The Life of Me!

Why Dragon Ball is GOOD

Now, I know I've done this before, but I want to do it again as the original post was based on a YouTube video and has been deleted as it didn't give my true thoughts and feelings and more stimulus based. Check out the video for yourself! It's very interesting and very well made.

Dragon Ball. Easily the second most popular anime and manga franchise in the world, behind Pokemon. It's gain success over the years by the various brands of media like manga, anime, video games, and more. It is a franchise where in some countries, rivals that of Star Wars and Harry Potter. It has a large fanbase arguably bigger than the entire anime fanbase in general. Whether you like it or don't, most of you have heard of it and have seen it somewhere. But why is so popular? I'm going to give you my answer to this question.

Dragon Ball at its roots is the story of a boy named Goku/Kakarot who was sent to Earth as a child to eradicate the human race. However, after suffering a head injury, he has long since forgotten this mission. His Saiyan blood drives him to reach his goal of becoming the strongest as well as being the protector of the weak and innocent. 

In his journey, he makes many friends and learns many things. His world is ever expanding, day-by-day with new wonders to explore. Doesn't that sound like everyone's dream as a child? To explore the world around them and go to different places and meet new people. That was the reason for the success of Dragon Ball, the first series of the trilogy. It captured the imagination of a child and made it seem like a reality. It had robots, magic, fighting, adventure, jokes, learning to care for each other, and so much more!

Now, as our hero grows up, the audience begins to become attached to him as he learns about the world around him. We watched him grow from a fourteen-year-old boy who acts like a child to becoming an adult/loving husband, father, and grandfather. We watched him learn to accept who he is as a person and achieve great feats. We watch him look out for his family and children, even when he's not around. Goku may seem like a character who has never gone through any character development, but if you watch from the beginning of Dragon Ball all the way to the end of Z as well as Super, you learn that he's changed the most out of everyone. On the surface, he's still the happy-go-lucky kid from the first episode, but when you look at it closely, you see he's grown immensely since then.

Another thing about Dragon ball that makes it so fun and interesting is the fact that it pulls from so many things. This is mainly due to writer Akira Toriyama's obsession for blockbuster movies like Star Wars, Terminator, Superman, and others. He pulls small concepts from each of the movies he has seen and creates his own spin on it. He also pulls from legends and myths as the core of the series itself is based on the Chinese story, Journey to the west. Also, shown by recent Gods of Destruction, he pulls from mythology. Not just Egyptian as we later find out in Super. Also, all of the characters aren't inherently Japanese thus making all of the characters that much more relatable as they go through struggles that many of us go through. 

I see a lot of non-Dragon Ball fans say that they don't like it because of how insanely strong the characters are, but the fact of the matter is, true Dragon Ball fans don't care. We don't care how strong they are (until you put them up against clearly weaker characters). We watch it because we're invested in the characters and who they are as characters. 

Another thing that even people within the fandom bash on is Goku being a "bad father". However, this is nowhere near the case. He loves his sons, Gohan and Goten. Sure he wasn't around to see them grow, but the reason why is because he wanted to protect them. When he first died, he died trying to save Gohan. The second time he died, he saved Gohan again, but before he left, he told his son that he was proud of him. To hear that they're father is proud of them is every boy's dream. As for Goten, I can argue that he is even closer to Goten than with Gohan. By the time he comes back again, Gohan is a high schooler, but Goten is only 7. Once Gohan moved out, Goten was the only child of the house. This lead to a tighter bond between Goku and Goten which is very apparent in Dragon Ball Super and the end of Z. 

Overall, Dragon Ball is a massive world that pulls from so many different things and interests a wide variety of people. It speaks to people on different levels, whether it's a superficial lesson or a very touching and relatable topic that isn't directly present. It's a series that deserves the success it has gotten and continues to grow each week. That is why I think Dragon Ball is popular.

TAGS: Time to tag a few to write about why their favorite series is good! They don't have to be lengthy like this, but at least a good three or four paragraphs. 
Batty_And_Bubbly
-xXJuviaLockserXx-
The_Modern_Ninja
AnimeTrash8791