Thoughts on 'Dragon Ball Z': From a First-Time Viewer

1. The Characters

The first character everyone thinks about when talking about DBZ is Son Goku. Son Goku is one of the most recognizable anime/manga characters ever made, so when I was asked about Dragon Ball Z, I would always say, "Oh the anime with Goku and Super Saiyans and stuff?" After watching and reading DBZ, I have to say, Goku is one of my favorite characters in any form of media ever. He's one of the most powerful characters, yet funny, relaxed, and childlike, really breaking up the formula of all the serious, "I MUST WIN THIS FIGHT OR THE WORLD WILL END." But when Goku is in the fight, it is serious, but he is still that kid from Dragon Ball.

As much as I want to talk about my favorite character (Krillin), I am going to talk about the character with possibly the greatest story arc ever: Vegeta. Vegeta was first introduced to us as purely an evil Saiyan coming to kill Goku and his friends, and take over their planet (Earth). But after a long fight where Nappa and Vegeta kill almost all of our favorite characters, Gohan saves the day by defeating Vegeta. Vegeta's character changes over time from completely evil, to not all evil but not good either, to slightly good but still a complete dick, and to an always angry hero fighting side by side with the person he originally tried killing: Goku.

There are so many amazing characters that if I talked about every single one we would be here forever. But I want to give a quick mention to the character that essentially started all of the events of the Dragon Ball series: Frieza. Frieza is the character that destroyed planet Vegeta and sets upon his quest to destroy all remaining Saiyans.

2. Action, Action, and More Action!

The one thing Dragon Ball Z is known for are the insane fights that carry over multiple episodes, and the super loud shouting and transformations. The transformations from Super Saiyan, to Super Saiyan, to Super Saiyan God, and to everything in between such as Super Saiyan Rose. I personally really love Super Saiyan God—it might be my favorite and the coolest looking one.

Now lets talk about the fights. The fights are intense, spanning over multiple episodes and having multiple characters get defeated and comeback. The fights also either take place on the ground or the air, be it 1v1, 3v2, 4v4, and so on. Most of the time, these fights change the course of the show and leave a lasting effect on a lot of the characters—even though most of them come back from their deaths because of the "Dragon Balls."

3. The World/Story

These kind of go hand in hand, as in we discover more about the world/universe they inhabit as the story goes on. We are almost on Earth the whole time during Dragon Ball, and we never really know where Goku is from and what he is. As a viewer, we know he's not of this Earth, but we never really learn where he's from until his brother comes from space—yes, space. Raditz comes from planet Vegeta (sounds familiar) to find someone named Kakarot, which turns out to be Goku. Goku was sent to Earth from planet Vegeta to destroy life on it and sell it to the highest bidder—and that's what the Saiyan race does for a living. Fast forward a bit until after the fight between Raditz and Goku, with both being dead, and two major things happen with the world. One: We are introduced to Vegeta and Nappa when a distress signal is sent to them by Raditz. And the second thing: Goku is sent to the "After Life" to train with King Kai after he travels the Long Snake Way. This shows us that the DBZ universe is way bigger than we first thought.

This is all I'm going to talk about for now. If this turns out well, I might make a second part talking about more stuff with DBZ or DB Super.

Thank you for reading and Ka-Me-Ha-Me-Ha!