Anyone else prefer the Buu saga over the Cell saga?

[WittyUsername]

The Buu saga generally seems to be the least liked arc for the 'Z' portion of the manga. Even though it certainly isn't my favorite arc, I actually thought it was better than the Cell saga. To me, the Cell saga at times felt like a bit of an empty Terminator clone. The concept of a Red Ribbon scientist being able to create beings that are significantly more powerful than Freeza just seemed hard to believe, even by Dragon Ball standards, and even though I thought Cell was a cool villain at first, by the time he achieved his Perfect form, he kind of came off as a wannabe Freeza.

I felt the Buu saga was better mainly due to how unpredictable it was. I remember when I first watched it, I kept wondering what would happen next, how were they supposed to beat Buu? It also helps that by that point, the series had somewhat returned to it's comedic roots, which made the silliness of the story easier to accept. Buu also came off as a much more unpredictable villain than Cell in my opinion, and Mr. Satan also had some great moments to shine.

[FortuneSSJ]

Me. Cell arc is the weakest DBZ arc too me.

My DBZ top:
1 - Saiyan arc
2 - Buu arc
3 - Freeza arc
4 - Cell arc

- Buu arc is probably the arc with more plot twists because even Toriyama didn't how he would end it, because fans demand.
- It brought a lot of interesting things like: The new generation, Majin Vegeta, SSJ3, Fusion (Dance and Potara) and Mytstic Gohan.
- SSJ2 Goku vs Majin Vegeta is one my favourite fights.
- Kid Buu - Someone that finally had the balls to blow up the Earth.
- Beautiful character development for Vegeta. Satan and Buu too.
- Vegeta admitting Goku is the number one.
- Buu's death and Goku's speech still give me the feels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcpRVgNcOwg

And we finally got a new Opening/Ending/Next episode preview soundtrack which gave a fresh air to the series.

[DBZAOTA482]

The Boo Saga definitely ranks the lowest and with the Cell Saga the highest among the casual fans but for more devoted fans have a more mixed opinions between both of them (though the Cell Saga still edges out). There's also a bit of a "cell saga iz 2 srs" , "writing is stupid, timetravel makes no sense and characters make stupid decisions for plot" or "Cell is boring" stigma with plenty of more hardcore fans regarding the Cell Saga.

Me personality, I would have said in the past that I prefer the Cell Saga without hesitation because the writing felt tighter (at least until the Cell Games), Goku didn't rub me the wrong way like he did in the Boo Saga, and I liked Cell more as a villain than Majin Boo (at least in theory) but on the other hand, the Boo Saga had a stronger beginning, gave closure to Goku and Vegeta's rivalry, made Mr. Satan a (somewhat) genuinely likeable character, and had the best overall art/animation for the anime so now it's harder for me to decide.

EDIT: Oh and did I forget to mention in the Cell Saga's favor that it didn't have Kaioshin and his bitch (Kibito)?

[Super SaiyaJon]

Absolutely. I absolutely love all of the Buu arc. Buu was a genuinely terrifying enemy (after Fat Buu at least). He actually got stuff done, such as blowing up Earth and extincting the entire human population. Cell has a few cities under his belt, tops. I like fusion for the most part, and Vegetto's fight is one of the highlights of DB in my opinion. I especially like Vegeta's soliloquy about Goku's and his rivalry during the Kid Buu fight. The only things I didn't like about it were SSJ3 and Gohan's unlocked potential. Cell's saga really only has Trunks going for it IMO.

I made a list here:

BUU SAGA
+Buu himself is a great villain
+Fusion
+Vegeta's character is explored more
-SSJ3
-Gohan's BS powerup

CELL SAGA
+Future Trunks
-Cell wasn't a very good villain
-Vegeta stays "Mr. Ego" the entire arc
-Cell Games was really a waste of time
-Cell's asspull powerup (Coming back from exploding 2 times as powerful)

[MCDaveG]

I do! I enjoyed the Freeza saga a lot, I also loved the part when Trunks first appeared and disposed of Freeza.
But it got grimm a lot later and I just got fed up with that seriousness and the arc started to bore me after they fought Perfect Cell for the first time, before the Cell Games.
Tough the Goku vs Cell was awesome, Goku's long absence again and all the other things going on were stretched far beyong the exploding Namek.
Filler with Mr. Satan's pupils didn't helped at all.

Buu arc was my all time favorite in TV, with all the new twists and transformations happening quite in fast pace. I remember missing one or two episodes and after school got right on the fight of Vegetto vs Buu.
I think he was called Vega in the Polish dub and thought it is new character. It was so cool, I really liked his gauntlets and the hair and wondered about the earrings. His blocking stance and fighting style was so awesome.
Hehe, nostalgia.

[Tatakae!!Ramenman]

I liked the Cell saga better because it was a better ending, where Gohan is now the strongest in the universe, taking over for Goku who dies because of Gohan's arrogance. That felt like a more satisfying ending. Also, the Buu saga felt very different because of how many new and different characters there were and old characters felt different because of redesigns. Goten, Trunks, Videl, Gohan is an adult(So he feels like a different character), and Vegeta has a new uniform. All of those changes at once is a little bit jarring for me and I don't feel as attached to the characters because of that. The first Budokai game was also my first experience with DBZ, so that might also be why I don't like the Buu saga as much.

[IDreamtIWasABee]

The weaknesses of the Boo saga are the strengths of the Cell saga, and vice versa.

Tone is the Cell saga's greatest strength. It's too bleak for some, but it's hardly more serious than the Freeza saga (the scene where Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo watch Freeza beat Vegeta to death, like doomed men waiting for a firing squad, is about as serious as it gets). The Cell arc also has structure: this is DBZ as formula, every beat in every act as predictable as a high mass (or a Scooby-Doo episode). Some find this chaffing, but I enjoy it. And the Cell saga mastered the art of cast turnover: it wisely limited itself to one new addition, Future Trunks, and otherwise focused on the classic heroes.

The Boo saga excels in its character work: it's simple as a storybook, but the brotherly turmoil between Goku and Vegeta drives the saga with a force that's nowhere to be found in the Cell arc. (Seriously, who's the protagonist in the Cell saga?) Majin Boo himself is the villain we needed after Freeza (and has a body that's *visibly* threatening to a SSJ; show don't tell etc); it's only too bad that his saga is so silly in tone, because the only way we can take a living cartoon like Boo seriously is by heightening the seriousness of the world around him. The meandering plot's pretty goddamn weak, too: you can excise everything between Majin Vegeta's death and Vegeta's return to earth and barely skip a beat. But the Boo arc's power-up of note, Fusion, is the only one since SSJ that truly grips the imagination (could anything be less inspiring than SSJ "grades" in the Cell arc?). One of the reasons Vegetto's ludicrous power is so satisfying is that he gives us a hero as indestructible as the Super Saiyan was supposed to be.

[Videlphia76ers]

I read somewhere in one of the guides this site provides that Toriyama originally had no intention of making the Cell Saga as long as it was or even making it about cell in the first place. That might have something to do with why I found the Cell Saga to get boring and drag on. So the Buu Saga by default but I also like that generation of characters the most.

[RandomGuy96]

Yes.

I'm not gonna type ANOTHER essay on this. I'll just say that I prefer the Buu arc to the Cell arc because of MUCH better villain, better fights, a more fitting tone, relatively few plot holes, and the introduction of many new and fun ideas. It's either the best arc in the series, or tied with the Saiyan arc for the number one spot.

I read somewhere in one of the guides this site provides that Toriyama originally had no intention of making the Cell Saga as long as it was or even making it about cell in the first place. That might have something to do with why I found the Cell Saga to get boring and drag on. So the Buu Saga by default but I also like that generation of characters the most.

He wanted Dr. Gero to be the main villain of the arc, but a friend of his disliked that idea, so he decided to change it. He then wanted to make 17 and 18 the villains, but his friend thought they were too lame. So he introduced Cell. But his friend still wasn't satisfied, and said that Cell looked stupid, and said that it'd be cool if he transformed. So Toriyama sped up the arc and completely changed Cell's appearance, motivation, and personality.

[Saiga]

He wanted Dr. Gero to be the main villain of the arc, but a friend of his disliked that idea, so he decided to change it. He then wanted to make 17 and 18 the villains, but his friend thought they were too lame. So he introduced Cell. But his friend still wasn't satisfied, and said that Cell looked stupid, and said that it'd be cool if he transformed. So Toriyama sped up the arc and completely changed Cell's appearance, motivation, and personality.

I should point out that there were two people who kept making the changes - his friend and former editor, and his current editor (at the time). Which only made things worse.

[NitroEX]

In terms of story the Buu arc is all over the place and the older I get the worse it seems to age for me in comparison to the previous two. It's still fun to watch and it's got some of the most creative ideas in the series but it just seems to have more noticeable flaws overall. That said it's still miles better than anything in GT.

[RandomGuy96]

He wanted Dr. Gero to be the main villain of the arc, but a friend of his disliked that idea, so he decided to change it. He then wanted to make 17 and 18 the villains, but his friend thought they were too lame. So he introduced Cell. But his friend still wasn't satisfied, and said that Cell looked stupid, and said that it'd be cool if he transformed. So Toriyama sped up the arc and completely changed Cell's appearance, motivation, and personality.

I should point out that there were two people who kept making the changes - his friend and former editor, and his current editor (at the time). Which only made things worse.

Ah yes, my mistake.

[DBZAOTA482]

In terms of story the Buu arc is all over the place and the older I get the worse it seems to age for me in comparison to the previous two. It's still fun to watch and it's got some of the most creative ideas in the series but it just seems to have more noticeable flaws overall. That said it's still miles better than anything in GT.

Being better than GT is not all that hard though.

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

I LOVE the Buu Saga, my favourite part of the entire series. The Android/Cell Saga is my 2nd favourite, Freeza's 3rd and Saiyan's 4th (so basically, for me, this is a series that gets better and better).

I think what makes me love it the most out of all the saga's would have to be the tone, it's a great mixture of action and comedy and it has some of the best/emotional scenes in the series, not to mention the stuff that happens between Goku and Vegeta in this saga is some of the best character interaction in the series (Goku vs Majin Vegeta is the best fight in the entire series IMO).

I love this Saga, it's what got me into Dragon Ball in the first place.

[Herms]

I'd say I like both of them about equally, but for different reasons. I like the time travel element with the Cell arc, and the depiction of Cell as a bad guy who starts out being relatively not too big of a deal compared to some of the other characters, and who has to work his way up to being an unstoppable force. At which point he does kind of turn into a generic Freeza clone...but the contrast between that sort of arrogance and his earlier self where he's sneaking around eating people and hiding whenever someone like Piccolo or Vegeta gets near is interesting, I feel. With the Boo arc, I like the renewed focus on comedy, but also how it's combined with some of the bleakest bits in the entire series (like Boo killing practically everybody), and the general way the story goes all over the damn place. It's a story arc that starts off with Gohan's troubles fitting in at school, and keeps escalating bit by bit until you've got the complete and total destruction of Earth, and the potential end of the entire universe. Overall I probably prefer both these story arcs to the Saiyan and Freeza ones, but still like parts of the "pre-Z" era best of all, mostly 22nd TB/Piccolo/23rd TB and some random bits before that.

[MajinMan]

The Buu saga is for sure my favorite. I have a tiny personal issue with the Cell saga, and it's Gohan. He had no fights with the androids, no buildup in the saga itself other than the hyperbolic time chamber, becomes a pacifist out of nowhere, and let's everyone get their shit kicked in and only rages because some android that liked nature died. He let his father die because he wanted to make Cell suffer, then couldn't do shit without Goku yelling in his ear to stop being a pussy and use his full power to kill Cell. Also Vegeta is a dick in that arc and turns into Goku, letting enemies powerup to fight them but in his own dickish way. Other than that I think it was OK but Gohan and a little of Vegeta made that the worst Dragon Ball arc in my opinion. The Buu saga has more charm, everyone got screen time (except the human z-fighters but we don't mention them anymore), humor, one of the best if not the best villian in the series, character development that actually lasted, universe expansion, and an overall great fight scenes. Also don't get me wrong, I don't hate the Cell saga because I like all of Dragon Ball, I just think it's the worst written.

[Kakacarrottop]

I really enjoyed the Buu arc and it's probably tied with the Saiyan/Freeza arcs for my favorite DBZ arc. The Cell arc was just too depressing and boring/slow moving. None of the villains in that arc save for Cell were really all that interesting either.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I thought the Buu saga had the best fights, none of them felt as drawn out and the fights felt very fresh, for example Gotenks using weird moves which were quite amusing (eg that ghost attack) also Vegetto fighting as a candy. Or Buu turning people into candy and eating them. Also that whole segment inside Buu I found quite enjoyable, also the Buu wasn't as serious as other arcs , the main villain is completely pink and loves eating candy, you have a childish super warrior in Gotenks.

All in all, I like how the Buu arc was something different and felt fresh, I wouldn't say it is my favourite arc because that'll be like picking your favourite child, you love them all equally! (Wheras as GT is like that step-child)

[Basaku]

The action was great but the writing was the worst among the 3/4 main Z arcs. It wasn't absymal or anything, but the Saiyan/Freeza saga was definitely the best in terms of engaging plot and character writing & developement. Cell saga hit a lot of good marks too, not that much to say forthat in that regard in Buu saga.

[GeeRod]

Cell saga is my favorite because almost everyone get a highlight. Tenshin Han holding Cell was amazing in my opinion, Vegeta letting Cell becomes perfect and later helping Gohan defeat him. I really the idea of everyone doing something wrong and screwin up. And of course Gohan vs Cell, it was so refreshing to see another character defeating the main villain. Boo saga is my second favorite. Freeza saga was waaay too dragged out, that's why is my least favorite.