Dragon Ball Viewing Order

[ABED]

Every so often I like to ask the question if someone already hasn't, what is your viewing order for the series? it's gotten even more interesting as the shows have expanded.

Right now, I like the idea of the branching paths:
Dragon Ball > DBZ > DBGT
Kai > Super

I'm not sure where to put Daima. I didn't even bring up films but feel free to give me your thoughts on when you watch them. If I include the Ocean Dub, I tend to watch it after the Ginyu Force arrives.

How about you all?

[Yellow Flower King]

I think OG DB is great, and you will appreciate it more if you watch it first before going to Z. Z is where you can pick Z or Z Kai. If you are Latin American you are better off with Z but if you want better pacing or are from USA, France or Spain Z Kai is superior.

[JulieYBM]

At this point, it's basically just rewatching whichever thing I feel like rewatching when. I haven't actually done a proper rewatch of anything—other than watching Daima episodes twice the day that they premeired—in over a decade. I'm fifteen episodes into a rewatch of the Tournament of Power, but even then I'm not really watching it religiously because I have non-anime stuff to do lol

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Dragon Ball > Z > GT is for the true, original anime experience and feels the most organic, and you get the Japanese cast at their prime.

Kai > Super kinda feels a bit jarring with the switch from Yamamoto or Kikuchi to Sumitomo. Kikuchi to Tokunaga, as with the above feels much more natural. I'd need to rewatch Daima as I don't remember much of Yamashita's score. The Funimation cast are at their best in Kai and Super while its a step down for the Japanese.

I agree with not having much time to do a full series rewatch of anything though due to life commitments and other non-anime interests, so today I'd just watch a random arc or batch of episodes. That's also how I tend to watch the movies rather than watching when they can theoretically fit in some part of the timeline and even doing that you need to disregard the ways in which they don't fit, like accepting Z movie 2 takes place in a timeline where Gohan remembers Piccolo's death even though it should take place during the Saiyan arc after Goku learned the Kaio-Ken and Spirit Bomb/Genki Dama.

[MasenkoHA]

Dragon Ball> Dragon Ball Z> Dragon Ball Super

I just don’t enjoy GT or Daima personally to ever revisit them again. Super is obviously a lot weaker than the first two series that make up Toriyama’s manga but entertaining enough. And I just feel like Kai is worthless.

Kai > Super kinda feels a bit jarring with the switch from Yamamoto or Kikuchi to Sumitomo. Kikuchi to Tokunaga, as with the above feels much more natural. I'd need to rewatch Daima as I don't remember much of Yamashita's score. The Funimation cast are at their best in Kai and Super while its a step down for the Japanese.

With Sumitomo scoring both Kai The Final Chapters and Super, with music from the former being recycled intothe latter I don’t think it’s that jarring?

If anything the switch from Kikuchi’s score for the original Dragon Ball to Kai’s usage of his works mostly from movies 4-9 is more awkward to me. Unlike like Z there’s not a single selection of any of Kikuchi’s pieces from the original Dragon Ball and Z used quite a bit! Even as they got phased out I believe you still got the odd cue from the 86 series here and there all the way to the end of Z

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

With Sumitomo scoring both Kai The Final Chapters and Super, with music from the former being recycled intothe latter I don’t think it’s that jarring?

If anything the switch from Kikuchi’s score for the original Dragon Ball to Kai’s usage of his works mostly from movies 4-9 is more awkward to me. Unlike like Z there’s not a single selection of any of Kikuchi’s pieces from the original Dragon Ball and Z used quite a bit! Even as they got phased out I believe you still got the odd cue from the 86 series here and there all the way to the end of Z

I meant starting from Kai and then going into Super, and how jarring the change of score is from Kai 1.0 to The Final Chapters, yes the latter is more consistent with Super but its only part of Kai, not the whole show, or even most of it.

And yes going from original Dragon Ball to Kai 1.0 will be awkward no matter what score you listen to as Z was intended as a sequel, Kai wasn't, the recap at the beginning of Kai episode 1 pretty much makes that clear "this is all you need to know, no need to watch the full show", so I just tend to watch Kai separately as its own thing.

[90sDBZ]

Over the years I've tended to rewatch Z more than the others in general, so I often started with that while watching the other shows separately whenever.

Although a couple of years back I decided to rewatch OG DB and went to Kai from there. It flowed surprisingly well. DB had less filler than Z to begin with, so going to Kai from there felt natural, and avoided bringing the pacing to a screeching halt. Also Funimation's DB dub is pretty solid, and nicely leads into their awesome Kai dub.

After that I tried rewatching Super, but gave up after suffering through the retellings. I will eventually go back to it though.

[M16U3L2015]

Mine is DB > Z > GT if you want to experience how it was in its original run.

Then it would be Kai > Super, since the transition between the two in terms of voice acting and music won't be as drastic.

Daima is a bit independent, so there's no need for a specific order, just knowing what happened in the Buu saga is enough.

[Kid Buu]

I'm the type of nerd who swears by release dates, so DB -> DBZ -> DBGT -> DBS -> DBD would be my order.

Don't really count Kai since it's literally just DBZ with less content.

[Metalwario64]

I love watching the series in order with the films about when they were in theaters. Just a cool "as it was in Japan" experience. Though if watching Kai I'll still slot them in roughly around the point in the series the movies would have aired.

[Sani007]

I'm the type of nerd who swears by release dates, so DB -> DBZ -> DBGT -> DBS -> DBD would be my order.

Don't really count Kai since it's literally just DBZ with less content.

This order is as if I had written it myself — I completely agree with it. I also agree that I don’t count Kai, since Kai is just Z (a worse version).

I will admit, however, that Dragon Ball Super will drop out for me, and from now on the Enhanced Edition will count as Super.

[The Dark Knight]

Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball Z and its TV specials
Z's original movies where appropriate
Dragon Ball Daima
Dragon Ball GT and a Hero's Legacy

Dragon Ball Kai has too many problems for me to consider, as does Super 1.0. Daima directly addresses an unresolved plot point from the Buu arc, and GT gives the overall franchise a definitive conclusion. Z's movies, even though they don't all fit perfectly, expand the world and lore in interesting ways.

[DHM211]

1. Dragon Ball
2. Dragon Ball Z Kai episodes 1 - 41
3. Bardock: Father of Goku
4. Dragon Ball Z Kai episodes 42 - 63
5. History of Trunks
6. Dragon Ball Z Kai episodes 64 - 165
5. Dragon Ball Super
6. Dragon Ball Daima


1. Dragon Ball Chapters 1 - 517
2. Battle of Gods
3. Resurrection 'F'
4. Dragon Ball Super Chapters 5 - 42
5. DBS: Broly
6. Dragon Ball Super Chapters 43 - 103

[johnboy1]

I go in release date order, so I typed up a basic text document so I can remember what goes where. Here it is.

Code: Select all

DB 1-43

Curse of the Blood Rubies

DB 44-70

Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle

DB 71-114

The PSAs

DB 115-118

Mystical Adventure

DB 119-153

DBZ 1-11

Dead Zone

DBZ 12-39

The World's Strongest

DBZ 40-54

Tree of Might

DBZ 55-63

Bardock: The Father of Goku

DBZ 64-81

Lord Slug

DBZ 82-99

Cooler's Revenge

DBZ 100-118

The Magic Begins

DBZ 119-130

The Return of Cooler

DBZ 131-147

Super Android 13

DBZ 148-150

Summer Movie Special

DBZ 151-175

The History of Trunks

DBZ 176

Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan

DBZ 177-192

Bojack Unbound

DBZ 193&194

OVA Part 1

DBZ 195-197

OVA Part 2

DBZ 198-211

Year End Special

DBZ 212-220

Broly: Second Coming

DBZ 221-232

Bio Broly

DBZ 233-258

Fusion Reborn

DBZ 259-270

Wrath of the Dragon

DBZ 271-291

DBGT 1-4

The Path to Power

DBGT 5-41

A Hero's Legacy

DBGT 42-64

Dr. Slump 56-59

The Return of Son Goku and Friends!

Evolution

Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans

Episode of Bardock

Battle of Gods

Super Collaboration Special

Resurrection F

DBS 1-131

SDBH 1-5

Broly

SDBH 6-42

Super Hero

SDBH 43-56

DBD 1-20

[Kid Buu]

I'm the type of nerd who swears by release dates, so DB -> DBZ -> DBGT -> DBS -> DBD would be my order.

Don't really count Kai since it's literally just DBZ with less content.

This order is as if I had written it myself — I completely agree with it. I also agree that I don’t count Kai, since Kai is just Z (a worse version).

I will admit, however, that Dragon Ball Super will drop out for me, and from now on the Enhanced Edition will count as Super.

Yeah, the new Dragon Ball Super announcement has thrown me on the loop too. I'll just decide when it comes out.

[Koitsukai]

It depends on my mood.

If I'm more nostalgic, it's DB-Z- (Z movies) - GT.

If I'm looking for something less bittersweet and more spectacular I'd go DB-DBZ-DBS (manga included).

[Zephyr]

I'm the type of nerd who swears by release dates, so DB -> DBZ -> DBGT -> DBS -> DBD would be my order.

Same. Works made later reference and call back to works made earlier, even if they aren't necessarily in the same continuity.

I'd also place the movies in where they released relative to the episodes. After all, the BGM throughout Z often debuts in the films before moving over to the TV show. I guess from that perspective, of appreciating the evolution of music application, I'd put Kai in there as well. But it'd be Yamamoto Kai, followed by Sumitomo's Boo arc of Kai, as I understand that some of his pieces from Boo Kai got reused in Super. Then I'd put DBS: Beerus after Daima.

Is this all very silly? Sure, but I'm a silly guy watching some silly cartoons, so why not.

I go in release date order, so I typed up a basic text document so I can remember what goes where. Here it is.

Hell yeah. I ended up making myself a spreadsheet for the same purpose, and eventually included manga chapters as well. That was partly inspired by wanting to track things like the strange development pipeline of things like Super Saiyan, Dende as God, and Gogeta as Goku and Vegeta's fusion, across the manga, the TV show, and the films.