Ranking EVERY Dragon Ball Arc! (Tier List)

To me the Freeza saga is peak Dragon Ball, it had a ton of build up, peak action, character development and the transformation that revolutionized shonen. The android saga was great but it was the beginning of the super sayans show, where if you wasnt a super sayan you would barely get any screen time.

I really liked Yajirobi in his introduction. He was the first one I thought to "mirror" Goku of some kind to the audience. In his first scene Goku watches him killing and eating like he himself would do when hungry. Yajirobi was for me like Goku, an overly strong kid that just wasn't interested in tournaments and climbing ancient towers. Yajirobi is the personification of "I am fat and lazy, but if I have to, I can do it".

why'd he say "goku vs roshi"? roshi wasn't even there, that's jackie chun!

The Cell Saga will always be the GOAT for me. As a kid, it felt like the darkest and most serious of the arcs, how cell would just absorb random civilians, to how Future Trunks just obliterated Freeza like he wasn’t even trying, to the terror of the Androids, to Gohan becoming peak Gohan. I love everything about it.

For me, Golden Oozaru was one of the coolest things about gt. The show got in touch with it's origins and used it's lore in a captivating way.

Sad thing about GT is that the idea for some story arcs are actually fantastic - like Baby being the personification of Saiyans violent past coming back to bite them. And of course the concept of Shadow Dragons where the heroes overusing and constant reliance on the Dragon Balls comes back to bite them. These are some great ideas but the bad execution is what ruins them. Such a wasted potential.

The androids were terrifying, the music was scary, the mystery was there, Goku’s heart disease, trunks being from a different time, but that connection back to the red ribbon army made it make sense. It was AMAZING as a child lol

Frieza will always be the best saga in DBZ for me. When I was younger, I vaguely remember watching parts of it on Toonami. Years later, I would watch clips of it online constantly, enough that it became the saga I understood the most. The buildup is fantastic, especially how Vegeta’s character arc was handled. Not to mention Frieza is my favorite villain as well. Cell drug on for too long (although Future Trunk’s arc was also written very well) and Buu was just… too much. I love all the sagas, but Frieza was handled the best Imo

The Saiyan and Frieza arcs are my favorite but I loved the way Cell was introduced. It felt very different and a bit of a horror element into the series.

One thing I noticed about GT’a arcs is the theme of the past coming back to haunt the present. The black star Dragon Balls are something the Nameless Namekian made in the distant past with evil in his heart. Baby is the consequence of the Saiyans’ ruthless past coming back to seek revenge. Super 17 is the result of Gero and Myuu stewing in defeat to the point it consumes them to the point of revenge. And of course, the Shadow Dragons is the result of overusing the Dragon Balls all this time

Your love for this franchise is endearing in a way I can’t even describe. So glad you’re finally reviewing all of Z.

when goku met his grandpa gohan i actually cried. the voice actors and the animators actually did an incredible job. like u see goku smile so much but till then you could see and hear how truly happy he was seeing his grandpa. i love that scene and kid goku so much

My favorite of all of them is the Cell Arc, particularly because of Gohan’s growth throughout. Gohan has and always will be my favorite character in the series, and SSJ2 is my favorite transformation. So in my opinion it’s a God Tier entry. The ending is just too incredible for me to NOT put it there.

The Moro arc had no business being this good after what we saw in Super. I agree with most of what you said, especially putting the excellent Cell arc slightly under Frieza and the Saiyan arc. It was interesting hearing your thoughts on GT because I haven't watched that since I was a kid.

I personally think the end of GT makes the most sense alongside the Shadow Dragon arc. It kinda represents shenron forgiving the mortals for overusing the dragon balls, and doing the work to purify them. So while the ending could make sense with any part of GT, it makes the most sense after the shadow dragons arc.

The 22nd Tenkaici was so full of story and incredible action. Definitely one of my favourites anime arcs of all time

Classic Dragon ball needs to get talked about more. It’s so damn good

"You won't escape, MY WRAAAAATH!" The Ocean dub was also how I was initiated, and I loved Drummond's Vegeta. Thanks for all the great vids Mark.

I just started Dragon Ball 2 weeks ago and finished the King Piccolo arc. I think you did it dirty in B tier man

For what it was I always admired the art style in GT. It continued in the direction of the Buu saga and became more consistent.