Another archival text, this time about "Dragon Ball". In the coming days I will throw the rest on the blog. Have a nice Tuesday;)!
I will probably divide the text into 3 parts (respectively: "Dragon Ball", "Dragon Ball Z" events until the end of arc with Freezer, and in the third I will focus on cyborgs and Cell). I don't want it to be too chaotic, and I don't want to miss anything.
Before implementing my postponed debates for many years, DB and DBZ re-watch set out for a hard screening. I don't have very good memories of the series, mainly because of the last saga from Buu and various, smaller sins. I have to admit that I have often been surprised by the ingenuity of Akira Toriyama or the rethinking of some scenes. I was constantly surprised by really good ideas, as well as the coherence of the world and solid adherence to the story's foundations. Do you remember that Chaos for a long time was much better than Goku when it comes to the art of levitation? Or some of the things that the Brilliant Turtle or Kami taught them (taking advantage of weaknesses and observing terrain and opponent, diverse but practical physical training, working on controlling Ki energy, the ability to calm it down and strengthen it)? Exactly. For a long time, "Dragon Ball" is a really coherent and thought-out story. Only from the moment of introducing too strong Freezer problems begin, but I will write about it on another occasion.
Anime also defends itself quite well despite the passage of so many years. There are some anachronisms here, but if you turn a blind eye and rewind the boring episodes (or threads that have aged extremely badly), we'll get a good title. By the way, the way I shot some episodes, I was a bit associated with old Disney cartoons. This climate of the era that has passed and already anarchic gags.
Of course, don't get me wrong, it's still a simple "shounen" from the Bleach level adventure game. However, if you give him a reduced fare (which in my opinion is justified to some extent), then you will notice a few advantages that are missing in the titles modeled on the work of Akira Toriyama. And it wasn't there, the creator of DB introduced and fixed some patterns, Cliff-hangers (sudden twists), archetypes of the character, and popularized other things (eg energy attacks). Anyway, looking at Toriyama's skills, I believe that if he drew "Dragon Ball" nowadays, he could compete with Eiichiro Oda ("One Piece") and Togashi ("Hunter x Hunter").
The first episodes were quite a pleasant, casual adventure. It looked pretty cool, but it wasn't very volatile entertainment. Sometimes it was good, sometimes boring, I had to rewind some scenes (and in the case of the "Red Ribbon Army" saga, even entire episodes), but below a certain level, it did not go down. I watched mainly because of the Hermit Turtle and Bulma, because the road to the solution of the main plot was not so interesting. Akira Toriyama really outlined Bulma as a determined, clever, and servicing girl. Her ambiguous scenes, such is handsome show that she could get along with Kame-Senin if she changed her gender. The creation of Bulma does not even differ so much from today's "liberated women" who lightly approach bed matters. Sometimes her allusions were all too visible ... A few times I even saw a short blink of an eye, giving the situation an additional piquancy. Do not get me wrong, I do not consider Bulma as "the lady of loose morals". She wanted her wish, so she was able to sacrifice a lot. And that many situations provoked the Divine Honey and she herself had a weakness for handsome men ...
And speaking of humor, this is a big advantage of the series. Goku's ignorance of the world, a literal understanding of some commands, and his naivety and pity (even Freezer forgave killing Krillan!) Were sometimes really funny. During the broadcast on RTL7, the humor of the series did not buy me at all. Here, sometimes "I was dying of laughter" and scrolled through some scenes several times! On the other hand, I'm really surprised that such things were allowed to see children. There were worse situations here than the "Super-Nanny" from "a certain station." It's case from Polish TV - tl'dr version - "If your kid watched DBZ, then he's violence and pornography guy" xD
In turn, the Divine Master immediately became my favorite character. What did he go to grab the girl's buttocks or breasts ... And that's just a small part of its advantages! If Toei Animation uses his: knowledge, cleverness, character, excellent ability to assess the opponent's strength, determination, ruthlessness, etc. at least in half, then he should be really powerful support. I hope quietly that they will strengthen it to the level of Ssj2 at "Power Tournament" (yes, it is impossible) and prior of many opponents. When you had to be serious, Muten Roshi surprised with his wisdom and determination. This was well demonstrated by his conversation with Tenshin after their tournament fight, one of the most beautiful scenes in DB. Going further, the Brilliant Turtle did not hesitate to hurt friends when the situation demanded. In addition, he was an exemplary teacher, which was appreciated by Kami himself. It is a pity that from the saga with Freezer with each subsequent episode is becoming more and more "gag" written on one hoof. I am counting on good scenes with his participation in "Dragon Ball Super" because Granpa has real potential. Don't be fooled, this is an egoistic and ruthless brawl, like Vegeta from Namek, when the situation demands it.
"Dragon Ball" is just gaining on such small details, the plot would require only small (at least from my perspective) changes, most things stuck together and I didn't have the impression that Akira put something on the principle of "because yes" or "because it looks cool and that it doesn't fit ... and who cares! " It is not an extensive, rich in details world (as in the case of "One Piece"), but it is "fuller" than in "Bleach". The characters stood out, had their own unique fighting style. Chaos specialized in Ki, Tenshinhan played the role of Vegeta at that time, after all, the title of Earth's "final hope" in the fight against Piccolo Daimao, it was not a fart! At this stage of the anime, Tenshinhan really did a great job as a successor to Goku, Muten Roshi was a tactician, 3rd force of the then Z Warriors, Yamcha was impulsive and attacked aggressively, offensive, mainly fought. Krillan was able to surprise with cleverness, he was quite solidly resistant to blows, and when it comes to fighting style, it was quite universal. Piccolo-Daimao and Jr. in turn, they often attacked very brutally, below the waist (like Tenshin at the beginning), they had developed Ki and a pair of aces up their sleeves (regeneration of limbs, increasing their size).
It's the same for technicians. The Divine Bear often serves as a battlefield translator and the author describes the differences, strengths, weaknesses of given ways of using Ki and tricks with his mouth. At that stage, the DB did not differ much from the currently outgoing manga of this type. Levitation, the technique of "disappearing" (something like "Shunpo" from "Bleach"), various uses of Kamehameha, fighting styles, methods of building the arc (the exception is the Red Ribbon Army saga, although it is quite original, but it was poorly made), very brutal and quite ingenious injury scenes (e.g. Tenshin breaking Yamcha's leg in the knee joint). Akira is also really good with the drawing. I don't know the manga, but I've seen online frames, a "random" volume I have, and Manga Music Videos using DB. Toriyama has a line style that is definitely my favorite of all "tapeworms". Strong, determined, sometimes awkward, and funny. Toriyama perfectly and naturally gave strength and speed of blows. Although this does not sound strange, when the character really strongly attacked (or made a quick, surprising move), it just felt. The same style has the author of "Hunter x Hunter", Yoshihiro Togashi (that's why I do not like him, the guy perfectly gave the style "Dragon Ball" and gave it a lot more awesomeness, and does not want to continue his manga! On the other hand, I understand it, just I feel sorry for it, it's a great story)
Tournament saga was cool, as in most titles of this type. It really started with the first tournament with Tenshinhan and Chaos. There were a lot of strong scenes, Akira led most of the threads well, created the first important rival of Goku (it's a pity that after the Saiyan saga, his role is slowly decreasing ...). In my opinion, next to the Piccolo-jr part and the best moments with his Father, this is the best arc of "Dragon Ball". The fight between Yamcha and Tenshin is one of my 5 favorites in this series.
The saga with the Red Ribbon Army was a nightmare that I mostly missed. I liked the concept of a powerful army, which had great capabilities, serious firepower, and considerable resources (financial, human, technological), but too much was laid (I do not know if it is Akira Toriyama's fault or studies). It was too long, most of the enemies were unattractive and dragged on mercilessly. The finale itself made up for it to a large extent. Apart from the motivation of the Red Marshal to get the Dragon Balls, the ending was really successful. The last fight, treason, Black's attempt to save the Army's honor. If he had a better voice (he was extremely annoying to me) then he would be a really successful and cleverly thought-out boss saga.
Then came the era of Piccolo Daimao, which I remember quite poorly. He was the first "impossible" threat to the world that no one could cope... except Goku. The introduction was really brilliant (Krillan's death was well portrayed) the saga itself kept the level really long and the man wanted to watch more and more episodes. Piccolo-Daimao had a great "projection of power" scene destroying the whole city ... I associated it with the destruction of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Since Piccolo, known to us, came to the salons, my favorite stage in "Dragon Ball" began, which lasted until the end of Saiyan Saga. The extent of damage was not that huge (although Vegeta could destroy the Earth at that time) and various "statistics" counted (ability to assess opponent's strength, adaptability, cleverness, battle sense, skillful management of Ki). There was diversity, even the weaker opponent could surprise something, and at the same time, we got really strong attacks that caused a lot of damage. The final duel between Namekian and Goku, earlier meeting Junior and Kami and conversation understood only for them (is a good example when it comes to the detail of Akira Toriyama), the number of twists and turns, brutality. Everything worked here.
Finally, I will mention music and animation briefly. On the musical side, "Dragon Ball" is a really good creation, both from the lighter side, through the motivating ones, ending with battle themes. The music is generally well-matched, and there are so many songs that they had a lot to choose from. Some songs were also used in the Z series. As for animation, the title has fewer frames per second, for most of the anime we see scenes made in the old, already archaic style for anime. It seems to me that DB presented a more or less even level in terms of technical performance. I only came across ... seven times on a stage that was made extremely messy. On the other hand, there were some really good sequences for those times. There is nothing to hide, however, DB is even worse than Z series. On the other hand, though, there were a dozen or so sloppy and hurriedly episodes with Freezer ... Is that something that doesn't remind you;)?
That's all from me. If you can, share your opinion about DB. How do you look at it from the perspective of years or through the prism of "Dragon Ball Z".