1 DBZ and anime fandom

Dragonball Z was (and largely still is) one of the most popular shounen anime series in the United States. Due to its length, associated varying quality, creative devices, and its sometimes overenthusatic young fanbase, the rest of anime fandom at large has very mixed reactions to it. These range from simple disinterest to downright vocal hatred of the series (or specifically its fans) as overrated and superficial, and while contrinbuting much to the shounen genre in Japan feel it has created a sterotyped associated with anime at large in the west outside the fandom.

It is also unfortunately tightly associated with the stereotypical young, obnoxious otaku, and some fans are even afraid to mention an interest in the series amongst others. In contrast, less hatred tends to be espoused towards the original Dragonball series, perhaps because of its relatively obscureness in America (until recently) and stronger mix of comedy and adventure.

Many fans feel with Dragonball Z's age, the fandom of a newer series in a similar genre, Naruto, shows some strong reflections to DBZ's fandom. The shows are usually compared in flame wars, although the premises are quite different.

1.1 Censorship Issues

One of the biggest criticisms of the series in North America from fans is the extensive amount of editing it faced, especially when it was on network television.

The original series was created for teenagers and adults, and accordingly has adult humor in it and the violence can be over the top. When it was marketed in the United States, the distribution company FUNimation decided to focus it as a children's show, because the market for Japanese animation was still relatively small, while the children's cartoon market was much larger. The series underwent many changes, with the removal of nudity, partial nudity, references to sex, alcohol, and smoking (they went so far as to digitally remove the cigarette from one character's mouth, and digitally paste the word ROOT above a sign that said BEER to make it say " ROOT BEER".) A lot of violent scenes were left on the cutting room floor, and others had wounds digitally removed, and blood removed or re-colored as spit. The dialogue was changed, removing references to Heaven, Hell, God, and death.

Naturally, this amount of censorship lead to characters saying things which didn't match what was occurring on screen, unrealistic and twisted plots, major plot holes, and obviously altered images. Combined with the replacing of the original musical score, all this left many fans irate, resulting in some Dragon Ball purists who refuse to watch the American version of the show. One of the biggest points raised by critics of the censorship of violence is that the removal of wounds, blood, and death from a show ultimately about fighting will encourage violence without showing any of the consequences.

Starting with the Ginyu Saga (3rd US season) on Cartoon Network, censorship was reduced due to fewer restrictions on cable programming. Some types of censorship, nudity for example, was still unavoidable. Subsequent DVD and VHS releases of those episodes were not censored in any way.

1.2 Post 9/11

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Cartoon Network cut an episode of Dragon Ball Z where Gohan saves a plane from crashing, then later has to deal with a burning skyscraper office building, due to the obvious parallel imagery.

2 Plot Summary

The main character is Son Goku, an extremely powerful, yet simpleminded and kindly character. After a visit from his previously unknown brother Raditz, he discovers that he is an alien that was sent to Earth to destroy it. When he informs Raditz that he has no intention of doing this, Goku and his friends become the erstwhile defenders of the Earth from the oncoming invasion by more of his kind.

As the series progresses, Son Goku, his son, Son Gohan, and their companions age, get immensely stronger, and fight increasingly powerful and sinister villains. Many of the main characters die, are resurrected, get married and/or have children. The series has had a dramatic progression throughout its entire run.

Many important facts were introduced into the series that add a different, more Sci-Fi oriented, story arc to Dragon Ball Z from its predecessor:

• Son Goku is an alien from Planet Vegeta. This is the source of his previously unexplained abilities, and why he has a tail (which was later removed, and not seen again until the next series Dragon Ball GT).

• Son Goku's enemy from the first series, Piccolo, is an alien from Planet Namek. He is the product of Kami (guardian of Earth) splitting himself in half to purge the evil from himself.

3 Characters

3.1 Characters

• Z Fighters (The main heroes)
• Villains
• Kaio
• List of Dragon Ball characters

Dragons

• Porunga - Dragon of Namek, grants 3 wishes every 128 days.
• Shenlong - Dragon of the Earth, grants 1 wish (and later 2 wishes when Dende takes over as Earth's Guardian) every Earth year.

4 Sagas

The Dragon Ball Z series can be (sometimes) logically broken into 4 series, which can be broken further into sagas, based on the current enemy or theme:

Saiyan Series:

• The Saiyan Saga

Frieza Series:

• The Namek Saga
• The Ginyu Saga
• The Frieza Saga
• The Garlic Junior Saga
• The Trunks Saga(Note: The Trunks Saga can be placed into either the Frieza Series or the Cell Series.)

Cell Series:

• The Androids Saga
• The Imperfect Cell Saga
• The Perfect Cell Saga
• The Cell Games Saga

Buu Series:

• The Great Saiyaman Saga
• The World Tournament Saga
• The Babidi Saga
• The Majin Buu Saga
• The Fusion Saga
• The Kid Buu Saga
• There are also movies that have separate storylines and villains.

5 Movies

Dragon Ball Z has had several movies made based on the popular series. Although some can be counted as side stories(see gaiden) that happen between sagas many are based in their own universe having nothing to do with the series timeline. These movies include:

• (TV Special)
• The History of Trunks (TV Special)
  1. Dead Zone
  2. The World's Strongest
  3. The Tree of Might
  4. Lord Slug
  5. Cooler's Revenge
  6. Return of Cooler
  7. Super Android 13
  8. Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan
  9. Bojack Unbound
  10. Broly: The Second Coming
  11. Dragonball Z Movie 11
  12. The Rebirth Of Fusion
  13. Dragonball Z Movie 13

See: Dragon Ball Z movie

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Saiyan Saga - Namek Saga - Ginyu Saga - Freeza Saga - Garlic Junior Saga - Trunks Saga - Androids Saga - Imperfect Cell Saga - Perfect Cell Saga - Cell Games Saga - Great Saiyaman Saga - World Tournament Saga - Babidi Saga - Majin Buu Saga - Fusion Saga - Kid Buu Saga

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