Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball has become a super-franchise that's attained a foothold on pop-culture like Star Wars and MARVEL, even if it's a somewhat more niche taste for some fanboys out there. Ever since 1996, when Dragon Ball Z (or DBZ) first got imported in the United States via Cartoon Network, the franchise's status in Western popular culture has become cataclysmic in scale and its characters have become household names, especially Goku himself.

Anime has become an interesting paradox in the entertainment industry: some relish its high-detail animation and storytelling whilst some reckon too many are all the same as each other. Yet in Japan anime is simply a domestic term for 'animation' period: not just specific to their own stuff. DBZ is like a nice concentrated form of all the good stuff that's come to define anime over the past couple of decades, even if it has some of the cliches built-in as part of its story. Thankfully the cliches add to the charm and over-the-top nature of the show's many fight scenes and character-driven comedy helps make DBZ a plentiful experience for even the most casual viewers of animated television.

This show is an energetic blast from the past that still has loads of charm and appeal for modern television audiences everywhere. Even if this isn't the very start of Goku's story (the original Dragon Ball covers that), it's still a great introduction to some of animation's most memorable characters.