Finished reading the original series today, so I finally made a tier list. Dragon Ball has had 19 arcs (15 excluding movies) across 3 series. I understand Super is weird because it has movie arcs and it isn't illustrated by Toriyama so I'm going to include the movie versions of these arcs over the manga versions since A) Ressurection F and DBS Broly never got in the main DBS Manga with Broly not getting a manga at all and B) Super Hero's manga isn't complete until like a few months from now. With that out of the way, LET'S GO!! 19. Arc #12: Resurrection F This arc is just terrible. If you don't like Dragon Ball, this movie capsulate it really. Any development Goku and Vegeta had regarding their morality is thrown out the window. Super Sayain Blue is just terrible man. It came out way to early. Should have sticked to God during the movies, Blue comes out of nowhere and barely gets the win. Though I'm not a fan of the manga feeling incomplete without it, it does its best skipping this arc and utilises blue in conjunction with God far better than the anime / movies. 18. Arc #1: Emporer Pilaf Arc The first hunt for the Dragon Balls is pretty basic. There's not really any development, it's really just a whimsical adventure with mostly lame humour. Not a fan of 'those' jokes. Eugh. Yamcha Vs Goku is a highlight, and I like the dynamic where Yamcha are trailing the team. I think Oolong is OK, but most of the of the other characters are more engaging in later arcs. 4/10. Not bad, just really bland. 17. Arc #15: Tournament of Power It's a really forgettable arc excluding one panel where Goku remembers all of his mentors comments before MUI. The anime handles the arc much better since the fights feel more streamlined and less rushed. This is very rushed and only has a leg up on the previous two since the action is a little bit more entertaining and a semblance of a narrative is presence. I like most of the cast being involved, which is great, however asides from Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Freeza, Jiren, Hit, Toppo, Dyspo and a couple of other characters, the plot is lame. Most of those characters are pretty basic anyway, like Dyspo or Kefla. oh and all my homies hate kefla 16. Arc #2: 21st World Tenkaichi Budokai Look, Kid Goku Vs Roshi (Disguised as 'Jackie Chun') is a perfect fight. Goku is this martial artist upstart that'll think too highly of himself unless he gets humbled in his earlier tournaments. It really emphasises the themes of training and is the first 'big leagues' fight in the series. Mix than with a proper rival, Krillin (Or Kuririn), opposing Goku's strength, it makes a great arc in concept. It just suffers from being filled with 'eh' fights. But fodder is what fleshes out the story, so I'm completely OK with it. I think this arc is a bit overrated since it has a great first and third act (Training and Goku Vs Roshi respectively) It's just everyone ignores the stretch of the tournament to getting to that. Though, I like how Roshi fools Yamcha by having someone else be disguised as him in the crowd so he doesn't think Jackie Chun is Roshi. I also love how Roshi's longer leg is what defeated Goku when the kicked each other at the same time. It emphasises that hard work and time and effort theme as symbolised through physical growth. It's a neat detail. This arc is where Dragon Ball truly begins in my opinion. 15. Arc #5: Demon King Piccolo I don't know if this is considered controversial or not. The previous arc's placement would have definitely been, so I guess this is jarring. The only thing this arc does better is that Kid Goku Vs Demon King Piccolo is an engaging fight as the DMK is an established, mostly solo and proactive villain from the start. People love him since he's like a Z villain, but I find that very little is engaging between the fight between these two. Goku's courage was already emphasised in previous arcs, and this arc imo marks when protags gets completely shafted to make way for Goku. The Red Ribbon arc may have started me feeling like 'Classic Goku' was a bit of a likeable Gary Stu, but this arc emphasised that. His training regimen is so short it's like his genetics are the only reason why his insane strength is reasonable in an arc like this. Mainly I'm bummed out that Tienshinhan can't help out. The final fight and stakes are the only thing that make it go from the top of Boring to the bottom of decent.
14. Arc #13: Universe 6 Vs Universe 7 Tournament This is an arc I used to forget about completely since I always remembered Battle of Gods and the Goku Black arc is what got me into Dragon Ball. However, I always forgot this arc. It's another arc where asides from the final fight / main foe with Hit, it's not overly engaging. At least in the manga. I will say Frost could have been a ton of fun if he wasn't introduced RIGHT AFTER FREEZA'S REVIVAL ARC. Cabba is a great character for Vegeta and I hope the character may parallel what Uub means to Goku. Hit is the saving grace though, he is definitely one of my favourite characters original to Super due to his mature personality and sick moves. I love how he's more of a brawler than just another villain with a new beam or ki blast attack. 13. Arc #14: Goku Black Arc I'll admit, though I really don't like Trunks' return or Vegito Blue in this arc, there is a lot of good. The God forms are well utilised and cool stuff like the Mafuba is brought up. Goku Black / Zamas / Merged Zamas is a really fun villain and a cool parallel to GT's body snatcher thing. It's a very empty arc, since there's like no character development whatsoever. Another arc carried by its villains / final fights, which has been consistent for the manga excluding the 21st World Tenkaichi Budokai. 12. Arc #19: Super Hero The manga version is incomplete and is probably better. Orange Piccolo is the best Piccolo since Cell and Beast is lame for me since it's just a cheaper rehash of SSJ2. I think the new characters are OK, and I like the Saiyamen in the manga, but I don't have anything to say really... 11. Arc #18: Granolah I haven't finished reading this arc like how the manga arc of Super Hero isn't finished, so I'm taking a gamble on the ranking and placing it here. I love Ultra Ego and Vegeta's separation and I think Granolah is the best original, new side character (non-evil) since Hit (So doesn't include Zamas or Broly). There are a lot of holes with this arcs writing as you may know, however I haven't finished it so I can't say. I'd love to go more in depth, however, Scratch has a word count limit so I'll stop it here at around about the halfway mark of the tier list.
