Dragon Ball Super has a lot of haters, and we’re not here to prove them wrong, neither to agree. They bring claims such as that the anime has bad animation, poor story writing, and so on. We want to say from the start that both animes have their pros and cons, but Dragon Ball Super managed to be better in some areas neglected by its prequel.
Dragon Ball Super has been airing for only 131 episodes, and it’s expected to receive another season pretty soon. It ended in March 2018, right after the conclusion of the Tournament of Power.
On the other hand, Dragon Ball Z had 291 episodes, and the last one aired a quarter of a century ago, in 1996. At first glance, it seems that Z might have been better, judging only by the number of episodes. And we’rer not denying that, nor do we agree. Behold what Super did better than Z:
More fighting in base form
Back in Dragon Ball Z, there’s almost no fighting at all when the Z warriors are only in their basic state, with no transformations accompanied by the deafening and epic yelling. Everybody was eager to go Super Saiyan, Super Namek, and so on. But in Dragon Ball Super, we’ve seen more fighting in base forms, reminding people that characters such as Goku and Vegeta still have a lot of power without transforming.
For instance, there’s even an epic battle in the Tournament of Power from Super where Goku confronts both Kale and Caulifa at the same time, the two female Saiyans. While our hero was fighting in his base form, the two girls went Super Saiyan. Despite this apparent advantage of the female Saiyans, Goku still had the upper hand and dominated them in great style.
More humor added
Z looked like the mature form of the very first Dragon Ball series, when Goku was just a little boy, almost completely eliminating the humorous acts. In Dragon Ball Z, you can surely feel the danger flowing through the air, the tragedy, and you hear about all sorts of plans for the Z warriors to get out of trouble. In the first Dragon Ball series, you see almost none of that. You would see Goku more in an amusing scene rather than trying to save the world from powerful aliens.
Dragon Ball Super wanted to combine all those elements from both two series. It wanted to be as serious as possible because what could be more serious than a battle between the strongest fighters from the Multiverse in order to save your own Universe? But the show was also aimed at incredibly funny scenes, emphasizing the hilarious moments of Goku. The Saiyan was once again shown as he doesn’t have an idea what basic stuff is, such as a kiss. Such scenes annoyed a lot of Dragon Ball fans, but we all know how things go in life: there’s no possible way of pleasing everyone.
In Dragon Ball Super, nobody was brought back from the dead using the dragon balls
In Dragon Ball Z, a lot of characters died and were brought back from the dead using the dragon balls. The same thing happened even with the mighty Goku. This spoils the “realism” of the series, according to many fans. In Super, on the other hand, nobody has been brought back from the dead with the help of the Eternal Dragon, which in the view of many, is a major win.
Much higher power levels
This is not necessarily an advantage, but many fans reckon it likewise. Dragon Ball Super has made Goku, Vegeta, and other characters stronger than they could have ever dared to even dream. They truly achieved godly powers and new transformations that again, annoyed some of the fans for their simplicity. Coloring Goku’s hair in another color may not be the best way to create a new transformation.
The Tournament of Power
Yes, we’re saying it plainly: the Tournament of Power. This is the competition that brought into the spotlight plenty of the forgotten characters. Gohan, Piccolo, Tien, and even the old turtle hermit, Master Roshi, had their moments of glory in the tournament.
The Tournament of Power was a great battle royale arena evolving the most powerful participants from all of the 12 universes. It was probably the arc that had the most unexpected moments from the entire series. Master Roshi had such important contributions that he received some praise from Beerus the Destroyer himself. Gohan regained his fighting spirit and was the leader of the Z warriors team. Piccolo was once again decisive after a long time. Android 17, who was completely forgotten since the Cell Saga of Dragon Ball Z, turned out to be much more important than anybody believed possible. Frieza was a special guest, as he had his own evil reason to participate in the Tournament and fight for the salvation of the entire Universe.
In the Tournament of Power from Dragon Ball Super, everybody played a very important part in the final outcome. That’s excellent work done by Dragon Ball Super! We’ve never seen a battle royale tournament in Dragon Ball Z.
It’s up to you now to tell us what series you find better: Dragon Ball Z or Dragon Ball Super? Both shows have their own particularities, and Z is generally perceived better. However, we all know that getting all people to agree upon something, anything, is extremely difficult.