Many of you are confused about Dragonball Z and its actual plot, direction, theme, and setting; and I wish to help sort this out for those here trying to make a game based on it or stay completely away from it.
Dragonball Z picks up 5 years after the end of "The Original" dragonball. The basic story is that a small lonely kid(Son Gokou) with extreme loyalty and ambision(SP?) meets up with a young, teenage girl(Burma) on his quest to find dinner. Soon he learns that the crystal he possesses is really a key to the Shenron Genie Dragon, and the world surrounding him isn't limited to his grandfather's temple, but is actually a world of dreams and fantasy, where everything is possible. (Fantasy is the major theme) The basic theme is related to an old korean tale of a monkey-boy that dates far back (actually most of the ideas come from korea, like Chi)
One major theme of the dragonball/Z series is Action, but this isnt the only theme; The other themes consist of loyalty, friendship, drama, comedy, dicipline and most important of all, imagination (Without a good deal of this, watching or reading this would be meaningless) And it seems the majority of the so-called "Fans" here cant see past the action part of the show.
I agree that this show isn't a show that you can watch from anywhere and pick up as a favorite. To fully understand this show you must watch it from Dragonball episode 1, think of it as one big movie. It isn't a show like Buffy or Smallville, where you can pick it up from anywhere and understand it(Even though they do progress in order most episodes dont have any need for the next one, because each episode finishes and ends in the same hour, with exception to the enfamous "To be continued")
It is true that this show is directed towards children, but at the same time it is directed towards everyone else. As some people said they do contain some minor swearing, and a good deal of bloodshed in battle; but as for nudity, it is basically limited to some slight flashes in movies where needed(Like the one part in the movie Akira)
Some of the good points of dragonball are the quests(the jobs given to certain protagonists and the way they carry them out *Not always succeeding*)
This show contains a great form of character building and presentation and I believe that it gets trashed for the wrong reason. All of the games made so far really has no reference to Dragonball aside from names(And usually the new names given by Funimation)
The cut versions are pretty good, but the uncut versions are much better scince they arent edited directly for a children audience and arent stripped down to meet the half-hour time slot.
In my opinion Dragonball is a great addition to american entertainment (What more could you expect from a late 1970s classic?) and although people have separate opinions I believe some would change if they fully understood the show.
--Ken--
ID:190822
 Dec 3 2002, 1:17 pm
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Dec 3 2002, 1:21 pm
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Spuzzum
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Believe me, slight flashes of nudity are never needed.
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I do agree as dragonball goes *There is always some unnecessary parts to everything*
But for the movie akira, it is supposed to be realistic and the setting is a futuristic ghetto with a bunch of tough-as-nails bikers who gang up on this one boy and his girlfriend *It is very quick, its a rip in her shirt and a punch in the face that sends her off the screen* --ken-- | |
Is that our new excuse to hate dragonball now? the nudity? In japan, nudity is considered humorous, and indeed it can be, but it is not all that common as you are saying (once every half a dozen comic books) by creating an awkward situation, akira torayama created a form of humor.
Anyway, that mid 1970's thing Neo? I'm not sure what you are saying there, but dragonball was made in 85, and Dragonball Z in 90(ish) erm... lalalalala.... later | |
What new excuse? I haven't even touched DBZ in this thread, since I know that my opinions on the subject would start a flame war. I'm just saying that nudity is never necessary.
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The show was made in 85, but it was written long before that, if you didnt know Dragonball was a comic years before it was a tv show *It didnt become a show until the comic was finished for Dragonball and paused in the middle of DBZ*
Also, I agree with spuzzum, nudity is never necessary, but there are times where it doesnt hurt to put in to express the situation more fully, but not everyone looks for nudity in everything they watch. And I never tried to give a reason to hate DBZ, if anything I tried to give reasons to like it. Im sorry to confuse you --Ken-- | |
I think he was focusing that post towards me, and the way the topic is going is far from what I was trying to express, but that seems normal on here.
Too many people have A.D.D --Ken-- | |
I'm just saying that nudity is never necessary. Maybe, but don't you get tired of showering while fully clothed? | |
Actually, no... The anime was begun rather shortly after the manga was first printed... Only about a year later, in fact...
So, both the mnaga and the anime originate from the mid 80s... | |
A noble effort, but...
NeoHaxor wrote: Many of you are confused about Dragonball Z and its actual plot, direction, theme, and setting; and I wish to help sort this out for those here trying to make a game based on it or stay completely away from it. Pretty decent description of the basis of Dragon Ball... But it doesn't begin to touch the core theme of DBZ (which is what I thought this post was supposed to be clearing up)... Also, the tale that inspired Toriyama wasn't a Korean legend, but a Chinese one (also an originating point of "chi")... However, the tale is known so well throughout the orient that it is indeed a part of Korean lore as well... But, its origins are in China... And for those that are curious, and don't already know the name, it's titled "Journey to the West"... It's the story of the Monkey King and his adventures...and Dragon Ball takes a lot of little details from it... Including a lot of the people Goku meets along his way, and Goku's magic staff... And Dragon Ball is not the only thing to have been inspired by this tale... A ton of other works owe their existence to this legend... Monkey Magic (a cartoon and video game series) and the new comic Xin are both also based on the tale... One major theme of the dragonball/Z series is Action, but this isnt the only theme; The other themes consist of loyalty, friendship, drama, comedy, dicipline and most important of all, imagination (Without a good deal of this, watching or reading this would be meaningless) And it seems the majority of the so-called "Fans" here cant see past the action part of the show. Much agreed... Sure, on the surface, all you see is the fighting... And anyone who just watches an episode here or there can easily get the inpression that this is all that goes on... But once you get into it, you realize that there's more involved... I agree that this show isn't a show that you can watch from anywhere and pick up as a favorite. To fully understand this show you must watch it from Dragonball episode 1, think of it as one big movie. It isn't a show like Buffy or Smallville, where you can pick it up from anywhere and understand it(Even though they do progress in order most episodes dont have any need for the next one, because each episode finishes and ends in the same hour, with exception to the enfamous "To be continued") Heh, I'm not a Buffy watcher, but tonight I caught an episode... It failed to get me into the show, though... Sure, it had some neat jokes, and some cool fights, and a decent plot, but there were a lot of emotional ties into parts of the series that I'm not familiar with... So it didn't "grab" me... Anyways, the point being to illustrate that just as casual viewers of DBZ aren't drawn into the series based on single episodes, other series can fail to draw casual viewers in as well... I guess DBZ just had a certain hook that appealed to me from the first episode I watched...while Buffy didn't... It is true that this show is directed towards children, but at the same time it is directed towards everyone else. As some people said they do contain some minor swearing, and a good deal of bloodshed in battle; but as for nudity, it is basically limited to some slight flashes in movies where needed(Like the one part in the movie Akira) As stated below in this thread, it did not exist in the late 70s... It was created in the mid 80s... But anyways, as I mentioned in my first paragraph above, you failed to explain DBZ... While DB is focused on being a humorous adventure story filled with quests...DBZ's focus shifts into mostly action... The manga itself was published under the single title of Dragon Ball, but at the turning point when it changed from adventure to action, the powers that be at Toei animation studios changed the name of the anime... DB dealt with Goku's quests as a child... His "coming of age"...where he learned a lot about the world, and about being a hero, and about martial arts... He always retained his naive, childlike personality, though... But deep down, he matured into a hero... DBZ deals with his life after becoming the Earth's champion... He has grown up, gotten married, had a child, and is firmly settled in place as the world's strongest being... Of course, that's turned on its ear as the Earth (and the rest of the universe, for that matter) is put in danger by increasingly powerful enemies... Goku and company must step up to overcome every evil that comes at them... Gone are the days of innocent quests for the DBs and training under the world's masters... It becomes an all out "get stronger than the bad guys so we can beat them" from now on out... But, under that theme, lies the continuing story of change and growth of the characters... Goku's son at one point steps up to take his father's place as the hero (didn't go over well with the fans, though...so Goku is put back on the pedestal shortly afterwards...lol), and there's the ever present turmoil between Goku and Vegeta (a former enemy turned reluctant ally that is always driven by his pride to overcome Goku...who is supposed to be a lower class warrior than he)... But in all honesty, DBZ really isn't that deep...lol No, it's not completely 2D...but it's a very simple action cartoon... That in itself is a big reason why I like it so much... | |
Spuzzum wrote:
...Oof. I disagree. How good would Schindler's List be if it didn't depict how horrible the holocaust was accurately (which at times involves nudity). | |
Spuzzum wrote:
Okay, I'll clarify... nudity in media is never necessary. =P But then you would not be able to sneak into your parents (or someone else's parents) private stash of magazines and videos. This is the one *true* way of getting through puberty with a clue! | |
Heh, I'm not a Buffy watcher, but tonight I caught an episode... It failed to get me into the show, though... Sure, it had some neat jokes, and some cool fights, and a decent plot, but there were a lot of emotional ties into parts of the series that I'm not familiar with... So it didn't "grab" me... I was going to rebut Neo's waaaaaaay off-base comment about Buffy, but it seems you've done it for me. Aside from the goofy cosmology/philosophy, DBZ isn't that hard for an outsider to follow. | |
Well then, I apologize, the information I recieved in the place I used to buy these imported comics about $22 each at this place in saratoga NY *before the tv airing in america* and I was told that these comics were written in the mid to late 70s. We'll I'll find a way to back the 80s part up and prove this guy wrong.
As the show goes, it is pretty simple as you said, but also contains many themes which are missed by many of the younger viewers. And as for Buffy and Smallville, they are two of my favorite shows and in no way did I attempt to trash them, but Dragonball is unique in the fact that each and every episode is extremely important for the next one. I find buffy different in the way that I could pick it up anywhere without really having to understand what happened last season, and I could miss an episode or two in between, but perhaps that extra half-hour gives it that feeling.(On a side note, I really want to see that Enhanced Slayer formed from the essences of Buffy's friends again) Again people, I didnt mean to trash anyone or anything, but try to give a better perspective on dragonball Z for those that really didnt understand what they were making a game about or hating. --Ken-- *And SSGX, Chi studies originates in old Korea and was later introduced to china. I can back that up but I just thought the tale may have originated there also* | |
Okay, I'll clarify... nudity in media is never necessary. =P That's easy to say in times of peace and plenty, but when the nude aliens begin their invasion, you'll be watching the news reports along with the rest of us. | |
I didn't think you were trashing Buffy (would you be still breathing if I had thought you were?), but I think if you don't feel you're missing something when you miss an episode, then you're obviously missing something every time you sit down to watch it. I think this illustrates an important point here... for any complex show, there's casual watchers and serious watchers. To a casual watcher, there's nothing in DBZ to prevent people from watching an episode here and there and still feeling the flow of the story.
As a serious BTVS watcher, it's very important to me to keep on eye on things like when the mayor was first mentioned, or the prophetic references to Dawn two years before she appeared. Casual watchers don't "get" these things. When this year's big bad unearthed that nosferatu-like thing that was sealed away at the hellmouth, the casual viewer probably wouldn't have connected it with something Giles said in the first episode of the first season. That's a story thread that laid dormant for over six years. *And SSGX, Chi studies originates in old Korea and was later introduced to china. I can back that up but I just thought the tale may have originated there also* You might be able to pin down where the word "chi" originated, but the concept is a universal. Chi, ki, kundalini, prana, mana, animal magnetism, etc... all just words that different cultures have stamped on the same concept. | |
DISCLAIMER: We live in an imperfect world, where the underpriveliged (mostly the poor, women, children, and particularly, poor women and children) are easily pressured, lured, coerced, or abducted into positions and occupations which society deems unsavory. Ruled by criminals and robbed of basic freedoms, choice, and regulatory oversight, these positions are dangerous and usually damaging to the body and mind. Given that, I am fairly well opposed to pornography and more so to other sides of the sex industry./END DISCLAIMER
I really have to disagree with this. Okay, so you could successfully argue that nudity isn't necessary, but I defy you to make a case that it is particularly unnecessary, or even universally undesirable. There's nothing inherently sexual about the nude body. Two people who are naked and in the same place are not automatically engaging in a sexual act. Two fully clad individuals are not necessarily not engaging in a sexual act. The Puritans may have deplored the sight of flesh, but they actually ENCOURAGED premarital relations as a sort of "compatibility test." They did require the participants to be fully clothed while the act occurred, though... a process known as bundling. That's right... America was founded by people who believed that sex was acceptable but nudity was not... is it any wonder we're all so bass-ackward about such things? Secondly, there's nothing inherently wrong with sex. It has its place in life and in a story, the same way that anything else does. You know why so many people destroy their lives with sex? Because society builds it up to be so huge. It's just another thing that two (or more) people can do. Yes, it can change your life. So can reading a book. Yes, it can wreck your life. So can crossing the street. Yes, it can enrich your life. So can a conversation. Yes, it can bring you closer to the one you love. So can a heartfelt conversation. Yes, under the right circumstances, it can create a new life... and nothing else can really do that, outside of complicated lab techniques. Does that make sex unique? Well, yes... it's unique like everything else. Nothing but eating can provide nurishment. Nothing but learning can bring knowledge. Nothing but breathing provides the body with oxygen. The more taboos and rules we have about something, the more out of control it gets when someone crosses the line. If our society just taught people about sex the same way they did everything else, it wouldn't be a problem. Kids are told that they're too young to drive or to use the stove or do other such things, but we don't hide what those things are from them, and so while they might resent the restrictions, they don't very often grow up with a complex about these things, whereas almost everyone is messed up about sex in one direction or another (i.e., way too enthusiastic about it or way too put off by it.) | |