Dragon Ball Z

One of the first animes to get into main stream American viewing, Dragon Ball Z is synonymous with cool all over the internet and is basically something I don't even want to touch in reviewing or looking over. Something any can fall on and assume someone around you knows what you about. Plus some of the fights scenes are simply epic.

Having probably been viewed by over 9000 individuals, it's safe to say that DBZ is one of those hall of famers for anime to the American audience. Personally, I watched it not in my childhood, but over the course of a few weeks because I wanted to be in the know when it came to references and series I knew I would be assumed to be familiar with. Surprisingly, I thought the initial plot was really quite interesting for a series criticized with characteristics that should keep it off of this blog. The voice acting, is rather good for its time, and has the potential for a very deep and expansive universe. The starting point is that Goku has been raised on Earth and is one of the worlds best martial artists (I assume this picks up after Dragon Ball which would include his training as a child). It is soon revealed that he is basically a superman sent as a child to eradicate the human race. However, due to getting dropped off a cliff and hitting his head, now he's the muscled form of justice.

The first two saga's are by far the best in terms of plot, pacing, and ridiculous battles that aren't glorified. Power levels soon mean nothing, the next enemy just has more, and they all have to train again. Power creep also isn't exactly the best. However, putting aside the huge amount of time spent training Goku in the after life (death isn't really a deal either. They just get wished back), the series moves along. By far, the Freeza saga is something that everyone should watch. Spanning a few episodes, is an amazing amount of awesome packed into 90's style of animation
After these saga's, and once everyone achieves super saiyan, plot kinda gets out of hand, and filler series as well as just kind of annoying side stories within saga's show up. Things get a little less intense, but not to say that the fighting doesn't ever go down.
Fun? Yes. Worth it? Probably.
Do you have to watch the whole thing? Not unless you really want to. When Gohan decides to be a super hero (ie: himself) it's pretty funny. I only wish that by working out and training, I WOULD actually increase the density of my body to the point where I can get thrown through a mountain without taking hardly any damage. That would be pretty sweet. Oh, and learning how to fly and shoot lasers based on martial arts skills is also awesome.