the dragonball effect

I honestly don't think DB is any worse than Sailor Moon or Pokemon in the rep. department. I'd rather watch it than the others any day.

I do like early DBZ but it seems like after the Namek saga things just got stale and over-used. I think I read somewhere a long time ago that Toriyama didn't really want to go past that saga either but it still got dragged on.

It was good for people that live in the United States to get a taste of what some anime is about. Overall it was not good for anime in general. To me, anime loses all meaning when it gets dubbed and heads over to The States.

And Naruto is just like DBZ... maybe not in the beginning, but sadly now it is. Sigh...

If Dragonball was not "good" there would not be over 500 episodes and a dozen and a half movies. People watch it here and in Japan. Remember that this show started in the seventies and carried on for about twenty years. It ended before the new generation of anime was created, so it, like so many older animes, is outdated. But we still watch I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, etc. as a nostalgic moment.

If you want to compare, check out Saint Saya (Warriors of the Zodiac) that is only now getting American attention. Believe me, it is no better. At least in Dragonball we are not saddled with endless book footage of change sequences like so many shows of the times.

I'm an avid fan of Dragon Ball and I must say that I think it was most certainly GOOD for anime. It did not start in the seventies but it did start in the 80s and it carried on all the way until 1997. So I don't see how it wasn't good.

The problem people just dont get is, just like anything else, anime is just another form of entertainment... merely a name for japanese animation. Do you think it all has to be this certain mature formula or something that DB doesn't follow? Just like over here, not all anime is as mature as some. Dragonball is for the kids in Japan. It was always meant that way. Just as adults like kids shows over here they did there too.

Dragonball was immensely popular and most people into anime liked it at one time or another. It's very hippocritical for some to say it's not good anymore when they once loved it.

The problem is, once you've seen it, it isn't so great anymore. Because it's like a soap opera. One long story that continues and once seen, the interest of finding out what next is just gone.

I don't care how anyone else feels, regardless I will always like it. I like it for a couple of reasons.

1.) It has an artistic style similar but different from all other anime. I think it looks very cool at times.

2.) It tells the story of Goku. A life story. It starts when he is a kid and ends with his grand kids. It's an interesting way to tell a story.

3.) The fights in DBZ are like no other. You can't deny that.

Sure it doesn't have the strongest plot in the world, but it's still down-right fun to watch. over 290 episodes in dbz alone out of 3 different series just proves my point.

I think a lot of people dont like it because of how it was dubbed. I'll admit at first it was HORRIBLE, then got better. But it hasn't been dubbed as well as others. But regardless the dub is not the original material. I base my opinion mainly on that.

I like lots of different anime, but I still think Dragonball/Z/GT is my favorite and always will be.

I have to agree with Bleeding Orange, I am no expert in anime or such but given the length of time that the Dragon Ball series was running I would have to agree that it had a major influence(positive or negative)on how anime is looked at, done & accepted among other things. I am a really big fan of DB series, it is the series that introduced me to anime and cel collecting. I do enjoy even at this day watching the shows and the movies, it has been more than 5 years since I first saw my very first episode and I still love it.

What I find fascinating about the series in my opinion is that the story begins with a child and ends up with that same character as a grown man. We get to see him grow up, which is a big step in a succesful series to go outside the norm and not stay with the character in it's status quo of a child. It is risky to try something like that and be succesful with it, how many shows actually have done that same thing with it's main characters and have had success with it? Of course he trains for the next big fight, but life is kind of like that, always preparing for what is coming the next day, the next hour, the next minutes, the next years if you will. We might not think of life being that way but if you think about it a bit harder you may figure out that you have been doing the same thing over and over again without even knowing at times.

I do not jump into every Anime show that comes down the pike, but since this is just about the effect of DB I will add that it brideged a gap between a underground subculture here in the states and made it mainstream. To me it is one of the best shows that I have ever seen....and it has broaden in a good way my taste not only for animation but for other cultural forms of art. DBZ stand on it's own merits.....