Red-Ribbon-Army saga

[Fantastische Hure]

This saga sometimes seems to be viewed badly, but this saga actually has quite a bit going for that.

1. this saga is probably in the strictest of senses, other than the first saga which was as adventure as that can come, probably the second most adventure saga. dragonball normally gets lauded for that, so next to the first saga perhaps this to some ppl could be the saga that best epitomizes dragonball.

2. beat-'em-up feel. this saga sort-of has that feel to that, what with the stages & each stage getting progressively harder and also a-lot of opponents (usually fodder just like in beat-'em-up) at the same time.

3. first truly intimidating villain-villain. before this saga there rly weren't any truly evil characters but that changed here with tao-pai-pai. he's goku's first real opponent he has to surpass and the first villain who rly feels like an insurmountable obstacle & all the more epic when goku finally defeats him. this is actually also something that eventually seemingly was done by other series, like luffy vs crocodile from one-piece. also tao was just rly, rly scary. all this also leads to...

4. karin. karin's training was kewl. a new philosophy (which was always 1 of the kewl things abt dragonball) & a-lot of fun with a character like karin. i also liked the climbing-up the tower. another kewl aspect was the mystique (probably not the right word) abt the tower & karin, that's something kewl abt the original dragonball in-general.

5. various diff. locations. this is one of the kewl things abt this saga. there are so many different locations. u aren't rly confined in any particular area, other than the muscle-tower section. i liked the snowy scenery. i thought that looked kewl. this is like day & night compared to the dragonball z portion of the series.

6. the uranai-baba saga also has 1 of the most emotional moments in the series with goku re-uniting with grand-pa gohan. the first & as-far as i'm concerned (i don't talk abt dragonball super) the only time goku rly cried & was that happy. this also actually kind-of rly makes the saga come full circle bcoz if u remember the reason the saga started in the first place was bcoz goku wanted to find the 4-star dragonball. a "memento" of his grand-father for the saga to end with grand-pa gohan appearing felt like goku got someone even more than what he was looking for in the first place.

7. yamcha had a kewl fight against suke-san




i guess the bad thing ppl felt abt this saga was that the other characters didn't get as much (which i guess is something that actually very surprising considering until piccolo-daimao saga that was done good & that they felt that was too long.




CC's challenge completed (http://www.dbzeta.net/viewtopic.php?p=401823#p401823)

 

[SSJ2]

Nice write up.

I always found the RRA arc to be ok. Not gr9, not bad, but ok. My biggest disagreement is with #3. The first intimidating villain was Giran.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Nice write up.

thx u

I always found the RRA arc to be ok. Not gr9, not bad, but ok.

i thought that was good. the most memorable section was definitely with tao-pai-pai tho. i think the characters being kewl and likeable also helped. u were just happy seeing the characters, now if we had db-super incarnation of characters... :mikey :mikey :mikey

My biggest disagreement is with #3. The first intimidating villain was Giran.

i forgot abt him. giran was def. intimidating, especially anime version.

 

[SSJ2]

Lol the RRA arc is 10x better than anything post Z. Pathetic.

I always felt like the RRA arc fell short of the potential it had. The villains were not fleshed out at all. I found it hard to care about Goku fighting Black, or stopping Commander Red. Muscle Tower and Tao Pai Pai/Karin were the main attractions of this arc, and they were just ok. Tao Pai Pai definitely brought the series to another level. Still not even close to being as intimidating as Wild West Giran.

Giran was powerful enough to shatter Roshi’s will just by looking down on him. We know this Roshi possesses MUI. Giran was the first real threat in Dragon Ball.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Not only 10x but what-ever lies beyond infinite.

ye, the villains maybe weren't that good aside from tao but i thought the (personal) stakes were also quite high, like tao killing bora & goku trying to revive him or suno (iirc). come to think of it, this was the first time we ever saw any1 get revived by the dragonballs in the series.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

The major complaints for this arc tend to boil down to 2:

1. Founded on a plot hole - We're told it takes the DBs a year to recharge, yet they do so in 8 months. I guess you could chalk this up to them not being used in a long time, but without an additional explanation it remains a plot hole. Still, it's minimal compared to the plot holes of the Cell Arc, nevermind anything post-Z.

2. Too much Goku - Most fans didn't like that the support characters got completely shafted compared to Goku's screentime, especially coming off the trail of an arc that gave everyone equal focus. I'd say the truth behind this is mixed. It's a shame that most of the cast didn't get enough screentime when the main cast contains such interesting characters as Kuririn, Yamcha (yes, he was interesting until gave him the shaft) and Roshi, but DB established itself as a story focused on Goku's journey and, therefore, their narrative focus should logically only be when they're part of Goku's story. A part of the complaint I find strong validity in though is that the supporting characters that took their place far all but the General Blue events such as Suno, #8 and Oopa aren't interesting characters. #8 had some nice touches when looking at it retroactively with how his existence made the Artificial Humans as a plot element one that tied nicely to the RRA, but other than that he was just Frankenstein's #16 without the kill Goku mantra.

Despite that, I'd say the RRA Arc has more pros than cons for its strong focus on adventure, the Taopaipai/Karin events improving the martial arts philosophy and tension of the series as well as the Uranai Baba events being a good way to conclude the first part of Goku's character arc through his battle with Gohan. I'd say it's far from being the best of Part 1, overall ranking around the middle in terms of the Part 1 arcs' quality; a bit better than the Piccolo Daimao Arc manga-wise though far below it anime-wise, though it still ranks as one of the better arcs of the series' original run and infinitely better than anything post-Z as SS2 said.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

also as that was always the case with the original dragonball the comedy was also gr9.

 

[GSM123]

I like this arc, very underrated. Reminds me of some old adventure movies mixed with martial art movies.

Could’ve been better worked out on the RRA’s motivations though, but I suppose that’s hoping too much on a series that was 50% shōnen 50% comedy.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Could’ve been better worked out on the RRA’s motivations though, but I suppose that’s hoping too much on a series that was 50% shōnen 50% comedy.

u could watch 1-piece (of greatness)

 

[Future Warrior]

Easily in my top 3 for favorite DB arcs.

Could’ve been better worked out on the RRA’s motivations though, but I suppose that’s hoping too much on a series that was 50% shōnen 50% comedy.

50% Shonen?

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Easily in my top 3 for favorite DB arcs.

wot'd u place above that?

also wot'd be ur least fav. saga? boo saga?

 

[Future Warrior]

Easily in my top 3 for favorite DB arcs.

wot'd u place above that?

also wot'd be ur least fav. saga? boo saga?

I'd say Saiyan arc and the 22nd/23rd Budokai arc (tend to flip flop between the two).

Least favorite would probably be the Cell arc. There isn't any single arc from the manga that I dislike though.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

23rd was very kewl until goku vs piccolo jr., at which point it dragged in my opinion (as in the fight dragged)