DB or DBZ: Which is better?

[Onikage725]

I've very much grown over the years to love the viewpoint that trying to make the distinction that much greater by asking about preference between the two really does each "half" a huge dis-service. You can't have DBZ without DB.

I'll agree with this. When my girlfriend decided she wanted to watch DBZ, I started her off with DB- a luxury I myself (and most of us in the US) didn't have. From a story standpoint, I think I prefer the types of storylines found in the earlier portion. There was more mysticism, and it felt more like a martial arts epic. Goku basically spent his time either training, competing, or toppling would-be despots. The later parts of the series have some seriously intense high stakes battles, though (and the story certainly isn't bad). All in all, take Dragon Ball as a whole, as it was intended.

[Dr. Casey]

Interestingly enough, everybody seems really interested in GT. It breaks my heart each time to have to tell them the truth about it.

That reminds me, I started watching Dragon Ball GT recently for the first time and I really like it. Started a couple of weeks ago, watched up through episode 14. The sense of adventure is very infectious, I like the various planets they visit, and I even enjoy the way the supporting and secondary characters are almost completely discarded; it's a very cold contrast to Dragon Ball where all the characters were around and had major parts in the story (Which I like because I'm weird like that), and it makes the characters that have stuck around, that have weathered the storm that is Dragon Ball's impartial way of treating its supporting cast, feel special somehow, like they should form a special club and strut around wearing "I Survived Until DBGT!" badges. I also have to give GT a lot of credit for not overusing the SSJ form; I've always hated Super Saiyans, those damn ugly bastards, but when they're used sparingly (Goku's only transformed twice so far), they're actually pretty cool. They've gotten back some of the appeal they had during the Namek and early Android sagas.

I also have to give it credit for changing my perspective a bit on the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai. I'm not even completely sure why, but the end of the manga feels so tired to me. GT has a lot of life and spirit to it, though, and it takes place 5 years later, so that does breathe some vitality into that '10 years later' epilogue since the characters and world are half a decade younger. But I don't think anyone else shares my opinion on the 28th Budokai, so that's a good point pretty much reserved for myself alone.

Oh yeah, and the music kicks ass. Any scene where a remix of Dan Dan plays is automatically a good scene.

And for the main topic... I do agree with everyone that Dragon Ball should be looked at as one story, but I think it's a story that changes a great deal throughout and there's a lot of differences between the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z portions that makes them not especially difficult to compare. The biggest example I can think of is that while Dragon Ball focuses very clearly on Goku as the protagonist, Z does not. Radditz is the last portion of the series where Goku is clearly the star; Goku and Gohan more or less share co-star status for the remainder of the Saiyan Saga, and everything past Vegeta is pretty much an ensemble piece with the spotlight changing focus multiple times an arc. I think that's a pretty big change in narrative style. The scope of Z is also quite a bit larger in that it covers 22 years rather than 7. The Pilaf arc is pretty remote from the 23rd Budokai, sure, but it's not quite as dramatic as the difference between Radditz and Uub, where the former is so disconnected from the latter that it almost seems like Radditz never happened (Which I guess is pretty true to real life when you're comparing things from two decades apart).

But to answer the question, I don't really know. Dragon Ball does seem to be the better-written story in many respects, it's more coherent and tightly-wound, but they're both good in their own ways and my favorite is whichever I'm watching. Z's got its own set of advantages in that it seems more expansive and developmental in some ways; Dragon Ball has almost the same set of characters the whole time, the well pretty much running dry after Lunch (No enduring characters being added besides Karin for the next 70 episodes) wheras Z introduces additions to the cast more regularly (Building up a sort of 'extended' social group outside the original's tight-knit insiders) as well as the second and third generations.

[Anonymous Friend]

This topic is filled with so many cop-outs. Yes, we know that the series is one big continuing story. But if I asked you about one of your favorite television shows and wanted to know your favorite season, would you still answer the same? Or what about a film series, which is your favorite movie?

I started with Z, then watched original flavor while my other Z loving friends passed on it because "We already know what happens to everyone." And I'm happy I did so. Everything was better passed and balanced. The characters, the fighting, the enemies.

The part I like is that everyone stayed important to the story. Even if they started sliding, no one fell to a third tier position. The only human character that stayed in any sort of meaningful ole past the Saiyan arc was Krillin.

You people love Toriyama to death but what kind of writer forgets that he has major characters that he's doing nothing with? What kind of assistants doesn't mention that these characters that were having an impact one or two arcs ago aren't doing much now. I get that from the moment Vegeta and Nappa arrived on earth until the end of Freeza you had a very, very long strtch that only focused on Saiyans and Nemekians but once we got into the arc where some mad scientist was making killer machines that there would be cannon fodder for the revived characters to show some strength, then have them fade away.

This is probably my biggest gripe with the series following it heavy Tim Taylor Syndrone.

Plus, had the series retained it's balance of character abilities, power, and enemy cannon fodder there might actually be a good chance of a decent video game being made.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Hmmmmmmmm..... Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball Z


Neither. Dragon Ball Z Kai.


But if I had to choose, definately Dragon Ball Z. It has better action scenes, better storylines and I just found it more interesting to watch.


And the movies are awesome. I have recommended to non Dragon Ball fans before and they liked them.

[LilKokuLink]

When I think of them as two seperate series (three if you want to include GT... o.0), it makes my brain fry because I can't decide. So the best thing for me is to just accept that it is one whole series and then say DragonBall is better than the other anime that I watch.

I haven't had a go at the manga yet but I will do so within a week with my DragonBall VizBig 1 on the way (inspired by manga review of awesomeness ), so my opinions for the manga aren't at all acceptable for now.

Although I think it would have made it hard for me to like DragonBall like I do now if I hadn't watched DragonBall Z first. Looking back on it, I damn so wish I watched it in order.

[MCDaveG]

Do you mean the Z doesn't matter in terms of its all one big story and throwing a Z on there means nothing, or you just don't like the Z chunk of the story?

No, don't get me wrong, I'm only aware of Z as a second TV series, but not in the matter of Dragon Ball as whole. I'm thinking about Z only as one letter used for split the long series for TV audience and merchandise products. I said I like the whole story from the beggining with Goku and Bulma till the Buu climax and departing with Uub. GT is for me like one big movie, it's alternate, I also like it, but I only accept the original story as per say canon with my favorite exception for movie 9.

[Bussani]

The "correct" answer, of course... is that there is no answer... because they're the same series ^_~.

Even if you go by the TV version (rather than the manga, which was always DB beginning to end), there's a consistent cast and musical composer. Even if you break it down to the music changing over time, well yeah. It did that in DB, and it did that in DBZ... and yet there's still pieces from far earlier that get used far later, so it's all completely self-referential and consistent.

I've very much grown over the years to love the viewpoint that trying to make the distinction that much greater by asking about preference between the two really does each "half" a huge dis-service. You can't have DBZ without DB.

It took a while, but I've gotten to the point where I not only agree with this, but absolutely view it this way, too. It's sometimes hard not to think of them as two separate things, especially if you were introduced to "Z" first, but even with the different colored halves of the manga staring at me from my shelf, I can't think of the two separately anymore.

But to answer the question, I don't really feel that one half is better than the other, even if we do separate them. Personally, though, my favorite things about the story are from the "Z" part, so you could probably say that I like that better. I just love the cosmos. Dragon Ball took place entirely on Earth, and it was a cool, interesting Earth to explore--but once they start exploring the cosmos, the afterlife, the hierarchies of gods...I just love all that stuff. It's a fascinating and unique universe. Something about all of that just strikes a cord with me, I guess.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

For me, it's whatever half I'm reading/watching. It's funny one day I'll be like "PICCOLO IS THE BEST VILLIAN EVER!!1!!" then the following week it turns into "CELL IS THE BEST VILLIAN EVER!!!1!" I have to admire Akria Toriyama, his writing style never lost flair over Dragonball's existence. So many shows have fallen victim to weak story arcs and boring presentations after so many years of publication(Naruto, Bleach, Inyuyasha,etc. etc.), but not Dragonball. I think that's what makes the series so special to me.

[jjgp1112]

I definitely enjoy the Z-Portion of the story the most, but the anime for pre-Z was a lot better as far as pacing and all that is concerned.

[obiwan23s]

What if I were to phrase the question differently? What part of the Dragon Ball series do you like better, volumes 1-16, or volumes 17-42? Lets see you get out of not answering this one.

This is a better question, but for me it's still difficult to answer. My absolute favorite story arcs in Dragon Ball are the Namek/Freeza story and the Piccolo Daimao. If I had to choose one, it would be Freeza, but like I said before certain events in Dragon Ball are made more moving by what happens before them. The Freeza story has always been great to me because before that you've seen Goku go from being an above average talented martial artist to the strongest guy on Earth. Then you mix in the sci-fi space travel elements and them having to go fight against strong opponents from other worlds and eventually the strongest man in the whole universe. What really sets it apart from the rest, in my opinion, is that in the previous arc Goku goes from denying his Saiyan heritage to accepting it but still protecting the Earth as he always has.

Against Freeza, Goku fights his way and basically fights Freeza to a draw up to after the Genki Dama. After that when he transforms into the Super Saiyan, he's fighting with hate and rage, like a true Saiyan. It's the most powerful part of the whole series for me because of how it brings things full circle with Goku's character. Then there's also the great situational irony of Freeza exterminating the Saiyans only to be defeated by the one that got away (and eventually still killed by a Super Saiyan, even if it wasn't Goku). But once again, it would mean nothing without the events that came before it.

[Onikage725]

This topic is filled with so many cop-outs. Yes, we know that the series is one big continuing story. But if I asked you about one of your favorite television shows and wanted to know your favorite season, would you still answer the same? Or what about a film series, which is your favorite movie?

Well, the topic didn't ask what one's favorite story arc was. It was asking to compare the "two" series'. There is a divide created by the anime, especially in the US. But for some folks, once they had access to the full manga and anime, that divide fell away and we see it as it was initially presented- one big series called "Dragon Ball." I could list favorite arcs and why, if one wanted. But this topic was basically "pick a series." Not everyone sees two different series to begin with. This view is hardly a cop-out.

[Puto]

I prefer the original series, since the Budôkai arcs were always my favorite ones.

[TheGreatness25]

I look at everything Dragon Ball as one large story arc where the story just grows and builds. The art style gets better, and I enjoy Z's very "epic" feel. But Dragon Ball is great too because it's very...tournamenty and stuff. I can't really explain it. It feels more grounded and it's nice. It's nice to have that mystic feel. But at the end of the day, when the story is so intricate and so much is on the line, that's what hooks me. I like both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z and I personally don't feel pressured to pick a favorite.

[GreggMays64]

Dragonball

The series is a lot more funny, and Yamcha, Kuririn, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu were a lot more useful. Master Roshi was a badass and a mentor to the main fighting characters, rather than just toss aside to get his ass kicked on a daily basis by Bulma for being perverted. Yeah, he was perverted in Dragonball, but he had a lot more deph to him. Bulma has the best designs, except when her hair is short. Oolong, Paur, and Bulma were more useful. Launch was funny as hell. Lets not forget that the Ox King was a badass aswell. Chi Chi is probally the only one, where I prefer her in Dragonball Z then Dragonball. I don't really find a little girl wearing pink gear that shows off 90% of her body a good character design.

The villain were somewhat cool. Empereor Pilaf was funny as hell, and a good villain to start off the series seeing how it was a gag manga from the start. It is always funny how in the anime, his minions, Mai and Shu were afraid of this tiny blue dwarf thing who's ultimate attack is crapping himself. Mercenary Tao is a complete badass. He wears a pink shirt with kill you on it, and can fuck you up just by bitch slapping you with his pony tail. I also lthought the whole entire Red Ribbon Army was okay. The ninja is always having something bad happen to him, the general is gay, and the leader just wants to dragonballs to beome tall. King Piccolo is the most badass villain in the series. He has got the most badass minion, Tamborine.

I notice that after they beat a villain, they always go to a tournment. After Empereor Pilaf, they go to the 21st Tournment, where they fight Jackie Chun. After Mercenary Tao, they fight Tenshinhan in the 22nd Tournment, and finally after King Piccolo they fight Piccolo Jr. in the 23rd Tournment.

Also, Makafushigi Adventure is the best opening in the entire Dragonball franchise in my opinion. It always gives me this tingling feeling inside of me for some reason. Romantic Ageru Yo for some reason makes me think of some girl I like.

[LilKokuLink]

and can fuck you up just by bitch slapping you with his pony tail.

Not to mention kill you with his tongue

He has got the most badass minion, Tamborine.

What are you talking about? What about Piano?