Dragon Ball (All Series)

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, Kyle Hebert has recently confirmed that he will be reprising his role of teenage Gohan in the Majin Buu arc of DBZ Kai.

[Kiddington]

It's so easy to forget just how many characters were once considered villains in the whole grand scheme of things; Oolong, Yamcha, Puar, Tien, Chiaotzu, Baba, Piccolo... I mean seriously. Chiaotzu.

Watching the original series again is a trip.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Eh, I think Baba is a stretch. She never really directly opposed the main characters. They just wanted her to find the location of the last Dragon Ball, and since they didn't have the means to pay her, she offered them to challenger her best fighters instead. Its not like she forced any opposition on them, so I wouldn't see her as a villain. She was just being a businesswoman.

As for everyone else, though, yeah, its funny to think of how they were all once villains, and how many of them were even a match for Goku at one point (some were even a little stronger than him when he first fought them). Its especially hilarious when you realize that not only did they all eventually become his allies, but they also even became complete jokes in comparison to him. It also kind of ticks me off because many of them were fun characters who deserved better, but there is also something undeniably amusing about that whole situation, which is why its probably the single element of DBZ that's the most prone to being made fun of and parodied more than anything else.

[Kiddington]

I dunno; she did put the characters in extreme harms way more than a few times (the fights with Bandages and Spike could have easily resulted in either Yamcha or Goku's death), and she just kinda rubbed me as having malicious intent when dealing with them all. But yeah, overall you're probably right. She's certainly the least ill-willed of that aforementioned group.

The two that always get me when I rewatch is Tien and Chiaotzu, though. Especially Chiaotzu; he's so menacing in his early appearances and fight with Krillin, only to be a cowardly and completely laughable fighter later in the series. That's a shame too, because his psychic powers could've easily been utilized a lot better.

[Eddy]

Bumping this up to to say I just watched Battle of Gods tonight. I was able to track down a subbed version and, I gotta say, I loved it. I didn't really know what to expect going in, but I really liked it a lot. It was much more Dragon Ball than it was Dragon Ball Z, with a lot of comedy and lighthearted moments with great character interaction. The fight scenes that were there were also very well done. It's my understanding that Akira Toriyama was actually deeply involved with the making of this movie, which might explain why it was so enjoyable. It also had an ending that I wasn't expecting.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It's a fun movie. Anyone expecting some big epic adventure or fighting movie from this will be disappointed. If you like the manga, and specifically early Dragon Ball with Toriyama's style of humor, then I think that you'll find this movie to be a fun watch.

[Daxdiv]

We finally have some news on when DBZ Kai is coming back.... in Japan!




April 6th at 9 AM is when Kai is coming back.

[LumRanmaYasha]

So much for producing this just for an international release. 

Anyway, from what I've heard this'll be like 50 episodes, which isn't even half cut down from how long the arc was in Z. I doubt it'll be that much of an improvement, but whenever it gets dubbed I'll probably check it out since I do like this saga and FUNi'll do a better job with it this time.

EDIT: Just heard that Toei has actually been pacing the current arc of Toriko incredibly quickly. It seems that they WILL finish "part 1" of the series before it ends after all. Interesting. Maybe I'll check out how they handled the arc sometime in the summer, to see if they did a good job with it or not. With 4 chapters an episode pacing even they can't fuck it up...I hope...

[LumRanmaYasha]

Trailer for the return of Dragon Ball Kai.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I actually hope that they keep at least a little of the Saiyaman filler in this series.i actually mind of enjoyed that portion of the original anime.

[LumRanmaYasha]

They kind of have to, since they integrated canon and filler together in those episodes. Saiyaman saving the bus is going to need to be kept since that's when he officially debuts and Videl meets him in the anime, not to mention entire story about the kidnapped dinosaur is going to have to be kept, since Videl realizes Saiyaman's identity during that episode.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Wow, the new opening for Kai sucks. It's easily the most boring opening for the Dragon Ball anime franchise to date.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It's Toei, so I'm not surprised.

Honestly, the only 2 DB openings that I liked were the opening theme for DB and the 1st one for Z (Japanese). None of the other ones ever did it for me, and also failed to fit the tone of the series, IMO.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Eh, the second Toriko opening and the Matsutaro opening are pretty good, and I do like the recent One Piece one even if it's a bit generic, so they don't completely suck at making openings these days, imo.

I personally enjoy all of the japanese Dragon Ball anime openings, myself. Of them, the one I felt most didn't "fit" the series was "Cha La Head Cha La," honestly. Granted, I do think it works for the early parts of Z, but for the Namek arc and beyond I thought it kind of felt out of place. I think "Dragon Soul" works better for the tone of the whole Z portion of the series, myself.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

No, Cha La worked fine for Namek and Beyond. Even at its most serious, DB was still a relatively light-hearted and fun series. Cha La captured that sort of theme just fine, and if anything, Namek had more fun adventure elements than the Saiyan arc (what with Bulma, Gohan, and Krillin's escapades), and the Buu arc was a throw-back to early DB. Cell was maybe the only arc where you could make the argument that it didn't fit.

However, the opening for the Buu arc, "We Gotta Power," definitely didn't fit the tone of that arc at all (but considering how Toei took it more seriously than the manga did, then perhaps it fit "their version" of the arc). That, and the song sounded like shit, IMO.