Dragonball Z Reviewer: SoldieroftheKing Email: private ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Anime Episodes: 508 Sagas: 3 main: Dragonball, Dragonball Z, and Dragonball GT Movies: 18 movies and 3 TV specials Price: $25.00 Movie uncut DVD (price varies) $20.00 Movie cut DVD (price varies) $18.95 Movie cut VHS (amazon.com)(price varies) $22.46 DVDs (amazon.com) (price varies) $4.75 VHS cut Dubbed in English (amazon.com)(price varies) $4.75 VHS uncut Dubbed in English (amazon.com)(price varies) Rated: PG13 Catagories: Action Comedy Drama Sci Fi ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Review Synopsis: A 12 year old boy, Goku, learns of the legend of the dragonballs. When seven balls scattered over the earth are gathered together, the dragon Shenlong can be summoned to grant a wish. Goku sets out to find these dragonballs and begins a massive story that took 11 years to tell. The focus of the story mainly revolves around out-of-this would martial arts and long, epic battles. Age Rating: The original or uncut version contains nonsexual nudity, sexual content and references, characters taking a whiz (shown from behind), sometimes graphic violence, depictions of afterlife, and cursing. The edited version eliminates all sexual/nude/whizing content and cursing, and tones down the violence. Adult Content: In the original series, Master Roshi is a dirty old man who grabs chests, rears and reads porn. A young airheaded woman named Marron is made very sexual with scantily clad clothes and a jiggling chest. Other sorts of sexual references are sometimes made. Two characters have a child out of wedlock (Nothing is actually shown of this.The baby is first shown at about a year old,and they eventually get married). The violence can be very graphic at times, sometimes causing entire episodes to be lost in the cut version. Characters die all the time, are shown in the "afterlife"(japanese dragonball version), and are nearly always brought back by the dragonballs. Demons are depicted, but not actually called that in the cut version. The cut version edits out what is necessary, but may still be considered pretty violent by some parents, with some blood and missing limbs. Martial arts and battles to save the earth are the central themes. Sexual content is edited and nudity is covered by drawn-on clothes or objects, or in the case of Marron, additional clothes. The afterlife is impossible to edit and is called "another dimension", while HELL is edited to HFIL, "Home For Infinite Losers". References to dying are minimized, but both death and "bringing them back" are also impossible to edit. An inquisitive child might have some questions about death and the "other dimension". There is no cursing in the cut version, and the dub characters are made to be far more light-hearted compared to the original, taking out some of the seriousness. English Goku focuses more on justice and what is right, while Japanese Goku tends to focus more on the worthyness of his opponent. Magic: The dragonball themselves could be considered magic. Words needed to call forth the dragon could be considered a chant. There is a witch called Ba-ba who rides atop a crystal ball that appears from time to time. Senzu beans automatically heal those who take them. Other various magical references or depictions are scattered throughout. Overall not a heavily magic-ladened show. Overall -- What You Really Want to Know: Despite all of its negative attributes, Dragonball has some very positive ones: perserverance, loyalty, friendship, trust, self-sacrifice, believing that a person can change and helping them to do so. However since this show was aimed at Japanese boys, these attributes are often not as easily seen as a girl's show. The lion's share of the focus is naturally on the action. If you allow your child to watch Star Wars, you might not have a problem with the cut version of Dragonball. The depictions of afterlife,"magic", and violence are about the same. In general, however, I would say Dragonball, even cut, is not for young children. The Japanese version is much more serious and often more dramatic than the English and does a much better job with continuity. The English version throws in a lot of jokes, some funny and some downright corny, and at times does what I feel is a better job with the drama. However, it messes up the drama a lot too. I really don't prefer one over the other and watch both versions alternately. Some scenes I feel are better in Japanese, some in English. There are those who dislike the English voices and music. They are very different from the original, giving the show a different feel. Along with the somewhat different dialog, its like watching two different shows. I like the English voices and music just fine most of the time. I've not read the manga but from some glances, the anime seems to follow it pretty close. I understand that there are a few minor differences in story, filler episodes added to the anime,and the last saga, Dragonball GT, was completely made up by Toei (TV company producing Dragonball). <--- http://hugglebunny.com/animereviews/ --->