“Kaio-Ken! Times Two!” shouts an impossibly muscled man with an equally impossible hairstyle of large black spikes. A glowing ball of Saiyan energy blasts forth from his hands, flying towards his rival in slow motion super speed. With a “zing!” sound effect the evil warrior dodges the attack by leaping some two hundred feet into the air, the mountain where he had been standing crumples into dust as the “Kaio-Ken” attack hits it.
The alien warrior fighting for the defence of Earth is Goku (aka Kakarot) who was sent to this planet as a child to destroy it but a bump on the head scrambled up all that mental programming and he grew up to be a good guy instead.
There is a wealth of other characters, ranging from the mundane (nutty scientists) to the totally weird (Ninja grasshoppers). Notably, though there is Goku’s son, Gohan, who’s biggest challenge between battling evil aliens set on conquering the universe is getting his home work in on time.
Make no mistake - this is a cartoon for kids. Make no mistake - the friends of the heroes (and the heroes themselves) are occasionally blown to small chunks of flesh in cartoon graphic detail by wickedly evil baddies. However, death is simply a trip to a “different dimension” and the story line sometimes strays over to let us catch up on how well our slaughtered friends are doing. As a rule of thumb, they’ll be training for more combat in case a Dragonball wish summons them back to Earth.
This cartoon is all about super powered aliens (and the occasional human) fighting each other. It is all presented in the animation style any one who’s seen a Manga or Anime film will recognise. Facial expressions are exaggerated, inspiring monologues are required before anyone can do anything, taunting your enemy is an art form and each and every attack is announced by shouting its name before hand.
It is all eye candy for boys. The chances are that if the scene does not currently include alien super warriors flying around blowing mountains and even entire planets to dust with blasts that simply bounce off one another there will be some bimbo-esq cartoon girlie calling someone cute.
I only watch it because my little brother does. Honest.
It’s all very cleverly done. The marketing mind behind this cartoon is more cunningly clever than the villains from space. Each and every episode ends on a cliff-hanger; “Will Piccolo defeat Captain Ginyu? Or will this be the end of the brave Namek?” announces the voice over. Two seconds later, Cartoon Network shows the trailer for the next episode, “Piccolo launches a last bid assault on Ginyu in a surprise attack!” Don’t expect many surprises. The plot twists and turns more than an eel twisting and turning in the twist’n’turn championship for particularly twisty eels, but the voice over at the start and the end of every episode serve to bring you up to date and to thrust the spoilers in your face. The net effect is that you’re given good reasons for not missing the next episode but if you happen to have fallen out of the loop you can snuggle right back on inside.
When DragonBall Z started to show on Cartoon Network it came with a parental warning. The network was clearly testing the water. Then came the adverts in between cartoons, “Cartoon Network; home of the Dragonball Sagas!” Huge audiences were being attracted. The risk had paid off.
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Comments about this review »
Meister_Magier 07.08.2002 10:50
DB Z is my favorite Anime @ tv! Gruß Meister_Magier
FRANK_DREBIN 06.07.2001 13:27
I'd just like to say that the version of Dragonball Z shown on Cartoon network is indeed for kids. However I am lucky enough to own all 291 episodes in the original japanese format (with English subtitles) and believe me the difference is quite astounding. The violence (!) that has been cut from Cartoon Network's version has to be seen to be believed. For example when Frieza is killed by Trunks, you don't see any of it on CN, but really he gets cut and hacked to pieces in front of you, then burned to a crisp!
I would highly recommend watching the uncut version over the CN version.
LFCForever 06.05.2001 19:09
Just the one point:Picollo has never actually fought captain ginyu or even any of the Ginyu force. I seem to recall that it was Goku and Vegat that destroyed theginyu force. Picollo wasnt wished back by then. Apart from that good op.....oh yeh Kaioken isnt actually the blast of energy, it is the ability to become faster and stronger, the blast it self was called the Kamehamahe :)
Advantages: Great variety in plot and story line, characters are al unique and progress in there own way, and all serve their own purpose. Takes place on a variety of scenes, and is just great all round fun to watch. The fight scenes are also incredible to watch. Disadvantages: Some scenes go on for a tad too long, there are many shots of the characters just breathing which gets kind of annoying.
Iceblade 15.10.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Dragonball Z
Advantages: CN version censored for kids, kids love it Disadvantages: Not for everyone, I hate censorship, pointless censoring, violence?, adult-ish themes, kids love it, too commercialised
Deru 01.06.2004 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Dragonball Z
Dec 23rd, 2000
very helpful by (82%):
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