As a sequel to the original anime, Dragon Ball Z reached new heights of popularity and global recognition. The anime is based on the original manga by Akira Toriyama, set after the time skip, where Goku is married to Chi-Chi and has a four-year-old son named Gohan. While Dragon Ball’s anime lays down the foundation of the story, DBZ introduces new and more powerful villains while also exploring Goku’s origins. Whether it’s the truth behind his birth or the extraterrestrial threats he faced, in many ways, DBZ offered some of the most exciting moments in anime history.
DBZ introduced the Super Saiyan transformations, revolutionizing the shonen demographic and inspiring countless mangaka to this day. Although the Funimation-dubbed version divided the anime into sixteen sagas, the original version by Toei Animation only had the entire story split into four major sagas. Each saga followed a new adventure and introduced more powerful villains, pushing the Z Warriors further past their limits. While all sagas are epic in their own way, and none of them can actually be considered bad, there’s always something better than the other.
4) He Sain
DBZ kicks off with a strong first saga by revealing that Goku is not only an alien, but that he was sent to Earth as a baby on a mission to destroy it. He belongs to the legendary warrior race known as the Saiyans, who work under the Galactic Tyrant Frieza, conquering planets and selling them off for profit. However, despite his origins, Goku has no plans to let the Saiyans destroy the planet he loves.
The Saiyan Saga introduces the other Saiyans, including Raditz (Goku’s brother), Nappa, and, of course, one of the best deuteragonists in shonen, Prince Vegeta. Furthermore, the saga also cements Gohan’s role in the story, who, despite being only four years old, shows far greater potential than his father.
3) Buu Saga
The Buu Saga wraps up this epic story by Akira Toriyama, but not before featuring the World Martial Arts Tournament, the fusions, Super Saiyan 3, and some of the most thrilling moments in the series’ history. The story takes place seven years after the Cell Saga, where Goku returns for one day to participate in the tournament. However, trouble follows him no matter where he goes, even though he died seven years ago.
Two mysterious participants reveal that a powerful magician is planning to unleash an ancient being upon the planet, one that no one can even think of defeating. The saga then moves away from the tournament and focuses on the fight against Majin Buu, all within the span of a single day. Buu’s defeat remains one of Goku’s most iconic moments, even though it doesn’t involve any Super Saiyan transformation.
2) Cell Saga
Time travel, alternate timelines, new transformations, tragedies, power-ups, multiple villains, this saga has it all. Even now, not many shonen villains are as iconic as Cell, who gave the Z Warriors a run for their money, all while having fun with them. Dr. Gero, a genius but evil scientist, plans to take revenge against Goku by creating androids, humanized weapons capable of mass destruction. What makes them truly terrifying isn’t just the fact that their power levels are practically untraceable, but also that they are overwhelmingly more powerful than a Super Saiyan.
Although the Z Warriors spent years preparing for the arrival of the androids, thanks to Future Trunks’ warning, they were still overpowered by the villains. Amidst all the chaos, Cell stands out as the ultimate threat, and the only one who can stop him is an eleven-year-old boy, Gohan, who awakens the legendary Super Saiyan 2 form.
1) Frieza Saga
There are countless iconic moments in not just the entire Dragon Ball franchise, but also in shonen in general, yet nothing comes close to the thrill viewers felt when Goku first became a Super Saiyan. The Frieza Saga takes place on Namek, as Bulma searches for the Dragon Balls but doesn’t expect to run into members of the Frieza Force. Each of them is terrifyingly powerful, and it doesn’t take long for Namek to become a war zone.
However, things take a turn for the worse when Frieza joins the fight, killing Vegeta with ease. Goku and the others fight the villain with all their might, but it isn’t enough to defeat the galactic tyrant. Just when all hope seems lost, Goku revives an old legend, the one thing Frieza feared: the transformation of the legendary warrior race. Goku not only defeats Frieza but also completely overpowers him, marking the beginning of the transformation trope in the shonen demographic.
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