Did anyone here first watch Dragon Ball or Z after watching other anime?

[Warmmedown]

If so, what did you think of DB/Z? It was great as a first anime, but I wonder how much I'd like it if I'd watched some newer anime first or seinen anime.

I read a couple MAL reviews. One said the show seems like it's for 5 year olds, but perverted at the same time.

 

[Yoshi]

I watched Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z around the same time as I watched Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, then I got into Bleach, One Piece, and Yu Yu Hakusho.

 

[Papasmurf]

Before of course. Naruto anime didn't even exist when I first started watching DB/Z, and I don't think I saw a single episode of OP until around 2003. That's around the same time I first watched YYH as well. As for Bleach... I think I saw it first in 2006, read the manga back in 2004 when Viz first released Bleach's first chapter/volume in an issue of Monthly Shonen Jump and then in volume form.

About the only anime I was watching prior to getting into DB/Z were Pokemon, Crayon Shin-chan, Gaogaiger, and possibly Gulliver Boy, as well as random robot animes I can no longer name.

DB/Z probably wouldn't impress me much now that I'm an adult, were I to watch it without prior knowledge. I'd probably appreciate AT's talent for choreographing good fight scenes manga-wise, but it'd feel like medicore slapstick humor at first and far too simplistic after it became more action/adventure oriented. The Cell and Boo sagas would just be mediocre to plain bad for me.

 

[Kyo]

The Pokemon anime ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The manga's biggest strength is its fight choreography, and most of the Z anime's fights are not consistently good until the late Cell and Boo arcs (and even then there are some stiff fights here and there). There were always some exceptions, but that fact, coupled together with its pacing, would've been a hard sell. I don't remember how good the DB anime's fights are in general, but that one's not as slow and would probably be a little easier to sell in sort of a "this is an old adventurous classic" way.

 

[Hector]

I watched Pokemon first.

 

[Warmmedown]

Z's worst fights were in the Buu and Cell Saga. But yeh the fight choreography is the main thing I appreciate DB/Z for now.

DB's perviness seems like it would be more off-putting than anything similar in Z. The non-gimicky fights were great.
DB might be lacking in the character department, compared to Z. The DB characters with lots of screen time are all quite goofy and not very psychologically interesting. But it's not like Z's characters have lots of obvious depth either (I'd say say they have more depth than I first thought).

I liked the adventure in DB, but the RRR arc is the most adventure-heavy and seems to be one of the least popular with DB/Z fans. I guess some anime fans would find it fresh though, since most of the popular later anime don't have buckets of adventure, aside from HxH and One Piece.

I watched Pokemon first.

I meant non-kiddy anime.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Pokemon is a game commercial. Doesn’t count.

 

[Kyo]

Z's worst fights were in the Buu and Cell Saga.

Not in the anime

DB's perviness seems like it would be more off-putting than anything similar in Z.

It's probably something I could tolerate if the premise we're working with is "you've seen other non-kiddy anime before DB"

 

[Symbiote]

Pretty sure Pokémon was my first, then Z.

 

[Warmmedown]

Yeh that's true, DB's perviness isn't as frequent as Naruto or One Piece.

Raditz-Goku/Piccolo
Nappa-everyone
Vegeta-Goku
Vegeta-everyone
Vegeta-Cui
Vegeta-Dodoria
Vegeta-Zarbon
Vegeta-Recoome
Goku-Burta/Jeice
Ginyu-everyone
Guldo-everyone

All pretty good. I suppose Freeza-everyone and especially Freeza-Goku dragged out though, even by anime standards.

Vegeta-Semi-Perfect Cell was the first fight I remember being distressingly slow.

 

[ahill1]

Nah, DBZ was the first one. Then DB. I'd watch some episodes of Pokemon with my brother who loved it but I was never too much into it. DBZ got me hooked in as soon as I had watched full random episodes. I could feel the tension, the stakes, the characters' charisma there that I didn't get with other cartoons, only other anime that at the time other than Pokemon I'd feel willing to watch was Naruto since my brother and cousin were fans too. My brother had the entire Naruto collection, remember I tried picking the first volume to read but since the artwork was hard to grasp and all, I didn't feel motivated to proceed with the story. One Piece seemed a DBZ/DB (watched DB part 1 entirely and really enjoyed it too) replacement but I found it a little lacking compared to the tension I felt with DB/Z

I think I had already created an attachment to DBZ before even watching it due to how commented it was, its fame here seemed to influence just how cool I'd look at it, but it had a special take on things that just made me want to binge watch it. At the time as a kid no other anime I bet would make me as willing. Saint Seiya may be one I'd be hooked in if I had watched it, my older brother (not the one I mentioned before) was a fan of it and before Naruto came as a "DB rival" here in Brazil, the spot would be previously occupied by Saint Seiya. Still though, DB had a special touch to me. The simplicity and at the same time high tension with the era I was in, I think it was just the perfect fit. Heck, if I never knew about DB/Z at all, never knew it was a hit and took the story from scrap to read all at my age I'd for sure enjoy it. Wouldn't think it would be the best manga or anything probably, but still would definitely recognize it as a worthwhile read and big entertainment.

 

[Warmmedown]

I believe Hironobu Kageyama also did songs for Saint Seiya. Never watched it, but I remember some young one on dbzf (supersaqer) from one of the Gulf countries being into it.

One Piece had less tension? You mean like the quiet tension in DBZ fights when they're preparing to attack? Or because the stakes are higher in DBZ? One Piece's villains definitely wound me up more.

Ha the Naruto artwork...I was in the school library at 16 or 17 and there was some manga, including Naruto and I opened a random page and was like "what the fuck" because it looked like a big mess of shapes. Maybe it was a genjutsu (when they make an optical illusion).

 

[ahill1]

I believe Hironobu Kageyama also did songs for Saint Seiya. Never watched it, but I remember some young one on dbzf (supersaqer) from one of the Gulf countries being into it.

One Piece had less tension? You mean like the quiet tension in DBZ fights when they're preparing to attack? Or because the stakes are higher in DBZ? One Piece's villains definitely wound me up more.

Ha the Naruto artwork...I was in the school library at 16 or 17 and there was some manga, including Naruto and I opened a random page and was like "what the fuck" because it looked like a big mess of shapes. Maybe it was a genjutsu (when they make an optical illusion).

Idk how to put the tension difference feeling into words. DB would just make me more immersed and feeling, like, the danger the villains represented, as if I were watching a horror movie slightly.

Yeah, I was like that when I bought my first OP manga too. I wonder which artwork is harder to grasp, OP or Naruto's. I think I've read the volume wayyy ago in which Sasuke and Naruto as apprentices, before even being accepted iirc, fight Kakashi. It was so hard to picture what was going on lol, I think DB had my image visualization way too accommodate though. I think physical copies may be harder to tell what's happening than when you're reading through a tablet in a good quality scan site. I think it being a little bigger and the screen brightness even if bad for the eyes give the scenes more clarity. I can read OP fine through my tablet though I still struggle a little when picking a physical volume (I've only 7 btw).

 

[The_Authority]

Actually, Dragon Ball Z was the very first anime I've ever seen (when it was in syndication). Then, the second would have to be Sailor Moon (I think also in syndication). The third was Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. And the fourth was Cowboy Bebop (Adult Swim days).

 

[Papasmurf]

Actually, Dragon Ball Z was the very first anime I've ever seen (when it was in syndication). Then, the second would have to be Sailor Moon (I think also in syndication). The third was Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. And the fourth was Cowboy Bebop (Adult Swim days).

How old are you?

 

[The_Authority]

How old are you?

Too old, my friend. Too old lol

 

[ahill1]

Too old, my friend. Too old lol

I bet not in the 50s yet haha

 

[The_Authority]

I bet not in the 50s yet haha

Oh, no. Thankfully we're a while away from that lol It's funny because I started on Neoseeker when I was like 13 or something like that. You think you might grow out of it at some point, but it's nice that the inner child gets to come out sometimes lol

 

[Dagon]

I think I saw some Speed Racer so technically DBZ wasn't my first anime but I think it was the first one I really got into. Around the same time was Pokémon and I might have seen it first by a short margin as it was inescapable back then.