_{Journal Entry: May 23. 2013. Saturday.}

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For a month or so ago I stumbled upon a 4 panel screenshot joke on MemeCenter about Dragon Ball. Sadly the one I saw on MemeCenter seems to be gone now but here's a gif version of the joke:








- and something really weird struck me. I laughed my ass off. But, I didn't watch Dragon Ball nor did I read the manga, I wasn't actually interested in the series at all, I just knew it existed. Yet, not only did I find the meme funny, I knew it was funny and I knew why it was funny.

I knew that Trunks was Bulma's son, I even knew their names ! How could I know these things even though I didn't care for the series? I find it really fascinating how popular manga/anime series can influence you so much as an anime/manga fan even if you don't follow it. Anyway, since the meme looked like screenshots with subtitles I figured that there probably was a version with sound added to it and I really wanted to hear the internal scream. So my search began. I ended up watching about three episodes of Dragon Ball Z trying to find the moment the screenshots came from but I couldn't find it.

A while later I found out that it was from TFS' abridged series and watched that episode and laughed at many more jokes than the one I was looking for. To make this already long story shorter, I watched even more episodes of the abridged series, I started reading facts on Dragon Ball wiki, Youtube now recommend me thousands of Dragon Ball clips and I've bought the first 8 mangas in Swedish and of course read them and long for more.

What that really bothers me with this is that I'm so late in discovering this series even though I've had so many chances to get caught in it ! When I was in fifth grade or perhaps I was even younger a girl in my class talked about Dragon Ball for a school project and since she knew I also read manga, (was only I, she and one boy who was interested in manga in our class), she warmly recommended it for me. But I didn't start reading it. According to my younger self, the drawing style wasn't really my thing and it was too much fighting, not really my genre. Which in a way is understandable since the first manga I bought and read the whole thing was Tokyo Mew Mew, which while it does involve fighting has a more romantic orientation. But still !

To make it even worse.. While on the same girl's birthday party I saw one of the Dragon Ball manga pocket books laying on the table and casually flipped through it, only to once again tell myself that it wasn't something I was interested in, but I also did multiple times read the first 3 pocket books of Dragon Ball in the library when bored. I still didn't like it. Since then I haven't been involved with the series at all.

I could not regret that decision that I made more. Dragon Ball rules! Gosh, I love it so much.

And now I feel a bit left out of the fandom. Not that I talk with many Dragon Ball fans or anything, it's just that most fans I take notice of here on the internet are mostly males that are older than me and have watched the series since they were very young. And here I am, already a grown up female and have just now opened my eyes for Dragon Ball, I don't really belong lllOTL But I was happy to realise that the fandom is still ongoing, and it's going on hard. At least on YouTube TFS is still going and apparently have a lot of planned material to use and they get thousands of views and comments. Maybe I'll fit in better on day.

The new found love for Dragon Ball also made me realise something about Naruto. I was rather late into that series as well, another of my anime loving female friends recomended me to start watching the anime many times but I rejected the idea because I was into DNAngel and Lucky Star at the time. When I well started following the series I loved it to bits, but the series was already in Shippuden when I began watching the first part. When I first began reading the manga online it the Sasuke - Itachi fight had just started.

Even though I came late into Naruto, I feel more at home in the fanbase because I've been here for quite some time now and the series is in matter of fact still ongoing.

I realised that I would regret it if I let Naruto slip away from me. It's kinda my youth series,  like Dragon Ball was for its fanbase, I did after all start watching Naruto in my early teens I was 12-13 years old when I became a fan. If I drop out now, I'll regret it since I envy the Dragon Ball fanbase so much for being raised with an anime/manga series by their side.

So I actually read the latest Naruto chapters... Ahhh, feeling of relief. The series has taken a turn for what I consider better. Obito, you are fully forgiven, I'm sorry for doubting you and actually almost hated you for a good while.. Now let me love you again xD

I'm going to start doing the Naruto chapter reviews again

Oh, and next time someone who's opinion I value recomend I try something, I promise I will actually try harder to see why they like it.

Long rant is long. Nobody is probably even reading all of it xD I just wanted to vent some emotions.

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