For a great deal of people, it's mostly the fact that Dragon Ball was the anime that got most people interested in anime to begin with.
In my case, eh, it works well enough.
himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimariEspecially when it's from Toei's better animators, like Natoshi Shiida or Kazuhiro Ota
Although the Funimation translations have long sense overrode whatever I use to be used to. I'm just now remembering "Dijin Buu" and "Gotunks".
Buldogue's lawyerI actually had no idea how popular Dragon Ball was until a few years after I read the whole manga. The 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai will forever remain my favorite arc.
I think it's because it knows exactly what it is. It never tries to overreach itself. It never tries to be philosophical, or overly mature. It knows it's aimed at children, and it never gets too complex or bogged down.
The *Legendary* Super Saiyan is motivated by a crying infant! He is a literal giant f***ing baby!There's a lot I love about Dragon Ball. The setting is really cool, I like that this is a world where you have aliens, robots, alien robots, demons, alien demons, martial artists, alien martial artist demons, animal people, monster people, wizards, gods, dragons, mutants, fusion, psychics, time travel and what-not and it all just seems to fit together pretty well.
And I also just love the simplicity of the Ki Attacks in the series.
It helps that, despite being a happy, fun series for all ages, Dragon Ball has NEVER shyed away from GRAPHIC violence. From Goku's tail being chopped off, General Blue getting tongued in his brain, Yamcha's leg breaking, Goku puching Drum's head apart to King Piccolo getting a huge hole punched through him, Piccolo Jr blasting a hole through Goku's shoulder then attacking the hole, to Tenshinhan getting his arm punched off, Vegeta killing Burter by knee-slamming his throat, Freeza continuously blasting Piccolo, Dr. Gero impaling Yamcha, to Cell drinking people, Videl breaking Spopvich's neck, Buu liquifying himself and exploding a man from the inside out, and countless other instances.
It's the product of its time, as you couldn't really get away with that level of violence nowadays In a Shonen magazine unless it's Attack On Titan.
Fist Of The North Star and Jojos Bizarre Adventure are similar in that regard.
Watch SymphogearAlso, because the story of DB is so simple, you can essentially take any meaning out of it. For one, there's the whole "The Freeza Saga is about the black man's journey in America". What is a Super Saiyan? Who knows! They don't really tell you the minute details. They don't tell you where it comes from. So it can symbolise literally anything you want it to be.
The *Legendary* Super Saiyan is motivated by a crying infant! He is a literal giant f***ing baby!I suppose Dragon Ball has a high level of applicability.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!I echo Saiga in the general flow of the story being a major appeal, especially since most of it was written on the fly. There's only a couple places where you can see the proverbial seams, such as, as I mentioned earlier, the fact that the Gohan high school drama just sort of stops.
edited 21st Nov '15 6:35:54 PM by HamburgerTime
To be honest, I actually don't think it's bad that it just suddenly stops... mostly because, it kinda does in-story too. Gohan's all like "got this shit to deal with", and then Goku drops in and is like "fuck that noise, let's go beat each other up!" and Gohan's like "YAAAAAY DAD!" and totally forgets about his problems, because he is, in the end, his father's son.
It's never bothered me because it kinda makes perfect sense. It stopped being important to the characters, so it stopped being important for the story as well.
himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimariWhich could be a good thing, because if there was anything right now it'd likely because the game was being pushed out too soon to get proper development and then we're trapped in the yearly Dragon Ball game cycle again.
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I agree. We hardly ever see them at all after the King Piccolo arc.
I think I remember King Furry getting a Tear Jerker moment during the Cell saga after the military is wiped out, but that's pretty much all that we see of them other than Oolong.
I agree with that, too. Xenoverse isn't even a year old yet!
edited 21st Nov '15 7:09:17 PM by BaffleBlend
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — Ultimatepheer

Personally, I actually greatly enjoy the plot and most of the characters. It's not the most amazing series ever but it's one of those series that I can go back to at basically any time and still love it.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!