Dragon Ball Z 1989

Well now I've watched this series in its entirety for the first time since the age of nine. I'm not even sure where to start if I'm being honest lol. It definitely shifts away from the sense of adventure that the original Dragon Ball series had practically immediately with a much bigger focus on battles. It also steps away from the Mystical elements of the original series and goes toward the Sci-Fi genre for 2/3rds of the series but it goes back to the Mystical genre for the last 3rd. While there are plenty of funny moments they tend to be confined to mostly filler episodes due to the fact that DBZ takes a much serious tone than DB. The fights can get pretty intense and a lot of the times the villains keep you on the edge of your seat having you wonder what could possibly they do next or what kind of transformation they could have. While I can definitely see why so many love this series I actually still prefer DB over DBZ.

I won't go too much into each part of the series but each one of them gets a plus from me. They start off by completely changing the series by showing that there's an Alien backstory to all of it and immediately showing just how serious it all is, by going as far as to have a character die early off in the series. The Saiyan saga brings along everybody's fav. Saiyan: Vegeta, who along with Piccolo has possibly the best character development. Frieza's possibly the most despicable (while somehow still having some charm) villain in the series, the more you learn of him the more you want to see him go down. His saga contains what's possibly the most iconic moment in the entire franchise with the debut of Goku's Super Saiyan form. Cell is incredibly terrifying, especially in his first form feeling like something out of a monster movie, he's also quite possibly the most arrogant DBZ villain which made his defeat most satisfying and extremely unique by having someone other than Goku defeat him, it's possibly the best ending for all of the sagas. The Majin Buu arcs shifts it to Mystical themes and somewhat silly elements we saw before in DB, introducing god-like characters, and the Fusion techniques. While some may dislike the Buu sagas I still love them, I really felt it was a much needed change after the first super serious parts of the series and hey it starts getting more serious as it goes. Majin Buu starts off as a silly villain, to a much more serious threat but still comedic and ending with a chaotic psychopathic Looney Tunes kind of animal. Buu ends up reaching levels of accomplishments that no other villain reaches and somehow still manages to be the "most fun" villain. I wouldn't even say any of the arcs are bad, they are all enjoyable and they all have their ups and downs.

Personally I really dislike the ending....You'd think that in the end Goku would finally develop a sense about the importance of family and actually learn to love and appreciate his own family in the same exact way that they love him. But instead we get "Leaving to train this stranger, bye guys!" For god's sake, why even leave his family when he could literally teleport to train the kid?

One of my issues is that in the Majin Buu arcs there are a lot of...well asspulls that conveniently come out of nowhere with no hint. Some of them are even hyped up to the maximum levels but then they go on to amount to nothing, they don't really progress the story or they're just there. As a huge DB fan I can definitely say it makes me sad to see the original cast of characters just get more useless as the story goes along. Even Vegeta, who's a fan favorite unfortunately always seems to end up falling victim to the Worf effect and being a punching bag for the main villains. But the one thing I will never understand though is why would a "Passing the Torch" theme be hinted at and accomplished only to have the spotlight go right back to Goku for the last villain....

Number of Filler Episodes: 42 out of 291.
I wouldn't call all of the filler episodes bad it's just that I found a good majority of them to be....unmemorable. If I'm being honest I found the famous Driver's License episode, Gohan by himself in the wild and Goku's battle with Pikkon to be the most memorable filler moments. I also have to mention the Garlic Jr. filler saga not cause it's magnificent but that it's unique in the sense that it gives the spotlight to characters that aren't Goku. The filler episodes that I would have to say are horrible are the "Fake Namek" episodes.

I'm sure you've heard all the stories that say how much this series drags on, and heard how it's sometimes referred to as "Drag On Ball Z". Let me just confirm that all of those stories are true. You would think that the filler episodes are to blame for this but the biggest issue with this series is the fact that a ton of moments are extended for as long as possible. You'll either have the fights be extended for as long as possible or have about 10 cuts during battles that go back to something that's kind of unimportant. Some examples are: the battle against Frieza going on for 4 hours & 13 minutes, having an episode recap in the middle of the last fight with Cell, constantly cutting back to see what Mr. Satan is doing in the middle of the fights with Super Buu. Unfortunately when the battles get dragged on it sometimes ends up making them feel repetitive, I thought it was especially noticeable in the Super Buu fights. If you'd like to experience this without it feeling dragged out then you may want to watch Dragon Ball Kai. NO Kai is not censored, it was only censored by Nickelodeon when they aired it.

Dragonball Z is probably the most culturally iconic anime created. It is the reason anime branched out beyond Japan and spewed multiple generations of boys screaming their heads off in desperate attempts to turn super Saiyan. The fighting sequences, transformations, energy blast tug of war, power levels, flame like auras. These now widespread epic anime tropes have Dragonball Z to thank. All action anime seems to always reach a point in their respective plots when their magic/spirit energy/demon energy/haki etc... the shows start to look and act like scenes out of Dragonball Z. It's a formula that the fans love, I love and we can't seem to get enough of.

Goku as a character is a name known throughout the world, arguably more popular and more liked than Superman. Superman is a politician, a God given power and never spends anytime honing it.

Goku is just a man, albeit a man with some advantages. The franchise follows his ambitious goals, to just get stronger for the sake of getting stronger. He sees to challenge himself and test his abilities through even stronger opponents. Through this compulsive self improvement, he incrementally ascends from a boy to a literal God over his life. Goku has a one track mind and is detached from everything and everyone else. He's not a super hero, he doesn't get into other people's business and instead lives an isolated life. He will get involved only when he is conveniently present, when his loved ones need him and when he sees an opportunity for a worthy fight.

Goku is also widely popular in the fitness community, especially "gym bros" who were inspired by Goku, the same way his friends become stronger in their attempts to keep up.

Don't dismiss this anime. It's a classic and a must watch