Ask John: Why is Dragonball Z so Popular?

Question:
I’m totally at a loss to understand how anyone can find Dragonball Z enjoyable, let alone how it’s become so enormously popular. The plots are paper-thin and very predictable, the characters are one dimensional, the “battles” are mostly all talking on and on with a few drops of flickering “action” which takes whole episodes to play out. Despite this, however, there is a definite cult following to DBZ. Why is such a poor excuse for anime as popular as it is? This is a serious question; I am not just writing to express my own dislike for it, but am genuinely curious about why it’s found such a following.

Answer:
It’s not my intention to bash Dragonball or unduly elevate it. I am a Dragonball fan, primarily of the first and second series. I’d seen over 100 Dragonball Z episodes before original Dragonball ever premiered in the US, but I’m also not going to defend the series as the greatest thing to ever happen to animation. I think you’ve actually already mentioned the reason for the immense popularity of Dragonball, mainly Dragonball Z. The one dimensional characters are actually the primary strength of the Dragonball series. Akira Toriyama’s art and character design are unique, but by no means exceptionally good. His storytelling, as you’ve mentioned, is formulaic, slow and repetitive, yet I think these are exactly the things that make Dragonball Z the sensation it is. The very simplicity of Dragonball Z makes it totally accessible, and the relative superficiality of its characters makes them unusually easy to empathize with. In Dragonball Z, the bad guys are bad, until they turn good, and the good guys are good. In a broad sense, no one in Dragonball has ulterior motives or complex characterizations. What you see is what you get. Dragonball is to anime what Superman is to American comic books. The simplicity of Dragonball, and the diversity of its cast allows anyone, young or old, to instantly feel right at home watching the show. A viewer can come into the show at any time and immediately know what’s going on and instantly find a character to like and a character to dislike. Some credit must be given to Akira Toriyama for creating a cast of characters that viewers can care about. And that is the heart of Dragonball. The spectacular fights are the immediate draw of Dragonball Z, but keep in mind that Dragonball succeeded on Japanese television for years before introducing its trademark martial arts battles. The Dragonball story is the life story of Son Goku, from his childhood until the time he’s a grandfather. And like Superman, who Goku was, in part, based on, (a child sent away from a dying planet and reared in the country to be a good boy who helps others), Goku is a near perfect character in the regard that he is so easy to relate to. He is the character that so many viewers would like to be, and he is the near epitome of the traditional Japanese hero. Goku is friendly and personable, kind and whimsical, a good father and husband, and at the same time superhumanly strong and powerful. Yet, in keeping with the traditional Japanese warrior’s code, he is always sportsmanlike and fair, always offering his opponent an opportunity to back down. To use the Superman analogy again, Goku represents the ideal man, especially to Japanese viewers, the same way Superman provides a role model for Westerners. But while Superman is the “big blue Boy Scout,” Goku, and Dragonball itself, taps into a more primal vein. Dragonball uses violence, and doesn’t hesitate to kill characters, in exactly the opposite way Superman does.

Essentially, not everything is or should be philosophical or complex or socially relevant. There’s an undeniable pleasure to be found in watching a program that fulfills all of our desire for action and violence. At the same time Dragonball Z carefully paces itself, never going overboard and always keeping viewers wanting more. There’s also an undeniable pleasure to be found in watching a genuinely nice guy go through life, occasionally meeting setbacks and overcoming them while never loosing his optimism and his principles. Dragonball, especially Dragonball Z, is one of the few shows that simply aims to tell a fun, straightforward story, and in that it succeeds like few other shows do.