Dragon Ball Z

Five years after winning the World Martial Arts tournament, Gokuu is now living a peaceful life with his wife and son. This changes, however, with the arrival of a mysterious enemy named Raditz who presents himself as Gokuu's long-lost brother. He reveals that Gokuu is a descendant of the once powerful but now virtually extinct Saiyan race, whose homeworld was annihilated. When he was sent to Earth as a baby, Gokuu's sole purpose was to conquer and destroy the planet; but after suffering amnesia from a head injury, his violent and savage nature changed, and instead was raised as a kind and well-mannered boy, now fighting to protect others.

With his failed attempt at forcibly recruiting Gokuu as an ally, Raditz warns Gokuu's friends of a new threat that's rapidly approaching Earth—one that could plunge Earth into an intergalactic conflict and cause the heavens themselves to shake. A war will soon be fought over the seven mystical Dragon Balls, magic objects that can grant any wish. Only the strongest will survive.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Son, Gokuu Main

Nozawa, Masako Japanese

Vegeta Main

Horikawa, Ryo Japanese

Son, Gohan Main

Nozawa, Masako Japanese

Piccolo Main

Furukawa, Toshio Japanese

Kuririn Main

Tanaka, Mayumi Japanese

Future Trunks Supporting

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Freeza Supporting

Nakao, Ryusei Japanese

Trunks Supporting

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Bulma Supporting

Tsuru, Hiromi Japanese

Muten-Roushi Supporting

Masuoka, Hiroshi Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer, ADR Director

Shimizu, Kenji Producer, Planning

Kaneda, Kouji Producer

Seki, Hiromi Assistant Producer

Reviews

Feb 22, 2026

Manjirin

Recommended

When it comes to the gargantuan that is Dragon Ball Z there is hardly anything that I can add that hasn't already been said elsewhere and at considerable length. In an effort not to retread ground, I'll try to concisely encapsulate what elevates this series to masterpiece status and why I feel it is and will remain unmatched into the distant future.

This series does tension and buildup in a way that no other series to my mind has ever approached and that most never even attempt. The pacing of the original 291 episodes is such that every twist and turn in the plot is given ... its due time to breathe and for the impact to be felt by the viewer. Those who consider the series too slow are missing the bigger picture in my view, and that is to savor every bit of showboating, backtalking, character monologuing, the jump cuts to other characters and what they are up to and thinking, and then back to the action to build it up in such a way that when the impactful moments hit they land fully marinated and with maximum effect.

Dragon Ball Z oozes memorable moments and moods with layers of nuance and ambiance in unforgettable and goosebump-inducing ways. From the figurative and literal apocalyptic showdown on the dying planet of Namek, to the science fiction horror atmosphere of the android and early cell arcs, to the rollercoaster ride of hope-filled breakthroughs and crushing setbacks of the Buu arc... few other series can boast at having even a handful of the kind of memorable scenes, conversational exchanges and epic set pieces that Dragon Ball Z continuously and effortlessly produces from the start through to the very end. Attempted continuations of this story fail to grasp both the sincerity of this series and the finality of Dragon Ball Z's end but also fall short of reproducing the magic behind what gives Dragon Ball Z its core identity and style. From the tension of the stakes involved to the measured pacing, from the balance between necessary exposition to leaving the most profound moments understated or even unsaid for the benefit of the audience.

It has to be experienced at least once, and not just for the purposes of maintaining a baseline of pop-culture awareness, but to experience an action-packed epic with unmatched mastery of tone, tension, and understated depth.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 13, 2025

anen0me

Mixed Feelings

This is the patient zero for every trope i hate in modern shonen anime. It didn't create most of those tropes, but it's the work that put them all in the same show and inspired every mediocre time waster that came after it. The author saw how popular Hokuto no Ken was getting and immediately decided to entirely reinvent his own perfectly good show to ride its coattails. He knew absolutely nothing about martial arts, but he was fantastic at creating an action comic book formula that fit into a weekly release schedule. This thing getting popular is the worst thing that's ever happened to ... anime, short of maybe Sword Art Online. I watched this on the TV growing up and didn't love it even back then, and coming back later to give it a fair shot from start to finish did not end up being rewarding. Every story beat and decision that happens in this anime revolves around coping with the work's insane weekly release format, and it really shows.

If you like the utterly mindless slop genre that DBZ created, you'll probably like DBZ, which is also mostly mindless slop. It's a brain-off empty aura-farming type of show, and that appeals to a lot of people and it very well might appeal to you. If you're a grown adult and that's not your thing, i don't see how there's anything in here that you will find worthwhile and you'll probably come out feeling bored and a bit insulted, like i did. It's great for kids, though.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 24, 2024

YoungVagabond

Not Recommended

Funny

Crappy popular anime can be split into two categories. Those whose appeal eludes me, and those where I perfectly understand the reason for their success. DBZ falls firmly in the latter category. Hell, I loved the series when I was a dumbass 14 year-old!

The premise is practically catnip for a male that age. Martial arts battles for the fate of the Universe against increasingly more powerful foes, with showdowns that destroy literal planets in their wake. As simplistic as it is, what could be fucking cooler than that? It's a young male teenager's power fantasy in anime form. Complete with over-the-top transformation sequences with entire ... minutes of pants-shitting yelling amidst intense music.

Alas, the execusion is as putrid, pathetic, and downright lame as it gets. To begin with, DBZ is a notable departure from the series, Dragonball, that preceded it.

The original was heavily based on the Chinese classic "Journey to the West", with Son Goku being based on Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, even copying his tail and magic staff. It focused more on fantasy and adventure, with a more light-hearted approach.

DBZ abandons all that to be a more simple, straightforward battle shounen centered around power levels, while taking itself far too seriously. Goku and his friends battle opponents across almost 300 episodes who fight exactly the same but we are told have much higher power levels; first Radditz, then Goku and Nappa, then Frieza and his henchmen, the androids, Cell, and finally, the Buus, with a filler arc featuring Garlic Jr.

And yet, DBZ manages to be a far worse fighting series than Dragonball in every way. It has several crippling flaws;

1. Crappy choreography.

While Dragonball featured the odd quality action scene and interesting sequence of moves based on actual kung-fu, DBZ is stripped down to a single punch, kick, or elbow either landing or missing, as well as a stock sequence of jerky animation where both combatants throw strikes and block, reused endlessly throughout the anime.

While the final series antagonist, Perfect Buu, is at a power level of 100 billion while the initial baddie Radditz is at 1500, they fight almost identically. In fact, Radditz's martial arts looks better, since the animators were trying harder back then.

Thus, enemies become more "powerful" while their techniques and fighting skill stay mostly the same. This power is simply demonstrated through the new antagonist being able to crush a previous antagonist with a single blow.

And how do Goku and his friends manage to overcome these beastly enemies? Through some clever strategy, new technique, or superior martial arts? Nope! It's from their own numbers going up, like a brain-dead RPG, usually through a transformation sequence and fusion, many of which are completely unmotivated deus ex machina and likely a cynical ploy for Toie Animation to sell more action figures and posters.

Choreography, or cool-looking, exciting battles is at the heart of battle shounen, and it sucks here. The resolution to the major battles is also disappointing, coming from a random spike in protagonist power levels, or worst of all, the "Spirit Bomb" attack, essentially a get out of jail free card for the writers when there is no reasonable way for Goku to triumph in battle.

2. Dangerously idiotic and unlikable heroes.

Time and again, Goku and company have an opportunity to easily defeat a threat to humanity only to forego it for utterly idiotic, selfish reasons, leading to the enemy becoming much stronger and beating them down.

Think Vegeta utterly wrecking the second form of Cell, only to allow him to absorb Android 18 because he wanted to face Perfect Cell. Think Vegeta joining Babidi or Goku not revealing his true power level in their fight, allowing Buu to be resurrected to begin with. Think Gotenks not taking the battle against a different version of Buu seriously.

If these supposed "defenders of Earth" don't give a shit about their suicidal actions and the countless billions of beings in the universe it would doom, why the hell should the viewer? And how can we possibly see them as heroes, as opposed to the overpowered, egotistical idiots (Goku) or outright villains (Vegeta) which their actions betray them to be?

3. Glacially slow pacing.

DBZ is the most painfully dull battle shounen ever devised. Entire episodes can be wasted on a single character powering up, composed of flashing lights and diarrhea screaming while a few music tracks loop endlessly. If we're lucky, an episode features a few punches and kicks in an episode in-between combatants standing menacingly and exchanging third grade level insults. As noted, the choreography sucks, although it beats the idiot characters talking. Oh, and that's not even mentioning the endless filler, which this show is notorious for.

Battles can last for dozens of agonizingly boring episodes, and what's worst is that at least 90% of what happens is entirely meaningless. All the blows and energy blasts until the very climax don't alter or determine a damn thing.

The entire anime is an exercise in tedium and time-wasting.

I understand liking DBZ as a 14 year-old new to anime. I was one of those myself. But looking back on it now, it's embarrassingly bad. The fight choregraphy sucks in the rare moments where characters don't just stand around powering up or shout "You're going to pay!", and the protagonists are a bunch of narcissistic morons or evil-doers.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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