Who here has actually seen Dr. Slump? Is it worth watching?

[PhoenixEX]

I'm reading that apparently Dragon Ball is the spiritual sequel/successor to Dr. Slump? I always just thought it was another series that Akira Toriyama created. But, now I get the references between both shows.
So who here has actually seen the show? Is it worth watching?

[TheDevilsCorpse]

I don't know about watching it, mainly because it's never really been released here in the US (outside Discotek's DVD of the first few movies). Definitely worth a read for sure though.

[samuraix123]

I've watched a couple episodes here and there and enjoyed it. I've only read the 1st manga and enjoyed it as well. I still need to read volume 2 considering I've had it forever now and I have Jaco coming in the mail. lol

[Dayspring]

I haven't seen the anime, but I have read all of the manga. If you're a Toriyama fan, then you'll enjoy it. You'll also be much more forgiving of how heavy on the gags his post-DB manga is (like Neko Majin Z, the Jump Special and Battle of Gods) because you'll see he's actually returning to his roots.

HOWEVER, if you don't like the gag factor, then you will despise Dr Slump. After Wonder Island (which is only two chapters anyway), Dr Slump is easily the most zany of his works, especially at the beginning. In fact, pretty much everything Toriyama has done has been gag-manga, but the ones without martial arts action as a focus (like the Dr Slump series) are even more out there.

[Adamant]

The Dr. Slump anime suffers quite a bit from the fact that it's trying to adapt jokes very much written with comedic timing intended for a comic book rather than a cartoon. Different jokes work for different media.

[Dogasu]

Semi-related: I assume the Dr. Slump The Movies DVD didn't sell all that well, given how there haven't been any more releases since then?

[FortuneSSJ]

I have it in my list. But the right time still didn't came.

[JulieYBM]

I watched the first episode of the first TV series. Utsumi Kenji had me rolling on the ground.

[Chuquita]

I second the notion that Battle of Gods makes a lot more sense tonally if you've read Dr. Slump. Same reason I'm not upset about (what little I know) about Fukkatsu no F.
I've read the manga (though it's been a while), seen the movies, but only watched a handful of episodes though.

One of the best things about Dr. Slump, imo, is Toriyama's participation in it. He appears often enough in his own series where he qualifies as a character; a character none of the main cast trusts. XD
Torishima also appears often (outside of Dr. Mashirito--who's a separate character the way Senbei's a separate character from Toriyama) along with Toriyama's assistant who calls Toriyama out on story-related stuff.

[Retan]

How could they trust Toriyama, he won the race, that he created, that no one knew he was part of?

[Hellspawn28]

The manga and the 80's anime is pretty funny. The 80's anime has HK subs that you can find out there and some of them can be iffy.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Semi-related: I assume the Dr. Slump The Movies DVD didn't sell all that well, given how there haven't been any more releases since then?

Not necessarily. Discotek is a pretty small company (though growing by leaps and bounds), so it could just mean that there's a lot on their plate. If we actually get to a full year since that set's release without hearing anything else on it, then I'd start to worry a little more.

I can't vouch for the Slump anime as I've only seen the movies (and only read the first three manga volumes too), but I've loved every bit of it that I have seen/read, so...Well, let's put it this way. If you love some of the zanier aspects of Dragon Ball, especially the early stuff, and think you could handle it going even more bizarre - Dr. Slump is probably gonna be right up your alley. If you don't really care about that stuff though, and only care for the more serious stuff that followed as DB went along...then it's probably not gonna be your cup of tea.

[Hellspawn28]

I hope Discotek will release the 80's TV show on DVD. The late 90's show on DVD would be cool as well. I would imagine the episodes of Goku in the 1999 show will likely be cut out on any possible DVD Discotek release due to license issues.

[SaiyamanMS]

I would imagine the episodes of Goku in the 1999 show will likely be cut out on any possible DVD Discotek release due to license issues.

Why would they be? It's not like Funi had to cut the Penguin Village episodes of Dragon Ball. (Also, the 90s version of the show started in '97, the week after Dragon Ball GT ended, it did end in '99 though.)

[Friezacooler]

Anime can't remember much about it but ain't complaining about it either, but reading it was complete different level of masterpiecee

[garnetjester]

The anime is very old-school, but I loved it anyway. I like the manga more, but it's purely a gag manga. Don't expect anything even remotely serious here, and especially, don't expect any consistency here in the story or the characters or anything at all, in fact, characters often call out Toriyama for his lazy storytelling and plot devices in the manga. I love gag manga, so Dr. Slump is one of my favorite Toriyama works. It's also because Arale is such a great character, really.

[dougo13]

It would be hard to market the old TV series I think in the US because of the toilet humor and sexism which dates it somewhat. I'm sure Toei has looked at this before. I'm not familiar with the later series so I don't know if they could market it or even if it's been tried. Problematic because of the rules for kids TV these days I imagine...

[dougo13]

I hope Discotek will release the 80's TV show on DVD. The late 90's show on DVD would be cool as well. I would imagine the episodes of Goku in the 1999 show will likely be cut out on any possible DVD Discotek release due to license issues.

I was also waiting to see if Mizuki's series GeGeGe no Kitaro was going to get a proper release as it was mentioned at least a year ago. I did enjoy Slump from the 1980s and continue to do so. It's pretty funny. But it's subject matter may be too much for TV transmission. A DVD/Blu Ray release would be the best but how many copies can they reasonably expect to sell? A big question with no answer...

[dougo13]

I second the notion that Battle of Gods makes a lot more sense tonally if you've read Dr. Slump. Same reason I'm not upset about (what little I know) about Fukkatsu no F.
I've read the manga (though it's been a while), seen the movies, but only watched a handful of episodes though.

One of the best things about Dr. Slump, imo, is Toriyama's participation in it. He appears often enough in his own series where he qualifies as a character; a character none of the main cast trusts. XD
Torishima also appears often (outside of Dr. Mashirito--who's a separate character the way Senbei's a separate character from Toriyama) along with Toriyama's assistant who calls Toriyama out on story-related stuff.

I'll have to see if I can find the "We'll Answer All Your Questions" episode. That was pretty funny since Toriyama appears as his alter ego the drawing robot and tries to answer questions posed by the fans who have written in as well as from the characters he has created. Very funny!

[bleed0range]

I've actually never seen Dr. Slump... kind of always wanted to out of curiosity. I wonder if they'll ever dub it in English. I see how difficult to market it probably would be, but it IS a work of Akira Toriyama.