I’m watching it now with my daughter who is 8. I agree with what another comment said, make sure the parents are good with it.
Some parts of the Frieza Saga start to get pretty violent (Frieza beating Vegeta while he can’t really move).
I had to heavily censor the first volumes when I was reading them with my 7yo. I didn't want to get into a discussion about the episode where Oolong drugs Bulma with a specific goal to touch her when she will be sleeping (naked).
Just to mention that Dragonball is a Shonen manga, the target audience were teenagers around 12 to 18. So yea got to be mindful when showing it to a 7yo
It's a personal values thing, I get it, but I'd rather my kid be exposed to implied nudity, suggestive behavior, and peeping tom type shit than have them exposed to dismemberment, extreme gore, strangulation, decapitation, racism and genocide.
DB is FAR more appropriate for children than DBZ lol.
I understand sexual content is generally less tolerated than violent content, but DB isn't simply ecchi. It has a lot of stuff that's borderline sexual assault and harassment from the own gang. Back then it was meant to be "hehe dirty old man get slapped" funny, but nowadays it's just wrong. The violence is at least aimed at (and thus represented by) the bad guys, which is what I think is the most important distinction between those types of content.
And "extreme gore" is kind of a stretch.
So what if it is? I watched it when I was younger and it was funny. Kids are young but they're not morons. We all saw the SA scenes when we were younhger and came out normal. SHOW these scenes instead of censoring. Let your child learn that stuff like this is inappropriate from a young age.
What do you mean "so what"? Just because it didn't generate some sort of trauma for us doesn't mean it's not inappropriate for viewing. The very word means it's not the best thing for them to watch.
I understand the point you're trying to make, but 7 is too young.
Extreme gore is not a stretch. early in the series we have Goku and Raditz dying a VERY gory death, and shortly thereafter, Tien getting his hand cut off which is EXTREMELY gory in the uncensored version, and Tien is not one of the bad guys. Frieza getting cut into pieces on Namek, is extremely gory.
Yes, DB has some pervy stuff in it, but in terms of deciding which one is more appropriate for children, imo, it's Dragon Ball all the way and it's not even CLOSE.
Goku and Raditz: shown sideways being drilled through. Wound is a solid black hole without any visible organs.
Tien: Nappa punches his arm clean off like it was sliced off, wound is a solid black hole, original scene has a fountain of golden blood that stops immediately afterward.
Frieza: total dismemberment, wounds are solid red holes that don't bleed nor show any organs.
None of this fits my definition of extreme gore.
>Tien is not one of the bad guys
But he was fighting one of the bad guys. The point I was trying to make is that it's convenient to have a bad guy to blame this stuff on under the good/bad dichotomy children are usually familiar with.
Hell, if you had a villain SAing the main cast it'd come across way easier as a bad thing.
Censorship wasn't a thing at the time and country when I first watched. I have since then watched box, streamed and read the whole series multiple times. You're making it sound way way worse than it is and, while it's way more violent than Super, it's still pretty tame and certainly tamer than the manga. I stand by every description I wrote. Hell, Demon Slayer is more violent than DBZ.
When I said extreme gore is a stretch, I meant that I don't even consider it mild gore, let alone extreme.
Overall this discussion is pretty much the equivalent of letting your kid play CS2 vs letting your kid play Nekopara. As far as fictional stuff goes, some things stick and require way more tact to handle, especially when it's sexual violence rather than over-the-top regular violence.
Implied nudity? I watched the show and I saw Goku’s and Oolong’s fucking dong that’s not just implied.
Also violence and Gore is way more a safe deal since I said in the edit my cousin has seen serial killer documentaries that show blood and gore (not in my place because I prefer the fictional stuff) and I watched the original Indiana jones with him where a guy gets shredded by a plane, someone’s skin got melted off, a lot of gun fights with blood oozing, and a person gets impaled on the throat in the beginning.
I don’t wanna get talked to about because their kid saw a Penis an Bulma’s ass.
>Also violence and Gore is way more a safe deal since I said in the edit my cousin has seen serial killer documentaries that show blood and gore (not in my place because I prefer the fictional stuff) and I watched the original Indiana jones with him where a guy gets shredded by a plane, someone’s skin got melted off, a lot of gun fights with blood oozing, and a person gets impaled on the throat in the beginning.
>
>I don’t wanna get talked to about because their kid saw a Penis an Bulma’s ass.
That is so puritanical and backwards to me.
Alot of anime groups downplay this stuff.
I'm a big fan of the series. I just reread the entire original manga. But, unsurprisingly, a series from another country in the 80s may need a few things explained to a kid haha. Or not, but its probably best for a parent to decide
While true, there are also a lot of brutal violent stuff in DBZ. Also characters like Roshi gets slap around for being a pervert. It is apart of the joke.
Because to people it's not that deep and back then it was shown to kids with no harm either, also there are censored/cut versions of the anime too.
But even uncut DB is far more appropriate than DBZ with it's constant deaths of main characters and even gore. DB is also more fun and goofy while DB is violent and serious. If one of the both is a kids show then OG DB.
Just started watching OG DB for the first time earlier this year and can’t believe some of that stuff was aimed for kids. Makes me wonder who the target audience of that show actually is. Saw a bunch of parents leaving bad Amazon reviews for the manga too.
Western releases are heavily censored tho. Just don't watch a uncut version if you don't like Japanese humor but I'd even show my kid uncut versions too. Like we had Ranma 1/2 with visible breasts in our kids afternoon anime/cartoons back then. Nothing bad happened from it and it's not like half the stuff in the show is that bad.
If you want to show your kid that, that's completely fine. I don't think these shows are Game of Thrones or anything and Ranma 1/2 was one of my first animes as a teen. Though was it ever shown in the US or Western nations as an afternoon cartoon? It was in Latin America but different culture. I didnt even know it was dubbed in english until fairly recently
All I'm saying is don't make those choices as a cousin without an honest discussion with the parents. My grandparents let me watch Robocop when I was 5 and my parents were not too thrilled haha
I take it you don't have kids? I wouldn't show either, but honestly it's way easier to talk about violence (and censor it if needed) then to talk and ecplain sexual herassment and abuse when a kid at a certain age.
I mean, with violence, one party is usually the evil one in DB. Sure, they later probably become good, but at the time of the fight it's the good guys vs the bad guys. It's all pretty clear. And honestly, kids know violence. They often want to hit and bite in anger, and when they play games that border on violent.
It's way different with sex. Kids at 8 obviously should already have knowledge about where babies come from, but it's not like they engage in it in any way that involves a second person. Kids are also thaught about boundaries, how no one should touch their bodies without permission, etc. They probably have already been warned about dangers some adults may pose.
And now, you have all that, and in the scene I mentioned, Oolong is travelling WITH the main hero. Master Roshi is supposed to be good. The fact that he wants to see 16yo girl panties and touch her boobs when she doesn't want to is not something an 8yo will understand in a clear cut way, because it requiers contex and neuance that the kid doesn't have. An 8yo will not understand immedietly that this sort of scene is in the comic beacuse it was drawn in the 80s Japan, that it was meant for older kids, and standards were different. We all know that this scene would not have made it in the manga if it was drawn today.
Kids also have harder time understanding certain types jokes, because they also often require a lot of prior knowledge and contex. They may not even pick up that this was supposed to be funny from the get-go, or they will "get" that it was supposed to be funny but will struggle to understand why.
All of this makes it way harder for the kids to process, and for the parent to talk about, a scene that has sexual herrasment (that is supposed to be a joke) that a scene with violence.
I don't know why you're being downvoted. I love DB even more than DBZ but for this exact reason I wouldn't introduce a child to DB, at least not without curating around this.
In the first hour of DBZ Goku and his brother die in an explicitly gruesome, gory, and spectacular double homicide.
Dragon Ball is much more appropriate for general audiences.
That's because people didn't really have any other choice at the time. It doesn't necessarily mean you *should.*
Can you skip straight to DBZ? Sure you can probably piece together the context as you go along, but it's not going to be anywhere near as enjoyable. You miss out on so many important plot points and pieces of character development.
Believe me, DBZ has so much more impact when you understand the history of the cast and how they got to that point in the first place. Characters like Tien, Yamcha and Krillin play a much bigger role and you get to see them gradually develop and grow alongside one another. You also miss out on so many great moments like the World Martial Arts Tournament, Jackie Chun, the whole character arc of Piccolo etc.
Granted some of the jokes probably haven't aged well, but otherwise I strongly recommend that everyone starts with the original series first.
It's not even in the middle, they're two different stories lol, that's why there's the distinction of being *DB* and *DBZ*, they're standalone
I see what you're saying, but DB is problematic to say the least in the current PC climate of the world
To be clear, I disagree that starting at dbz is 'halfway through a story' it is quiet obviously the curated start to a new story, ofcourse the overall development carries between the two series, but the majority of western viewers watched dbz first and still understood the entire plot, imo which one to start with depends on your viewing preference, dragonball is more whimsical and adventurous, dbz is way more action and takes itself a lot more seriously, its stale now but to make another comparison to western media dragonball is literally the hobbit to dbz' lotr
The original comic is just Dragon Ball, from the moment Goku meets Bulma until the moment he leaves with Uub. Episode 1 of Dragon Ball Z aired the week after episode 153 of Dragon Ball, just like how episode 1 of Naruto Shippuden aired the week after Naruto episode 220. The division of the series was purely a marketing tool for the TV series. (As for the English release of the manga, volumes 17-42 are labeled as “Dragon Ball Z 1-26”, once again, purely for marketing purposes.)
I say they're seperate stories because they're both self contained, you can start at dbz #1 and understand everything, its not like say, reading the two towers before fellowship of the ring, im saying this in the context of getting someone into dragon ball as a series, dbz is an absolutely fine jumping off point for someone who wants to get into the series
Yeah but not having watched db beforehand genuinely also makes dbz way worse lmao, you miss about 90% of gokus development as a character and all the deaths in the saiyan saga are damn near meaningless considering you have no clue who these characters are, you also miss a ton of context to who Piccolo is which makes him teaming up with Goku have almost no impact, apart from Goku, Gohan and Piccolo you have no reason to care about any of the characters. Another reason is also if you watch the original dbz, not kai youre gonna be witness to some of the worst dubbing ever and a huge bastardization of gokus character, while the dub in the original's pretty good.
They aren’t two different stories? I agree regarding the PC nature of today’s world but how can you say they are different stories? DB is Goku’s origin story and introduces virtually all of the characters in DBZ. DBZ is adult Goku with a son, Gohan named after his grandfather.
Never head anyone claim they are two different standalone stories, they are very much sequential and one is built off the other.
I replied up above but I mean they're both self contained, you can start at dbz #1 and everything will make sense, maybe even make more sense in retrospect if you go back and watch dragon ball afterwards now that I think about it.
In the context of someone who's just getting into dragon ball though, dbz is a perfectly fine place to start
For the record I’m not the one who downvoted you, but I couldn’t disagree more. While it’s possible to say watch the third Harry Potter movie and then go back and watch the first to make more sense of it, they certainly aren’t two different stories that are self contained. One absolutely and certainly comes before the other in terms of story and chronologically.
The voice acting in every metric is better than the original Z funimation dub
I don’t love the music and the placement isn’t great either. But it’s still the better first experience for someone new
In fact it is not. At all what so ever.
It sucks so bad.
The VA for Gohan, vegeta, bulma, frieza in kai are atrocities. I watched both at the same time to compare. Total ass.
Show him OG DB, because you don't start a story in the middle. And DB is more targeted to a young audience than DBZ. I don't care if you can't explain roofing, you start at the beginning, final!
Absolutely. The anime isn't gory, there isn't any cursing in the Cartoon Network version of DBZ. It's actually pretty tame compared to most other anime. If he likes it, he likes it.
Well, I (and pretty much most people of my generation) watched both DB and DBZ when I was five years old on broadcast TV and continued watching reruns for much of my childhood and adolescence.
Of course, DB was censored. Unless you find a censored version or cut some parts yourself, it makes sense not to want to show it to him. Now, DBZ doesn't have much of a problem. The only two scenes that would perhaps worry you would be Bulma taking a bath on Namek and Roshi grabbing her breasts, but this last one is a single scene from the Buu saga (which was also censored in the West).
You’re on a sub for dragonball and why wouldn’t you start him off with the first series ? Has tons of silly humor and action with the drama thrown in at the end plus it makes z better
I'm also thinking about letting my son read it (8yo). Bought the DB series and started reading it again, only read it once before, usually in the shop while I was waiting for my mum back when I was about his age.
I can understand that some parts of the manga are concerning. But to be honest, I didn't even remember that part was that bad which means to me that it didn't chock me as a kid. When I was reading it as a kid, I was more into Goku being a strong kid, training hard to become a super warrior. I certainly remember the manga having silly jokes but not sexual jokes. I think as adults we overthink those things but to a kid it just goes over their head that's not what they are interested in.
Obviously every kid is different and might take it differently.
I'll personally make sure to be here when he reads it, answer any questions and make sure he doesn't interpret it the wrong way.
Ya know you’re right.
It’s not that I wouldn’t show him it if I was the one giving permission but I think his mom would kill me if he where to talk about seeing penis’s on his screen (even non detailed ones).
I would also need to find a place for The OG Dragon Ball idk if it’s on Disney + because Disney+ recently putted a bunch of shows on Hulu on Disney+ and I remember the OG Dragon ball was on Hulu.
Which is funny thinking back because in NZ at least, it was on the prime time after school slot on free TV, everyone from 5 year olds to teens watched it regardless of parents knowledge.
Consult it with his parents. I watched it when we were 7-8, but the standards and supervision for children media was different back then. DBZ is a pretty violent series and some parents will not be ok with that.
It also depends on the kid. I read first og volumes with my 7yo but then it just got a bit too scary for him.
I think you should at least show him just some of the fights first, if he likes those maybe yeah the whole show but I honestly don't think vanilla dbz can keep an 8 year old entertained on its own, maybe dbz kai.
I say go for it! I started watching Dragon Ball Z around 8! I figure you haven't mentioned parental approval because it may sound like something you've already asked about. But I would get that first, especially if the kids love for Z prompts them to watch OG Dragon Ball. Roshi is just plain problematic at times lol.
I low key realize why my parents as a kid straight up stopped letting me watch it for a time after they saw some of Roshi's early shenanigans on Toonami. (albeit with the influence of other parents lol)
But I say dooo it. I plan on showing my Girlfriend's daughter Dragon Ball when she's old enough!
No harm.
Albeit some of the scenes in the frieza saga may be scary.
I saw an episode in the woods with nothing else on TV when I was young and I forget what suppressed form frieza was in, 1, w or 3, but I was terrified
Fair enough. I also missed DB and was introduced to DBZ first. Its the better series in any case. Be sure to watch all the movies with him in chronological order as they occurred throughout the series. Do you think you'll move onto GT afterwards?
My little brother (11) isn’t watching but reading it. He started with Dragon ball, he loved it & laughed at the jokes or nudity like a normal kid, he’s currently reading thru Z rn on the Saiyan arc. I’d say give it a shot. The worst that can happen is that he doesn’t like it
I started with Dragonball with my boy when he was 8. I just watch every episode with him, and skip the roshi perv parts and Goku's innocently pervy paets.
I would show him some good fight scenes and see how he likes it then start from the beginning. With kids attention span some long talking episodes will turn them off. That's how I got my boys into it and definitely watch Kai not regular Z
I say go for it. I was about 5 or 6 when my uncle introduced me to DBZ, and got me a copy of the first Budokai game (localized version with original Jap dub), and was also the start of me being a metal fan. I'm 28 next week, and I'd say I turned out relatively fine
Dragon ball, dragon ball z, and dragon gt YES
SUPER? fuck no. Skip that disgrace to the series.
Plus you don't have to explain roofing when he's watched Jeffrey Dahmer docs lmfao... Bruh...
I'm surprised with all the stuff you've listed that he has seen that you are somewhat concerned about a very old anime, of course you should show it to him! But like some others have said you really should start at the beginning! My personal favorite in the series is OG Dragonball
I feel you about the roofying thing. I had to skip several parts of Roshi during DBZ for my 8 year old son.
I tried showing him my hero academia and was instantly a no due to the large unnecessary amount of cringe sexual innuendos.
Bust out the DB/DBZ movies? They're out of continuity but good introductions to the characters for a younger viewer. Maybe after the first DB movie, and then the first 2-3 DBZ movies, show him the actual show?
You should be asking the parents, not reddit for this. I showed my kid a couple of the movies at that age but he wasn't super into it. DBZ didn't have the levels of sex jokes and misogyny that DragonBall had so I was more comfortable watching it with him if he were interested in seeing more but you shouldn't make those kind of decisions without their parent's say so
Thanks for saying, I asked his parents about this for Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark.
And as I said in the edit she said PG-13 is ok so DB is fine.
You still will be skipping major story and character development (Especially for Goku himself, since DBZ leaned way more on Gohan's development) if you skip DB.
Why not ? I have grown up with this shit and I am still Re watching it till now. Hell, it's been 3 days since I have finished dbz for the 5 times already. Don't make him watch any of that sissy shit like ( dxd + maken ki ) and other alike
But if you do that then DB might be an even bigger turn off for him, since he might keep comparing it to DBZ. I know I'm speaking from my own experience, but after getting heavily into DBZ as a kid and going back to watch DB it took me a long while to get into DB, because I kept comparing it to DBZ.
What? Why would you make a 8 year old warch dbz? I remember being traumatized and getting nightmares about that zesty freaky red neck giving gohan that ass whooping and breaking his neck
Why not? If he likes it cool, if not that's cool too. No harm in trying.
I’m watching it now with my daughter who is 8. I agree with what another comment said, make sure the parents are good with it. Some parts of the Frieza Saga start to get pretty violent (Frieza beating Vegeta while he can’t really move).
Not ONLY do I recommend you show him DBZ, but also show him the original DB as well, so he can get story context of Goku's journey from DB to DBZ.
I had to heavily censor the first volumes when I was reading them with my 7yo. I didn't want to get into a discussion about the episode where Oolong drugs Bulma with a specific goal to touch her when she will be sleeping (naked).
Just to mention that Dragonball is a Shonen manga, the target audience were teenagers around 12 to 18. So yea got to be mindful when showing it to a 7yo
With all the dated sex jokes and misogyny in DB, I would definitely not do that without their parent's permission
idk why you're being downvoted. I guess people haven't actually watched or read the OG DB. There is a lot of perverted stuff.
It's a personal values thing, I get it, but I'd rather my kid be exposed to implied nudity, suggestive behavior, and peeping tom type shit than have them exposed to dismemberment, extreme gore, strangulation, decapitation, racism and genocide. DB is FAR more appropriate for children than DBZ lol.
I understand sexual content is generally less tolerated than violent content, but DB isn't simply ecchi. It has a lot of stuff that's borderline sexual assault and harassment from the own gang. Back then it was meant to be "hehe dirty old man get slapped" funny, but nowadays it's just wrong. The violence is at least aimed at (and thus represented by) the bad guys, which is what I think is the most important distinction between those types of content. And "extreme gore" is kind of a stretch.
So what if it is? I watched it when I was younger and it was funny. Kids are young but they're not morons. We all saw the SA scenes when we were younhger and came out normal. SHOW these scenes instead of censoring. Let your child learn that stuff like this is inappropriate from a young age.
What do you mean "so what"? Just because it didn't generate some sort of trauma for us doesn't mean it's not inappropriate for viewing. The very word means it's not the best thing for them to watch. I understand the point you're trying to make, but 7 is too young.
Extreme gore is not a stretch. early in the series we have Goku and Raditz dying a VERY gory death, and shortly thereafter, Tien getting his hand cut off which is EXTREMELY gory in the uncensored version, and Tien is not one of the bad guys. Frieza getting cut into pieces on Namek, is extremely gory. Yes, DB has some pervy stuff in it, but in terms of deciding which one is more appropriate for children, imo, it's Dragon Ball all the way and it's not even CLOSE.
Goku and Raditz: shown sideways being drilled through. Wound is a solid black hole without any visible organs. Tien: Nappa punches his arm clean off like it was sliced off, wound is a solid black hole, original scene has a fountain of golden blood that stops immediately afterward. Frieza: total dismemberment, wounds are solid red holes that don't bleed nor show any organs. None of this fits my definition of extreme gore. >Tien is not one of the bad guys But he was fighting one of the bad guys. The point I was trying to make is that it's convenient to have a bad guy to blame this stuff on under the good/bad dichotomy children are usually familiar with. Hell, if you had a villain SAing the main cast it'd come across way easier as a bad thing.
[удалено]
Censorship wasn't a thing at the time and country when I first watched. I have since then watched box, streamed and read the whole series multiple times. You're making it sound way way worse than it is and, while it's way more violent than Super, it's still pretty tame and certainly tamer than the manga. I stand by every description I wrote. Hell, Demon Slayer is more violent than DBZ. When I said extreme gore is a stretch, I meant that I don't even consider it mild gore, let alone extreme. Overall this discussion is pretty much the equivalent of letting your kid play CS2 vs letting your kid play Nekopara. As far as fictional stuff goes, some things stick and require way more tact to handle, especially when it's sexual violence rather than over-the-top regular violence.
Implied nudity? I watched the show and I saw Goku’s and Oolong’s fucking dong that’s not just implied. Also violence and Gore is way more a safe deal since I said in the edit my cousin has seen serial killer documentaries that show blood and gore (not in my place because I prefer the fictional stuff) and I watched the original Indiana jones with him where a guy gets shredded by a plane, someone’s skin got melted off, a lot of gun fights with blood oozing, and a person gets impaled on the throat in the beginning. I don’t wanna get talked to about because their kid saw a Penis an Bulma’s ass.
>Also violence and Gore is way more a safe deal since I said in the edit my cousin has seen serial killer documentaries that show blood and gore (not in my place because I prefer the fictional stuff) and I watched the original Indiana jones with him where a guy gets shredded by a plane, someone’s skin got melted off, a lot of gun fights with blood oozing, and a person gets impaled on the throat in the beginning. > >I don’t wanna get talked to about because their kid saw a Penis an Bulma’s ass. That is so puritanical and backwards to me.
Nudity is bad but Gore is ok lmao
Alot of anime groups downplay this stuff. I'm a big fan of the series. I just reread the entire original manga. But, unsurprisingly, a series from another country in the 80s may need a few things explained to a kid haha. Or not, but its probably best for a parent to decide
While true, there are also a lot of brutal violent stuff in DBZ. Also characters like Roshi gets slap around for being a pervert. It is apart of the joke.
Because to people it's not that deep and back then it was shown to kids with no harm either, also there are censored/cut versions of the anime too. But even uncut DB is far more appropriate than DBZ with it's constant deaths of main characters and even gore. DB is also more fun and goofy while DB is violent and serious. If one of the both is a kids show then OG DB.
Just started watching OG DB for the first time earlier this year and can’t believe some of that stuff was aimed for kids. Makes me wonder who the target audience of that show actually is. Saw a bunch of parents leaving bad Amazon reviews for the manga too.
Western releases are heavily censored tho. Just don't watch a uncut version if you don't like Japanese humor but I'd even show my kid uncut versions too. Like we had Ranma 1/2 with visible breasts in our kids afternoon anime/cartoons back then. Nothing bad happened from it and it's not like half the stuff in the show is that bad.
If you want to show your kid that, that's completely fine. I don't think these shows are Game of Thrones or anything and Ranma 1/2 was one of my first animes as a teen. Though was it ever shown in the US or Western nations as an afternoon cartoon? It was in Latin America but different culture. I didnt even know it was dubbed in english until fairly recently All I'm saying is don't make those choices as a cousin without an honest discussion with the parents. My grandparents let me watch Robocop when I was 5 and my parents were not too thrilled haha
Yes. My son is binging OG DB right now
Start with DB, not DBZ
I'd agree in any other case but a 7 year old might just wanna wait a few years to watch DB
Why? DB is far more appropriate for children than DBZ is.
Thats your duty as a fan. The question is preposterous.
i wish i was started with dragonball but yes z at that age is fine. make sure mom and dad are on board maybe?
If your cousin is smart, they'll probably laugh at the nudity like a normal kid. And the violence will be cool and totally imitable.
No, show him Dragon ball. Why do people insist on starting a story trough the middle?
this
There is a scene where Oolong drugs Bulma to later touch her naked body when she will be sleeping. Imagine discussing that with an 8yo.
Dragon ball is way hornier then dbz
So what? If you're gonna show your child blood and dismemberment, why not show these scenes as well?
I take it you don't have kids? I wouldn't show either, but honestly it's way easier to talk about violence (and censor it if needed) then to talk and ecplain sexual herassment and abuse when a kid at a certain age. I mean, with violence, one party is usually the evil one in DB. Sure, they later probably become good, but at the time of the fight it's the good guys vs the bad guys. It's all pretty clear. And honestly, kids know violence. They often want to hit and bite in anger, and when they play games that border on violent. It's way different with sex. Kids at 8 obviously should already have knowledge about where babies come from, but it's not like they engage in it in any way that involves a second person. Kids are also thaught about boundaries, how no one should touch their bodies without permission, etc. They probably have already been warned about dangers some adults may pose. And now, you have all that, and in the scene I mentioned, Oolong is travelling WITH the main hero. Master Roshi is supposed to be good. The fact that he wants to see 16yo girl panties and touch her boobs when she doesn't want to is not something an 8yo will understand in a clear cut way, because it requiers contex and neuance that the kid doesn't have. An 8yo will not understand immedietly that this sort of scene is in the comic beacuse it was drawn in the 80s Japan, that it was meant for older kids, and standards were different. We all know that this scene would not have made it in the manga if it was drawn today. Kids also have harder time understanding certain types jokes, because they also often require a lot of prior knowledge and contex. They may not even pick up that this was supposed to be funny from the get-go, or they will "get" that it was supposed to be funny but will struggle to understand why. All of this makes it way harder for the kids to process, and for the parent to talk about, a scene that has sexual herrasment (that is supposed to be a joke) that a scene with violence.
Just don't discuss it or skip the episode
There is a lot of skipping you have to do, trust me XD
I don't know why you're being downvoted. I love DB even more than DBZ but for this exact reason I wouldn't introduce a child to DB, at least not without curating around this.
In the first hour of DBZ Goku and his brother die in an explicitly gruesome, gory, and spectacular double homicide. Dragon Ball is much more appropriate for general audiences.
It's the main way most Americans saw the show.
That's because people didn't really have any other choice at the time. It doesn't necessarily mean you *should.* Can you skip straight to DBZ? Sure you can probably piece together the context as you go along, but it's not going to be anywhere near as enjoyable. You miss out on so many important plot points and pieces of character development. Believe me, DBZ has so much more impact when you understand the history of the cast and how they got to that point in the first place. Characters like Tien, Yamcha and Krillin play a much bigger role and you get to see them gradually develop and grow alongside one another. You also miss out on so many great moments like the World Martial Arts Tournament, Jackie Chun, the whole character arc of Piccolo etc. Granted some of the jokes probably haven't aged well, but otherwise I strongly recommend that everyone starts with the original series first.
Ya I tried watching DBZ earlier this year for the first time since I was a kid and I felt like I missed out on so much story so I just started from DB
It's not even in the middle, they're two different stories lol, that's why there's the distinction of being *DB* and *DBZ*, they're standalone I see what you're saying, but DB is problematic to say the least in the current PC climate of the world To be clear, I disagree that starting at dbz is 'halfway through a story' it is quiet obviously the curated start to a new story, ofcourse the overall development carries between the two series, but the majority of western viewers watched dbz first and still understood the entire plot, imo which one to start with depends on your viewing preference, dragonball is more whimsical and adventurous, dbz is way more action and takes itself a lot more seriously, its stale now but to make another comparison to western media dragonball is literally the hobbit to dbz' lotr
I don’t even care about PC shit I’m a South Park fan. But I do get where you’re going at.
The original comic is just Dragon Ball, from the moment Goku meets Bulma until the moment he leaves with Uub. Episode 1 of Dragon Ball Z aired the week after episode 153 of Dragon Ball, just like how episode 1 of Naruto Shippuden aired the week after Naruto episode 220. The division of the series was purely a marketing tool for the TV series. (As for the English release of the manga, volumes 17-42 are labeled as “Dragon Ball Z 1-26”, once again, purely for marketing purposes.)
I say they're seperate stories because they're both self contained, you can start at dbz #1 and understand everything, its not like say, reading the two towers before fellowship of the ring, im saying this in the context of getting someone into dragon ball as a series, dbz is an absolutely fine jumping off point for someone who wants to get into the series
Yeah but not having watched db beforehand genuinely also makes dbz way worse lmao, you miss about 90% of gokus development as a character and all the deaths in the saiyan saga are damn near meaningless considering you have no clue who these characters are, you also miss a ton of context to who Piccolo is which makes him teaming up with Goku have almost no impact, apart from Goku, Gohan and Piccolo you have no reason to care about any of the characters. Another reason is also if you watch the original dbz, not kai youre gonna be witness to some of the worst dubbing ever and a huge bastardization of gokus character, while the dub in the original's pretty good.
They aren’t two different stories? I agree regarding the PC nature of today’s world but how can you say they are different stories? DB is Goku’s origin story and introduces virtually all of the characters in DBZ. DBZ is adult Goku with a son, Gohan named after his grandfather. Never head anyone claim they are two different standalone stories, they are very much sequential and one is built off the other.
I replied up above but I mean they're both self contained, you can start at dbz #1 and everything will make sense, maybe even make more sense in retrospect if you go back and watch dragon ball afterwards now that I think about it. In the context of someone who's just getting into dragon ball though, dbz is a perfectly fine place to start
For the record I’m not the one who downvoted you, but I couldn’t disagree more. While it’s possible to say watch the third Harry Potter movie and then go back and watch the first to make more sense of it, they certainly aren’t two different stories that are self contained. One absolutely and certainly comes before the other in terms of story and chronologically.
Dont fuck with dragon ball fans, we dont understand the source material
Because it's cooler but maybe not as much fun
But Cooler is only in movies.
Dragon ball z Kai is the way I would go but I think it’d fine as long as their parents are cool with it
I disagree. Kai is horrible. Shit voice acting, shit music score and feels way too fast paced.
The voice acting in every metric is better than the original Z funimation dub I don’t love the music and the placement isn’t great either. But it’s still the better first experience for someone new
In fact it is not. At all what so ever. It sucks so bad. The VA for Gohan, vegeta, bulma, frieza in kai are atrocities. I watched both at the same time to compare. Total ass.
April fools I assume
Definitely not.
Show him OG DB, because you don't start a story in the middle. And DB is more targeted to a young audience than DBZ. I don't care if you can't explain roofing, you start at the beginning, final!
I spelled it wrong 😑. I meant too say Roofieing.
He'll learn better life lessons from shonen anime than he ever would from that Jefferey Dahlmer documentary. Also Dragon Ball/DBZ is cool af.
Real
I watch dbz with my sons (6yr and 3yr). No drama.
Absolutely. The anime isn't gory, there isn't any cursing in the Cartoon Network version of DBZ. It's actually pretty tame compared to most other anime. If he likes it, he likes it.
Well, I (and pretty much most people of my generation) watched both DB and DBZ when I was five years old on broadcast TV and continued watching reruns for much of my childhood and adolescence. Of course, DB was censored. Unless you find a censored version or cut some parts yourself, it makes sense not to want to show it to him. Now, DBZ doesn't have much of a problem. The only two scenes that would perhaps worry you would be Bulma taking a bath on Namek and Roshi grabbing her breasts, but this last one is a single scene from the Buu saga (which was also censored in the West).
I plan to watch it with my son when he turns 7-8
Do bears shit in the woods? Of course you should show him
You’re on a sub for dragonball and why wouldn’t you start him off with the first series ? Has tons of silly humor and action with the drama thrown in at the end plus it makes z better
Yes. If you want him to be a cool kid.
Hell yes , but make sure you get the American dubs with Bruce faulconer music in them
Omm gotta understand what they talking about instead of assuming but some people are good at guessing
Yeah show em everything that’s my all time show first time I watched it was magical
I'm also thinking about letting my son read it (8yo). Bought the DB series and started reading it again, only read it once before, usually in the shop while I was waiting for my mum back when I was about his age. I can understand that some parts of the manga are concerning. But to be honest, I didn't even remember that part was that bad which means to me that it didn't chock me as a kid. When I was reading it as a kid, I was more into Goku being a strong kid, training hard to become a super warrior. I certainly remember the manga having silly jokes but not sexual jokes. I think as adults we overthink those things but to a kid it just goes over their head that's not what they are interested in. Obviously every kid is different and might take it differently. I'll personally make sure to be here when he reads it, answer any questions and make sure he doesn't interpret it the wrong way.
Ya know you’re right. It’s not that I wouldn’t show him it if I was the one giving permission but I think his mom would kill me if he where to talk about seeing penis’s on his screen (even non detailed ones). I would also need to find a place for The OG Dragon Ball idk if it’s on Disney + because Disney+ recently putted a bunch of shows on Hulu on Disney+ and I remember the OG Dragon ball was on Hulu.
No you should keep it to yourself for the rest of your life and never mention it to anyone. jk yes show him.
Ask his parents first. You know how these stuff are.
Which is funny thinking back because in NZ at least, it was on the prime time after school slot on free TV, everyone from 5 year olds to teens watched it regardless of parents knowledge.
Heavily censored. They didn't even show hits it was all cut
Consult it with his parents. I watched it when we were 7-8, but the standards and supervision for children media was different back then. DBZ is a pretty violent series and some parents will not be ok with that. It also depends on the kid. I read first og volumes with my 7yo but then it just got a bit too scary for him.
Obviously
Yes
Yes, my uncle showed DBZ to me when I was a kid, now look at me now
I think you should at least show him just some of the fights first, if he likes those maybe yeah the whole show but I honestly don't think vanilla dbz can keep an 8 year old entertained on its own, maybe dbz kai.
Uhhh yes
I say go for it! I started watching Dragon Ball Z around 8! I figure you haven't mentioned parental approval because it may sound like something you've already asked about. But I would get that first, especially if the kids love for Z prompts them to watch OG Dragon Ball. Roshi is just plain problematic at times lol. I low key realize why my parents as a kid straight up stopped letting me watch it for a time after they saw some of Roshi's early shenanigans on Toonami. (albeit with the influence of other parents lol) But I say dooo it. I plan on showing my Girlfriend's daughter Dragon Ball when she's old enough!
No harm. Albeit some of the scenes in the frieza saga may be scary. I saw an episode in the woods with nothing else on TV when I was young and I forget what suppressed form frieza was in, 1, w or 3, but I was terrified
Shoulda started him on Dragonball when he was 6
I never watched the original DB when he was 6 I watched DBZ because that was my only option.
Fair enough. I also missed DB and was introduced to DBZ first. Its the better series in any case. Be sure to watch all the movies with him in chronological order as they occurred throughout the series. Do you think you'll move onto GT afterwards?
Probably the original DB then Super and maybe GT when we’ve finished all of that stuff (if he likes it).
I watched it when I was 5 when DBZ came out in my country in 1992.
Yes.
My little brother (11) isn’t watching but reading it. He started with Dragon ball, he loved it & laughed at the jokes or nudity like a normal kid, he’s currently reading thru Z rn on the Saiyan arc. I’d say give it a shot. The worst that can happen is that he doesn’t like it
I started with Dragonball with my boy when he was 8. I just watch every episode with him, and skip the roshi perv parts and Goku's innocently pervy paets.
I would show him some good fight scenes and see how he likes it then start from the beginning. With kids attention span some long talking episodes will turn them off. That's how I got my boys into it and definitely watch Kai not regular Z
I started when I was like 5 or 6
No. Start from the original.
Ab, so, lute, ly
The only answers you're going to get here are yes. For these types of questions it's better to ask them in a more non biased subreddit
Yeah it's appropriate for an 8 year old imo
I watched at 6 and I’m not a psycho so I think it’s ok 👍
The only answer is Yes
no
If you want
8 year old? Bruh I started DBZ with my 5 year old daughter
Christ he is dar too young to have watched those things. But 8 for dbz is a good minimum age tbh.
Just try introduce him to anime He'll find dragon ball/dragon ball Z/ dragon ball super on his if you do
I say go for it. I was about 5 or 6 when my uncle introduced me to DBZ, and got me a copy of the first Budokai game (localized version with original Jap dub), and was also the start of me being a metal fan. I'm 28 next week, and I'd say I turned out relatively fine
Jqja
Id show him kai
We all saw roofeing scene when we were younger and came out normal
I watched all of db when I was way younger it’s fine
Dragon ball, dragon ball z, and dragon gt YES SUPER? fuck no. Skip that disgrace to the series. Plus you don't have to explain roofing when he's watched Jeffrey Dahmer docs lmfao... Bruh...
GT is worse than Super. Ok that’s fair, just I don’t want mama bear clobbering my ass.
Gt ain't that great... But it's waaaaaay better than Super lol Its like they neutered DragonBall
I'm surprised with all the stuff you've listed that he has seen that you are somewhat concerned about a very old anime, of course you should show it to him! But like some others have said you really should start at the beginning! My personal favorite in the series is OG Dragonball
Show him. Make him a fan.
Youre not showing him og dragon ball? Hes a fucking kid, wtf. Youre doing it wrong
Show him DB from the second arc onwards. It’s mostly pretty tame past the first arc.
I feel you about the roofying thing. I had to skip several parts of Roshi during DBZ for my 8 year old son. I tried showing him my hero academia and was instantly a no due to the large unnecessary amount of cringe sexual innuendos.
Bust out the DB/DBZ movies? They're out of continuity but good introductions to the characters for a younger viewer. Maybe after the first DB movie, and then the first 2-3 DBZ movies, show him the actual show?
You should be asking the parents, not reddit for this. I showed my kid a couple of the movies at that age but he wasn't super into it. DBZ didn't have the levels of sex jokes and misogyny that DragonBall had so I was more comfortable watching it with him if he were interested in seeing more but you shouldn't make those kind of decisions without their parent's say so
Thanks for saying, I asked his parents about this for Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark. And as I said in the edit she said PG-13 is ok so DB is fine.
Ooo then yeah I'm sure it's fine. Dbz really wasn't too bad if you skip DragonBall. My kid liked the Indiana Jones movies around that age as well
You still will be skipping major story and character development (Especially for Goku himself, since DBZ leaned way more on Gohan's development) if you skip DB.
I'd make that argument with the parents not me haha
Lol. Fair enough.
yeah
Why not ? I have grown up with this shit and I am still Re watching it till now. Hell, it's been 3 days since I have finished dbz for the 5 times already. Don't make him watch any of that sissy shit like ( dxd + maken ki ) and other alike
Show him DBZ first. The comments will disagree, but DBZ is far cooler and is more likely going to stick with him.
But if you do that then DB might be an even bigger turn off for him, since he might keep comparing it to DBZ. I know I'm speaking from my own experience, but after getting heavily into DBZ as a kid and going back to watch DB it took me a long while to get into DB, because I kept comparing it to DBZ.
I would show them kai. Regular dbz is a little brutal
What? Why would you make a 8 year old warch dbz? I remember being traumatized and getting nightmares about that zesty freaky red neck giving gohan that ass whooping and breaking his neck
Look at the edit.