(just for the record, this is a mixing of my anime reviews about it)

The creator Akira Toriyama had just finished his Doctor Slump slapstick comedy and decided to make a more action-oriented show. Dragon Ball was the result and although it began as a slapstick comedy, it progressively dropped the comedy in favor of the battles. I guess he got affected too much by the trend of Saint Seiya and slowly went for that field.

The series began with a very magical atmosphere, reminiscent of ancient China. After a dozen chapters, the ancient China motif gives place to a more sci-fi world, were houses fit into portable capsules, huge monsters roam free in the wild and anthropomorphic animals coexist with humans. It is quite a wacky representation with little sense but with extreme originality and humor. Makes a fine JRPG world.

At first, it took me some time to get used to the characters’ chibi looks, as they looked extremely short and cartoonish. But their semi-funny, semi-battle frenzied attitudes make them bearable to watch. Later on, it is a bit annoying when it comes to character variety as most characters are just slight modifications of one another. A small change in the hair and in the cloths and they are presented as a different person. Especially the Super Saiyans, it gets hard to tell who is who after a while. The artwork is otherwise very good for its time, with dynamic and lively motions.

The dialogues tend not to be any smarter than the phrases “I’m going to beat you!” and “Are you looking at my panties?”. So, if you are looking for sophisticated talking, look elsewhere. Sure, there are some very classic shonen phrases in here that fit the genre just fine but then again prefer the smarter way Full Metal Alchemist uses, so I am torn between liking them for being stereotypically cheesy and just being plain silly. I guess the slapstick and the constant wordplays and teasing work fine for its kind but I’m not going to lose my mind over them.

The story began as a slapstick version of the most famous Chinese fairy tale, Journey to the West. Most elements and characters in the story are in fact, comical representations of those in the fairy tale. But the similarities become fewer and fewer as the story progresses and later on it reminds you of other famous stories, such as Superman or the Terminator (where again most elements and characters are comical representations of American superhero comic books). The scenario is about a strong boy, named Son Goku, looking for magical spheres that grant wishes, taking part in martial art tournaments and fighting evil people/demons/aliens that want to rule the world (and later on the galaxy).

Although the general story is quite simple, it is presented in a non-predictable way. There are various mysteries and some side stories that easily make you forget its predictability. And things get very complicated and atmospheric towards the end that really makes the general shallowness of the story a trivial thing. So yeah, I liked the story despite its simplicity. The world definitely isn’t detailed or realistic but it is still one of the most distinguished worlds, ever made into anime. Some silly explanations from time to time give a simple meaning to all the wackiness. Still, the general story:
-Undermines the gravity of pain and death to ridiculous levels. No matter how much someone is injured, he can easily be completely healed, without permanent damage or even scars. No matter how many die, they can easily be resurrected. And always only the good people return to life, while the bad remain dead.
-Undermines the idea of the after life and of the gods. Heaven and Hell are amusement parks and the gods are just strong creatures that even mortals can surpass in power.
-Has no realism in terms of empowerment. It makes no sense how someone can get a million times stronger in a few months, while others needed eons to do the same. Or it is quite stupid to always see someone getting stronger at the gravest moment and save the day in a Deus Ex Machina way.
-Pays no attention to the laws of physics. Energy beams that explode on air, cause dust even when they didn’t hit anything. A mountain or a moon or a planet that blows up has no effects on the surroundings (not much debris, gravity alteration or planet trajectory/axis mix up). Time travel does not cause time paradoxes. Faster than light speeds don’t increase the temperature of those running.
-Recycles the illusion of empowerment by continuously weakening the explosions. An energy beam that could destroy a planet on one arc, can blow a mountain at best on the next. The newest trick that could surpass any difficulty on one ark is completely useless and forgotten on the next.

Plus, the general story becomes more and more grand-scaled (and thus more interesting), as it progresses.
-The first villain, Emperor Pilaf, is a useless idiot who wants to rule the world. If he succeeds, the world will be at the mercy of a hapless asshole but nothing more.
-The second villain, General Black, is also an idiot but a heartless killer as well. If he succeeds, the world will be at the mercy of a hapless asshole in command of a merciless army of assassins. That’s much more serious.
-The third villain, Lord Piccolo, is a serious and very powerful demon. If he succeeds, the world will become a hellish place, at the mercy of demons that don’t care about life and justice. That’s even more serious!
-The fourth villain, prince Vejita, is the strongest Saiyan warrior in the universe who wants to become immortal and spend his eternity by fighting and killing every single person on every planet he goes to. If he succeeds, the universe will be at the mercy of an immortal battle-loving powerful warrior. There is also some drama on the parts of Goku who has to fight against his own kind, Gohan who has to fight against his will and Picollo who is forced to team up with the good guys and starts to like them.
-The fifth villain, emperor Frieza, is the strongest alien in the universe who wants to become immortal and spend his eternity ruling the universe in terror and destruction. If he succeeds, the universe will be at the mercy of an immortal heartless monster. There is also more drama on the parts of Vejita and Picollo who want to avenge the death of their races at the hands of Frieza.
-The sixth villain, Perfect Cell, is the strongest artificial creature of the future that wants to become perfect and spend his eternity destroying the universe. If he succeeds, the universe will be just destroyed. There is also more drama on the parts of Trunks who wants to change the grim future and the androids that want freedom and not be used only as weapons.
-The seventh villain, Majin Boo, is the strongest Jennie/God of Destruction. He is already the most powerful and if he is left alone, the universe will be destroyed in a few days. There is some drama on the parts of Vejita who has to decide if he will return to his evil self and Kaioshin who is afraid of the massacre Boo did to his people.

The upscale in interest works just fine, although the resolution to every arc is quite convenient. It may look cool at first but if you look closer you realize it has lots of plot armor in it, which eventually make it look bad in a way. There is conclusion but every time it is like that of a fairy tale, with the villains beaten and the good guys saved or resurrected. Because as Saint Seiya taught, you must never permanently kill your characters if you are to milk the kid audience for decades.

But the cast is definitely more interesting and colorful than that of Saint Seiya. Some men are funny, some are dramatic, and some are scary. But the thing they all have in common is that they all solve their problems with violence. Is something wrong in your life? Just kick the shit out of it and it’s solved! Expected in fighting shonen but this anime makes sure to even make fun with the premise. I mean Goku will challenge people to a fight even when there is no reason to it and the opponents are hardly strong. It’s not like the series doesn’t leave the option of diplomacy open… It simply never uses it.

Women are treated purely as fan service. You won’t find any good female fighters in it. Bulma, Lunch and Chichi are a bunch of brainless lolitas that exist just for to undress and make sexual jokes about boobs and marriage. Toriyama is a phalocratic bastard! It is yet another staple of shonen which holds true even today and it is fine for the target audience. I mean, who would cheer a girl or want to be like one if it’s a 100% male oriented show? But it’s true that a few token female warriors would be nice just to break the monotony.

In general, all the characters have a strong presence in the series (usually funny). Son Goku and Vejita are amongst the most distinctive fighting shounen characters, the Turtle hermit one of the most famous sleazy old men and Shen Long the most renowned Chinese dragon. All the character’s names are based either on the original fairy tale (Son Goku) or some cultural (Oolong) or fetish (Bulma) object. It is very funny to look for the meaning and origin of each one’s name. Their personalities are simply either comical or battle frenzied, making them quite repetitive so you almost feel like the series has only two characters that change cloths all the time. Still, they are two quite distinctive characters.

They all have their simple backdrop stories (just enough to excuse their existence in the story) and practically zero character development. No one really matures; just gets older and/or stronger. And always fights! No one tries to reason with his enemies; he just fights them. No one tries to trick his enemies with cunningness; he just gets stronger and fights them. This again sounds typical of shonen but it is true that Saint Seiya had given far more attention to backdrop stories and even the development of each major character would be triggered by an important event. There is no such thing in Dragonball as everybody is practically goofing around and just trains to get stronger.

I admit the Dragonball bunch has a lot more vividness and quirks to remember them more fondly. It is very cool to see them getting taller, breast-enlarged or stronger but it is also quite disappointing to see them acting the same way, no matter how many years pass and regardless of how many hardships they face. If some become a bit more mature, it is only after they lose to Son Goku. They were interesting antagonists up to the point they rival him; but after their defeat, they change to stunts and uninteresting underlings (such was the case with Yamcha, Krilin, Chaosu and Tien). Which feels poor to say the least. Vejita is an exception, as he can’t decide if he wants to be a good guy or a bad guy. He is by far the best character (although he is also quite shallow as a complete personality).

The series has a way of measurement, called Battle Power to determine someone’s strength. This made many to believe that characters mature and get stronger in a logical way and that they are different just because their strength is different. But in fact, the Battle Power is a stupid excuse to give just to know beforehand who is the strongest. And no matter how strong someone becomes, he is the same battle-frenzied idiot he was before. He doesn’t get wiser or smarter.

Anyway, it makes little sense as the characters raise their strength ridiculously fast. And since the strongest person in one episode mysteriously becomes weaker on the next, you can’t make a solid assumption of what can someone do with a given amount of power. For example, Frieza could easily destroy a planet with a Battle Power of 500.000. But even when he maxed out at 12 million, he could just blow a mountain at best. It’s a mockery of the reader’s intelligence. And it’s stupid to think that only power is the statistic that matters in battles. What about intelligence, wisdom, and cunningness?

It seems to be a rather bad legacy this show left to the following shonen, who in an attempt to mimic the glory would also opt for goofy characters and simplistic backdrops. Damn, looks like the subtle formula Hokuto no Ken began with faded even more and got replaced with a bunch of hapless idiots.

My enjoyment equals the percentage of the worthy arcs. I personally have the following remarks about the flow of the story.
-The first arc is pure slapstick/erotic comedy, with some cool explosions here and there. Not very funny or imposing but definitely bearable and worthy.
-The second was the same but also had a lot of martial art fighting that made it more interesting.
-The third was to the most part boring, as Goku feels like Rambo while protecting innocent people from the Red Ribbon Army of terrorists. Not much of story or battles. There was a cameo appearance of the Doctor Slump characters here, but who cares. It gets quite awesome only towards the end where Goku fights the extremely ruthless Tao Pai Pai (the first cool villain in the series who kills people in VERY cruel ways) and then storms the Red Ribbon Army base.
-The fourth was boring, as I didn’t found interesting the ghost tournament, or Tien Shin Han’s quest for revenge. And the battles were quite stale.
-The fifth was great all the way, as Piccolo appears, kills people by the HUNDREDS, mountains start blowing up, characters change and mysteries are solved. Very action-based, violent and cool.
Thus in overall I half-liked it.
-The sixth (Saiyan Saga) was small and solid. Very good as a whole. The chapters where everyone trains were generally boring. Gohan’s training was dramatic enough but it simply lasted too long.
-The seventh (Namek Saga) was solid but unnecessary long. Very atmospheric as a whole but with a lot of dead time. The chapters where the heroes go to Namek were boring. And the battle with Frieza could easily be done in half the pages.
-The eighth (Cell Saga) was unnecessary long. Very mysterious as a whole but with a lot of dead time. The battle with the androids could easily be done in half the pages.
-The ninth (Boo Saga) was unnecessary long. Very flashy as a whole but with a lot of silly ideas and dead time. The battle with Boo could easily be done in half the pages.

But hey, it’s the series that hooked millions of people to shonen. It has memorable characters and a distinctive world and it’s not afraid to fool around for dozens of chapters before the actual story kicks in. After all back then the competition was almost zero yet it is still better than most modern shonen since it never lost its passion; like let’s say Naruto or Bleach. Or at least it didn’t up until GT came to be (although it is not canon). I still consider One Piece the only superior descendant of the formula it left behind, which for a 25 year old shonen, that means a lot.

SUGGESTION LIST
Famous Shounen to choose from:
Saint Seiya
Bleach
Fist Of The North Star
Naruto
One Piece

If you like Akira Toriyama’s style of animation, look for the series Doctor Slump and Blue Dragon as well as games such as the Dragon Quest series and Chrono Trigger.

And let’s not forget Journey to the West, the fairy tale Dragon Ball was based upon.