talarisw Review of Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z (1996–2003)

The 2nd installment of Akira Toriyama's iconic anime about the life and adventure of Goku, earth's greatest defender.

[9/10 · 11 September 2013]

I'm no expert on anime aka Japanese animation but I like the genre. Dragonball Z is by far my favorite anime. Toriyama's dragonball saga are the king of anime. It's no doubt the most iconic anime ever or at least in America. I think Akira is a very talented writer and is master at developing stories and creating characters but I do think that he sometime disregard characters and plot points to suit his story. Also a lot of people say how the fight sequences are way too long, which is true but they're also well crafted. This is different from it's predecessor dragonball but makes for a good sequel. I like how in the dragonball series we get to see Goku, his friends and family grow up unlike most cartoon characters like Charlie Brown and the Simpsons who never age. In dragonball we see Goku as a kid, in Dragonball Z(dbz) we see Goku as an adult and dad and in Dragonball GT we see Goku as an old man and granddad. I like how dbz is split up in sagas then seasons and I think that's the best way to review it. The series begins with the "Saiyan Saga" that takes place 7 years after dragonball. The star of the series is Goku a kind-hearted martial art expert who lives in the woods with his wife Chi-Chi and his son Gohan(named after his step dad "grand pa" Gohan) and he meets his old friends from dragonball like Bulma, she is one of my favorite characters and possibly the 2nd most important character in the series. Krillin, Goku's best friend and comic relief. And Master Roshi, Goku's and Krillin's former martial art teacher and pervert. Then we meet earth's biggest threat up until this point, the Saiyans an race of ruthless, bloodthirsty alien warriors who act as mercenaries, invading planets and destroying it for other aliens. Thus, we meet one of my favorite villains from dbz, Raditz. Who comes to earth looking for his younger brother, Kakorot who is Goku! So we find out that Goku's an alien. Later we meet the super strong Nappa and Vegeta, the prince of all saiyans who will become the breakout star of the show. But the good thing is their home planet was destroyed 20 years ago so only 4 are left but earth is still in great danger from the 3. This is the best saga in the series, I love the plot twist that Goku's a saiyan, it fits perfectly. I like how someone as good natured as Goku could come from a race of brutal killers. The saiyans make for great villains. I love Raditz, he's ruthless and his sonic the hedgehog like hair style is awesome. It's a shame he pretty much disappears after this saga, I wish he would of came back or at least be mentioned in future sagas. I also love Vegeta who is a really menacing villain and who's more evil then the others. But I don't like how Akira disregards Piccolo's(a villain from dragonball) back-story. He was Piccolo Jr. the son of the evil Piccolo, who's spirit lives within him but all of that is forgotten as Akira turns him into one of the good guys. Next is the "Namek saga" where Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan go into outer space to planet Namek, there they meet Vegeta and worst yet his boss, Frieza an evil planet conquer who has the reputation of being the most powerful being in the universe. Frieza is my favorite villain in the series, he's like a cross between Satan & Adolph Hitler. He's the most important villain in the story and I like his right hand man, Zarbon. In the "Ginyu Force saga" we meet Frieza's special forces who are a great group of comical but deadly warriors. In the "Frieza saga" Goku comes to Namek and faces off against Frieza and we get to see Frieza's true power and Goku turns into a "super saiyan" and defeats him. This one goes on forever, it's way too long but still great to watch. In the "Trunks saga" we see Frieza is brought back to life by his father, the evil King Cold. They come to earth but are killed by Trunks, Vegeta's son from the future. This one starts off good but I don't like how quickly they killed off Frieza but I like the introduction of Frieza's father but they don't explain much about him like why is he called king? and they said he was stronger then his son but they never showed it. I like Trunks but I don't like how Vegeta went from being pure evil to a good guy with a bad attitude, didn't make sense to me. In the "android saga" we meet half human half robots killers. I like Android 17 & 18 who in another time line wrecked havoc. I like them because they're teenagers out to have fun not conquer but they're idea of fun is mayhem. In the "cell saga" we meet a special android who's made up of the cells of great fighters. I like him because he's cool, sophisticated and calm. But by this time we get too many "super saiyans" with Goku, Vegeta, Gohan and Trunks all becoming "super sayains". In the final saga, "Boo saga" we meet an indestructible villain, Boo. The saga goes on for too long but I like the 3 Boos, baby boo, evil boo and kid boo. Unfortunately some of the characters from dragonball like Yamcha, Tien, Chazu, Parr, olong and Launch get overshadowed by the super saiyans and the villains. I love the comical moments. The fight scenes are the best ever any where! Goku is one of the greatest heroes ever! DBZ and it's predecessor dragonball are my favorite anime of all-time.