Kanzenshuu Members' Favorite Series (2019 Edition) ROUND 2/3

[Rory]

Guess I'll throw in my 2 cents, though there already seems to be a pretty predictable consensus here.
I really try to treat Dragon Ball and Z as one series, I know there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff, but despite this it still feels like a natural continuation, if there was no title distinction it wouldn't feel any different to me, Z ep 1 would just feel like the next episode of Dragon Ball.
With that in mind:

Dragon Ball/Z takes the top spot without any contest. It starts off very snappy with Gokuu's quest to gather the 7 balls being a perfect introduction, since you're done in about 13 episodes and are hungry for more. Even if the later stuff does drag, there's so much there, even the filler content of later arc contributes, keeping side characters at play, and giving you more time to experience the world (that the anime does a stellar job of building). The biggest problem isn't the filler, it's the padding. And it does stink, especially when you hit Freeza. It lowers my impression of the series, but everything else is just so stellar, the acting, the music, the choreography of so many of the fights, it's just bliss.

Dragon Ball GT seems to be getting a second wind as of late, which is nice! It normally gets called out for having great concepts which trip out of the gate. Can't argue with that! That being said, the early stuff is executed well as a nice throwback arc (searching for Dragon Balls again!) and the main trio's relationship feels genuine as they have nice chemistry. The aesthetics of GT I have a real soft spot for too, real nice choices of colours and character designs for the main cast. The music is a real show stealer too, feeling different from DB/Z, but having a great identity of its own. Animation is hit and miss, but when it hits everything feels just right. Then ending too. However everything between Baby and the ending brings the experience down a lot. A lot of head scratching moments, but there's just enough Dragon Ball spirit and fun thrown in there to keep me watching. It sits far below the original series in my view, and I come back to it far less, but it has a forgiving length (64 episodes) which tempts me back every now and then.

Dragon Ball Super is a thing. The consensus seems to be the slice of life stuff is great, though I can't agree with that because the characters from this version of the show straight up don't feel like the cast of Dragon Ball to me. Flanderisation is a term that gets tossed around and I guess I have to agree somewhat. Gokuu wasn't that dense as an adult, and he's seen a lot of character regression in both the story proper and his slice of life scenes. What happened to Vegeta's "You are number one!" moment? Guess he's just regressed back to Cell arc Vegeta? Speaking of Cell arc, it's great to see everyone rocking their most boring looks, Vegeta's back in his armour, Goku's wearing his old gi again (they tried something new and just got cold feet I guess), Kuririn shaves his head again, everything is just "as you remember". Super is very safe, it never tries anything bold or daring, it's very aware that it sits in the shadow of Dragon Ball, instead of trying to take the show to daring new places.
The aesthetics are also dreadful, we've got an all-but-given-up art director who's determined to make everyone in the cast look as blocky and boring as possible, with a real gross digital presentation. It has easily some of the worst examples of animation in the series (not even in one off oddities like #5, but throughout a huge deal of the early arcs we've got slogs of piss-poor animation to cringe through).
Also the music is mostly bad until the last arc, but its used in one of the worst arcs of the series so who cares lmao.

I don't like Dragon Ball Kai at all. It's probly fine if you watch the dub but otherwise it's straight trash. Dreadful music placement, a cast who feels bored in comparison to their legendary performances of the 80's/90's, jarring cuts between animation styles, unforgivably bad digital traces of scenes that come and go seemingly at random, and a frankly poorly paced show. Scenes cut quickly, despite clearly being animated with room to breathe in mind. Kai is frankly the worst way to experience Dragon Ball's post-Saiyan stories today.
I think it's given new wind to the whole "Granny Gokuu" meme too, as Nozawa's performance isn't as solid as her previous outings. It's obviously not her fault, and her voice defined my teen years, though if we had to have Kai, this was the perfect time for a passing of the torch.The same obviously goes for Super too, I just forgot to mention it there.
That was quite an aside. So let's move on.

Oh wait, I've not seen Dragon Ball Heroes. Well, I guess that's that then!