Nostalgia is a big part of it. It came at a perfect time and age for a ton of people. That as well as Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop and many other shows of that era.It is also a fun show with likable characters and cool fights.
Why is Dragon Ball so popular?
- Thread starter John Doe
- Start date
Absolutely.
One thing I've always admired or respected about the show was their use of repeating frames or making due with a limited budget. Like a loop two guys punching and dodging a bunch for a few seconds - I always thought it was a smart and clever use of animation techniques I've seen a ton before but they actually felt, fast, visceral, and exciting.
Yeah, this is a very good point. Most kids shows would have, at most, a single special event two-parter every couple/few years where the storyline carried over, and that was considered a big deal. Other than that, you could watch a season's episodes in any order or even miss entire episodes, and not even notice.
Dragon Ball Z was the first time I can remember watching a show like this where every episode started off resolving a cliffhanger, and ended with a new cliffhanger. It was a huge deal for me to be able to be home at 5:00 every day so that I could catch the latest episode.
Yeah I think it is the simplicity of the show. Also, when you are kid (I think many of us started watching it as kids) you just like the spectacle of it, and not a deep story. Having grown up and having binge-watched DB and DBZ like 2 years ago, you then realize that the show doesn't really offer anything outside of battles and power levels.
The only character development that happens is with Goku, and then they just stopped (they focused on power levels instead), then Vegeta is the only character how could develop nicely, but it´s like they don't decide if they want him to develop or not. Gohan started very well, but that went out of the window.
Some years ago I started watching Naruto, and one thing I really liked about the show, is that they are really consistent when it comes to backstories and whatnot (yes, they have flashbacks for everytime they blink), but it really makes you feel like you know the characters. Not so with Dragon Ball, and ever since they started Super, they show has been all about Goku 100%, is like it's not allowed to show any other character at all (although they had a few highlights in the tournament of power, i admit).
The only character development that happens is with Goku, and then they just stopped (they focused on power levels instead), then Vegeta is the only character how could develop nicely, but it´s like they don't decide if they want him to develop or not. Gohan started very well, but that went out of the window.
Some years ago I started watching Naruto, and one thing I really liked about the show, is that they are really consistent when it comes to backstories and whatnot (yes, they have flashbacks for everytime they blink), but it really makes you feel like you know the characters. Not so with Dragon Ball, and ever since they started Super, they show has been all about Goku 100%, is like it's not allowed to show any other character at all (although they had a few highlights in the tournament of power, i admit).
The simplicity of Dragon Ball gives it a universal appeal that pretty much nothing has ever been able to match. It's never really failed anywhere. If Dragon Ball came to a country, you can bet that it was a huge success there. There's no special circumstances or "right place, right time" going on, it's just a show with really wide appeal. Also, remember that its popularity doesn't necessarily mean it's everyone's favorite show out there, it just means that they like it.
Because Spirit Bombs are badass and seeing a Super Saiyan the first time was incredibly hype.
Good supporting characters and music boosted it too IMO. The games are great for that, whether it's a Budokai or Legacy of Goku.
Good supporting characters and music boosted it too IMO. The games are great for that, whether it's a Budokai or Legacy of Goku.
A lot of it is nostalgia. It's a pretty average show most the time if that's not there.
Not to say it's bad. The characters are great fun (honestly, the characterization is the best part of the whole thing), and the plotting is at least semi-engaging. Shame the fights are such a slog, and there's never any tension because of the lack of consequences in the universe.
Not to say it's bad. The characters are great fun (honestly, the characterization is the best part of the whole thing), and the plotting is at least semi-engaging. Shame the fights are such a slog, and there's never any tension because of the lack of consequences in the universe.
It's hard to put in to words, but DB just works...it defines how a Shonen anime should be.
It definitely has its flaws - but they are only picked up by more serious/enthusiastic fans, the general mass of fans don't care for attention to details... they just want to see there favourite characters fighting
It also comes down to imagination - every kid when they were young wanted to be a Super Saiyan, power ranger, ninja turtle, wrestler - 'Hero'
Some of you argue that's its only popular on here because the generation that grew up with it are on this site but if you check YouTube views, game sales, merchandise sales a whole new young generation is growing up with DB and no Anime can do that or match it
It definitely has its flaws - but they are only picked up by more serious/enthusiastic fans, the general mass of fans don't care for attention to details... they just want to see there favourite characters fighting
It also comes down to imagination - every kid when they were young wanted to be a Super Saiyan, power ranger, ninja turtle, wrestler - 'Hero'
Some of you argue that's its only popular on here because the generation that grew up with it are on this site but if you check YouTube views, game sales, merchandise sales a whole new young generation is growing up with DB and no Anime can do that or match it
except for Pokemon
Dragon Ball is the grandfather of modern shounen. The shounen ideals of working hard in life, constantly breaking your limits and the reward of your limitations disappearing...it's one of the purest forms of that story and yet at the same time also shows masterful worldbuilding and characterization.
Don't look at it compared to modern anime. Think about it as its own story. Is it as detailed of a fantasy world as Naruto? No. Are the fights animated with 2018 anime movie quality? No. Do the characters have depth to them beyond the page/screen? Maybe not. But it doesn't matter. What you need to know is in the story, and it's amazing when you think about the fact that this all came from one guy's pen, week-to-week. Toriyama would write, storyboard, pencil, and then get his assistant to ink DB chapters in the two or three days before the deadline, every week, for years and years.
It's an incredible work of art and I think your reading of it is somewhat off. Vegeta trying to be a better father after his attempt to save the world is constantly referenced in Super. Knowing who Krillin's mom and dad is is not going to make this a better story. But understanding that there was nothing like Dragon Ball in 1984 and that it set the stage for shounen manga and anime for decades to come? Maybe that will change your appreciation of the story, into taking it for what it is instead of comparing it to everything that came after and bit it.
Don't look at it compared to modern anime. Think about it as its own story. Is it as detailed of a fantasy world as Naruto? No. Are the fights animated with 2018 anime movie quality? No. Do the characters have depth to them beyond the page/screen? Maybe not. But it doesn't matter. What you need to know is in the story, and it's amazing when you think about the fact that this all came from one guy's pen, week-to-week. Toriyama would write, storyboard, pencil, and then get his assistant to ink DB chapters in the two or three days before the deadline, every week, for years and years.
It's an incredible work of art and I think your reading of it is somewhat off. Vegeta trying to be a better father after his attempt to save the world is constantly referenced in Super. Knowing who Krillin's mom and dad is is not going to make this a better story. But understanding that there was nothing like Dragon Ball in 1984 and that it set the stage for shounen manga and anime for decades to come? Maybe that will change your appreciation of the story, into taking it for what it is instead of comparing it to everything that came after and bit it.
It was about over the top fighting without a complex story so kids ate it up. It was my top anime in the mid nineties until I discovered more story based anime such as Gundam.
I honestly don't understand how you can watch/read the series and ask this question. The shit speaks for itself
As a kid, when anime still hadn't really come to the US, (back when WB aired the show and before cartoon network got the airing rights) I'd never seen a Saturday morning cartoon that looked like this before:
It was the most stylishly violent thing on TV for a young boy to watch. And in many ways, it still is.
It was the most stylishly violent thing on TV for a young boy to watch. And in many ways, it still is.
Dragon ball is a visceral experience unlike a lot of other shonen because it isn't trying to articulate much beyond sensations of intense hype and relatively simple struggles that come out through strong emotions. It is unburdened by complexity. It's what happens when power is all that matters and any ideal held submits to the intensities of pure confrontation between two opposing individuals, not sides of an ideology. It's only on the most recent iteration of dragon ball where ideology has seeped into the conflicts between characters, as with Jiren vs Goku. Before, the oppositions were for better or worse, simple - good vs evil.
Strictly speaking from a US perspective, anime still wasn't really hot at the time, at least not on TV. I'm talking about when Dragon Ball came on in the mid 90's, not the Toonami run, so there at least the "baby's first anime" explanation does make sense. Personally, it was the first serialized TV series I ever saw.
In a more general sense though you might have to separate OG Dragon Ball and Z. Original DB, aside from being one of the first mainstream anime in the US, was a pretty enjoyable adventure series at the time. Maybe that was the case for the original run in Japan too, maybe it really did codify a lot of modern shounen tropes.
Z on the other hand is just really good at hyping the audience. Someone in this thread said it was like 90's wrestling and I think that's a good comparison. A lot of shounen fight epics are like that, and I'd say DBZ is still one of the most energetic of those fight epics in how it looks. The story isn't complicated but the fights are still exciting.
In a more general sense though you might have to separate OG Dragon Ball and Z. Original DB, aside from being one of the first mainstream anime in the US, was a pretty enjoyable adventure series at the time. Maybe that was the case for the original run in Japan too, maybe it really did codify a lot of modern shounen tropes.
Z on the other hand is just really good at hyping the audience. Someone in this thread said it was like 90's wrestling and I think that's a good comparison. A lot of shounen fight epics are like that, and I'd say DBZ is still one of the most energetic of those fight epics in how it looks. The story isn't complicated but the fights are still exciting.
Don't know what it's like starting with Z arcs, but reading the manga from the beginning was a lot of fun especially when it was actually about the dragon balls. All the characters were super charming and funny while the action was pretty much like nothing that came before.
As a non-US citizen, it seems to be mainly an American thing. Likely due to Toonami and nostalgia. When you speak of Dragon Ball you also mainly talk about Z (or Super), not what came before. While I'm sure DB is popular globally, it is here in Sweden, I'm not sure if it's really such a HUGE thing?
You are living in the core of the planet is how under a rock your living conditions need to be to miss that shit.
The south american and european market is gigantic and rivals and maybe even eclipses the fandom it has in america. The crowds the DBZ Super finale drew in Latin american live viewings are a sight to behold
Yep, Dragon Ball is by far the most popular anime on the planet.
Because it's cool, has good fights, and has a distinct style. Simplicity mixed with enough strangeness to keep things interesting.
I don't think I made myself clear. DB is big - no doubt, in fact, it's likely the most widely recognized - but it's not like I see other countries constantly talk about it like I see Americans do.
Maybe you aren't speaking spanish, or german or other languages the anime is available in? What is this? You may be focused on american pop-culture because the whole world is a lot of the time but these countries you seem to be unaware of do in fact exist outside your active watch with their own pop-culture.
It's the underlying soul of the series combined with extremely distinct and appealing artwork from Toriyama. His world and character design is incredibly creative and has an immediate draw to it.
Meanwhile, while the storytelling isn't that good, the purpose behind it is always really satisfying. When he wants to do adventure, he creates whimsical and fantastic things, when he wants to do battle storylines, he plays up to the appeal of the growth through fighting and the escalation of power with the villains. When the escalation of power got to be too predictable and unsustainable he threw in other elements like time travel and the idea of the good guys being meant to lose.
It's very simple, but it's just good fun in a nice and pretty coat of paint. Like a really cool looking car that everybody wants to have that isn't a technical masterpiece, but runs well enough and will make people turn heads at it.
Meanwhile, while the storytelling isn't that good, the purpose behind it is always really satisfying. When he wants to do adventure, he creates whimsical and fantastic things, when he wants to do battle storylines, he plays up to the appeal of the growth through fighting and the escalation of power with the villains. When the escalation of power got to be too predictable and unsustainable he threw in other elements like time travel and the idea of the good guys being meant to lose.
It's very simple, but it's just good fun in a nice and pretty coat of paint. Like a really cool looking car that everybody wants to have that isn't a technical masterpiece, but runs well enough and will make people turn heads at it.
There's something inherently "cool" about Dragon Ball. Whether it's Dragon Ball and its big sprawling adventure comedy style or the high action of Dragon Ball Z, it's very easy to get caught up in the world and all that's going on in it. The characters aren't deep, but they're incredibly likable and Toriyama's designs are great.
For all it's anime weirdness, there's also something very familiar about Dragon Ball. It combines the best of martial arts movies, superheroes, and classic adventure stories in a way that many anime either don't manage to or don't care to. For all its flaws, I think Toriyama really understood the story he was trying to make and got the things that mattered right. Vegeta isn't the deepest character in the world, but his redemption arc still resonates. Freeza and Piccolo ain't exactly the kind of villains that win Oscars, but they serve their purpose and the moments they created were memorable. The fights are almost all the same - punch, kick, speedlines, beams - but they are layed out and written in a way that makes them exciting.
DB(Z) isn't going to win any awards, no. It doesn't even stand up to the obsessive pedantry that passes for criticism on the internet. But I think it deserves some degree of credit for how well it achieves what it sets out to do. Given that most anime that followed in its footsteps have failed utterly, and of those that didn't, only maybe 1 or 2 came close to it's level of acclaim or popularity, I think it's fair to say pulling off what Toriyama has is a great deal harder than it looks.
For all it's anime weirdness, there's also something very familiar about Dragon Ball. It combines the best of martial arts movies, superheroes, and classic adventure stories in a way that many anime either don't manage to or don't care to. For all its flaws, I think Toriyama really understood the story he was trying to make and got the things that mattered right. Vegeta isn't the deepest character in the world, but his redemption arc still resonates. Freeza and Piccolo ain't exactly the kind of villains that win Oscars, but they serve their purpose and the moments they created were memorable. The fights are almost all the same - punch, kick, speedlines, beams - but they are layed out and written in a way that makes them exciting.
DB(Z) isn't going to win any awards, no. It doesn't even stand up to the obsessive pedantry that passes for criticism on the internet. But I think it deserves some degree of credit for how well it achieves what it sets out to do. Given that most anime that followed in its footsteps have failed utterly, and of those that didn't, only maybe 1 or 2 came close to it's level of acclaim or popularity, I think it's fair to say pulling off what Toriyama has is a great deal harder than it looks.