cigarley
PSLS Level: Silver
I'm not certain how to answer that, there's a lot of variables to take into account. To keep things simple, I'd say that Dragon Ball Z is definitely worth watching if you're a fan of shōnen anime and manga (your basics like Bleach, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, etc. Dragon Ball Z is pretty much the quintessential shōnen series, if you don't like any of the aforementioned titles you probably won't like DBZ). Initially it started as a story inspired by Journey To The West, about a monkey-tailed boy from the mountains who goes on an adventure. As the series progressed it became more about tense showdowns and flashy fights with extremely powerful foes. The anime differentiated this by naming the more lighthearted origin story as "Dragon Ball" and the more action-oriented followup as "Dragon Ball Z", but the manga was just known as "Dragon Ball" from beginning to end.I have yet to play the DBZ games because I have never really sat down and watched the anime, yet I hear people always talk about how awesome it is. Does anyone know if it is on available on Hulu Plus or Netflix to watch from the very beginning? Or is it even worth watching?
BTW awesome screenshots
Dragon Ball Z is the one you'll hear most people talking about and the one that is required watching for most of the games (even though DB is very enjoyable, most people just start straight from DBZ as most of the major characters fade to the background once powerful foes from space are introduced). Personally I'd recommend reading the manga over watching the anime, as the anime has a lot of filler (literally episodes go by where characters just threaten each other and talk about how they're powering up). However, if you decide to watch the anime you must pick your poison carefully since some English versions are censored or have an inferior soundtrack. Or you can always watch "Dragon Ball Z Abridged" on YouTube, which is a very popular and well voiced parody/shortened retelling of the series. Not my cup of tea but a lot of people seem to like it.
Crap, almost forgot to talk about the video games. If you're looking to experience the story through video games then your best choices are DBZ: Budokai (which essentially covers the first 200 episodes of Dragon Ball Z with some amazing cutscene work) or Legacy of Goku 1 and 2 on Game Boy Advance (the first one is really rough around the edges but the second one is a pretty good beat-em-up/RPG). Most fans I've spoken to have agreed that the best fighting games in the series are either "Budokai 3" (a traditional-type 3D fighter), or "Tenkaichi Budokai 3" (a slightly more unconventional over-the-shoulder fighter that matches the speed of the series and tops it off with the largest fanservice roster I've ever seen).
I wrote a whole lot of nothing, but I hope that helps.
