Dragon Ball Z vs Dragon Ball Super: What Made Z Better?

Uncertain Stakes

The first thing that made Dragon Ball Z a better anime than Dragon Ball Super was the level of thrills that DBZ provided, compared to DBS. The main reason that DBZ was so much more exciting? It always kept the stakes uncertain. Major characters could die; major fights could be lost; and victory never felt assured, until it was. Dragon Ball Super sacrificed a lot of that thrilling uncertainty for a predictable formula of Goku and Vegeta powering-up and saving the day, with little or no real sacrifice required. Sure it gave us some epic transformation moments - but overall, the excitement factor of DBS suffered.

Wider Character Focus

Dragon Ball Z actually lived up to its title, by making the story about the entire Z-Fighter team and its experiences protecting Earth and/or the Dragon Balls. Goku never took up all of the spotlight alone, and Vegeta was just another supporting character alongside the likes of Piccolo or Gohan. Indeed, Dragon Ball Z promised an evolving arc of character focus, where younger Saiyans like Gohan, Goten, and Trunks, came of age and took over the story. Dragon Ball Super abandoned all of that to unabashedly solely focused on Goku and Vegeta. Not surprisingly a lot of fans are now feeling like that formula has grown stale.

Unique Transformations

In Dragon Ball Z, it felt truly significant when Goku achieved the first Super Saiyan transformation, manifesting an ancient prophecy. It was a clear "chosen one" ascension, which Goku earned through blood, battle, and sacrifice, against a superior foe. The subsequent levels of Super Saiyan 2 & 3 felt like logical and distinct evolutions of the power, which similarly occurred at key moments, which felt organic and fulfilling. Fusions were cool combinations of fighters. DBZ's power-ups redefined the series in a way that has been indelible.

Dragon Ball Super arguably stumbled for almost all of its run to achieve the same level of iconography and fame with its transformations. Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue are often mocked as red and blue hair Super Saiyan (respectively), and their debuts are not nearly as famous as DBZ's big power-up moments. It wasn't until the final arc of DBS and the arrival of Goku's Ultra Instinct (and to a lesser extent, Vegeta's Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Evolved) that DBS finally scored some major iconic new forms.

Better Power Mythology

Dragon Ball Z also had clear mythology for its Super Saiyan power-up and transformations. Even fusions were a clear process of two (or more) warriors combining their powers and personalities into a more powerful form. By contrast, Dragon Ball Super's Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue transformations are from being iconic milestones like Super Saiyan, or Gohan's Super Saiyan 2 moment. Even when DBS has achieved some level of iconic power-ups (Vegeta's SSGSSE, Goku's Ultra Instinct), the actual mythology behind those power-ups has been so much more muddled than the DBZ power set.

Better Villains

This is a pretty easy comparison: Dragon Ball Z had the following (main) villains:

• Raditz
• Vegeta
• Freeza
• Cell & The Androids
• Majin Buu

Here is the list of Dragon Ball Super's main villains - half of whom aren't even truly "villains" in the traditional sense:

• Lord Beerus
• Golden Freeza
• Goku Black / Immortal Zamasu
• Jiren and the Tournament of Power Fighters

How many Dragon Ball fans would actually fight for the opinion that Dragon Ball Super did villains better? Would you?

Better Animation

Again, pretty short argument here: Dragon Ball Z is still being hailed for its animation and production design, 30 years later. Dragon Ball Super is still being slammed for much of the series being a step-down from DBZ, in terms of its animation quality and production - particularly in the fight sequences. To be fair, Dragon Ball Super put out some of the most quality work in the series during its final arc of episodes - and the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie has been a stylistic milestone, thanks to Naohiro Shintani. But those late gains aren't enough to rival DBZ's groundbreaking stylistic achievements.

Better Fights

It takes just a few minutes scrolling on YouTube to confirm it: Dragon Ball Z's biggest fights are much more popular than Dragon Ball Super's. With good reason. Super Saiyan Blue Goku vs. Golden Freeza is a pale echo of Super Saiyan Goku vs. Freeza. Aside from the final fight with Jiren or other tournament highlights, DBS's battles aren't really that memorable.