All Dragon Ball Anime Ranked (7-1)
7) Super Dragon Ball Heroes
Super Dragon Ball Heroes brought an innovative approach by rescuing Trunks from a prison planet, kicking off on July 1st, 2018.
While it was a fun expansion of the universe with extravagant battles, like Goku Super Saiyan Blue against Goku Super Saiyan 4, the series has been criticized for feeling more like a promotion for the Dragon Ball Heroes card game than an anime with its own substance.
With over 50 episodes divided into various story arcs, it enjoyed the return of iconic villains and overlooked heroes, but it never ceased to be seen as a promotional extension of the game that cares little for canon or logic.
6) Dragon Ball Daima
Daima, set to debut in late 2024, promises to revolutionize the Dragon Ball universe with a surprising premise: turning Goku and his friends into children, in an attempt to explore new mysterious worlds to reverse this change.
The series promises a unique approach, bringing back Goku’s classic Power Pole and exploring abilities beyond divine ki, generating high expectations for both veterans and new fans alike.
5) Dragon Ball GT
Released a week after the end of Dragon Ball Z in 1996, it proposed a bold continuity by turning Goku into a child again.
Despite exploring the characters’ futures and introducing striking transformations like Super Saiyan 4, the series suffered from mixed reception from fans, due to its more childish approach and the departure of the original creator, Akira Toriyama, for much of its production.
It’s entirely possible that Dragon Ball GT could have completely changed its direction and won over the audience if it had one or two more story arcs to explore.
However, with only 64 episodes, it is by far the shortest series, and it suffers from its abrupt ending and not having more time to experiment with this future timeline and more mature characters.
4) Dragon Ball Z Kai
Dragon Ball Z Kai is a streamlined reimagining of the original Z, eliminating fillers to offer a more faithful experience to Toriyama’s manga.
Launched in 2009, this series attracted fans with enhanced animation quality and revisiting the classic narrative, although some content eliminations divided opinions.
3) Dragon Ball
The original series is an undisputed classic that blends humor, action, and adventure, following Goku from his childhood to becoming a brave adult.
Rich in martial arts fundamentals and thrilling battles, Dragon Ball laid the groundwork for everything that followed.
2) Dragon Ball Super
Dragon Ball Super, launched in 2017, proposes to follow the events after the defeat of Majin Buu, introducing dragon balls the size of planets, new divine transformations, and the concept of a multiverse, raising the stakes to unprecedented levels.
Despite some fans criticizing its excess of nostalgia and reliance on past elements, there is no doubt that it managed to excite and further expand the franchise’s legacy.
1) Dragon Ball Z
Dragon Ball Z elevates an already excellent series to even greater heights and begins after the original series, with Goku being a father to a young boy, Gohan, besides the bombastic revelation that Goku is actually an alien and a member of the brutal Saiyan warrior race.
Z dives into action with unprecedented evil and massive casualties for the heroes, including Goku himself. Humans gradually fade into the background, while Saiyans like Goku, Vegeta, and Future Trunks dominate the narrative, along with their prolific transformations into Super Saiyans.
Dragon Ball Z also departs from Earth’s comfortable atmosphere with frequent visits to outer space, the afterlife, and even time travel. A new level of villainy arises with villains like Frieza, Cell, and Buu, who have the power to destroy the entire planet with ease.
While Dragon Ball Z is often celebrated for elevating the series to new heights with epic battles and iconic characters, each series has its own charm and unique contribution to the vast universe created by Akira Toriyama.
