The End Of An Era (or, "It's about damn time...")

JJc14 · **JJc14**

and so it comes to this, the end of the almighty dragonball z...it almost seems fitting that the last episode would carry over a weekend before airing, and while merely mentioning this show can cause people to groan, it's been one hell of a ride...

love it or hate it, dragonball z has truely had an impact on the exposure of anime and action cartoons in this country...while i wasn't a huge anime fan at the time, i know things were a lot different when i first caught the show on the wb back in '95/'96...

i spent most of the next three years just watching the same fifty-odd episodes, holding out hope that they'd eventually get past goku's fight against recoome and finish the freeza saga, but that never did happen (on the wb), and while toonami picked up the show, without cn in my area i was sunk...

finally, in late 2000, i was able to catch toonami, and while they were past the freeza saga, what they were airing at the time turned out to be my favorite set of episodes (trunks/androids/cell saga)...i was soon able to catch up on the goku/freeza fight, and while i wasn't very fond of the buu saga at all, i seriously got the chills when the narrator said "on the final episode of dragonball z..." last friday...

it's odd for me to think that i was in sixth grade when i first caught the show on a sunday morning, 12 years old, and here i am now almost done my second year of college...while dragonball: gt is still over the horizon, i feel like this is it, the end...

anyway, i was just curious to see other people's reactions of this event (if any)...anyone else have some final words they'd like to give? does anyone care? ...all i know is at 6:00 pm est tomorrow, i'll be able to let out one of the biggest sighs of relief ever knowing that i've finally finished the epic dbz...
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Rycel · **Rycel**

Ahh, yes. The much maligned Dragonball Z. Unfortunately for us (or U.S., as the case may be), this show has gone the way of many prominent shows of the past, like the Simpsons. How can I draw a parallel between these shows? Because they have the same fate in common: they are all groundbreaking shows that have lost steam and popularity because of length and overexposure.

When the Simpsons first premered, it was an adult show that broke the mold by being animated. Over the years, its cult following grew and grew, until the show became mainstream and its popularity peaked. As more time went by, its popularity has waned and the audience has become younger and younger, until some now regard it as comic fare for teenagers and prepubescents. How the mighty have fallen.

Because of its immense popularity (and overexposure in America), it is easy to forget just how influencial DBZ has been for anime in general. In Japan, it is still regarded as one of the greatest shows of all time. In fact, about 7 out of 10 manga artists will say that Akira Toriyama's Dragonball manga (DB & DBZ) is one of their top 3 influences. However, it too has succumbed to being little more than a franchise name for marketers to make money off of (*casts glaring eye at DBGT*).

Like it or not, DBZ is here to stay as long as a copy exists somewhere in the world. Do you have to like it? No. Should you respect it? I think so.
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Spookmonkey · **Spookmonkey**

what's interesting though, unlike with dbz, matt groening WANTS to continue with the simpsons and while the humor has changed it is no longer the same show as it was. Does that make it a worse show? not really. It's actualyl gotten quite a bit more gorey and grotesque than it ever was before, not because they need it to pull in ratings but because they now can get away with it (its not liek they go to exsessives, but they now use it alot more than they ever did) and its actually now more popular than it pretty much ever was before.

Anywho, back to dbz. It's amazing that the show has almost lasted until I got out of college... only one mroe year (I took 3 years off before college) now they need to get dbgt fully aired by the time I'm done with school and making all of your video games and I do mean all. Hell, I'll probably attempt to make the first trully good dbz type game (go real time stretegy, woo!). Though I bet I could make a decnt one based on the first two seasons of dbz.... bit late to only base it off those though. Anyway I will kind of miss it when it leaves but at the same time I'll breathe a breath of fresh air knowing it'll be gone and making room for the next "dbz" of the block, which if funimation has its way will be YYH. I'm tired and I'll actually post something not so random later about this.

WOO GO LEFT ELBOW GO!
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"Veni. Vedi. Spooki." - Julius Caesar
I came. I saw. I spooked.

He's better than Pop-Rocks!

Zerokun · **Zerokun**

*Strong Bad voice* IT'S OVER!!

I myself am no fan of DBZ, but there's no denying the stranglehold it had over anime as a whole. In fact, there were times when I questioned myself for not liking it. But then I realized that just because something is the most popular doesn't mean that it's the best. Also, I can take solace in the fact that I'm not the only one who thinks that its 15 minutes were over 14 minutes ago.

Farewell, DBZ. In the new world of Toonami, Super Saiyans just aren't going to cut it anymore.
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End of line.

Spookmonkey · **Spookmonkey**

yeesh, its not like DBZ was godaweful are anything.
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"Veni. Vedi. Spooki." - Julius Caesar
I came. I saw. I spooked.

He's better than Pop-Rocks!

Chibi_Zero · **Chibi_Zero**

I agree with you Spook. It wasn't like it was godaweful. But I'll be glad once it's on Toonami. I wasn't the Biggest fan of the series(Now that I think of it I only like Movies 12 and 13 and The 2 DBZ Specials(Bardock and Trunks). I mean DBZ was cool for a while. Key word there is a "while" after seeing the same eps about 7 times each it gets annoying. That and the Fact the series went on way to long. But still it's why I got into anime(maybe I should blame DBZ for my current problems in life) So I guess I owe DBZ something.
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Fodder · **Fodder**

DBZ gets really repetive. After all I have heard about GT I think I might like it because im set to hate it so much. Dragonball had some good humor in it. Like the fact that the first time they did the Kamahama it was the "Fist of the Northstar" sequence. Or "Fishfull of dollars". I just dont like seeing the same episodes over and over and over again either

Beefy · **Beefy**

Ah, the memories. The series had it's moments, and in my opinion the good moments far outnumber the bad.

Beefy's best and worst of DBZ:

Best villain: Garlic Jr.
Why? Because (in the early sagas anyway) the goal of the bad guys (Vegeta, Frieza, Garlic Jr.) was always to get the Dragonballs, wish for immortality, and rule the universe. Garlic Jr was the only one to get immortality, but his being ruler plan didn't work out too well.

Best hero: Future Trunks
Being the only Super Saiyan isn't easy, but Trunks single handedly took out Android 17, 18 and Imperfect Cell. (Free the Future. That was a good episode.) Plus Future Trunks has that cool sword. Future Trunks also doesn't have that stupid habit of dragging out a battle to make it much longer than it needs to be. coughGOKUcoughVEGETAcoughGOTENKS

Best dragon: Purunga v2 (the dragon of New Namek)
Purunga can out-do Shenlong any day of the week. Purunga grants three wishes instead of two. Purunga can also bring people back to life lots of times instead of just once. And last of all: Purunga looks beefier than Shenlong.

Best supporting character: Mr. Popo
Mr. Popo is loyal and always a great help to the Guardian of the Earth. Mr. Popo also always gets stuck fixing the lookout and replanting the gardens whenever they get ruined. It takes lots of dedication to be Mr. Popo.

Most annoying: Gohan always saying "Mr. Piccolo" every seven seconds in the early episodes.
Mr. Piccolo don't leave me. Mr. Piccolo don't fight me. Bah! Pathetic.

So people, DBZ might be over, but there's still the rest of the movies and the uncut early episodes to look forward to.
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counterparadox · **counterparadox**

I was planning on making this very thread after seeing the final ep. JJc, ya beat me to it.

Simpsons has lost it's original flare because it's becoming too predictable, and every episode feels like it's filling a mold and not going off on it's own. I used to LOVE the show, but now I'm more indifferent. That's just my own opinion mind you.

I first saw DB on a Sunday Morning when I was, oh, I don't know, 11? Then started watching DBZ when I finally got Cartoon Network in April of 1999. I used to be addicted. Now I'm glad it's finally over. It's been fun. But it was time to end.

DBZ has made anime what it now is in this nation. You can attribute the success of Toonami, the creation of AS, SVES, Tech TV's Anime block, the Anime Network, and any other place that you see anime blocks, to DBZ. You can hate it, but it has in some way positviely affected you.
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Spookmonkey · **Spookmonkey**

One word of advice: Don't go into a series expecting to hate it. You will then nitpick every little thing searching for reasons to hate it. To tell you the truth GT doesn't look that bad, while it might not be as good as dbz there is no way in hell it will be like The Tex Avery Show that aired on Fox, THAT was bad.
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"Veni. Vedi. Spooki." - Julius Caesar
I came. I saw. I spooked.

He's better than Pop-Rocks!

Daikun · **Daikun**

This series was a milestone for the Toonami block. This was the show that transformed Toonami from a hardly-recognized carbon copy of Power Zone into a world-class, rebellious, revolutionary presentation of some of the best anime and action-animation the boob tube has to offer.

Yeah, this series had its ups (it upped the action quotient of our favorite block and, along with Sailor Moon, prompted CN to pick up more anime after both series gained huge success) and downs (play and rerun it 5 times a day, will ya? Evil or Very Mad

), but it was the series that pulled Toonami through the good and bad times. This was the series that helped save us from the shoody changes made to the other animation blocks that happened around the same time DBZ premiered, like the beginning of the 4Kids-ification of Kids' WB!, the post-Saban era of Fox Kids, and the day Nickelodeon went completely haywire over the production of Nicktoons. Throughout these troubled times, Toonami was the sun in the darkness, very much like the way Mickey Mouse wowed the audiences during the Great Depression. Toonami wouldn't have lasted long if this series never hit the block. Finally, there was a reason to watch cartoons again.

Thank you, DBZ. You were our last hope, and you succeeded in leading the Revolution to greatness.

R.I.P. With Infinite Honor
Dragon Ball Z
August 31, 1998-April 7, 2003
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Force-Attuned_Krogoth · **Force-Attuned_Krogoth**

DBZ in America has served its purpose. It has successfully drawn many people into anime. Its success spurred the development of AS and more adult anime blocks. Without DBZ, I probably would never have seen Cowboy Bebop, which gave me hope that good anime could someday come to the US.

However, it's time to end it. With the constant repetition and hyper-hyping, DBZ has gotten itself a reputation with the public. For the most part, it's not a good one. When most people hear the word "anime," they think Dragon Ball Z, that corny show that's about a bunch of stupid people fighting. As this viewpoint spreads, it is beginning to cloud the public perception of anime, and I don't mean those pretty, white, fluffy clouds. Now that DBZ has gotten such a reputation, we need to find another Public Relations anime. A "gateway" anime, if you will. I don't think that DBGT would be the optimal choice, but YYH is a good one, and Williams Street has begun to move it into position to take over DBZ as the workhorse of the anime front.
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Krogoth uses Berserk.
Attacks are enhanced but defense weakens.
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Wasabi2u · **Wasabi2u**

I find it interesting how the Dragon Ball franchise has an inverse relation. If you noticed, but i may be a little opinonated, that as the series (starting from the original Dragon Ball) progressed in artwork better and better. But as it traveled on, the story go less and less interesting (well, in Dragon Ball Z that is, after they progressed a little and got to where everybody wanted more , I'd say it climaxed to the max around the Perfect Cell Saga). But as the story got less interesting, the fan base increased. My accuracy is a bit sketchy, but you have to admit that.

Later in the series, Toriyama just got tired with the developers pushing him on. The Buu fights were all talk, you have to admit that. In Japan, one of the most beloved parts of the series were the first bunch of Budokais that Son Gokou participated in.

But anyways, I'm just happy DB/Z pulled in some of my favorite animes. I expect Rurouni Kenshin to take it's place as the anchor show, as bad a dubbing as it is... but at least it's there. But for some reason, i doubt that it will stay as an anchor show myself...i don't know why.

Fodder · **Fodder**

Okay I watched the final episode tonight, thanks Tivo, and it somewhat bothers me. The beginning of this last series has everyone telling Goku that he has forgotten then for five years. Then it shows us his growing family and introduces to Pan. Then in the end Im supposed to be happy because he tells everyone thats hes going away for a long time
"But dont worry I'll visit"?! Just seems we were setup to not like Goku in the end.

Now I need a fanstory writeen of how Uub came to be. Think about Buu's night on the town in some little country with no money.
"Buu like pretty woman". Isnt this just a little disturbing?

WhtHawk · **WhtHawk**

Dragon Ball Z has been the show which has inspired toonami to grow and at least part of the reason cn started other blocks. It is one of the older toonami shows that kept me hooked in the early days. While I have found its constant reruning anoying it still have a deep apreciation for what it has done for Anime on TV. Rest in Peace DBZ (after the traditional rerun of couse).
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