Is DBZ ACTUALLY one of the best animes ever?

Nostalgia aside, how does the classic Dragon Ball Z rank up to some of today's great animes and mangas? Now obviously everyone's initial reaction is a massive "hell yeah", but just take a minute to think. We all have great memories of DBZ, after all, 99% of anime fans only got into the genre in the first place BECAUSE of DBZ.

But put all that aside. Judging Dragon Ball Z (just Z, not the original or GT because, to be honest, they weren't quite as popular) alongside other great animes, does it really hold up? Or is it overrated and only remembered because it was lucky enough to air on Toonami, whereas better anime weren't?

(All that said my own answer is of course a massive hell yeah :P)

Not even close.

I would agree

Nope. Dragon Ball Z is nowhere near the best, and quite frankly whoever says otherwise either has a horrible taste in anime, nostalgia is clowding their judgment or they have not watched enough to anime to know any better.

The same can be said with Sailor Moon; they both impacted their respectvie genre (shonen for DBZ and Shojo for Sailor Moon) But saying either one of them is the G.O.A.T. anime is complete and utter nonsense.

I barely watched any anime, but I'd say yes. Lol.

One of the most popular? Sure. Iconic? Probably. THE best? Nah.

Was never really into anime but DBZ was enjoyable when I watched a few episodes. Same with Naruto and One Piece.

Most influential? Yeah, I don't think anyone could doubt that. Best anime/manga ever? Nehhh, not even close.

No it's the same damn sh** every saga.

For the "anime community" No but for the modern man HELL YES.

Nobody can argue this with Meth. Meth knows a lot of DBZ fans who never watched any other anime show. At the same time huge anime fans don't see the awesomeness that is DBZ.

In the end of the day it's all subjective $#!% so there is no point in arguing.

-m3th.O.D.-

Ever since Death Battle reignited the great Goku vs Superman wars in the winters of 2013, Ive gained a major dislike for the series. But putting that aside short answer No, long answer HELL NOOOOOOOOOOOO. I prefer Bleach or FMA.

It's one of the best animes ever.

I think Dragon Ball is the best anime, Soul Eater 2nd, and 3rd DBZ. I don't watch much anime. Death Note was pretty good.

LOL

Not even in the same league as the best.

I love DBZ, but come on, it's mindless entertainment. The only time it gets anywhere near depth or decent characterisation is GT, and everyone hates that.

It's one of the most mainstreem/ famous. Not the best. Better than some of the recent crap (looking at you soul eater)

Yes. z was absolutely brilliant till frieza's death, one of the only animes I never felt like missing an episode.

But after that it got a bit repetitive.. and frankly, uninteresting. Cell is dead? cell is back? meh. And why would the final monster of an action packed anime be a pink colored bubblegum? Just sad. No other words.

But if you consider raditz-frieza, I'd easily rate it in my top 10. (Besides ginyu turning into a frog grr)

I guess so.

No. DBZ is really bad compared to most anime.

I don't really like shonen anime, but I enjoyed a few. DBZ is fun when you're young, the plot is less important than the fighting. But now even the fighting scenes look really bad compared to an anime like Fate/Zero for example.

In terms of poplarity and iconicism? Sure.

In terms of story, characters, animation? Not even a little bit.

Influential and iconic? Yep. Entertaining for damn near everyone that watched it back in the day? Absolutely. Is it up there in terms of quality with Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Samurai Champloo, Yu Yu Hakasho, and Lupin the 3rd? Hell no.

No. Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is more entertaining than DBZ (and I meant that in a derogatory way, despite finding PSG palatable).

@joygirl The only anime I know more over the top than Panty and Stocking is Puni Puni Poemi.

Fly away isn't just song, it's Japanese slang for an orgasm...

Not even close to the best.

it's was the best when it came out maybe few year after but by today standard it's not also there are alot of anime that has better story and plot than dbz

You can't really compare Dbz to today's anime that's not really fair, Anime's like Hunter X Hunter, Naruto, One Piece, Toriko all get influence from Dragonball except they take it deeper than Dragonball ever did. But to be honest I give Toriyama a lot of more credit then any other Author, he created a pretty good Shonen when he didn't even feel like writing it.

Nah. Fun to watch though.

Let's put it like this: Bill Russell would get slayed on 1-on-1 by Magic, Jordan, Kobe, or Lebron, but every single one of them will admit admiration for him and his impact. If you replace them with DBZ, One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, and Fairy Tail (ok, maybe not FT...), you'll see that I am stoned, watching Anime highlights and thinking about basketball.

@knightrise: Replace Fairy Tail with Toriko, or Hunter X Hunter then yeah I agree lol.

@knightrise: The problem with that comparison is none of those anime you listed are "the best ever either". Comparing those players to those anime is a massive insult to the players.

While I do favor other manga over DBZ because of their story and characters, DBZ will always be my favorite just because it's DBZ. Loved that show since I saw it and will never not love it. Unless it's GT, then it can go to hell.(Hates GT with a burning passion.)

well it is quite popular

I agree it's like comparing an old game console to a new game console, and yeah people forget that Toriyama never really wanted to write Dbz he was forced too that's why it's a bit repetitive.

DBZ is god worthy

It all comes down to opinion, in mine it is not.

Nope

No, not even in the top 20

Bleach and Fairy Tale disprove your logic about today's standards.

Um yes. It is.

It's a HUGE anime that has worldwide popularity.

No it doesn't have the best story, or character development or whatever. But you can't deny that it's one of the biggest and best animes ever.

Yes. Yes I can.

Some animes were inspired off of DBZ. It's one of the best animes IMO.

@biteme_fanboy: Popularity =/= Quality

Never has. Never will.

This comment makes no type of sense.

It makes perfect sense. He's saying that on the technical side you can find flaws in it but as far as it's appeal and recognition it's one of the biggest animes ever.

Actually I don't think you can. DBZ in terms of success is definitely one of the biggest animes ever.

@vance_astro: I was actually referring to it being one of the best anime of all time part. Hence why I only underlined the best, and left the biggest untouched.

I see DBZ how I view George Mikan; sure Mikan impacted the game of basketball by a significant margin, but comparing him to someone of Kareem's caliber is just plain wrong.

Well that's my opinion at least I'm sure majority will disagree *shrugs*

Like others in this thread have said, it had a huge impact and is immensely popular but as just in terms of storytelling and characterization it wasn't that great.

I underlined the part where he said it does not have the best story and character development. Then calls it one of the best animes. Yes it is one of the biggest in terms of recognition but one of the best in terms of quality no where close.