Best Fight Choreography Across the Series?

[TheBigBoy]

I'm watching clips from DBZ Movie 1, and holy cow, Goku and Piccolo's fight with Garlic's henchmen is really well choreographed and animated. Something about having the fights more grounded makes it a lot more exciting to me. Great music placement too.

So yeah...what are some of your favorite individual, short combat sequences across the series?

[VegettoEX]

DBZ movie 1 is totally up there for sure. That scene where Goku's flipping and dodging Nicky and Ginger's sword attacks is beyond amazing. It's not quite as good, but in movie 3 when Goku's dodging all the henchmen attacks, just the way he's looking to each side and cocking his head and parrying is pretty great; unfortunately it's just surrounded by PUNCHPUNCHPUNCHPUNCH animation.

From the first TV series, maybe episode 147? The Bruce Lee gut-punch is pretty fantastic. Maybe it's just that one frame that's such a striking visual, but the whole thing is pretty darn good.

The next thing that comes to mind is DBZ episode 31, where Goku's using Kaio-Ken against Vegeta and flying all over the place. That scene where he disappears off one side of the screen and appears on the other side is fantastic. Everything's A+ tier in this episode. The art is on point, the animation is on point, the colors are fantastic, and the choreography nails it.

My memory of GT's animation is pretty weak, so I don't really have anything in mind off-hand.

A nod I'll give to Super is probably the Vegetto versus Zamasu fight. Everything leading up to that face smash into the ground is also pretty solid all around.

[MaskedRider]

I want to give a shout out to this little piece
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBiaTYAgg2A
Goku is quick to action, him using his legs to make up for his lack of arm (with how satisfying each kick and that spin is) is amazing and Zamasu catching him to try to render him useless but Goku risking the Kaio Ken on top of Blue (I love the KK being stacked on top of Blue personally) once again in the series to escape and deliver a blow with what the KK can give him to break free and shatter Zamasu's halo was MWAH and the music is the cherry on top

[Lord Beerus]

In no particular order:

Goku Black and Zamasu vs Goku and Future Trunks:
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SSJB Vegetto vs Merged Zamasu:
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SSJ2 Goku vs Kid Boo
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SSJ2 Goku vs SSJ2 Majin Vegeta
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Goku vs The Red Ribbon Army
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Goku vs Android 17
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Goku vs Turles henchmen
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Goku vs Dr. Wheelo's Bio-Warriors
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Janemba vs Everyone
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[TheBigBoy]

Oh man, that sequence where Goku KO's all of Tales's henchmen at the same is so freaking cool and probably the best part of that entire movie.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

DBZ #232. Gokuu and Vegeta fight. The mix of slow and then bursts of fast hand to hand combat is incredible. The fight had such great tempo. Yama'uchi Shigeyasu was the director and he excels at that style of fighting and it is still Yamamuro's best piece of animation. Nozawa and Horikawa were at the top of their game. The music and SFX add so much weight to the intense fighting between two rivals. Yama'uchi's just too good of a director.

[ABED]

I like the fast paced, fluid, and intense fights. Aside from all the one's mentioned, one of my favorite moments is the moment where Piccolo uses basically the sokidan against Goku which Goku evades for a while before stopping, then running on ring, disappearing before reappearing right in front of Piccolo while smiling and dodging right at the last second. You don't know exactly what Goku's up to before the final moment.

There's also a bunch of cool moments in the early part of the Freeza/Goku fight where Freeza and Goku are dodging each other's attacks and it really shows how agile each fighter is.

[The gr]

My list in no particular order

DBZ M1 AND 3 goku vs the henchmen,those figths were pretty badass

Goku vs majin vegeta,the hth combat is incredible,the animation was fantastic and that figth was pretty intense,prop for yamamuro animation and Yama'uchi direction

vegito vs merged zamas,is shida man no need to elaborate

Goku vs cell,4 words studio cockpit

tien vs goku,I'm referring to both of their figths

goku vs vegeta,one of the most memorable figth in the franchise,the kaioken was so cool and that beam struggle was good with nozawa and the animation done by shimanuki

[MajinMan]

Not sure if it's the best choreographed fight, but Vegeta vs Recoome is one of the most underrated ones in the entire series. It looks so good. Vegeta vs Ginyu was also pretty good from what I remember.

Another one is when Tenshinhan does the machine gun punches against Goku in the 22nd Budokai. That's also a pretty good looking episode that doesn't get talked about much.

[8000 Saiyan]

The choreography in the fight between Goku and Cell is quite underrated in my opinion.

[The gr]

Not sure if it's the best choreographed fight, but Vegeta vs Recoome is one of the most underrated ones in the entire series. It looks so good. Vegeta vs Ginyu was also pretty good from what I remember.

Another one is when Tenshinhan does the machine gun punches against Goku in the 22nd Budokai. That's also a pretty good looking episode that doesn't get talked about much.

Vegeta vs recoome was really good,it was pretty intense,i can't beieve i didn't mention that figtht

The choreography in the fight between Goku and Cell is quite underrated in my opinion.

I mention that in my list,a figth that gets overlooked probaly because it wasn't the climax of the saga

[kemuri07]

Yeah, Vegeta vs. Recoome is pretty damn great.

Personal favorites:

Nappa vs. Goku.

and the brutal beatdown that is Goku Kaioken X4 vs Vegeta.

Man I think the entire Vegeta saga has easily some of the best fights in the series.

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

I'm not sure if best Choreography means most detailed movements or fights with the most diversified movements in them:

Though I think the Goku vs. Raditz fight is actually quite underrated as it was a Z-paced fight, but animated movements still looked like Martial Arts alike Dragonball.

I'll give other credit to Bardock's brief fights in The Father of Goku special, as he was probably the only character in the series that didn't just straight up brawl with the other characters, but all of his movements were always different and usually very tactical and evasive, a lot like Vegeta namek.

A personal favorite for me those is everything Turles did in the Tree of Might for these same values. It was made clear just by his evasion and timed hard-hits that he was reading through the attempts all the characters had against him. Very underrated.

Then I like Future Gohan Vs. 17 & 18 as it was one of the rare fights where it had the most variety of movements in the fight that made them iconic for Future Gohan. The flips, the pursuit and smokescreen, the right use of a barrier and the single arm blocking. It wasn't very martial-artist but it still shown he had actual skill and maneuverability as opposed to how predictable fights these days get in Super.

I also liked Ultimate Gohan vs. Super Buu for that as well, where though it was clearly another one-sided Gohan fight he at least had noticeable choreography to his strikes that weren't all the same things or a predictable Kamehameha.

Then there is SS3 Goku vs. Super Janemba, where I thought that fight really cemented the badassary of the form just in the movement and the brutality in the animation, along with Goku's close-ranged acrobatics.

^Same thing with Majin Vegeta vs. Majin Buu & Babidi. Very nimble, varied movements that were unique for Vegeta's character where it actually made him look skilled, and not just spamming ki blasts or just punching away things. One of his best in my opinion.

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

Without a doubt Yamamuro's Goku vs Vegeta from the Buu arc.
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The use of slow mo, the art, the animation, the facial expressions, the storyboarding. Everything is top notch. The fight choreography is the best thing about it. It's my favourite piece of animation in DBZ. Kai absolutely butchered this scene with its questionable editing.

Also, watching this is a constant reminder of how far Yamamuro has fallen.

[Lord Beerus]

Without a doubt Yamamuro's Goku vs Vegeta from the Buu arc.
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The use of slow mo, the art, the animation, the facial expressions, the storyboarding. Everything is top notch. The fight choreography is the best thing about it. It's my favourite piece of animation in DBZ. Kai absolutely butchered this scene with its questionable editing.

Also, watching this is a constant reminder of how far Yamamuro has fallen.

Yamamuro went from that to this:
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It's honestly really sad how much he's phoning it nowadays. Made even worse by the fact that other animators during the same period that Yamamuro, such as Shida and Tate, have gotten so much better as the years have gone by.

[Ripper 30]

DBZ #232. Gokuu and Vegeta fight. The mix of slow and then bursts of fast hand to hand combat is incredible. The fight had such great tempo. Yama'uchi Shigeyasu was the director and he excels at that style of fighting and it is still Yamamuro's best piece of animation. Nozawa and Horikawa were at the top of their game. The music and SFX add so much weight to the intense fighting between two rivals. Yama'uchi's just too good of a director.

This ^ and in the DBZ Movie 1 there is a scene where Gokū Dodges Swords from Garlic Jr.'s Henchmen (skip to 0:22).
Though there are many more but these 2 stand out for me.

[ABED]

the storyboarding. Everything is top notch. The fight choreography is the best thing about it. It's my favourite piece of animation in DBZ. Kai absolutely butchered this scene with its questionable editing.

How do you know what the storyboarding was like?

It's been a while since I saw the scenes in Kai, but how was it butchered?

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

the storyboarding. Everything is top notch. The fight choreography is the best thing about it. It's my favourite piece of animation in DBZ. Kai absolutely butchered this scene with its questionable editing.

How do you know what the storyboarding was like?

It's been a while since I saw the scenes in Kai, but how was it butchered?

Usually when referring to storyboarding in animation (at least from what I've seen in these forums) I'm referring to camera angles, character positions and framing to make something seem more interesting. I guess direction would've been a more appropriate word. I wish I had the storyboard for this scene.

And Buu Kai had this bad habit of editing action scenes to make them seem really fast, which lessened the impact of a lot of fights. The editing especially hurt here because the fight originally had an emphasis on slo mo. See for yourself.

[ABED]

I don't see it. THat's exactly how I remember it going in DBZ. I don't see the scene being ramped up. The moments are given time to breathe and allow the impact to land for the audience.

[Ripper 30]

the storyboarding. Everything is top notch. The fight choreography is the best thing about it. It's my favourite piece of animation in DBZ. Kai absolutely butchered this scene with its questionable editing.

How do you know what the storyboarding was like?

It's been a while since I saw the scenes in Kai, but how was it butchered?

Usually when referring to storyboarding in animation (at least from what I've seen in these forums) I'm referring to camera angles, character positions and framing to make something seem more interesting. I guess direction would've been a more appropriate word. I wish I had the storyboard for this scene.

And Buu Kai had this bad habit of editing action scenes to make them seem really fast, which lessened the impact of a lot of fights. The editing especially hurt here because the fight originally had an emphasis on slo mo. See for yourself.

I think this Epic scene from DBZ was totally butchered in Kai and I am mainly talking about the hype for the First Punch that Gokū hits vegeta with and how in Original there are flashes off it but in Kai its all rushed.