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Dragon Ball Z Abridged

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KnownUnknown Since: Jan, 2001
#17576: Jan 25th 2016 at 5:12:33 PM

I first got into DBZ halfway through the Freeza arc, right around when they were explaining Vegeta's past and the Namekians and such, so I managed to avoid getting confused about some stuff. I just went "okay, so some of these guys are aliens, Vegeta looks human but is actually an alien, and Goku's a Vegeta-alien who was raised on Earth."

And then Toonami abruptly reset to the beginning of the series, as it does, and I went "wait, why are they back on Earth? Wait, Goku's long lost brother? Surely he'll be an important and significant recurring character."

Sometimes it was because They Just Didn't Care especially where the afterlife was concerned, but I'm willing to give them a pass on this one because they aren't psychic. They couldn't have known Toriyama was going to turn around and mine that particular role for a character five years later.

Reminds me of how Harry Potter films would toss out characters and subplots from the books on the assumption that they weren't that important, only to be bitten in the ass when those things got more significance later.

Soble Since: Dec, 2013
#17577: Jan 25th 2016 at 6:25:38 PM

I remember the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around were the movies being non-canon when I first watched the series.

It took me years to accept that Frieza was male.

I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
Hylarn (Don’t ask)
#17578: Jan 25th 2016 at 6:27:57 PM

Does Freeza's race even have gender?

AdricDePsycho Rock on, Gold Dust Woman from Never Going Back Again Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
#17579: Jan 25th 2016 at 6:30:18 PM

In regards to Launch appearing as her "good" self in Z, she makes a brief cameo in the Buu saga giving her energy to Goku's Spirit Bomb, and she's got her purple hairdo.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
Moth13 Since: Sep, 2010
#17580: Jan 25th 2016 at 6:41:17 PM

[up][up]They didn't in Xenoverse at least.

Heatth (X-Troper) Relationship Status: In Spades with myself
#17581: Jan 25th 2016 at 8:22:12 PM

[up][up]She have other hairdo? Anyway, I guess I just never recognized her.

[up][up][up]King Cold is a king and a father, and I am pretty sure Freeza is a "son" (also pretty sure these words are as gendered in Japanese as they are in English). So, even if they are sexless, they definitively have genders. Like the Namekians.

edited 25th Jan '16 8:23:44 PM by Heatth

randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#17582: Jan 25th 2016 at 8:33:12 PM

[up]Her hair's the same, she might've been wearing a hat though...I don't remember completely.

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
Anomalocaris20 from Sagittarius A* Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: Love blinded me (with science!)
#17583: Jan 25th 2016 at 8:34:01 PM

Genders can't exist unless there was sexual multimorphism to base them around. The masculine pronouns/terminology are likely just a matter of convenience or the ol' "genderless defaults to male" thing.

edited 25th Jan '16 8:34:46 PM by Anomalocaris20

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!
AdricDePsycho Rock on, Gold Dust Woman from Never Going Back Again Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Rock on, Gold Dust Woman
#17584: Jan 25th 2016 at 9:06:12 PM

[up][up]

She had a hat, yes. Team Four Star pointed out she was in that scene in their Top 24 DBZ Moments countdown.

Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#17585: Jan 25th 2016 at 9:14:36 PM

Yeah...it was either that or they drew her hair weird in a close up shot as my guess.

edited 25th Jan '16 9:14:54 PM by randomness4

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
BaconManiac5000 Since: Nov, 2013 Relationship Status: Baby don't hurt me!
#17586: Jan 25th 2016 at 9:23:58 PM

Look at her trucker hat.

what do you mean I didn't win, I ate more wet t-shirts than anyone else
wanderlustwarrior Role Model from Where Gods Belong Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Role Model
#17587: Jan 25th 2016 at 9:47:31 PM

Singing an alphabet song isn't exactly a new thing, but I just noticed it is another thing that Weekly Tube Show had Perfect Cell do before.

Enlong Court Dragon from The Underground Facility Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
Court Dragon
#17588: Jan 25th 2016 at 10:03:41 PM

"He'll be fine! He's got Saiyan blood flowing through his... mouth."

I have a message from another time...
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#17589: Jan 26th 2016 at 12:32:07 AM

I started the series by reading the manga in order from the library. It wasn't until years later that I learned just how popular Dragon Ball was.

unnoun Since: Jan, 2012
#17590: Jan 26th 2016 at 5:15:12 AM

Genders can't exist unless there was sexual multimorphism to base them around.

Eh. I mean, we've classified ourselves off of plenty of completely arbitrary things before.

I think the argument for biological basis of social and cultural things is overstating the case a bit.

Medigo03 Since: Sep, 2013
#17591: Jan 26th 2016 at 8:28:01 AM

Started watching when it came on in The Netherlands

By that time the backlog was so big, it went straight from Raditz, across the Funu dubbed part of the Frieza saga, and then right back to the Ocean dub as soon as Trunks went back to the future the first time.. and then it stopped right before the actual androids showed up

My country was weird about that (mostly because they couldnt make up their minds which dub to use for the Buu saga)

Nightwire Since: Feb, 2010
#17592: Jan 26th 2016 at 9:05:36 AM

Never saw the anime myself. I grew up reading the manga and loved everything pre-Raditz. After Raditz and the Saiyan showed, I just found the manga's new direction off-putting. I keep reading it, but the plot and characters just couldn't manage to hold me any more.

Then DBZA made me fall in love with all of that stuff.

Heatth (X-Troper) Relationship Status: In Spades with myself
#17593: Jan 26th 2016 at 9:11:54 AM

Genders can't exist unless there was sexual multimorphism to base them around. The masculine pronouns/terminology are likely just a matter of convenience or the ol' "genderless defaults to male" thing.

That is an explanation for how the concept of gender formed. You could argue that their race shouldn't have a concept of gender, logically, but Dragon Ball is hardly a realistic setting. There was (sadly) never any ambiguity of that in the anime/manga, Freeza and his father are considered male, plain and simple.

[up][up][up]Also that.

edited 26th Jan '16 9:16:35 AM by Heatth

TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#17594: Jan 26th 2016 at 9:19:19 AM

I started off somewhere in the middle of the Ocean dub of the Saiyan saga, (one of the first memories I have of the show is the narrator talking about training with Piccolo and describing Piccolo as "the harshest martial arts instructor in the land" or something along those lines) and I remember all too well the frustration when the show suddenly restarted from the beginning... and did so again and again. It got to the point that I'd try catching episodes on the Spanish language channel in hopes that they would go further and I'd get at least some idea of what happened!

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
JonnasN from Porto, Portugal Since: Jul, 2012
#17595: Jan 26th 2016 at 11:30:48 AM

I was lucky to watch Dragon Ball from the very beginning, and as it segued into Z (and later GT). I was there for the shock of Krillin's death (it was really creepy in the Anime), seeing Goku grown up (I genuinely did not recognise him with that turban), Raditz's arrival (the moment Raditz showed off his tail, my jaw dropped), and the Super Saiyan transformation (no knowledge whatsoever that it was going to be a thing).

I followed the series while staying blissfully unspoiled. Until the Buu Arc, that is, where toys and videogames showed characters that hadn't appeared yet (Majin Vegeta, SSJ 3, Fat Buu, Super Buu, Vegetto, Krillin with hair...). At least there was plenty they didn't spoil.

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#17596: Jan 26th 2016 at 11:32:45 AM

The most jaw-dropping moment for me was Demon King Piccolo killing Shenron. I legitimately thought the series had gone to a REALLY dark place.

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#17597: Jan 26th 2016 at 11:40:51 AM

I've said this before, but I saw a raw version of movie 6 of Dragon Ball Z (so the return of Coola) then a raw of the first two episodes (Raditz arriving on Earth, and Picollo and Goku getting ready to fight him).

Some time later, I caught the first dub of the first arc of Dragon Ball, and while a few characters were vaguely familiar (since Oolong and Roshi were in movie 6), I didn't recognize a lot of others. Despite his hair not changing, I didn't realize kid Goku and Adult Goku were the same person until I looked at the latter's space-suit and saw the words Goku in english on it.

So then I finally watched the first dub of Z, and there was a lot of confusing stuff. I finally became aware of the fact that Krillin was an adult (still having a female voice and his height made me assume he was a kid who was just older then Gohan), found out Piccolo had formerly been a villain (it did explain why the others were freaked out by him), found out Gohan was Goku's son (another freak-out explained), etc etc.

It's because of seeing Z first that, like many, my bitterness at the humans being pushed out of the spotlight is so prevalent (while I still don't like it, I'm starting to understand that they were always being outshone, and their increased priority was something that was being built up to).

I've learned a lot more since then. I admit, there are still some things I wish were different (though mostly, I wish Toriyama had planned things out a bit more; his world building has gotten interesting, but he needs to work on his character arcs, and maybe learn something about recurring villains instead of just tossing them out for a new guy), I understand Dragon Ball far better than I used to.

One Strip! One Strip!
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#17598: Jan 26th 2016 at 11:55:39 AM

My bitterness at the Humans not being important is due to my having read Dragon Ball before Dragon Ball Z and, as such, I prefer the characters I'm more nostalgic for.

edited 26th Jan '16 12:10:37 PM by PushoverMediaCritic

God_of_Awesome Since: Jan, 2001
#17599: Jan 26th 2016 at 12:04:22 PM

I, uh, I only watched Abridged.

So, yeh, here's to me, who don't know precisely what's gonna happen.

randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#17600: Jan 26th 2016 at 12:24:19 PM

Dragon Ball is great. It's the only reason I've ever been interested.

Maybe just because I like the fights better when they stay on the ground, which doesn't happen much in Z.

If I actually started with Z, I would've been bored out of my mind. Things just happen and it is not interesting.

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.

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