Nostalgia - A powerful force

[voltlunok]

It's called personal taste. Each person has it and overall it's different from person to person, sure some people match up but expecting everyone to be on the same exact page like some sort of hive mind that all understand they need to like all of column A but hate all of column B is kinda silly.

I never remotely claimed everyone should like everything I like. That wasn't the point at all.

But you asked 'how can someone prefer that?' like they were in the wrong. It's a simple answer, personal taste. That's how someone can prefer the former over the latter but you treat it like no one in their 'right mind' would prefer the former when obviously some people do and the answer to 'how?' is personal taste. That's what it will always come down to. I mean sure you could always play the 'nostalgia' card but that's just working to devalue someone's opinion or personal taste and make them seem wrong because "They're just blinded by nostalgia." and that doesn't promote healthy dialogue or conversation.

If you ask me, I prefer the former in your example because of the rhyme, it got a chuckle outta me. Why is this? Personal taste! Cause I prefer to laugh these days rather then feel dread.

[ABED]

But you asked 'how can someone prefer that?' like they were in the wrong. It's a simple answer, personal taste.

I know that ultimately this boils down to preference, but people can still have reasons for what they like. What about those lines do they prefer? I don't need a elementary school lesson about what personal preference means. I'm not gonna be as crude as to say, "you're blinded by nostalgia", but i do think how this person first got into it plays a significant role. Also, I find it hard to believe that someone prefers obvious amateurs to many of the same actors but with more experience.

Personal taste! Cause I prefer to laugh these days rather then feel dread.

In all situations? I prefer pizza to steak, but that doesn't mean I'll always take one over the other.

[DoomieDoomie911]

Nostalgia is a very, very bittersweet thing. It can be wonderful to think about old times, but it can also be a bit depressing longing to have them back.

[ABED]

Nostalgia is a very, very bittersweet thing. It can be wonderful to think about old times, but it can also be a bit depressing longing to have them back.

That's also been my experience, especially when you factor in thinking about the passage of time. I get nostalgic for the time my friend and I hung out almost every day for years. Nearly 20 years have passed since that time.

[Cipher]

I have to be honest and say a lot of my love for Dragon Ball owes itself to nostalgia, in that it's not the kind of series I'd have sought out later in life.

But I can just as confidently say I wouldn't still be enjoying it if I didn't think it really held up as all-ages material in a way few of its commonly cited peer series do. The fact that it's governed by a complete sense of whimsy gives it legs both within and beyond its target demographic. At least for me. I have no problem dropping things I once enjoyed, especially narrative ones, if they no longer hold their own weight for me. I think Dragon Ball handily does.

[gohann]

I don't see anything wrong with nostalgia, it's only bad when it starts getting in the way of rational thought and civilized discussion.

As for how it affects me, it really doesn't. I have good memories watching certain older DB episodes, but that's about it.

I also don't think anyone should be singled out for wearing "nostalgia goggles", no one knows the person's experience more than themselves. Most of us grew up with Barney and now hate it.

[Hellspawn28]

It can be both good and bad. As someone who was a kid in the mid-late 90's and the early parts of the 2000's, I do love to look back on those days as a kid. However I will like new stuff too since I do hate purist that hate on new things. I see those annoying 90's kids that act like everything in the 90's was perfect when it was not. When it come to Dragon Ball, I do feel like fans can be blinded by nostalgia. I see fans who hate on Kai on Nick Toons for being edited down for kids when the DBZ that they watch on Toonami was no different. You also have the DB fans who love the fillers and the 13 DBZ movies when most of them where pretty terrible.

[funrush]

Nostalgia and Dragon Ball are hand in hand for me because if I didn't get into it as a kid I probably never would have. The 300+ episodes thing definitely would have immediately alienated me, although I might have ended up exclusively reading the manga instead, like I did for One Piece.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

Nostalgia is a very, very bittersweet thing. It can be wonderful to think about old times, but it can also be a bit depressing longing to have them back.

Amen. All things in moderation.

I have to be honest and say a lot of my love for Dragon Ball owes itself to nostalgia, in that it's not the kind of series I'd have sought out later in life.

But I can just as confidently say I wouldn't still be enjoying it if I didn't think it really held up as all-ages material in a way few of its commonly sited peer series do. The fact that it's governed by a complete sense of whimsy gives it legs both within and beyond its target demographic. At least for me. I have no problem dropping things I once enjoyed, especially narrative ones, if they no longer hold their own weight for me. I think Dragon Ball handily does.

Cipher steals my words yet again.

Joining Daizenshuu EX was basically my "coming back" to Dragon Ball, which led me to the Japanese, Kikuchi (VegettoEX is right: Kikuchi communicates the essence of this property in an instant), and the aforesaid defacto whimsy that hangs over the whole thing, be it in the deliberate humor, the tendency not to overthink itself, the unapologetic absurdity of the power escalation and Toriyama's writing everything on the fly. Battle of Gods was so up my ally I can still scarcely believe it. Dragon Ball is sloppy all kinds, and any adult coming into the first time and concluding that there is charm here but grown people having any enduring attachment to it is totally bizarre is mostly on the mark. But I have gotten curious on occasion tried dipping my toe back into other properties I enjoyed when I was younger, if only to see where they and their fans are today, and Dragon Ball was the only one that really kept me.

[foxfang4]

I feel that, whether people realize it or not, nostalgia is pretty much the driving force of an adult fan's appreciation for DBZ.

Dragon Ball Z isn't exactly a literary masterpiece. Its writing is subpar at best, even when you compare it to other series of its kind. As kids, we didn't care about that. We just wanted to see aliens shoot lasers from their hands. As you grow older, you start to notice the many problems with DBZ, and for some, that steers them away from the series entirely. For others, they hold their memories of watching/reading DBZ too close for them to abandon the series in spite of its questionable quality.

I have a feeling that most of the fans who grew up with DBZ wouldn't like it if they were to experience it for the first time as adults. It just wasn't written with the adult audience in mind.

I could not disagree more. I'm 29, and almost no show that I watched (and adored) as a child or teen passed my shit test. Dragon Ball is 1 of the very few who did (and with flying colours). And I'm lifelong fan of the history of TV/Film. And, because of everything I've seen, I expect a certain quality in things now. And I think Dragon Ball is absolutely brilliant (I prefer the Japanese version).

In fact, seeing "Z" in Japanese made me stop watching anime entirely. I used to watch it throughout University. I even dropped One Piece for good. I started to realize that most shows geared towards teens, pre-teens, etc. Big shows from even 10 years ago feel dated to me now. But, for some reason, Toriyama's writing feels timeless. And I'm objectively impressed by that. I don't feel like I'm being talked down to when I read/watch Dragon Ball. And I think the spectacle of it all is so great. Voice acting and music of the highest quality. Like, easily some of the best stuff I've ever seen or heard. And I'm comparing this to a lot of good things that I've seen. The characters feel more alive to me in this series than some masterpieces that I love.

I have a lot of Spanish friends (DBZ is like a religion in South America btw), and (and this is amazing) they all admitted to me that DBZ was the only anime that at least their father or grandfather got hooked on, and they'd watch it with them. Another example was my ex. I watched the season sets with her, and she was hooked. She was watching ahead of me and kept saying how addictive the show was.

Anyways. Point is. I don't let nostalgia affect my enjoyment of something. Sure, it'll attract me to try it out again. But , I can't stand practically 95% of what I used to watch before I was 15. And rest is "good" at best (except Batman: TAS, that still holds up).

[Mystic Tien]

I even dropped One Piece for good. I started to realize that most shows geared towards teens, pre-teens, etc.

Sorry for off-topic, but It is really the shame you did. It brings up a lot of important themes. Right now. Of-course anime is pretty horrible mostly after time-skip, but you could at least read manga.

What about on-topic, sure, it plays a large role in everything, but you still can see flaws even in material which you've watched as a kid. Yet of course in this case you may enjoy the series more than the person who never watched it as a kid.

[ABED]

Maybe I'm just a kid at heart, but at nearly 30 years old, I still enjoy a lot of shows that I did as a child. I can more easily recognize the flaws, but I can also more easily recognize their virtues. DB has many virtues outside of simply "I liked it when I was younger". Some shows i liked as a kid but not as an adult (e.g. Hey Dude and Clarissa Explains It All), and some shows I like just as much if not more as an adult (e.g. DB and the DCAU). The fact that it brings back fond memories doesn't hurt.

[foxfang4]

I even dropped One Piece for good. I started to realize that most shows geared towards teens, pre-teens, etc.

Sorry for off-topic, but It is really the shame you did. It brings up a lot of important themes. Right now. Of-course anime is pretty horrible mostly after time-skip, but you could at least read manga.

What about on-topic, sure, it plays a large role in everything, but you still can see flaws even in material which you've watched as a kid. Yet of course in this case you may enjoy the series more than the person who never watched it as a kid.

Oh believe me, it's not an insult towards One Piece. I think it's a tremendous kid's show. But I can't watch it as an adult. And I did give it a fair chance. I saw over 100 episodes (seriously). Then, my friend (who's a massive fan) was desperate to get me to like it, so he fast forwarded and got me through the biggest arcs (the 1 where he goes Gear 2, the war, the training etc etc). And I thought, again, I liked it. But it wasn't for me. I couldn't relate to the story as an adult.

[Cipher]

Oh believe me, it's not an insult towards One Piece. I think it's a tremendous kid's show. But I can't watch it as an adult. And I did give it a fair chance. I saw over 100 episodes (seriously). Then, my friend (who's a massive fan) was desperate to get me to like it, so he fast forwarded and got me through the biggest arcs (the 1 where he goes Gear 2, the war, the training etc etc). And I thought, again, I liked it. But it wasn't for me. I couldn't relate to the story as an adult.

I think a One Piece comparison is actually the perfect way to explore why Dragon Ball still works for me while similar properties don't. One Piece -- and to be fair, I haven't actively followed it since I was maybe fifteen or sixteen -- seems very much about pushing themes. But they're simple themes -- ones on friendship, perseverance, etc. -- expressed transparently and melodramatically, as is the mode of the series. That's great for a kids' series -- striving for a bit of depth is fantastic and will hopefully move fans on to more nuanced fiction, which is an important and wonderful thing.

Dragon Ball, while there's enough meat to its characters and world to dig into, never prioritizes that, and certainly doesn't dedicate the same space to melodramatic thematic moments other shonen series do. There's plenty to discuss and analyse should you want, but it's clear it's all secondary to that sense of whimsy, excitement, fun, whatever. As an adult reader/viewer, that keeps it endlessly charming to me. i don't have to feel like I'm smarter than it when I read it, because that's never its goal. (And it's not trashy in its lack of pretension.)

[90sDBZ]

One Piece is awesome and my 2nd favourite anime series. I actually find it to be really similar to Dragonball in several ways, such as the general upbeat feeling of it, the hyperactive food loving protagonist, the epic OTT fight scenes, and the fun sense of adventure. It does often show that it's geared to kids, but there's plenty in there for older viewers too. It does have its share of melodrama, but it also doesn't take itself seriously a lot of the time, which is a great change from all the depressing gloominess of lots of other anime.

[Deathbringer]

I think that, whether we admit or or not, we're all guilty of having a nostalgic bias to something that has flaws we don't want to admit, be it a TV show, movie, book, song or any other experience.

Sadly, the word nostalgia has become poisonous on the internet from its overuse and negative connotation that it has garnered, when in fact the negative feelings should be coming from the term "nostalgia blindness" rather than the actual word nostalgia on its own. It can create a lot of nasty responses from people, I think we've all looked at a comment at one point saying "I can't see the problem people have with *******, I grew up with that, it was my childhood, if you don't like it gtfo!" and thought something along the lines of "How can you like that utter shit??" or we may have seen an argument between two people in a comment chain where one of them has played the nostalgia card and said "stop being nostalgia blinded, ******* was shit" even if that person doesn't have any proof that the other person actually has nostalgia for the thing they're arguing about and if it's about something you like you get annoyed, whereas if it's about something you hate you silently (or loudly) agree.

I hate it as much as everyone else when someone says "fuck nostalgia, ******* is overrated as fuck" as if they can't at all see why anyone would like something that they hate so they must be nostalgia blinded and they're right and everyone's wrong and etc etc etc but at the same time I've probably said that at some point, I've probably said all of the example quotes I've just given at some point and I'm sure everyone else has as well.

[Ozotto]

I consider classic DBZ better then the newer stuff, but I don't think it's because of nostalgia.
I still really like the new stuff.

I think Bruce Falconer was a big part of the series for me.
Also I like Frieza's old voice better...