Ranking the Different Art Styles From Dragon Ball Z Best to Worst! 

This is just my thoughts on the different styles from looking at the series. LMK what your favorite style was!

All I want is for the broly movie artstyle to stay 😭

To put Super over the original DB, GT and early Z is absolutely fucking insane in my opinion

Nah putting GT in F tier is crazy

Shintani needs to stay...out of all of the new art styles it caught my attention the most, I love it's simplicity and I felt the excitement bubble within my soul in the entire movie watching the characters even do the most simplistic of things

shintani's style and the fusion reborn's art style are db's peak for me

“Ears do look questionably large on many characters as well” You can’t be talking with them big ass ears on YOUR character 💀

Gt cell and frieza only look "weird" in one episode, and it's not even that bad, it's just that cell's eyes are too big.

Goku looks shorter bc the footage was stretched to 16:9. xD

GT style is 2nd to the Buu saga style in my opinion. it's only the muted colors I didn't like. But in term of drawing, it's very very good.

I see Yuya Takahashi didn't get any credit for his skill in DB Super: Broly. His drawing is a lot better than some of the artists mentioned.

For me personally, the Buu saga artstyle and the Broly style are the best, followed by the Yuya Takahashi Tournament of Power artstyle. The 2D Superhero artstyle was also really great, I didn't care much for the 3D art but it wasn't overly terrible. I enjoy the Frieza saga artstyle as well.

How tf is GT under Super

This felt so refreshing to watch! Really well done video! Editing was fantastic as well!

Nah, you were smoking crack for putting GT in F

Take that back about GT, my guy

Dragon Ball to Early DBZ/Frieza Saga’s art styles are my personal favorites. I just love the rounder look of the characters

Really ranking super above GT, it feels like theres some prejudice there, Super artstyle feels so rushed while GT is a lot more detailed.

I was surprised and happy when i saw the daima trailer as it had good looking art style so that kinda confirmed for me that whenever the moro and granolah arcs are finally animated they may have a similar or even better art style

THE CELL SAGA DEFINITELY LOOKS DIFFERENT THAN FRIEZA

Can’t help but feel there was some bias in the GT placement because there ain’t no way you put Super’s foul plastic looking and horribly inconsistent art style above GT. I’m not saying that GT was incredible but putting it in bottom tier seems needlessly harsh considering it’s only real problem was it’s colour pallet

Bro really put Super in C and GT in F. 💀💀

the details of animations which are given in GT are better than many so called revolutionaries animations but SUPER sucks

What GT has one of the best styles in the entire Series top 3

unrelated, but i just love your commentary so much, you're able to word yourself in a way so succinctly and yet so eloquently that you perfectly keep my interest engaged throughout every video of yours I watch and it's refreshing to hear well written and well spoken commentary. Keep up the videos!

Late DB to Freeza is my favorite era of the art style. I just liked the rounder evolved look from early DB and early sharp look of this era.

Honestly you're kinda right about GT's artstyle, but F tier? If Early DBS got a C tier both the Saiyan arc and GT deserve at least the B tier

RIP Akira Toriyama you were the goat

Cant wait to see dragon ball super 2's artstyle on this list in 3024💀

You know you’re doing great when I’m getting dragon ball ads before seeing these videos. 😂

This is cool. I love the Buu Arc style best. GT is too clean. The Dragon Ball Movie 4 The Path To Power is the perfect combination style of the Buu Arc & GT. Honestly I would love to reschedule the entire Dragon Ball saga in that specific part style..

GT is B tier Super is F tier that's the changes that need to be made.

Buu, cell, and broly animation is peak

In one saga can be different styles, no just one per saga

Wow. I agree with everything here. That's really rare. Nice video.

Your pacing is great

GT in F?! na bro thats L im sorry its a very good even if its non cannon bru the style gives me nostalgie and had amazing ideas and forms like ssj4 or ssj5 and that nostalgia mixed with z is really great

Saying the cell saga is similar to the frieza saga but making separate tiers for saiyan and frieza, which are absolutely identical is dead crazy to me.

Who the FUCK puts GT in F Tier?

I thought you were going to talk about the artists styles

Not gonna lie I kinda vibe with this list. I think simplicity and colors work with the dynamic fighting better than a shiny stiff one. It just let the animators make the fights smoother. For GT......its like they turned up the shiny highlights and turned down the contrast. GT's designs are sick (other than the Frieza and Cell ones) and just needed vibrant colors. Go back and look at Goku's gi on Namek in 1080p it's magnificent 👌

the 90's and dbs broly art are my two favorite art styles

Is it weird i truly don't have a favorite art style? i like them all tbh

super broly and the current manga art style are definitely my fav art styles

You should make a separate video on art from the movies

Guys can anyone tell me what is this version of release used for dragon ball z it looks so sharp and good.... Is it blueray version available still?

Best art style: Goku VS Vegeta( Buu Saga) Goku VS Kid Buu

I love everything from classic DB to Z, but my favorite style is the Freeza/Cell one. Even if Boo was the most refined, I think the less refined but still sleek look of Freeza/Cell is my favorite style, even if Boo is a close second. Oh, and the Tournament of Power and Broly styles are great.

Nah, who let bro cook😂 I get that this is subjective, but holy cow man. To start off nicely, DB’s art style is generally agreeable. It’s not exactly peak, but it’s cute and it evolves just enough to capture the tension of the piccolo fights. Saiyan Saga’s art is so easy on the eyes that it’s hard to really hate. Even the “rough around the edges” aspects tie nicely into the visual language of Vegeta (for instance) in relation to his more refined proportions by the end of Z. That twitter meme saying “Vegeta’s chin got the most development” is 100% accurate in the best way possible. He LOOKS like an arrogant prince with a lot to learn, something that modern Yamamuro’s art can’t quite capture. In short, its unrefined look is its greatest strength and should be an easy A tier. Namek looks good when Ebisawa isn’t animating😂, this arc can look fugly at times! Though Frieza’s softer eyebrows in his final form look great and I’m disappointed that it took Shintani to bring them back in the Broly movie. The Android/Cell Saga develops a LOT of differences from the Namek Saga as it gets closer to the Cell games. Around the time that Cell arrives and transforms is where Tadayoshi Yamamoro comes in and gives us his signature strong proportions with Kamiccalo, Super Vegeta, and SSJ2 Gohan to name a few. I do believe that researching exactly who drew these arcs does highlight quite a lot of differences and gives more depth to the opinions presented. Buu’s art is peak Z, agreeably, but it’s not without its jarringly ugly spots. There’s one instance that comes to mind where Goku and Majin Vegeta “agree” to refocus on Buu and it’s drawn twice by two different teams as a cliffhanger and a post credits opener. Seeing the B team’s version in comparison to the cliffhanger is wack AF, And once you notice it, you see that the B team have been around since the Android Saga at least and most of Z looks way worse in my mind for it😂. There is no universe in which GT’s art is worse than Super’s. I’m sorry but I’d prefer David Yate’s GT with its occasionally mucky color palette than having my retinas burned by Super’s art style. Even the TOP’s bright colors look BLOWN OUT, just look at SSBE Vegeta and MUI Goku’s auras when they transform. They look dangerously bright on the eyes! Shintani’s Broly art is peak DBS, but there are times where the composition between characters and the backgrounds don’t quite jive well together. These are few and far between, but one notable example is the POV sequence when Broly is zoning in on Goku, firing ki blasts at him, and punching him through mountains. The hands firing the ki blasts in that sequence look like Gumball putting his “how to basic-esque” sandwich together with the flat motion and lack of foreshortening. Still a great fight and art style, but a bit too experimental and hit or miss with some scenes. DBS Super Hero is certainly the best that CG Dragon ball has looked, but dear God do the scenes with Goku and Vegeta on Beerus’s planet look unfinished! Still strange how the prettiest scene in the film is the 2d drawn series recap at the beginning😂. We simply do not know enough about Daima to give it a verdict, but this is probably the most faithful art style in adapting modern Toriyama’s illustrations. The bubbly proportions are explicitly meant to transcribe his modern chibi look and it looks great so far! Overall, I guess my main issue with this tier list is that, without extensive research on who drew the series at what point and what went wrong or right, a lot of the rankings seem more aggravating. No crucifixion was intended with this comment, and I do understand not turning this video into a thirty minute rehash of what Totally Not Mark, Anime Ajay, etc. have educated us on.

You really criticized gt Goku not having that chubby young look and that would be a fair criticism if Goku was an actual kid instead of an adult who was at his peak physical form with fully developed muscles I think giving GT Goku the chubby look like OG Dragonball wouldn’t make sense to me since he is at a completely different physical status then when he was a child

Dragon ball "guys we need a way to keep the characters from ageing/die" *turns them in to kids*

7:02 Lol Goku’s head looks MASSIVE here

Never make a tier list again

I lowkey loved the Takahashi art style in the ToP. Those shades are *chefskiss*

One of the only ones where Z tier is actually really good. Kinda like the A card in a deck.

While I do agree with the rest of the video, I gotta join the group saying “Early Super isn’t above GT.” Personal thing, I liked the GT artstyle. Though it does feel washed out and weird looking (especially the Shenron scene you showed), the backdrops for the Baby fight, the Dragon Fist against Eis, and Super 17’s fight look super nice. BoG’s Super arc just looks…so bad. The shading there is even more flat than GT’s, imo. Coming in as a recent DB fan, take that as you will.

Daima artstyle is based off modern toriyama art

The red ribbon army doesn’t want to be left out of the series lol 💀

My personal favorites are the 23rd tenkaichi and Shintani's art style. Both of these I absolutely love. Just to be clear Dragon Ball has always been hand drawn outside of Super Hero. Daima is also supposed to be more like current Akira Toriyama's art style as his style hasn't been consistent. You can often see how his style has changed with the Dragon Quest Series as he's the main artist for that series as well. I also saw a ton of Naotoshi Shida showcases which is nice because he's been on the series since early Dragon Ball, with his most famous scene from early dragon ball being one of the fights between Goku and Krillin in the 21st tenkaichi. Also the hand drawn sequences in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero were all done exclusively by Chikashi Kubota. He did the opening and all of those 2D flash backs himself. Much of the 2D effects were handled by various artists at toei.

seeing super in A and gt in F is hilarious

It's sad how people jump on the bandwagon to hate on GT. Yes it wasn't the best story wise but hating on the art is just being a sheep.

Shintani is the peak dragon ball artstyle

DBS broly's artstyle's lineart reminds me a lot to the gritty and bold lineart of masaki sato from the earlier parts of dbz and the later ones of db and i love it

I can not stress how much I hate the 3D CGI style for anime. I refused to watch a few anime simply because of how much I dislike it

Gt art could do better

did you know that goku's gi: in db is red in dbz is orange in dbs orange clearly in dbs movies is between orange/yellow in dbd is yellow

Great review daima looks amazing only thing I would change is the android saga that has to be z tier

My favorite and the best overall Dragon Ball art has to be episode 114 of Super with Yuya Takahashi as the animator. This guy's detailing is jaw dropping with 3 and sometimes 4 gradients of shading. A very strong callback to Z.

There are no wrong answers here, all of your takes are valid

I do like that Daima does look like a cleaner version of Shintani's models, especially because its directed by Nakatsuru (GT's character designer) so some things I didnt like in the DBS Broly movie seem to be fixed, like the overly grainy outlines, overly rounded features, and lack of a jawline on the characters at times. Like Goku. Only thing I don't really like is the return of the hair highlights on Goku. It just looks better when its solid black or only using a second shade for scenery lighting but Z never had that. I also kind of miss the more muted/darker colors in the DBS Broly movie a bit more. I think the Daima colors look a bit too bright, even for Z and reminds me more of BOG's color palette.

Buu saga on top, saiyan saga next for me.

23rd budokai through the freiza arc is the best art in the manga hands down

Putting GT in F but Super higher is just wrong.

My boy skipped Super Dragon Ball Heroes but honestly it looks worst than pre-ToP Super.

My will always be dragon ball 23rd tournament all the way through Saiyan saga the shading and roundness and bulkiness of Goku was so awesome

The start reminded me of “BULMA WHERE ARE YOUR BALLS”

I thought android/cell saga was definitely different than namek. Characters had thinner waists, longer legs, and the belt/pant line was at their bellybuttons.

DBS Broly is number 1, theirs no arguing

8:15 "black goku arc'' keyreviews, 2024

Some opinions are so bad they need to not be shared online. Thanks for the huge cap but stay away from the kitchen next time 😂💀

If GT gets F then early Fuper deserves F or worse aswell

Putting SUPER above GT? I hate GT as much as the next guy, but… No. Just no.

whatever they draw Krillin still lost his nose😂

Mixing TOP artstyle with broly movie artstyle would be perfect for DBS S02

an og dragonball remastwr would be amazing🙏

bro buu saga's artsyle was something else

Cell Saga / Buu Saga ORIGINAL animation on average had pretty good quality animation. Super Sayins looked knida angelic in away how they did their eyes and almost white/beige/light gold color. Like SERIOUSLY! compare the overall SS 1 transformation from Super to Cell or Buu Saga SS, man. . . its sad to see Super suffered from animators being given such little time to work on the show

for me the Broly art style suit the franchise the most since it a perfect combining between manga and anime artstyle unlike early day super the artstyle feel blocky and weird more like i was watching a bunch of anime figure fighting in slow motion, glad they fix everything in the top arc

Rip akira toriyama

The Super Broly artstyle is my favorite

anything that is not stiff or plastic looking is sorta acceptable. What I really think they still needed to improve in DBS was movement and sense of impact. Hope they improve that as well

i don’t disagree!

Old Tadayoshi Yamamuro & Yuya Takahashi are 👑! THE BEST!

How did we skip cell.l saga? There's a big difference from Friezq to cell especially near it's ending

I like you used Z in place if S, I know it’s a pretty minor aspect to the video but it’s a nice detail nonetheless. Lol

Yea Buu saga has the best art style, so many details! We got less detail in DBS and somehow it feel wierd some of the characters become skinnier.

Whats the background song 6:04

What about the android saga?

See, in ye olde cell animation, when a character stood completely still there would still be 2 or 3 different drawings of the same image. So even standing around doing nothing, it still looked like they were breathing or a slight breaze was going by. Shintani doesnt need to stretch anything out but his shot of goku in the trailer was just goku standing in the wind with his hair and gee fluttering lookef great. I think super looks like a lazy power point so much of the time.

I’m shocked not see the amount of people saying GT art style is good