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It's coming to the states and I am super excited. I've already seen the movie in Japanese but I like the English voices for most of the characters better and DBZ is about the best thing animated to ever hit theaters. I wanna see it so bad.
DBZ Battle of the Gods
It's coming to the states and I am super excited. I've already seen the movie in Japanese but I like the English voices for most of the characters better and DBZ is about the best thing animated to ever hit theaters. I wanna see it so bad.
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I only recently got into the Dragon Ball manga. I'm not sure why I started reading that first issue online but almost immediately I realized, yeah, this is really fun, there is a reason this is a big deal. A moment I loved is where Goku and Kuririn are training with Kame-Sennin with turtle shells on their back, and when they remove the shells the impact of the change in weight is so dramatic they can leap meters into the air. Another is where Kame-Sennin is fighting against Goku in disguise at a tournament to teach him a lesson about complacency and dedication, and you kind of want Goku to win because he is the main character, and you kind of want him to lose so he learns this important lesson, and that tension makes it a really great battle. Or where Kame-Sennin defeats a reverse werewolf by polishing Kuririn's round head so it looks like the moon. It has a actual story with goals and characters, but everything, the characters, the fights, the rules of the world, are portrayed in such a ridiculous, unique, comical twist — it straddles a line between comedy and epic. Really great fun.
Okay, now we get to Dragon Ball Z (no division in the Japanese original, it was all just one continuous manga, but the American tradition adds a Z to the name after one of the time jumps). There is less sense of adventure, less character development, less humour, and arcs drag on longer in the same locations. It immediately gets kinda hokey by introducing the scouter, a device that summarizes the power of a thing in a number: the infamous "power level". After the Piccolo arc where Goku has been tutored by God, defeated the Devil and become the most powerful martial artist on earth — every other friend he has traveled and fought with is literally insignificant comparison — has a power level of about 300. The newest adversary I think has a power level of over 1000. From here Dragon Balls unique brand of martial arts madness devolves into the power level olympics. Every other page power levels sky rocket to previously unheard of heights. Soon Goku is shocking the most powerful Saiyan's on earth with his power level of "OVER 8000!", and soon even that extreme is rendered pathetic by the almighty power of Frieza, who transforms three times in a row to increasingly absurd power levels. They are barely exchanging blows at this point, just shouting about power levels and how this power level might beat that power level if we combine power levels or what if we increase our power level by what-the-****-ever. I stopped reading shortly after Goku turns Super Saiyan for the first time (it only took three-hundred-and-thirty chapters for this iconic series move to make an appearance!), at which point I think Frieza had a power level of over 1,000,000, and Goku had just wrecked his **** with one attack. Didn't Vegeta have planet destroying abilities at a power level of a few thousand? Piccolo was decimating cities without batting an eyelid at a power level of a few hundred. The fights were still fun, the drawings were filled with energy, but the story and creativity had taken a nose dive. A lot of creativity had gone from the training and fights. The creative turtle shell thing is recycled in other weight training exercises (a planet with increased gravity for example), mostly the same moves are used. Then a new mechanic is introduced that says every time a Saiyan is close to death, his power level permanently increases. This makes no sense and is just another excuse to play power level 1-uppery.
I'll say that the Saiyan arc is fun, and I also liked the beginning of the Namek arc. Goku training with Kai is a highlight. Vegeta and Frieza are terrifying villains. Gohan is a nice edition and I like his relationship with Piccolo. But by the time Goku gets to Namek I'd had enough.
I still basically liked the series, and I intend to finish the manga after I've had a break from it.
What is this thread about again?
Yeah, so, I didn't get far enough into the manga to reach this period, nor have I watched the anime. Still, I've heard good things about the movie and apparently Toriyama was heavily involved.
Okay, now we get to Dragon Ball Z (no division in the Japanese original, it was all just one continuous manga, but the American tradition adds a Z to the name after one of the time jumps). There is less sense of adventure, less character development, less humour, and arcs drag on longer in the same locations. It immediately gets kinda hokey by introducing the scouter, a device that summarizes the power of a thing in a number: the infamous "power level". After the Piccolo arc where Goku has been tutored by God, defeated the Devil and become the most powerful martial artist on earth — every other friend he has traveled and fought with is literally insignificant comparison — has a power level of about 300. The newest adversary I think has a power level of over 1000. From here Dragon Balls unique brand of martial arts madness devolves into the power level olympics. Every other page power levels sky rocket to previously unheard of heights. Soon Goku is shocking the most powerful Saiyan's on earth with his power level of "OVER 8000!", and soon even that extreme is rendered pathetic by the almighty power of Frieza, who transforms three times in a row to increasingly absurd power levels. They are barely exchanging blows at this point, just shouting about power levels and how this power level might beat that power level if we combine power levels or what if we increase our power level by what-the-****-ever. I stopped reading shortly after Goku turns Super Saiyan for the first time (it only took three-hundred-and-thirty chapters for this iconic series move to make an appearance!), at which point I think Frieza had a power level of over 1,000,000, and Goku had just wrecked his **** with one attack. Didn't Vegeta have planet destroying abilities at a power level of a few thousand? Piccolo was decimating cities without batting an eyelid at a power level of a few hundred. The fights were still fun, the drawings were filled with energy, but the story and creativity had taken a nose dive. A lot of creativity had gone from the training and fights. The creative turtle shell thing is recycled in other weight training exercises (a planet with increased gravity for example), mostly the same moves are used. Then a new mechanic is introduced that says every time a Saiyan is close to death, his power level permanently increases. This makes no sense and is just another excuse to play power level 1-uppery.
I'll say that the Saiyan arc is fun, and I also liked the beginning of the Namek arc. Goku training with Kai is a highlight. Vegeta and Frieza are terrifying villains. Gohan is a nice edition and I like his relationship with Piccolo. But by the time Goku gets to Namek I'd had enough.
I still basically liked the series, and I intend to finish the manga after I've had a break from it.
What is this thread about again?
Yeah, so, I didn't get far enough into the manga to reach this period, nor have I watched the anime. Still, I've heard good things about the movie and apparently Toriyama was heavily involved.
Last edited by Sam250; 06-11-14 at 11:11 PM.