Why does every one hate the Garlic Jr saga?

[Kid Buu]

I really liked the saga when I watched it on Cartoon Network back during its CN debut. Haven't seen it since then...looking forward to rewatching it.

[Sun-Wukong]

I haven't watched it in so long, it's a little fuzzy at this point. I know I did like it back when I saw it, but I'll have to get back to you...

[jjgp1112]

But then, at the end, Piccolo implies that Garlic Jr. never really was a threat and was too moronic to end up winning anyway.

[Ashura]

I wonder how many people had an experience like this...

Initially when I watched the Cell stuff, it looked like this:




So I was excited to see the Cell stuff -- even dubbed -- without having to try to interpret what subtitled blobs on my TV were doing, so when the Garlic Jr. stuff came up first... I was really eager for it to go away and see Goku return and Trunks appear. I think that gave me huge animosity toward the whole thing.

[SuperForteX]

I wonder how many people had an experience like this...

Initially when I watched the Cell stuff, it looked like this:

--snip--

So I was excited to see the Cell stuff -- even dubbed -- without having to try to interpret what subtitled blobs on my TV were doing, so when the Garlic Jr. stuff came up first... I was really eager for it to go away and see Goku return and Trunks appear. I think that gave me huge animosity toward the whole thing.

I watched Dragon Ball in that state as well.. when I had to watch it as Real Media files, because nothing else was available.

In any case, the reason I like the Garlic Junior saga is because so many other people don't like it. That just makes me go into something wanting to find reasons to like it, and it usually does.

[Kendamu]

I wonder how many people had an experience like this...

Initially when I watched the Cell stuff, it looked like this:

*snip*
*snip*

So I was excited to see the Cell stuff -- even dubbed -- without having to try to interpret what subtitled blobs on my TV were doing, so when the Garlic Jr. stuff came up first... I was really eager for it to go away and see Goku return and Trunks appear. I think that gave me huge animosity toward the whole thing.

If only I were so lucky as to have seen it like that back then. Sure, I had some of the manga, but by the time I had gotten an idea for fansubs that was when all those sites got ratted out and FUNi started shutting them down.

[worldmonsters]

I kind of don't understand the OP's statement of "It had me guessing to the end". There was only one way it could have ended. And I don't mean to sound like a douche, but Garlic Jr is immortal. The ONLY way to defeat him is by throwing him into his own Dead Zone. And that's why I think the Garlic Jr saga sucks. It's predictable right from the start. If they ended it ANY other way I may even like it better, but it's just so boring. Even the impact of there being a fight on Kami's Palace was so much better when Buu showed up. When that happened I actually shivered. Garlic Jr... compared to Freeza was just... a waste. The only way to do weaker villains is how the JSAT special did it. This was pretty much just a long "come on... open that dead zone already!!!".

Just my opinion though

[Michsi]

I like the Garlic Jr. saga. Granted it could have been done better but all in all it's alright.

....I think I might actually want to go watch it now

[Castor Troy]

It started off funny with everyone becoming those demon vampire things, but dragged when it hit Kami's lookout.

[TonyTheTiger]

Garlic Jr. didn't make a particularly compelling villain. It was mostly "they screwed me, but I'm back now."

It just feels like filler at its core. Even if it had actually been in the manga, word for word, it would still feel like filler. The entire arc just hits you over the head with "da da da...gotta kill time...da da da..."

But I'd be able to forgive all that had it not been so damn boring. It's surprisingly long for a story in which so little happens and it's not especially nice to look at. As frustrating as the Fake Namek arc can be, at least it has some nice aesthetics. And as lousy as the Bulma Namek filler is, it's peppered in along with the important stuff. Garlic Jr. does the worst of both. It is 10 straight episodes of mundane.

Honestly, the entire arc would have been much better if it had ditched the villain entirely and put the entire emphasis on Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo's daily lives. Play it up for comedy and I'm sure you'd find a decent number of fans.

[sangofe]

I wonder how many people had an experience like this...

Initially when I watched the Cell stuff, it looked like this:

--snip--

So I was excited to see the Cell stuff -- even dubbed -- without having to try to interpret what subtitled blobs on my TV were doing, so when the Garlic Jr. stuff came up first... I was really eager for it to go away and see Goku return and Trunks appear. I think that gave me huge animosity toward the whole thing.

I watched Dragon Ball in that state as well.. when I had to watch it as Real Media files, because nothing else was available.

In any case, the reason I like the Garlic Junior saga is because so many other people don't like it. That just makes me go into something wanting to find reasons to like it, and it usually does.

I watched quite a few DB episodes from fansub vhs tapes, but I think they were rated "B-" or "C+", this looks like a D-/E, LOL.

[Hellspawn28]

I personally did not like the Saga because it was so boring and it seem uneeded since I feel like the whole saga was pointless. I also not a fan of some of the comedy that throw in and Maron seem like a waste of a character.

[Ashura]

If only I were so lucky as to have seen it like that back then. Sure, I had some of the manga, but by the time I had gotten an idea for fansubs that was when all those sites got ratted out and FUNi started shutting them down.

I guess I should clarify and say these are caps of VHS fansubs I had gotten waywayway before DVDs were even a twinkle in Funimation's eye. There was a point where it was airing on Cartoon Network, and the hard and fast answer from everyone was that 'no, there's not going to be any new episodes.' So as a highschooler, I went and found fansubs of the Cell stuff the old fashioned way; Tape trading with buddies and SASE. This was actually before realmedia or asfs were even a big thing.

I think the stuff when Trunks comes in was more C level fansub, but a lot of it was this terrible and it all didn't hold a candle to the TV airings quality, despite the music. Not to hate on the Faulconer fans, but I think the music is what bothered me the most as a kid. I actually liked the original Saban score, but then the switchover almost killed it for me if it weren't for the story.

I'm actually much more fond of Sailor Moon's similar filler, with the Doom Tree aliens or whatever.

[Gaffer Tape]

Like everyone else said, the character bits at the beginning and end were good. Most everything else in between was just terrible. The fighting dragged. Hardly anything moved forward. And it loses even more points for taking one of the most interesting locations in the series (the heavenly realm) and making it look boring and generic. But at least it gave God and Popo something to do while elaborating a bit on the whole God system.

[Silver Sinspawn]

Best arc ever. I hate Goku, and Vegeta. It felt good to see an arc where the humans were relevant. Also, Marron, 'nuff said.

[Kiyza]

Maybe I'm just crazy, but watching this arc for the first time was actually pretty enjoyable to me. Getting off of the infamous Freeza arc filler, I found it enjoyable to have something, even if it was filler, that wasn't just drawn out fighting. That didn't change the fact I almost fell asleep during some parts, but I didn't totally hate it. Had I not watched it in order, though, I doubt I'd feel the same way about it.

[Akumaito Beam]

As others have mentioned I think it just overstays its welcome. The henchman fights were always mind numbingly boring to me because the henchman didn't have any personality or unique quirks to speak of. Even Dodoria had more development then those guys. Really, I think I only tolerate Dodoria because he was destroyed so quick and effortlessly. Then they come back in their powered up form so just when you thought they were gone and you could move on and focus your attention on the more interesting Garlic Jr. they rope you in for another couple henchman episodes.

I really think Marron is funny but in typical DBZ anime fashion they just overuse the same couple of jokes with her and it gets old quick. Hey, mentioning of petty complaints one moment always bugged me a lot about this arc. Did it feel like lazy writing to anyone else when Piccolo reveals he was just playing along with the mind control scheme the entire time? It really felt like Toei wrote themselves into a corner and had to make up something to give the heroes some leverage again. There was zero indication of Piccolo not being mind controlled the entire period. I really hesitate to say this but...c'mon his eyes were red!

That being said I love Gohan and Kuririn being the central focus of the story. I also enjoy the Vegeta in space scenes. I always found it particularly smart to show him finishing off the last of Freeza's henchman during his travels. It's easy to imagine one of them would be extremely quick to take Freeza's place in the empire. There's other bits and pieces I like about this arc but unlike the Boo arc I feel it just doesn't have enough positives to outweigh or even out the bad.

[kemuri07]

I don't remember if I actively hated it (since I only saw it when I was much younger), but I do ignore it since it is filler. That, and I've never really liked Garlic Jr. as a villain.

[Gaffer Tape]

Did it feel like lazy writing to anyone else when Piccolo reveals he was just playing along with the mind control scheme the entire time? It really felt like Toei wrote themselves into a corner and had to make up something to give the heroes some leverage again. There was zero indication of Piccolo not being mind controlled the entire period. I really hesitate to say this but...c'mon his eyes were red!

I made a thread about this a while back asking about the same thing because I remember that, even before I ever saw the episodes, I had read that Piccolo was not affected because, like them, he was already a Mazoku. So when I saw the dub first, I assumed that was something that FUNi just screwed up. But then I got the DBox and found out that nothing about that is ever mentioned anywhere. So I guess it's just fan wank. In reality, it didn't work because... it... because!

[DBZ Mick]

You know I don't think I've ever watched the arc. Apart from bits and pieces of the dub.