The Thrasher's Word
DragonBall Z
Format: Series (292 episodes of 25 minutes each)
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Shounen
Studio: Toei
Director: Daisuke Nishio
Here’s a little tidbit of information for anyone who’s just now stumbled across this page: before this site became the LAA you see before you today, it started life as a forum dedicated to “Dragonball Z”. I myself was, in some bygone epoch of my life, a hardcore “Dragonball Z” fan, as were all of our forum members; many still are. Therefore, allow me to spare myself the humiliation of being dragged down to the town square by my fellows and summarily lynched by saying that I don’t consider “Dragonball Z” a bad anime, in spite of the score at the bottom. It’s not a good show, but nor is it bad; blame it on our weird-arse marking scheme which makes no accommodation for “average.”
Be you an excitable early adolescent or a parent looking on in concern, the chances are that you’ve come into contact with Goku and friends at one point or another. “Dragonball Z” represents a worldwide phenomenon of popular culture to the point that almost everyone has some idea of what the story is; just as well, too, because for the relative newcomer, it isn’t all that easy to explain. This is mostly because DBZ forgoes the easily-summarised, self-contained story-arcs of OVAs and 26-episode series, opting instead for the soap opera format which has since become a cliché in all of mainstream shounen. There’s no real beginning and no real end, just a premise and the events therein.
Said premise is that Goku, the goofy martial-artsy hero type of Akira Toriyama’s preceding series “Dragonball,” has learned himself to be one of the last remaining descendants of an alien warrior race, the saiyans (or “saiya-jins,” if you’re a stickler for phonetic translation). Typical; just when he’s settled down and started a family too. Thus begins a voyage by Goku and all of his various goofy martial-artsy companions to the four corners of the universe in pursuit of progressively more overpowered villains who all pose a threat, for some reason or other, to the continuity of all of existence. It’s a voyage that can be described either as “epic” or as “unnecessarily convoluted,” depending on how high your standards are. The cast is too large to describe in any detail (it runs into several dozen), but its major players include Gohan, Goku’s snivelly, I-want-so-much-to-be-like-my-daddy son, Piccolo, his old rival-turned-reluctant-ally, and Vegeta, the short-yet-badass saiyan with all the best lines and the favourite of all the fangirls. Also thrown into play are the seven titular Dragonballs, seven spherical orange jewels which, when united, grant the user one wish. Or is it three? Or two? It changes, if I remember rightly.
It’s not really such a bad setup, is it? Ridiculous though it is at the best of times, there have been good shows made from a hell of a lot worse. It’s at least original, and there exists volumes of potential for interesting and subtle interplays between characters. But that’s not what DBZ is about, now is it? While a tiny (and by this I mean nigh-on microscopic) part of this potential is acted upon – Vegeta’s character, for instance, has a lot to be read into it – this is still a shounen show, and there’s nothing subtle about it. Storytelling takes a back seat to action at all times. In fact, scratch that; storytelling is shoved unceremoniously in the boot of the car, deprived of both space and oxygen. Despite having a gargantuan run of 292 episodes, the heroes emerge much the same cardboard cut-outs they are at the beginning, the villains are usually little more than detestable paragons of bizarre character design, and in spite of frequent death scenes, the series’ attempts to affect emotion are fatally undermined by the reservoir of deus ex machina, the Dragonballs, and their foolproof ability to revive the dead.
What DBZ is really about is giving form to the juvenile fantasies of any early adolescent; the appeal of figures that can move faster than the speed of light and destroy planets at the drop of a hat is an obvious but understandable one, and to its credit, DBZ pulls it off reasonably well. Fight scenes, while usually mercilessly drawn out and their impact lessened by the dated animation, are nonetheless solid, kinetic and engaging, the seemingly omnipresent threat that “THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS GOING TO DIE!” being a somewhat compelling if none-too-subtle one. Akira Toriyama’s designs, while often quite samey, have a unique flavour and charm to them. The comic relief, of course, is predictably juvenile. It all comes together in a consistently, vaguely entertaining – albeit frequently tiresome – package, one which endears itself to the viewer just enough to overlook its faults and allow oneself a flicker of a smile. It’s influence on this decade’s titans of shounen – “Naruto” and “Bleach” – is plain and its popularity is understandable if not commendable.
It may be worth mentioning that “Dragonball Z” has a variety of dubs on offer, the one which is almost unanimously considered the best being Funimation’s. Not only are the characters’ voices a cut above the usual phoned-in performances in dubs, it also includes a soundtrack done by Bruce Falcouner, with some really quite excellent tracks. If you have to watch any version, make sure it’s that one.
If there’s anything I associate “Dragonball Z” with today, it’s waste. With such a promising premise and such a long run, it could have been anything. It could have been a huge space opera; it could have been a brutal apocalyptic story; it could have been an epic tale of self-discovery, love, death, betrayal, redemption and messianic imagery. What it is, though, is a somewhat safe, plain, family-friendly wad of entertainment whose appeal never really extends beyond its target audience and which pushes no envelope aside from just how overpowered its characters can get. DBZ has its moments that will make an impression on you, it’s true; but you have to wade through a whole lot of mediocrity before you can get to them.
-Thrash Til’ Death
LAA Rating: **
Rating System:
* - Horrible
*1/2 – Very Bad
** - Bad
**1/2 – Good
*** - Very Good
***1/2 – Excellent
**** - Masterpiece
