Why do so many Z fans refuse to watch the original Dragon Ball?

[sintzu]

It's a pretty quick turn around given the 21st TB was the second arc.

He said the idea of moving on from Dr. Slump was to do a fighting manga so the idea was there but he may wanted to delay it as much as possible which didn't work out.

[ABED]

It's a pretty quick turn around given the 21st TB was the second arc.

He said the idea of moving on from Dr. Slump was to do a fighting manga so the idea was there but he may wanted to delay it as much as possible which didn't work out.

The point I was getting at is the emphasis on fighting begins early, much earlier than detractors claim.

[ZodaEX]

Because they're idiots.They didn't get around to watching Z because the super saiyans aren't there yet..

Err, no actually. There are super saiyans in Z and I know this because I have watched literally every episode of Z from start to finish. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 4 super saiyans that were in Z and there may have been even more than that.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

If we're talking in terms of the dubs airing on TV here, much of it is likely because quite a few people were introduced to the series after FUNimation had skipped ahead to Z just a year after their cut short 1995 dub of the original show had run it's course in syndication and not proved the ratings smash they had hoped for. Since so many started during that period they simply latched onto it and DBZ pretty much defined their fandom and they disregard the original Dragon Ball as it's not what they saw first. It's pretty much the complete opposite of how things were in Japan, where all three series were aired more or less in sequence almost every week on TV over the course of 11 years (aside from breaks or preemptions for holidays or special events) in a more or less consistent fashion. I don't that type of preference and favoritism was really present at the time, at least not as much as there appears to be nowadays.

For some reason, these people just can't move past their total devotion to Z and give the original series a fair chance. I mean really it isn't some wall to wall comedy anime (which much better describes Dr. Slump and some others) and there is quite a bit of action even if not to the level of the OMG!!!! Giant explosions and Super Saiyans fest of the former.

[Robo4900]

It's a pretty quick turn around given the 21st TB was the second arc.

Not as quick as it sounds; remember that the first chapter of the 21st Tenkaichi was the 24th week of Dragon Ball's run, and the actual tournament didn't begin until week 32. So, the action didn't really pick up until over half a year in.

[ABED]

It's a pretty quick turn around given the 21st TB was the second arc.

Not as quick as it sounds; remember that the first chapter of the 21st Tenkaichi was the 24th week of Dragon Ball's run, and the actual tournament didn't begin until week 32. So, the action didn't really pick up until over half a year in.

Still pretty quick in the scheme of things as it's not that long into its overall run. Do we know the economics of manga publication? How and when did they determine his initial story wasn't selling that well? As a frame of reference, back in the 60s, Marvel didn't get sales numbers for several months.

[Robo4900]

It's a pretty quick turn around given the 21st TB was the second arc.

Not as quick as it sounds; remember that the first chapter of the 21st Tenkaichi was the 24th week of Dragon Ball's run, and the actual tournament didn't begin until week 32. So, the action didn't really pick up until over half a year in.

Still pretty quick in the scheme of things as it's not that long into its overall run. Do we know the economics of manga publication? How and when did they determine his initial story wasn't selling that well? As a frame of reference, back in the 60s, Marvel didn't get sales numbers for several months.

Yeah, but remember at this point, Toriyama wasn't even sure he'd be continuing beyond the 23rd chapter. It very well could have just stopped there. And after that, there was never any guarantee that either he would be allowed to continue on, or that he'd want to.

When it was being made, it wasn't being made as the first ~30 chapters of a 519-chapter run, it was just ~30 chapters of manga that may have some more. People always joke about Toriyama's consistent "Maybe it'll end soon, but I'll do it a little longer", but as far as he was concerned, that was the truth. The Pilaf arc, then the 21st Tenkaichi, then even the Red Ribbon arc all could have been the last arc of the story. Granted, the Pilaf arc was the only time it was conceived from the beginning to the end with the idea that this would be maybe all there is, with the Tenkaichi and Red Ribbon arcs just being "ok maybe we'll do more idk. let's just do what we're doing now and see where it goes", with Toriyama kind of knowing by the end of each arc that there was going to be more, unlike the Pilaf arc, which could very well have been the end all the way up to that last chapter...

Thing is, 31 weeks is a long-ass time to spend doing rather poorly. Even if things picked up later... At week 32, Toriyama was in a position of his manga not doing great, and never having been a great success so far. Maybe it would be more successful in future, or maybe he'd just give up once this story is wrapped up, and try something else... Of course, it did pick up, and he found himself doing a lot more, but you don't experience anything in the context of where it will go, you experience something like this in the context of where it has been so far, and when you're putting out chapter 32, in the 32nd week -- the ~8th month -- of your run, with the run so far having not found any real success yet, you're not the humble beginnings of an 11-year-long shounen epic, you're 32 chapters into putting out a manga that's not doing all that well.

So, I do think you're rather vastly underselling this timeframe.

[ABED]

If it was 32 weeks into a run they knew wasn't selling, why would Shonen Jump allow him to keep going? That's why I brought up the question of when they get their sales numbers. I can't imagine a weekly publication allowing a badly selling story to continue that long unless they didn't know until down the line. Your points are all well taken, but I still stand by it being a quick turn around overall.

[Robo4900]

If it was 32 weeks into a run they knew wasn't selling, why would Shonen Jump allow him to keep going? That's why I brought up the question of when they get their sales numbers. I can't imagine a weekly publication allowing a badly selling story to continue that long unless they didn't know until down the line. Your points are all well taken, but I still stand by it being a quick turn around overall.

Well, there are a number of factors to consider... First up, poor tankobon sales =/= poor ratings on the Jump serialisation, and second up, Toriyama had just got done with Dr. Slump, so they probably wanted to cut him some slack.

Though, the story is a bit fishy, for sure.

[ABED]

If it was 32 weeks into a run they knew wasn't selling, why would Shonen Jump allow him to keep going? That's why I brought up the question of when they get their sales numbers. I can't imagine a weekly publication allowing a badly selling story to continue that long unless they didn't know until down the line. Your points are all well taken, but I still stand by it being a quick turn around overall.

Well, there are a number of factors to consider... First up, poor tankobon sales =/= poor ratings on the Jump serialisation, and second up, Toriyama had just got done with Dr. Slump, so they probably wanted to cut him some slack.

Though, the story is a bit fishy, for sure.

My guess is that given the success of Dr. Slump, DB probably started off reasonably popular but dipped over time, much like spinoffs of popular shows often start off with strong ratings, but if the audience doesn't dig it, the ratings will decrease after the new car smell disipates. I'm so used to thinking about the TV series as it's the primary way I consume the story, and the first arc is only 13 episodes.

[NewKakarot]

So I'm late, but I think a major reason why people who only watched Z won't watch Dragon Ball is simply because they don't see the need to do so.

By the time Dragon Ball started airing on Toonami, Z was already about to start the Buu Arc. They were already ~67% finished with Z, and by then got to know the characters well (that's a huge stretch). They didn't feel the need to learn more about them, not to mention that a bunch of Dragon Ball characters (like Yamcha and Tien) were basically obsolete. Now it was all about the characters who were introduced in Z and Super Saiyans.

It's a shame, because Dragon Ball is extremely fun. I think they should give it another run on Toonami to try to catch their attention, or maybe release the series on Blu-Ray.

[PacificOceanDub]

I’m one of those who saw the Toonami airing of ‘Z’ before anything else. I started watching sometime in late ‘99 during the Freeza arc. So two or three years later when the original Dragon Ball was being advertised on Cartoon Network, I was actually super excited. I watched as much as I could during that Cartoon Network run of the series and filled in the gaps later when the Blue Bricks came out. Anyway, point of all this is, I was never hesitient or stubborn about it. If anything, it was fun as hell to see how all of the characters came into the mix in the first place. I remember my friends and I thinking that Dragon Ball was new content, in the same vein as those cheesy 80s cartoons like “Tom & Jerry Kids” and “A Pup Named Scooby Doo”

[The Time Traveller]

If you're talking about dubbies then it's pretty obvious, the dub of DB was secondary. But that's happening everywhere for almost 20 years now, even Shueisha released The Boyhood Arc and Piccolo Daimao Arc after the Majin Boo Arc when they were doing the Full Color edition...

Maybe Star Wars made them want to treat DB like a prequel instead of the start of the series?

[KBABZ]

If you're talking about dubbies then it's pretty obvious, the dub of DB was secondary. But that's happening everywhere for almost 20 years now, even Shueisha released The Boyhood Arc and Piccolo Daimao Arc after the Majin Boo Arc when they were doing the Full Color edition...

Personally I think it happened way earlier than that, where since the mid-90s the vast majority of Dragon Ball games were based on Z first, with the odd OG DB release usually being treated secondarily (like the legendary amount of times that the GBA game was delayed).

[AnzuMazaki]

If you're talking about dubbies then it's pretty obvious, the dub of DB was secondary. But that's happening everywhere for almost 20 years now, even Shueisha released The Boyhood Arc and Piccolo Daimao Arc after the Majin Boo Arc when they were doing the Full Color edition...

Personally I think it happened way earlier than that, where since the mid-90s the vast majority of Dragon Ball games were based on Z first, with the odd OG DB release usually being treated secondarily (like the legendary amount of times that the GBA game was delayed).

I personally want the Action RPG to be based on the OG DB series like it was rumoured to be (I want to play as Goku, Bulma, Yamcha, Kuririn, Tenshinhan and fight random earthling mooks, Pilaf, the Red Ribbon Army, Piccolo Daimaoh and his army and go through the Tenkaichi Budokais, etc ).

But it probably will be Raditz to Broly, like most games, with some GT DLC.
In their eyes it is a "Prequel with our Ultra Instinct hero growing up" after all.

My predictions:

"Twenty Four years passed Kakarot grew up, met many good earthling friends and and married Chichi and had a son," (Level 1 begins at Kame House before Raditz arrives)

I really wish they'd implement the OG DB series into their video games.
And that the fandom will give it a chance.

[KBABZ]

I personally want the Action RPG to be based on the OG DB series like it was rumoured to be (I want to play as Goku, Bulma, Yamcha, Kuririn, Tenshinhan and fight random earthling mooks, Pilaf, the Red Ribbon Army, Piccolo Daimaoh and his army and go through the Tenkaichi Budokais, etc ).

Same. I've pitched my own game as an action RPG that, while set post-Z, has all the mannerisms and tones of the original Dragon Ball as you play a new character about Kid Goku's age on his own Dragon Ball quest. Unfortunately it doesn't feature Spirit Bombs and Super Saiyans or anything like that so Toei would never make it.

[NewKakarot]

Maybe Star Wars made them want to treat DB like a prequel instead of the start of the series?

After the bad taste the prequels left in a lot of people's mouths, I guess I can see where you're coming from

[PsionicWarrior]

Wtf? Refusing to watch or read DB is like being christian but refusing the read the Bible lol

[KBABZ]

Wtf? Refusing to watch or read DB is like being christian but refusing the read the Bible lol

I think more specifically it'd be like reading the Bible but not bothering to read the Old Testament.

[PsionicWarrior]

Wtf? Refusing to watch or read DB is like being christian but refusing the read the Bible lol

I think more specifically it'd be like reading the Bible but not bothering to read the Old Testament.

Aye lol