Which is better: Dragon Ball/Z Anime or Manga?

[TimeCrash4]

Just a simple question to see what people think. I for one prefer the Dragon Ball Manga but the Z anime. Does music make the experience better? (I'd add a poll but I'm not sure how to).

[MR.Mark]

Manga> DragonBall anime/ DBZ Saiyan arc> Kai > rest of DBZ>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>GT

BTW, I was being generous on GT.

[Plague-Memories]

Manga FTW.
That pretty much sums it up.
I dunno. The filler kinda kills it for me with the anime.
I have a love/hate relationship with the filler.

[frozie]

Manga> DragonBall anime/ DBZ Saiyan arc> Kai > rest of DBZ>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>GT

BTW, I was being generous on GT.

I don't think GT was THAT bad

Anyway, I much prefer the manga to the anime. Usually, my marathon is to read the mangas 1-42 and then watch GT

The anime can be fun though because of the fillers. A lot of them are just dumb, but sometimes its fun to see the characters in situations that aren't shown in the manga

[Makaioshin]

I prefer the manga. It's much better paced and Toriyama's artwork is great, and much better than the anime's art.

[B]

Filler is handled so much better in Dragon Ball than in Z, that I'm inclined to "rank" the first series and volumes 1-16 the same.

Z is just so boring; volumes 17-42 deserved better and are much better. I suppose those parts of the manga being longer than the earlier parts may have been a factor, but still.

[SSVegetto]

The anime always(for me at least). It brings the characters to life, the show to life. If the anime never came out, it's probably unlikely I would have read the manga. The anime always brings more excitement. You have background music, voices, sound effects, etc.

I just don't have much motivation to read the manga. Since the anime is basically the same thing and it's more exciting watching it. And also since Viz censors the manga. Why even buy it? And anyone complaining about "Z" about filler parts. You can just fast forward the scenes you don't like. I don't see the big deal.

[sangofe]

I've always been more fan of anime than manga, but both have their pros and cons. Manga much faster to ready and more straight to the point, as for the anime you get the colors, the moving characters, the music, the voice acting... It's just a different experience, but if you think about how the story is told, then the manga has the upper hand. It's also somewhat more intense in the art style, which is not strange because of all the different anime studios that worked on the Dragonball anime.

[MR.Mark]

And anyone complaining about "Z" about filler parts. You can just fast forward the scenes you don't like. I don't see the big deal.

I guess it's sorta like your lack of motivation to read the manga. Why fast forward, thereby taking me out of the experience, when there's now a much better edited version of the story to watch in anime form?

[LeprikanGT]

Anime, things were expanded upon and emotions were shown better.

[penguintruth]

It really depends on what part of the story.

I prefer the Saiyan arc in the anime, but I prefer the Freeza arc in the manga (except for Goku's SSJ transformation and a few other moments). I enjoy the Cell/Androids arc in the anime, but hate the Satan students filler at the Cell Games. However, when Gohan goes SSJ2, it's all about the anime. The manga does a better job with the Buu arc.

Then you have to factor in Kai.

[SaiyamanMS]

I've only read the pre-Z portion of the manga, although I have to say, I honestly prefer the anime. Sure, the manga is the original source and has the advantage of much more consistent art from the hand of Toriyama himself, but while the animation quality can wildly fluctuate, the anime gives me colours, movement, music and voices to give me a much more lively experience than the black and white still images provided in the manga.

The anime does suffer plot holes and filler, although despite some of the ridiculous padding (I'm looking at you, Goku vs. Freeza!) it does also add some genuinely interesting content. Pilaf's antics in the first arc, Goku's various training adventures during the early time skips, Gohan's wilderness survival, the driving episode! All these wonderful things from the anime simply aren't there in the source manga.

[Blue]

And anyone complaining about "Z" about filler parts. You can just fast forward the scenes you don't like. I don't see the big deal.

I guess it's sorta like your lack of motivation to read the manga. Why fast forward, thereby taking me out of the experience, when there's now a much better edited version of the story to watch in anime form?

Totally, people complain about the eyecatches taking you out of the experience imagine fast forwarding every time the animators felt the need to bore their audience to death.

[Kendamu]

I like the anime. It has great music and sometimes certain iconic moments end up looking fantastic in-motion or are elaborated on a little bit from the manga in a way that makes it even cooler. However, the quality of the art itself at many points and a lot of the filler after the Saiyan Arc just doesn't do the story justice at all! So, I have to be in a specific mood to watch the anime.

The manga, on the other hand, is something I can pick up just about anytime at any point in the story and just read it for a little bit and enjoy every last second of it. Everything that's wrong with the Z anime just doesn't exist in the manga version. The only thing the manga's missing is accompanying music. If I really wanted to put the effort into it, I could actually fix that!

[Rocketman]

As I said elsewhere, a God of War comparison:

The manga is Aphrodite, Kai is Lahkesis, and Z is Clotho.

[Piccolo Daimao]

The Dragon Ball manga is the best in almost all areas. Better artwork, better pacing, easier to pick up and read, better storytelling. The manga contains far less plotholes and is more consistent with its art than its anime counterpart.

The only things the anime does better are portraying some scenes better than in the manga and sections of the good filler, the "missing" elements of the series that couldn't have been executed as well in the manga as they did in the anime.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I see it as being based on your own personal preference on whether you would rather watch it or read it, as they're both extremely similar plot-wise.

[KakaR0T]

It's not really fair for me to say because I have no basis for comparison since I have never read the manga.
But I would say animé mainly because it has the music.

[Plague-Memories]

The Dragon Ball manga is the best in almost all areas. Better artwork, better pacing, easier to pick up and read, better storytelling. The manga contains far less plotholes and is more consistent with its art than its anime counterpart.

The only things the anime does better are portraying some scenes better than in the manga and sections of the good filler, the "missing" elements of the series that couldn't have been executed as well in the manga as they did in the anime.

Seconded.

[TheGreatness25]

I'd say for information and art purposes, the manga is certainly much better. It can't get more informative than the original source. The anime has a lot of filler and differences (character positioning, inconsistencies, etc.). HOWEVER, for my personal taste, I'd rather watch the anime than read the manga. It allows me to multitask more, and plus I don't have to really focus much on it. I could just have it in the background and stuff. I'm at a point where I've seen/read it so many times that I don't need to focus any attention to it. With the manga, I could glance at one page for 5 seconds and move on simply because there is much less dialog to grasp. I like watching the anime. However, again, when you're doing serious debates about Dragon Ball (which I'm not a fan of), the manga should be considered first.