Late last night I accomplished something I've been attempting to do off and on for 22-years. I FINALLY finished Dragon Ball Z. Watching all 271 episodes was a total bear which I technically started as soon as I fell head over heals in love with the show in 1998 when I first watched it at a friends house. However, I got out of anime and DBZ before the series was fully localized in the US, and as a result I never finished the Cell Games Saga and had seen virtually none of the series after the Martial Arts Tournament at the beginning of the Buu Saga. But I began rewatching the series fro the very beginning in 2010 thanks to Funamation releasing the season box sets for cheap. I then proceeded to binge watch 40-50 episodes here and there over the past 11-years until I finally finished last night. Here are my thoughts on the series as a whole.
Saiyan Saga: I love this season and find it incredibly interesting and exciting still. There also isn't the excessive filler found later in the series either. The battle of Earth's warriors against Vegita and Nappa is beyond epic, especially when Goku joins the battle. This really set the series up to be amazing and started a story arch that would end at the end of the Frieza Saga. Grade:
A-Namek and Ginyu Saga: While not as awesome as the Sagas Saiyan Saga or the Frieza Saga that followed it, it's still an excellent season. I loved the struggle that Gohan, Picallo and Krillin faced against Frieza's henchmen, as well as their interaction with the Nameks. It did feel like an eternity before Goku arrived to help them, but when he did I mostly enjoyed their battles with the Ginyu Force. More than anything I feel like this Saga sets the stage for the best saga in the entire franchise by far.
Grade: BFrieza Saga: This Saga blew my mind as an adolescent and still does to this day. This was the best the show ever got. Frieza is an awesome villain and was the first and best example of a seemingly impossible foe that there was no way of defeating. Well almost. Goku's transformation into a Super Saiyan was one of the most memorable cartoon moments I've ever seen, and the battle that ensues between him and Frieza was incredible. I am a firm believer that the series should have ended after this Saga since it wrapped up so perfectly with no need to mess the with it. It wrapped up the original story arch that started with the beginning of the series; the good guys were all alive and well on earth again, the most evil force in the Universe had been defeated, and Goku ascended to a level of power that people had assumed was a legend prior. It was the perfect point to end the series and certainly the last Saga I really, really enjoyed. Of course though, with a super popular anime comes people wanting to milk all the money they can out of it until the show becomes a shadow of its former self. Unfortunately DBZ was no exception.
Grade: AGarlic Jr. Saga: This is consistently the worst Saga in the series. It literally adds nothing to the story in terms of characters or plot, and is extremely forgettable overall. I love The Dead Zone movie, but this saga is complete garbage.
Grade: FTrunks and Android Saga: This Saga starts out very promising even though of course they had to bring back Frieza. I mostly liked this Saga until around the point where Android 16, 17, and 18 come in. I feel like this was the point the shows use of filler became shameless and there were literally several episodes in a row where little to nothing of substance happened. Also, I felt like the action taking place was too sporadic, as was any sort of progression of the plot. It was still better than what would follow.
Grade: CCell Saga: The filler continued on at full force and Cell is more or less Frieza 2.0, except way less interesting. Also, the pacing of this Saga is terrible between the time it takes cell to go through his two imperfect forms to his perfect form. I still liked it more than the Cell Games Saga though.
Grade: C-Cell Games Saga: This Saga undoubtedly has some great parts, but it too was horribly paced. I also found Cell coming back over and over again to be incredibly annoying, and of course it was done simply to crank out more episodes. I didn't hate this Saga, but I found it fairly boring despite it having the potential to be way better.
Grade D+World Martial Arts Tournament Saga and Babadi Sagas: These are actually my favorite post-Frieza Saga seasons. For one theor pretty hilarious, and I also found the show not recycling the plot of the Frieza and Cell Saga refreshing. There was also a ton of mystery involving the Majin warriors, and the eventual reveal of Babadi, Dabura, and them trying to resurrect Buu. Also, the fight between Goku and Majin Vegita was awesome, as was what should have been the completion of Vegita's story arch. More or less after Vegita and Majin Buu's fateful battle, this show became a slow burning dumpster fire though.
Grade B-Buu Saga: This was the most infuriating, slow, drawn out Saga in the entire series by far. Buu outstayed his welcome way beyond what should have happened by transforming and changing countless times. Speaking of transforming, all the Super Saiyan transformations and fusions had really become stale and overused at this point, and while I should have been excited to see SS3 Goku or Vegito, I really wasn't. By the time Goku and Vegita were battling Kid Buu I desperately wanted this show to end. Also, Buu is probably the most uninteresting, most lazily written Villain of all time. He's essentially that kid playing four square who refuses to give up the main square by making up new rules that keep him in the main squire. Sure, the Buu Saga does have its moments, but it honestly exhibits all the worst things about DBZ as a series embodied in a single Saga.
Grade: DWhile I still really like the Dragon Ball franchise, specifically DBZ, I am a little disenchanted with the series now. I would have killed to be able to see every DBZ episode back in the late 90s and early 2000s as I obsessed over this show. Unfortunately, my opinion of the show after watching the whole thing is a little worse from the wear. At the very least I still love The Frieza Saga and everything prior to it, but as for the rest of the franchise I doubt I'll ever sit down and watch any of it again, at least most of it.
I've also never finished watching Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT, or Dragon Ball Super, although I have read the entire manga series for Dragon Ball and loved it. I'm actually going to try and tackle GT here in the coming weeks and hopefully that show ends up being better than most people say it is. Regardless I feel like its my duty to watch it and the other series as nearly a lifelong Dragon Ball fan.
