What does Dragon Ball mean to you?

[knight007]

Not sure if this has been covered before as I'm new to these boards and the search button isn't working for me :/ but I'd just like to know what Dragon Ball means to you. For me, I grew up as a Toonami kid, watching the series back in the days when the show would run until the Ginyu Force arrived and then start over again. I was absolutely obsessed from the get go. I of course watched all the other anime on Toonami, but there was something more about Dragon Ball. When the series ended, it felt like the culmination of a great journey and I felt saddened but filled with great memories, much like when you lose someone close to you. The years went by and I moved on with my life, getting involved in sports, girls, and partying, and Dragon Ball was a thing of the past. Just last summer however, I came across TeamFourStar's parodies on youtube. It was worth a great deal of laughs and it jogged my memory of what the show once meant to me and the emotions it stirred. Since then I have re-watched the series and I have found it means more to me now than ever. There truly is something magical about it. The show has been off air for nearly 8 years and it is still immensely popular and relevant. What is it that makes it so special?

[AnimeMaakuo]

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[DinoChow]

Oh man....heavy but awesome question.

It means the world to me in a lot of ways; for one, it's hard to remember a time before Dragon Ball was in my life. I think I got into it when I was ten, and it's given me lots and lots of fond memories. But nowadays, it means even more to me than it ever has before. Back when I bought the FUNi single discs (remember those? that feels like an eon ago now), it was always weeks or months before I'd get the chance to pick up another one, so I'd watch the episodes in English first, just because it defaulted there, then watched them all again in Japanese. Then English again. Then Japanese again. And over time, it just became Japanese. Largely thanks to the awesome performances, I became fascinated with the Japanese language. As I started watching other anime and reading manga and Japanese books, I also became fascinated by the culture. Dragon Ball really, really got me interested in Japan, which is ironic considering its setting is very Chinese....

Anyway, when I was picking my high school, one of the schools I wanted to go to was a really neat 'international studies' school downtown, which immersed students in their language of choice - I've known people that came out of there fluent. It's a great program. I didn't want to go to my local high school, thanks to a bad middle school experience, but I really wanted to go there and learn Japanese, largely because of how Dragon Ball had influenced me. I was accepted, but it ultimately didn't pan out, since it was a bit far for my family to get to every morning and would have been wildly inconvenient. I promised myself, though, that I'd learn Japanese someday, hopefully in College.

Now it's time to go to college, and I've gotten more into Dragon Ball then ever before, thanks to FUNi's Dragon Boxes. I've got a ton of AP credit going in, so a double-major will be doable, and I'm going to be attending one of the few colleges I've found that offers a Japanese major, with great study abroad programs and what not. It's kind of like a dream come true, and very exciting. And I know I wouldn't be doing it without Dragon Ball.

So in short, yeah, it means a whole helluva lot to me - without Son Goku and friends, I would have had lots more trouble picking a college! (which is ironic, because Son Goku never went to school....maybe I can become a 'great scholar,' like Gohan.....)

[SylentEcho]

Nice thread. Dragon Ball. Wow. It really means a lot to me. I really can't imagine moving on from it. I've watched it growing up and it means more and more to me as time passes by. Although I barely watch the episodes any more (probably one DVD every 2 or 3 weeks), it's in my head everyday. Everyday I just end up thinking of something DBZ related once in a while. This or that Ginyu Tokusentai theme just pops into my head.

I first saw a couple of episodes in the late 90's, but didn't know what it was. I saw the Saiyan saga in 2001/2002 and got hooked on to it instantly. Everyone in school would talk about them everyday. We would all go on to the internet and read spoilers because the suspense would kill us. We literally weren't able to study until we spoilt some of the story for ourselves to get a little peace.

I remember taping some episodes on my TV with my VCR and watched them so many times until the tape went blue!

I also remember buying the DVDs one by one and my friends and I watching them over and over again in English and them Japanese. I remember this one time my (ex) girlfriend at the time asked me which was more important; her or DBZ and I said, "that's a tough one. I really love DBZ".

Lol, but I stopped watching DBZ for just a year in 2007 because I saw the English dub so many times. I still would play the games. The following year my hunger returned stronger than ever! I realized that you can't just move on from Dragon Ball if you own even one DVD or have some episodes on yourself. I ended up watching the entire Japanese version and I've seen it multiple times by now.

The Japanese version was an entirely different show! Everyone's personalities were different. The dialogues, the music was so much better and I realized that this version was far better than the dubs, in fact the dubs seemed juvenile compared to this. And now I like Dragon Ball even more than I ever did.

It's the only show I know of which my friends and I have seen multiple times in it's entirety. I think it's safe to say that I'm a Dragon Ball fan for life!

[Zephyr]

Dragonball is up there with Sonic the Hedgehog, the first generation of Pokemon, Metallica, and Megadeth, as one of the things that has been in my life from a very young age, and will never stop being one.

I too grew up watching Dragonball on Toonami, from beginning to end (barring GT). To be honest, I instantly hated the hype surrounding the show that I heard from my schoolmates until I watched it. And when I did, I was hooked. From as early as kindergarten/1st grade, up until recently, I would go through cycles of interest between DB, StH, and Pokemon. Now they sort of just blend.

[SHINOBI-03]

While I do love the series, it's not my life obsession. Despite that, it's one of the few franchises that I have the most of knowledge (thanks to the forum) compared to other franchises like other Jump series', Evangelion, Transformers or any other manga/anime series and probably the only one that I keep up with its news on a daily basis ((Transformers comes second)).

For me, Dragon Ball is like a hobby. I like it a lot, but I take it seriously when necessary and not all the time.

[Godo]

It's the way I came into the enriching and awesome world of manga, which was pretty much an unknown territory for me when I grew up. Without Dragonball, I would have gotten into stamp collection or some other awkward hobby.

[Ahiru77]

It was the first animated series with a long on-going story that I really loved.

And now it's the only series that reminds me whats so great about the shonen-genre. And I finally have a franchise I totally love and even spend my money on.

[The Time Traveller]

I think it was the characters who did it for me, so many different personalities and varieties of fighters.

The series to me is just my favourite thing, favourite TV show, comic book, and all of the main characters would probably be in my top 100 fictional characters list.

[Codarik]

I really can't explain how much it means to me, but I can say it's the only TV show/anime/cartoon I watch. I love the characters, has a lot of character development and has morality (no drug use, no on-screen sex), which is missing a lot in todays television. It's the only series I'm willing to buy the DVDs for.

[StarRot]

What does Dragonball mean to me? A huge amount.

First, if it wasn’t for DB I might not have become interested in drawing and thus I wouldn’t have the chance to do freelance illustrations/concept art. I can say without a doubt my life would be a lot bleaker if it didn’t have art in it.
I wouldn’t have met a lot of my online friends – and I do consider a lot of them real friends rather than just simple internet acquaintances. I’ve known some of these people for years and I’ve met up with a few of them.
Through DB, it ignited my interest in other Anime and Manga.
I wouldn’t have discovered the wonders of doujinshi.
I’d have never started figure collecting. True, my wallet would be fuller, but figure collecting is a fun hobby so I don’t mind.

On a little more TMI note, I have depression, so concentrating on this fandom does help to lift my mood at times.

So yeah. That's about it, methinks.

[Sshadow5001]

The characters, the story, the fact it was so different from anything I'd seen before. It gave me confidence to stand up to a bully (KAIOKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

Its something that I watched growing up and I guess helped me through some tough times. The series just never gets old for me, although I don't watch it as much as I used too, when I do watch it I feel an extream sense of nostalgia. Even though I know exactly whats going to happen its like I'm watching it for the first time and even find myself telling people whats happening like its new and exciting (even though they don't care .

This series will be with me forever and I will pass it on to my children.

[Hellspawn28]

Dragon Ball got me interested in drawing and made me become a bigger fan of anime and manga in general. I got to give Akira Toriyama credit on creating a series that spawn a big fan base for over 25 years, and creating such awesome characters that we always remember.

AT inspire me along with Go Nagai, HG Wells, George Orwell, Hayao Myazaki, Arthur C. Clarke, Mary Shelley, Jack Kirby, Todd McFarlane, Alex Ross, Eiji Tsuburaya, H. R. Giger, Stan Lee, Frank Miller (When he used to be good), Hideaki Anno, Bram Stoker, and so many more other people.

[Piccolo Daimao]

It's hard to explain in words. Let's just say it's one of my favourite series ever, is practically the only manga/anime I read/watch now and has inspired my interest in martial arts and Japanese culture in general, and to take up kickboxing. It was a completely new experience for me; different than anything else I'd seen. And it's not super-deep and doesn't force you to shed tears or anything like that; it's just good fun that was intended for children, but has attracted people of all ages, because of its compelling story and engaging characters.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I wish I could say that Dragon Ball has intrinsically impacted on my personality or even my philosophy in some way, but it really hasn't. I guess I could ascribe that to Anime and Otaku culture en masse. Basically, I rekindled my interest in the series after I had got into Anime.


Dragon Ball is simply my favourite TV series, full stop. I have many fond memories watching it both as a child and in the recent past. So nostalgia is the protagonist of the dramatis personae here, so to speak. That's not to say that nostalgia is the sole reason for my attachment to the series. It's meritorious in its own right. I will admit, though, that some newer shōnen series do have more profound plots and characters that aren't as superficial (such as Death Note and everyone's most loved orange-clad ninja). The video games are also fun, however redundant they may be.


Did I mention that shit ain't cheap? Jesus Christus, thirteen DVD sets?

[kemuri07]

As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a DBZ character (sorry, couldn't help myself).

But seriously, DBZ has always been a apart of my life. When I didn't have CN (before my parents got our first Satellite) I would watch the show religiously when it was on UPN. When I got my first computer, I'd spend hours upon hours looking up info of DBZ. Printing page after page of DBZ related pictures, as well as scour the net for AMVs of the anime (I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that a lot of the bands I'm into now I first heard them in an amv). As you can tell, this type of obsession didn't really help with my social life growing up, but I enjoyed my hobby nonetheless.

As I grew older and moved away from anime (upon realizing that most of it is utter junk), DBZ still had a special place in my heart. But, I think it is more than simply nostalgia. There's just something about those characters Toriyama created that still manage to be endearing to this day.

[tinlunlau]

I would say that Dragon Ball has a very paradoxic (if there is such a word) meaning to me. For a manga that motivated me to read Chinese and for one that has spoofed Jackie Chan (and Golden Harvest) in its early years, I would wind up doing translation work for the man himself many years later. And mind you, I am a CBC (Canadian-born Chinese) with no formal education in Chinese literacy. Purely coincidental or conspiracy? Hmmm....

[Castor Troy]

Dragon Ball made me the person I am today.

No joke.

[MetaMoss]

I was introduced to DragonBall when DBZ first aired on Toonami, which when I was about the age of two. My parents and I watched the Midnight airing (but since we live in Washington State but got the Eastern Feed of CN, it aired at 9) almost every night. It was our late-night TV, and it allowed me and my dad to bond real well. When my dad couldn't watch it during that time due to different job schedule, I would watch it religiously during the day, and did so until I was in second grade (I was home-schooled until then), but by then we got a DVR for our receiver. It was the most influential series on my life, and it continues to influence me to this day.

[Turtle Marked Stone]

It's a source of entertainment that has a lot of material, likeable characters and unique if not silly stories so it's easy to return to time and time again.

The Dragon Ball fandom taught me not to invest too much emotion into people on the internet and rolling your eyes, snarkily posting on twittter and moving on with your life works better than trying to debate some of the more stubborn, childrenesque men and women on largely unimportant matters.


Outside of that not much, it's just a pretty fun cartoon.