It was a lot more light-hearted than DBZ but it had its serious moments. Seeing the origins of my favourite DBZ characters was great. It was also weird to see Goku struggle against them! Goku from DBZ would have wiped the floor of them! All in all, I really enjoyed this series. Seeing Tien and Piccolo as a villains was weird, but the fights were great fun. However, in later sagas you get to see true evil villains. The focus was on collecting the dragon balls and the main enemies were merely those trying to get in Goku's and Bulma's way. The first few sagas were more of an introduction to the world of martial arts and Dragon Ball. In terms of the story lines, they were as I had expected from my experience of DBZ. The martial arts tournaments were great to see new characters be introduced and seeing their methods. A prime focus on martial arts was actually quite refreshing. This OVA reviews the Dragon Ball series, beginning with the Emperor Pilaf Saga and then skipping ahead to the Raditz Saga through the Trunks Saga (which was how far FUNimation had dubbed both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z at the time). I have to say, despite the fights being a lot less epic they were still enjoyable. The World of Dragon Ball Z is a 20-minute OVA special that was produced and distributed by Funimation in 2000, narrated by Christopher Sabat. I knew that it was a lot more focused on martial arts, rather than crazy ki-blasts, powers or even flying (the Nimbus was as close as we got in the early episodes). The fighting in Dragon Ball is what I really wanted to see. Their personalities really differed from their DBZ characters and it was great to see them develop throughout the series. Seeing others like Yamcha, Bulma, Krillin and Tien as their younger counterparts was also a treat. Roshi is how I remember him in DBZ.as sexist as ever.
The other characters of the series are great too. He still has the same kind personality and love for fighting (and eating!). The word Saiyan is never used, so to new watchers he is just a kid with a tail.
Goku is the main protagonist in this series as he is in DBZ, but seeing him as a kid really makes you see him in a new light. From the 1st episode we got a taste of this and saw things that would cause a cartoon to get an instant ban.namely Goku's method of determining what identifies a girl.
Boy oh boy, was I in for a treat! Dragon Ball comes from a time when cartoons were truly free to do whatever they chose. I had been told it was a lot more light-hearted and fun, so I was looking forward to it. However, now that I am 25 (getting old!) I decided to watch the original series where it all started. I never watched the original Dragon Ball since it was never on Cartoon Network whenever I got back from school. At last Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks and Piccolo return to Earth just as the Dark Planet explodes.I'm a 90's kid and grew up with Dragon Ball Z. Hatchiyack devastates the heroes until the Saiyans (after having transformed into their Super Saiyan states) and Piccolo combine their powers together into one massive wave of energy, ending the threat of the Dr.
Hatchiyack appears in a powerful android body, whose power is said to match or perhaps even exceed that of Broly, according to Goku. When Vegeta vaporizes Lychee, preventing him from re-materializing, the hate of the last remaining Tuffle causes Hatchiyack to exceed its limit. Lychee is a ghost warrior himself, generated by Hatchiyack. Lychee on the Dark Planet and engage him, discovering that his ghost warriors are generated by a machine called Hatchiyack, a device powered by the Tuffles' hatred for the Saiyans. The barrier is destroyed by Bulma, who also came with the antidote for the Destron gas. It is revealed that these ghost warriors are made of Destron gas and cannot be beaten unless the gas is neutralized. The heroes continue to lose against their foes. Frieza, Cooler, Turles and Lord Slug appear and engage the heroes one on one. When trying to destroy the final machine, Vegeta discovers that it is protected by an impenetrable energy barrier.
The Saiyans, plus Piccolo, only have 72 hours to destroy these machines and find Dr.
He creates a machine that will emit Destron, a gas that could destroy all life on Earth. He now plans to take revenge on the remaining Saiyans, Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, and Gohan. Lychee may be the last of the Tuffle people, a race that was completely wiped some time ago by the Saiyans.