FUNimation: Runining DBZ in a different way
OR
The Long and Winding Road
By Srg. Spencer's Lonely Hearts Club Band (ssj4sam@aol.com)

FUNi has a dub that is pure schyst compared to the real thing. That doesn't matter to me, though. I never watch the dub, and if I want DB, I look at my massive collection of fansubs. If I need a "quality" (as in better picture & sound) expirence, I'll buy a FUNi DVD (Not Likely, though). I don't care about the dub, and I don't watch it, but I still loathe it.

What basis do I have to hate the dub if I can't judge it fairly (though watching Season 4 would be torture to me)? Easy. I hate the dub for what it did to the atmosphere. Pure and simple. I am no longer enthralled with DBZ, and I have seperated myself from it during the past year. My pure hatred hit its high point in summer when I wrote a goodbye letter to the DBZ Web Community. But how does "atmosphere" relate to a dub and my hatred of DBZ?

Flashback to 1992. Sam expirences DB for the first time, and loves it (though this love doesn't explode when a piece of Toriyama's legacy, Chrono Trigger, still the greatest video game of all time, made it mainstream in the US). In 1995, the Internet, Sam Spencer IV, and Toriyama-san all converged in a 100mhz Acer with a 36.6 connection to the net (it also had Sim City 2000). I made a Chrono Trigger page, and I remembered the animation style, and my mind flashed back to Dragonball. With a search engine in hand, I searched for fansubs.

Fast Forward to 1998. Sam Spencer's Spaceport 2 is getting 1,000 hits daily. People know about DBZ, and some of my friends know about it. I don't know how on Earth they do. I see a Gokou picture drawn in art. . .I investigate on the internet, and I find out 53 episodes are already in English, and the last episode aired was Gokou's arrival on Namek. But wait!! Gokou arrives on Namek on my 67th episode. . .Thus begins my hatred of FUNi.

And here we are today. DBZ is the next Pokémon. And along with popularity, come groupie assholes. People who have a repitore of questions (usally 10) along the lines of "Who is the third guy to speak in episode 200?". I'm an idiot for not knowing, but after my trivia opponent stops laughing, I ask "Who is Tao Pie Pie?". Who is the freaking idiot now?

VegettoEX recently "came out" (no, not in the way the 50-or-so hate mails he recives daily from intolerant idiots say he should): Mike admitted he was through with Dragonball. I was the first webmaster to do so, others have told me in private, but it all boils down to one thing: us webmasters are at our ends. We have gotten everything there is to get out of Dragonball. As a collective, we have put up every episode, translation, mp3, and picture you could possibly want. It's near the end, folks. DBZ in the states may have a future, but DB on the web is on it's last legs.

So remember what Paul McCartney said "And, in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make." Remember this. We as webmasters take love (and hate), but what we make through our sites is worthy of the love. These fans who spam message boards and bully newbies aren't making any love. If you are doing this, who is truely loved? Who will be remembered? The Webmasters. In two years most of the sites you know and love will be retired. You will remember them with great nostaliga and love. But will you remember VEGGITA237_DBZ_A whose biggest claim to fame is being in a "Humorous IM Session" that Chibi Maverick posted on his website? Of course not.

Have fun while it lasts. But if you want it to last longer (time for the second Beatles quote, this time from John), all you need is love.

DBZ will never be forgotten when the sites close. Though we shall grow out of it, there is something in the way she moves me (George quote. 3rd Beatle). And You. I sincerely apologize to all Ringo Starr fans I offended by not giving him a quote. I hope you love Dragonball. But I hope you realize you have to be good to your fellow man, and that you have to realize when it's time to move on. Thank you, Mike. Domo Arigoto to all that visit our sites and respect us.

The rest of you, along with FUNimation, can burn in hell.