Best and Worst Dragon Ball Arcs?

[Jotari]

Mistare Fusion is a Dragon Ball Youtuber that has just spent ten years reviewing the Dragon Ball manga. It's pretty good stuff, he goes super in depth with his analysis and isn't afraid to share his own hot takes and views on it. If you like Dragon Ball then I'd definitely recommend you check out his body of work. Seeing his view of the series has gotten me thinking about it over all, so why not make a Serenes thread with a poll. As that's just sort of what I do when I want to guage opinions. So what is, in your opinion, the highest and lowest points of Dragon Ball?

Personally for me, I think the Sayian Arc is unquestionably the high point of the series. The fights in that arc just work really well and, even though it's accomplished by killing them off, all the (fighting) characters do feel useful (even Yarjirobe!). Dragon Ball definitely suffered from making stakes high after the Sayian Arc and I think that's partially down to how well the Sayian arc managed to nail what would become the Dragon Ball Z formula.

As for the worst, it's probably the first arc. It feels a bit mean to pick on it for not being what Dragon Ball would later become, but even stand alone as a comedy story it's only mildly unique or interesting.

 

No, I won't be rethinking what does and doesn't constitute an arc. 10 is a nice round number.

[Venger_06]

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

Mistare Fusion is a Dragon Ball Youtuber that has just spent ten years reviewing the Dragon Ball manga. It's pretty good stuff, he goes super in depth with his analysis and isn't afraid to share his own hot takes and views on it.

To him, classic DB was peak and everything went downhill after it lol

Well, I think I agree that the first arc was the weakest, if only because it loses steam halfway through it. The best arc has to be the Androids/Cell saga, as this is where the signature DB elements finally come together, delivering the "quintessential Dragon Ball (Z) experience".

[vanguard333]

I'm surprised that the live-action movie isn't listed as a joke answer for "worst arc". It would probably get all the votes.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that you reconsider; I'm just making a joke. 

Edited April 25, 2022 by vanguard333

[Jotari]

4 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

To him, classic DB was peak and everything went downhill after it lol

In broad strokes, maybe, but in specifics, he isn't all that fond of the two Piccolo arcs and is quite favourable towards the Sayian arc.

[Venger_06]

50 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

I'm surprised that the live-action movie isn't listed as a joke answer for "worst arc". It would probably get all the votes.

You can't list what doesn't exist

45 minutes ago, Jotari said:

In broad strokes, maybe, but in specifics, he isn't all that fond of the two Piccolo arcs and is quite favourable towards the Sayian arc.

I really can't see what people like so much about the Saiyan Arc. The Kanzenban version is being released here so I'm re-reading it, and sometimes I seriously think about ranking Buu over it.

[Etrurian emperor]

Worst is definitely the Buu arc. I had my fun with it and I definitely have a soft spot for it but the arc felt very exhausted, trying to do too much while at the same time also retreading old ground. Things like Gotenks, Awakened Gohan, and fusion were fun additions but also kinda pointless if Goku just gets to finish things with a spirit bomb. Buu meanwhile is just a less interesting Cell in a lot of ways. The obsession with fighting powerful opponents, the ability to regenerate and having attacks of the good guys in his arsenal. Mister Satan turned out to be a highlight of the entire series though.

As for best.....I dunno. Probably the Frieza or Cell arc with me kinda leaning towards Cell. 

I have nothing to say about the original Dragonball. It never aired in my country and I never got around to watching it. Its on my to do list eventually but so far I haven't gotten around it. 

Shouldn't Super also be on the list? I get not including GT since it be kinda punching down and it being a bit non canon, but Super is an official part of the canon.

[Jotari]

2 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Shouldn't Super also be on the list? I get not including GT since it be kinda punching down and it being a bit non canon, but Super is an official part of the canon.

The issue there is that I haven't seen or read Super.

[ping]

I was tempted to vote Frieza arc as both best and worst. The entire competition between three parties with very different strengths and weaknesses is just amazing - the humans would lose a head-on fight against either other group, but have the Dragon Radar, innate ki detection, and the ability to go into stealth mode; Vegeta can sense ki and easily beat up the earthlings, but he can't beat Frieza's strongest minions; Frieza is completely OP in a fight, but also "blind" for ki or Dragon Balls.

But as soon as Goku arrives and takes over the plot, it goes downhill. The Captain Ginyu shenanigans are mildly entertaining, but his fight against Frieza, Super Saiyajin hype or not, really isn't too interesting. Admittedly, I'm very biased here, because I only ever watched the original anime (and later read the manga, never watched Kai), where the Frieza fight is just insufferable.

So instead, I went with Red Ribbon as the best arc - Kid Goku is the best Goku, and RR was super fun. I'm not entirely happy calling Buu the worst, because I genuinely enjoy Gohan's high school shenanigans and later Mr Satan's odd friendship with Boo, but every arc has its strengths, and the Boo saga becomes a bit... redundant, I guess, with its repeated useless power-ups.

Been a long time since I've consumed any DB that hasn't been abridged, though, so this is all coming from potentially inaccurate memories.

[vanguard333]

25 minutes ago, Newtype06 said:

You can't list what doesn't exist

Fair enough. A lot like ATLA: there is no Last Airbender movie within the walls of Ba Sing Se. The Earth King has invited me to Lake Laoghai, and I am honoured to accept his invitation.