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How/Why did Dragonball Z become so widely well known and popular in the West?

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davepoobond

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
I think It has to do with the content matter being not exclusively for children yet It was animated and interesting to watch.
 
N

NoctisVsStar

Member
DBZ, sailor moon and saint seiya were the top 3 anime series during the 90's. Correction saint seiya exploded in Europe and Latin America it's a shame that it didn't got it's due in America and many associate it with that Mexican loving anime.

Ranma1/2 gets a special mention also
 
Big Chungus

Big Chungus

Member
Does anyone remember when it was on FOX in late 96?

It was on a FOX station in Rochester at like 5am...this was before it became super popular on Cartoon Network.
 
D

Desi

Member
I remember sailor moon, dragon ball, and zombie soccer all showing before I went to school. DBZ came on later I think.
 
R

Romars202129

Member
It was so much more violent than normal cartoons, and the animation really showed the difference between american and japanese animation. I mean, DBZ was rough in a lot of ways, but the animators techniques in bringing across speed, and movement was far ahead of what was around at the time. And the characters really broke the rather tropey western super hero mold...
Goku was so different from the likes of Superman and Batman ect, and Gohan who actually did most the heroing was even stranger. And fricken Vegeta...
Let's not forget the shock factor. DBZ might have been the first piece of media I ever saw a character murdered in, let alone in a cartoon. And especially in such brutal detail. The idea Vegeta, a sociopathic and unabashed mass murderer, being one of the good guys still makes my head spin... I can't believe they got this show past US censors [the show could also probably thank cable TV and it's looser restrictions too, which blew up at about the same time]
Plus, Japanese stuff in general was blowing up at the time in the US, so it was definitely the right time for it.
 
R

Romars202129

Member
fna84 said:
Does anyone remember when it was on FOX in late 96?

It was on a FOX station in Rochester at like 5am...this was before it became super popular on Cartoon Network.
Click to expand...

I remember dragon ball was on WB before DBZ debuted on CN, but I believe it did not last long at all.
 
E

Effect

Member
Eidan said:
Before Toonami the show ran in syndication, but stopped halfway through the Freeza saga. I remember Toonami running new episodes being a big deal back in the day.
Click to expand...

Z-Day and the countdown to it. It really was a big deal after watching the same episodes over and over again either in syndication or on Cartoon Network. I remember being so hyped for that and it delivering as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vnNgUn1ynU - Promo 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZnovlOA6_8 - Promo 2

I think it got as popular as it did was because there really wasn't anything like it on TV at the time animation wise. It was outright action, martial arts, a good variety of characters you could like and hate, and it just kept escalating. It being non-episodic done in one episode was something I always felt played a big part. It was believed, and perhaps still is, that serialized shows for kids wouldn't work. I think Dragon Ball Z proved it did, especially if you provided enough recaps as to what happen the last episode. The show also was airing on TV, in the early days before Cartoon Network, when Power Rangers took off. The shows had similarity and you would watch one in the morning, at least it was morning for me in NYC (WPIX I think), and then the other when I got home from school. It really was the closest counterpart to it but was more monster of the week.

The show just really had the right mix of all it's elements that just somehow clicked with people (kids and some adults). It's not just the west but in Japan and other parts of the world as well. It got popular no matter where it was for a time. That's really unique.
 
M

MikeMyers

Member
It was pretty damn unique to what else was airing on Cartoon Network on the time.

That, and it's entertaining to watch. Silly, but entertaining.
 
I

isamu

OMFG HOLY MOTHER OF MARY IN HEAVEN I CANT BELIEVE IT WTF WHERE ARE MY SEDATIVES AAAAHHH
Vizantir said:
This has kinda had me perplexed. Recently, I figured out that anime DID exist in the US prior to Toonami (kind of expected, but eh, you learn something new everyday), but it wasn't even close to the quantities we have now.

Then in the late 90s, Dragonball Z hits the airways. Then suddenly, everything just exploded and grew a part of just about every guy/girl in their twenties childhood.

I remember EVERYONE knowing what it was, even some adults! Kids were doing Kamehamehas or play fighting, role playing as well.

Just…why? I don't get it. What made DBZ explode in popularity and into the mainstream that other shows(anime or western, otherwise) have tried (and completely failed) to replicate?
Click to expand...

I really don't know how to respond to this post. I can't gauge whether you are trolling, or are genuinely curious about this.

All I can say, is that if you've sat down and watched DBZ in its entirety, you would know the answer.

I have been watching anime for decades and was a huge fan of all kinds of shows before I discovered DBZ on Cartoon Netowrk. Suffice it to say, it's now my favorite anime show of ALL time! Period. Nothing comes close. I have seen zillions of anime, and DBZ remains the Crem De La Crem. It's literally the definition of PERFECT, and its popularity in the US should come as NO surprise to anyone that has seen it.
 
Y

Yuripaw

Banned
donkey show said:
NewBlackDragonBallClubShirt05.jpg
Click to expand...

I don't have this shirt specifically...but I totally have 2 shirts like this in a clothing box in the basement. I thought these were kinda cool =/ They were also sooo comfy.
 
E

Ecotic

Member
Looking back, America sure was susceptible to Japanese culture in the 90's. Anime, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Tamagotchi, Pokemon, other stuff.
 
V

Village

Member
Toonami

After school and on saturdays, surrounded by other cool anime.
Video games, hit right before the super boom of the web. Thazzit.
 
T

TheWraith

Member
Vizantir said:
This has kinda had me perplexed. Recently, I figured out that anime DID exist in the US prior to Toonami (kind of expected, but eh, you learn something new everyday), but it wasn't even close to the quantities we have now.

Then in the late 90s, Dragonball Z hits the airways. Then suddenly, everything just exploded and grew a part of just about every guy/girl in their twenties childhood.
Click to expand...

To the rest of the world however it is amazing how Dragonball Z only hit the US so late in the late '90s, while it already was crazy popular in the late 80's in Europe, South America and other parts of the western world. It seems most US DBZ fans including the OP don't realize this at all.
 
J

JCX

Member
Toonami is the only answer. I know other places showed it to, but not on such a big kid-centric platform. I'd go as far too say that Toonami is responsible for much of anime's popularity in the west.
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
Wait, are some of you seriously arguing that one of the reasons people were drawn into DBZ was cause of Faulconer's soundtrack? Uh, LOL?


To answer the op's question, timing was definitely a part of it. DBZ was originally exiled to a shitty time slot early in the morning making sure no one would ever watch it. Somehow, Funimation was able to strike a deal with Cartoon Network to start airing it on a non-shitty time slot (right after school). The anime wave was just building up and DBZ helped contribute to that massively.

The show had fight scenes with super powered beings that most people were never exposed to during that time, and while the animation wasn't always too hot, the fight scenes were almost always done exceptionally well. Basically, it was pretty fucking cool.

My very first experience with the show was the episode when Gohan makes friends with that stupid dinosaur who ends up getting eaten at the end (serves him right). I wasn't too excited about it, until I saw Goku, and my mind was blown: "HOLY SHIT, IT'S MEGA MAN!". As lame as that may sound, that was enough of a reason for me to continue watching the show.

However, I didn't watch it continuously at first. In fact, after that episode I just mentioned, I didn't see another episode until they were at the point where Krillin and crew (and Vegeta) were on Namek. The episode in particular was when Vegeta killed Cui. Now THAT episode pretty much changed everything for me. Part of it was cause of the crazy powers, part of it was the brutality, and part of it was cause Brian Drummond fucking ROCKED as Vegeta. Shit turned pretty exciting real fast and I started religously watching ever since.

DBZ was extremely lucky it got that second chance because it completely revitalized interest in the show, and by the time Funimation released their newly dubbed episodes, it became the most popular anime in the country (which was actually very disappointing cause it was also one of the worst produced shows I'd ever seen in my life). I don't think I can think of any other T.V. series that was practically moribund at one point, only to come surging back later on the way DBZ did.

As far as the music goes. Shuki Levy >>>>>> UK/Canadian dub > >>>Kikuchi >>>>>>>people who play piano with their face >>>>>>>> Bruce Faulconer


Tell me how you can't love this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGRXpryKoek
(gets real good at 1:13)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IbmTfRvcTfE#t=269

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy_Y-xHgDUU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOhSieRZI38


<3
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Ecotic said:
Looking back, America sure was susceptible to Japanese culture in the 90's. Anime, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Tamagotchi, Pokemon, other stuff.
Click to expand...
It's funny because at the turn of the 90s, Japanese stuff was still better left disguised with western art. Anime was a foreign and kind of distasteful style for American kids. But as that decade progressed it became red hot. I think all these popular Japanese things fed off each other and it became the zeitgeist of cool.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Ecotic said:
Looking back, America sure was susceptible to Japanese culture in the 90's. Anime, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Tamagotchi, Pokemon, other stuff.
Click to expand...

Japan just went in a direction that most people outside of Japan simply couldn't relate with. The robot and super power anime of the 80s and 90s had huge appeal in the west. Even stuff like Naruto and Bleach still gained some attraction. These days, though, it's all a bunch of bullshit. The hard turn into pedophilia territory with that "moe" garbage, and the focus on rounder, softer, less detailed art styles really turned off most of the world.
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
BocoDragon said:
It's funny because at the turn of the 90s, Japanese stuff was still better left disguised with western art. Anime was a foreign and kind of distasteful style for American kids. But as that decade progressed it became red hot. I think all these popular Japanese things fed off each other and it became the zeitgeist of cool.
Click to expand...

I remember catching an episode of Ronin Warriors in the morning and was pretty horrified by it. It was one of my first experiences with anime.
 
P

Pandacon

Member
Well, I remember that time pretty well. Around 1990, when I was a kid, I was getting into anime, renting stuff from blockbuster, some stuff shown on Sci-Fi channel, even at the Asian Art Museum they screened some anime movies. I loved anime, it was different I guess, they just did stuff I thought was cool. I remember growing up, hearing about dragonball, my brother would pick up some untranslated DBZ movies that popped up in Japantown. I remember chinese kids at my school talking about the show, since it came out there long before it came here.

I thought it was never gonna get an english release. This was before fansubs were widely available. I remember the first 13 episodes of Dragonball airing, they were nothing I expected, since it was very far away from the fighting anime DBZ turned into. It was cancelled.

Then DBZ finally started airing on TV. I was surprised how much it took interest in American audiences. People I knew that never watched anime loved the show. It was great as a fan of anime to see this happen. DBZ and Pokemon really pushed a wider american interest in anime.

Why? I dunno, maybe it was just being a simple fight anime made it easy for people to get into, like watching wrestling or something. A lot of anime shows try to be to psychological, which I think holds them back. DragonballZ was a rather simple superhero good guys vs bad guys show, and they way they showed the fighting I think was rather unique for the American audiences.
 
B

Black-Wind

Member
Visceral screaming, lots of explosions, ACTUAL fighting that looked like it had some thought put into it (well, sometimes ...) and the sound track.


Took ever lil Japan animation trick that they use to get attention and rolled it into one package for lil boys who had never seen such violence.
 
T

The Silver

Member
Oblivion said:
Wait, are some of you seriously arguing that one of the reasons people were drawn into DBZ was cause of Faulconer's soundtrack? Uh, LOL?
Click to expand...

um yes, very much so.

That soundtrack changed the tone of the series into a hardcore super serious action show which really resonated with kids(myself included) back then, that's on top of it being very memorable in its own right.
 
K

Kyne

Member
Crewnh said:
Because there wasn't anything quite like it on tv at the time. When it first started airing on ytv, the only other anime we had here was Sailor Moon.
Click to expand...

This. Anime was such a rarity. I even started watching Anime by watching sailor moon because it was so.... mature? It was real people in cartoon form that wasn't Disney.

When Dbz hit it was everything that every boy wanted. Cool characters, music, action. It was something that literally captured the hearts of every teen male alive, because that's exactly what it was aimed to do.
 
C

caffeware

Banned
dbz was serious business. the fights were brutal and the bad guys were a true menace. unlike the bad guys in shows like thundercats or he-man.

this characters lost limbs and were angry.
there also was some BLOOD; in a cartoon.

also, at that time the Japanese anime craze was starting to take place.
i would pay overpriced vhs with random episodes, some with no subtitles, just so i could see this new cartoons from japan 'made for adults'.
then the new millennia started and everything went to shit.
 
L

lamaroo

Unconfirmed Member
Man, I couldn't imagine watching a show now that kept restarting at random points.

I actually remember where I was when I heard they were finally playing new episodes, and I barely remember anything from my childhood. Dat Future Trunks.
 
C

Cipherr

Member
NotMyRealName said:
It involved big muscly guys flying through the fuckin air, while shooting energy beams out of their hands, and beating up aliens and robots. Also, every episode didn't end with some lame lesson about friendship and/or responsibility. Its like a preteen boys wet dream.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this. It put the bullseye on stuff that will catch preteen males attention. Fighting, explosions, rivalries, transformations and loud screaming and whatnot.
 
C

Chuck Norris

Banned
Aaron Strife said:
Actually DBZ ran in syndication in 96. It didn't hit it big until it went to Toonami though, which happened around when Pokemon premiered.

I don't think Pokemon or DBZ would have done nearly as well in America if they were ran weekly like in Japan. I don't think the average American kid's attention span would hold for that.
Click to expand...
Hmm I remember catching on to it pretty early like Snake way episodes. But I couldn't say for sure if they were repeats

Being a daily show would have helped a lot too, I agree
 
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