How much of Dragon Ball do you actually think is good?

[xarmyz]

For me, it's quite simple. I think all of the original manga arcs are great, The back half of Super starting with the Goku Black/Zamasu arc is pretty good and so are DBZ movies 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13 and 14 plus Path to Power and the Bardock and Trunks specials.

I ask because I want to see if most of you'll answer predictably and boringly as I suspect with only Pilaf, Red Ribbon Army, the Budokais, Saiyan and maybe Freeza/Namek. (as even it nowadays is taking a kicking in fandom opinion thanks to the influence of a certain someone.) Or if you will actually step up in favor for Piccolo Daimao, Android/Cell, Majin Buu or anything from GT or Super. Call it wanting to confirm my suspicions about a lot of you here if you must.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

From the 10 arcs of the manga I would say that the Android & Cell Arc and Majin Bu Arc are the only ones below being good stories (they're poor and average respectively) but still enjoyable to some degree.

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From the movies and TV specials, only five of them are at least good entertaiment:

* Dead Zone
* The Strongest Guy in The World
* Bojack Unbound
* Fusion Reborn
* Path to Power

From the movies and TV specials, only four of them are more than good entertaiment and have substance:

* The History of Trunks
* Bardock: The Father of Goku
* Wrath of The Dragon
* Battle of Gods

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Can't say anything about GT cause it's been like a decade (and a bit more) since I last watched an episode of it.

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From Dragon Ball Super only the Future Trunks Arc and Universe Survival Arc are the only arcs that are at minimum good in this show, everything prior ranges from just OK (Battle of Gods retelling and the Champa Arc) to pretty poor (Ressurection F retelling).

[Gaffer Tape]

(as even it nowadays is taking a kicking in fandom opinion thanks to the influence of a certain someone.)

Well, you didn't mention me by name this time, but, based on how you've divided the arcs, I'm going to assume you're talking about me. As I said back in January, when you did explicitly refer to me, I think you are VASTLY overestimating my influence in the Dragon Ball fandom (although, once again, I'm flattered you would think so). I am a small-time YouTuber. And as I also said in January, I am not attempting to raise some kind of Dragon Ball cult. I am merely putting out my reasoned opinions into a public space. No one is forced or even encouraged to agree with me. And I think if you look around, you'll find that my views are largely out of lockstep with the greater Dragon Ball fandom. My favorites are not the favorites of the majority. What I value in a Dragon Ball story is often not what the majority looks for. Please. Feel free to be you, to love what you want, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

As for "confirming your suspicions," well, that already seems like an odd reason to start this topic. What are you trying to expose? I've been around these boards long enough to know there are a wide range of opinions and tastes on various parts of Dragon Ball. But even if they were all in agreement, what does that even mean? Why would you feel threatened by that?

[ABED]

From what I've seen, the Piccolo Daimao arc is very well regarded.

I'm with Gaffer Tape on this.

[xarmyz]

(as even it nowadays is taking a kicking in fandom opinion thanks to the influence of a certain someone.)

Well, you didn't mention me by name this time, but, based on how you've divided the arcs, I'm going to assume you're talking about me. As I said back in January, when you did explicitly refer to me, I think you are VASTLY overestimating my influence in the Dragon Ball fandom (although, once again, I'm flattered you would think so). I am a small-time YouTuber. And as I also said in January, I am not attempting to raise some kind of Dragon Ball cult. I am merely putting out my reasoned opinions into a public space. No one is forced or even encouraged to agree with me. And I think if you look around, you'll find that my views are largely out of lockstep with the greater Dragon Ball fandom. My favorites are not the favorites of the majority. What I value in a Dragon Ball story is often not what the majority looks for. Please. Feel free to be you, to love what you want, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

As for "confirming your suspicions," well, that already seems like an odd reason to start this topic. What are you trying to expose? I've been around these boards long enough to know there are a wide range of opinions and tastes on various parts of Dragon Ball. But even if they were all in agreement, what does that even mean? Why would you feel threatened by that?

I want to know just how much of a heretic I am among the "real" Dragon Ball fans is all. That and to see if most people like half of the series at the very least because if you don't then you should probably move on to another fandom that you like more of. And lot of posters seem like that. And I think you are vastly underestimating your arguments on the internet. And I do think the narrative that you are selling that "Dragon Ball was at best in it's early days and everything since the Saiyan arc has been down hill for the franchise since" is deathly boring and wish to fight against it.

[TheBigBoy]

The manga arcs are great . Freeza arc has some pacing issues (especially in the anime) and Namek as a setting is dull as hell. The Android arc suffers because the characters have become so powerful with so many tools at their disposal they have to be written as dumb or callous. But the highs of both those arcs are pretty high IMO.

The anime filler is all over the place in quality...there's probably more bad than good if for no other reason that it drags out an already slow paced show.

The DB movies seem mostly good. The Z movies are mostly average.

I've honestly never watched GT but everything I've read or heard about it makes me think it's not my thing.

I like BoG and RoF as movies. However, I don't really care for the Super adaptations of both arcs. Who would want to watch these stories stretched out to multiple TV episodes with much worse animation and minimal changes?

Goku Black arc is great but the dumb ending drags it down a bit.

I actually really enjoyed the ToP arc. It's pure spectacle and that doesn't really bother me.

[KBABZ]

I haven't seen very much outside of Dragon Ball, DBZ Kai, the Jump Special, and the two Toriyama Z movies. The only game I've played is FighterZ.

To get it out of the way, the manga in its entirety is 95% utterly amazing, especially in Full Colour. That 5% knock is basically just the inappropriate sexual humour from Master Roshi, Oolong and Old Kai.

OG Dragon Ball I find to be very enjoyable. The Pilaf Arc isn't immediately compelling to me once we get to the village of the week format, and the Pilaf finale is stunted by the Pinball filler. The 21st Tournament is great of course. While the RRA arc is for me the most iconic OG Dragon Ball arc, it does suffer from extended amounts of filler regarding Colonel Silver, Muscle Tower and the Pirate Cave. The World Training, Heavenly Training and the Wedding Dress arcs I've never really been much of a fan of because of how unimportant they all seem to be, but that's most likely bias because I know they aren't from the manga. The use of Journey to the West stories is pretty neat though, I appreciate that. The 22nd Tournament is very compelling, but is held back a lot by filler stretching the events out too much. Daimao is where things really pick up and get gripping, and thankfully there isn't a lot of filler here either to slow things down. Incredible finale too, arguably one of the series best. 23rd Tournament I've always felt was a tad predictable because the format was played out by this point, but it's still cool at the very least.

Kai for me I've always loved for having tons of momentum, and while the Namek arc is long, the more concise story and faster pacing really helps draw you into the show. It's just a shame about the Japanese VO. Yamamoto's score feels modern, but almost to a fault: it's overly bombastic and heroic a lot of the time, and fighting Frieza there just isn't enough new music. And of course the plagarism is inexcusable. The Final Chapters is very mixed because of the widescreen, grading and the fact that hitting an arbitrary episode count meant it still contained a fair bit of filler moments slowing the story down. Sumitomo's score is neat, but ultimately suffers from not having a wide enough track selection. Battle of Gods kinda replaces the Jump Special, but both have a fun feel to them. I didn't find BoG to have a compelling villain threat, but I like the subversion of Goku losing at the end. RoF I find to be a great insight into Frieza's character to remind the audience of just why he failed on Namek all those years ago. What I've seen of GT shows it had some unique ideas, but it didn't have the pedigree to tell them effectively. I liked the new format of travelling in space, which is why it's a tad disappointing that it basically becomes Z again once everyone's back on Earth.

FighterZ I found incredibly fun and was 100% a fun ride... but I have to knock off 30% because of how the campaign was structured, and not utilizing the full character roster. A shame really, I thought the story it told was rather compelling and clever. I haven't played any of the other games like Xenoverse, Heroes or BOOTYKAI, but they always came off as B tier at most to me, especially Xenoverse.

So I'd say it's about 65%, what I've been exposed to. If I swap out OG DB with something like Recut or T1C, I'd bump it up to 80%.

[MasenkoHA]

With the Pilaf arc at least I will say those last 4 episodes sure do drag. They could have been done in like 2.

The Namek stuff drags. A lot. It’s easiest to digest that crap in the manga. Even in Kai the Goku v Freeza fight last way longer than it should.

[OhHiRenan]

The manga is great from start to finish with some dips in quality every now and again without ever getting outright bad.

The Dragon Ball anime is decent for the most part.

Dragon Ball Z is mediocre outside of the Saiyan arc which is great.

Dragon Ball GT is bad.

The Super manga is mediocre. The Super anime is bad.

[PFM18]

The Buu arc and the Resurrection F arc are bad. All of GT is awful outside of the Baby arc which is pretty good. Everything else I have thoroughly enjoyed at one point or another and I would say is good to exceptional.

[Doctor.]

All of the original manga is good. I think it has its low points, namely the Cell arc, Piccolo Daimao and the 22nd Budokai, but they're still enjoyable reads for a lot of reasons; and the series only really hits its stride by the 23rd Budokai. Saiyan to Freeza is the peak of the series and the Boo arc is a return to form after a massive dip in the Cell arc.

As for material outside of the manga, GT and Super (anime and manga) both have good, memorable moments, but they're both terrible as works of art, especially the ToP; the Goku Black arc of the anime is enjoyable enough though. Battle of Gods is a good movie, Resurrection F is awful, though the Super arc improves on it somewhat. Out of the original movies, most of them are enjoyable but I think the only truly good ones are DB movies 2 and 3, DBZ movie 1, 2, 3, 12 and 13; out of these DB 3 and DBZ 13 are my favorites, but I should rewatch the movies sometime. Path to Power is enjoyable but my opinion on it has soured over the years, I don't think it does quite as good of a job of retelling the original series as the DB movie trilogy. The Jump special is fun but unnecessary. And, of course, the two TV Specials are fantastic, some of the best DB material ever produced.

[ABED]

There's quite a bit of filler that on its own is enjoyable, it's just when seen in its full and proper context, it makes DB a slog to get through.

My favorite stuff in the series is the first 3 Budokais and the Piccolo Daimao arc through Freeza.

[Nokra]

Everything is good except db evolution and boring filler.

[Cipher]

All of the original run, without qualifiers. Even my least favorite parts of it are still excellent comics. (This does not extend to the anime adaptation, where I have plenty of qualifiers, even though the story is still strong and there are whole arcs that work just as well.)

Outside of that, very little is actually great (though Battle of Gods is a stellar addendum), but a lot of it's still enjoyable and worth going through if you've enjoyed the main series.

I like GT quite a bit. I like parts of the Super anime and basically all of the manga. I like Victory Mission, and the original movies, and even the dumb superhero comics take of the Super Dragon Ball Heroes manga. But none of that is stuff that anyone but existing fans of the series need apply for, out of curiosity or just for their own fun.

[DBZAOTA482]

The first arc is slow but things pick up during the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai though slows down again a bit Red Ribbon Army and Baba Palace arcs.

Everything from the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai to the Freeza arc is great, near-flawless work.

The Cell arc is decent but flawed. The Boo arc is when the writing starts to suck but the Toriyama charm masks that.

GT sucks. 2 subpar arcs (Black Star Dragon Ball and Bebi), one mediocre arc (Super #17), and a decent(-ish) final arc. Great ending though.

Super is mediocre. It was clearly made to bank on the success of the movies BoG and Resurrection F as we were given two retellings that nobody asked for. Once we get to the actual stories, it's best only measures up to Z's average or worst.

Most of the movies and specials are entertaining but only a few of them are actually good (Bardock: The Father of Goku, History of Trunks, and Fusion Reborn come to mind).

[Bullza]

Amongst the manga then most of it.

A good chunk of the Pilaf Saga, bits here and there of the Red Ribbon Army Saga like the Arale nonsense and then most of the Fusion Saga.

The Fusion Saga in particular was quite long and also mainly a waste of time.

[Subarashii]

All of the Manga, some to most of the Anime.
The Goku Black Arc was interesting and good, but had a dumb ending, period. Could've been better, still love Black and Zamasu though. ToP was way too long, Jiren didn't stomp literally everyone in the beginning and end the tournament right there because of Plot. Frieza although fun to watch, should've been dead after Toppo beat his ass. Plot reasons also made him last that long, in fact, it's with most of the characters. Tien was wasted. Overall fun to watch, but that's about it, not much important plot happening because they stretched the unecessary plot so damn much.

[Lord Beerus]

A large chunk of the original manga is fucking ace. With the only real low points being the Cell arc, King Piccolo arc and the final third of the Majin Boo arc.

The DBZ anime is severely bloated and uneven in quality, but still a worthwhile experience... if watched in large chunks from time to time.

GT is really decent, with the Baby arc being a major highlight, not just for the show, but for the franchise in general.

Super, both the anime and manga, is mostly really good. The Champa arc is a jolly fun throwaway tournament, Future Trunks arc is damn good roller-coaster, the Universal Survival arc spectacular fireworks show of an arc.

Most of the Dragon Ball movies are throwaways, but Mystical Great Adventure, The World's Strongest Guy, The Galaxy at the Brink!! The Super Incredible Guy, The Rebirth of Fusion!! Goku and Vegeta, Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Goku Won't Do It, Who Will?! and God and God stand alone as great additional side-stories.

The Bardock and Future Trunks TV specials are absolutely killer and some of the best material in all of Dragon Ball. And the GT TV special (Goku's Side Story! Si Xing Qiu is a Testament to Courage) is pretty damn great in it's own regard.

Other miscellaneous material like Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans and Episode Of Bardock are pure fluff material, with really only Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! having any redeemable value.

In the "Do Not Watch" pile, I have:
- Dragon Ball Z Movie 4
- Dragon Ball Z Movie 6
- Dragon Ball Z Movie 7
- Dragon Ball Minus
- Garlic Jr arc
- Super #17 arc
- Resurrection F arc
- Episode Of Bardock
- Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans

[sunsetshimmer]

Original manga is great
Some of fillers from DB/DBZ anime are good, many are trash especially in Z
DBS anime is pure garbage
DBS manga is OK
GT is good
All 3 original TV specials (Bardock, Trunks, Goku Jr) are awesome
DB Minus is OK, bad compared to Bardock special but still much better than Episode of Bardock
Most of early DB/Z movies are bad.
Bio-Broly and Ressurection 'F' are pure garbage even worse than Evolution
Path to Power is awesome and easily best DB movie ever made, first Broly movie is also very good

[ekrolo2]

I'd say most of the manga is pretty good, the Cell arc is almost entirely irredeemable trash (Goku vs Cell & Piccolo vs 17 being the only highlights). Probably the best thing to come out of this arc was the anime version of Trunks the Story. The Boo arc has a good opening and ending act but dear God is the middle part almost entirely crap save for the stuff between Mister Satan and Fat Boo.

GT oscillates between decent and occasionally boring but I'll always point out Baby, his arc, GTs characterization of Goku & Vegeta, SS4 and the Shadow Dragons as standouts that really help elevate it in my eyes.

Yo Son Goku is kind of a big load of nothing, Battle of Gods the film basically does it and a whole bunch of other stuff infinitely better. Speaking of BoG the movie, that's probably the best DB story from beginning to end since the Baby arc. Resurrection F is terrible though Freeza in the ToP manages to (barely) justify its existence. U6 arc is boring as all hell, the Future Trunks arc is the most disappointing thing I've experienced since Mass Effect 3, and the ToP arc is mostly good for the sakuga, it has good story beats and individual episodes but it goes on far too long and Jiren really should've been cut out in favor of Toppo.

I haven't watched most of the OG DB movies or the Z ones in ages so I really can't yay or nay them.