It's an honest to Dende shame most Dragon Ball fans have never actually read Akira Toriyama's manga. While the original Dragon Ball anime and Dragon Ball Z do a good job at adapting the source material, there are a lot of issues with both series when it comes to pacing and bringing certain scenes to life. Toei Animation gave the anime enough style and its own unique personality where it's really up to debate which medium did it better, but there are a few key moments that are undeniably better in the Dragon Ball manga.
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It goes without saying, but Akira Toriyama understood his characters better than anyone else, and the Dragon Ball manga's paneling and storytelling is frankly on another level – even compared to contemporary series. As good as they are, Toei's anime adaptations fundamentally misunderstood, or simply didn't care about, specific beats in the manga, often to the anime's detriment.
Goku's Sadness Killing Frieza
In the Dragon Ball Z anime, Goku shows absolutely no remorse when he kills Frieza on Namek. This makes sense on the surface level, but actually ignores a very important bit of characterization from Akira Toriyama's manga. In the Dragon Ball manga, Goku turning Super Saiyan is supposed to be emotionally conflicting. He's given into his violent Saiyan tendencies while grappling with his humanity. Goku's arc during his final battle with Frieza is all about bringing out his inner Earthling so he's not just a barbaric Saiyan like Vegeta was.
This is the main motivation behind Goku trying to spare Frieza on Namek: he's come to his senses and wants to believe that humbling Frieza is enough to end things – but it isn't. When Frieza launches back at Goku, Goku is forced to kill him. In the manga, Goku has a sad, conflicted look on his face, and his hand trembles after firing off his final Ki blast. He didn't want to be forced to kill Frieza. It's also important to remember that Goku had been struggling with accepting his Saiyan heritage since meeting Raditz, so having to kill Frieza puts him in the position of finally needing to accept his violent background.
Future Gohan Never Stood a Chance Against the Androids
For the most part, History of Trunks is actually a straight improvement over the Dragon Ball manga. Trunks is given an arc where he struggles turning Super Saiyan instead of having it all along, watching all the Z-Fighters die in the prologue sets a somber tone for the whole TV Special, and Future Gohan really stands out thanks to his fights and characterization. There is one thing the manga does, better, though, and it's a reveal during Future Gohan's final battle.
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In the Dragon Ball Z anime, it's implied that the main reason Future Gohan can't defeat the Androids is because they team up against him, ultimately overpowering him. In the Dragon Ball manga, Android 17 reveals that he's been toying with Gohan the entire time; the Androids have only been fighting at half-power. This not only makes more sense power-scaling wise, but it puts into perspective just how utterly hopeless Future Trunks' timeline is and why he needed to travel back in time to find a solution.
Vegeta Distracts Cell By Himself To Help Gohan
In the Dragon Ball Z anime, all the Z-Fighters fire Ki blasts at Cell during his and Gohan's Kamehameha beam clash at the end of the Cell Games. Each character gives a monologue more or less describing their relationship with and feelings about Goku & Gohan, all the while Vegeta sits out until he gets the courage to finally shoot out a blast at Cell, which distracts him enough for Gohan to put in one final push to kill the Artificial Human. As sentimental as this scene is, it's clearly just padding for time and is tonally at odds with Dragon Ball's general lack of saccharine moments.
In the manga, Vegeta is the only character who helps Gohan during the beam struggle. Everything is happening so fast, that no one else thinks to fire Ki blasts at Cell. More importantly, Vegeta being the only character to distract Cell is more meaningful. After spending the entire Cell Saga making things worse for everyone, Vegeta redeems himself by being the only person brave and smart enough to help Gohan. This is also Vegeta's way of redeeming himself after he foolishly costs Gohan his arm – he's doing everything he can to make amends. The anime giving all the Z-Fighters what's supposed to be Vegeta's big moment just undercuts the significance of Vegeta helping at all.
Ultimate Gohan Vs. Super Buu is Better Paced & Makes More Sense
The Dragon Ball Z anime makes a real meal out of Ultimate Gohan's battle with Super Buu. The two go back and forth for multiple episodes, and Gohan even manages to hold his own relatively well fighting Buutenks. There's one major issue here, though: power-scaling. Buutenks is leagues stronger than Gohan, but DBZ makes it seem like Gohan can potentially win if he just fights smart enough. This is not the case at all in the manga.
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In the Dragon Ball manga, Gohan is immediately outclassed by Buutenks and is beaten senselessly before Goku arrives with the Potara earrings. The fight is supposed to make readers realize just what a hopeless position the heroes are in. Just as importantly, Gohan's fight with Super Buu is much shorter in the manga and Gohan never has the chance to actually kill him. By dragging their fight out in Dragon Ball Z, the anime makes it seem like Gohan wastes precious time fighting Super Buu, allowing Gotenks to get absorbed when this isn't the case in the manga.
Goku Becoming DBZ's Main Character Again Isn't As Awkward
Something anime-only fans may not realize is that Gohan's prominence in Dragon Ball Z is mainly a Toei invention. This isn't to say Gohan is unimportant in the Dragon Ball manga – he's the clear co-protagonist of the Saiyan and Frieza Saga, and the Cell Saga still plays out the same way – but Gohan training in the wilderness, the Garlic Jr. Saga, and all the focus on Gohan eventually becoming the main character are mostly anime filler.
This makes it painfully awkward when Goku ends up becoming the main character again in the Buu Saga. The manga doesn't have this problem, since Gohan is really only the focal point for a few chapters. By the time Goku returns in the 25th World Tournament, he more or less starts being the main point of view character again. There's still the awkwardness of Ultimate Gohan being set up to defeat Majin Buu, but his defeat happens so fast in the manga, it reads more as an intentional subversion before Goku takes over for the final battle.
Goku Unlocking Ultra Instinct Hits Harder
The Dragon Ball Super manga makes a lot of changes to the Dragon Ball Super anime's story, but the best example is easily how Goku unlocks Ultra Instinct. In the Dragon Ball Super anime, Goku unlocks Ultra Instinct after Jiren pushes his Spirit Bomb back at him and nearly kills him. In typical Dragon Ball fashion, Goku triggers a new form by being in a life or death situation. The Dragon Ball Super manga has a more philosophical take on Ultra Instinct.
After watching Goku waste his raw power trying to beat Jiren, Master Roshi reminds Goku of all his training with his previous masters. Roshi then triggers an Ultra Instinct-like state where he effortlessly dodges most of Jiren's blows before being defeated. Roshi does so well, that Jiren even acknowledges him. Encouraged by his master, Goku realizes that rising his Ki isn't the key to turning Ultra Instinct and finds the right state of mind to tap into Ultra Instinct - Sign -. Where the Dragon Ball Super anime goes for spectacle, the Dragon Ball Super manga turns Goku unlocking Ultra Instinct into the culmination of all his training and character arc in a surprisingly emotional moment.
- Created by
- Akira Toriyama
- First TV Show
- Dragon Ball
- Latest TV Show
- Dragon Ball DAIMA
- Upcoming TV Shows
- Dragon Ball DAIMA
- First Episode Air Date
- February 26, 1986
- TV Show(s)
- Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball DAIMA