My opinion of Pre-Z Dragon Ball? Let us find out, now!!

[garnetjester]

Dragon ball is probably my favorite part of the series. It's hilarious, the characters feel really well developed, I like its sense of adventure and the first Tenkaichi Budoukais are really entertaining to watch with all the fun techniques Goku and co. come up with. Especially the Goku vs. Jackie Chun fight.

[dbboxkaifan]

Yes, I'm going to finally be watching almost all of Dragon Ball, and what's more, I'm going to be doing it subbed! This is partially because I want this to be a pure, complete experience of what the Japanese version was like (which I only got with Dragon Ball Z), partially so that I can be totally sure that I have a complete understanding of what I'm talking about when I debate on this forum, partially out of curiosity, and partially to see if I like Shunsuke Kikuchi any better here.

Of course, I will note though that I'm skipping the "Emperor" Pilaf saga, because frankly, I don't exactly need bare breasts, wangs, and butts in my Dragon Ball experience ...

So, what will the outcome of this foray be? Find out, on "Let's Watch Dragonball"!! I'll be sure to update this, periodically!

So he wants it to be complete and pure but skips the first arc of Dragon Ball because of some sex jokes? The Pilaf arc has more than just "breasts, wangs, and butts".

I don't get the mentality of "violence is fine but sex is no-no".

[ABED]

So he wants it to be complete and pure but skips the first arc of Dragon Ball because of some sex jokes? The Pilaf arc has more than just "breasts, wangs, and butts".

I don't get the mentality of "violence is fine but sex is no-no".

I'm in wholehearted agreement.

[RocktheDragon]

So he wants it to be complete and pure but skips the first arc of Dragon Ball because of some sex jokes? The Pilaf arc has more than just "breasts, wangs, and butts".

I don't get the mentality of "violence is fine but sex is no-no".

I'm in wholehearted agreement.

So I think that both of you guys are missing the entire point behind OP's discomfort in viewing the first arc of Dragon Ball. He's had an obviously disturbing and traumatic experience with an individual who reminds him of a character within the series. Whether that comparison is a valid one or not to us the fact of the matter is that the OP finds it valid and thus a nuisance to his watching experience. I haven't even included the other baggage the OP mentioned about himself in regards to his mental state. So again, your observations in other contexts might have had some weight but they are not applicable in the least here.

[ABED]

I got that he had a traumatic experience, I was agreeing that I don't the puritan "violence is fine but sex and nudity is taboo on TV and film".

Tell me why the sexual content is more disturbing than violence? What's sexual about seeing Goku naked when he's fishing or about to take a bath for the first time?

"They aren't acceptable in the least here" I'm not yelling at him, or laughing at him, but I do think that he hasn't really thought it through.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

Of course, I will note though that I'm skipping the "Emperor" Pilaf saga, because frankly, I don't exactly need bare breasts, wangs, and butts in my Dragon Ball experience ...

Not to sound rude but, if you plan on writing your opinion on the DragonBall series and skip the first arc, I probably can't take you seriously. It's not just the Pilaf arc that has nudity, the whole series has nudity. If that kind of stuff makes you uncomfortable, and that's OK if it does, then don't even bother watching the series.

[ABED]

Who's OP anyways?

The Chiropractor thing was weird but at most it's bizarre story, not the episode of different strokes with the bicycle shop owner. I'm not trying to be rude, I just don't get it.

[Fionordequester]

You know, thinking about it now...I said that I wasn't willing to watch the Pilaf arc...but that was before I got the censorship guide, so...it'd probably be ok now.

And to be clear, my stance was already there before my chiropractor, due to my interpretation of my religion (some Christians would probably argue for looser sexual guidelines, and have perfectly valid arguments. I mean heck, there's an entire book in the Bible where Solomon literally SINGS about how wonderful his wife's breasts and stuff are, in addition to how awesome of a person she is). In fact, Roshi didn't really even remind me of my chiropractor until this very episode, where we spent a whole episode inside his house, with him not even attempting to hide his perverted tendencies from a 12 year old.

And the wangs...thinking about it now, I am probably taking things too far by being uncomfortable around that. I mean heck, I'm gonna be a dad, with naked babies and everything, so, I could probably stand to loosen up as far as that goes. As far as women goes though, I...think I have a pretty good idea about what works for me, and what doesn't, so you probably won't see me loosen up on that.

So, guess we're headed to Episode 1. How are you liking these reviews so far, aside from my unusual stance on this stuff?

[Valerius Dover]

I don't understand how that kind of humor can be so off-putting to some people. I mean, I'm fairly conservative. I'm Swedish, but I grew up in the US and have strict US values (it's to the point that most people here can't even tell I'm not 100% American). However, I do still recognize the value of humor, and consider it separate from real life morals and stuff like that. Heck, I sat through Monty Python's Flying Circus and even Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt without so much as cringing.

[Adamant]

Who's OP anyways?

OP = Original Poster, ie the thread creator, Fionordequester

How are you liking these reviews so far, aside from my unusual stance on this stuff?

I have to side with Tanooki Kuribo in that they're pretty hard to take seriously due to how you skipped over so much and jumped into the middle of an ongoing story.

[ABED]

The reviews are fine, but are you gonna do every episode?

[Fionordequester]

Of course! Or at least, that's the plan, assuming I don't give up for whatever reason. Don't see why I would though, this doesn't take nearly as much work as some of my other projects.

[Fionordequester]

So, Episode 1 has been seen now. How was it? Well, I didn't burn myself, tear giant scabs out of my back, or gouge my eyes out looking at little boy weiner. So that's cool I guess. In fact, actually it was kind of adorable.

Anyways though, that was a good episode! I liked how they handled the exposition, such as showcasing Goku's strength by just sort of having him run around, rather than giving us this long, talky explanation of, I dunno, Goku talking to himself about how "boy, it sure is a good thing my Grandpa taught me this and that, which allows me to channel my Chakra/Spirit Energy/Ki/Broo-Ha-Ha in order to grant me these..."...well, you know what I mean. Same thing as those Anime Shows where, every time someone does a new attack, we always have some guy take 1-2 minutes to explain exactly how it works and exactly what strategy someone is using (especially prominent in Naruto and Pokemon).

The only time it really messed up on exposition is when they had Mai talk to Pilaf about what was so special about the Dragon Balls...AFTER they had already gone to the trouble of searching through spooky mansions in order to get it! Because that's realistic, right? For our villain to go on this long, epic saga in search of mystical items BEFORE he even knows why he's looking for them? But that's one little moment, so whatever...

Finally, I have to say, I dunno what it is, but Bulma came off as a lot more likeable here than I remember her coming off in the manga. I don't know what, if anything, the Anime did differently in that respect, but, for some reason, she didn't come off as an empty-headed bimbo this time...at least, aside from that HORRIBLY forced moment where she's all "yeah, I know you're like, a little kid, who's never seen a woman before, who thinks his Grandpa is a Dragon Ball, and was taught to treat ladies nicely...so obviously, offering you to grope me is TOTALLY going to work, right?". Maybe it was the voice actor. She delivers her lines with a sort of high-pitched sprightliness, which is really cute to listen to. Though, the lines themselves were actually fairly sharp too, so, who knows? Maybe the animators did a good job with her facial expressions. I'll have to check the Manga out later to see what I was thinking then.

Another thing, thinking about it now, part of what makes the crude humor so bad isn't even so much that it's nudity. It's nudity that's...just kind of thrown in there, as a cheap joke, regardless of whether or not the set up even makes sense. It doesn't come off as clever at all, it just comes off as the author wanting to draw licentious howlers. And I think when you contrast that attitude, with the puritanical, "holier than thou" one that I have on the subject...I think that's why it offends me so much. It's two different attitudes that are very much opposed to each other.

And now, finally, the music. You know, I've never liked Kikuchi for Dragon Ball Z, because I never felt like the old-fashioned BOINGS and the slow-paced songs really fit the high energy atmosphere of Dragon Ball Z...but here? Where we're just watching little monkey kids with tales getting chased by bright eyed, cartoon tigers, complete with Hanna Barbara sound effects (and Psaro said that didn't FIT Dragon Ball Z!)...it works! It works incredibly well! I'm actually, legitimately enjoying the Japanese soundtrack for the first time in a long while!


EDIT: Ah, I think I get what the confusion with Bulma was. From the looks of it, Bulma was actually much better written in the Anime. For one thing, she actually apologizes for hitting Goku with her car! Then, she has the courtesy of actually asking for Goku's name as she was traveling with him, got mad at him in an added scene of him lifting up her skirt, had that charming scene where Goku was making fun of her name, and the artwork doesn't depict her as being as easily angered as Akira Toriyama's did. Basically, instead of the skirt lifting scene being one of our first impressions of her, like it was in the manga, it comes off as a cheap joke that's not actually all that in character for her...

Amazing what just a few little touches can do to make a scene so much better, isn't it?

[Adamant]

The only time it really messed up on exposition is when they had Mai talk to Pilaf about what was so special about the Dragon Balls...AFTER they had already gone to the trouble of searching through spooky mansions in order to get it! Because that's realistic, right? For our villain to go on this long, epic saga in search of mystical items BEFORE he even knows why he's looking for them? But that's one little moment, so whatever...

Realistic? Maybe not (and it's filler anyway, in the manga these lines were spoke by Bulma as she's explaining to Goku how the balls work), but... going on a long and epic quest for a mythical artifact despite not being aware of exactly why you'd want it is a pretty Pilaf-y thing to do.

[Fionordequester]

Realistic? Maybe not (and it's filler anyway, in the manga these lines were spoke by Bulma as she's explaining to Goku how the balls work), but... going on a long and epic quest for a mythical artifact despite not being aware of exactly why you'd want it is a pretty Pilaf-y thing to do.

So he's just silly like that eh? I guess that makes sense, given what I remember about him in the Manga. I have to say, for as much as I constantly lash out against coarse humor, that exchange between him and Bulma was something else. That's not an exchange I'll ever soon forget !

[ABED]

Realistic? Maybe not (and it's filler anyway, in the manga these lines were spoke by Bulma as she's explaining to Goku how the balls work), but... going on a long and epic quest for a mythical artifact despite not being aware of exactly why you'd want it is a pretty Pilaf-y thing to do.

It's filler, but in the manga, Pilaf did get the Dragon Balls, so it's not contradicting anything. Fio (your name is too long, I'm gonna call you "Fio" because I am into the whole brevity thing) did Mai explain what was special about them or how they worked? I'll buy that Pilaf didn't know how they worked.

I'm not sure what boings you are referring to in DBZ's score.

[dbboxkaifan]

Not to sound rude but, if you plan on writing your opinion on the DragonBall series and skip the first arc, I probably can't take you seriously. It's not just the Pilaf arc that has nudity, the whole series has nudity. If that kind of stuff makes you uncomfortable, and that's OK if it does, then don't even bother watching the series.

Dragon Ball GT right from the Opening animation shows Son's ass and penis, which every male has (unless it was removed somehow) so for those looking to not see any nudity on DB will have to skip bits and pieces.

Spoiler:

I find Cell taking the life out of that old rich man much more disturbing and depressing than anything else out of the three series. Piccolo himself just stood there watching..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk8TV_Z5dZk

[Storm]

It's the sound effect that makes it. It kind of makes me feel sick to my stomach just hearing it.

[Gaffer Tape]

It's filler, but in the manga, Pilaf did get the Dragon Balls, so it's not contradicting anything.

He's referring to the fact that Mai explaining the DBs to Pilaf is filler, which replaced the scene in the manga of Blooma explaining it to Goku.

And, yeah, there are a lot of boing sounds in Kikuchi's score. I wish I knew what the name of the instrument was (the rattling sound is a vibroslap, I know, but I don't know what this is), but I've always found it weird that people complain about it. It never bothered me, I don't know if I ever noticed it until it was pointed out to me, and now that I do notice it, I've almost never found it intrusive or detrimental to the music. There was one very recent exception, though. I just got done watching the RRA episodes for the first time, and Kikuchi uses that instrument so much in Upa and Bora's theme, and it just really grates on me. Once it gets to a certain point, it's literally used on every single note and really kills the emotion in it.

[Fionordequester]

Episode 2 has been watched. And to my pleasant surprise, there's another REALLY funny joke I had forgotten about, i.e., questioning Bulma about having a second "butt" on her chest. The imagery alone is certainly lolsome...

And of course, Pilaf...Pilaf. You know Koenma from Yu Yu Hakusho? Well, turns out, he has a cousin running around somewhere, unleashing a holy crusade against all that is FILTHY and WRONG in the world! Like peeing in public! Farting in public places! And heaven HELP you if he catches you jaywalking!...ok, I added that last part, but still, it's funny...

That said, Bulma said something interesting, something that REALLY makes me question just what Japan is actually teaching their kids...but, since we've already spent so much of the thread talking about it, I'll leave it to you to decide whether you want me to ask about it. I mean, when it comes down to it, I know we all have our different opinions, and frankly, I just kind of want this to be a fun thread that's pleasant to read. No stupid arguments or anything like that, just a fun thread where you get to watch someone experience Dragon Ball for the first time. So, what do you say? Bring it up, or just let sleeping dogs lie?