Dragon Ball Z was the first anime I ever watched, setting the standard for what anime is like and what it should be. I've gone on and watched more anime since, and that standard has long since been surpassed. Nevertheless, Dragon Ball Z will always hold a special place in my heart.

Despite this, Dragon Ball Z is still far from great. The length is my biggest issue. Maybe its just me, but I like to be done a series in twenty episodes. Of course, I make plenty of exceptions, but that's my preference. At the time, I thought all anime was just one hundred plus episodes and that I just had to deal with it. Either way, Dragon Ball Z is just too long. The fights drag on and never change, and by the end of an episode I always feel like nothing has been accomplished (and this happens a lot). I was rarely excited by the fights because of this, and that really took away from the enjoyment of watching them.

The show's story isn't great either. Sure, this is a show about fighting, but it never changes. Apparently every evil alien in the universe has the same life goal in mind. The show starts to get really stale by the second story arc.

The characters for the most part are done well enough. The only major growth seems to be in physical strength, but occasionally we get a character like Vegeta who shows incredible development through all nine seasons, making him the real star of the show. Still, his character struggled in terms of life goals, considering it never changed.

Overall Dragon Ball Z is a classic example of a really, really long anime. In the end, I wouldn't say it was worth it. I wouldn't suggest you watch this show (unless you've already started it/watched it). It's not that it's bad or anything, it's just not worth it in the end. Sure, Vegeta's journey throughout the show is great, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't worth it. Despite my rating, I wouldn't recommend Dragon Ball Z. But if you want to watch it still, then go right ahead. It's better then plenty of other shows that I've seen, but easily worse then a lot of others. If you loved it, then I can respect that, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.