Does it irritate you when people say DB was poorly written?

[Haji]

I have noticed over the years, that every time i say whats truly on my mind people, have some counter against it, but anyone else says whats on they're mind and everyone nods in approval. And i don't get on to people for spelling something wrong cause i can still get what they was trying to say, and in person i have a friend with a slight speech impediment but i am not going to come back and say, well you said that wrong or use it as ammo against him.
And you people should not talk about Toriyama, the man wrote and drew a story for 10 years, give him a break. Anyone could forget a few little things, have pity. If i ever met him i would thank him for the work he did, not criticize him.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Surprisingly enough, I think DB handled time travel better than some other science fictions, if only for the fact that they used the "multiple timelines" concept rather than dealing with everything in a single timeline and running into paradoxes. They were still some plotholes in it, though, but I tend to put that down to the blanket reasons of time travel not making much sense in practically every fictional work.

That actually isn't as rare or unique as many DBZ fans seem to think (I'm not saying you think it is, but I hear DBZ fans bring that up quite a bit as being a unique method of dealing with the issues of time travel.)

The most known use of it is probably in the Marvel Multiverse.

Yeah, I think, if I was going to create a work involving time travel, I'd go for the "multiple timelines" concept, just because it's less of a clusterfuck.

[Michsi]

Well, it does irritate me a little, since we are talking about something I am emotionally attached too, but at the same time, from an objective point of view I admit that DB isn't the greatest gift to the narrative world. It's a simple, straight forward , lighthearted and easy to follow, humor and action oriented story, with no deeper meaning or hidden messages to the readers.
I know that it has often been labeled as a story about big burly men screening at each other and therefore unfairly promoting that aspect of DB as if it were it's only true selling point, so I'm not surprised that it has a bad reputation.
It upsets me when people claim it's a poorly written story without ever having given it a proper chance.


Though I thoroughly agree that the latter part of the story has it's share of bad moments with the Cell Saga winning the top spot. Times lines , changing bad guys 2 times, Gohan the savior out of nowhere.

[Bussani]

"Good guy fights bad guy. Good guy defeats bad guy. Rinse and repeat."

Not to mention that this oversimplified description can be applied to almost anything.

[DBZ Mick]

Yes, but then most people are biased to their own opinions. It annoyed me when I read a review of Kai by Hyper magazine here in Australia, they wrote something like 'it would be good and all if it had plot'. That grated my nerves quite a bit. I think Broly is the stereotype of everything people think Dragonball represents and it saddens me.

What keeps me coming back is the characters-especially voiced in Japanese- and how they actually grow. I also like the humour, battles and all.

[Perfect]

One thing that bothers me is when people jump right into the middle of a random episode and say, "wow this is stupid, it makes no sense and the plot is retarded and too complex". It just makes my brain fry from how stupid people can be some times, I mean you're jumping into the middle of a random episode.

[FindKenshi]

Another thing I can't stand to hear is people playing the "Akira Toriyama doesn't care about the story" card in order to belittle any discussion at hand. Bull Hockey! He doesn't care about the story? He spent a huge portion of his life writing it! Didn't he comment that Goku had almost become family to him? I know he expresses regret that he killed Goku off. And, of course, I'm well aware of his forgetfulness--which is both admitted by him, and exposed at times--but it's easy to forget. Doesn't mean he doesn't care. "Toriyama didn't put this much thought into it, so you're stupid for doing so." I can't accept that "argument." There's no way it can be true.

[Haji]

I know! that is a good example. That is why is angers me when i hear people criticizing DragonBall or Toriyama san.

[dprez]

I always thought it was a very cool and interesting story, and therefor well written.

[Bussani]

If i ever met him i would thank him for the work he did

I don't think there's one person on this forum who wouldn't do the same. That's really not the point.

That is why is angers me when i hear people criticizing DragonBall or Toriyama san.

There's a difference between not saying "Toriyama didn't put this much thought into it, so you're stupid for doing so" and not critiquing Dragon Ball at all. We all love it. That doesn't mean we can't accept that some parts are written better than others, and no one's insulting the author or underestimating how hard he worked on it by doing so.

[FindKenshi]

To be perfectly honest, thanking Akira Toriyama would be furthest from my mind, were I to ever meet him. I'd rather nerdishly bombard him with questions such as Super Buu VS. Kid Buu, Gohan's SSj form while fighting Dabra, how specifically does Dabra compare with Cell in terms of battle power, who is stronger between Krillin and Tenshinhan, what about Goku's Kaio-ken usage while he's fighting Freeza, and other such things. If that makes me a really immature person, or gives you the image of "Comic Book Guy" from The Simpsons when trying to picture me, so be it.

[MarcFBR]

I always thought it was a very cool and interesting story, and therefor well written.

Cool and interesting does not equate to well written.

As an example, I can understand someone finding Revenge of the Fallen cool and interesting. But anyone who thinks it's well written is certifiable.

[MarcFBR]

To be perfectly honest, thanking Akira Toriyama would be furthest from my mind, were I to ever meet him. I'd rather nerdishly bombard him with questions such as Super Buu VS. Kid Buu, Gohan's SSj form while fighting Dabra, how specifically does Dabra compare with Cell in terms of battle power, who is stronger between Krillin and Tenshinhan, what about Goku's Kaio-ken usage while he's fighting Freeza, and other such things. If that makes me a really immature person, or gives you the image of "Comic Book Guy" from The Simpsons when trying to picture me, so be it.

You realize the guy doesn't even remember who some characters are when he is asked in interviews right?

[dprez]

I always thought it was a very cool and interesting story, and therefor well written.

Cool and interesting does not equate to well written.

As an example, I can understand someone finding Revenge of the Fallen cool and interesting. But anyone who thinks it's well written is certifiable.

haha good point

It's cool and interesting because it's well written. Does that make sense? I mean, it's not like it takes great story telling abilities to draw cool looking characters, fights and random gags.

[FindKenshi]

To be perfectly honest, thanking Akira Toriyama would be furthest from my mind, were I to ever meet him. I'd rather nerdishly bombard him with questions such as Super Buu VS. Kid Buu, Gohan's SSj form while fighting Dabra, how specifically does Dabra compare with Cell in terms of battle power, who is stronger between Krillin and Tenshinhan, what about Goku's Kaio-ken usage while he's fighting Freeza, and other such things. If that makes me a really immature person, or gives you the image of "Comic Book Guy" from The Simpsons when trying to picture me, so be it.

You realize the guy doesn't even remember who some characters are when he is asked in interviews right?

I touched on this subject earlier in this thread. Call it a child-like naivety that it just simply can't be true. "Say it ain't so," in other words. Or maybe I just have faith in the man, that he'd be able to answer my questions or at least lie to me. Admittedly, though, aside from the obvious... dorkiness of those questions, and embarrassing myself by asking them, I would be most concerned with embarrassing him. I've always mused to myself that these types of questions would inflame him or discredit him somehow, as if you're implying that the story isn't written well enough that these answers are clear. Or, like you imply, him being taken off guard because he simply doesn't remeber the answers. Or worse, by far (for me), that he simply never knew the answers in the first place. Still, it'd be worth the notable risks. And if I just come off as a big kid with these silly questions, maybe that's not such a bad thing. He has many such fans, right?

[DBZGTKOSDH]

To be perfectly honest, thanking Akira Toriyama would be furthest from my mind, were I to ever meet him. I'd rather nerdishly bombard him with questions such as Super Buu VS. Kid Buu, Gohan's SSj form while fighting Dabra, how specifically does Dabra compare with Cell in terms of battle power, who is stronger between Krillin and Tenshinhan, what about Goku's Kaio-ken usage while he's fighting Freeza, and other such things. If that makes me a really immature person, or gives you the image of "Comic Book Guy" from The Simpsons when trying to picture me, so be it.

All those questions are too "deep" for Toriyama these years.

[FindKenshi]

But... he's still given us brand new supplemental information, such as the physiology of the Namekians and the like, which can be considered quite "deep." And he's still answering questions in the Super Exciting Guides and other recent productions. Why, he's completly expanded on the origin of the Kaios! He's still in the game, my friend!

[DBZGTKOSDH]

But... he's still given us brand new supplemental information, such as the physiology of the Namekians and the like, which can be considered quite "deep." And he's still answering questions in the Super Exciting Guides and other recent productions. Why, he's completly expanded on the origin of the Kaios! He's still in the game, my friend!

Giving new info about races/characters/other stuff is completely different from analizing certain parts of the manga.

[FindKenshi]

But... he's still given us brand new supplemental information, such as the physiology of the Namekians and the like, which can be considered quite "deep." And he's still answering questions in the Super Exciting Guides and other recent productions. Why, he's completly expanded on the origin of the Kaios! He's still in the game, my friend!

Giving new info about races/characters/other stuff is completely different from analizing certain parts of the manga.

You have to believe. It's called faith.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

You have to believe. It's called faith.

You have too be realistic too. Toriyama didn't remember Taopaipai and more things. He has admited it himself that he doesn't remember the story.