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[Boss Doggie]

I am not sure how you guys got the show but here we started with Dragon Ball and progressed properly to Z. I heard in US Z was the first one, so I wondered how people magically know the cast or something, or do they treat Dragon Ball as some "episode 0" or a prequel anime.

I like DB for sure though.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Most people in the United States started with Z. Like by a huge margin. You never really hear people talking about Dragon ball. But I caught an episode of Z on Nick Toons a few hours ago...

I started watching Z when I was maybe like 10 or 11. The character relationships never really confused me much. Maybe how bad Piccolo used to be, but they alluded to some stuff and there were a few flashbacks. I kinda just took it as it was.

 

[MaverickHunterX]

If I'm correct, it was syndicated and heavily edited. Ditto went for sailor moon and ronin warriors

 

[ag-my001]

Never caught on with syndication, really. Or as Abridged put it, "no one watched Dragonball".

 

[grebby]

I'm not sure, I did watch Z first but I have seen every episode of Dragonball and I adore it. In some respects I like it more than Z. Love the intro for Dragonball.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Never caught on with syndication, really. Or as Abridged put it, "no one watched Dragonball".

Awww.

I guess people would be turned off on how it's more adventure-centric than focused on fighting and Saiyans.

 

[Steelrain]

Most people I know who grew up watching Z thought Dragonball was boring. And didn't like the animation as much.

 

[Hsieh]

It was basically treated like a prequel. The original 13 episodes aired before Z, but the ratings were low and the series got cancelled. Funimation decided to skip the rest of the original series and go straight to Z. Much later after several season of Z had already been broadcast, they went back and redubbed the original series and advertised it as a prequel to Z. They did manage to dub and broadcast the entire original series eventaully.

 

[jaxword]

Poorly, because it was compared to the more exciting Dragonball Z.

By the time it was finally translated (and censored) it was far, far behind American animation in quality and in writing.

Your average DBZ fan wanted more DBZ, not fart jokes.

 

[zoukka]

Dragonball manga was where it was at. It's actually Z where everything turns to shit.

 

[shira]

There was various censoring standards.

 

[Boss Doggie]

The animation is kinda expected, but at least Krillin looking like Krillin makes more sense. And Yamcha wasn't a loser. And Tien Shinhan wasn't a loser.

 

[Volimar]

Awww.

I guess people would be turned off on how it's more adventure-centric than focused on fighting and Saiyans.

Also....Goku eats wolves in that show...

 

[Boss Doggie]

Also....Goku eats wolves in that show...

What doesn't Goku eat? I mean the guy cooks dinosaurs!

 

[jaxword]

We should get all Dragonball Fans together to buy American rights to Dragonball and make an America-animated series. It'd sell.

 

[ChackanKun]

Well, the original DB was very good but Z was spot-on! Portugal went crazy when it first aired! I can imagine that having seen DBZ first DB has very little impact, compared to if it was shown before DBZ.

 

[javac]

Dragon ball is a lot better, story and art wise. DBZ was just a lot cooler.

Spoiler

Frieza saga is the best ever.

 

[Darryl]

I just sorta hopped into Z at a random point and figured the plot out myself. I'm pretty sure this is how most people did it. I found the original series airing on TV much later and I did like it, although the entire plotline is really confusing. I still don't know the story to this day.

 

[jaxword]

I just sorta hopped into Z at a random point and figured the plot out myself. I'm pretty sure this is how most people did it. I found the original series airing on TV much later and I did like it, although the entire plotline is really confusing. I still don't know the story to this day.

You gotta get on that, son.

 

[BocoDragon]

Here in Canada, Dragon Ball was on a few years before Z in the mid-90s.

I loved it a lot! To this day I think I liked it more than Z. It was the anime equivalent of a fun, lighthearted RPG.

 

[wenis]

There was some stuff in DB that bored me as a kid (Goku's war with the different colored armies) and still bores me now (Goku's first few times he changes at full moon) but I enjoyed it mostly. Especially since my mom said I looked like him with my hair and round face.

 

[BadAss2961]

I first got hooked on Z through a music video mix on the internet. I then decided to hunt down every episode of the series, starting with Dragonball, and went from there... It wasn't long before I ended up with every episode.

It was definitely all about DBZ in the US. It was mostly the diehard fans that were into DB as well.

 

[Eusis]

When I was in fifth grade I caught season 1 of Dragon Ball as a fluke, but they seemed to just loop it. I recognized it thanks to Nintendo Power's import features and maybe some issues of EGM I got, so I wanted to follow it.

In sixth grade they jumped to the start of DBZ. So I was familiar with the universe, but there was just this abrupt leap ahead, and I didn't know who Krillin was or where Piccolo came from, and why Yamcha didn't matter anymore despite being one of the major characters in that first season of Dragon Ball.

 

[BocoDragon]

It was definitely all about DBZ in the US. It was mostly the diehard fans that were into DB as well.

In Canada and for my generation, it felt like the opposite.... a few years of DB original, then a looping first season of DBZ for a year or two.... by the time the rest of the episodes showed up, I was really too old to indulge in the way that a child should. I definitely have more of an affinity with the original than Z.

 

[katsubento]

Saw Dragonball before Z. Both before it came to the US dubbed. Subbed Dragonball was awesome. I understand why they went to Z in the US though since I doubt people would have waited years to see Goku grow up and start fighting full on which is what they wanted to sell here.

 

[Papercuts]

I somehow watched Dragonball first, while seeing a couple random episodes of Z(which confused me like crazy). DB didn't seem to air that much so I would say I got lucky that I caught it all, because it was not hard to catch Z on a rerun and watch it through to the end as well.

It has been a loooong time since then so I don't know how it holds up, but I remember liking it a lot.

 

[Wiseblade]

The animation is kinda expected, but at least Krillin looking like Krillin makes more sense. And Yamcha wasn't a loser. And Tien Shinhan wasn't a loser.

Yamcha was kind of a loser in Dragon Ball. He never got past the Quarter finals of a World Martial arts tournament and was the first jobber of the series.

 

[Eusis]

I mainly lost interest because i started discovering more anime (EVANGELION), and became a bit of a snob as a result. I'd probably actually enjoy it now (though maybe not like if I somehow could've somehow steamrolled through when I was 12) though I'd probably prefer to just go through in Manga and Kai form. Actually a lot of this shonen stuff just works better in manga form versus the anime as you can just zoom through a chapter unlike a TV episode. Maybe if they did these series once the manga was done and kept it concise like Kai did through editing it'd be a very different story.

I also knew there was more DB because of seeing cassettes that were slices from further in the series, just that they went "well fuck it" and skipped ahead for the more popular DBZ. It's still something of a mystery, though I caught some DB episodes and filled in the gaps some IE where Piccolo came from.

 

[akira28]

I thought it was ok. Lightyears better than Z.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

Saban and Funimation tried translating it first, and heavily censored it, but only got to the end of the first arc before scrapping it in favor of DBZ. I remember there being a lot of VHS tapes of that first dub at my local dollar store over a decade after it was made. Sometime after Funi took over dubbing the show themselves they started making a less censored dub and airing it on Toonami alongside DBZ. It wasn't as well received as DBZ, but it was still popular enough to complete it's run, unlike the original Gundam series.

 

[f0lken]

I loved it, even more than Z (The Frieza saga is the best DB ever, but the rest of Z doesn't get even close to the original), the fight were better because they involved more than just kamehame has and spamming projectiles, the tournaments were better and far more exiting than the ones in Z, Muten Roshi vs Ten Shin Han, Kamisama vs Piccolo, Goku vs Ten Shin Han were super B fights. Even Chaos vs Krilin had a good fight.

 

[Volimar]

I liked how Goku learned the kamehameha in like a day.

Also wishes for panties.

 

[akira28]

Panties, plus first time I ever saw a girl pee on tv. Bulma. I was...intrigued?

 

[-tetsuo-]

No super sayains, no deal.

 

[Soodanim]

I only watched DB/Z for the first time a year or two ago, and I started from the beginning. I prefer DB to Z, because it wasn't just about power the whole time. After the time as a young kid, he

Spoiler

does his training with Kami

, and after

Spoiler

defeating Picollo

is the strongest on the planet. It ends by setting up Z, which should really have ended with Super Saiyan Goku or Gohan surpassing his father after Cell. Z would have been better as the bonus instead of DB being treated as the prequel.

 

[zoukka]

Panties, plus first time I ever saw a girl pee on tv. Bulma. I was...intrigued?

They released uncensored dragonball manga's here in Finland but removed them quickly after angry parents sent hatemail to the publisher. The uncensored books quickly became valuable.

 

[The Return of]

Saban and Funimation tried translating it first, and heavily censored it, but only got to the end of the first arc before scrapping it in favor of DBZ. I remember there being a lot of VHS tapes of that first dub at my local dollar store over a decade after it was made. Sometime after Funi took over dubbing the show themselves they started making a less censored dub and airing it on Toonami alongside DBZ. It wasn't as well received as DBZ, but it was still popular enough to complete it's run, unlike the original Gundam series.

The original Gundam wasn't canceled because of views...

 

[Boss Doggie]

Yamcha was kind of a loser in Dragon Ball. He never got past the Quarter finals of a World Martial arts tournament and was the first jobber of the series.

I thought he was still capable of clearing mooks. And hey, at least he knows kamehameha too.

I just sorta hopped into Z at a random point and figured the plot out myself. I'm pretty sure this is how most people did it. I found the original series airing on TV much later and I did like it, although the entire plotline is really confusing. I still don't know the story to this day.

I thought it was sorta straight forward.

With that said, what the hell is Pilaf

 

[Prophet Steve]

Not in the US, but as Dragon Ball Z came to Europe presumably after it got popular in the US, we only got the Z series and never gotten the original Dragon Ball. I did watch the series later though and really enjoyed it even when it felt very different to Dragon Ball Z. I don't know which series I like more, putting nostalgia aside, since they feel so different.

 

[jaxword]

With that said, what the hell is Pilaf

What was Garlic?

Little goblins were a part of the DB Earth.

 

[luso]

Well, the original DB was very good but Z was spot-on! Portugal went crazy when it first aired! I can imagine that having seen DBZ first DB has very little impact, compared to if it was shown before DBZ.

While DBZ was a bigger success, it really started because of original DB was aired before. Not saying that people wouldn't follow it anyway but when DBZ aired it had already a big fan base.

I started watching DB from the very first episodes, aired weekdays afternoon on a private TV channel (SIC), it started with little fanfare and promotions, but soon I and colleagues started to talk about it and everyone started to follow it. It was a novelty back then to see such animation on TV.
By the way, DB was based on the french version so it had some editing, and probably because of that Portuguese dub took of most of the raunchy dialogue (although it showed Gohan tapping Bulma panties in one of the first episodes).

DBZ had a bigger impact because there was bigger announcements and the merchandising really took off.

 

[SamVimes]

It was better than Z in every single way.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

I love original Dragonball. It's available on DVD here, but I think that 90% of the interest in it stems from people who started with Z.

 

[Chibrou]

Not in the US, but as Dragon Ball Z came to Europe presumably after it got popular in the US, we only got the Z series and never gotten the original Dragon Ball. I did watch the series later though and really enjoyed it even when it felt very different to Dragon Ball Z. I don't know which series I like more, putting nostalgia aside, since they feel so different.

Not in France, I was watching DB as a kid (i'm 34) and after that, it has been followed by Z. First DB episode aired in 1988 in the most popular kid show.

 

[Darklord]

I remember it never came to Australia TV or at least like DBZ was in the morning. Apparently it was too much for a kids G rating.

 

[MarkusRJR]

I started with DBZ, but around the time the Saiyan saga ended they started airing DB episodes. I ended up catching up on the first few arcs of DB and got to the point where Piccolo was introduced. I never did watch the entirety of the series though. Is it worthwhile to go back and watch Dragon Ball or does it not hold up? I went to rewatch DBZ and found it near unwatchable.

 

[Prophet Steve]

I started with DBZ, but around the time the Saiyan saga ended they started airing DB episodes. I ended up catching up on the first few arcs of DB and got to the point where Piccolo was introduced. I never did watch the entirety of the series though. Is it worthwhile to go back and watch Dragon Ball or does it not hold up? I went to rewatch DBZ and found it near unwatchable.

I'd say it holds up, it is a very different kind of series and the fights are less drawn out.

 

[Boss Doggie]

What was Garlic?

Little goblins were a part of the DB Earth.

Wait, they're of the same race?

 

[Visceir]

Not in the US, but as Dragon Ball Z came to Europe presumably after it got popular in the US, we only got the Z series and never gotten the original Dragon Ball. I did watch the series later though and really enjoyed it even when it felt very different to Dragon Ball Z. I don't know which series I like more, putting nostalgia aside, since they feel so different.

Actually they aired Dragonball on german tv channels. Don't think I've seen all of Dragonball as they mainly aired the latter episodes of it where the main focus was on the tournaments and Piccolo.

I used to love it and even though I haven't seen it in a long time I still prefer it to Dragonball Z.

I'd say it holds up, it is a very different kind of series and the fights are less drawn out.

The tournament episodes had lots of fighting.

Son Goku vs. Tien finale fight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtqlZfu0Nc

 

[Wiseblade]

I thought he was still capable of clearing mooks. And hey, at least he knows kamehameha too.

Except he never fought any mooks. Like, that Saibaman was the first time, and we all know how well that went.