Akira Toriyama is a master of his craft and Dragon Ball is a story best told in a manga format. For as much good as Toei did with Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z, Toriyama’s original manga is on another level entirely and a piece of fiction anyone interested in comic books must read.
Dragon Ball’s fights in the manga are a consistently outstanding display of choreography and what can be accomplished in the visual medium. With tight pacing and beautiful art by Toriyama, Dragon Ball’s battles are at their best in the manga.
10 Goku Vs Tao Pai Pai (Rematch)
Goku’s fight against Tao Pai Pai is a major turning point for Dragon Ball. Up to this point, no villain has ever threatened Goku’s life so pointedly or killed another named character on-screen. Goku only survived his first encounter with Tao Pai Pai by hiding a Dragon Ball in his shirt pocket, which ends up taking the full force of a Dodonpa.
Suffering such a major defeat, Goku scales Karin Tower for more training. The manga’s version of their rematch is a fast paced affair that has Goku flipping the script on Tao Pai Pai, whereas the anime adaptation includes a lengthy filler section where Tao Pai Pai stops battling mid-fight to go train with Karin himself.
9 Goku Vs Tenshinhan
The 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai’s final fight is great in both mediums, but the anime suffers from splitting up the tournament across multiple days. As a result, the natural pacing from Tenshinhan’s fights with Yamcha, Jackie Chun, and Goku that scores his development is lost. The manga keeps all of Tenshinhan’s battles fresh in mind, lending considerable weight to their final match.
Goku’s fight with Tenshinhan is notable where Dragon Ball starts to experiment with Ki attacks on a more frequent basis. The back half of the match is mainly Tenshinhan throwing out technique after technique at Goku in the hopes of winning.
8 Goku Vs Majunior
While still technically Dragon Ball, the Z staff started working on the anime with the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. As a result, the pacing is much slower than it originally was and most episodes in the anime drag out otherwise well paced action.
Goku’s fight with Piccolo is already long in the manga, where every chapter manages to meaningfully expand their battle. From Goku firing a Kamehameha with his feet, rescuing Kami from inside of Piccolo, and flying for the very first time, there’s never a dull moment in the manga’s 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai.
7 Goku Vs Vegeta
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the anime’s adaptation of Goku vs Vegeta. It is a movie quality battle that’s still one of the directed pieces of animation in all of Dragon Ball. But the manga is likewise the apex of Akira Toriyama’s fight choreography and paneling, a beautifully drawn blitz of carnage that flows from page to page. Anyone who hasn’t read Goku and Vegeta’s seminal fight in the manga has only done themselves a disservice.
6 Vegeta Vs Recoome
There’s a certain artistry to Akira Toriyama’s fight choreography that makes action easy and quick to read. He doesn’t waste panel space, not does he position panels haphazardly. Dragon Ball is a very easy manga to read and Vegeta vs Recoome shows that in full display. The eyes follow the action seamlessly as Vegeta rushes Recoome around Namek in a desperate bid to subdue the Ginyu Force member. It’s all for naught, though. Recoome turns the table unscratched, enacting immediate revenge on Vegeta in another blast of fluid action.
5 Goku Vs Frieza
Toei unfortunately caught up with the manga by the time Goku started fighting Frieza, forcing them to pad the final battle with copious filler. This is not a problem whatsoever in the manga, where the fight – while certainly long – is at least paced appreciatively. Every chapter fleshes out the chemistry between Goku & Frieza while generally pushing the former to fight harder as his tactics start to fail.
There isn’t a wasted chapter in the manga, and the first half of their fight sets up important character resolution for when Goku turns Super Saiyan & starts to humiliate Frieza. If nothing else, the quality of storytelling here is so high that Goku vs Frieza is still considered a great fight in the anime.
4 Goku Vs Cell
Even though the Cell Games didn’t run into the same adaptational problems as the tail end of the Frieza arc, an active effort is made to pad out the tournament with Mr. Satan shenanigans. In turn, Goku’s inaugural fight with Cell has its fair share of distractions. Worse, the animation is incredibly spotty. The manga, on the other hand, uses this battle as an opportunity to highlight Goku’s mastery of martial arts and allow him to “exit” the story in a fight that’s ostensibly his swan song.
3 Gohan Vs Cell
Gohan transforming into a Super Saiyan 2 is one of the most beautifully adapted scenes in the anime. Unfortunately, his fight against Cell isn’t as to the point as it was in the manga. Their final battle lasts a bit longer than it should (not as long as Goku vs Frieza, granted,) which wasn’t an issue in the manga.
Worse, Gohan’s beam struggle is accompanied by everyone in the supporting cast attacking Cell, not just Vegeta. Not only does this take away from the surprise of Vegeta sneaking up on Cell, but it diminishes his development. Gohan vs Cell starts strong in the anime, but it lacks the manga’s elegance.
2 Gotenks Vs Evil Buu
Fights in Dragon Ball had gotten considerably shorter during the Majin Buu arc, with Akira Toriyama clearly wanting to be done with the manga. As a result, battles that otherwise would have been given chapters of development are over and done with in pages: save for Gotenks vs Evil Buu in the Room of Spirit and Time. Filled with incredibly creative choreography and some of Dragon Ball’s best gags, Gotenks Vs Buu feels like Toriyama having fun drawing action in a manga yet again.
1 Goku Vs Uub
Goku’s final fight with Uub is short in both mediums, but it loses something in the anime since Dragon Ball Z immediately transitions into Dragon Ball GT (the former’s final episode even ends with a Next Episode Preview for the latter’s first.) The manga doesn’t have this problem whatsoever. Instead Goku vs Uub is the culmination of Goku’s journey as a martial artist, finally finding someone worthy enough to pass on his teachings to. Goku flies off with Uub as readers are only left to imagine what the main characters in Dragon Ball will get up to next.
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