Being the sequel to the original Dragon Ball series and its continuation Dragon Ball Z, it's obvious that Dragon Ball Super will never be able to escape the comparisons to the two. Many fans cry foul on the series and express how much worse it is to its father series.
But what about the things that Super does better than the former series? Everyone knows that the originals do quite a bit better than Super but what about the other way around? This list will be looking at both sides of this pond to give each series a fair shake and give some appreciation for both sides.
10 SUPER: BETTER SLICE OF LIFE MOMENTS
When it comes to meaningful slice of life character moments, Dragon Ball Super takes the cake bar none. In Dragon Ball Super there are so many moments where the characters get together and just talk about average life and it truly feels organic while also being serious moments for all the characters involved.
This is one of the things that many Dragon Ball fans wish was in Dragon Ball Z even more, as it was already featured heavily in the original Dragon Ball. Sadly in Z, it was usually simply filler material whenever moments like this came around.
9 ORIGINALS: BETTER FIGHTS
While Z might not have the best slice of life moments it and the original Dragon Ball do have one thing over Dragon Ball Super and that's fights. Not only does it have some of the best choreography in anime period, but the moments that happen during these larger than life bouts have been praised through time.
Dragon Ball is one of the grandfathers of all shonen anime and this holds true in the fight department as well. These anime battles are most likely the most influential in all of the medium, inspiring more than just other anime battles but Western fictional battles as well.
8 SUPER: BETTER UNIVERSE BUILDING
The original Dragon Ball series featured some great world-building and Z dabbled even further with trips to Namek, Other World, and the land of the Kai. However Dragon Ball Super decided to take things even further by introducing Dragon Ball fans to a whole multiverse of new fighters for everyone's favorite cast of characters to take on.
Not only this but there are even more concepts introduced such as Gods, Angels, and even more Kai's with different personalities. No spoilers but the next arc that's taking place in the manga introduces even more to the series.
7 ORIGINALS: MORE MEANINGFUL TRANSFORMATIONS
The original Dragon Ball series featured some of the most powerful moments in anime history. A huge part of these powerful moments was, of course, the transformations that were showcased throughout the series which either unveiled something new and hidden about a character or conveyed a character breaking through to new limits.
This is something that Dragon Ball Super features as well but to much less more effect. In that series, things are more based around the pure spectacle presented by unlocking new transformations.
6 SUPER: MORE CREATIVE TRANSFORMATIONS
Branching off of the last point, one can find that it's clear that along with the spectacle presented by new transformations that Dragon Ball Super also focuses on the creativity put into new transformations. This is most likely due to every new transformation already covering so much and the creators looking for new directions to take things into.
With new forms and colors attached such as Super Saiyan God, Super Saiyan God Blue, SS Evolved Super Saiyan God, and Ultra Instinct this newfound transformation creativity is highly evident.
5 ORIGINALS: HIGHER STAKES
While this may be due to the series going in all-new areas at the time, the original Dragon Ball series had much higher stakes. Things always felt like they could go completely wrong and like the main characters could actually lose and even die on missions.
Sadly on Dragon Ball Super's part, the constant death and revival that the Dragon Ball series is so joked on for nowadays happened in the series before it, changing fans' expectations on the stakes of the series before even being introduced to said stakes.
4 SUPER: MORE FEMALE REPRESENTATION
Dragon Ball is one series that really botches the female representation for any woman character who's name is not Bulma. While she is one of the most impactful characters in the series that never seems to lose her luster the rest of the women seem to take a backseat to each and every male character in the series.
Dragon Ball Super changes things in this realm of things. While Bulma retains her importance, viewers are given more important women to root for as well such as Caulifa, Kale, Android 18, and even the newest female main character Cheelai.
3 ORIGINALS: MORE LOVE FOR SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
While some feel that Dragon Ball Super gives the supporting characters more to do due to arcs such as "Return of Frieza" and "Tournament of Power" giving them things to do, it's actually Dragon Ball and Z that do supporting casts better.
While characters such as Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, and Piccolo slowly lose relevance throughout the series due to otherworldy challengers they are still given a plate to finish and are treated with respect throughout as well. These characters are mostly thrown to the side, besides a few character moments that feel thrown in for the sake of being thrown in for Dragon Ball Super.
2 SUPER: BETTER PACING
One thing that any Dragon Ball fan can admit is that the original series along with its Z era had some of the worst pacing in anime history. Being full of boring filler besides a few episodes that are few and far between will do that to you. However, when it comes to Dragon Ball Super the pacing is mostly on point and keeps things moving from point A to B smoothly.
The series does this by never wasting time. Whether the thing featured is a battle, training, or a simple slice of life moment everything feels like it has a reason for taking place when it does.
1 ORIGINALS: BETTER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
A huge misstep that was taken with Dragon Ball Super was the handling of just about every character featured. Goku's Earth sacrificing lesson learned during the battle with Cell was completely thrown out the window, Vegeta goes through the same arc that he goes through in the Buu Saga of realizing Goku is the best of the two again, Tien's training is thrown out to make him look like a joke, and Gohan learning he must fight to protect the planet is forgotten.
All of these things and more were remembered in Dragon Ball where these characters actually grew to learn these lessons and never took steps back on them.