Why is Dragon Ball so popular?

This is the equivalent of asking why people like 80's action movies when thought-provoking films like Citzen Kane exist. It's pretty simple to understand though it has fun characters with an excellent art style that is filled with flashy fights and a story that's easy to jump and follow at any point.

SillyEskimo said:

Male power trip fantasy.

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????

tsampikos said:

It's a fun show with likeable characters.

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!!!!!!

Host Samurai said:

It's inspirational.

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!!!!!!

It's a simple premise of heroes and villains with clearly drawn lines about both.

It's got such an iconic origin story that appeals to mass audiences.

It's basically an anime hybrid of WWE and superhero comics

Ive asked myself why this series is popular after all these years.

I really don't get it. There is NO substance to it... like at all.

It's all SHOUTING.... AND THEN WE MUST FIGHT... rinse and repeat.

Tackleberry said:

Ive asked myself why this series is popular after all these years.

I really don't get it. There is NO substance to it... like at all.

It's all SHOUTING.... AND THEN WE MUST FIGHT... rinse and repeat.

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I mean not at all but okay.

It's cool, it's fun, and it's very sincere.

Remember back like 5 or 6 years ago when the bronies showed up on every message board and annoyed everyone with ponies? Remember how there were tons of threads asking why people like it?

Somehow Dragon Ball has become that in the past year.


But to answer the question, it's a solid show with fun visuals. I'm not really a big fan outside of the abridged version, but I can see why people like it.

I can't speak for the Japanese audience but when Z came to the west, I think it's fair to say there was nothing like it.
Long storylines spread out over episodes upon episodes.
It was like a soap opera for young kids.

I cannot think of anything that matched it at the time.

I only recently rewatched it through the uncut bluray Kai version and it's still fantastic.

After watching DBZ Kai I am completely impressed with the series.

The charm, simplicity, photography, and story beats that just work out are all top tier.

I see now why it's so influential.

Yung Kyubii said:

After watching DBZ Kai I am completely impressed with the series.

The charm, simplicity, photography, and story beats that just work out are all top tier.

I see now why it's so influential.

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I think Kai is the way to go for new comers. Just don't watch the Nickelodeon version :D

Jiraiya said:

Power

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You could say it's maximum.

Maybe you weren't there when Toonami first started airing DBZ. For some, it was our first real look into anime and it was probably the most hype and violent show for kids on TV at the time.

That first kaioken x10 against Vegeta and the Ki clash between them was all that was needed to make us just adore the show forever.

Still tossing imaginary kamehamehas til this day.

Pankratous said:

No it isn't. It's an anime.

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Anime are cartoons though?

Because it's the dopest shit ever.

energy beams

SillyEskimo said:

Male power trip fantasy.

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Exactly.

Durden said:

Because it's the dopest shit ever.

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Dragon Ball is Goku finding that fighting is his calling. Z is the fallout of him being so tough. Like a cooler Superman.

Because we're all waiting for Gohan to redeem himself. Any day now.

NeonBlack said:

Because we're all waiting for Gohan to redeem himself. Any day now.

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Nah. Id rather Dragon Ball Ultra be old man Goku chilling on an island training new peeps to go out and save the world. Toriyama ditching that angsty Gohan was the smartest choice the series made. Vegeta was angry enough and Goku is just so goddamned happy-go-lucky as a protagonist and that, to me, is what makes it so endearing. The relentless positivity of the hero helps set it apart from the pack.

Astandahl said:

Still impressive to this day.

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God theres so much weight to each hit, so good. That moment when Goku headbutts vegeta.

Mcjmetroid said:

I can't speak for the Japanese audience but when Z came to the west, I think it's fair to say there was nothing like it.
Long storylines spread out over episodes upon episodes.
It was like a soap opera for young kids.
.

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The super eyepatch wolf video about dbz touches on this, and it plays a big part in it

Most cartoons had very little character development, and each episode was its own story, because thats how companies thought kids would want to watch shows, so they could jump into a show at any point

Watching DBZ as a kid with its art style , music, long plot points, flashy visuals, character development and age, concept of people dying? Shit was hype.

Right place at the right time, nothing more really.

It has history, its wonderfully funny as well as hype when it needs to be.
The characters have had tons of development over the years, but not goku, but that's the point. Goku is meant to be an idiot who would put his want for a fight in front of the safety of not only his family, the world but even the universe. He's not supposed to be a liked character.
It has countless side characters all with their own role and its just great.

because it's HYPE AF

Dragon Ball is not remotely well written, if we are completely honest about it, but Toriyama still had enough skill to tell a compelling series of adventures with memorable characters and cool fight sequences. That's basically the gist of it.

I like how people say Toriyama is a bad writer. But he's very good at writing fights, I honestly can't think of one shonen manga that has more satisfying fights than DB.

Aadiboy said:

I like how people say Toriyama is a bad writer. But he's very good at writing fights, I honestly can't think of one shonen manga that has more satisfying fights than DB.

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It's not meant as an insult, at least not on my part. Toriyama himself admits his writing isn't particularly consistent. He can definitely come up with battle sequences that rely on good twists (plus, let's be fair, some rather bad ones as well) and the manga makes use of interesting panel formats, but that's not because of the quality of the underlying storytelling. Which is fine, in the long run, since DB has other strengths.

It's like epic cartoon professional wrestling at a time when there wasn't anything else like it. Now you've got derivatives and subversions.

JCG said:

It's not meant as an insult, at least not on my part. Toriyama himself admits his writing isn't particularly consistent. He can definitely come up with battle sequences that rely on good twists (plus, let's be fair, some rather bad ones as well) and the manga makes use of interesting panel formats, but that's not because of the quality of the underlying storytelling. Which is fine, in the long run, since DB has other strengths.

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I would also say though that Toriyama is very good at creating characters with development. Vegata being the best of the best and Piccolo as well.

( At least in Z anyway and the original dragonball)

Dragon Ball is very similar to Superman but a billion times more interesting.

I started watching the OG Dragon Ball with my kids (having to skip through some pervy stuff with Bulma and the men on the show) and it is incredibly charming and entertaining. I don't really watch anime but it is so different and original from anything I have ever seen. And it just has a lot of cool, stupid and funny shit. After watching the first season of DBZ my son just loves running around and shouting Kamehaha.

It's a hype show that revolves around POWER

NeonBlack said:

Because we're all waiting for Gohan to redeem himself. Any day now.

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Did you not watch the Tournament of Power arc?

Mcjmetroid said:

I would also say though that Toriyama is very good at creating characters with development. Vegata being the best of the best and Piccolo as well.

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They were good villains that he more or less redeemed in order to fight even greater threats, but that's a valid point. I'll give him credit. A lesser writer would have probably killed off both of them and never looked back, so in those cases Toriyama did make the right creative choices. However, it does make for an unbalanced picture when you look at most of the remaining cast.

I watched DBZ as a kid and loved it been watching Dragon Ball for the first and so far leaves a lot to be desired, hoping it gets better just started the krillin arc.

John Doe said:

Character development is almost non-existent and rarely shown. Characters just go from X to Y. Vegeta is a homicidal maniac then the next time we see him he has a baby with Bulma. How did we get from point A to point B? Then all of a sudden he's this "great father"

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lmao, I question whether or not this is a troll thread.

I think its because of the button ups.

Because the original Dragon Ball struck the perfect balance of adventure, action and comedy, couple that with the fact that it came out in most regions outside Japan when Anime was gaining traction and was so different from American animation that was in a phase of removing violent content (remember how Spiderman TAS wasn't allowed to show people actually punching eachother?) and it instantly became a hit with the audience.

Now, by the time Z rolled out people were so invested into these characters that they stuck with the series, which traded comedy and adventure in exchange for taking the fights to the next level and it basically was "Hype; the show".

Additionally, Dragon Ball is unlike other shows, including Anime, in which the characters have aged with the audience, Goku started as a kid when we were kids, now goku is a grown ass man with children and grand children, people relate to seeing the characters grow up with them, shit, Mexico even makes commercials aimed at parents who are showing the show to their kids.

Funny thing is, I always thought DBZ was a MASSIVE step down from the original Dragon Ball.

Not that DBZ is bad, it's just nowhere near as interesting, engaging or fun as the original show was. And I didn't even watch the original until after I saw Z.

Even as a kid, I thought it was strange that we went from following an innocent funny monkey boy teamed up with a girl and a pig wearing underwear on his head looking for Dragon Balls to watching ultra intense homoerotic muscular males beat the ever loving shit out of each other, causing world cataclysmic events with every punch they threw.

As for the question, I would say it's mainly cause of two reasons:

1. Nostalgia
2. It looks cool

John Doe said:

haracter development is almost non-existent and rarely shown.

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John Doe said:

Vegeta is a homicidal maniac then the next time we see him he has a baby with Bulma.

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Both of these statements can't be true.

Toonami

Because it blew people's minds when they were kids - I went from watching Scooby Doo and Loony Toons to watching Goku and Frieza beating each other to death while Namek exploded around them.

Qikz said:

It has history, its wonderfully funny as well as hype when it needs to be.
The characters have had tons of development over the years, but not goku, but that's the point. Goku is meant to be an idiot who would put his want for a fight in front of the safety of not only his family, the world but even the universe. He's not supposed to be a liked character.
It has countless side characters all with their own role and its just great.

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You literally could not be more wrong. The Z Fighters are all a surrogate family. Piccolo is basically Goku's brother and acts as stand in while Goku is off doing what needs doing. Somebody needed to train Uub so his power could be contained and Goku was the only one who could do it. The Z Fighters all look out for eachother.

Goku not supposed to be liked, literally the hottest fuckin DBZ take I've ever heard.

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I like it because it's not too overly complicated, and it's fun to watch.

Aadiboy said:

I like how people say Toriyama is a bad writer. But he's very good at writing fights, I honestly can't think of one shonen manga that has more satisfying fights than DB.

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Because he is with the said stories and plot. All mangaka make shit up as they go along, but some are really good at hiding it. Toriyama isn't one of those guys.

Luckily for DB it doesn't try to do that.

How anyone can call Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan, Future Trunks, etc "one-dimensional" is beyond me.

Cool fighting, fun characters, simple but engaging plot.

It's really not hard to understand.

It's the OG shonen and I'm not afraid to admit I'll fuck with anything dragon ball out of pure nostalgia.

EmptyWarren said:

You literally could not be more wrong. The Z Fighters are all a surrogate family. Piccolo is basically Goku's brother and acts as stand in while Goku is off doing what needs doing. Somebody needed to train Uub so his power could be contained and Goku was the only one who could do it. The Z Fighters all look out for eachother.

Goku not supposed to be liked, literally the hottest fuckin DBZ take I've ever heard.

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Have you seen the Japanese dub/manga? The English dub and translations make him out to be a lot more likeable. Yeah you're not meant to hate him but you're not meant to see him as a hero either. In Japanese he's a lot more blunt and idiotic, he will literally put a fight with a strong opponent over literally anything else in the universe. He doesn't really think things through at all, he's a complete buffoon and even though all his friends and family care for him (especially Krillin and Bulma) he's still a meathead.

Qikz said:

Have you seen the Japanese dub/manga? The English dub and translations make him out to be a lot more likeable. Yeah you're not meant to hate him but you're not meant to see him as a hero either. In Japanese he's a lot more blunt and idiotic, he will literally put a fight with a strong opponent over literally anything else in the universe. He doesn't really think things through at all, he's a complete buffoon and even though all his friends and family care for him (especially Krillin and Bulma) he's still a meathead.

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Of course he puts the fight up, because he has to deal with being a saiyan with a human upbringing. Literally a warrior race, and he is the one with empathy that he then gives to Vegeta. Again, still not unlikeable, AT ALL.

Harken Raiser said:

Because it blew people's minds when they were kids - I went from watching Scooby Doo and Loony Toons to watching Goku and Frieza beating each other to death while Namek exploded around them.

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I personally liked the grit of it. I liked seeing Dr.Gero casually push his hand through yamcha's chest and spinal cord. I liked watching this giant green bug suck flesh, organs, and bone from under their skin through its tail. I liked watching characters travel through time and panic as they realized how much they fucked up the present time.


Oh and that time where goku said it is was too crowded in the city. Let's relocate. And Dr. Gero's answer was :



You said it was too crowded lol! This show was a real one. People actually died in that city. Bodies everywhere. I had never seen such death in an anime on the scale before DBZ.