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Dragon Ball > Dragon Ball Z

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Shun

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Yes, I know that they are the same continuity and that all of this is still just Dragon Ball. It's worded like this to help differentiate between the two.

I vastly prefer the original Dragon Ball series before the time skip and shift towards a battle manga/anime. I say this because A LOT of people have only experienced Dragon Ball Z and not the original Dragon Ball. I also feel like many people forget the original series and that it's overshadowed and overlooked compared to Dragon Ball Z.

I thought that the original Dragon Ball was much more charming in terms of the character personality and design, humor, and fight scenes than in Dragon Ball Z. Like Bulma looked much better in Dragon Ball and played a much bigger role in Dragon Ball than in Dragon Ball Z, where most of the original characters were cast off in favor of focusing on Saiyans and the new characters.

Dragon Ball Z had a lot of nice references and jokes that followers of the original Dragon Ball would get but they were mostly marginalized the entire time. Lunch, Pilaf, and several other characters were completely cast off and all the other humans were just replaced with Goku's family and Vegeta.

Goku and Bulma's years of friendship is portrayed constantly throughout Dragon Ball, yet in Dragon Ball Z it's much more subtle.

It was also paced a lot better in its arcs and it retained a much lighter and humorous tone compared to how serious Dragon Ball Z was. Goku patting everyone's crotch to find out if they were male or female was a pretty funny recurring joke. Chi Chi was also a much more likable character before she became a boring, overprotective mother.

Dragon Ball Z had better villains through Frieza and Cell but Dragon Ball had a better story throughout the Tenka'ichi Budokai Arcs, Red Ribbon Arc, and King Piccolo Arc.

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vs

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With that said, which one does GAF prefer?
 
My favorite Dragon Ball anything is the first arc of Dragon Ball. Back then it felt like an adventure story and much less of a fighting story. Of course the rest of the series has plenty of moments like that too, much less like DBZ where they spend a lot of time fighting. Not a big fan of fighting shows.
 
Aeana said:
My favorite Dragon Ball anything is the first arc of Dragon Ball. Back then it felt like an adventure story and much less of a fighting story. Of course the rest of the series has plenty of moments like that too, much less like DBZ where they spend a lot of time fighting. Not a big fan of fighting shows.
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Yeah, the first arc was the best. I liked the adventure parts of the series (First Arc, RRA, early Namek).
 
The problems in Dragonball always felt more grounded and simple. A fighting tournament here or a village needs help there. Z was always trying to up the danger of the universe each season to the point of cheapness.

I loved both, but Dragonball more.
 
Aeana said:
My favorite Dragon Ball anything is the first arc of Dragon Ball. Back then it felt like an adventure story and much less of a fighting story. Of course the rest of the series has plenty of moments like that too, much less like DBZ where they spend a lot of time fighting. Not a big fan of fighting shows.
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"I liked their old stuff".

What a hipster mod.
 
I watched Dragon Ball Z first, but I do have to agree with that. It actually retroactively left me with a worse impression about Dragon Ball Z (still like it, though) because Dragon Ball handled its cast so much better.

Also, I think her name is Launch, not Lunch.
 
Poltergust said:
I watched Dragon Ball Z first, but I do have to agree with that. It actually retroactively left me with a worse impression about Dragon Ball Z (still like it, though) because Dragon Ball handled its cast so much better.

Also, I think her name is Launch, not Lunch.
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It's Lunch, it was changed to Launch in the dub.
 
Brakke said:
"I liked their old stuff".

What a hipster mod.
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It's more accurate to say that I don't like shows where people stare at each other for multiple episodes talking about how they're charging up their power levels because I don't see how that's interesting to anybody.
 
The first Goku vs Tien fight is still the best battle in the entire series.

Aeana said:
It's more accurate to say that I don't like shows where people stare at each other for multiple episodes talking about how they're charging up their power levels because I don't see how that's interesting to anybody.
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I didn't even watch the Frieza saga until Kai, and that shit still felt insanely padded out.
 
In all honestly I don't remember DB much. I started out with Z and didn't get a chance to enjoy the original much at all.
 
Yeah, I'd have to agree with this. Loved the adventure aspect, and I didn't feel it lost too much even after Kuririn was killed and it gradually started becoming more fights, they at least were more coherent than DBZ's fights.

pfft, "hipster" .. that's cute
 
Prepare for a lot of "You nailed it, OP!", OP. :-P Dragon Ball is amazing. I never had the chance of seeing it start-to-finish until after I had seen Dragon Ball Z all the way through, unfortunately, but watching it from that perspective wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I think Dragon Ball manages to give the viewer that sense of adventure throughout the entire series (maybe less in some points than others, but still), whereas Dragon Ball Z loses that aspect of its charm after the Cell saga (or at least that's my understanding from my experience in discussing DBZ with other fans). To clarify: I love Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT. (You know, I actually enjoyed what I've seen of Kai quite a bit. Didn't think I would get into it, because the filler is what kept me tuning in as a kid, you know?) It's all good to me and am happy to watch any chapter of the series, anytime. Is there filler? Is some of it completely unnecessary? Would the world be a better place if the entire Dragon Ball story wrapped up after the Cell arc? Yeah, probably. But I wouldn't trade that roller coaster of a ride, known as Dragon Ball, for anything.
 
Love Deterrence said:
Prepare for a lot of "You nailed it, OP!", OP. :-P Dragon Ball is amazing. I never had the chance of seeing it start-to-finish until after I had seen Dragon Ball Z all the way through, unfortunately, but watching it from that perspective wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I think Dragon Ball manages to give the viewer that sense of adventure throughout the entire series (maybe less in some points than others, but still), whereas Dragon Ball Z loses that aspect of its charm after the Cell saga (or at least that's my understanding from my experience in discussing DBZ with other fans). To clarify: I love Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT. (You know, I actually enjoyed what I've seen of Kai quite a bit. Didn't think I would get into it, because the filler is what kept me tuning in as a kid, you know?) It's all good to me and am happy to watch any chapter of the series, anytime. Is there filler? Is some of it completely unnecessary? Would the world be a better place if the entire Dragon Ball story wrapped up after the Cell arc? Yeah, probably. But I wouldn't trade that roller coaster of a ride, known as Dragon Ball, for anything.
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I would say it lost it after the Freeza Arc. The Cell and Buu storylines barely had anything to do with the Dragon Balls, really.
 
I can't stand to watch either show, but I have a major soft spot for the manga. I agree, Dragon Ball is much better than Z.
 
abadguy said:
I actually saw DBZ first but i agree. Plus it was a time when Yamcha wasn't completely useless in every way.
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Didn't he still lose like all the major fights in that series, though?

Not even Krillin was that much of a jobber and (spoilers)
he DIES
lol.
 
You won't find many who disagree with you.

Dragon Ball was about adventure. Dragon Ball Z was about calculators.
 
Poltergust said:
Didn't he still lose like all the major fights in that series, though?

Not even Krillin was that much of a jobber lol.
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Yamcha did save Goku from Boss Rabbits Men when Boss Rabbit was holding Bulma as a hostage.

I think it was only Chaozu never to contribute anything to the series, ever. His first fight with Krillin was pretty cool though.
 
I like them about the same. Since they really are the same story (the manga had no "Z", it's just Dragon Ball from Jackie Chun to Majin Boo).

It's a shame that so many skip Dragon Ball for being too "light hearted" or "kiddy". The fights in that show are incredible. 21st and 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai and the Piccolo Daimao arcs are Dragon Ball at its best.

Also, dat fucking music.
 
Discoid said:
I can't stand to watch either show, but I have a major soft spot for the manga. I agree, Dragon Ball is much better than Z.
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How close does the db manga follow the show ? Is there a ton of left out or different content?
 
Discoid said:
I can't stand to watch either show, but I have a major soft spot for the manga. I agree, Dragon Ball is much better than Z.
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Anth0ny said:
I like them about the same. Since they really are the same story (the manga had no "Z", it's just Dragon Ball from Jackie Chun to Majin Boo).

It's a shame that so many skip Dragon Ball for being too "light hearted" or "kiddy". The fights in that show are incredible. 21st and 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai and the Piccolo Daimao arcs are Dragon Ball at its best.

Also, dat fucking music.
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I know, I grew up with the manga before the anime and I know that it's all just Dragon Ball. It's just like that to help people differentiate between the two for those who haven't followed the original or the manga.

I prefer the manga over the anime for the pre-time skip Dragon Ball arc, but overall I found both to be very entertaining.

There was just a charm that was lost in the transition to a battle manga and all the perverse and slapstick humor was just scrapped.
 
I've said this before but doesnt anyone else feel Demon King Piccolo was the most menacing villain in the whole series? (Z & GT included). Can't put my finger on why but dude was scary.
 
I think Dagon Ball was all about the story and characters and Dragon Ball Z was all about the fights. Sooo I prefer both.
 
Darth Zandatsu said:
While we are at it, what's GAF's opinion on DB Kai?
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Kai is thus far better than Z, but the Buu saga that is currently airing is a massive clusterfuck. Two versions were made, one for Japan and an extended version for international markets that's airing in South Korea right now and it's expected to run 20 episodes longer than the Japanese version.


Ahasverus said:
Not a very good transfer
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Eh, the transfer is quite good. It's a bit soft, but the colors are much better than on the level sets which suffer from crushed blacks.
 
DB over DBZ all day! Don't get me wrong, I like DBZ, just got tired of it basically being "if you ain't a Saiyan, you're fucked". DB was all about them learning different techniques and training for the martial arts tournament. Red Ribbon arc is still one of my faves.

DBZ over time just evolved to a bunch of screaming and grunting while powering up. I remember as a kid watching this on Toonami and my mom would say "why are they always screaming and moaning on that cartoon" lol.
 
I like DB more, but I like Goku's western dubbed animated SSJ3 transformation more than anything in the world.
 
Darth Zandatsu said:
While we are at it, what's GAF's opinion on DB Kai?
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The re-animated stuff is bad. The difference in animation within an episode (sometimes jumping between THREE completely different animation teams) is jarring as fuck. The score is meh. The voice actors aren't getting any younger, and some are gone :(

Overall, I think they should have just re-animated the entire show if they wanted to do DBZ with no filler. I prefer Z.
 
I much preferred the stuff when Goku was a kid - the first two tournies, red ribbon army, demon king piccolo, etc.

The adult stuff wasn't nearly as fun, Toriyama tried to bring it back a bit near the end with saiyaman and buu, but it wasn't as good.

I do rather like the god movie though, as it was more like the older stuff. The fighting was boring, but all the character interplay was hilarious.
 
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