Discovering Weird Things About Myself · 6:34am Sep 8th, 2018
I just realized that I don’t like a lot of shonen anime. I honestly don’t know what’s weirder, the fact that I am just barely figuring this out or the fact that this surprises me. This discovery came about when one of my brothers made me watch an episode of Dragon Ball Z Abridged with him, which led to a conversation with my sister about the biology of Super Saiyans based on an article she found on the internet, which led to me realizing that a lot of Dragon Ball Z made absolutely no sense whatsoever and that in all honesty, it wasn’t as amazing as I remember.
I totally freaked out when I made that realization because I remember watching bits and pieces of it as a kid, so I’ve always looked at it through a nostalgia filter. Now that I am actually thinking critically about it, most of Dragon Ball Z was a bunch of annoyingly long fight scenes that I didn’t even like watching. Looking back on my childhood years, I realize that the only thing that I liked about Dragon Ball Z were the parts where Gohan and Krillin acted like total dorks. Yeah.
I mean, I don’t dislike all shonen anime, just the ones with the super long fight scenes like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto. Fun fact, the only thing I liked about Naruto was the NaruHina ship, and once upon a time, I used to be so deep in shipping trash territory that I shipped couples from shows that I didn’t even watch. 
Then again, my sister did an amazing job of hyping her ships back in the day. 
Anyway, I know some of you “cough” Foxhelm “cough” might be feeling a little offended about what I just wrote. Look, I’m not writing this to offend anybody, I’m just being honest, and I honestly don’t like things with long fight sequences, which is why, to my sister’s everlasting shame 
, I don’t like kung fu movies. I personally think that long fight sequences get in the way of the plot. However, according to my sister, shows like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto center the plot around the fight sequences. Basically, in those shows, the fight sequences are the plot. Yeah, that pretty much explains why I don’t like them very much and why the stuff I do like about them don’t get a lot of focus. It also explains why the girl characters tend to be a tad underdeveloped.
Like I said earlier, I don’t dislike all shonen anime. There are some franchises that I like such as Pokemon or Yugioh. Actually, Yugioh is something that I’ve only barely begun to take interest in thanks to this guy. I’m not super into it, but I am interested enough to try to complete two arcs worth of Yugioh 5Ds on Amazon Prime. Anyway, what those franchises have in common is that even though the shows do have their share of action and fighting, the shows don’t really build the plot around those aspects. Instead, Pokemon and Yugioh choose to focus the plot around the love of a certain game and the relational bonds that form between people (and other sapient beings) as a result of playing the game. That might also explain why the girl characters in those shows tend to be more developed.
Yeah, so all in all, this has been a night of self-discovery of the weirdest kind. I kind of get those moments a lot. I don’t always write about them, and I have no idea what I found so earth-shattering about not liking shonen anime that I felt the need to write about it. 🤷
Hmm... have you ever wondered what type of dere you are?
Here’s a list of the different types. There may be more than the ones listed.
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I can't say that I have, but judging from that list, the one that seems to describe me the best is dandere.
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Same here.
I had two sides to me one who loves action, and awesome fight and other who likes cheesy romantic (as well a side who likes Retro thing but that is neither here or there.)
I love shonen anime, but not a big fan of DBZ because it was bit repeative.I read One Piece and Promised Neverland, And sometimes read Seven deathly sins. I tried to get into my hero , but the problem there wasn't a breather
Yugioh I watched because well embrassingly I had a crush on Atemu ( I couldn't help it, Dan Green Pharaoh voice is damn sexy) I stop watching after he left. I might consider watching Yugioh GX because Little Kuriboh's series just for some dumb fun.
Pokemon I stop watching because I found out the That Brooke and Seto Kabia shared the same dub voice that blow my mind ( yes I know , I was young and dumb at the time)
(Finally gets to read this blog and sees the *couch*)
Sublity doesn't seem to be your forte.
Now I do enjoy DBZ, granted Dragon Ball has a much tighter plot and keeps some more aspects mystical, but sometimes you just need some stupid fun, and there is just something inherently entertaining when two guys duke things out.
But about your critic, you do know that the anime ran around the same time as the manga, in fact the anime was produced, like most anime, to keep the manga selling by introducing it to a new audience. In DBZ's cast, because the Dragon Ball manga's chapters were published weekly in about 15 pages, and the episodes of an anime are about 25 minutes, and unlike most other anime, which took a break every 13 episodes, DBZ has a lot of filler. I'd recommend watch DBZ Kai, it's a lot shorter, has much less filler and the fighting sequences are short.
But also back to the critic, saying that fighting was the plot is a bit of on over simpleacation, yes each saga does reveal a duel, but no two sagas have the exact same theme or plot, for example in the Sayian/Vegeta Saga, It dealt with debate of being born with great power versus training and developing you know nature vs nurture. The Freiza saga delt with confronting and accepting heritage and how you use it to define you, The Cell saga, was mostly about the relationship between fathers and sons and pride before the fall, the Buu saga mostly had the great deceiver (Mr. Satan), good vs evil and redemption. Now given that Goku was a character that fought through out Dragon Ball, these themes, theses ideas would be presented in terms of combat often with a final duel between Goku and the saga's villain, that being said Goku doesn't win a fight in DBZ by himself, in his fight with Radizt he works with Piccallo and ends up having to sacrifice himself, against Vegeta he had to use everthing he learned from North Kai, but even then he needed the help of the semi-recovered Krillin and Gohan and Yagurobi (Sp) stepping up, against Frieza he had to fully accept what he was and had to unleash his rage, against Cell he ultimately had to concede that he could not defeat Cell but he trained Gohan and demonstrated his faith in his son's capability, against Buu he had to the one to offer aid at first and point out that there needs to be some form of team work between him and Vegeta and he had to be humble enough to ask others, even Mr. Satan for help.
And that's just Goku, yes not everyone gets as much screen time as the Sayians, but there is more going on then just The Fight. Just like in Yu-Gi-Oh it's more then just two people putting cards on a table or playing a game.
I don't have a problem with you not liking shoen anime that has a greater focus on fighting, there are some out there I can't stand either, but while you were right to take the nostalgia glasses off, I think you might want to look at the fights and ask, 'what is this overall fight telling me?' And I think you'll see that there is much more to DBZ and the like then meets the eye. Yes I used a Transformers line. Autobots, roll out
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I know there's an actual rhyme and reason behind the fighting. I'm pretty sure that's what my sister meant when she told me that the plot is the fighting. At the same time, in my opinion, the fighting tends to run a long, and then I go "Will you hurry up and get to the point already?!"
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Well Twilight is your favorite character so it's not a surprise... I am going to whacked with a book now aren't I?
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Again I would recommend that you consider the anime's production, It was weekly and ran almost concurrently with the manga and unlike most anime, it didn't take a break after every 13 episodes, as such the fights were elongated and there are a lot of filler in the original run.
I get you find it drawn out, but ever second in the fight has a point, whether it's to establish or build a character narratively (example Piccallo learning that he's a Namekian) or showing how powerful a foe is (example the arrival of the Ginyu force or Frieza changing forms) or how powerful the hero has become since his team last saw him (IT'S OVER 9000!!!) yes it can become long and drawn out at times, but even then it has a point in it of itself.
Again, you don't have to like DBZ, honestly you can watch up to the end of the Piccolo Jr. Saga of Dragon Ball and be done with the entire series, you could even just watch just the Emperor Pilaf saga and get all you'll ever need of the franchise, but anyway that's fine. Different people have different taste and they can change over time.