How old were you when you were introduced to the series?

[SSJ2]

I was 4 years old when I first saw DBZ in the year 2000. It was odd, because in the early to mid 2000s, only the Boo arc would air on TV. I wasn't aware that there was anything but the Boo arc, yet I watched the reruns for many years. Around 2005 I received my first laptop and finally was able to watch Z in all of its English dub glory. What was your first experience like?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I was aware of it at a young age due to my cousin watching it, though I didn't personally delve into the franchise until I was around 7 (so about 2003) when Toonami would air the odd episode of DB and Z, the first episode I remember being watching being the Blue Water dub of original DB when Pilaf summons Shenron. I was able to watch a fair bit of Z from the end of the Freeza Arc and onward as well as most of DB's Piccolo Daimao and 23rd TB Arcs as well as most of GT starting from the end of the Baby Arc.
In 2005, I played Budokai Tenkaichi and then at some point later my brother downloaded the first 80 episodes of the edited DBZ English dub (Ocean/Funimation) to watch on his laptop. Once I got my own laptop, I started watching more, got involved in forums at some point and things progressed from there.

 

[Alin]

I would have been young. My family had some action figures (I remember Super Boo and Android 17 specifically) and VHS tapes. I'm guessing like six or seven, I first saw it.

 

[Future Warrior]

I don't really remember for sure the absolute first time I got into the series. I didn't grow up during the Toonami days, but I do remember watching DB Kai dub on T.V. and vaguely remember seeing SSJ Goku in the end credits after an episode and wondering when that would take place in the story. I remember reenacting fights from DBZ with friends while I was still in elementary school and was drawing DBZ characters such as SSJ5 Goku, and have memory of discussing it with friends. I was also a pretty big power level nerd after watching Vegito1089's vids and would make them for fun. I was always addicted to the internet for as long as I can remember, so I'm 99% sure I came across it on YouTube and was watching clips from it and was picking up how the story went from there.

I think a safe bet would be that I got into the series maybe around 8 or 9 years old.

 

[SSJ2]

and was drawing DBZ characters such as SSJ5 Goku

We deserve to see this masterpiece. Toei might even use this in Super if the design will help them sell merchandise. :toei

 

[Future Warrior]

We deserve to see this masterpiece. Toei might even use this in Super if the design will help them sell merchandise. :toei

Funny thing is, I just traced it from the internet and brought the drawing to school the next day to show people just to sate my own ego. The day after that, my friend (that I'm best friends with still to this day) brought a drawing he did of SSJ4 Goku, but I turned it down by accusing him of tracing, even though that's exactly what I did.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Reminder that a traced image can show far more artistic talent than some official material:

Spoiler

 

[SSJ2]

We deserve to see this masterpiece. Toei might even use this in Super if the design will help them sell merchandise. :toei

Funny thing is, I just traced it from the internet and brought the drawing to school the next day to show people just to sate my own ego. The day after that, my friend (that I'm best friends with still to this day) brought a drawing he did of SSJ4 Goku, but I turned it down by accusing him of tracing, even though that's exactly what I did.

This is the sort of logic that most Dragon Ball debaters live by. You truly had talent if you were acting like that at a young age.

 

[Emmeth]

I had heard of it before, but I got interested when I was 15 or so. The first manga volume was an extra addition to this comic book they sell in my country.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

It was probably on 2007 and I remember watching DBZ early in the morning and I was grounded for some shit that I did that I forgot about it now so anyway I remember watching Pure Boo was beating up Vegeta while Goku was collecting the genkis to form Genki Dama. I didn't turned out to be a big fan though and it wasn't until I got a gameboy by 2011 and bought Buu's fury where I started to explore the franchise.

 

[Future Warrior]

This is the sort of logic that most Dragon Ball debaters live by. You truly had talent if you were acting like that at a young age.

Wouldn't call myself a DB debater in the least, but if this logic is of use to anything then I'm not complaining.

 

[SSJ2]

[mention]GreatSaiyaman123[/mention] Future Warrior should be your role model. He was doing it first.

 

[GSM123]

Like FW I’m not sure of when exactly, but I was definitely playing fighting with my friends and was introduced in the Kai era.

 

[Future Warrior]

Like FW I’m not sure of when exactly, but I was definitely playing fighting with my friends and was introduced in the Kai era.

Every fan who grew up with DBZ as kids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6MDjzqnK1Y&t=42s

 

[withheldforprivacy]

When I was little, I wasn't really into anime. (Perhaps I had got a bias against that genre because of some glimpses of Sailor Moon I had caught.)
I became aware of that series' existence in Summer 1995, when I was 8. One of my siblings bought a sticker album. I was like 'Another boring Japanese piece of crap.'
I first watched it in 2001. One of my high school bullies heard me say that Pokemon (which, coincidentally, I was forced to watch for the first time in 2000, under threat from another bully) was the best cartoon series ever, so he invited me to his house to show me Dragon Ball and prove to me that I was wrong.
So I began watching it. The first episodes I watched were the Cell Games.

 

[PorchMaster]

My first exposure to it was technically when my dad purchased (or was gifted) a copy of Final Bout in around '97 or '98. I was also watching VHS tapes of episodes like Gohan vs. Dabura and some Namek episodes. It wasn't until I was in 2nd or 3rd grade that I read the manga because it was also available for renting at my local VHS store. I've been discussing the series ever since, I guess.

 

[Alin]

Reminder that a traced image can show far more artistic talent than some official material:

Spoiler

How the fuck is this even real?

 

[ahill1]

I remember being exposed to it at a very young age, at like 9 or 10. My younger brother used to love watching it and would always call me in excitement when it was airing on TV. I have some flashes of the Namek arc, namely Vegeta killing Dodoria, when I force some memory out of that time.

When I was 12 tho was the 1st time I seriously picked up the series to watch. I had by then a desktop in my house so it'd be easy to watch the series to its full extent, which I was also curious to considering that much like SSJ2, it seems they'd generally air only the Boo saga. 1 year later I watched the 1st part of the series, DB part 1 and 1 year later than that I got curious on how the story unfolded in the manga-format and luckily found a pretty good Spanish site in which I could read it. Interestingly I got really disappointed firstly at how condensced the manga-sequence seemed which I came to good terms with time.

Curiosuly I remember me mocking my friend when I was 11 for him liking DB. Since I took that as basically a kid's cartoon (which it kinda is lol) and I was silly I thought I had to bust his balls a little for that.

 

[sei'taer]

16-17 I was aware of it in 1999, but I didn't really get into it until 2000.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

My first exposure to it was technically when my dad purchased (or was gifted) a copy of Final Bout in around '97 or '98. I was also watching VHS tapes of episodes like Gohan vs. Dabura and some Namek episodes. It wasn't until I was in 2nd or 3rd grade that I read the manga because it was also available for renting at my local VHS store. I've been discussing the series ever since, I guess.

When you watched Gohan/Dabura episode, did you think Gohan was SSjin or not?