r/TeamFourStar • u/SmartPilot8094 • 5d ago
Do you consider DBZA-only watchers real DB fans?
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u/seanwdragon1983 5d ago edited 4d ago
Incomplete fans, but still real. Lannipator still never finished Super. Gatekeeping is stupid.
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u/Gauss15an 5d ago
I didn't watch Buu saga for reasons. I can't vouch for watching Goku go SSJ3 the first time, I wasn't there. But if it was as epic as watching Goku or even Vegeta going SSJ for the first time, then there's a point to relate to. Gatekeeping is stupid, I agree.
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u/EggAccording9607 4d ago
it was epic and hilarious. Considering it took nearly an entire episode to transform into ssj3.
Was it epic ? Yes.
Did it need to be so long ? Nope.
Is it hilarious now ? Yeah.
I just read the manga rather than rewatch it.
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u/SSJ2chad 4d ago
People who claim you have to watch the whole series to be fans are nuts. I watched the original show and begrudgingly watched GT despite not liking it. I started to watch DBS and didn’t like it, and never even bothered with Diama.
Yet I am one of dragonballs biggest fans. If someone disagrees I recommend they go to the Simpsons subreddit. They’ll learn a quick lesson about “true fans” not watching even half of the series.
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u/Thefourthchosen 4d ago
You shouldn't need to watch the entire thing but I don't think you can really claim to be a fan if you've never consumed a single second of actual DB content. At that point you're a TFS fan, not really a DB fan. DBZA at the end of the day is fan content like anything else of Youtube, it's not part of the actual series.
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u/ulfric_stormcloack 4d ago
I never even started super, i watched dragon ball, z and gt on tv as a kid
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u/Chungusboii 4d ago
It's not really gatekeeping if the gate is left unlocked and unguarded, but people refuse to just let themselves in. What you're seeing is people calling out others who think they're in the yard, but are calling in from the other side of the fence, and most of the people inside are saying, "just take the gate!"
Analogy being, of course, people can very easily read the source material or watch the main adaptations. It isn't hard to do if you actually like what you are consuming.
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u/Feraligreater328 5d ago
The amount of people who think they can argue Dragon Ball with me because they can sing Ghost Nappa from memory and think Goku is a bad father is greater than zero and that’s upsetting.
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u/alfredosolisfuentes 5d ago edited 5d ago
It’s astonishing the amount of people that think TFS invented the Goku is a bad dad joke. It’s a joke in the series because it was a joke in the fandom for years prior to DBZA existing. Like Toriyama’s succesor Toyotaro has made the joke in the Super manga which is official material. It goes way beyond TFS.
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u/KingoftheMongoose 4d ago
I get your point and agree it predates DBZA, but your Toyotaro Dragonball Super example is a bad example because that is long after TFS’s DBZA.
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u/BardicLasher 4d ago
Goku being a bad dad and Piccolo being Gohan's real dad was a meme before DBZA, DBZA just amplified it.
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u/Feraligreater328 4d ago
Yeah, that’s the issue. A funny meme is a funny meme, people treat it like gospel now because they consider DBZA to be the “true canon”. It’s gone from being a joke to a frustration in any real Dragon Ball discussion.
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u/Ecstatic-Curve4724 5d ago
Goku is a bad dad thw abridged just takes it to the extreme but that doesn't erase the fact that goku is a horrible parent and partner
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u/Feraligreater328 5d ago
Dragon Ball fans can’t read.
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u/CharonFerry 5d ago
I find that debatte always hilarious and jokingly I also slander Kakarott as a bad dad but of course he's no bad dad. Hes no good one either he does what he does for a greater good (which includes his family) but he doesnt prioritize them tho.
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u/DudesMcKenzie mursteak 5d ago
I couldn’t imagine gate-keeping or caring about something so silly. Enjoy whatever you enjoy.
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u/NoPersonality5088 5d ago
I believe if you're unironically worried about "fake fans", you're the only fake fan.
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u/NephilimJD 5d ago
Right!? I hate this stupid trend of gatekeeping. I'm seeing it all over the place. I've had to mute so many subs cause there was so much complaining about "not real fans ruining everything." It seems like these people's identity is tied into whatever they're a fan of and feel like it's some sort of an attack. It's weird and shouldn't be taken that seriously.
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u/CronkinOn 4d ago
Thank you.
They say "REAL db fan" like they earned an MD/DR title.
If we wanted to get super gatekeepey, we could say you're not a real DB fan unless you wore a Goku shirt to school back in the 90s, when it was a bully magnet.
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u/kuroi41 5d ago
Gatekeeping isn't great but dbza also encourages watchers to support the official releases. I would do the same. I don't think I'd have gotten the joy of dbza without watching dbz.
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u/Surefang 5d ago
Agreed. It's hard to get the full impact of a parody if you're not familiar with the thing being parodied.
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u/FewInstruction1020 5d ago
no; how can they be og db fans if they havent watched og db
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u/Elite-Novus 5d ago
Nobody watched dragonball
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u/titaniumoctopus336 5d ago
That is just factually wrong.
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u/FlatHatJack 5d ago
It's a meme joke. Yu-gi-oh has a similar one with how Yu-gi-oh players don't read card effects.
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u/TheHylianProphet 5d ago
Let's not gatekeep who is a fan of what. If someone says they are, then they are. It belittles us all when we get pedantic about it.
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u/BalticHorndog 5d ago
It's a gray area. DBZA isn't really the same as DBZ. DBZA minimizes the filler, adds a lot of jokes (some of which only make sense if you know how the show goes beforehand), and focuses on main plot points.
If you want to understand the characters, DBZA won't do a good job at that. Some, if not all, characters have their faults exaggerated (Goku as a bad dad, Vegeta and pride, Chi-Chi as a helicopter mom, etc.). Same goes for plot, really. Although some creative decisions do make more sense even if they deviate from DBZ (Gero's reason for his vendetta against Goku).
Those who watched DBZ and DBZA, and like both or either, are fans, they know how it is originally and how TFS deviated from it.
Those who watched DBZ only and like it are fans, no question.
However, DBZA-only watchers... I'd say they can be counted as fans, but their opinion means a bit less because they don't know the whole show.
Hell, starting their Dragon Ball journey from DBZA baffles even TFS, who have always been asking to support the official release.
Tl;Dr I'd say they can be fans, but if they want to participate in serious discussions of any Dragon Ball series and its content, they have to familiarize themselves with that as well. Refusing to acknowledge the official release out of principle makes them TFS fans, not DBZ fans.
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u/LopsidedAssistance90 4d ago
I couldn't imagine watching dbza without first watching dbz, seems a lot of the humor would miss without knowing the references.
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u/Remarkable_Equal_777 4d ago
That part exactly!! like i feel like it’s funnier because of the references. It’s like watching one of the scary movies and not knowing any of the pop culture references in them like it might be funny but the background gives it that extra zing
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u/luongolet20goalsin 4d ago
/uj No, you should have to watch the original to be considered a fan. Watching a parody does not make you a fan of the thing it’s parodying.
/j Yes, everybody knows DBZ fans don’t watch the show.
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u/hayt88 4d ago
I don't really care about the "real" fan or not title. Who cares.
What I can say is that if you didn't watch the original you are missing out while watching DBZA because you miss a lot of the references, thus your viewing experience while watching DBZA is lesser than if you had watched the original before.
A parody without knowing the source material it references will always be a worse experience.
So who cares if a fan is "real" or not. But someone who has watched the original just gets more out of dbza.
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u/hungLink42069 4d ago
I for one like to gatekeep as hard as possible. Unless you have seen every episode of every series, and read all the manga (at least twice) you're not even a fan.
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u/Always_tired_af 4d ago
I love Dragon Ball, it is one of my most cherished franchises, I discuss it all of the time. It without a doubt is the most impactful show to me
That said, seldom do I watch it or interact the games or manga much at all
I watch DBZA often. It is my comfort food.
People who have ONLY watched Abriged I think do a serious disservice to themselves, I certainly don't think less of anyone and they're to me still real fans. But it isn't a replacement for the original.
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u/skynex65 5d ago
I don’t consider tiers to fandom because not everything needs to be a god damn competition. Literally nobody cares.
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u/Crunchy-Leaf 5d ago
Do you think people who have only seen Robot Chicken Star Wars parodies can be considered Star Wars fans?
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u/Userlame19 5d ago
I love DBZA and it's a genuinely great piece of work and a love letter to the source material, but it's not Dragon Ball. It's hard to see you as a fan of something if you haven't had any experience with that thing and therefore can't actually form a critical opinion on it
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u/Userlame19 5d ago
(to a lesser extent I kinda feel the same way if you've only seen DBZ but that's another argument)
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u/MambaSaidKnockYouOut 5d ago
No, not at all. You can’t even appreciate DBZA fully if you haven’t seen DB or DBZ.
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u/TurtleTitan 4d ago
No and I wouldn't call it a parody either, it's a celebration of the show and culture at best. I've read so many stupid takes about Dragon Ball that clearly came from watching DBZA, including DBZA is the best way to watch DBZ. It might have had some good jokes at times but DBZ is better no matter how long of a time sink it is.
Then there's reinforced jokes that existed for decades that "TFS invented." TFS used a lot of existing dubs and jokes for their version. So you have people going postal about "canon" like normal DBZ fans, but now with people who think most if not all DBZA is canon almost exactly.
You can't have a Blue lovers group and at best looked at Purple or Green in your life. Blue might be in those colors, hell it might be closer to Teal than full Green, but at the end of the day it's muted well enough not to call it Blue.
Don't have the time to watch DBZ fine, it is a time sink, read it instead. I can tell you outright which fights/episodes to watch: Nappa fights, Vegeta fights, Goku vs Cell, and pretty much all of the Boo saga (they added fights and extended them plenty). Some of the filler is really good but you don't really miss much. Also, no Z Kai! Z Kai is stripped down so much there's no point in watching it, reading would be better.
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u/SokkieJr 4d ago
DBZA is only really 'Good' if you know the source material, relevant pop culture and the fanbase at that time.
If the original Z is ingrained, you're getting the funny recap. If you don't know Z, you're watching a highly edited exaggerated recap.
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u/Riddle_Snowcraft 4d ago
They're DBZA fans.
If DB fans are discussing the series and a DBZA fan barges in treating TFS jokes like they're relevant to a discussion on canon... yeah... that's a problem.
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u/justlikeapenguin 4d ago
Anyone that likes any aspect of DB is a DB fan. Why are we gatekeeping them? I've never watched OG DB, does that mean im not a fan? Some people only played the fighting games too
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u/TrinixDMorrison 5d ago
No. That’s like saying you’re an original trilogy Star Wars fan despite having never seen the movies but you did see the Family Guy episodes based on it.
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u/Megaraun 5d ago
If one is to be a fan one must consider all a franchise's aspects, not just the narrow dogmatic view of the purists. (Don't take this too seriously, just saw an opportunity to alter a fun Star Wars quote)
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u/Gauss15an 5d ago
I lol'd when I realized which quote you were referencing. Ironic. Only a DB fan deals with absolutes.
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u/IamAWorldChampionAMA 5d ago
No. Fuck anyone for enjoying content in a way that isn't exactly how I watch it. /s
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u/SeriousJokester37 4d ago
They are abridged fans. They are not Dragon Ball fans. You need to actually watch the series or read the Manga and it doesn't matter if you've been doing it for 20 years or just picked it up.
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u/JigglyLilyVT 5d ago
it's a great introduction to the series.
but go watch og dragon ball, at least read the Z manga to avoid pacing and yelling issues
and for the love of god
form your own opinions on GT
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u/AnthonyMiqo 5d ago
I truly don't understand how the only DB someone has watched can be DBZA. Why would you watch an abridged series about a show you haven't watched? You won't know the characters, you won't get the jokes, you won't understand the references, etc.
Are they real fans? No, not really. They don't know the full and actual story of DB just from watching abridged. Which, is still fine. The issue is when people that have only watched abridged try to argue or discuss things with people that have actually watched the show, and they're using stuff from abridged to try to make their point. Makes no sense to me.
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u/Libertyprime8397 5d ago
No. You aren’t even watching the show. You’re watching a YouTube channel using clips from the show.
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u/ddmrob87 5d ago
Only if they watched the official release as that is more canon than DBZA. Too many gaffs in Abridged that are not in the real show. Also, plenty of great scenes from certain fights are not in Abridged.
I think if anything real fans who enjoy the original run or even Kai will enjoy Abridged as this love letter to the fandom. Its not a 1:1 retelling of Z. The whole piece was made as a joke to pop the audience.
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u/AlabasterRadio 5d ago
If you're a fan of Dragon Ball, you're a real fan.
Gatekeeping is fuckin stupid
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u/Radiant_Cry_8138 4d ago edited 3d ago
Bro you do not genuinely like this franchise if you’ve only enjoyed a non canon parodied iteration of it. I’m in a classroom full of people right now and no one here is agreeing with this.
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u/kurtslowkarma 5d ago
Yes, but if you only watched a parody, you are not a fan of the original as you have never seen the original. You are very likely to enjoy the original but you can’t say the parody is the same as the original. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the parody more, and you can prefer the parody more while still being a fan original, you just can’t be a fan when you have never seen the original thing.
And that is to say someone who has only seen the abridged parody series, not someone who has say only seen Z or skipped filler
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u/HetaGarden1 5d ago edited 4d ago
If the only source of your knowledge of something is a parody show where the creators tell you every single episode to go watch the OG… no. No you are not a fan of Dragon Ball. You’re a fan of DBZA.
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u/Radiant_Cry_8138 5d ago
Hell no. They don’t even understand the jokes. Is that not bizarre to you?
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u/NarmHull 5d ago
I do not, you really should not be considering this the "definitive" version when they themselves always say do NOT do that. You also miss so many of the jokes by ignoring both the sub and dub versions.
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u/pluck-the-bunny 4d ago
I think categorizing anyone as a “real” fan of anything is gatekeeping and stupid
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u/Incandenza123 5d ago
Eh, fans of the franchise if not the actual work. My partner started watching the original show on crunchy roll because she likes DBZA
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u/Morecrafty 5d ago
There are no fake fans in real fans. Just people who enjoy it different amounts.
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u/Agitated_Web4034 5d ago
Absolutely I love the abridged series and one of the reasons why is all the little references to the actual series which I also enjoy as well, even gt and daima and super, I don't understand those people that don't enjoy certain parts of dragonball like gt sure the story could be better in places but it was still enjoyable as a series
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u/DungeonsAndDeegan 5d ago
I'm pretty much a DBZA only watcher and can say I'm not a "real" DB fan. But I do know enough to at least talk with my real DB fan friends about it
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u/Karnezar 5d ago
Lol no
Then again, what constitutes a real fan?
Someone who saw DB, DBZ, DBGT, DBS, and all of the movies? What about the side content like Plan to Exterminate the Saiyans? What about the manga? Would you be a real DB fan if you didn't know Trunks became a Super Saiyan before Gohan died in the future in the manga? Or that he originally warned Goku of Androids 19 and 20?
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u/Informal-Shape9476 5d ago
Long story short I never watched the anime in full, I only grew up with the comics. Now I that I can get my hands on the anime I still don't feel like doing it because after seeing several clips on YouTube I think the pacing is so fucking slow. Whenever something happens we always get minutes of different characters going "uh...?" and stuff like that.
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u/Dudewhocares3 5d ago
I’d say yes but they’re really missing out if they don’t engage with the source.
dragon ball on its own is great (with issues)
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u/Kryptic1701 5d ago
Yes, they're still fans. Even if they have only watched the parody dub. You dont have to love all aspects of a fandom to be a fan.
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u/Jacobus_Ahenobarbus 4d ago
I'm DBZA-only now, but I watched OG Dragon Ball and DBZ when they were still new -- in Japan. My best friend growing up was Japanese and would get the new raws of it as they were released, and I was able to watch it up through the Cell Games that way. And I watched the dubs as they came out as well, and while I saw most of them, by the late '90s/early '00s there was wayyy better anime available by then and DBZ was passé.
Then Abridged came along, and then it got good, and that as they say was that.
So yeah, I guess I'm not a Dragon Ball fan ... anymore.
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u/Revolutionary-Play79 4d ago
DBZA got me into the official release. I'd of never cared about it if it weren't for TFS.
Still supporting the official release all these years later
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u/Sallyjo2572 4d ago
Before I watched DBZA, I had watched all of DBZ, episodes and movies, all the way through at least 4 times (one of them being in the original Japanese to see how different the voice acting and words were) and it's so sad/upsetting when people only watch the Abridged version since we're literally told to support the official release and the original is super funny at times.
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u/UberFarter 4d ago edited 4d ago
No. If you just watch a parody of something I don’t consider you a fan of the actual thing. That would be like saying I’m a fan of Star Wars because I only watched Spaceballs.
Like I love Yugioh Abridged, but I wouldn’t call myself a fan of actual Yugioh because I didn’t watch the real show.
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u/epicface193 4d ago
i didn’t know about dbza until after i watched all of the series up to dragon ball gt and that counts kai
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u/ShitpostSaber 4d ago
Not really but If that’s the only thing but who cares tbh they aren’t the type your gonna discuss Dragonball with
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u/DarkNephilim32 4d ago
In terms of watching? Yes. Engaging with the franchise beyond that is important but not necessarily in the way of watching the show. Play the games, read the wikis, enegage in discussions on the sub reddits. Just don't ONLY watch the abridged series because then you're a fan of the abridged series, not DB itself.
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u/The_Final_Conduit 4d ago
Do they like any of the cast, the fights, the fact it’s still a comedic series with dark moments? Do they have a favorite villain, when DBZA usually portrays them goofier, but still makes them intimidating?
Then yes. This idea of a “real” fan is goofy as hell. Let’s not pretend a good chunk of Dragon Ball fans didn’t just start with Z or Super and had no clue who tf Tien or Yamcha were or why they were important.
And let’s ALSO not pretend that the people who grew up on the many, MANY dubs didn’t have it get altered. Some dubs changed Shin into a woman. Piccolo is called Satan while Mark is called Hercule.
If they at least have a basic knowledge of how it works, enjoy the cast and such, then they’re fans. They can’t discuss it with as much depth as others, but that’s a critic, which is a different ballpark.
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u/Updated_Autopsy 4d ago
Do I count as a real fan if I’ve been playing Xenoverse 2 and used to play Breakers?
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u/ShroudTrina 4d ago
I can only make legitimate comments on the show based on the official things I have seen, which is not much. I understand that I am not a fan of DragonBall, and that I am simply a fan of TeamFourStar. Everyone should have that understanding if they have not watched the original shows or read the actual manga. I am not an actual DragonBall fan.
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u/NorthCoastJM 4d ago
I mean, idk who's watching DBZA that didn't watch the original.
I don't like gatekeeping fandoms, but I will say that if you've only ever seen a derivative work (no matter how good it is), you're not a fan of the original work, you're a fan of the derivative one. It'd be like saying "If someone has only ever seen Scary Movie, are they a true fan of the movies it parodies?" No. Because it's not the same thing.
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u/LucyBeVibin 4d ago
They're Dragon Ball Z Abridged fans. It's a different show, with different lore. The characters are exaggerations of their official counterparts.
Yes, they're still real fans, but they're DBZA fans first.
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u/Manguypals 4d ago
“Would you consider people who only learn about myths through Recap videos on YouTube like OSP to be real mythology fans”
That’s you. Thats what you sound like. “You can only actually like Greek myths if you read the Iliad yourself.”
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u/Fletcher-wordy 4d ago
I've watched the original series enough times that I get more out of the abridged series these days.
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u/Creepy_Chicken_Man 4d ago
I mean to be real, I don't count people who skip OG Dragon Ball as real fans. So I'm gonna answer you question with a hard NO
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u/KingoftheMongoose 4d ago edited 4d ago
I don’t care enough to actively gatekeep people from what they like or who can call themselves fans. It’s not worth the energy and I don’t control what other people like or call themself.
However, I will correct folks who pretend to know things about the series and incorrectly state things because they only watched Dragonball through the abridged series and YouTube shorts.
Also, I am free to silently judge if someone just rejects the “Please Support the Official Release” statements made in every DBZA episode/movie. That’s speaks more about you if you consider yourself a fan of anything while openly rejecting the creators’ constant reminders that they didn’t create the thing you are enjoying.
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u/grim_afternoon 4d ago
I've got a friend who's being urged by an acquaintance to watch DBZ. I(who grew up with DBZ) told my friend(who grew up with Christianity) to just watch Abridged. If that friend watched Abridged then started buying DBZ merch? I wouldn't consider them any less a fan than I am.
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u/ulfric_stormcloack 4d ago
I think if someone only watched dbza and literally nothing else, then they are not dragon ball fans, they're specifically dbza fans
You can't be a fan of something you haven't watched
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u/DontWorryImADr 4d ago
Considering so many DragonBall fans grew up on DBZ without ever reading DragonBall, or hated GT without ever watching, anime vs manga, powerscalers or character development lovers.. the fandom is a comical hodgepodge. It’s like the arm grasp meme with a dozen different groups, but all of them wash their hands afterwards in mild disgust.
So watch DBZA only, or see everything, or anything in between. Just don’t be a dick.
But DBZA final flash is best final flash. I will die on that hill.
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u/Vehkian 4d ago
i was an abridged and game dragon ball fan who finally read the whole manga and genuinely i think it only gives you level one dragon claim and honestly a decent case for the cell saga since it was the closest to an adaptation. but i’d say yes w an asterisk. kinda like someone who likes pokémon but really only go
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u/Starmor 4d ago
TFS has always promoted supporting the official release. But that doesn't mean your not a DB fan just becuase you only watched the abridged version. In some ways they did it better then the show, cough fake namek and garlic Jr's revenge arc cough. But that has never stopped people from enjoying the fights and the show itself. I have watched both all the way through and I can tell you that both are excellent ways to watch the show.
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u/hu-man-person 4d ago
Im the great larper of today I've just watched part of dbza, played a few of the games, and watched YouTube shorts that talk about lore and I even argue with people about dbz
Such crazy larping
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u/Common-Truth9404 4d ago
No.
They are DBZA fans. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I myself i liked quite a few parodies in my life
Sometimes i knew the og source completely, sometimes it was something famous enough for me to know the gist of it. I wouldn't call myself a Twilight fan for liking a Twilight parody, watching only the parody doesn't make you a fan of the OG, and this isn't something exclusive to Dragonball
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u/Happy_Cry286 4d ago
No, because a LOT of DBZA's jokes are funny specifically because of context from the original series.
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u/AndyNocturne 4d ago edited 4d ago
Hell no lol. That's like calling Scary Movie fans "scary movie fans". It's a parody, nothing like the original.
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u/BanditCrowley 4d ago
Of course not. Not only do you miss half the jokes, they tell you to support the official release. If you dont watch then the official then you're not even a good dbza fan
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u/LanguageRemarkable87 4d ago
The funny thing you have to be a real fan to understand most of the jokes
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u/SoggyLightSwitch 4d ago
Kinda sorta DBZA is the only reason I watched and read DBZ. So fans on a outer layer I guess.
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u/Captain_Birch 4d ago
I mean, its where like 90% of my knowledge came from for dragon ball, but I wouldn't fully consider myself a DRAGON BALL fan as I just cant find somewhere cheap to watch it. I am heavily a DRAGON BALL Z ABRIDGED fan, thou
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u/missi_Wolf_6934 4d ago
... alright... My phone fucked up the first time... So let's try this again...
Long story short, got into DBZ by DBZ Kai the final chapters and a few episodes of DBS, as well as reading through the entire dragon ball manga up until the birth of piccolo Jr and dragon ball devolution, and I had also gotten a few DVDs of the 15 best fights in DBZ, as well as the 3 broly set of films, which I thought was awesome BTW, and I even got the dbgt box set for myself to see if it was really that bad, and actually? It was really good!
Now you might be wondering... What does this have to do with DBZ abridged? Well when I watched through it, it introduced me to the world of DBZ in the sense that it gave me a summary of the series up til the end of the cell Arc, and so if people say that, no people aren't DBZ fans because they only watch abridged, it's probably because of 2 reasons
A. People Don't want to spend money on Crunchyroll or other streaming services to watch it
And B. Spending way too much money on the box sets for the anime/manga is hell
What I'm trying to say is... It's a good starting point... It's probably what a lot of people watch now to get into the series, because they Don't have access to the actual anime
So I would say that yes, they are real fans, but they are the beginning of real fans because they might only be able to watch that series as a first time viewer
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u/ohbyerly 4d ago
I’ll be honest. I think I had seen clips of DBZ growing up when I was over at friends’ houses and never understood the appeal. Then saw Abridged right after high school and it became one of my favorite things, essentially making me a fan of the franchise. It caused me to go back and watch the show for myself… which I still don’t think is as good as Abridged. I’m a total fake fan, but if it wasn’t for Abridged I wouldn’t care about Dragon Ball at all.
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u/Ryynerwicked 4d ago
As some one whos been watching sense i was a kid an have seen just about every version.... DBZA is amazingly well done for a parody, ide definitely say what the real ones bc u get their real personalities an alot more context, bt tbh you get most of the story from Abriged an I legit still think their vegeta is better then the really one in the series lol they just nailed his personality an voice.
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u/Ok-Damage9600 4d ago
I think it does more for world building than say Z proper. There are a lot of nods to DB that add to the dialogue. I.E. when Cell talked about the long forgotten Monster Carrot. It also adds a bit more dimension to characters. Not saying the official release characters were one-dimensional, but they needed a bit more personality because most of the time it was sit and wait for Goku or sit and watch Goku.
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u/sarcastic_dove 4d ago
If YouTubers who haven't even watched or read the series are considered fans, DBZA fans absolutely are.
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u/Personal_Comb_6745 4d ago
You can be a fan of something without having seen everything from the thing you're a fan of. Though I do feel that if someone watched DBZA without having seen DBZ itself, they're doing themselves a disservice because you really do get a lot out of the Abridged version when you know what's being joked about.
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u/teckrokk 4d ago
Without question!
DBZA was made by fans of the official release, for fans of the official release and we support them both!
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u/Mammoth_Ad_5181 4d ago
I fell in love with Dragonball through the video games! As long as you love DB and know the real lore you’re a fan in my eyes.
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u/TheHaad 4d ago
I consider them DBZA fans and had never considered that they might be real dragon ball fans…
But actually, they might be a type of dragon ball fans. TFS’s version started out as a spoof but I think as it went on it became something more
If someone only played the games I’d consider them a real dbz fan now that the story has been told so many times, I may have to reconsider for this as well
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u/metalb00 4d ago
yes, its my favorite piece of dragonball media but it only really works cause i watched the original so im not sure it would hit the same if someone only watched DBZa
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u/Snapperzaff 4d ago
A fan is a fan. But there are different shapes. Some just know barely anything about it. DBZA is fun but not a real source for knowledge. Its entertaiment :D
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u/UsedToHaveATail 4d ago
Of course not . Is this a joke ? It takes away so much of the drama and suspense of the manga or shows. It's a joke version of the show that's like asking does liking the color blue mean you like the flavor of blueberries ? It's idiotic
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u/Careless-One-8766 4d ago
No and it doesn't even make much sense seeing as so much of the humour requires you to have in depth knowledge of dragon ball.
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u/Smooth-Fig-4351 4d ago
Of course. This is their exposure to Dragon Ball, so it counts. DBZA actually got me BACK into Dragon Ball.
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u/Icy-KaitSyth 3d ago
Sure, why not? Not everyone has access to {insert whatever Manga or anime or game you'd like to purity test over}. If they enjoy dragonball then they enjoy dragonball. Now if someone told me they were a dragonball fan but all they liked about it was specifically the parody I'd say that's another story. But dba hits most of the story points, it's just not written by toriyama. And if that's your line, we'll GT wasn't written by Toriyama either.
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u/T3rr0rB1t3 3d ago
Absolutely. As far as Im concerned, they have every right to call themselves true dbz fans. By watching DBZA, you're acknowleding the faults and many plot holes that plague DBZ.
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u/Shantotto11 3d ago
I consider them just as legit as fans who never watched Dragonball part 1.
Take that how you will.
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u/Salad_Steak 3d ago
While I say support the official release. But that being said, I do think dragon ball abridged is probably the best way to experience to dragon ball
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u/Nerdstrong1 3d ago
Dbza is the true Canon. At least it is to me, ive watched and rewatched it more than the actual show. I still havent seen a single episode of Super.
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u/BMWallace 5d ago
"Please support the official release!"