Should the first arc have been longer?

[Fizzer]

At the beginning of the story, we get set up with an epic quest for the mystical dragon balls, objects of (back then) infinite power, lost through the ages. There will be danger along the way, as our heroes travel the entire world from ocean to mountain to get their wish granted... But was it all over a bit too soon?

The dragon balls started to feel less mysterious and elevated (and Triforce-like, as I think of it) after they've been found and used, though not to the extend that they do later on when limitations start being placed.

Do you think the first arc should have been longer? There could have been more obstacles and stories from Journey to the West that don't necessarily lead to a dragon ball, but are just hurdles along the way, or we could have got something more complex like that Red Ribbon arc. I know Toriyama doesn't plan ahead much and he originally conceived Dragon Ball as a short story, but in retrospect would this have been better for this arc, or the whole series?

Personally, I think it should have been a four-ish volumes of manga or about 30 episodes before all the balls were gathered, or perhaps they shouldn't have all come together at all until the end of the Red Ribbon Army arc when Bora is revived.

[SaiyaJedi]

I think this is probably a side effect of Toriyama not having thought of what would come after that point. He was probably hoping Torishima would let him off the hook by then, but instead got annoyed at his work not being that popular, and decided to show them... only he was too successful.

[RocktheDragon]

What Julian said and a little more.

I think that originally, as people would obviously agree with, Dragon Ball really was all about the Dragon Balls. They were the central focus of this very short series but as the manga continued...and as Toriyama was told to and wanted to popularize his manga even more he turned it into a fight first and everything else is second kind of format.

And people really reacted to that which I think says a lot about the audience at the time, or perhaps even now. The fighting was always going to be the more popular option, no matter how mysterious or cool the concept of dragon balls was.

I will agree with you that the first arc should have been much longer, but it's amazing to me that the most likely reason why it IS so short is because people weren't drawn to the "dragon ball" concept as much as the later budokai tenkaichi format. Which does get me a little down and sad. People want/prefer action to mystery. It attracts more people, that just seems to be a fact.

[Bullza]

The Pilaf arc was the worst arc by far so no.

[dbboxkaifan]

The Pilaf arc was the worst arc by far so no.

It was? I enjoyed it very much and showed that the pureness of Dragon Ball was about before the action was introduced.

[xmysticgohanx]

The Pilaf arc was the worst arc by far so no.

I didn't like it that much either.

[Eddie]

The anime stretched it out just right. There's filler, but it doesn't really detract from the story. If anything, I think it improved on the Pilaf gang a bit. Pilaf with a switchblade is amazing, and Crocodile with sunglasses is probably the best filler character in the entire series.