Z or Original Dragon Ball? Which do you prefer and why?

[Kokonoe]

Both are good but yeah I prefer Z cause I liked how the series started abandoning the Journey to the West parodying and became it's own thing and vastly toning down the chinese stuff for more original content as well as more interesting personalities in the characters. Frieza saga had a pretty interesting journey as well with Gohan and Krillin. Really liked their duo.

Not really a fan of Demon King Piccolo and his henchmen. Like his henchmen were rather generic looking and forgettable to me. Whereas Z has villains like Majin Buu, Cell, and Frieza which have very interesting designs.

[KBABZ]

I liked how the series started abandoning the Journey to the West parodying and became it's own thing

That kinda happened as soon as the first arc ended, though.

[Kokonoe]

I liked how the series started abandoning the Journey to the West parodying and became it's own thing

That kinda happened as soon as the first arc ended, though.

True that.

[ABED]

DB. I liked how it switched things up constantly, including structure and tone. Even though I think the Saiyan arc is Toriyama at his best, that's around the time Toriyama settled into a formula.

Not really a fan of Demon King Piccolo and his henchmen. Like his henchmen were rather generic looking and forgettable to me. Whereas Z has villains like Majin Buu, Cell, and Frieza which have very interesting designs.

That's an unfair comparison. You're comparing the main antagonists with the underlings.

[Kokonoe]

DB. I liked how it switched things up constantly, including structure and tone. Even though I think the Saiyan arc is Toriyama at his best, that's around the time Toriyama settled into a formula.

Not really a fan of Demon King Piccolo and his henchmen. Like his henchmen were rather generic looking and forgettable to me. Whereas Z has villains like Majin Buu, Cell, and Frieza which have very interesting designs.

That's an unfair comparison. You're comparing the main antagonists with the underlings.

Well Zarbon and Dodoria have much more interested designs than those two at least. Cell and Buu don't really have henchmen.

But Demon King Piccolo himself is honestly kinda boring to me I felt Tao was the much more interesting villain.

[ABED]

Fair enough. I don't agree, but fair.

[MyVisionity]

DB. The overall quality I think is better, and more consistent. The artwork is better. The humor is better. The filler is better. The pacing is better.

Toriyama's distinctive style I enjoy and is much stronger in the earlier arcs. I prefer the music in DB over Z. I also like the energy of the first series better.

I also enjoy the martial arts tournaments aspect to the series.

[Vijay]

I'mma what you may call flip-flop guy when it comes to entertainment. Especially DragonBall

Whenever I feel bored & wish to witness epic, intense badass moments I'd tune in Z

When I kinda miss chibi Goku & cute mythical charm heyday DB has...I'd watch DB. Plus it had genuine sense of adventure & storytelling. But it warrants long-term commitment to know the entire plot. And I don't have lotsa time really.

Z on the other hand is like fast food. I watch up to 30 minutes fights...(Goku vs Cell/Goku vs Majin Veggie/Gohan vs Boo) then I get back to doin my work. So Z is easy watch.

[Matches Malone]

Neither, I view them both as one story. My favorite section within the story is from the start of the 23rd Tenkaichi till the end of the Namek arc. I think the fights, characters, and overall story was the best during that period.

[Witty User Name]

Neither, I view them both as one story. My favorite section within the story is from the start of the 23rd Tenkaichi till the end of the Namek arc. I think the fights, characters, and overall story was the best during that period.

I second this. I view it as one and complete ''Dragon Ball''. The ''Z'' separation is artifical -- so much it doesn't even exist in the manga.

[Arteaga4K]

The 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai up until the end of the Freeza arc is the peak of the franchise imo so it's kinda hard to say which I prefer. I feel like the end of DB blends into the Saiyan arc well, which itself blends into the namek/freeza arc good too. Overall though I'll say Z even though the Buu arc is imo the worst thing toriyama ever made

[KBABZ]

the Buu arc is imo the worst thing toriyama ever made

For some reason I think Majin Vegeta is the exception to this statement, haha.

[emperior]

They are both exceptionally good.
I prefer Z because it has my favorite arcs and I think it’s overall the most entertaining, but I love the mystical feeling I get out of the pre-Raditz stuff and I also love the more grounded fights DB had.

[90sDBZ]

I think I have to give it to Z overall, although the King Piccolo Saga is right up there with the best Z has to offer, and better than a significant portion of it. I also love all 3 Tournaments from DB, which have some of the best fighting choreography in the franchise.

The Frieza Saga has always been my favourite of the franchise, so it's very hard for anything to top it. I also love the Saiyan Saga, and parts of the Cell and Buu Sagas.

I will say that original Dragon Ball didn't have as much bad filler as Z. The pre-Namek filler is some of the worst of the series for me. Although I do enjoy Garlic Jr, the driving episode, and the Otherworld Tournament.

And there is a certain sense of innocent simplicity about DB that makes me think of my childhood, even more than Z does funnily enough.

[10gigtriforce]

its all the same 1 series to me. gt and super spin offs of it to me.

[Robo4900]

I kinda want to say neither/both, because it's all one story, and the split is ultimately entirely abitrary, and it's honestly ridiculous that people still consider them so separate...

But, it is true that Toriyama somewhat lost his touch after the Freeza/Namek storyline, and the Saiyan and Namek/Freeza arcs in the anime were rather bogged down by filler, and most of my favourite arcs come before Raditz, so I do have a clear answer, that I prefer OG DB.

... But really, I think both series are stronger when watched together; the 23rd Tenkaichi/Wedding Dress storyline is not a great ending, and the story still had so much steam left in it, and Raditz is a fucking terrible starting point, and there's so much character and world history you learn from experiencing the first third of the storyline, so while I do think DB had the stronger stories, and Toriyama was generally doing his better work in that era, it is all one story that's best experienced as a whole.

[ABED]

For those talking about DB all being one story, valid point, but I do think it can be worthwhile to separate the two when talking about issues like this because there are big differences in the story from the early years and the later years. Early DB is terrestrial, whereas DBZ becomes intergalactic, just as Super is more cosmic. It's like comparing Cheers during the Diane years against the Rebecca years, or the Coach years compared to the Woody years. All one series, but still a big difference.

[MasenkoHA]

For those talking about DB all being one story, valid point, but I do think it can be worthwhile to separate the two when talking about issues like this because there are big differences in the story from the early years and the later years. Early DB is terrestrial, whereas DBZ becomes intergalactic, just as Super is more cosmic. It's like comparing Cheers during the Diane years against the Rebecca years, or the Coach years compared to the Woody years. All one series, but still a big difference.

I’d say it’s no different than comparing Buffy or Smallville from the high year years to the adult years.

Dragon Ball covers Goku as a boy and ends with him as a young adult getting married. Dragon Ball Z covers him as an adult with a family. And like you said Dragon Ball Z moved to more intergalactic conflicts. It doesn’t make it a separate show (not that you said this just that’s how that argument goes) just an evolution of the series.



Anyways I prefer Dragon Ball. I enjoy Goku as a kid more than as an adult, the only weak arc was the first arc and parts of Red Ribbon.

[Arteaga4K]

the Buu arc is imo the worst thing toriyama ever made

For some reason I think Majin Vegeta is the exception to this statement, haha.

Not gonna disagree. For me, the Buu saga starts spiraling downhill once, well, Buu arrives

[ABED]

For those talking about DB all being one story, valid point, but I do think it can be worthwhile to separate the two when talking about issues like this because there are big differences in the story from the early years and the later years. Early DB is terrestrial, whereas DBZ becomes intergalactic, just as Super is more cosmic. It's like comparing Cheers during the Diane years against the Rebecca years, or the Coach years compared to the Woody years. All one series, but still a big difference.

I’d say it’s no different than comparing Buffy or Smallville from the high year years to the adult years.

Dragon Ball covers Goku as a boy and ends with him as a young adult getting married. Dragon Ball Z covers him as an adult with a family. And like you said Dragon Ball Z moved to more intergalactic conflicts. It doesn’t make it a separate show (not that you said this just that’s how that argument goes) just an evolution of the series.



Anyways I prefer Dragon Ball. I enjoy Goku as a kid more than as an adult, the only weak arc was the first arc and parts of Red Ribbon.

I don't know if you're agreeing with me or not.

Clearly these things aren't hermetically sealed. The greatness of later arcs are largely dependent on what came before, good and bad, but for the sake of comparison, you can separate those eras, much like you can separate the story arcs to compare them.