DragonBall: Where we started

[unstable_person99]

I first saw DBZ around 10 years ago when I was 4 or 5. My memory's a bit fuzzy, but I remember flipping to channel 11 and seeing I think, an episode from the Saiyan Saga. I thought it was a really interesting looking show that was unlike any other I had ever seen. I then started watching it more when it came onto Toonami and just fell in love with the show.

*I have my hands raised up and when everyone adds a post, I gain energy for a Genki Dama to throw at Wikipedia and Naruto>DB fans.

Well, I have a friend who used to like DB, but she kinda thinks it's dumb now, so she is one of those "Naruto>DB" people.

[chibi_goten]

I first saw Dragonball when I was at my friends house.

His mom looked after this kid there (who wasn't our friend, but he went there anyways after school to be looked after). He was a few years younger then us and watched Cartoon Network at her house.

One day we went and got a drink and she was making dinner or something and let this kid have the run of the t.v and he had put Dragonball Z on. Well me and my friend walked by, he glanced at the t.v and said ''what's this crap?''. He laughed and walked into the kitchen. I turned around and said '' ha, yeah you gay'' and followed him to get a drink.

(not very original maybe, but I was only 9 or something)

Anyways, I saw this kid watching it a few times over the weeks and just from glancing realised I liked it. So from that day on I would stay at my own house watch it, and then go over to my friends after it had finished and carried on calling the kid she looked after a fag!

I got hooked. Anyways at some point I went over to my friends when Dragonball Z was on t.v. The kid watching it made a comment to himself like ''whooo Gohan looks totally different'' (yes he is weird and talks to himself). Anyways I then called him a retard and said ''you idiot that’s Yamcha, I thought you watched the show!''

Then my friend said you watch this crap? I was like yeah it's cool give it a break. He then laughed and we went back to playing on the N64.

That's how I got into Dragonball!

[simmdogg113]

It was in the summer of 1988 and I was living in Okinawa, Japan with my dad at the time. I was 6 at the time, so I might be the oldest (24) on here. But I remember it was episode of Dragonball when Yamcha and Puar was trying to get the Dragonballs from Goku, Bulma, and Oolong at night. I was hooked ever since then. I still have some of the old Japanese VHS's from TOEI from back then. I can't believe I've been watching it for almost 20 years!

[The Batman]

Viz used to release the manga in an American-styled "monthly comic" format, and that's how I got into the series. In the early 90s, however, was when I was really first exposed. My best friend is Japanese (well, half-Korean and half-Japanese, but details, details), and thus would travel across the ocean every summer to stay in Japan for a couple of months. He would bring back DBZ Cardass products, had all of the manga, some of the Daizenshuus, and was generally just into the series. At that time, I didn't really take any sort of interest in it, though.

[rammfan87]

I caught an episode with Frieza fighting someone. (I can't remember. Probably Piccolo like the one Mr. Piccolo saw.) I was into Pokemon at the time, so I thought it was some rip off of Mewtwo.

Immediately I started watching DBZ, and haven't watched Pokemon ever since. Good riddance. DBZ is much better than Pokemon.

[Mr.Piccolo]

I was into Pokemon at the time, so I thought it was some rip off of Mewtwo.

Wow. I've never heard that before!

[rammfan87]

I was into Pokemon at the time, so I thought it was some rip off of Mewtwo.

Wow. I've never heard that before!

yeah I was pretty confused when I first started watching it. I think I <b>really</b> got into DBZ when the Cell Games Saga came on Cartoon Network. It took me a while to get used to all the characters and why the heck they could change their hair color from black to yellow.

But after a while, I was hooked. I started buying the tapes of all the episodes of the Buu Sagas, since they came out before CN showed them.

[agamemnon]

The year: 1999.
The place: A friend's house.
The story: It was kind of silly, but I brought a tape recorder to a friend's house. One of the friends there used it, and recorded an episode of DBZ (which, at the time, I thought was really stupid. I thought it was some wrestling show or something). When I got home, I listened to the tape, and I thought it sounded really cool. The rest is history.

[Kendamu]

I saw parts of season two of the dub now and again in syndication on FOX early in the morning before school in like 1996 or 1997. It may have even been 1998 by that point. All I remember was that I was in 8th grade.

I didn't really get into it until sometime in the first semester of my Freshman year of Highschool when I watched the last episode of season two of the dub on Cartoon Network. I got hooked by the fact of Goku being so fast that the only evidence of him even moving at all was the marks on the ground. After that I started watching everyday. Luckily it was probably September of my Sophomore year that they started airing the rest of DBZ.

Though I was mad about censorship and voices, I did start coming across the VIZ manga the very same year and I loved the manga even more than the anime. So even though I kept up with key episodes of the anime dub I've been a fan of the manga ever since (depsite sutff like "D'jinn" and "Vegerot").

[pekinduck]

I saw Dragonball for the first time in 1984. (Weekly Jump)

At first, I was not so interested in Dragonball. It was only one of a lot of cartoons. I was usually enjoying Dragonball. (no special existence)

Gokou grew up suddenly, I was very surprised. The surprise was enough to make me DB fan. When Gokou was a boy, Dragonball is already popular. "Rapid transformation of hero of popular manga", It was impossible in manga history.

At 1990 I became ardent Dragonball fun ( or collector). First of all, I collected carddas. I collected goods, clipped the article on DB from the magazine, saw the movie, and recorded the TV animations. I made Dojinshi, participated in comicet, and met the friend a lot.
Dragonball is one of the materials that enhance my life.


[a digression]
The Dragonball Z Legend: the Quest Continues
http://www.dvdvisionjapan.com/dbzbook.html
(My interview article is published)

[Sun_Wukong]

My story goes back to September 1999. All the kids in my 7th grade class were raving about the show. I decided to check it out. My first episode was the one where Ginyu is recruiting a new Ginyu Force after Jeice is the only one left. I wasnt introduced to the japanese version untill fall of 2000 when I bought movies 12 and 13 at a local convention. After that I was hooked.

[Bardock the Mexican]

I saw Dragonball for the first time in 1984. (Weekly Jump)

At first, I was not so interested in Dragonball. It was only one of a lot of cartoons. I was usually enjoying Dragonball. (no special existence)

Goku grew up suddenly, I was very surprised. The surprise was enough to make me DB fan. When Goku was a boy, Dragonball is already popular. "Rapid transformation of hero of popular manga", It was impossible in manga history.

Hajimemashite (I think I spelled it right.) It's nice to see some of the "old school" fans and hear their stories. Especially from one of the "mini celebs" here at daizex. I can't imagine that you didn't like the old DB. I mean, yeah it may be kiddie stuff and a little less interesting than　ドラゴンボルZ、but who cares, right?

[Mr.Piccolo]

-edit- Former comment restated in the first post.

-rick

[SuperVegeta]

sai ram
well, the way i entered the DBZ world is really really weird. when i was in school, i used to see some of my friends have these pencil boxes with Dragonball Z written all over it and some freaky guys with golden hair and stuff. I am an artist, and so i got really interested by this thing called Dragonball Z. some of them also had Slam Dunk boxes too. so with a little research, i got to know that DBZ is an animated series. A couple of months later i see an ad on CN that they are gonna air double episodes every sunday. and naturally i was really excited about it. and then it happened. one of the most feared characters in animated history showed up - Vegeta. i loved this character simply because of how he looked so weak but was actually a Prince of a whole alien race and of course, his pride. But then, CN for some reason stopped showing it after Kakarot started beating the crap out of the Ginyu Force. naturally i wanted to see how Vegeta contributed. So i started searching online. that is when i found this software called iMesh. i just knew we could find all files over there. so i hit DBZ and i found one file. it was called DBZ 176 - Save The World. I was like Holy Shit!!!!!! Episode 176? how many episodes does it have? but when it got downloaded, i saw too many new characters, or so i thought. i had not heard of a guy called Cell, didn't know that the short guy was Gohan but most importantly, didn't know why Vegeta was so scared. The music was also different and the voice characters were also different from the ones on CN. when i saw that episode, i knew that i had downloaded an episode which would inspire anybody to watch this series. i saw that episode a total of 25 times atleast. And THAT is when i really got into DBZ.

by the way, i am yet to see Dragonball. T_T and everybody knows, and i hope everyone agrees, DBGT just destroyed the legacy that DB and DBZ fough so hard for. =_=

sai ram

[Mika]

I was watching Dexter's Laboratory on Cartoon Network when I saw an advert for some new show called "Dragon Ball Z" I had an interest in anime anyway and anime on TV was scarce at the time so I figured I would watch out for these ads and soon enough they gave us an airing date for the first episode. I've been following it since then. It was the first time DBZ had been aired in the UK so I guess this would have been either 1999 or 2000, I forget when it premiered, but I know I was in my last year of Secondary School at the time I have been obssessed since, haha! XD

Still haven't seen much of the Dragon Ball anime They started to air it when I started University and I could rarely get home in time to see it.

[Aoi]

Wow these are fantastic stories. Its always great to read how people got into their favorite shows and dragonball seems to always bring the greatest stories (its a very special show for so many people)

For me it was a strange story (like my life really, always moving to many countries). I had started watching Dragon ball Z as a child around the Freeza saga, which has always been my favorite for that reason. I just fell in love with the show for many reasons.

1- Zarbon vs. Vegeta seemed so violent for me and it was when I thought Vegeta was the coolest character.
2- Seeing Goku in the space ship to Namek has always been great. The tension rose and rose until the end. Also it was for me one of the funniest Dragon ball parts of all time in any show or movie.

But then I went to live in Argentina for the first time and remember watching the show from the start (Radditz) in spanish (which is a great version of the show). From then on, Dragon ball became incredible to me and I don't think Ill ever stop loving it.

[QuantumDestiny]

Maybe when I was around 7 or 8 I saw a couple of the very first DragonBall episodes that were airing on YTV. I'm pretty sure that was my first exposure to anime because I remember thinking how weird the drawing style was! Then the show was no longer being aired and I totally forgot about DragonBall...

Then, I think it was 1998, and I was 12, my sister called me to watch a 'weird show'! It was the first episode of Dragonball Z and I recognized Goku! I was shocked that he was a 'cartoon character' but had actually aged and he had a wife and a child! That was enough to shock me into watching more, and by the time I saw Piccolo I was completely devoted.

I watched religiously and had "WTF!?" moments at stuff like the poorly editted HFIL and the frothy water of old. Oh and Vegeta's editted pants. Hahah oh man, the memories. When the terrible re-runs started when Funimation was preparing season 3 I ventured out to the internet and found the original Japanese version and was really obsessed. The rest of the Freeza arc was finally airing and all my school friends were getting into it I was the one who knew everything and had all the best merchandise already XD. I remember skipping band practise to go home and watch DBZ, then my teacher asked to borrow my uncut Funi tape of Goku's SSJ transformation...... OH the humanity of his Sean Schemmel impression!!

I followed the show on tv as well as by fansubs, and eventually got into going to conventions because of it. Then I started cosplaying and making AMVs because of DBZ....

Now I'm 20 and still love it!

[Ally McBeal]

FEBRUARY 14 OF 1990 6:00 PM first episode.first time in spain .. ..I WAS 6 years old

[djkalteraphine]

I originally watched Dragon Ball Z when it was on at 7 or so on Saturday mornings, on what I believe was the WB channel. I thought it was a Sailor Moon rip off, and hated it. I think I was 9 then. A year later, I was eating pizza with one of my best friends, and he and I were talking about Sailor Moon. He told me it was airing on Cartoon Network, along with this "Dragon Ball Z", a show he loved. I watched it (the episode where Gohan transforms into Ozaru when training with Piccolo) and fell into sweet, sweet love with it. I kept watching the dub, the original 54, over and over. I became a big fan of Goku, and read all I could about the show on the net.

About one year later, I was flipping channels and stopped when I came to the International channel. There was Goku, Super Saiyajin, giving his speech to the recently-sliced-in-half Freeza. In Japanese. I followed the show on Toonami when season 3 came out (also bought a few of the early VHS of S3) and every Sunday watched it in Japanese on I-Channel. I've since seen all of it, and every year my fandom grows. Son Goku is a hero of mine, still at age 18, and I will love him forever. I'm going to write and direct animation, and though I'm still in High School now, I have my first few pilots ready. If I am a success, I have Dragon Ball to thank.

[sailorspazz]

I started off watching Sailormoon in 1996 when I was 13. It was on at six in the morning back then, and one day I was watching TV a bit earlier (staying up all night, basically ) and at 5 or 5:30 I caught an episode Dragonball (I think it was the episode where they met Oolong or something). I thought it was kinda cool, but I kind of forgot about it.

Then a couple years later, I started catching DBZ when it was playing in syndication on Saturday mornings. I first saw parts of the Freeza saga (around the time shortly before Dodoria and Zarbon were disposed of, I believe), and I became really interested in it and started watching every week. What sucked was that they kept looping the same episodes over and over, but they didn't even start over from the beginning. They just started from a point where Gohan and the others were already on their way to Namek, played until the end of the second season, played the edited version of movie 3, and started over from that same point in the Freeza saga. Even though I had no idea why Vegeta called Gokuu "Kakarrot", I still thought he was cool and badass back then and he quickly became my favorite DBZ character (to this day, he's still my favorite anime character).

After awhile, they stopped showing them on Saturday mornings and I didn't see it for awhile. Then, I guess it was 1999 (whenever season 3 started playing) when I started getting Cartoon Network and one day I was watching and saw commercials for DBZ. I started watching and was pleased to see Gokuu fighting Freeza. I had seen the same buildup episodes over and over before, and now I was finally seeing the payoff. I was especially pleased that after they finished the Freeza saga, they started over at the Saiyan saga, so I finally got to see how it all started! Oh, joy.

As for the Japanese version, my first exposure came in maybe 2000 or 2001 when I started getting the International Channel. They were at the point in the Cell Saga where Gokuu and Gohan were training for the Cell Games. I was a little put off by Gokuu's voice at first (I kept thinking he sounded like a teenage girl ), but I got used to it ^_^ I soon started getting fansubs (HORRIBLE quality >_<), but eventually began collecting the DVDs, and now I have an assload.