Dragon Ball Review

The original Dragon Ball, an anime that I never really liked all that much as a kid mainly because I was so crazed with Z and I played the DBZ games so much as a child, so when I watched the original DB at the time, I find it very off putting, it was "first installment weirdness" in the purest sense. I do enjoy the show much more now and while I think some of it's fans overhype to an insane degree, I do think original DB is a solid enough show. This is going to a weird one to review since shonen anime are basically divided up into arcs and I will give my thoughts on each arc as I go through the show.

Pilaf Saga - 7 out of 10. Pretty solid comedy adventure story. I like Goku's fish out of the water character shitck here and it's contextualized well enough with him being mountain boy who lost his only guardian at a young age, the humor is also handled well, and the fan service humor with Goku and Bulma works well too. The characters are all charming and Pilaf and his crew I like since they remind of those 80s cartoon villains like Skeletor who fail a lot and always insult his minions afterwards. My only big issue is that Goku's Great Ape form kind of comes out of nowhere. This is going to be a reocurring theme about this show. But other than, it's a solid adventure story with a hilarious ending.

21st World Marital Arts Tournament - 7 out of 10. Solid tournament arc. It has some really good fights along especially Goku vs. Jackie Chun. I quite liked Nam and his plight as a character and the conflicts were built up well enough. My only issues are that Krillin has to be reminded he has no nose and the full moon popping up was kind of convienent.

Red Ribbon Army - 6 out of 10. This is the biggest stumping point of the show for me. I disliked this stuff even as a kid and it greatly lowers my score of the series overall espeically due to how long this part of the show is. This section was really dull, really dull for me. There are memorable parts like General Blue, Mecenery Tao, Korrin's Tower, Penguin Village, Muscle Tower, but that's the thing, this whole arc was sub plot city. Every time Goku beats the Red Ribbon's army's generals that is just yet another sub plot wrapped up. There is hardly ever any satisfying plot progression because every sub plot is very disconnected from the last. It feels like Toriyama added these dumb antics because he didn't want to have in universe politics with the Red Ribbon Army like their origins, where they get the money from, how they recruit people, and if they are their own country or a mecenary group. I felt like stuff like this was intentionally left vague due to how much Toriyama didn't want to get into hassles with that stuff. And the funny part of it all is, the arc even ends with the Red Ribbon getting beaten and with Goku's friends on standby, AND it's still not over. You still got to the fights with Fortune Teller Baba, by that point, I just started to get so sick of the sub plots and decided to play video games while the episodes played in the background. I was just so sick of the lack of a geniune overarching threatning villain. The show does pick up greatly after this.

22nd World Martial Arts Tournament - 8 out of 10. Another very good tournament arc. The stakes are high and Toriyama uses the worf effect with Yamcha losing to Tien as a great way to establish Tien as a threat. Tien is a very compelling character and even goes through an interesting arc of realizing whether or not he really wants to be a killer and if he really has it in him to be like Mercenary Tao and learning the honor of being a martial artist. The rivlary between the Turtle and the Crane school was also interesting if brought out of nowhere. The final fight between Goku and Tien is great too. While I do think this arc is very good, outside of Tien, I feel like this arc in many ways feels very by the numbers overall.

Piccolo Saga - 8 out of 10. This is where Dragon Ball gets dark and where DBZ starts to settle in. This part of the show has high stakes, large scale action and fights and everything Z was known for began here. It started with Mercenary Tao but it comes full force here. Piccolo is a solid threat and the arc does a great job at showing off how big of a threat Piccolo is by having his minion Tamborine kill Krillin, and kill all the martial artists Goku and friends met up with until that point. The stakes are high and there is a lot more tension here than there were in previous arcs due to the much darker tone. Piccolo himself feels like a great threat considering he beat up Goku, and killed Roshi and Choitzu while also nearly taking over the entire world. My only issues with this arc is that Piccolo as a character comes out of nowhere. He is the biggest threat the DB universe has faced up until that point and we are just now hearing about him? Where the hell did Pilaf find the jar sealing Piccolo? Since when did bodies need to be preserved in order for the Dragon to bring people back? Other than those issues, solid arc.

23rd Martial Arts Tournament - 9 out of 10. This arc was great all around. Every fight had it's own story to tell. From Tien and Cyborg Tao all the way to the final fight with Goku and Piccolo Jr. Everything felt like it had high stakes. I also liked that underlying sub plot of everyone doubting he can even beat Piccolo Jr and Kami wanting to take matters into his own hands and making sure Goku won't have to take on Piccolo Jr himself. The fight with Piccolo Jr is also one of the most creative in the series too. I also liked the ending of the fight with Piccolo Jr and it sums up an aspect of Goku's character I have greatly come to appreciate over time where he only spares people who the audience never actually sees kills innocent people or important characters actively. Honestly, not a lot of issues I have with this arc, it's the best in the show. I guess my only issue is that the ending felt sort of anti climatic but it's a minor gripe.

Overall Dragon Ball is a good show if you can get past it's boring middle half and remember to skip the filler parts as well. This series sure did remind me why I dislike filler so much especially when canon and filler get interwined so remember to skip them and a filler guide ready. That and the show has a bad habbit of Goku's friends standing around and on stand by while Goku does all the work. I don't mind this once or twice, but the show does it at least 3 times. Z was at least more creative in that the characters jobbed and the villains squashing them in order to establish how powerful the villains were. Now, I might as well get to the underlying issue with all the arcs, while as a standalone stories minus Red Ribbon are solid, it's clear Toriyama made this stuff up as he went along and there wasn't really a plan of any kind. It's a well known fact, but I feel watching the series now, it can be pretty obvious. It's not enough to ruin the show for me, but it can stick out like a tore thumb for people who like to look out for that stuff. Good show, and like I said, it's fans can overhype it, but it's a solid show that is worth watching all the same.