Dragon Ball Z is a series that means a whole lot to me and the strangest part is that in the two years and some change this blog has been around, there hasn’t been a single post I sit down and talk about it. Not that I can remember, at the very least. But despite that, make no mistake that the wonderful anime of people screaming at each other is very dear to me for many reasons.

It was one of the first anime series I’ve ever seen, right after Pokemon. It actually provided me a little bit of comfort when I was scared at night from dumb childish things, and all around, just provided me with a lot of fun and a brand new world to jump into. It was incredibly cool. I like many have practiced my fair share of Kamehamehas and pretended to do a spirit bomb here or there. It’s just a goofy, fun, really cool series that sticks in your mind, especially if you watched it when I did.

Although, there’s one thing I didn’t mention. I watched Dragon Ball Z Kai first, not the original. For those of you that don’t know, Kai was essentially a remake of the DBZ story up to the Cell Games arc and eventually the Buu Saga too, though that was years afterwards. It was the same thing except it had a lot of filler cut out, about half the length in fact, and the series was visually miles above the original. It was great all around.

I even remember the first episode I ever watched. It was right at the start of the series, as it was airing on Nickelodeon. It was the episode that Piccolo had stolen Gohan to train him right after the Raditz fight. That was my first introduction to the series. Young boy running from Dinosaur, getting stuck on a cliff because of his powers and taking a piss off the ledge or something.

And do I ever have that theme song permanently stuck in my head? It’s so good! Dragon Soul just might be the single most nostalgic song that has ever existed for me. And it’s still such a good song and the lyrics are just so cool. That opening is probably what skewed my mind into thinking the series was so badass, but you know what? It still is.

Goku and Vegeta on the mountains, the first time you see their attacks collide. Gohan’s super Kamehameha with his father’s strength behind him. There are just so many absolutely iconic moments in this series that are amazing. So many that other series constantly pay their respects with gag references to super saiyans and the like.

Honestly, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find any moment in any anime ever that can reach the absolutely massive level of hype that Goku turning super saiyan for the first time did and still does to this day. It is the definition of iconic. It has been referenced and honored to death and back for a reason. No anime ever made will reach that level of cool ever again, I promise you.

One odd point in my history with DBZ is that I first watched Kai. Kai ended at the Cell Games arc, so for the longest time, I assumed it ended there. That was until I played some games that continued into the Buu arc. Games like Budokai 2 on the GameCube, for instance.

The games were a shockingly big part of my DBZ history. The two Budokai games on the GameCube and Saga, which was actually quite a fun take on the series. These games were how I first experienced the Buu arc and even learned of its existence.

Through those games, I learned so much of the Buu stuff. I basically knew the entire thing. The characters, the conflicts, and the transformations. I knew the entire arc after enough games. One of the best DBZ games for me, personally, is Budokai Tenkaichi 3 for the Wii. It has the somewhat recent style of battles for the games, and it was a blast. So many characters too. I genuinely think it’s funner than the modern games in a lot of ways. As I saw a review say, it feels more like the fights in the show than any other game. That holds up to this day.

As you can probably tell, this series has affected me in many ways throughout the years in all different mediums. And if you think I didn’t have a Goku action figure that I fought others with as I made him go super saiyan kaio-ken times 7000, you’re wrong. It made it to every part of my life. But because I experienced the series in the way that I did it led to some interesting things.

For instance, remember how I said the Buu Saga didn’t get adapted until later in Kai? That means I actually never watched the arc in anime format at all until I recently watched through the beginning of it in the original. Watching the original was what spurred this post, in fact. I had been with this series for so long, but I never watched such a famous part of the story in anime form. It’s kind of wild.

That’s really all I wanted to talk about. I wanted to finally talk about my love for this series that I haven’t done yet, and explain the pretty interesting way I’ve experienced it. I think it says a lot about the series that with how memorable and well-known it is, I still experienced it in my own ways. That’s what’s really special about any series. Not the contents of it, but our own experiences with it, and Dragon Ball Z is one that has affected me in a pretty big way. I wouldn’t be writing for this site without it, that’s for sure.

Thank you so much for reading

Ah, I love this series.