Dragon Ball is a 42 volume manga by Akira Toriyama that ran from 1984 to 1995.
The story follows Son Goku in a tale reminiscent of the 16th-century Chinese legend Journey to the West.
Beginning with Goku as a child, the story traces his life all the way to him becoming a grandfather.
Dragon Ball is about the warrior Saiyan race, the defense of Earth, and the search for the Dragon Balls that will allow
any wish to be granted for the person who can gather all seven.
Dragon Ball Z is the second portion of the anime and follows Goku's adult life, later edited and remastered into Dragon Ball Kai.
Dragon Ball GT follows Dragon Ball Z and is not based on the manga.
Note: The characters' Super Saiyan transformations are listed under their respective character's tag.
Description by DokiDokiChan.
Story & Characters
To many veteran anime fans and those who just recently start watching anime, the name Dragon Ball Z is not only a
familiar title, but is also recognized as one of the all-time great anime action series. For all of its merits, the
Dragon Ball franchise set the standard for all long-running shounen action series which followed, including originating
and standardizing many of the most common shounen action gimmicks and story elements: stories about young men as they
forge their way along the path they have chosen (or stumbled upon) in life, surmounting obstacles, defeating powerful
enemies, and succeeding against all odds on the way towards achieving a cherished and seemingly impossible dream. To
commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the franchise, Toei Animation produced a remade of the original DBZ, which cuts
all of its petty fillers including the final Saga, thus restoring the anime closer to the manga. The result is Dragon
Ball Z Kai.
Following the events of Dragon Ball, years have passed since Goku settled down marrying Chi Chi and now has a son named
Gohan, whom he brings to visit his longtime companions. That peace isn't going to last long when an alien warrior
known as Raditz arrives, claiming not only that he's a part of the dying warrior race Saiyans, but Goku is, too,
and is his little brother to boot. He also claims that Goku was sent to Earth to slaughter its inhabitants, but is
shocked to discover that Goku has lost all his memory, as well as his blood-thirsty Saiyan nature. Raditz doesn't
take kindly to that, and an intense battle soon begins, forcing Goku to team up with his old enemy Piccolo and they
manage to win, but at the cost of his own life. Before Raditz dies, he tells them that his even more powerful Saiyan
pals are coming: evil prince Vegeta and his sidekick Nappa. With one year to prepare, Goku's fellow Z Fighters
train diligently on Earth to improve their abilities, while Piccolo works to develop Gohan's immense fighting
potential and Goku receives special training from King Kai in Otherworld. In the face of these new powers, can Goku
battle against them and becomes the Earth's greatest champion?
Compared to the original DBZ, Kai does a better job of not taking itself to seriously annoying traits. This run is a
triumph editing, as the scene transitions are so smooth, fans who fondly remember watching the original would not be
bothered by anything that has been cut. Even so, it is because Toei didn't bother to change their cutscreen from
DBZ, that some of the early materials are still here, such as Bulma and frog prince Ginyu, or Mr. Satan's
overconfident students. Despite cutting fillers, perhaps the biggest problem is the insane amount of repetitiveness of
the trash-talking that didn't get trimmed much or at all by the edit to DBZ. The power-up sequences for the Spirit
Bomb or final Kamekameha struggle between Gohan and Cell, go on much too long and characters piddle around too much
before resorting to their elite techniques when clearly they should have been necessary from the start. It's a
mixture of tedium and anticipation that will be very familiar to show's fans. Despite more than half of the
original have been trimmed, this is a rousing success, the way the series should have been done in the first place: a
tight, fast-paced action story which does not dillydally around with ultimately minimally important details.
Pretty much anyone who is interested in watching already knows all of this. The question is what this release provides
that the others before it didn't. By shifting to the time of adult Goku, replacing his pint-sized status with
Gohan, revealing Piccolo's nature (and origin) and bringing alien warriors into the pictures, the story becomes
more intense, increasing both threat level and the immense of power level dramatically. Focusing on the Saiyans instead
of collecting Dragon Balls, the presences of supporting characters like Bulma or Master Roshi decrease while the plot
boiling its essence as a pure action series. Watching Piccolo changes into an ally rather than enemy or warriors like
Nappa getting advantage against the Z Fighters is a great development; the Vegeta fight, arguably the Saga's best,
is but a distant specter by the time the set waddles to a close. If there's any problem, then the whole Saga could
be counted as a big brawl with little going on though.
The Saiyan Saga may lack good plotting, but it does provide first taste of action for Gohan, and give away a suitable
fare the next Namek Saga, which will bring more major impacts for the Dragon Ball universe. With Frieza, who stands on
the same level as King Piccolo did in Dragon Ball, DBZ finally gets its first ultimate villain and an important drive
for later episodes. Lesser characters got stronger, Vegeta receives more development, the introduction of
Piccolo/Kami's home planet is a treat. Actually, the biggest development of this Saga is the return of collecting
Dragon Balls quest (technically, this continues in later arcs but only here it gets the most prominent role), and, in
term of the grand scheme of anime over the years, is the occurrence when Goku finally accepts his Saiyan heritage, thus
shapes the course of the rest of the franchise.
Overall, though, this piece of the story is all about how the Namek Saga feeds into (in a rather literal sense!) the
Android Saga. Some parts of this period are very promising for the introductions of three new sets of important
characters. One is Trunks, when first appeared, raises question about his identity in a mysterious fashion, he has his
own share of story and it's pretty dark as well. The other is the Androids with supposedly-infinite power, in the
sense that they can even defeat the entire group of Z Fighters in a flash is nearly impossible. Though the "road
trip" idea by the Androids is just a silly plot device to delay their arrival at Goku's place – and hence
allow the Z Fighters to safely relocate Goku – it does allow the series to develop their personalities a bit more.
However, the most significant period is the emergence of Cell as the second boss villain and what he can do both throws
out some nasty twists and provides yet another extension of events from Dragon Ball. Getting to see fighters like
Piccolo, or Vegeta struggle to power up and go head-to-head with an enemy who cannot overcome them unless he powers up
is a treat, as is seeing the first time Krillin falls for someone and notably, when Gohan finally comes out of his
shell. This collection also firmly entrenches the powermongering and one-upmanship in power levels which became a staple
of DBZ as it progressed through the rest of its run and the ensuing unaired Majin Saga.
Rating: 8
Art
The artistry efforts on par with its early releases. Character design for Goku sets the standard spiky hair, muscular
build for shounen heroes; all the characters have aged since their DB days, Gohan has enough different look to
distinguish himself from his father at younger ages, and of course the gold-haired Super Saiyan status presents one of
the greatest individual moments in anime. New villains look satisfying enough, Vegeta is slightly built but has the
menacing presence, Frieza and Cell's pre-final forms are monstrous and evil-looking, the Androids are among the
only rare characters have modern fashion styles, while villains like the Ginyu force fail to impress much (in fact, they
look like generic alien bad guys).
Unlike many Toei productions, the animation in this one never takes a nose dive, but neither does it raise its game like
the writing does. Given its source material, the graphic is graded from decent to mediocre at best; it lacks the glitz
and coloring sharpness from recent fare but retains a endearingly familiar feel which suits well. The new OP and ED
animation, all done with updated animation and graphical techniques, create a big contrast that they feel livelier and
more eyecandy. The background art, while normally good, suffers from inconsistencies; in the scene before fighting
Frieza, for instance, the placing of characters looks like it was done by an amateur. (See this comparision shot.)
The main reason to watch DBZ was, of course, for all of the outlandishly super-powered fighting, and in that respect
Kai's take on the series will not disappoint. Goku's fight with Vegeta is a furious and nasty bit of business,
replete with fists and knees fly, mighty blasts of energy, and nuclear-level explosion. This span essentially covers
most of the preliminaries which set up the upcoming epic battles of Goku/Frieza and Gohan/Cell.
Rating: 6
Sound
Replacing the original rocky songs are two new themes performed by vocalist Tanimoto Takayoshi, who is known for his
previous works with many shounen series. From the Android Saga onwards, the ED changes to "Kokoro no Hane"
done by Team Dragon of AKB48, offering a stranger but newer taste.
More relevant to one's experience is the audio. Most of the original cast return and provide Kai with a light,
humorous score; of the significant changes, the likes of Tenshinhan, Dende, Captain Ginyu and Mr. Satan have their
seiyuu changed. The English version is hammier and more serious, thanks to some bombastic acting and a darker score.
Many dialogues from DBZ have been replaced though, but the writers clearly come up with sufficent manga script
equivalents. The casting generally fits the characters well and is well-enough performed that the issue on this one
should entirely be a matter of personal taste. (At least Cell doesn't love cornbread anymore, that'll
help!)
Rating: 7
Presentation
Since its release, Dragon Ball has become and still remains one of the most successful manga and anime series of all
time. So it's no surprise that finally a dedicated adaptation of the manga appears after such a long time. Despite
some annoyances, Kai does its best to be considered the best version of this classic shounen franchise. Even if it seems
like it is treading unfamiliar grounds in places, cutting of the final Saga, the storytelling and merits provide the
lighthearted sense of adventure and great entertainment that make this remade, once in a long time of those long-run
shounen anime, such fun.
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Story: 6 (Saiyan)/7 (Namek)/8 (Android)
Characters: 9
Art: 7
Animation: 5
Voice: 7 (sub)/7 (dub)
Music: 7
Overall: 7.75
Good:
+Return of the forefather of all shounen series in an even more entertaining fashion.
Bad:
+Die hard DBZ fans will not like the change much.
+No Majin Saga.
Rating: 8
Final Verdict
7.5000 (good)
Reviewed by Weskalia, Mar 17, 2012
