This is the first blog I've ever done on this wiki. There hasn't been a new blog on here in a long time, so I felt now would be a good time to make one of my own.
The Dragon Ball franchise has had multiple story arcs throughout its long run. Occasionally, people talk about the different story arcs and debate over which arcs are the best or worst in the series. I thought I'd give my opinion on my Top 12 favorite story arcs. Most people go for a Top 10 or sometimes Top 11, so I decided to go even further beyond and decide on a Top 12. This includes arcs from Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z (The arcs of the Z storyline come from the manga and Dragon Ball Kai, so the Garlic Junior and Other World Tournament Arcs will not be included), Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Super.
Remember, this is my own personal opinion on which arcs are the best in the series. I have a feeling that many people will disagree with my list. If you'd like to share your own opinions on the best Dragon Ball arcs in the comments, go ahead!
12. Hakaishin Champa Arc[]
I enjoyed a lot of this arc. Most of the fights in this arc were at least good, except for Gokū vs Botamo, and it introduced some excellent characters, Hit and Cabba being my personal favorites out of them. This arc also saved Dragon Ball Super in a way, as a lot of people were dissatisfied with the movie retelling arcs, and a good amount of these people were surprised by the high quality of the Gokū vs Hit fight. This arc has relatively low stakes, the animation quality is a bit inconsistent, and it's a shame that Piccolo didn't get to do that much, but I still really enjoy this arc because of the characters it introduced. Also, this arc developed Vegeta's character a lot by giving him a teacher-student relationship with Cabba. For a Vegeta fan, that episode was definitely a treat to watch. Because of this, the Hakaishin Champa Arc makes the 12th spot on this list.
11. Hakaishin Beerus Arc[]
Here's a really controversial pick. The two first arcs in Super get a lot of hate, mainly due to the occasional poor animation quality and the fact that they are retelling Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'. While those complaints are valid, and I agree that the Revival of 'F' arc is really bad, I feel like the Hakaishin Beerus Arc gets too much hate. As for the poor animation quality, most of the complaints surround episode 5 of Super, and one episode shouldn't be enough to justify the claim that the entire arc has bad animation. Episodes 11 and 14 had great animation in particular, and I feel like a lot of people miss how well-animated those episodes were. I'm not saying this arc doesn't have issues though. Not by a long shot. The arc made whole episodes on plot points that should last only 5 minutes at most, mainly the filler with the Pilaf Gang, Goten, and Trunks (episode 4) and the rock-paper-scissors scene with Oolong and Beerus (episode 8). I didn't hate those episodes, but I feel like they could have been trimmed down a lot. Also, there were some scenes from the movie that weren't present in the arc that I wished were present, such as Gokū being upset that the Super Saiyan God transformation wasn't something he could achieve on his own. As for the positives, the first few episodes of Super were mostly slice of life episodes besides the scenes with Beerus, but I enjoyed them and saw them as good set-ups for Bulma's party with some fun character moments. While Super Saiyan God Gokū's fight with Beerus in the movie was generally better animated and was more consistent in terms of quality, I enjoyed most of Gokū's fight with Beerus in the arc more than I did in the movie, especially in episodes 11 and 14. Episode 12 was a little slow compared to episodes 10-11 and 13-14, but I still had some enjoyment from it. The final part of the Gokū vs Beerus fight, in episode 14, was absolutely fantastic, especially the final portion where Gokū became enraged at Beerus' claim that he reached his limit, overpowering Beerus' energy blast. What made the moment even better was Gokū's final words to Beerus before falling unconscious: "You're a god. I get that, maybe the strongest of them all... But I don't care. Not even you can tell me what my limits are..." (English Dubbed version). I can't say that this entire arc is better than the entire Battle of Gods movie due to some plot points being dragged out, but the arc expanded the story in several ways and arguably produced a version of the God Gokū vs Beerus fight that rivaled, if not surpassed the movie's version. The arc could have been even better than this, but it's still incredibly underrated.
10. Androids Arc[]
The Androids Arc was definitely a fun arc, with many great moments such as Future Trunks' first appearance, Vegeta turning Super Saiyan, Vegeta vs Android 18, and more. Plus, a lot more of the main cast have time to shine. With Gokū out of commission thanks to the Heart Virus, the other members of the Dragon Team have to either wait for Gokū or take care of the Androids themselves. It was also interesting to see how Trunks' arrival in the timeline affected far more than he predicted. However, this arc is a little all over the place, particularly in who the main antagonists are. A lot of this is due to Toriyama coming up with Androids 19 and 20, and 17 and 18, and his editors considering them unfit to be the main villain. The end of the Androids Arc mostly leads into the Cell Arc, and it feels like the Androids could have done more in their arc. This isn't too much of a problem, though, since the appearance of Cell initially adds even more tension to the arc, as the Dragon Team has to deal with Cell and the Androids, the Saiyans aren't strong enough to deal with either of them, and Piccolo has fused with Kami, rendering the Dragon Balls useless. The Androids Arc mostly serves as a build-up for the Cell Arc in the end, but it's still a fun arc and introduced some of my favorite characters in the entire series.
9. Cell Arc[]
I prefer 17 and 18 as characters over Cell, but I am a fan of Cell due to how he has the DNA of all of the main Dragon Team members and even Freeza and King Cold. And like the Android Arc, the Cell Arc has many great moments, such as the introduction of the Final Flash, Gokū vs Cell, and Gohan's big moment to shine against Cell. Semi-Perfect Cell himself isn't as interesting as Imperfect and Perfect Cell because he didn't do that much, though the portion he appeared in did have Tenshinhan holding off Cell and Vegeta's brutal beatdown of Cell, both of which were incredible moments in their own right. As a side note, while Dragon Ball Z doesn't have as much strategy brought into fighting as the original Dragon Ball, this arc has several notable strategic moments, particularly Gokū's Teleportation Kamehameha and the decision of Gokū, Gohan, and Vegeta to master the first stage of Super Saiyan instead of pushing for a new level that relied on power alone. Gohan's moment of triumph against Cell was definitely great, and while it was setting up Gohan to be the new protagonist of Dragon Ball, it ultimately didn't work out as when writing the Majin Buu Arc, Toriyama decided he wasn't fit for the main role. While I kind of see why he made that decision, it kind of lessens the impact of the moment. Regardless, it was great to see someone other than Gokū get a major victory, which doesn't happen often in the series, especially during Dragon Ball GT (A lot of people say that Super does this too, though unlike in GT, while Gokū is portrayed as superior to the rest of the Dragon Team, he actually loses a lot of the fights against major antagonists [Beerus, Hit, Gokū Black, Merged Zamasu, and Jiren] in Super). The Cell Arc is definitely one of the better ones in the series and has multiple fantastic character moments, though the ending is somewhat cheapened by later arcs, and even though I love what Cell represents, he doesn't have any particularly unique personality traits. Most of them come from other characters like Freeza, Gokū, Vegeta, Gohan, and Future Trunks.
8. Piccolo Daimaō Arc[]
While most arcs of the original Dragon Ball are focused on adventures and martial arts tournaments, this arc is most similar to the arcs in Dragon Ball Z, GT, and Super, with the fighting involving mostly supernatural powers as opposed to mainly martial arts with some ki supernatural powers appearing at times. While there are multiple villains I prefer over Piccolo Daimaō, it's hard for me not to like him due to how threatening he can be and how he not only removed all laws, creating total anarchy, once he dethroned the King from his position of power, and his declaration that every May 9th, he would randomly choose one out of the 42 sections of the world to be destroyed. As another plus, this was before the Dragon Balls were constantly being used to revive people, and Piccolo destroyed Shenron after making his wish to have his youth restored, so the stakes were pretty high. Gokū also nearly dies in his first battle against Piccolo Daimaō, and he is taken to the Lookout to recover, which raises the stakes even more. The final fight between Piccolo Daimaō and Gokū is absolutely spectacular, and has one of the best final blows in the entire series. What happens when Gokū has all but one of his limbs damaged? He uses his last arm to blast himself into the air, and he punches through Piccolo Daimaō. This is one of the best arcs in the series because of the extreme tension, the threatening presence that Piccolo Daimaō has, and the incredible finisher in Gokū's final battle against Piccolo Daimaō.
7. 22nd Tenka-Ichi Budōkai Arc[]
As many fans of the original Dragon Ball have said, it is completely underappreciated, and many who are fans of the Dragon Ball franchise started off watching Dragon Ball Z. Even though I prefer Dragon Ball Z over the original Dragon Ball, there is a lot to love about the latter that many miss out on. The series isn't usually as action-packed as Z, but it more than makes up for it in introducing countless memorable characters, many of which would become prevalent in later installments of the franchise, and the creative choreography in the fights. This particular arc is one of my favorites for many reasons. First off, it introduced Tenshinhan, one of my favorite human characters in the entire series. The fights in the tournament were also fantastic and had a lot of creative tactics, such as Krillin using Chaoz's difficulties with mathematics against him. One of the best things about the arc was Tenshinhan's struggles over whether or not he wanted to be an assassin like Tao Pai Pai. Tenshinhan was one of the first examples of an antagonist turning good in the entire series, and it was done amazingly, especially during Tenshinhan's fights with Jackie Chun and Gokū. The final two matches of the Tournament are amazing, especially Gokū vs. Tenshinhan. Tenshinhan was a great character from the beginning and it's a shame that he fell onto the sidelines in the later part of Dragon Ball Z and Super, not to mention he barely appeared GT. Another great thing about this arc is that its ending led into the Piccolo Daimaō Arc very well with Krillin being killed immediately after the Tournament's end.
6. Super Baby Arc[]
I bet a lot of people reading this blog are going to be thinking, "How is an arc from Dragon Ball GT this high on the list?!" To start off, when watching the arc, I immediately became fascinated with his abilities and his origin story. A parasitic villain has never appeared in Dragon Ball, save for Watagash in episode 74 of Super, and even then, he wasn't the main villain of a story arc like Baby was. Goten and Gohan are taken over, and it leads to an unusually great fight between Gohan and Vegeta. GT doesn't have many notable fight scenes, but this is one that is really underappreciated. Vegeta is then taken over, and by the time Gokū, Pan, and Trunks arrive on Earth, everyone on the planet has become controlled by Baby except for Bū, Mr. Satan, and Oob. It's really fun seeing the remaining heroes of Earth having to deal with their loved ones being controlled by Baby. Gokū's second fight with Baby leads to him becoming a Gold Great Monkey, and eventually Super Saiyan 4 in a surprisingly emotional moment between Gokū and Pan. SS4 Gokū's fight with Baby is arguably one of the best in the series. The arc isn't perfect though. The possession of Vegeta essentially removes him from the story, which could be a disappointment to fans of the character. Also, the fusion between Bū and Oob is a touching moment due to Bū's goodbye to Mr. Satan, the fusion is easily defeated by Baby and absorbed. Oob reformed himself and attacked Baby from the inside, forcing him to spit him out, which was a good moment, but ultimately it only served as stalling for Gokū. Also, after Gokū nearly dies from Baby's Revenge Death Ball, he falls into a realm where he has to play a board game to survive, which is kind of weird. Still, I loved Baby's abilities and motivations and felt that the arc was executed much better than most people say it is. GT gets a lot of hate, and a lot of it is undeserved in my opinion. Although it is far from perfect and is, in my opinion, the weakest out of the four Dragon Ball series, there is a lot to like about it, and this arc, in particular, is far better than the rest of GT.
5. 23rd Tenka-Ichi Budōkai Arc[]
The 23rd Tenka-Ichi Budōkai Arc is more similar to the other arcs in Dragon Ball in that it's centered more around martial arts instead of supernatural fighting like the Piccolo Daimaō Arc in Dragon Ball Z. This arc is my favorite out of the original Dragon Ball for many reasons. The arc has many incredible character moments, such as the first appearance of adult Gokū. The majority of the fights in the Tournament are done really well. I especially love Tenshinhan's fight with Tao Pai Pai as it serves to develop his character even more. Another interesting part of the tournament was Kami entering the tournament in someone else's body under the alias of Shen and pretending to be a poor fighter who got in by sheer luck. While almost all of these fights are good to fantastic, the best parts are the Tenshinhan vs Gokū rematch, "Shen" vs Piccolo, and of course, Piccolo Jr vs Gokū. I found Piccolo Jr to be a far more interesting character than Piccolo Daimaō, and his motivations make him a compelling antagonist. The arc is a spectacular end to the original Dragon Ball, and it ties together with the beginning of Dragon Ball Z amazingly.
4. Universe Survival Arc[]
This arc is rather divisive. It gets significantly more praise than any other arc in Super except for maybe the "Future" Trunks Arc, though there are plenty who dislike, hate it, or consider it mediocre. While I do see plenty of issues with the arc, such as the wasting of certain characters (ex: Hit, Piccolo, Krillin, Tenshinhan), inconsistencies in power-scaling and stamina of characters (One minute, Gokū is almost out of stamina, and a minute later, he can use Super Saiyan Blue), the focus being on Universe 7 too much (it feels more like Universe 7 vs everyone than a legitimate battle royale) and others, for me, these issues are significantly outweighed by the positives of this arc. I enjoy watching almost all of the Tournament, and I love seeing all of the universes go at each other. The arc doesn't have much of a story, and certain characters are taken out too quickly, but there are also tons of great character moments, especially from Vegeta, Freeza, 17, Cabba, 18, Roshi, and various others. Also, this arc features a bit more strategy in its fights compared to most arcs in Z, GT, and Super, and though it's not as prevalent as in the original Dragon Ball, it's nice to see some skill and technique implemented in the tournament. The Universe Survival Arc also led to the appearance of Ultra Instinct, my favorite transformation in the entire series. Another thing that I love about the arc is that in the end, it wasn't Gokū, Vegeta, Freeza, or Gohan who won the Tournament of Power. It was Android 17. I did not expect him to be the last one standing, and I loved that someone other than Gokū or Vegeta got some spotlight. Overall, the arc has a lot of problems, but there's so much that I love about the arc that it easily outweighs the issues I have with it. If some of the issues I had were fixed, this arc could have been in the Top 3.
Honorable Mentions[]
- Galactic Patrol Prisoner Arc - I can't really put this arc on the list quite yet, because it's still ongoing. So far, however, I'm loving Moro and the fact that Bū (switching places with Daikaioh) is getting time to shine, so at the very least, I should mention that it could have a shot of making the list depending on how well the rest of the arc goes.
- 21st Tenka-Ichi Budōkai Arc (including the Kame-Sennin Training Arc) - This arc was definitely fun. It was important for Gokū's character, and I love the focus on skills and techniques instead of raw power, but I prefer the other two tournament arcs in Dragon Ball by a good margin.
- Evil Dragons Arc - The final part of this arc was fantastic, but the fact that most of the Evil Dragons don't matter in the end (except for the One-Star, Four-Star, and Three-Star Dragons) and that none of the heroes other than Gokū, Pan, and Vegeta get time to shine drags this arc down a bit.
- "9 Weeks of Peace" Mini-Arc - I enjoyed the majority of the 9 episodes in between the "Future" Trunks and Universes Survival Arcs, and it was nice to see episodes full of characters interacting with no large threat to the Earth, and the baseball episode is one of my favorites in the series, but there are a lot of arcs I'd watch over this one.
- Majin Boo Arc - This arc is a bit of a mess. Toriyama's fatigue after writing Dragon Ball for years definitely shows, and his editors were willing to let him do what he wanted as long as he made more Dragon Ball content. Another problem with the Buu Arc is that the arc kept switching between potential main characters (Gohan, Gotenks, Vegetto, and eventually Gokū). This arc introduced some of my favorite characters in the series and had a lot of character development for Vegeta, but ultimately, the messy writing of this arc drags it down a lot.
3. Saiyan Arc[]
The Saiyan Arc is somewhat underrated. When most talk about their favorite arcs from Dragon Ball Z, the Freeza and Cell Arcs usually come up, and not this one, though it isn't as divisive as the Boo Arc. While I can see why the Freeza and Cell arcs are well-received, I feel not many people talk about the Saiyan Arc. This arc ties in really well with the ending of the 23rd Tenkai-Ichi Budōkai Arc, and it also changed the entire Dragon Ball franchise as a whole with the reveal that Goku was an alien. Raditz was taken out rather quickly, and he could have done more, but once Vegeta and Nappa show up, things get really good. The fight between Gokū and Vegeta is one of the best in the series, and the stakes of the arc are relatively high with Piccolo's death causing Kami to die, rendering the Dragon Balls useless, and most of the Dragon Team dying except for Gokū, Gohan, Yajirobē, and Krillin. The Saiyan Arc is a near-perfect transition from the original Dragon Ball, with the fights being more action-packed, yet still having a good amount of martial arts. There's a lot else to love about this arc, such as the development of Piccolo and Gohan, Tenshinhan's sacrifice, the introduction of Vegeta, and more. Overall, this is one of my favorite arcs in the entire series due to how much it changed about the franchise as a whole, how smoothly it transitioned from the original Dragon Ball, character development for Gohan and Piccolo, introducing my favorite character in Dragon Ball (Vegeta), and the transition into more action-packed battles.
2. Freeza Arc[]
Here it is. The Freeza Arc. When the best arcs in Dragon Ball are discussed, this is one of them that comes up the most, and I definitely see why. There's a great transition from the Saiyan Arc to this one, and due to the events in the Saiyan Arc, the Dragon Balls still aren't working, and that raises the stakes quite a bit. Freeza is an excellent and merciless villain, with one of the best introductions in the series as a whole. There are a couple of problems with the arc. The Gokū vs Freeza fight dragged out a bit in the anime, and the Ginyu Force were taken out a little too quickly, but in the manga and Kai, nearly everything about it is executed amazingly. This arc led to the first appearance of the Super Saiyan form, which would have a huge effect on the rest of the Dragon Ball franchise. There's much more about the arc that I love, but since most people consider this arc one of, if not the best, arc in the series, I'm going to leave it at this. This arc is one of the best-written in the entire series, and for all of the reasons I listed above, the Freeza Arc makes the #2 spot. With all this, you might be thinking, "but why is it only the #2 spot? What arc could you possibly consider better than this?" Well, the answer is likely to be a huge surprise.
1. "Future" Trunks Arc[]
I'm not going to lie, picking between this and the Freeza Arc was really hard. I love both the Freeza Arc and the Future Trunks Arc a lot for different reasons. Ultimately, I decided on this one. I'll admit the Future Trunks Arc does have some writing issues that come about in the final portion of the arc and the ending is rather controversial, but I'm not bothered by them as much as others are and in some cases, I feel like the complaints aren't entirely justified. But first, I'll address what I loved about this arc. Gokū Black is my favorite villain in all of Dragon Ball (I like Broly from Movie 20 and Beerus more as characters, but I wouldn't consider them villains), and he was executed amazingly in the anime (as a side note, the manga had more consistent writing, but Black wasn't as good of a character in the manga as he was in the anime). He was a chilling, entertaining villain with interesting motivations. Zamasu himself, while not as great as Gokū Black, was still a wonderful addition to the franchise, being not only a Supreme Kai turned evil, but the first pure-hearted character to become a major villain in Dragon Ball (there's a video by TotallyNotMark on YouTube explaining how this applies to Zamasu and Gokū Black here). The Future Trunks Arc had a lot of fanservice, with an "evil Gokū", Future Trunks coming back, the return of Vegetto, and other things, but I don't really think it was a bad thing. As I said before, Black was an amazing villain and was portrayed quite differently from what many would expect from an evil Gokū. As for some of the problems with the arc, most people talk about the Potara retcon, Vegetto defusing early, Trunks' Spirit Sword, and Zen-Oh erasing Trunks' timeline. A lot of these are valid complaints, but I think the Potara retcon isn't that bad. I'm not a fan of how Vegetto's sheer power drained the fusion as Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta did in GT though. Trunks' Spirit Sword was unexplained, but it doesn't bother me a ton. I can see why the ending of the arc frustrated people, but it doesn't bother me that much. My only real issue with it is that Trunks and Mai went to a timeline where there's already a version of each of them. I would have loved if Trunks and Mai stated in the present and Trunks participated in the Tournament of Power.
To sum it all up, Gokū Black is my favorite Dragon Ball villain, and he and Zamasu are the biggest reasons for why this is currently my favorite arc in all of Dragon Ball. Though there are some things I would change about it, the positives of this arc more than makeup for the issues I have with it, and I think some of the problems don't deserve as much hate as they get in the fandom.
And those are my Top 12 Favorite Dragon Ball Arcs! I have a feeling many people will disagree with this list, especially my top pick. But what are your favorite Dragon Ball arcs? Feel free to let me know in the poll and/or comments below! Thanks for reading my blog!