Farewell DBZA And Thanks for all the Fish

I can’t help but say how much I really like watching abridged series. It feels like that’s been a product that existed in my life since Junior High when people I know where obsessed with Yu Gi Oh abridged a long time ago. I’ve never really had a love for that anime series that eventually formed that abridged series, but I’ve been a life long DBZ fan. Yes, because of Toonami. I mean thing that has been a thing that has defined me. It was DBZA in my early college years that really caught my imagination from the then recently formed abridged super group called Team Four Star.

It’s so strange to look back and how long DBZA has become a part of my life sense it started. I found the series around episode 5 years ago and it’s been a center of meme content and jokes for me and some of my friends ever since we found it. It was such a fun journey to watch TFS slowly improve their editing, writing, voice acting, and general quality as time moved on. The earlier episodes are still more then watchable, but I love how the show found itself in the second season when it strayed away from the original material in their own way instead of just adding meta jokes. I mean those were there still, but these characters really started going their own direction in their own way. It’s fun to see something find a voice.

That’s the fun of abridged series. They are like a numerous amount of other people’s interpretations of other characters, except you add video stuff to it. You know editing, sound effects, music, some extra visual effects, and voice acting are added to that list. While I am sure there is an endless amount of fanfictions that never finish due to the writers lack of passion or lack of vision of where they wanted to take the story, only the most dedicated people ever completely end an abridged series on their own terms. Only a small amount of abridged series ever finished, which is why it’s amazing that TFS ended something on their own terms. Hopefully Toei won’t take their channel down again for it.

I say all this because I am really going to miss watching DBZA. As I’ve stated before, those three seasons are things that went beyond just entertainment for me. Keeping together with my friends was one thing. It was also another thing that gave me a constant or center in my life for a decade when I was having a rough time. This last decade was horrible for me and I needed it. I do enjoy the latest Unlimited Blade Works and Sword Art Online abridged series created from similar groups, but there is something about a first love that makes it disappearing more powerful. That’s how TFS’ DBZA feels to me. I am very interested in what direction TFS wants to go from here though. Preproduction and production in general take a while, but I will be here when the new content appears.

So once again, thank you Team Four Star for everything that you’ve done for me. Even if I was one of the quiet ones who never left a comment or sent fan mail, you guys meant a lot to me and still do. Thank you, thank you so much. That’s all that I wanted to say today. I don’t know how to say or do more, so I hope this little blog posts gets to you guys. Until the next time.