The first time that you watched the Japanese version?

[Codarik]

For me, the first time was in 2007 when I was starting to get back into the series, I was searching for DBZ clips on YouTube and caught some of Vegeta vs Goku in Japanese. I remember being baffled at Goku's voice.

[Makaioshin]

When I got back into the series in 2006, I think. I saw Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and bought it because I used to like the show. I disliked the English voices when playing it so I switched to the Japanese to see what they sounded like and liked them a lot better. After finishing the comic, I bought some DVDs and watched it in Japanese.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

I had seen clips online for years, but more when I first started buying the series in 2009, which would have been Freeza stuff. Nakao was great, I'd gotten over whatever little conflict I had with Masako's being Goku and Simmon's occasionally dry scripts before then, and have been a firmly English-bilingual (Specification needed since one of the languages doesn't change ) viewer since.

[OzzyApu]

For years I recalled seeing short clips on the internet of the Japanese version, which to me was somewhat godly or something. They had all the good stuff that I didn't get with the airings back in 1998. It might have been around 1999 or 2000 when I saw the first three DBZ movies (Dead Zone, World's Strongest, Tree of Might) that were VHS in Japanese at my local library. The voices were sort of "meh" to get into, but I remembered them pretty well. After a long dislike-period from 2003-2010, I got back into the show through Kai and strictly through the Japanese version. Now it's the only version I stick with.

[Krycek7o2]

The first time I saw the Japanese version was back in 2001. Three years after I was introduced to the show.
I saw the the coming of the Cell Games on the International channel and I continued to watch it until the end when Trunks goes back in time.
Sadly, we soon dropped Cox and got DirecTV. Good times, I still have my VHS recorded episodes somewhere in the house.

[DarkPrince_92]

I was just shocked....at first I hated it. First clip I saw was Goku, Gohan, Goten's Kamehameha vs. Broly's giant green ball thingy attack. When Goku started charging, "Ka.....Me...." my eyes widened because his voice was SOO HIGH PITCHED, and I was not expecting that at all. However, after hearing other characters like Vegeta, Frieza, and Cell....the Japanese version grew on me, and I also appreciated Kikuchi's track a lot more (I was a Faulconer head for the longest time).

[Hellspawn28]

From what I can remember it was at least 10 years ago when I saw Movie 8 in subs since I remember people on Gamefaqs talking about Broly and that I seen images of him before. I was lucky enough to watch the movie with fansubs at some Japanese store in the TownMall of Westminster. I don't think it was at least 2003 or 2004 when I started to watch the series with subs and I haven't go back to the dub (pre-kai) since then. I only watch Funimation's dub if I'm bored and need something to past off time.

[CashmanX]

For me, it was in late 2006, and I was relatively new to YouTube. I searched up some DBZ clips, and I found a 3 minute video of Goku and Freeza fighting in Japanese. I had never seen Japanese DBZ, and it blew my mind. Freeza sounded bad ass, but I didn't care for Goku's little girl voice, but the music and uncut hits/blood kicked real ass!

When I got back into the series in 2006, I think. I saw Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and bought it because I used to like the show. I disliked the English voices when playing it so I switched to the Japanese to see what they sounded like and liked them a lot better. After finishing the comic, I bought some DVDs and watched it in Japanese.

Are you guys me?!

[Ryu-Ken Bakuhatsu]

In 2000 I got an imported version of Dragon Ball Final Bout, which (I think) served as my introduction to the Japanese version. It was either that or the many video clips that I downloaded, back then. Either way, they happened around the same time. But I guess my true introduction was later on when I watched fansubs of DBZ Movie 8 and the DBGT TV Special. (I say "true" because it was my first experience of the anime in Japanese, rather than just a video game).

Unlike so many other people here, Goku's voice didn't bother me at all. I don't remember a moment where I had to stop and think about how it sounded, it was just the voice to me. In fact it took me several years to actually realise that Masako Nozawa was a woman! It just never clicked with me for some reason!

[Piccolo Daimao]

Oh, I forgot to mention that my first actual exposure to the Japanese version of DB was through Ultimate Battle 22, Final Bout, and Budokai 1. Never really bothered me; I just took them as-is and was like, "Oh, OK, so this is how they sound in Japanese."

Funnily enough, as a casual dub fan, I remember being taken aback when I was going through the story mode in Budokai Tenkaichi, and hearing Schemmel's Kaiou for the first time when he was narrating, and I was like, "DAFUQ?!"

[penguintruth]

I think it was during that stretch between seasons 2 and 3 of the English dub, and I was watching VHS fansubs of the Buu arc. I had already read summaries of each arc, so I knew everything that was going to happen, but actually seeing some of the later stuff was really neat. My cousins owned an extensive collection of DBZ fansub tapes, and watched it every time I was over, and being a DBZ fan whose only exposure was via American television, I figure I'd give it a go.

To be honest, at first, I hated Goku's voice. It was screechy-sounding and just didn't make sense for a buff superhero like Goku. It wasn't until later that I realized how perfect it was. My impressions of the characters were a little off, thanks to the bad scripts of the English dub. I immediately took a liking to Piccolo and Vegeta's Japanese voices, though. I thought Kuririn's worked, though I knew it was a female. The "kcccttchhhhh" noises annoyed me. I didn't really think much about the music at the time.

I believe the first episode of the Japanese version I watched was the one where Gotenks first fights Buu, in his regular form.

[NitroEX]

Despite never really watching anything from the Japanese version of DBZ until the beginning of the Youtube era (2006 to 2008 for me) I had always been concious of the Japanese voices from growing up along side the DBZ games such as the first Budokai, Final Bout and Ultimate Battle 22. These games weren't dubbed in English for the PAL versions over here in the UK so I was just as used to hearing those voices as I was the Ocean, Blue Water and to a lesser extent the Funimation voices.

[MCDaveG]

Somewhere after the beginning of the millenium 2000, being poor scholar on elementary school, I watched the episodes downloaded from the internet
Also at that time, the Polish broadcast switched from French to Japanese and I already knew the Japanese VAs from video games (SNES, PS).
So I can say I half grew on Japanese version.

[SRB2Unleashed]

I initially heard Gohan's SSJ2 scene had an insert song. I fell in love with the Japanese version from that scene. However since I could never find any episodes of Z, I watched Kai through streams and sites and such up until it's end. I picked up the first 2 season sets (curse you crappy Orange Brick quality) and watched them all in English and Japanese. Guess the winner.

[The Time Traveller]

I didn't care for Goku's little girl voice

I didn't care for Chris Sabat's old black man Vegeta.

I first watched it when there were some fansubs online of some movies, then the whole series when the Season sets came out in the USA.

[Shiyonasan]

I think it was in 2005 when I got my first Dragon Ball DVD: A Hero's Legacy. I decided to watch the Japanese version out of curiosity. I remember liking it, but still preferring the Funimation dub at the time. I watched some of the other movies in Japanese sporadically until 2009, when I made the transition to the Japanese version with subs.

Unlike so many other people here, Goku's voice didn't bother me at all. I don't remember a moment where I had to stop and think about how it sounded, it was just the voice to me.

Me as well. Well, actually, I think it bothered me a little at first, but his voice quickly grew on me. I can see why it would bother most people familiar with the Funimation dub though.

[Drabaz]

Back in the early 2000's when Kazaa was a thing, I would search for Dragonball videos through there. It would take days for me to download small clips. I believe the first scene I saw was of Goku, Gohan, and Goten killing Broly in Movie 10 with their triple Kamehameha.

DBZ Movie 9 was the first thing I saw in Japanese in it's entirety. It was literally the day before the movie came out in the States and I was so excited and impatient that I downloaded it online. Of course it was only available in Japanese.

[MCDaveG]

Back in the early 2000's when Kazaa was a thing, I would search for Dragonball videos through there. It would take days for me to download small clips. I believe the first scene I saw was of Goku, Gohan, and Goten killing Broly in Movie 10 with their triple Kamehameha.

DBZ Movie 9 was the first thing I saw in Japanese in it's entirety. It was literally the day before the movie came out in the States and I was so excited and impatient that I downloaded it online. Of course it was only available in Japanese.

Yeah, Kazaa and DC I did the same, downloading the movies mostly + some few episodes I managed to got in search.

[medama_oyaji]

Chicago Comic Con.... uhh '96 or '97? I had been somewhat discouraged about the series due to the English dub. But then I was in an anime viewing room and they put on the DB 10th Anniversary movie, fansubbed, and I was hooked! I loved the movie, and the voice acting was great. It was great to laugh along with the funny parts with a packed viewing room, and the ending was moving. Afterwards I ran out to the dealers room and tracked down tapes of that movie as well as DBZ movies 2, 3, and 12. I think the first DBZ movie I popped in when I got home was 12. The guy sold it to me by saying "All the villains from the past return from Hell!" This sounded really cool, little did I know that that isn't quite the focus of that film ha ha I was pretty shocked to hear that Goku's adult voice was the same as his kid voice, but I adjusted. Perhaps I was fortunate to hear it first in the young Goku context. Anyway I watched those first few tapes over and over again, and eventually figured out how to get fansubs of the TV series and the rest of the movies.

[SonEric84]

Oh, I forgot to mention that my actual first exposure to the Japanese version of DB and all was through games like Ultimate Battle 22, Final Bout, and Budokai 1. Never really bothered me; I just took them as-is and was like, "Oh, OK, so this is how they sound in Japanese?"

Funnily enough, as a casual dub fan, I remember being taken aback when I was going through the story mode in Budokai Tenkaichi, and hearing Schemmel's Kaiou for the first time when he was narrating, and I was like, "DAFUQ?!"

I completely forgot about that as well! I also had UB22, Legends, and Final Bout to further expose me to the Japanese version. Good old PS1 with the converter cart/spring combo to play imports.