Dragon Ball

I'm a 90's kid and grew up with Dragon Ball Z. I never watched the original Dragon Ball since it was never on Cartoon Network whenever I got back from school. However, now that I am 25 (getting old!) I decided to watch the original series where it all started. I had been told it was a lot more light-hearted and fun, so I was looking forward to it. Boy oh boy, was I in for a treat!

Dragon Ball comes from a time when cartoons were truly free to do whatever they chose. From the 1st episode we got a taste of this and saw things that would cause a cartoon to get an instant ban...namely Goku's method of determining what identifies a girl. Goku is the main protagonist in this series as he is in DBZ, but seeing him as a kid really makes you see him in a new light. The word Saiyan is never used, so to new watchers he is just a kid with a tail. He still has the same kind personality and love for fighting (and eating!). The other characters of the series are great too. Roshi is how I remember him in DBZ...as sexist as ever. Seeing others like Yamcha, Bulma, Krillin and Tien as their younger counterparts was also a treat. Their personalities really differed from their DBZ characters and it was great to see them develop throughout the series.

The fighting in Dragon Ball is what I really wanted to see. I knew that it was a lot more focused on martial arts, rather than crazy ki-blasts, powers or even flying (the Nimbus was as close as we got in the early episodes). I have to say, despite the fights being a lot less epic they were still enjoyable. A prime focus on martial arts was actually quite refreshing. The martial arts tournaments were great to see new characters be introduced and seeing their methods.

In terms of the story lines, they were as I had expected from my experience of DBZ. The first few sagas were more of an introduction to the world of martial arts and Dragon Ball. The focus was on collecting the dragon balls and the main enemies were merely those trying to get in Goku's and Bulma's way. However, in later sagas you get to see true evil villains. Seeing Tien and Piccolo as a villains was weird, but the fights were great fun. It was also weird to see Goku struggle against them! Goku from DBZ would have wiped the floor of them!

All in all, I really enjoyed this series. Seeing the origins of my favourite DBZ characters was great. It was a lot more light-hearted than DBZ but it had its serious moments. If you loved DBZ then I highly recommend you watch this. If you are new to the world of Dragon Ball, I would recommend you actually watch this first!