• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Dragon Ball : Why Buu saga is the least popular ?

Zombine

Banned
I consider myself a Dragon Ball Z fan, but I never finished this! Like, this thread is the first time I found out how Buu was defeated.

I enjoyed the Majin stuff, but I burned out before the end of the series. I was in high school and had way too much going on at the time to care. My focus moved on to social interactions and various other things.

Thing is though, I'm not even compelled to finish it now that I've been back at nerd stuff for the past 10 years. I skipped the arc entirely and happily watch DBS instead.
 

-MB-

Member
except for getting ko'd by kaioken and now Goku almost definitely getting another powerup which will leave everyone in the dust again.

But in that very Mystic Gohan vs Goku fight we already got a promise of a new Gohan Ultimate powerup as well. So we will see about that being left in the dust part.
 
I find it a little bit preferable to the stuff that happened right after Namek. Cool characters don't save a bad plot IMO, and Hercule gets to shine for once.
 
I had 3 main problems with Buu saga:
1. Pretty much everyone other than Goku and Vegeta got benched for the entire thing. Gohan gets a fight against Super Buu, before he jobs super hard, but that was pretty much it.
2. It seemed to drag on more than the other sagas, but that may have just been because I wasn't enjoying it.
3. It was another villain who gained strength by absorbing people.

I enjoyed the Saiyaman stuff at the start, but didn't enjoy the tournament or Buu saga.

I watched the series from the start, but I dropped out when Super Buu bulked up, then turned into Kid Buu.
 
What they did to Gohan was probably a big reason.

During the Cell Saga, Gohan wasn't just topping Dragon Ball popularity polls, but Shounen popularity polls. People were liking that Gohan and were ready for change, the torch had been passed on. From Android's speech, to Goku's death, Gohan had realised that he's the Earth's protector now and that in his heart he's a fighter. Logically, you'd expect him to grow as one instead of needing mental guidance from Goku every time he fights, but that's all kind of thrown out the window and he goes back to studying.

Another big reason is probably the whole Super Saiyan bargain sale. I could accept, Vegeta, Trunks and Gohan getting the transformation. Vegeta trained his arse off, Trunks was trained - and both experienced emotional turmoil - a main trigger for the transformation. Gohan actually had a teacher, plus he was rocking it in the HTC.

Young Trunks and Goten's was a little absurd though.
 
Oh, I forgot to mention that using Majin Vegeta's sacrifice to try and redeem him once and for all was the stupidest thing ever. Distracting Perfect Cell at the end of the Cell Games so Gohan could finish him of was his redemption moment. He didn't need to blow himself up to convince characters and the audience that he was a good guy now.
 

Anung

Un Rama
Oh, I forgot to mention that using Majin Vegeta's sacrifice to try and redeem him once and for all was the stupidest thing ever. Distracting Perfect Cell at the end of the Cell Games so Gohan could finish him of was his redemption moment. He didn't need to blow himself up to convince characters and the audience that he was a good guy now.

He did after turning evil and blowing up a bleacher full of innocent people.
 
If this saga ended with Vegeta killing Buu when he killed himself, it would have been the best arc in the entire show and an amazing payoff. It's my least favorite in the Z series for sure.
 

Sheroking

Member
It has lots of great moments, but it doesn't feel like a cohesive narrative. They never seemed to be building to anything and in the few instances they did, like with Fusion or Ultimate Gohan, it didn't wind up mattering that much.
 

tkscz

Member
Sounds like Super.

Super is at least making everyone who is not a sayian have some sort of importance again. Giving power boost to everyone (except for Yamcha) to the point where they can take base Goku (that Roshi power up out of no where) or even take Blue Goku (Android 17 and 18 finally remembering they have unlimited building Ki). Even Piccolo is back up in power.

Buu saga pretty much became a Sayian only club. Not a Sayian? You are now comedy relief. Then it just kept going. The entire Super Buu part could've been skipped and went straight to Kid Buu and it would've been so much better.
 
Best part were the Great Saiyaman/high-school episodes

giphy.gif

This.

And Majin Vegeta.
 
Everything about Gohan in high school was stellar. The moment the evil Buu gets separated from fat Buu it becomes a neverending repetitive snore fest.

I can pinpoint the exact moment DBZ jumped the shark and that was when Vegito was eaten by Buu and they spend the next like two episodes exploring Buu's insides fighting monsters and tiny versions of Buu in his own stomach.

I hate everything about evil Buu. Fat Buu's cool tho.
 

Lelcar

Member
I'm watching the buy saga now through the final chapters and it's actually better than I remember it. Maybe because it's Kai not Z
 

NandoGip

Member
90% of DB fans never read the manga, Buu saga was actually a short arc stretched out to over 100 episodes. The Kai version makes some progress, but still doesn't touch the pacing and impact of the source material.

Read the manga, trust me. If you like DB even a little bit you will be surprised how much better the manga is.
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
90% of DB fans never read the manga, Buu saga was actually a short arc stretched out to over 100 episodes. The Kai version makes some progress, but still doesn't touch the pacing and impact of the source material.

Read the manga, trust me. If you like DB even a little bit you will be surprised how much better the manga is.

Generally the pacing isn't the issue, it's the structure of the plot itself and how it continually undercuts itself for no reason. The manga doesn't fix that at all.
 

Samus4145

Member
Some reason I felt like we would only get 1 new episode a week/month. Always remember tuning in and seeing them restart at Raditz quite frequently.
 

Ray Down

Banned
Because people think it's boring about because it lacks "seriousness" of the Cell.

Instead is a very fun romp that 10 time better than Cell.

Buu saga was far better than the cell saga folks. You're just wierded out because Toriyama brought humor and fun and creativity back into the story at the cost of the "srs bzness drama" and you think the "Z" portion is all there is to the series.

Cell saga was nothing but an extensive training arc. Buu had aliens, gods, fusions, desperate measures, romance subplot, the antics of Mr. Satan, kids having fun again, old rivalries, Vegeta character coming full circle, and payoff for the spirit bomb technique.
 

Ferr986

Member
eh, Buu saga is the one where not only all of the gang, but all of humans and the whole earth is destroyed. The saga is kind of mess tone wise.

Also it's true that it started being an original arc... but originality ended when we keep getting fusions over fusions and ended with Goku spirit bombing Buu again.

First half of Buu saga is cool, is the latter half when it goes to shit.
 

DeathoftheEndless

Crashing this plane... with no survivors!
I didn't like that it set up a bunch of different power levels, fusions, and transformations only to have it end with Goku killing Buu with a Spirit Bomb.
 

Ennosuke

Member
I like the Buu Saga. There are certainly things we can discuss, like Gohan failing because too arrogant... In the end Goku needs to save the day.
But what I like about it, how nearly everything gets destroyed and most of the characters are defeated. While reading the manga this felt extremely tense and exciting. I also like how they introduced the Kaioshin etc. and Buu with his powers and different personalities.

Funny thing is that one of the first mangad I bought was book 38. But my knowledge was still around the saiyajin saga. So I had no idea what the fuck was going on during the tournament. I thought that Goten was Goku who turned back into a child. Funny that they did this with Goku in GT for real.
 

Ray Down

Banned
eh, Buu saga is the one where not only all of the gang, but all of humans and the whole earth is destroyed. The saga is kind of mess tone wise.

Also it's true that it started being an original arc... but originality ended when we keep getting fusions over fusions and ended with Goku spirit bombing Buu again.

First half of Buu saga is cool, is the latter half when it goes to shit.

Except this time, the Spirit Bomb actually works for once!
 
Gohan was a nerd by nature, he never wanted to be the hero.

That said, it was a terrible move to have great part of the story showing him having to become a fighter again, acquiring the powerup from the Elder Kaioshin, only to job because Toriyama.
 

Ray Down

Banned
Gohan was a nerd by nature, he never wanted to be the hero.

That said, it was a terrible move to have great part of the story showing him having to become a fighter again, acquiring the powerup from the Elder Kaioshin, only to job because Toriyama.

I don't mind him "losing" his fight with Gotenks Buu, though he really should have been paying attention to Buu goo running around.

Saiyan Arrogance I guess.
 

Ray Down

Banned
- Gohan got nerfed

- Buu was just stupid tbh. Only when he became kid buu was he not a joke but he still paled to Cell and Frieza

- Super saiyan 3 looked stupid. No eyebrows.

- Goten and trunks were annoying as hell

- the tournament wasn't even a thing. No satisfaction there

- Vegeta didn't get enough screen time

- Vegito lasted for like 5 minutes

- Ended with Goku doing a spirit bomb, once again

-It makes sense, Gohan was NEVER a fighter like his dad always staying in shape. He had 6 years of peace to relax and never thought someone on the lvl of Cell could ever show up again.

- Buu is interesting for NOT being an arrogant asshole villain AGAIN! Cell is fucking boring, all he has is OH I'm PERFECT arrogance and doesn't have the air of Frieza. Buu is better for finally having a villain with no arrogance in the longest time, just a child wanting fun.

- Goten and Trunks were fine in the manga, it's kids having fun in what's suppose to be a fun series.

- The tournament has happened 3 times (hell 4 if you want to count Cell) and your never going to top the 23rd so why try. Espically when we got what people wanted in the end, Goku vs Vegeta.

- Vegeta has this character come full circle, has a rematch with Goku, and is truly important to the arc conclusion and Goku not dying to Gotenks view. He had more than enough time.

- Except this time the Spirit Bomb actually works in defeating a villain for good and serves a good conclusion for ending a being of pure evil when everyone helps makes it.
 
I can think of a few reasons why.

1.) The Cell saga (and all the previous arc's) felt different, sure the "power up to the next level" theme was there, but the transformations felt really important. By the time the Buu saga came around, SSJ3 just didn't feel special.
2.) The Buu saga was literally just a copy of Cell saga formula but with slight variances (magic instead of robotics).
3.) The Cell saga was already pretty long, then to have another really arc directly after that, people started feeling the fatigue.
4.) Buu had no real personality, he took on personality traits from other people so he never felt like an actual villain. Kid Buu was a dumb way to rectify that.
 

Octavia

Unconfirmed Member
Buu Saga was a letdown, had some good fights and interesting setup wih the majin stuff, but what dragged it down with me losing interest:

-Buu is visually uninteresting and acting like a baby. Chocolate gimmick was meh.
-Hurcule is lame. He didnt need screen time.
-Goku superhero is cringe city and starting the saga up with filler was a huge turn off.
-Gotanks and the other kid could not fill young gohans spot. They are bratty and annoying.
-Extra dimensional help for powerups and junk.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
He just kept regenerating. It got so old. Cell already did the regeneration gimmick and now you get double the episodes with a character who has even less personality than Cell and regenerates even faster. Lame.

Shame too cuz the world tournament and early babidi stuff was neat.
 

Skeeter49

Member
One thing I never understood. How did Buu survive that fight with Gotenks when they destroyed every piece of him in the ROSAT?

They should have used that time to run out of the ROSAT and destroy the door.
 

Ray Down

Banned
One thing I never understood. How did Buu survive that fight with Gotenks when they destroyed every piece of him in the ROSAT?

They should have used that time to run out of the ROSAT and destroy the door.

Air particles or some shit.

Single cell survives he's back bullshit.
 

WaterAstro

Member
Cell Saga is my favourite, but Buu saga is probably second. I guess I'm not too fond of DBZ when they were really underpowered.

I always thought it was dumb how they didn't bring Gohan or Gotenks to the final battle.

Either one could have easily beat Kid Buu.

Maybe they were drained of their powers. Who knows.

There were no Senzu Beans since everyone was dead.
 

Ferr986

Member
-It makes sense, Gohan was NEVER a fighter like his dad always staying in shape. He had 6 years of peace to relax and never thought someone on the lvl of Cell could ever show up again.

Gohan was hinted to be a very powerful guy since Raditz saga. It's true that he wasn't much of a fighter like Goku but his inhate power was pretty much confirmed at Cell saga.

I mean, I agree with Gohan turning weak in the timeskip and it made sense and was cool as that was used to show Gohan he can't forget his training. The problem is Mystic Gohan, he develops his maximum power, to be jobbed in like 5 minutes. And that's pretty much all for him (Super didn't exist yet). It's a bad way to end the story of a character that was hinted to have such an inhate big power since the start of the saga and pretty much the substitute of Goku.
 

Mael

Member
It's fucking parody trying to be serious at the same time.
Up until the tournament, it's not bad, not great but certainly not bad.
Then Vegeta turns bad because reasons.
Buu appears and begins the BS saga with a basically invicible character with BS power wrecking shit left and right for no goddamn reason.
Oh another powerup for Goku because he trained in the after life!
Oh a fusion thingy that Goku knows for some reasons.
Oh look it's fucking pointless!
Oh let's hype up Gohan forever because he's gonna come back and save that day, nope actually it's pointless except for what amount to 1 chapter/1 episode.
Oh you liked the goofy fatty villain? Too bad we're replacing him with a leaner, badder version of itself that is somehow even stronger for some reason oh and when the good one dies it's absorbed and help turn bad version into an even badder baddy! (That episode is glorious though, it's so fucking dumb it's not even funny but it's probably the most gorgeous DB episode ever).
Oh and you liked backgrounds? Too bad they're gonna fight in a place where there is no background anymore so that it's far more easy to draw.
Now let's destroy everything so that it doesn't even matter where we fight oh and the fusion is dumb so let's kill this.
And Goku saves the day because he's the hero and no one wants to see anyone else fight, amirite?

It's a bad manga arc, it's a fucking atrocious animated arc that has so many padding added to it it feels like a Bleach arc!
 

AdanVC

Member
It's the weakest because it drags way too long for nothing I kept watching it only because of the humor wich was almost non-existant on the Cell and Freezer arc. Toriyama was tired of DB during the Buu arc and it truly shows. It's like he was just keept building a certain hero that could easily kick Buu's ass to finish the series once and for all but his editors probably told him to keep pushing the arc more and more and maybe that's why it dragged for too long without any sort of worthy accomplishement finishing with that abrupt ending that even Toriyama himself admitted.

Edit: But this arc had the most good looking episodes of all DBZ! The animation quality was top notch during the Buu saga.
 
Buu saga was the biggest leap in the primary focus being continuously subverting expectations. Playing on expectations too many times may have made it exciting when watching sagas as week-to-week episodes when they were new. However, many plot twists to years of established rules/lore become a detriment when approaching a series late or analyzing a summary long after it ended, which most english-speakers had no choice but to do.

This highlights why Super is exciting now, but will be perceived more as mediocre later. Dragon Ball rarely holds up to summarizing and analyzing. Title cards including spoilers still have different exciting events. Show intros about
unaired events can still bait-n-switch.
That stuff is really cool following it fresh and live, but most of it loses great impact if you're reading opinions about arcs worth watching. Dragon Ball is junkest food.

Dragon Ball is kinda like baseball. The tension is exciting watching live, but if I haven't watched an ended game and I have any knowledge of the scoring, I can't help but deduce if the game is worth watching at all. Most times it isn't.
 

jstripes

Banned
Dragon Ball was supposed to end after Frieza, Jump said "MORE", Toriyama said "fine" and did the Cell saga.

Dragon Ball was again supposed to end after the Cell saga, Jump said "MORE", Toriyama died inside and pumped out the Buu saga.

The complete lack of consistency is because he didn't care anymore.
 

Sec0nd

Member
It was introduced with lots of gaps and reruns way after the end of the Cell saga. Hype kinda went away and lots of people grew out of it. That was kinda my situation.
 

Sephzilla

Member
Dragon Ball was supposed to end after Frieza, Jump said "MORE", Toriyama said "fine" and did the Cell saga.

Dragon Ball was again supposed to end after the Cell saga, Jump said "MORE", Toriyama died inside and pumped out the Buu saga.

The complete lack of consistency is because he didn't care anymore.

These are actually false
 
Top Bottom