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PROLOGUE
There are already too many reviews about this title. Getting at least one vote out of this renowned title will be a blessing. Because this series can be considered the king of shonen. Every otaku knows it and most grew up watching it. Many became otakus because of it. I know it’s just brainless action, but it’s the kind of brainless action that becomes likable after a while.
The creator of the original story, Akira Toriyama, had just finished his Dragon Ball series. Seeing how famous it was, he decided to continue the show in an even more action-oriented manner. Dragon Ball Z was the result, which dropped the adventure element in favor of extreme battles.
ANIMATION SECTION [Explosions and beatings as far as the eye can see… and beyond.]
General Artwork 2/2: The world is more sci-fi than before, where some simple explanations are given about how everything works. The world is still quite wacky (especially Heaven and Hell) with little sense but also with extreme originality and humor. Makes a fine JRPG world.
Character Figures 1/2: Most characters are just slight modifications of one another. A small change in the hair and in the cloths and they are presented as a different person. Especially the Super Saiyans, it gets hard to tell who is who after a while.
Backgrounds 1/2: There are several different backgrounds but most are just the same type of hill or tree, repeating over and over.
[FONT="] [/FONT][FONT="]Motion Fluidity [/FONT][FONT="]1/2: There are several parts where the animation is crude and repetitive, with too many reused frames and with a lack of variety. Simple speed lines give the illusion that the characters move faster than the eye, when in fact, they just have really small and repeating frame rate.[/FONT][FONT="] [/FONT] Lightning/ Visual Effects 1/2: Most special attacks (energy beams and visual effects) are just a monochromatic beam that blows anything in its path or an aura that emanates from someone’s body. Although the main characters have different attacks, the result is just an explosion. No side effects or further strategy, whatsoever.
Total for Animation: 6/10 In general, the animation quality began in a mediocre fashion, with crude movements, rather short and round objects and typical visual effects. But steadily, it improves; especially towards the ending (just notice the noses and the edges around objects). They are not great, but even younger otakus can stand them. I would normally have given them a higher mark but the repeating backgrounds and the copy-pasted characters don’t allow me to do so.
SOUND SECTION: 6 [I’m the strongest – No, I’m the strongest. – No, you are not. – Yes, I am.]
Nothing much to write about. Catchy opening, medium music themes and decent voice acting. Quite average as a whole. The dialogues tend to be very cheesy and irritating, filled with phrases like “I’m going to become stronger and beat you!” and “Run! You can’t win!” or “He is so strong!”. Also, the tone of their voices while intimidating or screaming can vary from imposing to awful, based on your personal tastes. So, if you are looking for sophisticated talking, look elsewhere.
STORY SECTION (spoiler alert!) [Let’s train and get stronger and fight strong people.]
General Scenario 1/2: The story began as a Japanese version of Superman . The story of planet Vejita is simply a darker variable of the planet Crypton. Most elements and characters in the story are in fact, comical representations of American superhero comic books. The series was very appealing to teenage boys worldwide because it melded the Western and Oriental clichés of superheroes into the same series and even went as far as to make fun of them (notice the poses Ginyu, Satan and Super Sayaman make all the time).
The scenario is about Son Goku, now an adult, learning of his origins as an alien and protecting the universe from evil aliens that want to rule or destroy it. The story can be summed up as followed: The apparently strongest villain in the universe appears and tries to rule or destroy the universe, everyone trains to get stronger, they fight him, they get trashed, and suddenly for no apparent reason the main character becomes stronger than the villain and defeats him. But then, an even stronger villain appears and the above procedure repeats.
Form of Development/ Pace of Plot 1/2: The general story is quite simple. The same things repeat in all the story arks. But each time they are presented under a different light that really make the general shallowness of the story a trivial thing.
Side Stories/Extra Spices 1/2: The general story is presented in a non-predictable way. There are various revelations and some side stories that easily make you forget its predictability.
Plus, the general story becomes more and more grand-scaled (and thus more interesting), as it progresses.
-The first villain, prince Vejita, is the strongest Saiyan warrior in the universe who wants to become immortal and spend his eternity by fighting and killing every single person on every planet he goes to. If he succeeds, the universe will be at the mercy of an immortal battle-loving powerful warrior. There is also some drama on the parts of Goku who has to fight against his own kind, Gohan who has to fight against his will and Picollo who is forced to team up with the good guys and starts to like them.
-The second villain, emperor Frieza, is the strongest alien in the universe who wants to become immortal and spend his eternity ruling the universe in terror and destruction. If he succeeds, the universe will be at the mercy of an immortal heartless monster. That’s much more serious. There is also more drama on the parts of Vejita and Picollo who want to avenge the death of their races at the hands of Frieza.
-The third villain, Perfect Cell, is the strongest artificial creature of the future that wants to become perfect and spend his eternity destroying the universe. If he succeeds, the universe will be just destroyed. That’s even more serious! There is also more drama on the parts of Trunks who wants to change the grim future and the androids that want freedom and not be used only as weapons.
-The fourth villain, Majin Boo, is the strongest Jennie/God of Destruction. He is already the most powerful and if he is left alone, the universe will be destroyed in a few days. That’s more and more serious! There is some drama on the parts of Vejita who has to decide if he will return to his evil self and Kaioshin who is afraid of the massacre Boo did to his people.
Believability/Reasoning/Realism 1/2: The world definitely isn’t detailed or realistic but it is still one of the most distinguished worlds, ever made into anime. And those silly explanations from time to time are enough for this kind of story. Still, the general story:
-Undermines the gravity of pain and death to ridiculous levels. No matter how much someone is injured, he can easily be completely healed, without permanent damage or even scars. No matter how many die, they can easily be resurrected. And always only the good people return to life, while the bad remain dead.
-Undermines the idea of the after life and of the gods. Heaven and Hell are amusement parks and the gods are just strong creatures that even mortals can surpass in power.
-Has no realism in terms of empowerment. It makes no sense how someone can get a million times stronger in a few months, while others needed eons to do the same. Or it is quite stupid to always see someone getting stronger at the gravest moment and save the day in a Deus Ex Machina way.
-Pays no attention to the laws of physics. Energy beams that explode on air, cause dust even when they didn’t hit anything. A mountain or a moon or a planet that blows up has no effects on the surroundings (not much debris, gravity alteration or planet trajectory/axis mix up). Time travel does not cause time paradoxes. Faster than light speeds don’t increase the temperature of those running.
-Recycles the illusion of empowerment by continuously weakening the explosions. An energy beam that could destroy a planet on one ark, can blow a mountain at best on the next. The newest trick that could surpass any difficulty on one ark is completely useless and forgotten on the next.
Conclusion 1/2: There is one but it is like that of a fairy tale.
Total for Story: 5/10
CHARACTER SECTION [Me smash puny human. Ough!]
Presence 2/2: Some men are funny, some are dramatic, and some are scary. But the thing they all have in common is that they all solve their problems with violence. Is something wrong in your life? Just kick the shit out of it and it’s solved!
Women are treated purely as fan service. You won’t find any good female fighters in it. Bulma and Chichi are a bunch of brainless lolitas that exist for the sole reason of undressing and make sexual jokes about boobs and marriage. Toriyama is a phalocratic bastard!
In general, all the characters have a strong presence in the series (usually cool). Son Goku and Vejita are amongst the most distinctive fighting shonen characters. Their continual empowerment and Super Saiyan transformations make the general cast to appear better with these two alone.
Personality 1/2: All the character’s names are based on some cultural (Nappa) or fetish (Trunks) object. It is very funny to look for the meaning and origin of each one’s name. Their personalities are simply either comical or battle frenzied, making them quite repetitive. You almost feel like the series has only two characters that change clothes all the time. Still, they are two quite distinctive characters.
Backdrop & Development 1/4: But then, they have simple backdrop stories (just enough to excuse their existence in the story) and really small character development. No one matures much; just gets older and/or stronger. And always fights! No one tries to reason with his enemies; he just fights them. No one tries to trick his enemies with cunningness; he just gets stronger and fights them.
It is very cool to see them getting stronger, with new cloths and haircolor but it is also quite disappointing to see them acting the same way, no matter how many years pass and regardless of how many hardships they face.
The series has a way of measurement, called Battle Power to determine someone’s strength. This made many to believe that characters mature and get stronger in a logical way and that they are different just because their strength is different. But in fact, the Battle Power is a stupid excuse to give just to know beforehand who is the strongest. And no matter how strong someone becomes, he is the same battle-frenzied idiot he was before. He doesn’t get wiser or smarter.
Anyway, it makes little sense as the characters raise their strength ridiculously fast. And since the strongest person in one episode mysteriously becomes weaker on the next, you can’t make a solid assumption of what can someone do with a given amount of power. For example, Frieza could easily destroy a planet with a Battle Power of 500.000. But even when he maxed out at 12 million, he could just blow a mountain at best. It’s a mockery of the viewer’s intelligence. And it’s stupid to think that only power is the statistic that matters in battles. What about intelligence, wisdom, and cunningness?
Catharsis 1/2: If some become a bit more mature, it is only after they lose to Son Goku. They were interesting antagonists up to the point they rival him; but after their defeat, they change to stunts or uninteresting underlings (such was the case with Picollo, Frieza, Cell and Boo). Vejita is an exception, as he can’t decide if he wants to be a good guy or a bad guy. He is by far the best character (although he is also quite shallow as a complete personality).
Total for Characters: 5/10
VALUE SECTION [If punches were money, they would be made of gold.]
Historical Value 3/3: Hey, it’s the series that hooked millions of people to shonen. How can I give it less?
Rewatchability 2/3: High. All those brainless battles are mysteriously as addictive as Teletubbies. You know they are stupid but for some reason you keep watching them.
Memorability 4/4: Definitely. It has a very distinctive world.
Total for Value: 8/10
ENJOYMENT SECTION: 5 [The fight is over. And now? Another fight!]
The enjoyment equals the percentage of the worthy episodes. I personally have the following remarks about the flow of the story.
-The Saiyan Saga (episodes 1 to 35) was small and solid. Very good as a whole. The episodes where everyone trains (episodes 6 to 20) were generally boring. Gohan’s training was dramatic enough but it simply lasted too long.
-The Namek Saga (episodes 36 to 107) was solid but unnecessary long. Very atmospheric as a whole but with a lot of dead time. The episodes where the heroes go to Namek (episodes 36 to 44) were boring. And the battle with Frieza (episodes 78 to 107) could easily be done in half the episodes.
-The Garlic Jr. Saga (episodes 108 to 117) was just pointless fillers.
-The Cell Saga (episodes 118 to 194) was unnecessary long. Very mysterious as a whole but with a lot of dead time. The battle with the androids (episodes 134 to 194) could easily be done in half the episodes.
-The Boo Saga (episodes 195 to 291) was unnecessary long. Very flashy as a whole but with a lot of silly ideas and dead time. The ark with the after life tournament, the Super Sayaman and the Satan tournament (episodes 195 to 218) were more stupid than interesting. The battle with Boo (episodes 129 to the end) could easily be done in half the episodes.
If you sum it up, out of the 291 episodes, about 150 were worthy, giving an average of 5.
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:uhh:
Μη λεμε οτι θελουμε ρε παιδια
:deadga6: Σεβαστειτε τους συμφορουμιτες σας και μαρκαρετε παντα τα spoilers σας, και αν ειναι για διαφορετικο ανιμε απο αυτο που συζητιεται στο εν λογω thread αναφερετε το εξω απο το spoiler tag. 
