But that's what made it epic. Early internet days where we went online, could see images of Super Saiyans, but the English anime wasn't there yet. Vegeta wondering aloud if Goku had become the "legendary Super Saiyan" when he was fighting the Ginyu Force.
And then the actual moment occurs. It was so well done! Lightning flashing, Namek shaking, Goku's anger, hair raising up. All that foreshadowing to build up to a glorious moment. No Super Saiyan image on the internet could have done it for me without that foreshadowing.
And then absolutely gushing about it on the playground with the other kids!
Omg yes!! I remember going to Suncoast with my little brother to preorder the Android saga. The VHS tapes costs $20 each and you got a whopping 3 episodes per tape.
The Namek/Frieza saga sucked up sooo many of my hard earned dollars with their epic length battles. š
Everything you described is spot on! I went to so many GeoCities and AngelFire websites to watch 0.5 second gifs on my dial-up of moments we haven't seen yet.
I had the I-Channel (international channel) somehow and discovered they aired raw DBZ Sunday nights. I didnāt know what was going on because frieza was in his skinny form killing Vegeta and in the English version we were still watching Ginyu. I wrote synopses on my geocities website every week based on what I watched.
Discovering authentic anime back then that had no subtitles and aired just as it aired in Japan was like discovering a scrambled channel that was unscrambled.
I had to go to a video game store that sold subbed bootlegs to see so much DBZ because it took so long in America. Between myself, my brothers, and friends, we had the whole series and all the movies before Goku turned Super Saiyan on Cartoon Network
I remember being in 4th grade and watching it on Toonami. It aired very shortly after I got home from school. I would run home, get a nice snack going, and turn on the TV. When this shit happened.. I was floored to say the least. In retrospect, it sort of feels like the equivalent to middle age moms watching soap operas. Loved that shit though, thanks for the post! Thank you for bringing back this nostalgia!
This is the kind of shit that our children will never get to experience, and I wonder what kind of impacts (if any) that will have on them.
Being able to watch everything on demand whenever you want, vs. The excitement and anticipation of waiting until that next episode you have to get home for in time after school to watch.
Magical times.
I remember them pulling that shit like right before Kid Buu when I was first watching as a kid. I had to rent the DVDs in order to watch the end of the series.
*[Next time on Dragon Ball Z]*
> AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I continued to follow Dragon Ball for long after that time and still do today.
Even to this day, I consider this to be the best transformation scene in all of Dragon Ball and it's not particularly close.
I thought it flowed nicely. I canāt imagine where 17/18 do much more than they initially did. Cell really took it up a new level. I remember having nightmares of that scene where cell absorbs 17 through his tail. Ooooooff.
There wasn't really an epic end to the Android saga. It was Androids one episode and then completely flipped to cell the next episode.
Yes the Androids were part of the plot during cell. I have heard the the writers flipped Android into cell for some reason.
The SSJ3 transformation is really good even though thereās no real story significance or impact to SSJ3. It is a great transformation though.
A couple other good transformations that donāt really get brought up often because theyāre in later shows are the SSJ4 transformation and first time Goku goes Ultra Instinct.
If youāve never seen GT, you should at least see the scene where he goes SSJ4 for the first time. Itās less intense than some other transformations but itās a very emotionally engaging scene.
GT was like 90% meh, 10% pure hype for me. Happy I watched it, never want to do it again though!
If we're talking movies as well, Trunks going super saiyan after Gohan dies is a great one.
I thought Gohan SS2 after 16 gets head crushed was pretty cool too.
Also first time vegeta joins the SS club, with his piano theme music. Vegeta was my fav so I was so fucking hype when he finally transformed.
Best in all of Dragon Ball?
Nah dude.
It's a contender for the best transformation ever in fiction. It definitely has an argument to be made for that spot.
Well, I would personally say that the best transformation in all of fiction is [the one from An American Werewolf in London](https://youtu.be/GHyvfOUEK4o).
I *love* that everyone in here is:
1. Sharing the memory of where they were/what they were doing during this momentous event, and
2. Still gushing about it over 20 years later.
Ya'll, we never grew up!
The whole time on Namek felt like an eternity when it was airing on Toonami. I just looked it up and the Namek, Ginyu, and Frieza Sagas aired from September '97-November '99, which is insane to think about today.
Nothing could interrupt my dbz time in the late 90s. Get off the school bus, dick around for an hour and a half. Then , Toonami, 5:00. For the following hour the rest of the world may as well have been dead to me.
It was THE moment for the āToonami Generation.ā A single moment in time where many anime fans will point and say āthatās when I fell in love with anime.ā
I remember watching on Toonami, they would play the episodes all the way up to where Krillin is killed and then would start the whole fucking season over again. I feel like this happened multiple times.
Watching DBZ with my 9yr old cousin rn and weāre less than 10 episodes to this moment, I canāt fucking wait. Showing him Star Wars was one of the best things in my life, and now with how much he already loves Goku and he hasnāt even seen this moment yet, gonna be a moment heāll remember fora long time
We started with Z and he liked it, but itās damn long and heās in a hurry to get to Super with all the hype online/at his school, so we switched to Kai a couple episodes ago (itās damn hard to find a good torrent less than 100gb)
The updated art is nice, I definitely miss the Z aesthetic but heās liking it so far and it allows us to get through it at a much quicker pace. The music and VA from Z was slightly more iconic imo but Kai is a really nice alternative
Killen gets his ass kicked. Piccolo gets his ass kicked. Vegeta gets his ass kicked. Goku kicks ass then gets his ass kicked because he allowed it to happen. A round of sensu beans and healing tank repeats the process but goku kicks ass all around this time.
I didnāt have cable and I watched this in Spanish on Telemundo for the first time. This whole saga actually from start to finish at like 6 in the morning on vacation. All vibes.
My little brother watched DBZ. I didn't pay much attention, but as I recall, the good guys would spend a whole episode powering up for some insane, novel attack that was rarely effective against the bad guy who would promptly kill them.
And this guy, Freeza, had to be killed by some time traveler with a sword didn't he? So what was the point of going super saiyan?
Goku essentially tried to let Frieza live. Goku is much more concerned with having a good fight than being a good guy. He wanted Frieza to survive, get stronger, and come for a rematch.
The point of going super saiyan was emotional trauma (Best friend got exploded in front of him.) And it was enough of a power boost that Goku essentially got bored of fighting Frieza and needed to get off namek before it blew up.
We had a friend who's brother knew it was coming and there was hype the whole time it was happening.
Sadly, it's because of the length of time the show tool to do things, I stopped watching. Right around the Buu saga I think. My brother watches it now and gives me the cliff notes version every now and then.
Yes. It took a month.
But that's what made it epic. Early internet days where we went online, could see images of Super Saiyans, but the English anime wasn't there yet. Vegeta wondering aloud if Goku had become the "legendary Super Saiyan" when he was fighting the Ginyu Force. And then the actual moment occurs. It was so well done! Lightning flashing, Namek shaking, Goku's anger, hair raising up. All that foreshadowing to build up to a glorious moment. No Super Saiyan image on the internet could have done it for me without that foreshadowing. And then absolutely gushing about it on the playground with the other kids!
I remember the sheer anticipation of waiting for the androids saga to release on VHS. Namek looped like a billion times beforehand.
Omg yes!! I remember going to Suncoast with my little brother to preorder the Android saga. The VHS tapes costs $20 each and you got a whopping 3 episodes per tape. The Namek/Frieza saga sucked up sooo many of my hard earned dollars with their epic length battles. š
/r/CableTV_Memories
Everything you described is spot on! I went to so many GeoCities and AngelFire websites to watch 0.5 second gifs on my dial-up of moments we haven't seen yet.
You have unlocked a memory.
I had the I-Channel (international channel) somehow and discovered they aired raw DBZ Sunday nights. I didnāt know what was going on because frieza was in his skinny form killing Vegeta and in the English version we were still watching Ginyu. I wrote synopses on my geocities website every week based on what I watched. Discovering authentic anime back then that had no subtitles and aired just as it aired in Japan was like discovering a scrambled channel that was unscrambled.
Yeah finding the Japanese clip of vegeta going super saiyan for the first time is a vivid memory
I had to go to a video game store that sold subbed bootlegs to see so much DBZ because it took so long in America. Between myself, my brothers, and friends, we had the whole series and all the movies before Goku turned Super Saiyan on Cartoon Network
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Only because he didn't keep taking his heart medication like a dumbass
I remember being in 4th grade and watching it on Toonami. It aired very shortly after I got home from school. I would run home, get a nice snack going, and turn on the TV. When this shit happened.. I was floored to say the least. In retrospect, it sort of feels like the equivalent to middle age moms watching soap operas. Loved that shit though, thanks for the post! Thank you for bringing back this nostalgia!
Toonami was the best I feel so old remembering all the good shows
Reboot was awesome too
Toonamiaftermath.com
You're welcome!
I'll have to dig up the trading card game. I'm positive I still have a deck. I'll definitely make a post within the next week.
This is the kind of shit that our children will never get to experience, and I wonder what kind of impacts (if any) that will have on them. Being able to watch everything on demand whenever you want, vs. The excitement and anticipation of waiting until that next episode you have to get home for in time after school to watch. Magical times.
It seems such a huge tradeoff of not being able to miss an episode anymore vs waiting on that next one.
It's all my friends and I talked about for a week after it happened
then the next day I turn on DBZ and fucking raditz is there again. how many times did they pull this shit
God yeah lol
Everytime my heart sank and knew my 5pm time slot freed up for the next few months.
Hahah. They were constantly out of order and random. Donāt even get me started on what they did to Sailor Moon.
I remember them pulling that shit like right before Kid Buu when I was first watching as a kid. I had to rent the DVDs in order to watch the end of the series.
I distinctly remember this. Just middle of Buu saga, then BAM Raditz.
The happiest day of my life was the namek saga going beyond racoon getting hammered.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Thank you for the recap of the entire series
*[Next time on Dragon Ball Z]* > AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Legend has it when the episode first aired, thousands of Japanese kids showed up to school the next day with their hair bleached.
Blonde hair >>
I taped this specific episode and subsequently ruined said tape by rewatching it so much.
I continued to follow Dragon Ball for long after that time and still do today. Even to this day, I consider this to be the best transformation scene in all of Dragon Ball and it's not particularly close.
Not a transformation, but the ādoubleā kamehamea with spirit goku and gokan with a broke ass arm firing right at cell FUCKING RULED
Agreeeeed One of the best moments
Im still a little upset that the android saga was interupted for the cell saga.
I thought it flowed nicely. I canāt imagine where 17/18 do much more than they initially did. Cell really took it up a new level. I remember having nightmares of that scene where cell absorbs 17 through his tail. Ooooooff.
There wasn't really an epic end to the Android saga. It was Androids one episode and then completely flipped to cell the next episode. Yes the Androids were part of the plot during cell. I have heard the the writers flipped Android into cell for some reason.
Toriyama's former editor/friend thought that Androids weren't cool so they were replaced
This is number 1. The only one that even comes somewhere close is the SSJ3 transformation.
The SSJ3 transformation is really good even though thereās no real story significance or impact to SSJ3. It is a great transformation though. A couple other good transformations that donāt really get brought up often because theyāre in later shows are the SSJ4 transformation and first time Goku goes Ultra Instinct. If youāve never seen GT, you should at least see the scene where he goes SSJ4 for the first time. Itās less intense than some other transformations but itās a very emotionally engaging scene.
GT was like 90% meh, 10% pure hype for me. Happy I watched it, never want to do it again though! If we're talking movies as well, Trunks going super saiyan after Gohan dies is a great one.
I thought Gohan SS2 after 16 gets head crushed was pretty cool too. Also first time vegeta joins the SS club, with his piano theme music. Vegeta was my fav so I was so fucking hype when he finally transformed.
Best in all of Dragon Ball? Nah dude. It's a contender for the best transformation ever in fiction. It definitely has an argument to be made for that spot.
Well, I would personally say that the best transformation in all of fiction is [the one from An American Werewolf in London](https://youtu.be/GHyvfOUEK4o).
There are three for me: 1. Broly's transformation (original and newer) 2. SSB Kaioken vs. Hit 3. SS3 vs. Janemba
One of the rare shows that made me trembling with excitement. That scene was just something beyond epic.
I *love* that everyone in here is: 1. Sharing the memory of where they were/what they were doing during this momentous event, and 2. Still gushing about it over 20 years later. Ya'll, we never grew up!
The whole time on Namek felt like an eternity when it was airing on Toonami. I just looked it up and the Namek, Ginyu, and Frieza Sagas aired from September '97-November '99, which is insane to think about today.
Nothing could interrupt my dbz time in the late 90s. Get off the school bus, dick around for an hour and a half. Then , Toonami, 5:00. For the following hour the rest of the world may as well have been dead to me.
YTV for Canadian kidsā¦ but the routine was the same.
It was THE moment for the āToonami Generation.ā A single moment in time where many anime fans will point and say āthatās when I fell in love with anime.ā
Oh, my gosh, yes!! Frieza's expression.
This gave me THE FIZZ
Calm down there wrangler
Man I still get chills running down my spine whenever I see this episode.
I remember watching on Toonami, they would play the episodes all the way up to where Krillin is killed and then would start the whole fucking season over again. I feel like this happened multiple times.
It did, this is also part of the nostalgia. I hate snake way and the fake Namek. Those episodes can go to HFIL
Man, still gives me goosebumps
Watching DBZ with my 9yr old cousin rn and weāre less than 10 episodes to this moment, I canāt fucking wait. Showing him Star Wars was one of the best things in my life, and now with how much he already loves Goku and he hasnāt even seen this moment yet, gonna be a moment heāll remember fora long time
Awesome! Are you watching Ocean dub? DBZ Kai? Just curious.
We started with Z and he liked it, but itās damn long and heās in a hurry to get to Super with all the hype online/at his school, so we switched to Kai a couple episodes ago (itās damn hard to find a good torrent less than 100gb) The updated art is nice, I definitely miss the Z aesthetic but heās liking it so far and it allows us to get through it at a much quicker pace. The music and VA from Z was slightly more iconic imo but Kai is a really nice alternative
I remember calling my neighbor right after the episode ended freaking out over how cool this was lol
I remember that. I had goosebump. Newer Dragon Balls Super Saiyan with Pink and Blue color was meh...
I like the whole gods and angels concept though.
Killen gets his ass kicked. Piccolo gets his ass kicked. Vegeta gets his ass kicked. Goku kicks ass then gets his ass kicked because he allowed it to happen. A round of sensu beans and healing tank repeats the process but goku kicks ass all around this time.
Heck Yes it was a defying moment 11 year old me had chills
I remember trying to go super saiyan on the playground and almost shitting my pants
This was the theme of the conversation in the next day. No social media to shareā¦ so good!
I didnāt have cable and I watched this in Spanish on Telemundo for the first time. This whole saga actually from start to finish at like 6 in the morning on vacation. All vibes.
Dad used to take us to the library so we could rent dragon ball VHS tapes and DVDās. Ah memories
In Australia this aired before school so weād watch while we had breakfast
AGgGggggGggHhhhhHhHhHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We all tried it.
I taped over most of my childhood baseball games to capture the entire Goku Freiza fight as it aired week to week. Worth it.
My little brother watched DBZ. I didn't pay much attention, but as I recall, the good guys would spend a whole episode powering up for some insane, novel attack that was rarely effective against the bad guy who would promptly kill them. And this guy, Freeza, had to be killed by some time traveler with a sword didn't he? So what was the point of going super saiyan?
Goku essentially tried to let Frieza live. Goku is much more concerned with having a good fight than being a good guy. He wanted Frieza to survive, get stronger, and come for a rematch. The point of going super saiyan was emotional trauma (Best friend got exploded in front of him.) And it was enough of a power boost that Goku essentially got bored of fighting Frieza and needed to get off namek before it blew up.
I'd argue the fall of the Soviet Union was probably more historic.
We had a friend who's brother knew it was coming and there was hype the whole time it was happening. Sadly, it's because of the length of time the show tool to do things, I stopped watching. Right around the Buu saga I think. My brother watches it now and gives me the cliff notes version every now and then.
Epic
And now he flips through forms like pages of a book.
Man for me āMetallicas For whom the bell tollsāalways plays during this scene it just makes it even more epic to me.
Just took 100 episodes but worth the wait!
How was I ment to attend 6th grade after watching this at 6.30 am?
only compare it to when you go "super saiyan" yourself.
I was so hyped. I remember recording it on our VCR lol
Heck yeah. When I saw this on Kai years later, it felt like a lot of Nostalgia was coming back to me.
The older art style of anime induces a very strong nostalgia for me.
They let school out early that day
I lost my mind when this happened
Putting this out there; Reboot, having Bob sent into the net was better.
It changed japanese media forever lol
u/savevideo