For those of you who don't know, Dragonball Z is a manga and anime series created by Akira Toriyama. A phenomenal success in Japan, where it also spawned over a dozen feature length movies, it floundered in American syndication until finding a more comfortable niche on the Cartoon Network. Dragonball
Z tells the story of a martial arts expert named Goku, and his adventures on earth, in the afterlife, and on other planets. The story also features a huge cast of characters, including Goku's children, martial-arts teachers, rivals, former enemies, and friends. The Asian legend of the Monkey King provides the genesis of the series (Goku is from a race of people with
monkey tails), but Dragonball Z owes far less to mythology than to American-style superhero comics and Hong Kong's Jackie Chan movies.
Dragonball Z definitely has its flaws as a manga, an anime and as a dubbed version on the Cartoon Network. Sometimes the fight scenes go on for too many episodes. Sometimes the plot twists are too incredible to believe. Sometimes, Toriyama's Dragon Balls not only serve as a deus ex machina but also as an anticlimax that undoes earlier dramatic events. After all, the death of a main character loses a lot of its punch once you learn that the Dragon Balls can be used to resurrect the dead.
I like Dragonball Z and recommend it because it's just plain fun.
Too much of what passes for modern entertainment isn't very entertaining at all. Some mainstream motion pictures seem more concerned with presenting a dark and gritty worldview, or strive too hard to be "socially relevant," than with actually making people smile and enjoy themselves for two hours in a theater. Rock bands take the stage with sullen expressions, as if playing for thousands of their fans were a distasteful chore akin to cleaning out a box of kitty litter. The situation is similar in other forms of mainstream entertainment in other countries. Japanese manga and anime, for example, is sometimes guilty of succumbing to pretention rather than truly amusing its audience. While there's nothing wrong with pressing the envelope and attempt new storytelling techniques, as an audience member I resent sitting through entertainment that is preachy, pretentious, or comes across as an unfinished experiment.
Dragonball Z, on the other hand, never stakes a claim for High Art or Social Commentary, and only tries to entertain. I've seen Dragonball Z subtitled, dubbed, fansubbed, and raw - and while the original Japanese version is clearly the best, all versions entertain.
Sure, the TV series is dumb. But it's a fun kind of dumb, a gloriously goofy action adventure where anything is possible and events unfold with the logic of a dream you've had after reading too many Silver Age comic books. Despite the violence level, Dragonball Z is good-naturedly subversive. How so? All the authority figures in the series - from Master Roshi to
the elderly Kaoi-Shin of the last episodes - turn out to be not only powerful but also extreme buffoons and comic relief. Mr. Satan, a martial-arts champion who looks a bit like Elliot Gould in the 1970s and whose boasts are as pronounced as his yellow streak, makes the case as well as any. The real heroes of Dragonball Z are Goku and his sons, all of whom are -
let's face it - emotional simpletons of the Li'l Abner/ Paul Bunyan variety. Goku and sons' perennial innocence in the face of increasingly surrealistic adventures is tremendously appealing. Who else can save the world from alien conquerors while having a great time? Even death doesn't faze Goku;
he simply pops a halo over his head and continues his adventures in the afterlife. While brooding characters like the green-skinned Piccolo and the Saiyan prince Vegeta are certainly important to all the storylines, it is Goku who inevitably saves the day.
There are also two positive messages hidden inside Dragonball Z. The first is the value of hard work. While many of the lead characters are almost unimaginably powerful, they become that way only through difficult training, adversity and sacrifice. Gohan's training under Piccolo near the beginnning of the series is a great example; Gohan is kept in a foresaken wilderness where there are no distractions from his training and comfort is non-existant. Periodically throughout the series, Goku and friends attend martial arts festivals and hone their skills. New fighting techniques are added to their repetoire. Characters learn to fly and shoot power beams just like Western superheroes. Newer and more dangerous enemies appear, and newer and better strategies to defeat those enemies are developed. I cannot think of another mainstream anime series that stresses such a strong ethic of self-improvement.
The second message is just as positive. Many of Goku's final allies were once his enemies or rivals. Vegita, Piccolo, Yamcha, the android named Number 18, and even Krillin were once in competition with Goku. Dragonball Z presents a world in which redemption is possible, and one in which former adversaries have the potential to form not only alliances but friendship. Few anime series tailored for such a young mass audience stress the human potentials of penace and forgiveness. I like this aspect of Dragonball Z the best. To be sure, not every enemy becomes Goku's friend. But enough of them do for us to accept that we all have the power to change our relationships for the better.
Perhaps my opinion of Dragonball Z would be different if I were born and raised in Japan, where the TV is an overwhelming success and merchandise based on the show is inescapable. Perhaps my own preference (some might say weakness) for fun, lightweight entertainment such as surf music and old comic books is also a factor. Nevertheless, I like Dragonball Z and enjoy it whenever I feel that the world has gotten too serious for me.
Note: The graphics used to illustrate this
essay are scans of items used to promote Dragonball Z in the United States. These graphics are used in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine. Dragonball Z is a creation of Akira Toriyama and is legally available in the United States through Pioneer Video. Neither Mr. Toriyama nor Pioneer Video are affiliated with this web site. Since this essay was originally published, Dragonball Z has become the centerpiece of the American version of Shonen Jump, serving as an introduction to several lesser-known manga series. The dubbed version of Dragonball Z has also gone through a dizzying array of cast changes.
Get
your ownFree Home Page