Is Dragon Ball objectively good?

I was thinking about starting the Dragon Ball manga, but if its popularity is only due to childhood nostalgia and not actual quality of content I may not read it.

So, if you have read/seen Dragon Ball, what do you think?

Reply 1

BengaliBae

Dragonball is love Dragonball is Life <3

It is a fantastic series none the less, I didn't think much of the mangas though. I enjoyed reading them but you should really watch Dragon ball super and you will appreciate the series alot more. So much action! and comedy lol

Reply 2

username3061054

Tried watching the first episode, couldn't bare how boring it was. As with most long running shounen it seems pretty formulaic.
TL;DR No
Thanks for reading.

Reply 3

tengentoppa

I think it's hard to separate it from childhood nostalgia.

If you look at the story, it seems like Toriyama stumbled upon the idea of a fighting manga more than anything, having started with a sort of parody of Journey to the West.

It veers on the absurd at times and it's not exactly high brow but I would argue it's still worth reading.

The early Dragon Ball is very funny and not too serious, and the series is such a classic that it's useful to know it since it's referenced quite a lot, both amongst manga fans and in popular culture. The fight scenes are great and I really enjoyed it. I would still enjoy reading it now.

If you do start it and don't particularly like it, at least give it to the end of the first tournament, because that will give you an idea of what to expect in the rest.

Reply 4

username2834970

I'm talking about the series as a whole, but I'd probably start at the beginning chronologically (by release date). Is DBZ worth reading/watching, should I skip to reading that first?

Reply 5

username2834970

Ah, thank you. I'll definitely try DBZ out then.

Reply 6

AngryJellyfish

Chat Forum Helper, Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by Athena64

As someone who read it with no existing knowledge or nostalgia for the franchise, it was a passable shounen action series, hilarious at times, but very repetitive at others. Didn't seem to know where it was going in the earlier volumes, either. It's good in that it's obviously influenced a lot of later series, but many of those series do a better job story-wise.

Can't comment on DBZ, I was given the original DB manga completely free from a friend, but she stopped at that point. No doubt I'll check it out someday though...

Reply 7

sofsferr02

Original post by Athena64

You can never be objective when giving your opinion. if you're asking for people's opinions it's going to be just that - their opinion, so it's impossible for it to be impartial.

Reply 8

Kallisto

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by Athena64

Considered objectively, it is a good story: a main character named Son Goku is trying to get a better fighter by travelling the Dragon Ball universe to challenge fighters and to show the learnt skills at a tournament to become the champion.