This is not the Winter 2019 Watchlist post. No, it isn't. Because I haven't had the time to really look at the offerings for the winter anime season. Because...
You might think I'm busy with work. I am. And that I'm busy finishing the edits on my latest novel, Homestead. I am busy with that, too.
You may even believe that I haven't been watching anime lately because I'm too busy with all these other things. But the truth is...
... Wait, what's that picture that just uploaded itself to my blog?
And who's that guy, anyway? Wait--
--Could it be that my new anime obsession is an anime that is THIRTY YEARS OLD??
I've written about how I discovered the Dragon Ball universe at last year's Crunchyroll Expo, where Vegeta's seiyuu Ryo Horikawa was a guest and I saw the final three episodes of Dragon Ball Super. Those episodes hooked me in, and I marathoned the series a month or so after I returned home from the convention.
I knew I wanted to continue watching Dragon Ball, but I wasn't sure how to proceed after that.
Finally, I decided to watch Dragon Ball Z. My impression was that it was the most popular of all the Dragon Ball series, at least here in the U.S., and that it would give me the background on the universe and characters that I wanted.
It kind of has, and kind of hasn't. First, I thought that Z would start with Goku as a child, but instead it begins with Goku and Chi Chi married and their son Gohan as a five-year-old.
Also, Goku already has his friends - Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Chouzu, and Krillen, plus the old turtle master Muten Roshi, and Yamcha, and Bulma and her scientist dad, and...
In other words, I didn't start back far enough. After I finish with Z, I'll need to watch the original series Dragon Ball. ;-)
In the meantime, I've marathoned the episodes up to the Cell arc. In the last episode I watched, Cell had just sucked up No. 18 and was entering his final transformation. (I hope I didn't spoil it for anyone. Wait, can one actually spoil a series that ran thirty years ago?)
Along the way, as I've watched Dragon Ball Super and now Dragon Ball Z, I've been introduced to famous characters whose names I've heard forever as an anime fan.
Son Goku!
Vegeta!
Piccolo!
Frieza!
This is the beginning of a number of posts I am going to write about the Dragon Ball universe and characters. It'll be an intermittent series of posts that I'll wedge in-between my posts about other anime and anime-related things.
So stay tuned! More Dragon Ball and other anime obsessiveness is on its way. :-)
