Dragon Ball Z for the uninitiated

[Sam_Winchester]

Watched a couple episodes when I was younger, didn't fully understand the hype, still don't to this day.

Here's the challenge, Escapees: Sum up, in less than/equal to 500 words, as much of the plot of DBZ (or Dragonball, for those who feel the need to) as excruciatingly deep as you can make it, then after the summary tell me why it's a revered icon for a generation of fans.

Challenge: Leave out the words "hair," "Super," and "9000"

 

[WolfThomas]

To quote tv tropes laconic page:
A kidhero and his true companions battling more and more powerful enemies and often collecting seven highly powerful plot-resetting artifacts while he grows older.

 

[Ranorak]

Because of this:

 

[subtlefuge]

Dragon Ball Z details the epic struggle of 2 were-monkeys, a were-monkey baby, a gecko, and half a dozen putties against the forces of evil and the deeper facets of monkey psychology.

That at least covers everything up through Frieza. After that, the points really stop mattering.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Dragon Ball Z details the epic struggle of 2 were-monkeys, a were-monkey baby, a gecko, and half a dozen putties against the forces of evil and the deeper facets of monkey psychology.

That at least covers everything up through Frieza. After that, the points really stop mattering.

Gecko? He's obviously a Yoshi!

 

[Mafoobula]

Because of this:
snip

What he said.
I learned how important it is to give your all when something you love is on the line. I learned that even if things go wrong, you have to soldier on and just kick more ass.
I learned that, while Vegeta eventually leaves pride behind in favor of fighting for something besides himself, there's also some merit to drawing strength from pride and self-confidence. Evidence: When Vegeta was mind-controlled by Bobbity, he forcefully throws off the mental shackles by using the power of his pride and stubbornness.

 

[tahrey]

Ass kicking, screaming, endless filler, and terrible, terrible jokes. Then it all goes wrong whilst and particularly after they kill the gay sadist in the white and purple gimp suit.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I guess growing up and watching it in the mornings before going to school just leaves all these good memories in my head that whenever I see Dragon Ball Z I think of "the good days".

Plus, now that we're older my friends and I can now look back and joke about the good times!

SNIP

Also, what this user posted.

 

[Fishyash]

Here's the challenge, Escapees: Sum up, in less than/equal to 500 words

I had to stop here knowing that although the Dragon Ball Z series probably runs to near 6000 hours (that's without the commercial time if you watched this on TV), 500 words might be too many words to describe the series as a whole.

Then there's DBZ Kai, which has managed to make the series so much more consise. It's gone to (more or less) the end of the Perfect Cell saga in less than 100 episodes. In the original series it was closer to 200 episodes at that point.

After (trying) to re-watch DBZ with a friend of mine we were caught constantly skipping episodes or partially into them. It has definitely made me wonder how the hell someone could watch every episode.

However I think that was the beaty of the series. You didn't have to watch every episode, but you could still follow that was going on even after missing two or 3 of them, since so little actually happened.

 

[iTwitch]

I've just started watching it again from the first episode of 'Z', used to love it as a child but it seemed that I was growing up quicker than they were releasing the new series to the UK. Got to say its a lovely series but it has got soooooo many filla's. I've heard Dragonball Z KAI is a remastered edition with all the filla's taken out.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Hmm. I can do this in less than 400.

Dragonball is the story of Goku, an orphan boy with a monkey tail who knows marshal arts. He has in his posesion a dragonball. One day, a girl named Bulma comes to his home with 2 other dragonballs and tells him if they bring all 7 together they can have any wish they want.

They go around finding the balls and fighting all sorts of humans and monsters with Goku?s fighting skills. The show has moments of both humor and total bad assery. Goku can be wacky at times being that he?s been raised in the wild and interacts with humans akwardly and his fights are some of the most entertaining things you?ll see. In Goku?s first encounter he knocks out an 8 foot tall talking tiger carrying a sword. Thats the kind of shit you?re in for here.

Along the way he meets friends like a shapeshifting pig, a guy with three eyes, and a midget; all of whom are recurring characters from then on. The show ends with Goku fighting the child of a demon named Piccolo.

Dragonball z on the other hand takes place after Goku has become an adult. The show writters werent content with just stuff that looks like actual martail arts you can pull of in the real world and desided to give all characters the ability to fly, have them use energy blasts, and be able to punch mountains in half; which in turn made the fights 100 times more epic.

This time around, earth is invaded by the sayians, a warrior race sent to concur the universe. Its then that Goku learns he is a sayain as well.After his friends are killed by the sayians, Goku?s son, the midget, and Bulma go into space to find another set of Dragonballs from Piccolo?s home planet, where they have to fight and kill a space Warlord.

For people who grew up in the 90?s, Dragonball was their first experiance with anime, which opened the door for them to try other ones. The show itself has great animation, exciting fight scenes, and a vast yet easy to follow story. All in all, its one of the greatest shows I?ve ever seen.

 

[Abedeus]

Best.

Anime.

FUCKING EVER.

Manga was awesome too, but to hear the characters talk, and smack the living crap out of each other on-screen is more satisfying.

 

[TitanAtlas]

Because of this:

Don't even need to say anything. This guy pretty much told every thing you need to know...

 

[Panayjon]

Dragon Ball Z details the epic struggle of 2 were-monkeys, a were-monkey baby, a gecko, and half a dozen putties against the forces of evil and the deeper facets of monkey psychology.

That at least covers everything up through Frieza. After that, the points really stop mattering.

Gecko? He's obviously a Yoshi!

Haha, this.

OP. Go and watch Dragonball Z Abridged.

http://teamfourstar.com/page-ep01

 

[Guffe]

Watched a couple episodes when I was younger, didn't fully understand the hype, still don't to this day.

Why does it have to teach you anything?
Okey so I watched the dubbed thing so it aught me some English when I was younger.
Like most other series: Friendship is important.

But why did I watch it?
Epic fight scenes of course. It had super strong humans and aliens fighting all going war with the strength to destroy planets, how is that not epic for a 11-year-old?

The story?
Dude is strong,
even stronger opponent comes along,
he beats him,
repeat

Not trying to do some hate-mail thing here or anything but my next words are to everyone who reads my post:
Stop trying to find some important deeper meaning in everything.
If someone likes it and you don't, don't get bothered by it, continue liking what you like.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

When I was a kid, this was probably my favourite show ever.

Sure, it's not deep, the story is kind of crappy and there's more plotholes than I can count, but hey, I was a kid.

I can't watch it now, but I will always remember it fondly.

 

[Darkwhite]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Super Saiyan (insert number here)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Rinse and repeat.

And yet when I was younger, I loved it, honestly I still do as long as I can do other things while its on as well.

 

[Whitbane]

Saw this on the television not long ago and I sat down to watch it. It was still as fun as what I remembered from when I was a kid.

Need it on DVD or something.

 

[RagTagBand]

Besides the awesome comic posted above

It's brutal, it's motivational, the plot is fairly unique, the characters are funny (and this makes their underlying tragedies all the more poignant when they come out).

I watched it when I was younger, and I watched it again last year. It's just as awesome as it ever has been, if not more so because I can read into the subtleties (lets not forget that it was a Manga first that was adapted into a cartoon show, it's not tailor made for kids)