Should I let my 9 year old watch DBZ?

[Darkprince410]

It's oil, not blood. He's purely mechanical after all.

That's beyond the point, people unaware with the show will assume that it's blood because it's red so it's something to consider.

I'm sure they'd be able to put two and two together when they see all the mechanical parts and circuitry erupting out at the same time from a talking head (not to mention this talking head, in the dub, having a distinctly robotic sounding voice).

[Ssjcell]

Most definitely, you should, but with supervision (as in everything when a parent or caretaker takes care of a child in all of his aspects, emotional growth, mental health, physical health, everything).

Dragon Ball (referring to the entirety of the story here, with obvious focus on the canon long sequence of events) contains positive and constructive values such as friendship, never giving up, believing in oneself and in others, protecting the weaker, your friends and others in general, always wanting more and never being satisfied with you have and have achieved (in Dragon Ball's case, battle power, of course), etc. etc. The show (DB, DBZ, even the movies, DBSuper) appealed throughout the generations and the decades to fans (and even non-fans) of all age groups, from children to perfect adults. The downside - and here's where you might need to incur in some supervision - might be that there's quite a lot of blood and guts, violence, deaths, genocides, but that's to be expected in a show that first started as a slice of life anime and then Toriyama saw the potential for it to become something serious and darker, with the introduction of Tenshinhan but especially from Piccolo Daimao onwards. I think that up to a certain age it's not recommendable to watch DBZ and even DB post-Piccolo Daimao, but 9 is fine in these terms. There are much more ominous, violent, darker, serious and even "sick" animes out there, and those are the ones which you mustn't show to your kid. But, again, those are only known and accessible to anime otakus, Dragon Ball is one of the most well known franchises in the world. Just joking here, but I think almost everybody in the world knows who Son Goku is, and how to perform the gesture to charge and shoot a Kamehameha, or transforming into a Super Saiya-jin, etc. I personally typically avoid things (movies, animes, music, etc.) which is "too" well-known, because it's usually a sign that it's too commercial, but Dragon Ball is unique even in that sense.

Yeah for example I wouldn't show my kid Hunter Hunter under any circumstances because of the scene where the chimera ants enslaved the humans stripped them naked and put collars and leashes on them forcing them to beg like dogs for their lives. That was fucking horrible... Horrific and generally very scarring to watch no way I'd let me kid watch that show

[Hellspawn28]

I feel like characters getting limbs cut off with blood coming out can still be for kids and still safe for them to watch. The old Gamera movies had blood coming out with their arms and legs being cut off and they are made for small children after all.

The thing to watch out for is if they start to mimic the violence. The sexual humor is just funny for them. Extremely funny according to my 5 year old.

That is true. I do think you teach kids the right way not to mimic violence and tell them that movies, video games, cartoons, etc. are fake, they should be fine. I also feel like most kids would not be shock by nudity. I remember when I was a kid, most kids would laugh at nudity and be like "Look at her boobies!! Lol!" or "You can see his weenie ROFL". It was hard to take sex ed in the 5th grade seriously when you had so many people kids in my class making jokes about stuff.

[JohnnyCashKami]

Oh, found some interesting censorship on Dragon Ball Z in regards to the Gohan SSJ2 scene.

Z (Westwood Airing)


Kai (Japanese Airing)


Funny how the blood was a big no-no but crushing his head to pieces was totally fine. The only other way of handling it, is if they had removed this iconic scene entirely which would have sucked.

[Tian]

Z (Westwood Airing)

Why the hell didn't the censored cut of Kai do that instead of skipping the scene?

[Hulk10]

Man, I saw Aliens when I was 7 years old... so, I think DBZ is OK
I do not know how in US, as in Europe the child protection against violence and sexual content is shifting as well towards older kids, but growing up in the 90's, we were watching violent movies with Stallone or Schwarzenegger and turned out fine.
My brother saw DBZ when he was 6 years old and he loves it since and he is OK. He is 15 years now and they are urbexing with his friends, but otherwise, he is not violent, does not drink and does not smoke.
It is just about your preference as a father
Personally, I think that DB and DBZ is more of a 10-14 demographic, therefore for teens

What do you mean by child protection against violence and sexual content is shifting.

[JohnnyCashKami]

Why the hell didn't the censored cut of Kai do that instead of skipping the scene?

People nowadays get offended very easily and quite at literally anything so I can see why Nicktoons decided to skip it entirely than to do a Westwood edit. I mean, you can't really be upset at Nicktoons for doing so, they were just protecting themselves from parents who'd possibly complain about it being "too violent."

[Robo4900]

Why the hell didn't the censored cut of Kai do that instead of skipping the scene?

People nowadays get offended very easily and quite at literally anything so I can see why Nicktoons decided to skip it entirely than to do a Westwood edit. I mean, you can't really be upset at Nicktoons for doing so, they were just protecting themselves from parents who'd possibly complain about it being "too violent."

I've never understood people who say this. Censorship in cartoons nowadays is far less restrictive than it's ever been. You'd never get Steven Universe on the air in the '90s, you'd never get Adventure Time on air in the '90s, etc. etc. The idea of "people are too sensitive now" just comes from people saying that, and -- with the online, connected world we live in -- examples of such things getting infinite exposure instantly, whereas in the '90s and '00s you simply wouldn't hear about it.

It's like plane crashes; flying is actually the safest way of travelling, but it's reported in the news whenever there is a plane crash, so because of all the media exposure of plane crashes, whereas since car crashes are fairly commonplace the news tends to not talk about them very frequently, planes feel much more dangerous than they are.

Perception is not reality, merely a slice, which requires a lot of context and consideration of other factors to form some form of estimation of reality in your head.

[KBABZ]

Why the hell didn't the censored cut of Kai do that instead of skipping the scene?

People nowadays get offended very easily and quite at literally anything so I can see why Nicktoons decided to skip it entirely than to do a Westwood edit. I mean, you can't really be upset at Nicktoons for doing so, they were just protecting themselves from parents who'd possibly complain about it being "too violent."

I've never understood people who say this. Censorship in cartoons nowadays is far less restrictive than it's ever been. You'd never get Steven Universe on the air in the '90s, you'd never get Adventure Time on air in the '90s, etc. etc. The idea of "people are too sensitive now" just comes from people saying that, and -- with the online, connected world we live in -- examples of such things getting infinite exposure instantly, whereas in the '90s and '00s you simply wouldn't hear about it.

Agreed, shows like Avatar/Korra, Stephen Universe and Gravity Falls have pushed the boundaries in terms of what story a western saturday morning cartoon can tell (they have live-action style story arcs for goodness sake!). Much more than just the Hanna Barbera and Looney Tunes of decades past, they have stories and character moments that would have been considered impossible to get through in 1999. I would say that censorship of specific moments is high on the appropriate channels (like Nickelodeon), but censorship of the actual stories has never been more open.

[JohnnyCashKami]

I've never understood people who say this. Censorship in cartoons nowadays is far less restrictive than it's ever been.

This is definitely not true at all.

We don't even have to travel too much to the past, Dragon Ball Kai is a perfect example.

Baby Goku

Spoiler:

- His wee-wee was covered.

Raditz

Spoiler:

- Raditz doesn't spill blood.

Raditz & Goku

Spoiler:

- Their bloody holes were covered.

Gohan SSJ2

Spoiler:

- The Nicktoons' cut took out No. 16 head crush entirely.

Mr. Popo (Toonzai Ver. Purple)

Spoiler:

- Toonzai edited Popo's color so that it wouldn't offend anyone.

Mr. Popo (Viz Ver. Full Color)

Spoiler:

- Viz removed Popo's lips.

Captain Black - Dragon Ball | Dragon Ball: Path to Power

Spoiler:

- Even TOEI is guilty of censorship as back in the 90's, they changed the skin color of Captain Black from black to light brown and he was clearly redrawn completely.

You'd never get Steven Universe on the air in the '90s, you'd never get Adventure Time on air in the '90s

You picked two of the crappiest looking animated series and you're pretending as though we didn't have vastly superior series back then. Here's a list I compiled:

CatDog
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Cow and Chicken
Crayon Shin-chan
D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers
Dexter's Laboratory
Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds
Doraemon
Ed, Edd n Eddy
Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics
Heidi
Hey Arnold!
Inspector Gadget
Invader Zim
Johnny Bravo
Marco
Marsupilami
Mortadelo & Filemon
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Popeye
Rugrats
Saint Seiya
Samurai Jack
Scooby-Doo
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
The Powerpuff Girls
The Ren & Stimpy Show
Tom and Jerry

The fact that you think mediocre shows (regardless they're successful and popular — So is Big Bang Theory but it's insultingly unfunny) wouldn't air in the 90's says a lot about you.

The idea of "people are too sensitive now" just comes from people saying that, and -- with the online, connected world we live in -- examples of such things getting infinite exposure instantly, whereas in the '90s and '00s you simply wouldn't hear about it.

Nowadays comedy and in general have to be careful what they say and even comedy in itself has been watered down or else it offends people.

Perception is not reality, merely a slice, which requires a lot of context and consideration of other factors to form some form of estimation of reality in your head.

You think we live in better times where entertainment is kept intact and it's preserved far better than in the past but that's not really true, most of the time it has to either be somehow censored, removed or not aired at all. Jump out of that bubble of yours.

[MCDaveG]

Man, I saw Aliens when I was 7 years old... so, I think DBZ is OK
I do not know how in US, as in Europe the child protection against violence and sexual content is shifting as well towards older kids, but growing up in the 90's, we were watching violent movies with Stallone or Schwarzenegger and turned out fine.
My brother saw DBZ when he was 6 years old and he loves it since and he is OK. He is 15 years now and they are urbexing with his friends, but otherwise, he is not violent, does not drink and does not smoke.
It is just about your preference as a father
Personally, I think that DB and DBZ is more of a 10-14 demographic, therefore for teens

That things we saw as kids are now not suitable for kids. More censhorship and such. Even in Japan, mainstream anime for the sme demographic is less violent than it was in 80’s and 90’s.

What do you mean by child protection against violence and sexual content is shifting.

[Robo4900]

We don't even have to travel too much to the past, Dragon Ball Kai is a perfect example.

[kai censorship]

I thought this was about western culture, not Japanese culture.

I thought it was pretty common knowledge that Japanese TV is more censor-happy these days.

Mr. Popo (Toonzai Ver. Purple)

Spoiler:

- Toonzai edited Popo's color so that it wouldn't offend anyone.

A. That was the 4Kids edit. 4Kids took the existing TV edit that was aired everywhere that wasn't 4Kids' Toonzai block, and censored it further to fit the weird 4Kids idea of what's acceptable, an idea that died with 4Kids.
B. If you want to criticse a TV edit of Kai, criticise the NickToons edit. That's always been the TV edit, with the Toonzai thing just being a weird oddity 4Kids did for stupid reasons.
C. Kai was 2009. A decade ago. I don't think it's that current of an example anymore.
D. Even if I grant you this, you've pointed out one case of an anime that always had been censored in the '90s being censored to a similar degree now. Well done.

Mr. Popo (Viz Ver. Full Color)

Spoiler:

- Viz removed Popo's lips.

Viz have always made edits like this. Full Colour is in fact the least-censored release of the manga Viz have ever put out, unless you count the odd volume of the original release that randomly would be uncensored unlike the other volumes, for no real reason at all.

Captain Black - Dragon Ball | Dragon Ball: Path to Power

Spoiler:

- Even TOEI is guilty of censorship as back in the 90's, they changed the skin color of Captain Black from black to light brown and he was clearly redrawn completely.

That movie redesigned most Red Ribbon characters, how is Black undergoing this censorship? Yes, his skin is lighter than it was... AND? Most characters had different hues to their skin in the GT era than they did before that. Goku was much more tanned, etc. Calling Black's redesign censorship arguably says more about you than it does about Toei, though I think judging you on this opinion would be somewhat unfair... It would be rather unfair of me to judge you on something like this...

You'd never get Steven Universe on the air in the '90s, you'd never get Adventure Time on air in the '90s

You picked two of the crappiest looking animated series and you're pretending as though we didn't have vastly superior series back then.

I don't see how this is relevant.

The fact that you think mediocre shows (regardless they're successful and popular — So is Big Bang Theory but it's insultingly unfunny) wouldn't air in the 90's says a lot about you.

It seems you have failed to grasp the concept I was trying to get across, so let me make it clearer for you...

What I meant was: Steven Universe and Adventure Time depict various things that would never have been permitted on TV in the '90s.
The lesbian space rocks that regularly deal with themes of abuse, sexual consent, etc. would have been thrown out at the pitch stage, and the fact this show is airing on TV is, regardless on your thoughts of how good the show is in and of itself, progress in terms of what we show on kids' TV nowadays.

The idea of "people are too sensitive now" just comes from people saying that, and -- with the online, connected world we live in -- examples of such things getting infinite exposure instantly, whereas in the '90s and '00s you simply wouldn't hear about it.

Nowadays comedy and in general have to be careful what they say and even comedy in itself has been watered down or else it offends people.

No one is censoring any comedians, but attitudes change over time, and a joke that was once funny may be offensive now. No one's saying you can't make that joke anymore, but if people don't find it funny anymore, then it's not a good joke anymore, and continuing to tell it will inevitably result in attitudes towards the given comedian going down a bit.

People getting uppity about reruns of an old TV show is definitely an annoying phenomenon, but it's not like anyone's taking away your DVDs of Seinfeld or Friends; even if certain episodes may not air on TV anymore... Well, if people are finding an older show uncomfortable to watch, maybe it's a smart decision for the network to just stop airing it. You don't see minstrel shows on TV anymore, do you? You don't see the racist Looney Tunes or Tom And Jerry cartoons anymore, do you? Is that progress, or is it "people getting too sensitive"?

When society progresses, naturally some jokes won't age well, and visibility of the old ways that got these jokes made won't necessarily be good to keep up. But saying that anyone's preventing you from telling these jokes, or censoring you, is foolish. A comedian is free to stand up on stage and tell some racist joke from the '60s, but they shouldn't be surprised when no one laughs at him.

However, even if we do disagree on this point... Well... You did make one major oversight here.
One massive, gaping hole in this.

Seinfeld is not a kids' show airing on NickToons, Cartoon Network, etc.
Seinfeld is a sitcom firmly aimed at adults and teens.
This discussion is about kids' TV. You can bring other stuff in, but if your lynchpin relies on something outside the scope of the main focus of our discussion, I think your logic is flawed.

Perception is not reality, merely a slice, which requires a lot of context and consideration of other factors to form some form of estimation of reality in your head.

You think we live in better times where entertainment is kept intact and it's preserved far better than in the past but that's not really true, most of the time it has to either be somehow censored, removed or not aired at all. Jump out of that bubble of yours.

I mean, so far what you've presented is that Japanese culture is more sensitive about what it airs on TV, and 4Kids were rather crazy about censorship in 2009, and attempted to insult me repeatedly, in ever less subtle ways. This bit right here is essentially a "no u" to what I said earlier.
If I may, I suggest you get out of your reactionary "this guy disagrees with me and therefore is wrong and hates me so he is bad man" attitude. Leave that to politicians. This is simply a discussion about a TV show. If you're getting angry with me, as I suspect you are, I suggest you get some perspective, and realise that as I type all this I am entirely calm, though somewhat baffled at some of the things you're saying. And if you're not angry with me, then I kindly request that you try not to throw insults at me every other paragraph.

[KBABZ]

That movie redesigned most Red Ribbon characters, how is Black undergoing this censorship? Yes, his skin is lighter than it was... AND? Most characters had different hues to their skin in the GT era than they did before that. Goku was much more tanned, etc. Calling Black's redesign censorship arguably says more about you than it does about Toei, though I think judging you on this opinion would be somewhat unfair... It would be rather unfair of me to judge you on something like this...

He's still pretty tan, and IMO he looked a lot like Bora. So now we have a Native American Nazi instead of a Black Nazi. Totally racist!

[Hulk10]

Man, I saw Aliens when I was 7 years old... so, I think DBZ is OK
I do not know how in US, as in Europe the child protection against violence and sexual content is shifting as well towards older kids, but growing up in the 90's, we were watching violent movies with Stallone or Schwarzenegger and turned out fine.
My brother saw DBZ when he was 6 years old and he loves it since and he is OK. He is 15 years now and they are urbexing with his friends, but otherwise, he is not violent, does not drink and does not smoke.
It is just about your preference as a father
Personally, I think that DB and DBZ is more of a 10-14 demographic, therefore for teens

That things we saw as kids are now not suitable for kids. More censhorship and such. Even in Japan, mainstream anime for the sme demographic is less violent than it was in 80’s and 90’s.

What do you mean by child protection against violence and sexual content is shifting.

I dunno about the more censorship with all shows. There have still been nudity in current kids shows.

[MCDaveG]

That things we saw as kids are now not suitable for kids. More censhorship and such. Even in Japan, mainstream anime for the sme demographic is less violent than it was in 80’s and 90’s.

What do you mean by child protection against violence and sexual content is shifting.

I dunno about the more censorship with all shows. There have still been nudity in current kids shows.

Yeah, but the violence is toned down.

[Hulk10]

I dunno about the more censorship with all shows. There have still been nudity in current kids shows.

Yeah, but the violence is toned down.

A little. But yeah I see your point.

[MasenkoHA]

All of Dragon Ball Path to Power was a newly animated retelling of the Shenron saga/red ribbon army arc. Black’s redesign is not in any shape or form “censorship”

Now if the movie was nothing but recut footage of episodes from the tv series and they went out of their way to redraw Staff Officer Black for his scenes to be “less offensive” that would be censorship



Also I’m pretty sure Robo means kids shows in the West are generally less censored than they were back then.

Which is generally true.

He's still pretty tan, and IMO he looked a lot like Bora. So now we have a Native American Nazi instead of a Black Nazi. Totally racist!

You tried

[Cure Dragon 255]

You tried...WHAT? Dont leave us hangin' like that!

[Hellspawn28]

I've never understood people who say this. Censorship in cartoons nowadays is far less restrictive than it's ever been.

The fact that you think mediocre shows (regardless they're successful and popular — So is Big Bang Theory but it's insultingly unfunny) wouldn't air in the 90's says a lot about you.

Steven Universe deals with LGBT themes. In the 90s, they would never allow that because it would make too many people angry (CN didn't allow a gay couple in Sailor Moon at the time).

[Robo4900]

CN didn't allow a gay couple in Sailor Moon at the time

Nitpick: It wasn't CN. CN is a network that aired the show at one point. The '90s Sailor Moon dub was syndicated, so it was the producers at DiC who decided to have the lesbianism censored.