Does Dragon Ball Part One Get Too Much Praise?

[Kid Buu]

I mean, I'll throw myself on the table and say that the Dragon Ball Hunt and 22nd World Tournament really don't do that much for me (My most memorable moment to me out of the later was 90% filler!), hell, I can't say I ever bought Piccolo Jr. as a villain (and this from a guy who love the family's demonic bent)! But I cannot say they made strange story choices the way Cell and Buu did.

I feel like the 22nd Budokai and 23rd Budokai make each other redundant as they both are just Goku becoming the strongest on the Earth. Yes Goku lost to Tenshinhan but the latter still felt like Goku was the true winner. Ma Junior was a lame villain who barely accomplished anything.

[Duo]

@thatdbzguy

I'm not sugarcoating anything. I don't think those story arcs sucked, I just didn't happen to think they were as good as previous arcs. With a few fairly minor changes, you can repair a lot of the weaknesses in those story's. That is not indicative of something that sucks.

[dbzfan7]

I'd say it's a mix

DB - Underrated by the general audience but somewhat overrated by older fans
DBZ - Overrated by the general audience but somewhat underrated by hardcore anime fans
DBGT - Greatly hated besides characters, and not really as bad as everyone says it is
DB(Z) Kai -Most commonly loved by purists while hated by most Toonami 90's kids..

Yeah the first arc of GT I never go back to, but I don't think it's that bad. I even watched the english dub where Goku acted like Superman with darkness blah blah blah speech. I still thought it was ok..

[dbboxkaifan]

I thought this was about the first arc of Dragon Ball not specifically the original series.

But back to the question, Dragon Ball getting too much praise? Erm, where? If anything, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT even manage to get more than Dragon Ball.

Rewatching GT reminded me of the original Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump and Arale-chan too which is pretty cool. GT had its mix of DB with Z and some of its own material, most people seem to hate it but I like it a lot.

[DBZ Mick]

It gets too little.

I remember being on Atari back in 2007 and the consensus was they all thought it was 'immature' or the fights weren't cool or something. Those were the younger fans however. The older ones did enjoy it.

The manga especially of the first half of the series is fantastic though. It's sad that most people just think of the anime more though or Z (I do like a lot of it though but don't think I've ever watched it straight through).

[Rocketman]

I don't think DB gets more absolute praise, but it does have a much higher proportion of praise than Z does. This guys summed it up pretty well:

How many times have you heard someone complain that the Z fights rely less on strategy and skill than the DB fights? Or that DBZ was focused too much on one or two characters while screwing over the supporting cast, while DB didn't? Or that the characters in DB have development while the ones in Z don't? Dragon Ball is just as bad if not worse in those areas compared to the post-Raditz portions, yet so rarely gets criticized for them.

[Kid Buu]

While RandomGuy96 is right with his viewpoints, one thing I think the pre-Raditz era does better is the characters are more likeable. Even characters that are omnipresent in Z like Goku and Kuririn I liked better in the pre-Raditz era for sure.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

I don't think DB gets more absolute praise, but it does have a much higher proportion of praise than Z does. This guys summed it up pretty well:

How many times have you heard someone complain that the Z fights rely less on strategy and skill than the DB fights? Or that DBZ was focused too much on one or two characters while screwing over the supporting cast, while DB didn't? Or that the characters in DB have development while the ones in Z don't? Dragon Ball is just as bad if not worse in those areas compared to the post-Raditz portions, yet so rarely gets criticized for them.

Dragon Ball is Dragon Ball Goku Time far more than GT ever was. That destroys it's pedestal right there if there's anything resembling a consensus that Goku not doing things and letting other characters breath is a good thing.

[Kid Buu]

Eh the other fighters got a lot of moments thanks to the tournaments, but if you're going by "usefulness" then yeah it would be Goku's time.

[FortuneSSJ]

No, not at all. I only hear people talking about DBZ even when its about the manga.
Sometimes i wonder how many fans watched the 153 episodes prior to Z era.

Consequently, when those people say dragon ball hasnt any storyline makes me laugh.

[TheGmGoken]

No really. Part One is usually not talked about. As honestly I can say a good deal either never saw it or ignored it because it doesn't have ki attacks flying everywhere like GT and Z does. I mean once you get fans that do watch, of course they will say it's better. As most of them talk about it only because they find it better.

To me it goes like this:

Dragonball - The unpopular one but just as awesome. People know about the basic story but doesn't bother watching it cause it's not "cool" so to speak. As it's more gaggy. I do see people talk more about King Piccolo Arc than any other arc in Dragonball Part 1

Z - Nostalgia. First Dragonball thing they saw. Badass. Ki attacks everywhere. DEATH! LOVE(Vegeta and Bulma)! Drama! Outer SPACE! The average fan I THINK might want to see this is fiction rather than hand to hand combat.

GT - The hated step sister that isn't that bad(Though I think it's absolutely SHIT)

Kai - The twin brother of Z. Half like this twin. The other half hate the twin for not being like the other twin. Kinda like Zack and Cody. DBZ is Zack. And DBz Kai is Cody.

[Nikkolas]

As I pointd out on here before, the Budokai tournaments were a great way to showcase fighters other than Goku. Krillin never stooda chance against Goku in the 22nd Tournament and Yamcha never stood a chance against Tenshinhan but neither of them looked weak or pathetic. In fact, it's that fight with Tenshinhan most people cite as Yamcha's most awesome moment. If you aren't a Saiyan in DBZ though, odds are you are not only going to be useless, you are going to have your uselessness highlighted again and again and again.

Also I'd say one of DB's strengths compared to Z is that it lacks character development. The fact is, Toriyama can't write a good, in-depth character to save his life. Z was him overstretching his limited abilities. DB though was a simplistic but well-executed narrative. It's kinda the difference between The Matrix and its sequels.

[RandomGuy96]

As I pointd out on here before, the Budokai tournaments were a great way to showcase fighters other than Goku. Krillin never stooda chance against Goku in the 22nd Tournament and Yamcha never stood a chance against Tenshinhan but neither of them looked weak or pathetic. In fact, it's that fight with Tenshinhan most people cite as Yamcha's most awesome moment. If you aren't a Saiyan in DBZ though, odds are you are not only going to be useless, you are going to have your uselessness highlighted again and again and again.

Also I'd say one of DB's strengths compared to Z is that it lacks character development. The fact is, Toriyama can't write a good, in-depth character to save his life. Z was him overstretching his limited abilities. DB though was a simplistic but well-executed narrative. It's kinda the difference between The Matrix and its sequels.

What? Yamcha looked quite pathetic. Ten toyed with him a little then roflstomped him and insulted him. Yamcha looked like a totally useless wuss.

If you're not Goku in the original Dragon Ball, you're going to look totally pathetic all the time to make Goku look better.

[Saiga]

I do feel that Kuririn looked weak in his fight against Goku. It honestly makes me uncomfortable reading it for that reason, and even more so when it's revealed that Goku had been holding back at a 'match level'.

[Nikkolas]

What? Yamcha looked quite pathetic. Ten toyed with him a little then roflstomped him and insulted him. Yamcha looked like a totally useless wuss.

If you're not Goku in the original Dragon Ball, you're going to look totally pathetic all the time to make Goku look better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRyoCM6xI40

That was more awesome than anything he ever did in Z.

Master Roshi NEVER looked pathetic in DB.

You could argue Tien looked pathetic too when he fought a Goku holding back in the 23rd Budokai but where are all you complainers when Goku fought Vegeta in the Buu Saga? That is an immensely popular fight. No one ever says he made Vegeta look pathetic even though he purposefully kept himself weaker.

[RandomGuy96]

What? Yamcha looked quite pathetic. Ten toyed with him a little then roflstomped him and insulted him. Yamcha looked like a totally useless wuss.

If you're not Goku in the original Dragon Ball, you're going to look totally pathetic all the time to make Goku look better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRyoCM6xI40

That was more awesome than anything he ever did in Z.

Master Roshi NEVER looked pathetic in DB.

You could argue Tenshinhan looked pathetic too when he fought a Goku holding back in the 23rd Budokai but where are all you complainers when Goku fought Vegeta in the Buu Saga? That is an immensely popular fight. No one ever says he made Vegeta look pathetic even though he purposefully kept himself weaker.

I'm not sure how much of that fight is filler, but I don't think that makes him look awesome. He just looks pathetic since he can only do anything because Ten's holding back. Once he stops holding back, Ten immediately roflsotmps Yamcha.

He didn't look pathetic when an exhausted and injured Piccolo outright told him and the rest of the supporting cast that, even though he's not at full power, they still can't do anything to him, and would just get in Goku's way if they tried to help? And when everyone agrees?

Ten looked pathetic there and when Drum kicked his ass, only for Drum to have his eyes kicked out by Goku. Oh, and in the above instance with Piccolo. I do complain about that instance with Vegeta, I think that whole fight is bullcrap. And it does make Vegeta look quite pathetic, but then again so does the entire Buu Saga. Which is one of the many reasons I love it! I mean for god's sake, he has a big dramatic death scene, where he performs a heroic sacrifice to stop Majin Buu... who completely laughs it off and goes back to trolling the Earth. Chiaotzu's death scene had more dignity to it. At least Nappa seemed like a threat and was a villain through and through, so his sacrifice built up hopelessness if nothing else. For Vegeta, he sacrifices himself pointlessly against a fat comical moron who later becomes a good guy.

[Codarik]

It seems like the "hardcore" fans are the ones that praises it a lot. It does deserve it. And it seems the "casual" fans don't like it cause they claim its "boring".

[Kid Buu]

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[MediaFanGirl93]

I disagree. I think that Part 2 is overrated, because of how stupidly powerful the Saiyans are compared to the humans. I mean, many people say that they hate Dragoball, but love DBZ.