DRAGON BALL

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionDragon Ball Z
ANIME ActionDragon Ball Kai
MANGA ActionDragon Ball
MOVIE ActionDragon Ball: Shen Long no Densetsu
MOVIE ActionDragon Ball: Majinjou no Nemuri Hime
MOVIE ActionDragon Ball: Makafushigi Daibouken
MOVIE ActionDragon Ball: Saikyou e no Michi
SPECIAL ActionDragon Ball Specials
ANIME AdventureDr. Slump: Arale-chan
ANIME ComedyDr. Slump
MOVIE ComedyDr. Slump: Arale-chan - Ncha! Penguin Mura yori Ai wo Komete

REVIEWS

• 

  Tolnin

  100/100
  My all-time favorite show

  You probably hear many, many, many... many people complaining that Dragon Ball has basically no plot, the story sucks, and Kid Goku is annoying. I'm gonna have to say, being active in the Dragon Ball community for over five years and having seen this show and Z about seven times all the way through, all of those are wrong. I mean, the show doesn't have an outstanding plot or story, but they're enjoyable and fun. If you sense any form of bias in this review, it might be because this is my all time favorite show, but right here I'm going to explain why it's my favorite.

  The story, as I've said previously, is nothing impressive. You probably won't have to put on your thinking caps to analyze some deep, meaningful plot-line, you just get to sit back and enjoy a fun and excited action/adventure shonen show. A lot of fights have amazing choreography, the story is simple but sweet, and the slice of life aspects of this show are just as good if not better. The Red Ribbon Army arc is easily my favorite, it has so many iconic villains, the fights are very entertaining, and it's just such a good time. It's truly an endearing show that I hope you'll enjoy if you decide to check it out.

  Now, this section I will probably be very biased, because honestly I'm absolutely in love with Toriyama's art style. It's simple, unique, and to me beautiful. I love seeing fanart of it, and I love seeing the alternate cover pages he puts at the end of the manga. His art style is my favorite out of any other, but of course that's just me, so give this show a try and form your own opinion on the art.

  The voice acting? Nothing special and arguably poor (but not for it's time). The soundtrack? Exciting, up beat, feel-good music, makes you wanna dance, always makes me smile when the theme song's instrumental version plays in fights, and the ending song animates a lot of the cover art from the manga and... I know I've already said this about the art style, but I'm absolutely IN LOVE with the ending song/video. The song is nice and sweet, and the video is absolutely spectacular. It's always a good time with the Dragon Ball soundtrack. I have listened to the full soundtrack on loop. I love it. Even if you don't plan on watching this show, check out the soundtrack and see if you like it.

  Now, for the characters. Lets start with the second character we ever see in the show, Bulma Brief. I don't wanna say too much about her to keep things a mystery if you're not familiar with Dragon Ball (Which I doubt you aren't because who hasn't heard of this show, but just in case ya know?), but I can tell you that her personality isn't very likable. She complains just about 24/7, always looks on the negative side of things, is rarely happy, really is only happy when she's screwing someone over, etc., but she does have some very good moments, and some spectacular moments. Also, her design in this series (not necessarily Z) is one of my favorite designs in anime. It's so appealing, sometimes not so much, but most of the time it's amazing. Her design was real good when she first met Master Roshi if you know what I mean ;^)... actually you probably don't know what I mean because if you're reading this review chances are you don't know who Master Roshi is because you probably haven't seen the show. Let me enlighten you. Master Roshi is the master of martial arts, as he's called by the public, he's an extremely skilled fighter, despite his appearance. He's also the master of perversion, which leads to many funny moments in the show. Roshi is most likely the inspiration for many perverted old men in anime down the line, such as Jiraiya from Naruto. He's a legendary and underrated character. His moments with Launch are always amusing. Oh yeah, Launch is the women that ends up living with Roshi (You'll have to watch the show to figure out why a girl would willingly live with this man), and in this series she's Dragon Ball's best girl, which is later changed to another character in Dragon Ball Z; I won't spoil who. I might leave that for my Z review ;^). Wanna know my least favorite character in this show? That's right, Yamcha. Yeah yeah, I know it's a huge meme to make fun of him and all that, but he's genuinely a bad character. He does almost nothing for the show and you could take him out and not much would change. He does help in a big way like... once... but that's about it. He doesn't have the best personality either. He's just kind of there to be there, really. Now, the moment you've all been waiting for... the best character in the show... Goku. Goku is a twelve year old boy who was trained by his grandfather in martial arts, but he's not too good with the common sense. He's an extremely innocent and completely pure hearted boy that really just wants to eat and fight strong people. He's a simple character, but a very lovable one. Honestly, every character in this show is lovable in their own way. Yes, even Yamcha... he has SOME good moments. But Goku, he blows all the other characters out of the water. He's hilarious, adorable, endearing, honest, and just a fun person in general. The characters in this show are truly something else.

  Wow, the character portion was pretty darn long... sorry about that lol. Anyways, I definitely give this show a 10/10. You guys will most likely have varying ratings, but as I have a personal connection to this show, it has a very special place in my heart. Even without a personal connection, it's still one of the most enjoyable shows I have ever watched in my love. It's so much fun, and I really, really hope you give it a try.

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• 

  Sleepo

  85/100
  Classic show that still holds up today.

  Dragon Ball, where do I even start with this iconic show. Well, I guess I'll take it in a part by part evaluation. Personally, I absolutely love this show maybe this is due to me watching an overflow of shows with heavy themes or stuff that tries to take itself to seriously but Dragon Ball has none of that. It's just about Goku and his adventures to get stronger, make friends, and learn how to live and iteract with other humans and I think that it has a lot of charm because of that.

  Story:

  This story follows our protagonist Goku as he travels with Bulma to (most of the time) find the Dragon Balls. Now, while Goku himself isn't interested in the Dragon Balls many events happen that entice him to chase them, examples being Uppa's father's death and Krillin's death. It's not the most insanely in depth or most thought provoking story but it's very easy to understand and is a joy to watch.

  Characters:
  I think this is arguably Dragon Ball's strongest point with many iconic characters such as Goku, Yamcha, Krillin, Master Roshi, etc... All these characters and their character interactions are what really make the show as great as it is. Goku and Krillin have one of my favorite dynamics in anime as it's so simple being two kids who are just friends and I think there's really something to appreciate there. All these characters have so much charm, and if these characters weren't as great as they are this show would be infinitely worse.

  Art:
  I think the art here was great for its time and still holds up pretty well today. However, there's a ton of lights flashing which made me cover my eyes a lot more than I'd like to. Nothing much to say here but I really like the art style and I think it fits the show very well.

  Pacing:
  Here's where I think this show could've been a lot better. I read the manga before watching this show and I have to say, the manga is one thousand times better in terms of pacing, something that you can read in fifteen minutes in the manga takes 5 episodes in the show. I understand that they add more details and everything but I really believe that it's way to stretched out for it's own good.

  Conclusion:
  In a time where all shows need to have an incredibly profound message to appeal to the public Dragon Ball shines with it's simple story, great characters and art. The thing that's holding the show back for me is the pacing and this is where it falls behind the manga. I think if the pacing was better I could bump the score up more, but as it is I'm going to stick with my score.

  

  Apparently this review isn't long enough?

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• 

  Kuropiko

  80/100
  While an amazing anime, Dragon Ball finds itself stifled in its more serious arcs by the style of its director.

  Now, before anyone gets mad about my review synopsis, let me state that I do in fact love this anime. If you look at my rating for this review, I have it at a 80/100, I do quite like Dragon Ball, if I didn't I wouldn't have rewatched all 153 episodes (in addition to the 3 movies and 2 PSAs). If you want my condensed review, I think the anime is great and everyone should watch it, simple as. If you want to hear my personal misgivings with how this anime handled Toriyama's manga, please continue reading. I'm sure more than a few of you who have seen the anime will agree with my statements.

  Beginning in February of 1986, and ending in April three years later, Dragon Ball is a landmark anime of sorts, launching the careers of multiple people into "legendary" status, giving birth to one of the most lucrative anime franchises in history, and its sequel would go on to be one of the first major anime to break out into the Western sphere, alongside Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon and Yu Yu Hakusho among others. This status cannot be understated and cannot be ignored when discussing Dragon Ball, both as a franchise and as an anime or manga series, as it has fed into a cultural osmosis of sorts, particularly common in the aforementioned Western community. It is almost impossible to discuss this series without feeding into ideas of power levels, Super Saiyajins, internet memes, and even smaller things like Son Gohan or the "Saiyajin no Ouji". So, to paraphrase MistareFusion's Dragon Ball Dissection, forget about all of that for this review. Forget about all of that when further discussing this series, let the trappings of franchise nostalgia, fatigue, and culture remove themselves from your brain, and focus only on the classic 1986 Toei adaptation, Dragon Ball. Got all that? Good, let's get started.

  

  Dragon Ball is what I would tentatively call an underrated anime. Not the manga (God no), not Z (well, maybe, we'll get to that one when I watch all 291 + 2 episodes), nope, just the original anime. It sure gets a lot of lip service, but nobody really talks about what it does well, on its own, as an adaptation. From some well animated fights, amazing insert songs (some even being sung in character by the VAs (Yamucha's Wolf Hurricane being a personal favourite of mine)), and by God is the filler underrated. People hear that term and act like it's the end of the world, but it really isn't, and trust me, we will get into that.

  But, before we get into that, let's start from the beginning, both for the anime and for a few of my grievances with it as it goes on. Dragon Ball was a series initially helmed by Minoru Okazaki, the chief director of the previous Toriyama-adjacent anime, Dr. Slump: Arale-chan (in addition to multiple other staff being brought over from Dr. Slump). It's very clear why Okazaki was put in charge of Dragon Ball, and in all honesty, for the first three arcs he does a mostly good job. Dragon Ball is very akin to Dr. Slump in its humour, and that vibe is especially present earlier on with the first arc essentially being a parody of the Asian fables (most notably, it parodies some of the characters in Journey to the West), and while the following arc is a slightly more serious tournament arc, it still carries an air of levity about it. Things like Namu's crisis are treated as a serious subject only to be questioned in a meta sense and then subverted comedically in story. Jackie Chun and Goku have a dramatic multi episode fight, that lends itself well both in the drama aspect and in the moments of humour (in particular, the end of the fight itself).

  

  However, the cracks begin to show once the series enters the third arc, that being the Red Ribbon Army arc. While not as serious as later arcs in the series, it was decidedly shifting in tone as the story went on, going from the more comedic antics of Murosaki and Blue (even having Arale-chan and the rest of Penguin Village cameo) to the far more serious and sinister Tao Pai-Pai and death of Bora. While the presentation here is as good as it was before, it definitely feels like putting a round peg in a square hole. Tao's serious demeanour just doesn't jive with the aesthetic the anime itself had been setting up, but as a one off, that is fine. However, that's only as a one-off.

  Continuing into the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, the series struggles in its aesthetics and direction. Yamucha's broken leg, Tenshinhan's internal struggle, the Crane Hermit's revenge, Kuririn trying to prove himself against Goku, and the shocking conclusion all have great, even amazing elements backing them, but Okazaki's style derived from Dr. Slump feels like it's holding the series back at this point. These chunky characters, minimal use of interesting character shots, and flat feeling designs all lend themselves well to a comedy anime like Dr. Slump and even earlier arcs in Dragon Ball, but here they just begin to wear thin on me. This issue becomes exasperated come the Piccolo Daimao arc, one of the most serious arcs in this series. It was clear that a change in direction was needed, and so there was a shakeup in staff, with new planners and even a new role being added to the anime, (that being the role of "Series Composition").

  

  Even in the Heavenly Training filler arc, you can see a definite shift in the anime. There's a heavier focus on picturesque moments in certain episodes, with a keen eye for visuals always being present. But, to the untrained eye, this would go fairly unnoticed. What would go noticed though would be the dramatic shift come the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. The series would slowly begin to adapt to a more "gritty" look, with thick outlines, a focus on both the picturesque and fluid fight animation, heavy use of postcard memories (among other techniques lifted from Osamu Dezaki), and some other familiar attributes rear their head (like Piccolo taking half an episode to charge an attack). This arc is effectively, the first time I would consider the Dragon Ball anime superior to its manga counterpart. From the music, to the visuals, to the animation, everything about this arc is perfected here.

  

  That's not to say the arc doesn't come without its faults (though I do struggle to list them), but this is both such a radical step up and departure form what came before in the anime that I don't care for the faults, however minor. This feels like the first time in a long time Dragon Ball has been Dragon Ball. Every moment is given its proper impact to the fullest extent, not a single thing feels undercut here, and I could very well gush about this all day. But, that's not what this review is for. While I have tackled my thesis statement, I have yet to actually discuss a topic I mentioned earlier, that being the filler issue.

  Dragon Ball is an anime notorious for filler, and it in fact does end on a 5 episodes filler arc (and quite a good one I may add). But, because it's not from the manga, this content is deemed to be automatically worse... for a reason I can't ascertain. It's not like Toriyama was the only writer ever, every filler episode had a writing credit tied to it, hell, some moments that dramatically flesh out the arcs here are themselves filler. The expansion to the Super God Water, Tenshinhan's early introduction, multi-day tournaments, all of these are anime original. The last one especially is a big point for me, as the tournaments lack a big chunk of their significance when they become single day affairs, while in the anime they're multiple day events. However, there's a far greater issue I'm sure some of you are itching to complain about, so I'll get to it right away.

  That issue is filler arcs. Whole arcs of anime original content, of which Dragon Ball has three, all lasting just around five episodes each. Two of them are adventure arcs, with the odd one out being a training arc. I feel all three of them are great. The first one, which doesn't have a name but is just Goku adventuring post-Red Ribbon Army, is a nice look at the world of Dragon Ball, showing Goku having other adventures, even drawing on some Journey to the West. While some episodes aren't as good as others, I found the whole arc to be quite a good time, especially Tenshinhan's introduction here. The second arc, that being the Heavenly Training Arc, is a worthwhile expansion to his training, while also keeping up the mystery of everything Goku learned up on the lookout. It doesn't show too much but does show Goku slowly learning more and more from Kami and Popo. The final arc, the Wedding Dress arc, isn't talked about all that much, and I can understand why. It's just five extra episodes added on, but they are quite fun, showing some characters that aren't utilized as much and this is the only time you actually get to see Goku and Chichi's wedding. It's pretty fun.

  

  Now, I know not everyone will agree with me on this subject, and my paragraph above was HIGHLY subjective in nature, but I really feel that when it comes to filler, you ought to approach it with more of an open mind. Too many people see it as this pointless endeavour, something to be cut out in a fan recut or just skipped over, instead of something that people worked on and wanted to be shown. Filler usually doesn't matter in the longrun, that is true, but it's still additive to the media it is a part of, for good or for bad, and quite honestly, I can hardly imagine Dragon Ball without a lot of the anime's additions.

  By the way, one last thing to stir the pot. Sub > Dub. I tried listening to the dub and Goku sounds like a goddamn chain smoker, how can people honestly prefer this over Nozawa's performance? Hell, Amuro Motherfucking Ray voices Yamucha, for the whole series, and people will honest to God pick the dub over this. The dub doesn't even have the insert songs to my knowledge, what is this blasphemy, how can you watch gimped Dragon Ball.

  Anyways, review over. Please, reconsider sleeping on filler. Maybe reconsider writing off this adaptation as inferior. Even if you don't want to watch the whole thing, I do highly recommend the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, it is an astounding adaptation. Here's a little webm to convince you.

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