Dragon Ball Z

I'm a late blooming DBZ fan, but I've already seen almost the entire series! LOL! I will tell you the story of how I became a die-hard fan, and why you'll be VERY sorry if you haven't already!

It was around the year 1999 that I first came across DBZ. I think the Namek saga was airing on Cartoon Network. My friend was big on the show (though he had very little knowledge of it's origins) and forced me to watch it myself. I made fun of the show every-time he watched it. I thought it was corny, cheesy and the voice-acting was stupid.

HOWEVER, somewhere along the way in the summer of 2001 he told me they were re-airing the Android saga on CN. Well, I started the old usual comments, making fun of it. But then.. I actually became interested in the story. After a few episodes, I was hooked. You see, the story of Dragonball is more than you think. It covers over 500 episodes in it's entire run over three different animated series.

I began watching with the Android/Cell sagas. I watched them to the end and then watched the Frieza saga. Then I watched the Saiyan and Namek Saga. Now here we are today at the Buu saga. What better time to become a DBZ fan than now! The last 54 episodes of the show will air this fall, and that's something NOT to be missed.

The show never has an ending to a story. It's a continous "to be continued" storyline that grows and grows. Characters have time to develop into interesting relationships among them, making moments where someone dies or is hurt even more emotional.

It tells the story of Goku (son Goku in Japan) who is an incredible man born with an amazing fighting talent. His strength never ceases and he becomes stronger and stronger. He is kind and pure of heart.. a friend to even his enemies at times. He is the central point of DBZ, but not the only point.

Throughout the series, he learns of his Saiyan heritage, finding that he was born of an alien human-like race that has an ability to concentrate energy called Kai (or ki) to create energy blasts, fly, etc. They are born with a natural instinct to fight, and conquer entire planets to sale to the highest bidder.

That is only the beginning of DBZ, there are 200 episodes or so of a previous series called Dragonball that explain Goku's childhood-into-adult hood. DBZ covers him from his early twenties or so all the way until he's over 50 years old.

The show has sparked 13 movies and two specials.. and much more. Some of the movies are dubbed in english, while others are only available in Japanese subtitled versions.

ANYWAY, this show is specatacular, and takes forever to explain every aspect of the storyline. The ORIGINAL Japanese version has much better music and voice acting, I'll admit. And the English versions (at least early episodes) were edited to death, the show still holds what makes it magic.

The beginning of the series will re-air on Cartoon Network as of May 2002. I suggest you begin watching. Do NOT let the animation, or the voice-acting, or bad editing of this first saga shake you away. The show takes time to understand and become interested in, but once your there, you'll be hooked.

There are over 290 episodes of DBZ, and the animation gets much better, as does the storyline. Just keep watching, trust me... your gonna love it!

This won't give you the best impression the first time you see it but it just keeps getting better and better and can eventually become dangerously addictive. It takes action and story to all new levels. A lot of the dialog actually does make sense even if sometimes cliché'd. This is actually one of the few shows that is actually worthy of all the hype and popularity surrounding it. Although it may drag a lot, and the characters spend a lot of time staring at each other, what eventually happens at the end makes up for the waiting. I've only seen this up to the end of the freiza saga and that saga was slightly less impressive than the former few sagas. As the sagas progress, you'd better start seeing the uncut versions instead.

"Dragonball Z" wasn't the first anime I got introduced to. But is the first series that made an impact on me. I never could have dreamed that a cartoon with (what seemed like) so many goofy characters could move me so much. The first thing that I noticed that was so different from other shows were the epic battles. It took several episodes for a battle to finish. When I saw the battle between Goku and Frieza on Cartoon Network I got hooked immediately. At that time there wasn't a show that was as exciting as "Dragonball Z". This was a show that had great action,a lot of comedy and even drama. "Dragonball Z was full of surprises and you didn't know what to expect. OK,after a few seasons the story may got predictable but it still had the best action ever seen in a cartoon. But the most important thing as should be in every show were the characters. Even the most clumsy and useless characters managed to do something that made you care for them. I have re watched some episodes and they still are very effective and exciting. "Dragonball Z" is here to stay forever,a true classic!

This was a childhood favourite of mine. Even as a child I found it much better than Pokemon and Beyblade, both of which I found predictable and repetitive, and I still do. Along with Avatar:The Last Airbender, Dragonball Z is one of the most creative, coolest and most epic cartoon series I have had the fortune to see.

The animation is really quite impressive, and doesn't show its age. The backgrounds have an ethereal quality to them, the colours are eye-popping with unique shades to them and the character designs are impressive too. Also the visual effects are very, very good and enhance rather than distract, and there is some great-looking animation in the well choreographed fight sequences.

The music is another strong asset. Not just the iconic theme tune, but the background music fits perfectly. The stories have outstanding ideas and mature themes and any conflict is done in a resourceful and compelling way. The writing is also excellent and induces thought, the characters are immensely likable with great personalities and the voice acting fits the characters perfectly.

To cut a long story short, this series is really quite wonderful. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This anime cartoon in my opinion, is better than any other cartoon I seen. I still watch it whenever I get the chance to. It's character development and the plots of the whole DBZ story is superb, the animation is full of action, and every ending of an episode leaves you wondering what may happen next. It also contains a bit of humor as well as subplots. When I first seen it in 1996, I was overwhelmed at how much action and comedy was fit into one anime series. I found Goku and Vegeta to be serious but a bit funny in between, and the roles of Gohan and Piccolo weren't shabby either. It has a whole saga inside which makes it worth watching.

Overall, I watched this cartoon more than all the other cartoons put together. I like it even better than Inuyasha, which is also good. My favorite episode is when Goku finally becomes a Super Saiyen, and Frieza later gets cut in half by a flying disk. You may have to watch this series from the beginning to get the full meaning of the story and what is going on, but if you see this on Cartoon Network or any other channel, watch it! Don't miss out! It is definitely worth seeing for the eye.