No need for spoiler tags guys, everyone's all up to date on DBZ here.

Alright so I guess he is kinda more blue than purple. I originally watched this on a fucked up CRT.

Only four episodes for one battle? That barely counts as a skirmish in DBZ terms.

My favorite moment in all the annals of terrible anime is the time when Goku is fighting this villain, and he announces that he's rigged things so the entire planet will explode in two minutes. Nine episodes later, they're still fighting and the countdown still isn't over.

Yeah...maybe the boxed set was all one battle, and I just checked out after four episodes.

I was in Japan during the height of DBZ's popularity (maybe it was GT by that point.. can't remember) anyway it hadn't made its way to the states yet and I thought it was the coolest thing. I was also 13 years old. Looking back it was a pretty dumb show but better than pretty much any cartoon (let the debate commence) in the US at the time, and it got me into Akira Toriyama's work in general. In fact, Chrono Trigger was pretty much the reason why I lifeguarded summers and worked at the Dairy Queen so I could save up for a SNES, so that's something.

Of course I was one of those kids, as I imagine most of you are, who would wake up at 5:30 AM to watch the butchered Funimation version, so I stopped paying attention after they got to Namek or something like that. The show meanders, but so do most shows. Overall I like it.

This also needs some sort of "also his balls are" tag.

I suggest "also his balls are bruised."

Your claim of it being the best cartoon is the raving of a madman, but it was better than any American ACTION cartoon, if only because it hit its peak a couple of years before Batman: The Animated Series came along.

DBZ wasn't what I would call good, but at least it makes an impression, which is more than the glut of toy commercials we got over here could manage.

"also his balls are inert"?

The superior interpretation of this was, but of course, "Buttlord GT".

http://i.imgur.com/3RdSSuZ.gif


http://i.imgur.com/7bxObX5.gif

"OK, now we can fight."
"Jesus dude, can you even move?"

Scientific fact: Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy only took off because the SNES couldn't fully realize Toriyama's horrendous art.

"My favorite moment in all the annals of terrible anime is the time when Goku is fighting this villain, and he announces that he's rigged things so the entire planet will explode in two minutes. Nine episodes later, they're still fighting and the countdown still isn't over"

They were fighting at super-speed! Every episode was like 9 seconds of normal human perception time!

Of course after Freeza is beaten there's like 30 seconds left and Goku spends it bumbling around for an escape ship as the planet implodes into apocalyptic ruin. The planet blows up. Goku still survives. It's the most deus ex machina moment in the entire series this side of anytime the Dragon Balls are used, and just one of many examples of Toei telling Toriyama "no, fuck you, you don't get your way, Goku lives."

Yeah dude, that's what I was told in a Games Workshop when I was like 14 (serious). He wanted to end it numerous times before or something and ESPECIALLY with Freeza but was forced to continue "by sheer pressure from the fans".

When I was a kid I watched the original Dragon Ball (not Z or GT) and it was easily and absolutely my favorite cartoon. It was colorful, creative, funny, full of crazy adventures, great characters and some martial arts fighting.

When I was a teenager this Dragon Ball Z bullshit came along and it completely lost me. Just an endless string of boring, poorly animated fights that just went on and on and on. From the little I actually watched I could gather that the whole show's structure was "Alien superbeing comes along and kicks all of the good guy's asses, until one of the good guys EVOLVES (represented by a change in hairstyle) and kicks the bad guy's ass, until ANOTHER MORE POWERFUL alien superbeing arrives and kicks everyone's ass, until another of the good guys EVOLVES and kicks his ass. Repeat".

@oddeye Toriyama also wanted to bring the series back to its slapsticky gag manga roots after Cell with Gohan's wacky adventures in high school, even going so far as killing off Goku (permanently, for real this time) and setting up an elaborate and dramatic "son inheriting his father's legacy" scene that still makes nerds cry.

Again, Toriyama was met with "sheer pressure." 'Dragon Ball' is a lot like 'Supernatural' in the "succumb to the worst part of your fanbase" department.

For fuck's sake, the first page of the followup volume after Cell even has Roshi forth-walling with something like "Goku may be gone for good, but that son of his will take his place!" Christ, I'd be shocked if Toriyama didn't feel like the biggest bukkake target after he drew the final panel.

i also watch adult animes for mature brains

This is from from Super Android 13 which is one of the god awful dragonball movies.

Maybe it was supposed to be "anime MOMENT that doesn't suck."

I enjoyed Dragon Ball, but found Z to be kind of cute when it wasn't aggressively homoerotic or being completely stupid and insensitive about the concept of death.

And GT started off so awful that I just gave up.

That explains it - I missed most of the movies.

I move for a revival of the "Dude you okay?" tag.

See my reply above.

Actually don't, sorry guv.

Tell me, Bruce, what do you make of these wild tales of the vigilante "Bat-man?"

Can you tell me something about transformation?

Never seen that one but from what I gather it's basically power rangers with school girls and little to no panty shots?

I agree with Cam.