What do you think about the original's musical progression?

[Aoi]

Over the last 4 months, I let my nephews borrow my Dragon boxes. I wanted them to have the English dub along with the original music, which I love.
Occasionally I'd sit down with them and watch the show. I found the music to be , still to this day, exceptional. Truly unique and captivating.
The Saiyan Saga and Freeza Saga generally have the same themes so there's not much variety. I felt all the music was well placed.

The reason I write this is because after the Android Saga (which I believe has the best music in the show), I found the Buu Saga's music to be shockingly poor.
It felt so different. It made the series feel so tired and worn out. I actually had to switch to the Bruce Falcouner score and I found that it really gave the story a huge boost. Especially key scenes such as Buu arriving to Kami's Lookout. The silence and general dullness of the original's score put me and my nephews to sleep. Suddenly when I restarted the episode with the Bruce Falcouner music, I felt at the edge of my seat.
I wanted to know what other people thought of this. In general, I find Mr. Falcouner's themes work best generally during the Buu saga. For example, SSJ3 Goku transformation is on another Universe. The original only became great for me during the final fight with Buu.


What are your thoughts on the show's musical progression? Does the music get better or worse for you as it progresses? Do you prefer the music and placing of the music in certain parts more than others?

[violadude]

I like it about the same throughout the whole series. Some of the Buu era score is really fun. I wish I could give examples but I don't know the name of any of the music.

[Puto]

I find myself to be in the exact opposite corner -- for me, the Cell-era has the worst music in the series (though still pretty good) and the Boo arc has the best. It's all a matter of taste, I suppose.

[SegaSaturnGamer]

I really loved the Android Saga music. Its so dark and captures the foreshadowing of what the Z Senshis will face and grimness of the battle against the Androids!

[penguintruth]

It does seem like they got lazy with the music when the Buu arc rolled around. There seemed to be very few pieces that weren't from the movies. I did like the use of stuff from movie 9, though. Did Kikuchi just say, "Fuck it, I'm done." or did Toei just not want to pay him for more pieces?

One of the reasons I wanted Kai to cover the Buu arc was that it might have more original music than the Z version.

[KKZ]

For the movies, the original score is almost always something to behold.

As far as the TV series is concerned, the music is obviously still very good, but it just feels heavily misplaced in a lot parts and doesn't even fit with what's going on half the time. One particular instance that sticks out to me is a segment of the Cell vs. Goku fight, I really wish I knew what the track name was... Goku and Cell are manically fighting and there's just this quiet, almost creepy sounding piece playing that doesn't even fit the situation. Does anyone know what scene I'm talking about?

[Levlik]

The only thing I find disappointing about the music is the severe lack of music from the original series in Z. Am I the only one who finds it weird as hell that practically the only time music from the first series pops up is in filler episodes?

[SegaSaturnGamer]

The only thing I find disappointing about the music is the severe lack of music from the original series in Z. Am I the only one who finds it weird as hell that practically the only time music from the first series pops up is in filler episodes?

Personally I think DBZ's original music is superior to Kai especially the Android Saga!

[kei17]

The score in the Buu arc somewhat sounds like "generic Kikuchi style" and does not have much "DBZ feelings" in it. Too many pieces sound just like the score of Doraemon, Shin Tenchi Muyo, or Abarenbou Shogun. I think the main reason for that is the change of the director of both TV series and the movies. Daisuke Nishio seems to always had the concrete direction for ordering a composition, and all the movies directed by him have the great "DBZ style" score. In contrast, other directors do not seem that way. Probably the lack of specific orders made Kikuchi write easier and generic music. I find the score in the second Broly movie (M1800s) especially generic and boring. But in my opinion, it got better again in the last two movies.

[Aoi]

Some of the movies have incredible scores.
Movie 1 was always special for me, but they overused the final battle with Garlick Jr. song in the show.
Movie 9 , as far as I am concerned, is a masterpiece. Every piece in the movie is of the highest quality and each one is placed perfectly. Even the moments with silence are perfect, such as when Trunks and Bojack's swordsman guy were running accross the field into the water. Gohan's SSJ2 transformation blew me away as a kid and still does today. Movie 12 and 13 had very good scores too I felt. They really added to the movie.
I love the score used during the Saiyan Saga, though it felt tired since it was used throughout the Freeza saga. There weren't many new themes introduced until Cell. Many people seem to be divided when judging the Android Saga's music.

Ironically I always thought the music in GT was fantastic. It made a bad show tolerable and even good at times. I have mixed feelings about GT, as most of you probably do too.

I really agree with the last poster's comments on the Buu saga's misplaced musical pieces. Gotenks vs. Buu in the Room of Time and Spirit is particularly odd. I can never put my finger on it. It's interesting to see how different Bruce Falcouner scored many scenes here. One of my favourite "improvements" (in my opinion) was the last shot of Vegeta and Baba flying over Snake Way. In the original version, there's a gloomy, depressing tone. It's fitting since Gohan had just been absorbed by Super Buu. However Falcouner's score I felt is so uplifting. It gives importance to Vegeta's return and makes you feel like there's hope for once. You almost feel like cheering.

[Cipher]

I honestly enjoy the music more and more as the series progresses. I love the jazzy-ness of the Buu arc's music. That piece that serves as the theme for Babidi and company, with the bells and droning intro? Divine. I thought it all added to the tension greatly.

That said, it's definitely less specifically Dragon Ball than earlier arcs. It lacks the kung-fu styling that the series had maintained up to the Cell arc. But since the Buu arc is so much farther away from kung-fu pastiche already, I find it acceptable, and personally enjoy it more.

I suppose the same goes for GT's music. It's my favorite Dragon Ball soundtrack of all, but I would never want it to accompany either of the first two series. It wouldn't fit. It's perfect for the pastel-colored space opera that GT is though.

[kaialone]

I prefer the japanese music in all sagas,but I have to admit that the dub music of the Boo saga has to be my favorite dub music,I think it was well done and fit well with the scenes.But I'm not a music expert ^^;

[Castor Troy]

The original music is perfect in every way and everything you say about it is wrong! /1999 fanboy

I gotta admit I was getting sick of the "woooooooo" wind sound which is played 80% of the time and wish music would play at certain parts in the series. What I like about the Kikuchi score in Kai is that it's more lively. Although, it's hard to get used to when you're so used to the Z placement.

I thought the music placement was better in the Buu saga. Not so much emphasis on the obligatory wind sound like the past 3 sagas.

[Jackal puFF]

I honestly enjoy the music more and more as the series progresses. I love the jazzy-ness of the Buu arc's music. That piece that serves as the theme for Babidi and company, with the bells and droning intro? Divine. I thought it all added to the tension greatly.

Agreed! I'm can't even remember the other music in the other arcs. The Buu arc music just seems more memorable.

[damkylan]

I get what you mean on the Buu stuff sounding tired and worn out, especially since they used a lot of movie 10 music from what I remember, and I concur with kei17 on that movie's score being the most generic out of them all. Hearing the main Broly leitmotif all the time definitely grated on me a few times, but then I love the Garlic Jr. final battle theme in the Freeza arc, so that's just my personal bias.

I guess I prefer the early-to-mid series music placement to the later stuff, even if some of my favorite pieces come from the later movies. The Buu and Freeza arcs were some of the first I watched in Japanese, and the Buu music barely left an impression. The Freeza stuff, however, leapt out at me right away and it all felt really well put together. The Garlic Jr. theme, as repetitive as it was, really stuck out and brought out the emotion in all the scenes it was used in for me (Freeza and Vegeta finally coming to blows, Goku charging Freeza, Gohan losing it and attacking). Same goes for the Piccolo/Sansho fight theme, the spooky vocal theme from movie 3, the "dun-dun-dun" Genki Dama theme, and pretty much any original DB music used.

On the other hand, though I like it a lot more now overall, I don't think the music in the Buu saga really brings out the emotion in the scenes like the old music. There are exceptions, though, like the somewhat sad/happy theme that plays when Kid Buu is finally beaten, and the variation of Angel that plays when Goku spares Buu.

[Vhanos]

As far as the TV series is concerned, the music is obviously still very good, but it just feels heavily misplaced in a lot parts and doesn't even fit with what's going on half the time. One particular instance that sticks out to me is a segment of the Cell vs. Goku fight, I really wish I knew what the track name was... Goku and Cell are manically fighting and there's just this quiet, almost creepy sounding piece playing that doesn't even fit the situation. Does anyone know what scene I'm talking about?

I tried to think of what scene you are talking about but couldn't figure out what it is. If you specify more details maybe that will help.

I find the score in the second Broly movie (M1800s) especially generic and boring. But in my opinion, it got better again in the last two movies.

A lot of the music in movie 10 also sounded silly, weird, or didn't have the intense feel like the previous movies did too. M-1801 and M-1806 A&B sounds like they could be in a horror series. M-1806 A&B sounds like a scary tune early and then it sounds silly late. It sounds like it could be suitable for Scooby Doo.

Then there was this one track from movie 11 that sounds to me like it could be used in the Flintstones.

The only thing I find disappointing about the music is the severe lack of music from the original series in Z. Am I the only one who finds it weird as hell that practically the only time music from the first series pops up is in filler episodes?

The music from plain DB gets used in non filler episodes too. DB's music can be heard more often in the Saiyan and Freeza saga. By the time the series gets to Cell and Buu saga, the first series music gets used very little and have gotten pretty old.

I will say this though. There is one track from the first series that got used a handful times in Z. M-520. It got introduced and used only once in DB but used a lot more in Z.

I love the score used during the Saiyan Saga, though it felt tired since it was used throughout the Freeza saga. There weren't many new themes introduced until Cell.

There were new tracks introduced during the Freeza saga. The only reason it looks like the same music was played is because the scores from places like movie 1 were used a lot more than others. Tracks from movie 3 for instance, were barely used.


Does anyone think Kikuchi rehashed these tracks around? M-1119 of movie 4, M-1318 of movie 6, M-1518 of movie 8, and M-1914 of movie 11 sound very identical to me.

[kei17]

The only reason it looks like the same music was played is because the scores from places like movie 1 were used a lot more than others. Tracks from movie 3 for instance, were barely used.

The main cause is quite clear. The score from movie two and three has very few fighting themes. Most of the pieces are dark and spooky, and don't fit fighting scenes.

Does anyone think Kikuchi rehashed these tracks around? M-1119 of movie 4, M-1318 of movie 6, M-1518 of movie 8, and M-1914 of movie 11 sound very identical to me.

They are not rehashed at all. Those tracks just include the same leitmotif of Saiyan, which Kikuchi began using from the M700s. In the M700s, it was the leitmotif of the Saiyan race itself and never used again until movie 3, but after the return in M1914, it changed into Super Saiyan's leitmotif. There are many other leitmotifs in his works, and I really love finding out them while listening to the Kikuchi score. I was very disappointed when I noticed that Yamamoto's score did not have such things.

[SylentEcho]

For me the Cell arc had terrible music. Boo music was pretty fun. I like Faulconer's music too, but it just keeps playing the whole time which sucks.

Make your kids watch the version with the Japanese voices. They suit the music even better. The English voice acting is abysmal for the most part, but it has it's moments.