Dragon Ball Z/Super
I don't know how it happened but somehow I've gotten completely absorbed back into the Dragon Ball fandom. DBZ was the first anime I watched 17 years ago. I would not be an anime fan if it wasn't for DBZ. Well actually I think DBZ was the start. It was series like Inuyasha (the Ranma manga), Yu Yu Hakusho and Kenshin that showed me DBZ was not just a fluke and that yes I loved anime. But I haven't watched any Dragon Ball in years and I have to say my tastes have really changed. I tend to avoid long running shounen series these days. I just don't have the patience for them. If I watch any shounen it tends to be Sports series not action/fighting.
But accidentally I was completely pulled back into the Dragon Ball world. And literally I can't stop watching or thinking about it. I am watching AMVs, reading fan fiction, collecting the series on Bluray and buying figures. So I can't say this is a casual interest.
Well okay I kind of know how it happened I read that Vegeta and Bulma's daughter was born in the new series. I was only going to watch that episode but then I started watching clips on Youtube. Next thing lead to another and I ended up watching the 2 most recent movies and started to marathon Super during the Labour Day weekend. And you know what I just had so much fun watching Super. Of course it's not a masterpiece and there are plenty of flaws. But it made me terribly nostalgic (actually wanting to feel nostalgic probably started from re-watching Gurren Lagann for its 10th anniversary which I also loved). Watching Super made me realize how much I still love the Dragon Ball characters. I find Super just incredibly charming. More importantly I absolutely love how Super has written Vegeta. I don't think DB needed another series after Z (and I hated GT) but if they were going to give me another series this is exactly what I would want.
Vegeta was always my favorite DB character and that hasn't changed 17 years later. I think he had the most interesting story arc in DB. He was the reason why I became a fan of series. I had started with the Saiyan saga but despite thinking Gohan was adorable it didn't make me a fan. It was only when I found out in the Cell arc that the villain had somehow become a father that I became intrigued. The villain being redeemed is of course a very common trope (and one I admit I have a certain weakness for) but Vegeta was the first time I ever saw this trope so he will always be a somewhat special example. Has this trope been handled better in other series? Well definitely but I still loved the character development Vegeta got over the course of DBZ. It took a lot of time (in fact he didn't finally truly become good until the second half of the final arc) but I was satisfied where DBZ left Vegeta in the end. He finally accepted his place on Earth, his love for his family, and the fact that yes Goku is better than him and maybe that is not the end of his world.
But in Super Vegeta is now fully one of the "good guys" and it's just wonderful for me to see him fully in this role. He can still be arrogant and he is not giving up becoming stronger than Goku. But you can also tell the negativity that surrounded his character in Z has been replaced by something positive. He wants to better himself and he knows that Goku is what makes him stronger. Vegeta also gets to be a lot more humorous in Super than he was in Z. It annoys some fans but I think they need to lighten up.
Plus I could never imagine how many Vegeta/Bulma scenes we are getting in super. Some of this stuff I thought I would only get in fan fiction. From a pairing that pretty much came from nowhere it has become the best pairing of DB. Toei and Toyataro (who is drawing the manga) are both clearly fans as there are tons of fantastic scenes in the manga and anime between Vegeta and Bulma. Vegeta has become the ultimate Tsundere when it comes to Bulma lol. They are definitely getting the most development of all the DB couples (although what I love about Super in general that in between the battles and main plot there is down time and slice of life moments which helps develop all the characters more).
So basically pretty much out of nowhere and completely unexpectedly Super has become one of the my favorite new things I watched this year. And now that I am caught up I am going back and rewatching favorite moments/episodes of DBZ as well. I guess sometimes nostalgia is a very powerful thing.
Edit: Plus one of the new characters (introduced in the Battle of the Gods movie) is a god of destruction who looks like a Purple Sphynx Cat. He decides not to destroy Earth because he loves the food so much. It's just genius. XD.
But accidentally I was completely pulled back into the Dragon Ball world. And literally I can't stop watching or thinking about it. I am watching AMVs, reading fan fiction, collecting the series on Bluray and buying figures. So I can't say this is a casual interest.
Well okay I kind of know how it happened I read that Vegeta and Bulma's daughter was born in the new series. I was only going to watch that episode but then I started watching clips on Youtube. Next thing lead to another and I ended up watching the 2 most recent movies and started to marathon Super during the Labour Day weekend. And you know what I just had so much fun watching Super. Of course it's not a masterpiece and there are plenty of flaws. But it made me terribly nostalgic (actually wanting to feel nostalgic probably started from re-watching Gurren Lagann for its 10th anniversary which I also loved). Watching Super made me realize how much I still love the Dragon Ball characters. I find Super just incredibly charming. More importantly I absolutely love how Super has written Vegeta. I don't think DB needed another series after Z (and I hated GT) but if they were going to give me another series this is exactly what I would want.
Vegeta was always my favorite DB character and that hasn't changed 17 years later. I think he had the most interesting story arc in DB. He was the reason why I became a fan of series. I had started with the Saiyan saga but despite thinking Gohan was adorable it didn't make me a fan. It was only when I found out in the Cell arc that the villain had somehow become a father that I became intrigued. The villain being redeemed is of course a very common trope (and one I admit I have a certain weakness for) but Vegeta was the first time I ever saw this trope so he will always be a somewhat special example. Has this trope been handled better in other series? Well definitely but I still loved the character development Vegeta got over the course of DBZ. It took a lot of time (in fact he didn't finally truly become good until the second half of the final arc) but I was satisfied where DBZ left Vegeta in the end. He finally accepted his place on Earth, his love for his family, and the fact that yes Goku is better than him and maybe that is not the end of his world.
But in Super Vegeta is now fully one of the "good guys" and it's just wonderful for me to see him fully in this role. He can still be arrogant and he is not giving up becoming stronger than Goku. But you can also tell the negativity that surrounded his character in Z has been replaced by something positive. He wants to better himself and he knows that Goku is what makes him stronger. Vegeta also gets to be a lot more humorous in Super than he was in Z. It annoys some fans but I think they need to lighten up.
Plus I could never imagine how many Vegeta/Bulma scenes we are getting in super. Some of this stuff I thought I would only get in fan fiction. From a pairing that pretty much came from nowhere it has become the best pairing of DB. Toei and Toyataro (who is drawing the manga) are both clearly fans as there are tons of fantastic scenes in the manga and anime between Vegeta and Bulma. Vegeta has become the ultimate Tsundere when it comes to Bulma lol. They are definitely getting the most development of all the DB couples (although what I love about Super in general that in between the battles and main plot there is down time and slice of life moments which helps develop all the characters more).
So basically pretty much out of nowhere and completely unexpectedly Super has become one of the my favorite new things I watched this year. And now that I am caught up I am going back and rewatching favorite moments/episodes of DBZ as well. I guess sometimes nostalgia is a very powerful thing.
Edit: Plus one of the new characters (introduced in the Battle of the Gods movie) is a god of destruction who looks like a Purple Sphynx Cat. He decides not to destroy Earth because he loves the food so much. It's just genius. XD.