thing happens with nami,usop,sanji and chopper

I haven't seen this in naruto or one piece and that is the hero losing to an enemy ,the minut naruto and luffy show up you know that they will win which makes the plot predictable but that's not the case in dragon ball

[DonZ]

One piece is an amazing anime/manga. but it has problems, such as the repetitive scenario that happens in each arc. even with the impressive progressing in the story & the world building, it still feels boring when every arc follow the same formula.
and the weird thing is that i don't find people complaining about it, while people complain A LOT about DBZ's formula.. what's the difference, really ? they all suffer from the same problem.

[xmysticgohanx]

better fights

[VegettoEX]

better fights

This is not a complete sentence, never mind a complete thought. Please provide actual context in your posts, or there is no way anyone can have a conversation with you.

[EXBadguy]

To me...

1- it's balanced, it knows when to stop talking and knows when to stop fighting(with the exception of the SSJ Goku vs Frieza fight, but that's because of the fillers).

2- Better fights.

3- Better and memorable characters, hardly any cliches.

4- The women in the universe are diverse. Some of them are powerful(18),tough and strong willed(Videl and Launch) and not all of them need to have big tits or be annoying(Bulma and Chichi were the only ones that were hot and annoying)

5- You don't see people cry every five episodes or chapters like in One Piece or Naruto (though I love One Piece is good and thought Naruto was good until the Shippuden Summit arc rehashing the Sasuke BS)

6- Better stories (sure there are inconsistencies, but they are SO. freaking. minor. So minor that you can infer stuff)


That's all I got. You see, the Dragon Ball series is like the Michael Jackson of Shonen. Many artists inluding Oda, Kubo, and Kishimoto cited the series as their influence.

[garnetjester]

I'm a HUGE FMA fan, but I think it brings very different things to the table compared to DB. FMA is downright tragic at times, and to be honest, I like how DB manages to balance making things grim but still being a light and fun adventure story.

I'll also add that the characters being charismatic and given enough relevance is a huge point for DB, and it's actually the reason why I still love it so much, even though I've been a fan since I was like 6 years old.

I don't like One Piece at all, the art looks so ugly to me. I'm sorry to be so shallow, but I'm simply unable to read a manga where the characters all look unappealing to me, regardless of how well constructed the story is or whatever.

[Valerius Dover]

Hmm, interesting topic here. One Piece and Naruto certainly look good, but the only thing putting me off from watching those at the moment is the fact that they're still going. Dragon Ball has already long since ended, and as pointed out, it did so at a proper time. The other two series I mentioned are not over (Although the latter is apparently ending soon while the former only passed it's "halfway point" a couple years ago)

Hmm, interesting about the character art being ugly in One Piece. I did notice from the opening that they seem to be a bit different by anime standards. A kind of "gritty but not too gritty" look. Still better than most character designs in Western Animation I've seen, though. Just my opinion, of course.

[Darknat]

I think the reason it's because is very simple. Panels and story are really clear and to the point. Also, when there is background information it doesn't bother telling it with flashbacks. We just need to know Tao Pai Pai was Tsuru Sennin's brother and we don't need 3 chapters of their life back in the day. That won't add anything really to the story. Another good example of this that actually shows a flashback is the Piccolo background. It's one in just 1 or 2 pages if I remember correctly, and personally there is no need for more. All the main points are shown there.

Shonen's today tend to add long flashbacks to explain the motivations of characteres. That gets a bit convoluted in the end, specially when it's done with several characters.

Finally, DB is short and has variety to it. Dragon Ball arcs are usually individual and rarely have anything to do with the arc before them. This gives more different stories and makes things stay fresh. If you compare this with Bleach and Aizen's part in the story, it takes as many, if not more, tankobons to tell than all of Dragon Ball arcs combined.


So to sum up, it's clear, easy to follow, to the point and neither short nor long.

If we talk about the anime, it has some pace problems here and there, and a lot of filler, but personally most of the filler is good enough and sometimes it even adds to the story or expands some parts like Goku's training around the world, Gohan growing up, some expanded dragon ball searchs and so on. It only gets annoying during Namek because sadly the planet lacks variety and the filler there was a bit boring. Kikuchi's music is also great, and all the seiyuus do a great job. That makes it in a great product. GT is far inferior, it shows great creativity in the ideas it has but in the end they are not executed well. Even then, GT is short, and has a very nice ending, so in the end is more watchable than a lot of filler of some of the shonens of today.

[Mewzard]

Honestly, I've just found less and less series as appealing as the older ones as time's gone on. Something about 80s Jump really appealed to me. 4 out of my top 10 Jump manga started in the 80s:

Fist of the North Star, Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

As time went on, it dropped. Three more were in the 90s, with Yu Yu Hakusho, Rurouni Kenshin, and Yu-Gi-Oh!.

By the 2000s, only two were in my top 10 list, with Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, and Toriko. And, by the end, the 10s have One-Punch Man to finish it. It's digital jump, yeah, but awesome.

My later series tend to either have some classic feel, or in the case of One-Punch Man, just does its own thing awesomely.

Occasionally, I'll find a gem of a series in the new stuff (Toriko has just been the best thing I've seen running in Weekly Jump in about a decade), but a lot of it's just missing some of the soul, the fun, the fire that I enjoyed in the older days.

Stuff like Naruto's just so soulless, and has some awful characters (with the good ones tending to not be used)...which is a shame, because it started off with a bit of promise.

Sometimes I honestly wonder if Dragon Ball being so popular is a good thing. When it started, Dragon Ball had its own flare that stood out from its contemporaries. Nowadays though...I feel too many writers draw from their love of it, and miss a lot of other gems of the time. Diversity is the spice of life as they say.

Kenshiro, Goku, Seiya, and Jonathan Joestar were all fairly different characters in every respect (personality, design, motivations, habits).

But now? There are a lot of child-like battle maniacs with spiky hair who love to eat lots of food and aren't very bright (I could go on).

[Hellspawn28]

The 80's give us the best Shonen manga in my opinion. I don't follow Shonen Jump these days, but I always love the feel of adventure that Dragon Ball had. One Piece comes pretty close to it though. I'm not sure about the newer stuff.

[TheGmGoken]

The last Shonen anime that was I liked was my favorite anime TTGL. The last manga that I really enjoyed was Bobobobobo. Db doesn't try to have deep emotional plots or try to be complex and "cool". Db tries to make the reader have fun without thinking. Most Shonen series aren't fun anymore and are either boring or tries to hard. The overall atmosphere screams boring. Lots of Shonen also getting more fan service lately which Db didn't go extra on. Most shonen manga or anime are utter garbage. Though they're some unknown or less popular ones which are really good .

[ABED]

Yu Yu Hakusho does a good job of coming up with good plots with some depth while keeping it fun.

[DonZ]

Most Shonen series aren't fun anymore and are either boring or tries to hard.

You probably mean tries too hard to be deep or complex, right? there's some Shounen that really did a great job at being deep and complex.. FMA for example.

[TheGmGoken]

Yu Yu Hakusho does a good job of coming up with good plots with some depth while keeping it fun.

Never was a YYHS fan. I can watch it(even made an Amv of it) but nothing worthwhile that I througt was fun or enjoyable

You probably mean tries too hard to be deep or complex, right? there's some Shounen that really do a good job at being deep and complex.. FMA for example.

Noob hour. Is it Shonen or Shounen? I mean try to hard to be good. I know about FmA which is good but not in my top 25. Top 50 though.

[DonZ]

Yu Yu Hakusho does a good job of coming up with good plots with some depth while keeping it fun.

Never was a YYHS fan. I can watch it(even made an Amv of it) but nothing worthwhile that I througt was fun or enjoyable

You probably mean tries too hard to be deep or complex, right? there's some Shounen that really do a good job at being deep and complex.. FMA for example.

Noob hour. Is it Shonen or Shounen? I mean try to hard to be good. I know about FmA which is good but not in my top 25. Top 50 though.

It's "Shōnen". but i usually call it "Shounen" cause it feels more like the japanese people way of pronouncing the word.

[Mewzard]

The last Shonen anime that was I liked was my favorite anime TTGL. The last manga that I really enjoyed was Bobobobobo. Db doesn't try to have deep emotional plots or try to be complex and "cool". Db tries to make the reader have fun without thinking. Most Shonen series aren't fun anymore and are either boring or tries to hard. The overall atmosphere screams boring. Lots of Shonen also getting more fan service lately which Db didn't go extra on. Most shonen manga or anime are utter garbage. Though they're some unknown or less popular ones which are really good .

That's it! That's the right word. Fun. Few modern series are as fun anymore. Toriko and One-Punch Man tend to be the most fun I have reading Weekly Shonen Jump. Naruto's like watching a trainwreck at this point, I can't look away despite how bad it is.

It saddens me that some of the greats had left jump. With the exception of his return to do Ring ni Kakero 2 from 2000-2009, Masami Kurumada left for Shonen Champion (taking Saint Seiya with him, and now reviving Otoko Zaka for that magazine). Tetsuo Hara and Buronson left with Fist of the North Star in even worse terms with Shueisha.

That's not factoring in Toriyama's likely done with putting out new manga.

Kinnikuman's Yudetamago and JJBA's Hirohiko Araki are also in Seinen magazines now, away from Weekly Jump.

The Old Guard is reduced and the new generation is producing far fewer gems, that saddens me.