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".

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.

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

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.

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 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

OG DragonBall is just the Absolute GOAT DBZ was Great & had some Outstanding Iconic Moments that impacted the Cultural Zeitgeist & future manga series forever on GT had a nice aesthetic & Super Saiyan 4 & some interesting concepts but fell flat in certain areas & then DragonBall Super Has some Awesome Moments but then they are either undercut or don't hit as hard cause of some choices they made with the writing. There are parts where its like "oh yeah back to form this is great" but then its like "Oof seasonal rot hittin hard" Tho all the slice of life eps in super are fun haha

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

"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

I love that you did this video. Great work

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

I have a soft spot for the Buu arc. It was one of the first villains I met on DB and I have always enjoyed his different forms and general design aesthetic. Always really enjoyed the Kid Buu fight and even though there's a lot of dumb stuff in the arc and some silly fourth wall breaks, I just like it a bunch. However, when binge reading Cell and then Buu it feels pretty weird. Do super enjoy the Mr Satan and Buu relationship, though!

Absolutely loved this! Thank you!

Saiyan arc/Frieza arc are defo the best DB arcs ever. Those arcs gave me so much comfort, idek what it was, but I’d watch a few eps every night after going to the library when revising for my exams and it was just so warming and well written. Will forever cherish those arcs.

For the king piccolo arc, I think one of the contrivances can be retroactively explained away: Having only watched DB LONG after DBZ, I always understood the magic water as a placebo, with the true reason for Gokus powerboost being that he got a zenkai.

I genuinely loved the Saiyaman portion if the Buu arc, and I think a lot of the problems with the arc overall could be fixed if Buu absorbed Goku and Vegita and Gohan fused to fight him in the end

Great work with this one 💯.

I’ve never been here before, since you’re totally not Mark, thanks for the great content Devyn!

I think the other world tournament arc in Z had 2 pretty good things going for it. 1. It was a much, much needed break from the constantly pressure laid out from start to end of the cell saga. 2. Pikkon was, imo, an interesting enough character to carry it. Up to this point, this level of power was basically legendary power built upon legendary power that, as far as we know, no one has ever seen before or achieve. Pikkon came in and showed us that there are other competitive fighters out there as well elsewhere in the universe.

Story aside, the GT aesthetic is AWESOME. I LOVE how that show looked. Also, the theme. Dan Dan kokoru hikariteku is an all time banger

that was literally the best intro ive ever seen hahahahaahh subbed

The Moro arc was very good and totally fresh, it changed so many things that we thought were established, like Vegeta not caring about other people besides his family, and the concept of magic mattering more than energy levels for the first time since the early Dragon Ball, it was definitely a breath of fresh air to see Uub, Grand Supreme Kai Buu , and Vegeta fighting for redemption.

"But not GT" Glad you changed your mind on that one.

Glad, you're back! ❤

the subtle weaving in of dbza clips in place of the originals in a couple spots is honestly just art

My favorite installation of the whole Dragon Ball Franchise is Definitely Classic Dragon Ball. No, not because of nostalgia or any of that, but I genuinely liked it. I loved the adventure aspect that seems to be missing nowadays. I have got to agree that the Budokai Tenkaiichis were AMAZING. I was blown away at how invested I was in the battles and how it actually meant something. I do like Z, GT and Super, but the fights are way too prolonged and have little meaning to me other than looking nice and boom boom Vegeta and Goku new powerup. Comedy is also great, and is plentiful inside Classic. Characters like General Blue, Mercenary Tao etc. were whacky but also very strong at the time. All of these minor characters like Upa and his dad were also very fun to watch (Was super happy they had a cameo in GT and Z). When I first initially watched it, I was a bit turned off due to how many episodes it was (200) and how most people disregard it but it ended up being something I was looking forward to watching each day. I still love the newer installations, Gohan and Trunks are some of my favorite characters. Was super cool to see Goku grow up through those years, I love stories which actually tell a story where a character grows and learns from the start till the end. DB-DBS will always have a place in my heart.

I literally jumped for joy when you put the 21st budokai in S tier, it really is SEVERELY underrated and not nearly praised enough

A new sub here. I quite liked a couple of videos of yours and I'm hooked already. Thanks for the entertainment and I hope your channel grow as much as possible because imo you deserve it. Very glad to have came by your channel, can't wait to see how it progresses. Cheers mate

1:15: I bet you the whole cast knew about Goku accidental killing of Gohan by seeing his Oozaru form. It’s bad form that he had to figure it out himself so many years later against Vegeta. Some friends……..

It's crazy how popular Dragonball became after so many years of absence. I mean, we got more Super Arcs than there are DBZ Arcs already and although not all of them are good, I still enjoy them and tbh I'm just glad that DB is back in my life. I even started buying Mangas again since my original 42 volumes need some expanding 😅 to truly be complete.

Great video!

The build up to Super Saiyan was so good. There was all the talking about the legend and such. And then there's the fact that transformations where shown to be a thing thanks first to Zarbon and then Freiza.

For me personally the Cell/Android arc is far and beyond my favorite in the franchise. I genuinely love it so much, I love all the Villains especially since all of them are threats and do some crazy stuff to the group and the ending is perfect

Each arc in Z is thematically interesting, Saiyan arc was about nature vs nurture obviously Goku and Vegeta represent the themes but they both reject each other's own upbringing, Vegeta rejects Goku because he's a low class warrior by nature and won't accept him due to his nurture by earth, Goku rejects his nature because of who his people were but respects and appreciates his nurture because of how far he came, The Frieza arc was about taking the good and the bad aka accepting both aspects, notice how Vegeta was abusing his nature to get Zenkai but never truly respecting the nurture of Goku or the others because he was to obsessed with his own biology, Piccolo also abused his own nature and fused with nail to get a power up but he had truly appreciated it until the next arc, Goku was the only one who accepted his nature and nurture and was able to seriously either surprise, surpass and beat Frieza, " I'm a Saiyan raised on Earth" is a powerful line, The Cell arc was about the previous generation vs the new, Cell was an amalgamation of different previous strong warriors who came from the future to fight the past warriors, he's a walking contradiction he's a future warrior that has the genetics of beings from the past, that's why every person Cell fought prior to Gohan was set up to loose, Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo Android 16 etc were beings from the distant past that's why Gohan the product of a Saiyan and earthling who isn't from the future had to save earth from this present threat, while trunks rid of the Androids In his present timeline because they were his threat, And with the Buu arc it came full circle Buu I like to think was a play on the phrase you are what you eat, he lost himself his original self the more fighters he faced which made him more bland but so are the heroes they have lost themselves to the point where in some retired, others have given up on fighting, and the ones who are still in the game are only obsessed with the next big battle and forgetting who they are, noticed how the Spirit bomb didn't work on Vegeta or Frieza but thematically it worked on Buu, because when they fought frieza and Vegeta the heroes didn't loose sight of who they were but with Buu it took the combination of everyone to bring them to accepting who they are but not forgetting where they came from always looking for the next challenge but keeping themselves grounded I love dragon ball ,❤️

This video is genuinely amazing man I have no idea how one person can produce so many bad takes

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.

I really enjoyed this tier list. Been listening for years and this genuinely felt much more like a peek into Mark's mind. One that felt natural and slightly vulnerable

Thank you for including that moment from Brian Drummond. As much as I love Sabbat's Vegeta, that scream from Drummond is stuck in my head forever.

I have to totally agree about the ridiculousness of DB Super’s Battle of Gods arc - Goku and Beerus powering up and manifesting energy ‘dragons’… I figured it was metaphorical, but even so, I just thought, “What…??!!” 😂 The Goku Black arc had me on the edge of my seat with the mystery it brought to the table - Zamasu and his fall from grace (I like the imagery of him ‘falling’, almost into madness in a way, in the opening credits) was very interesting to me, and Goku attacking him and his Black counterpart after finding out they murdered his family was very satisfying.

You made some interesting points my dude.

30 seconds in I just have to say what a touching amazing intro we had there, uh it’s just uh.

I doubt you'll ever see this Mark but your content has legit made my life better. I found you when I had COVID and the videos seem to always come when hard times do. Thank you sir.

I absolutely love the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai. Roshi making the path for the next generation, Goku vs. Krillin being surprisingly close, and Goku vs. Tien being a ridiculously edge of your seat climax make this tournament one of my all time favorite tournament arcs in all of anime.

15:50 Bro I found the kaioken thing so funny because I used to do the exact same thing. Imagining myself multiplying the kaioken to complete that last lap was so cool to me. I still do it to this day and it still helps me out in my workouts. 😂

I pretty much agree with this list for the most part, my favourite Arc from Dragon ball is the 23rd tournament. For Dragon ball Z my favourite is a mix between the saiyen arc and Frezia arc. For GT it’s the baby arc and finally for Super (at least so far) probably the Tournament of power or the Moro arc. Looking forward to seeing your review for the Dragon ball Z Arc’s.

You're not alone, Mark. Me and my brother would go online looking for ways to master and conjure up our chi for energy blasts 😂 We were like 7/8. I think lots of kids did. It was always cool to imagine ourselves being able to do that. In fact, DBZ helped me gain an interest in certain eastern philosophies because of this.

Yay! GT coverage! ^^

now thats a series that i wanna watch

Just remember that while GT was meh a music tier list would be DOMINATED by it. GT has some of the BEST music in dragon ball and Dan Dan is easily the BEST DB song.

I find it hilarious that Garlic Jr. is above the majority of GT

haven't laughed at an intro that hard in a while 😂

This is both a nostalgia trip and relevant content, I can't believe how long dragon Ball has been running and I love it

I will always say the Saiyan Saga is the best thing Toriyama ever wrote. Just looking at the art and paneling you can tell he was so inspired and in a creative euphoria while he was making it. It’s not just Goku vs Vegeta that’s incredible about this arc, it’s the fact that the Raditz situation was so bad that Goku had to team up with his nemesis and even still they barely got him. It’s how Nappa spent almost half the arc completely decimating all the characters you got to know and love throughout the past arcs. The Nappa fight feels like it takes forever in the best way possible, by the end of it everyone is either exhausted or dead save for Goku who shows up to give us one of the best fights ever done. That saga is just too good

I actually really like yajirobe being able to climb korins tower, it really adds to his character as *could be a z fighter but is too much of a coward*

I loved the subtle space duck reference

15:50 I can imagine Mark yelling out Kaioken and people are looking at him saying “Kaio what?” 😂😂

It's always so strange to me. GT had some good ideas with being more focused on the Dragon balls again and SS4 is still by far the best looking transformation in the series but horrible execution and Super has overall bad ideas (2 tournaments that you knew were impossible to lose due to stakes for 1) but has some really cool moments. Maybe when the new series comes out eventually they will combine those 2.

The Funky Kong theme was a purely golden detail. Absolutely deserved of a like.

when you talked about the kaio ken, it reminded me of something some athletes use. they say something internally to give them an adrenaline boost. after the boost, it wears down the body.

I always love your Dragon Ball content, especially your character analysis’! I was wondering if you would ever make any surrounding the human Z-Fighter characters i.e. Krillin, Roshi, Yamcha, ect... Heck even Mr. Satan would be cool. Maybe even just one on the humans as a whole. The humans are so under rated/under estemated, and it’s cool that they don’t have a transformation/ easy way to power. (Outside of Krillins boost from Guru.) They used to have purpose and meaning, and now they are just used as jokes, and can’t even hold a candle due to power scaling even when they put in the hard training time. (Also side note, the only way I could see them become relevant again is if someone wished for humans to have the same unlimited potential as Saiyans, or if they introduce Universe 6 humans who just got their Earth revived.)

I honestly loved the buu arc. Plus the last tournament in the original dragonball is soooo gooooddddd!!!!!

I remember watching the king piccolo fight for the first time, I lost my mind when goku blew through his stomach, I didn’t think that was something people were allowed to animate or something. It was honestly really cool.

I love how for the entirety of talking about the garlic jr arc the background videos is a loop of krillin getting beat up

Honestly this is one of the best Dragon Arc rankings I’ve seen in a long time, nicely done Mark!

I will always love the Cell saga. Cell as an antagonist to me was so cool in concept and in execution with his imperfect and perfect forms. The fights between him with Goku and Gohan still remain to be one of my favorites and his og track( not the Bruce Faulconer one) is catchy and always manages to get stuck in my head

The line of Freezer->Droids->Mr. Perfect Cell is just so good. I know that a lot of the rapidfire antagonist switching in the latter two is a result of editorial malfeasance but I love how it never lets you get your bearings until Cell attains perfection and just becomes Bug Freeza.

It pleases me to see someone else who holds some of those early Dragon Ball arcs in high regard. It’s more often than not people I’ve talked to about Dragon Ball write-off all the early stuff as nothing more than a stepping stone to Dragon Ball-Z. The world martial arts tournaments are great, though! and one fight doesn’t take half a season of anime to get through 🙂

My personal favourite arcs are Red Ribbon - Specifically Murasaki and everything after General Blue's appearance. Baba's segment could've been trimmed down to just Granpa Gohan, as the rest feels like filler. Piccolo Daimao - in spite of the plot bullshit like Goku's heart stopping then starting for no reason, it hits a certain level of dread the series hasn't seen before. Piccolo Jr. - Being somewhat predictable compared to previous tourneys but my god is it good. The culmination of everyone's journeys. Saiyan - A perfect end point for Dragon Ball with unimitaged dread and horror. The cast we've grown up with and come to love all die horrific deaths that lack any kind of punch if you haven't read or seen the original Dragon Ball parts. Yamcha wasn't just a meme death. His death was a tragic example of heroic overconfidence. Tenshinhan and Chaozu's deaths were heartbreaking. PICCOLO dying in one of the few 100% selfless sacrifice. Kami, Karin and Yajirobe all doing their part to help out in the fight, no matter how small. It was a great send off to the OG Dragon Ball era before we got into the Z era of transformations, screaming and lack of any real choreography. Buu - in spite of just how messy and all over the place it is and in spite of the garbage Majin Vegeta bit. It felt most like OG Dragon Ball. The high school antics, the Mr. Satan crowd, Buu being stopped by simply being talked to, Evil Buu emerging due to the evil of man. And the ending I want to love the Freeza arc, but it just drags on and on, especially in the anime. The Cell arc is great for first time viewing, but rewatching it showcases its many, many nonsensical shortcomings. The Battle of Gods, Broly and Super Hero movies were fantastic and the only "new" Dragon Ball screen media that I enjoy.

I'm super happy that the Buu saga got some love. I've said forever that it has some of the most iconic moments in DB. Plus it easily has the best art and animation of any DBZ arc.

The Super 17 arc is honestly the lowest point of Dragon Ball history. It was awful from start to finish, I had so many issues with it from Android 17s characterisation, power scaling and so many things not making sense. For example the random creation of Hell Fighter 17 with no lab, how he was somehow able to control/manipulate Android 17 and how Super 17 was able to causally beat all the Z fighters yet a kid Super Saiyan Goku out performed all of them against Super 17

I’d like to defend the ending of Goku Black arc and Jiren. The number 1 complaint about DBS is not doing anything different, we know Goku will get a power up and win at the end of the arc. Yet here it didn’t happen. And it’s very fitting for the story itself, plot wise he wished for immortality. No bs deus ex machina, no bs, he just was unkillable. From a thematic standpoint it was fitting that a mortal could defeat Zamasu, and for an actual God to kill him. Showing he was never truly a God, and that he was no better than a human either. Trunk’s timeline being deleted is fine too, I wish there was a bit more grit to it, but it fits Trunk’s character, that he has nothing left to fight for, yet he gives his all fighting to help others. A true hero, something like Spiderman. For Jiren, he represents everything Goku “wishes” for. To be the strongest, yet when facing it he doesn’t like what he sees. He fights for justice instead of himself, views his friends as tools, and lacks the pure enjoyment of fighting (a kinda Saitama effect of being bored once having it). Goku has to reach this peak by proving every single of part of Jiren’s character wrong. Fighting as a team, throwing justice out the window by teaming up with Frieza, and enjoying the process (Goku’s will kept him fighting while Jiren kept losing the will to fight). It also ties into ultra instinct, showing Goku’s pure calm heart while Jiren could never have such a thing, even though from the outside he looks like he should. Neither are S (or God) ranked by any means, but are much better than people give them credit for (maybe both of these being a really low A in a ranking)

For me Freeza saga was okay but it's nothing compare to Cell Saga... Freeza saga is just common "Hey we have big enemy here, we need beat him... okey only one guy with plot armour can beat him". Plot of Cell Saga was very complex, I loved this when I was kid and I love this now when I'm adult.

I might be in the minority but overall, I found the ToP to be mostly disappointing. There were some fantastic moments here and there but it was wasted potential. They could have done a lot more with the setting and format of the tournament, so many pointless and boring fights, a mostly passive and boring antagonist, too much time focused on universe 7 and their fights, and just a ridiculous amount of plot armor for Goku in this one. It was so bad that for the first time ever in the series, I genuinely wanted to see him lose. The Manga version was pretty bad in its own right but sometimes I'm tempted to put it above the anime just because of the fact that it didn't drag on like the anime and ended a lot sooner.

I basically agree with every ranking of this list except I think the Cell Arc should be Z tier. It's my absolute favorite, largely because I think Cell is the best villain Dragon Ball has ever offered up.

The scene of vegeta crying to goku was the thing that made me love namek, watching the toughest guy around who would not even consider goku a worthy rival a few months ago is begging in his last moments to kill frieza, the line “he needs to die by a saiyan hand” goes so hard, vegeta did not think they would revive him so he knew those could be his last words and wished that kakarot his rival took the win against frieza Namek is peak

12:47 damn, doing my boy krillin like that in that loop 😂 at least his nose won’t break…no nose

I still prefer Gt over super it tried new things and it's better than being the same thing and really boring like super

I got into Dragonball through TFS as a kid and now I have to say,after diving into everything about the actual anime/manga/games and on, I can't believe how much I have absolutely fallen in love with this entire world. It is so amazing how much of an impact it has had on the world and our culture as a whole;to think this all started with someone learning to draw. To anyone reading this who's unsure of starting I'd like to say this. You may not reach exactly what Dragonball has when you start out but remember you never will if you don't at least try. Giving up before you start is unfair to yourself;you never know what you may create.

Very nice video! This is probably coming because I was a kid and I loved everything about it, but I would put Sayians arc, Frieza arc, Cell arc & Buu arc on god tier for me. Almost of all Dragonball Z. But again, that’s probably because it was half my childhood. 😂

lmao I died at the intro to the black arc section

For someone who grew up watching Z I’ll be honest I’ve grown tired of it having an amazing fight lasting twenty something episodes and then half a season before another fight like that. The reason I like the ToP saga is because you see everyone shatter their limits in a fight that this time could cover a whole season by itself. With Vegeta evolving SSB and goku both discovering UI and mastering it against Jiren i think that the tournament was a perfect example of what dragon ball is, amazing fights and character shattering limits

The thing I loved about the buu arc was he was someone I felt could actually be a part of the team. I loved his an hercule relationship. I was all excited to see how pissed vegeta would get having to team with someone MORE immature than Goku

Watching Z Kai for the first time after having started with the orange box edition of Z and man the re-edit realllly does a great job of intensifying the stakes and action of the saiyan arc (as far as I’ve gotten so far)

One gripe I have with this video is the utter differences between “arc” and “saga” which this generation always oversee. Whereas an “arc” is a smaller story comprising of a bigger storyline, a “saga” is a collection of arcs that make up a main storyline, such as, example, the “Freeza Saga”, divided into the “Trip to Namek Arc”, “Ginyu Arc” and so on. Next thing you know, these Gen Zs will change the MCU names from the “Infinity Saga” to the “Infinity Arc”

Next up: Ranking every Naruto arc

I quite like the Buu arc. It has a lot of iconic moments and I really like how it book ends the story with another tournament, showing how far the characters have grown from early Dragon Ball. I’m also a sucker for Gohan trying to live a normal life. I agree with it’s A tier placing. It’s good, just not as good as the other Z arcs. The Future Trunks arc on the other hand is one that I did not like and it’s what killed any motivation for me to finish Super (I did watch that whole arc though). I honestly just felt that Goku Black was a less interesting Baby in concept. I know that’s probably sacrilegious to say, but I really did not enjoy that arc.

Awesome

GT for me always stands for 'Great Ideas, Terrible execution', the prime example being the shadow dragons arc.

The Buu Saga is to the Dragonball series what Sonic Heroes is to the Sonic the Hedgehog series. A fun experience after all is said and done, but BOY there were some glaring problems. Also like Sonic Heroes, it could be considered DB’s last good and first bad arc, if that makes sense.

Mark, I’m begging you, ya gotta do a review for the manga series Kingdom. It really doesn’t get the recognition it deserves for being as good as it is. Lots of people have cited you for being the reason they picked up series and I’d love to see this seinen get the such a treatment and maybe enough recognition for an official english localization