Name(s): Dragon Ball Z / DBZ / ドラゴンボールZ
Format: TV series (291 episodes)
Studio(s): Toei Animation
Related: Dragon Ball Z Movies

Original Publication: N/A (unknown)

I have massive nostalgia for Dragon Ball Z (DBZ) because like many Americans, it was my first anime ever, but it’s not something I’d ever recommend to someone who didn’t grow up with it. There’s plenty of battle shonen that’s come out since with far greater characterization and battles that come down to more than just shouting matches. Still, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with big dumb fun. Emphasis on the big… and dumb… and fun…

But there is one thing about Dragon Ball Z that’s particularly stellar, even today: the feedback. Though people today might be desensitized to noticing anything that’s particularly violent to a certain degree, DBZ is still relatively absolutely brutal. The overall directing is phenomenal, and the sound effects whenever someone is hit in the face break the air and land HARD, not at all being weakened by time. When someone is hit in DBZ you can practically feel their bones breaking, their innards splitting, all the air exiting their lungs – it’s an all out slugfest of violence with these aspects so stimulating that it makes it easy to forget you’re watching a simple contest of pain rather than one of skill.

Dragon Ball Z is not a show that preys on the viewer’s fighting spirit like the characters would lead you to believe, but rather their sadism. I don’t think I need to remind people of the amount of times holes are punched straight through someone’s stomach and how many limbs are torn, either. it takes guts to properly animate such cold-bloodedness, but it worked and no one minded because the villains in the show were such bastards that they had it straight coming to them.

Even still, Yu Yu Hakusho would soon arrive after as one of the first inspirations, and was better in nearly every way. It’s odd and unfortunate that history didn’t favor it.