Are most people Hesitant to get into Dragon Ball because....

[Gohanhx]

So, are people hesitant to get into Dragon Ball because of how long it is, and I'm specifically talking about the the three TV series and the movies
There are plenty of anime shows that are longer than Dragon Ball, like One Piece and Naruto and i've been wanting to watch One Piece but every time I think about almost 700 episodes, I get a little Hesitant to watch it, especially when I can watch so many good short anime series in this number of episodes.

So, is it same for Dragon Ball?
Did any of you hesitate to watch it because of it being so long?

[Polyphase Avatron]

Maybe. I was hesitant to get into JJBA because of how long the manga was but it was excellent once I read it.

[SSJGFrieza]

People should read the manga instead.

[voltlunok]

There is a wide variety of factors that are why people don't get into Dragon Ball or hesitate on trying it and the one that keeps rearing it's ugly head, is that the fandom is rather toxic. It's not very welcoming to new people and polite discussion can be rather hard to find outside of Kanzenshuu. Even then we have a hard time trying to find polite discussion here! Other reasons I've seen are the length of the series, the characters sometimes don't appeal to people. While there are plenty of factors, those are just the ones I've seen.

[BlackCatScott]

There is a wide variety of factors that are why people don't get into Dragon Ball or hesitate on trying it and the one that keeps rearing it's ugly head, is that the fandom is rather toxic. It's not very welcoming to new people and polite discussion can be rather hard to find outside of Kanzenshuu. Even then we have a hard time trying to find polite discussion here! Other reasons I've seen are the length of the series, the characters sometimes don't appeal to people. While there are plenty of factors, those are just the ones I've seen.

I agree. I mean, this is my favourite series but even I find the fanbase can be a bit toxic, even towards fellow fans. Never mind someone just starting to get into the series. Sometimes you feel reluctant to say anything for fears of getting verbally attacked. I've seen that on here and elsewhere. For some reason, that's just what the DB fanbase seems to be like. Almost dismissive of anybody who doesn't know what power level Goku was in episode 237 of DBZ or something.

The length of the series is another reason but I do see quite a few starting out jumping over to Kai as a way around this.

[90sDBZ]

When I started watching Z on Cartoon Network UK I had no idea how long it was, or that there was a series before it and a series after it. Despite this I remember wishing it would go on forever and was actually pretty sad when it ended.

[Polyphase Avatron]

When I started watching Z on Cartoon Network UK I had no idea how long it was, or that there was a series before it and a series after it. Despite this I remember wishing it would go on forever and was actually pretty sad when it ended.

Well then you must be ecstatic now since it looks like it's resumed and isn't ending any time soon.

[90sDBZ]

When I started watching Z on Cartoon Network UK I had no idea how long it was, or that there was a series before it and a series after it. Despite this I remember wishing it would go on forever and was actually pretty sad when it ended.

Well then you must be ecstatic now since it looks like it's resumed and isn't ending any time soon.

Pretty much yeah.

[Quebaz]

Being too long is the major complaint yes, I had a friend just stare at me for a few seconds when I said that if he wanted to watch everything he'd had to sit trough 508 episodes and more than 16 Movies. That and because it's "an old show", hopefully this notion kinda fades away with Super.

[Akumaito Beam]

I think it's hard to get people to sit down to watch a long running franchise these days in general. To a lot of us Dragon Ball was this thing we slowly consumed over years and years. You bought a tankobon or two here, a DVD single there. You may have been watching it after school on weekdays. It's something you really sunk time into and got invested in. We now live in a world where you can consume anything you please for very cheap if not free. It's so much easier to toss a series aside when you become bored with it. I have a hard time imagining an 8 year old watching so much inexhaustible outright boring filler when they have the DVR/"On Demand", Netflix, a laptop and a tablet at their disposal.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

I think it's hard to get people to sit down to watch a long running franchise these days in general. To a lot of us Dragon Ball was this thing we slowly consumed over years and years. You bought a tankobon or two here, a DVD single there. You may have been watching it after school on weekdays. It's something you really sunk time into and got invested in. We now live in a world where you can consume anything you please for very cheap if not free. It's so much easier to toss a series aside when you become bored with it. I have a hard time imagining an 8 year old watching so much inexhaustible outright boring filler when they have the DVR/"On Demand", Netflix, a laptop and a tablet at their disposal.

I watched the series in it's entirety when I was 8, don't see why that'd change now? It took a few weeks to watch every episode of One Piece and that's much longer than Dragon Ball lol...

[LuckyCat]

I hope the new series brings new people into the fandom. Batman had an incredibly popular live action TV series, but Batman: The Animated Series took the franchise a new direction and ultimately redefined the public's perception of the character.

[Lord Beerus]

Honestly, Dragon Ball is not that long compared to most other shonen anime that are still currently on the air (One Piece, Naruto etc.) And thankfully Dragon Ball isn't plot heavy so can pretty much breeze through the 500+ episodes in a few days. And of course if you aren't into all of the filler business, that's where Kai comes in.

[Akumaito Beam]

I watched the series in it's entirety when I was 8, don't see why that'd change now? It took a few weeks to watch every episode of One Piece and that's much longer than Dragon Ball lol...

When I was a kid cable sucked ass and trying to stream anything on the computer was close to impossible. I think we live in an era where you need to hook your audience immediately because they have a mind numbing amount of entertainment alternatives. I can't see the original anime with its pacing problems baiting a lot of new comers with no previous experience with the franchise. Even One Piece early on was very brisk and to the point. That being said I can't really stomach Shonen these days so I'm speaking with a huge bias. Maybe DBZ does have that charm and I'm just too old or jaded to recognize it.

[Eire]

When I was a kid I was an only kid with access to computer and we were taught about Internet in classrooms. We had 4 TV channels and three blocks of cartoons that pretty everyone watched. That's all about "what changed".
Why people won't watch? Because they don't think they find the premise funny, they see the animation as dated (especially USA fandom seems to be picky)- whatever. That are factors that are independent from anyone.

There's however one thing that we can change- our attitude. I don't speak about DB, because for me it was a childhood disease, but devoted fans of any given franchise can make as much damage to potential viewers as average Godzilla. I delayed my meeting with many great things because of fans who were more preachy than devoted preacher during mission.
Firstly- don't make promises you won't fulfil. The heaven won't open, and reader won't ascend to the higher plane of existence. Simple "you may like it, because..." is enough.
Secondly- shaming doesn't work.
Thirdly- keep things simple. Expanded universe is fun and some ideas are better than core work, but saying that you won't enjoy franchise unless you Watch XYZ of episodes, read comics adaptation and listen to all audio dramas makes someone check wiki, discover that they are going to waste their life and decide that they won't get into it.
Least but not least- don't force ONE TRUE VERSION. Ever. Seriously, if someone watches dub, don't force feed whim with subs or vice versa.

[ABED]

People should read the manga instead.

What makes you think someone who's hesitant to get into a long TV show would be eager to read a long story?

I hope the new series brings new people into the fandom. Batman had an incredibly popular live action TV series, but Batman: The Animated Series took the franchise a new direction and ultimately redefined the public's perception of the character.

I love the animated series, but the perception of Batman to the public at large had already changed because of the first Tim Burton film.

I do think a new series could bring new comers into the series easier than the old series. It works for things like Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers. However, it's not exactly the same as you can watch the new series without having to account for lots of continuity. On the other hand, DB's story isn't complex, so there wouldn't have to a lot of catch up work for the new audience.

[Eire]

This long manga still take less time than TV series. Plus some people prefer reading to watching

[ABED]

This long manga still take less time than TV series. Plus some people prefer reading to watching

And some prefer watching to reading, and it's not true that the Manga takes less time to read than the series. Some don't read that often or fast. It took me a couple months longer to read the manga than it did to watch all of the series all the way through.

[Eire]

I don't know what do you want to argue about. For some people it's just simpler to be enchanted by written word than moving pictures and giving them manga first is a reasonable advice. Once you already like the story it's easier to convince yourself to watch adaptation.

[One_Instance]

I feel more like it's the fault of Dragon Ball Z Abridged and all the memes poking fun at the series. It's seems like that detours people into thinking that the show is stupid and really nerdy. So I'd blame peer pressure, I suppose.