Differences in Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super

SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 09: A generalview of atmosphere during the Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ San Diego Comic Con opening night VIP party held at Whiskey Girl on July 9, 2015 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for FUNimation Entertainment)

With Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super being the same story, but more than a decade apart, what are the differences? That’s what we’re here to talk about.

With the world-wide reach of Cartoon Network many fans got their first look at Japanese animation in the late 90s. Some of those animations included Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. If it wasn’t for Cartoon Network, Dragon Ball Z, and Sailor Moon the world wouldn’t have the millions of anime fans it has today. Dragon Ball Z however, became a world-wide phenomenon. Dragon Ball Z broke rating records, led in merchandise sales, and even created many new jobs.

In March of 1996 Dragon Ball Z ended its last story. More than a decade later in 2013 Dragon Ball launched a continuation of its story known as Dragon Ball Super. To test the waters Toei first launched a movie known as Battle of the Gods. The movie saw great success and thus a new series came about. But, what are the differences in these two series? That’s what we’re here to talk about.

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Animation

Of course, after more than a decade technology will change. In the Dragon Ball Z series most of the animation had to be hand drawn. While in Dragon Ball Super most of the animation is 3d digitally made. Some fans love the new style, while others prefer the old school Dragon Ball Z animation. The thing is with the new style of animation when its sharp, the animation looks amazing. The down-side is mistakes are more easily made, and Dragon Ball Super was highly criticized for this early own.

Japanese Laws

Not only has animation changed over the last decade, Laws have too. In Dragon Ball Z blood was a common thing. Think back, Nappa chopping Tien’s arm off, Frieza running his horn completly through Krillin’s abdomen, and maybe one of the most brutal beat-downs in anime history Videl vs Spocvitch . There are also many others you could name.

With the new Japanese laws Dragon Ball Had to tone it down a bit. Instead of showing blood, Super Just adds little black lines or scratch marks on character’s bodies to show signs of damage. It kind of gives viewers these guys aren’t in a fight for their as they were in Z.

Death

Dragon Ball Z drew a lot of criticism for not having any consequence for death. Z never had a saga in which no one died. Goku died in the first fight of the series, Saiyan saga everyone, but Krillin, Goku, and Gohan died, Frieza saga everyone but Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo died, Cell saga Trunks died, and the final saga the Buu saga everyone but Goku and Mr. Satan died. The theme of the series was defeat evil and wish back all the casualties.

In Dragon Ball Super, only villains, future Bulma, and Goku has died. Goku even saw the hit coming and quickly released an energy blast to fall back on him to revive himself. The crazy thing is we are more than 100 episodes into the series as well. You could count being erased as death, but it’s not the same, and it hasn’t happened to a character we really know unless you count Frost, and he was a villain.

Goku

In Dragon Ball Super, Goku is just reckless. The only thing he cares about is having a good fight. While Goku was never considered smart, this results in Goku being more dumb. In Dragon Ball Z Goku would have never befriended Hit. Hit is an assassin who kills without prejudice. Is that really any worse than what Frieza did in Z?  Frieza also killed for his own gain.

As mentioned before Goku only cares about having a good fight in Super.  In Dragon Ball Z Goku cared about his family. Although he wasn’t around very much, mostly because he was either dead or lost in space. As a result, there is a joke around the Dragon Ball community that Piccolo is Gohan’s real father. In the final episodes of Dragon Ball Z after the time skip we see Goku training with Goten, and his granddaughter Pan is the apple of his eye. In Dragon Ball Super Vegeta has become more of the family man type. Vegeta was even going to skip the Tournament of Power in order to see the birth of his daughter Bulla.

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Side Character Roles

Dragon Ball Super is all about Goku. Vegeta plays his side kick, while in Z  Vegeta was his rival. The only other character to receive a moment to shine aside from Goku and Vegeta was Future Trunks. In Dragon Ball Z, everyone had a chance to shine: Piccolo against Raditz and Frieza, Gohan against Cell, and many others as well.

Those are the key differences I find in these two series. Is there something different that sticks out to you that I missed? Comment and let us know!