I am just about though watching Dragon Ball and I really really am enjoying it,so much I think I like it more than Dragon Ball Z which I thought it would be fun to hear what other people think who have watched both series or read all the manga what they think. Let me know anyway here's more on why I like DB better than DBZ



-I think it's paced way better than Dragon Ball Z


-The side people do more stuff more often



-The fights don't go on forever


-The tournaments are amazing


-I feel like DB just has a lot of charm to it feels magical


anyway that's how I feel how bout everyone else

Also I've been watching DBZ since I was 3 I love Dragon Ball z so much I just think Dragon Ball is more enjoyable

I enjoy Dragon Ball more than Dragon Ball Z, mostly because some of the points you have already listed. I still love Dragon Ball Z, though.

LunarDarkness2 : oh this made me realise  I did not make it clear that I love Dragon ball Z editing now

I agree Dragon ball is my favorite out of the two as well. I watched Dragon ball Z first though and that's what got me into wanting to watch the earlier stuff as I wanted to know where Goku came from and started out. To this day Dragon ball is still one of my favorite anime of all time, its much easier going than Z, it finishes a little too quick (as in I feel he grows up to fast) but the last tournament is mint. As soon as it hits Dragon ball Z and gets his arm blown off and later dies it just didn't have the same feel as its predecessor. Little Goku made me laugh with his lack of general knowledge and hard as funk resolve. As he grew older and I presume became more popular the cartoons started to drag a bit, something that never happened through Dragon Ball, not for me anyway and as soon as it started taking him thirty episodes to get from A to B or to power up his spirit bomb I started zoning out a little. Think they brought something out called Dragon Ball Kai which cuts it all out but then that's just deleting scenes so I figure it might mess up the story line now I've watched it a million times.
 So... yeah Dragon ball is more light hearted and fun to watch if you like the older style of animation, but Z is awesome and does have better baddies and it never gives up. GT is awesome as well though. I REALLY enjoyed that just because Goku got transformed back into a kid but was by then was absolutely rock solid plus Super Sayian four rules!!! New ones good as well. A bit polished for my liking but the story lines ok.  

I would have to say that Dragon Ball Z is the better of the two.  Dragon Ball seemed more comical, and I just found it boring most times.  I do admit that after they introduced Mr. Satan ( Hercule ), the show took a turn for the worse.  I can't stand that character.  The fights are just amazing and intense

looba :   GT is....ok I mean the first ark is boring to watch but  everything after is....mildly entertaining IMO.

lordbelial669 : I can respect that I mean I love Dragon Ball Z it's great even though I like DB more Goku vs Freiza will always be my favorite fight ever.

I honestly think it depends on what you are looking for from a show. While I liked some fights in Dragon Ball I felt like they were somewhat limited in what they came up with. The fights in Dragon Ball Z were much more in depth and varied.

Also, Dragon Ball was a funny show while Dragon Ball Z had funny moments but was really just a fighting show with enough story to get you from villain to villain. Once fighting started in Dragon Ball Z it went on for like 20 episodes or more.

I also agree that Dragon Ball Z went from being about all the fighters to being basically just about the Sayians. Really, after Frieza the only non-Sayian character that does manage to do anything is Piccolo basically. It might as well have been called Dragon Ball: Sayian at that point.

In the end each show has advantages and disadvantages to it. I prefer Z personally but I also watched it first and then watched Dragon Ball after which has probably skewed my opinion.

geeogree : I watched Z first also but the first series I saw all of is gt which is quite disappointing. I still have not seen all of Z with that being said though the only episodes of I have not seen yet are 3 with Gohan training with Piccolo, and 1 where Goku and Vegeta are inside Buu.

I agree. To me the fights like you said are way too long in Dragon Ball Z but, for me the story line was much more developed and had more to it in Dragon Ball specially like you mentioned- the side characters added to the story line even if it wasn't too much but, for me it gave more diversity rather than constantly focusing on the same main characters. 

Until I started marathoning Dragon Ball I never liked Tien,Yamcha, and Krillin I hope I spelled those right because in z they never really did that much but now that I've seen DB I like them Tien is my favorite of the 3 thanks to his fight with Goku

I'm going to be honest here. Both of the shows have something each doesn't have which makes them unique. I mean I love dbz a little more than db but then I also love most moments that db has. Its not always easy to choose between the two as people would either equally vote for them or would vote for one or the other because of reasons. I think I mainly like dbz more because of what and how the soundtracks brings in for each episode especially the ending part that comes in on episode 57 or 58 if I am correct on that. Well anyways they are both fun shows to watch.

Eniitan :   Just out of curiosity do you mean the US soundtrack or Jap soundtrack?

Sonicolmstead : The US version. I did like some of the jap version, but only I had love for the opening cha la head cha la. I didn't like the rest of the jap soundtrack sadly, while for the US I loved all of it from top to bottom. '-'

Eniitan :    I have watched Z with both soundtracks for the 6 seasons I own and I like US for fighting and speeches like vegeta's and Jap for almost everything else

Sonicolmstead : That's understandable. I dunno if you can remember ocean dub music part of it? That was another one but a lot of people didn't like how the voices were and stuff. I remember hearing future trunks theme of it and it was amazing for me. That was the only soundtrack to the ocean dub I remember. There are more I can't remember but there were a few that played.

Sonicolmstead :   Yeah, it lost something after the Frieza saga unfortunately.  And not even Toriyama considers Dragon Ball GT part of the series.  It was ok, but highly annoying in lots of parts.

Eniitan :   from what I've seen from the ocean dub I don't really like it I know on dvd sets they use ocean dub soundtrack from 1-78 I think.

Sonicolmstead : I know it sounded just too weird...it happened for a certain amount of time before going back to the original one. '-'

Dragon Ball is better for the comedy and pacing. Dragon Ball Z is inferior for the lack of comedy and crummy pacing. It's really that simple.