Dragon Ball Z’s penchant for lengthy battles has taken on a life of its own in recent years. It’s not unusual for Dragon Ball to be written off as a series where fights take forever and characters power up for episodes on end. While the latter isn’t based in any reality, the former is very much true: especially the longer Dragon Ball Z goes on.
By the Namek arc, Dragon Ball Z was forced to drag out some of the manga’s best fights with filler episodes – an issue the anime never really recovered from. Dragon Ball Z isn’t as slow paced as its detractors make it out to be, but some fights overstay their welcome in the anime.
10 Goku Vs Cell (4 Episodes)
Goku’s fight against Cell could have realistically been adapted in one airtight episode since splitting it up across four episodes does it little favors. Not only does the fight not need to be this long, the anime breaks up the pacing with shenanigans from Mr. Satan’s peanut gallery. Focus is taken off of one of Goku’s best battles in Dragon Ball and instead placed on comic relief that neither lands nor fits the tone of the arc.
9 Gotenks Vs Evil Buu (5 Episodes)
By the time Akira Toriyama reached the Majin Buu arc in the manga, it was clear that Dragon Ball was running its course. Although one of the longest arcs in the series, the Majin Buu arc consistently has the shortest fights – at times not even giving battles a proper arc. One of the only comprehensive fights in the manga is Gotenks’ fights against Evil Buu.
This is one instance where the anime actually does a good job in adapting a fight to its fullest. At a respectable 5 episodes, Gotenks’ fight with Evil Buu in and around the Room of Spirit and Time is able to build up to Gotenks turning Super Saiyan 3 while giving all of the battle’s major beats time to shine.
8 Vegetto Vs Buuhan (5 Episodes)
On the flip side, Vegetto’s fight with Buuhan is so short in the manga that it realistically could have been adapted in a single episode (if that). Instead, Dragon Ball Z spends just as much time as it did with Gotenks & Buu as it does with Vegetto and Buuhan. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough material in this fight to pad 5 episodes.
The end result is a battle that drags out for nearly an hour & a half that was finished within minutes in the manga. Worse is that Vegetto’s raw power means Buuhan stands no real chance, meaning this is a 5 episodes straight beatdown of a single character. It’s hard not to feel bad for Majin Buu, honestly.
7 Earthlings Vs Nappa (5 Episodes)
Dragon Ball Z has a lot of adaptational problems that undersell the manga’s greatest qualities, but the Saiyan arc kicked off the series on a high that it was never able to recapture. The opening episodes do an excellent job at respecting the source material while actually bolstering the manga’s plot points.
The fight against Nappa is far more emotional in the anime, using each episode to highlight the rising stakes. Watching Yamcha, Chaozu, Tenshinhan, and Piccolo die back to back to back – across multiple episodes – carries more weight than their fast paced deaths in the manga. The animation and voice work (in Japanese) during this part of DBZ are also spectacular.
6 Everyone Vs Vegeta (6 Episodes)
It’s almost staggering just how good the final battle against Vegeta is in the Saiyan arc – across both mediums. In the manga, Vegeta’s debut fight is a gauntlet that leaves Goku utterly broken and the supporting cast desperately wearing down Vegeta chapter by chapter.
In the anime, the fight with Vegeta borders on movie quality with animation, pacing, and fight choreography that makes it genuinely difficult to look away. The fact this quality is carried over throughout the entire fight set a high standard for Dragon Ball Z’s biggest battles. From Goku’s one on one duel with Vegeta to Gohan, Krillin, and Yajirobe saving the day, not a single episode is wasted.
5 Vegeta Vs Cell (8 Episodes)
Vegeta’s fight against Cell midway through the Android arc has a lot of moving parts – the actual fight itself, Krillin’s confrontation with Android 18, Trunks’ presence through it all, and Cell’s obtaining of his Perfect form – but not enough where the fight needed 8 full length episodes.
Rather than the pacing, though, Vegeta’s fight against Cell stems from animation and direction issues. What’s a frantic battle in the manga whose arc clearly builds to Cell pulling one over on Vegeta drags out in the anime, making it difficult to stay invested in the storytelling.
4 Everyone Vs Frieza (9 Episodes)
For what it’s worth, the fight against Frieza starts off well paced enough in the anime. The first 9 episodes are dedicated to everything before Goku shows up, which actually does have a fair bit of material to adapt – perhaps not 9 episodes’ worth, but it’s not an unreasonable number when taking into account how much of an endurance match the battle with Frieza is.
Problems start to arise when you look at the arc in perspective, however. Along with these initial 9 episodes, the final fight against Frieza lasts nearly 30 episodes in Dragon Ball Z. That’s over half a year of syndication for a single battle. In the grand scheme of things, it’s simply too much.
3 Everyone Vs Pure Buu (9 Episodes)
Pure Buu serves as Dragon Ball Z’s final villain, so it does make sense to some extent to stretch out the finale for all it’s worth. Even the manga – after spending all arc blitzing through fights – takes its time to detail the final battle. Goku, Vegeta, Fat Buu, and Mr. Satan all play a key role in stopping Pure Buu.
While the anime arguably spends too much time adapting the fight against Pure Buu, it’s handled remarkably well. Goku’s initial battle features some of the best filler (and plain old animation) in the anime, while Vegeta and Fat Buu’s turns don’t overstay their welcome. It’s a lengthy, but earned conclusion to the arc.
2 Gohan Vs Cell (11 Episodes)
Between Gohan refusing to fight, Cell creating his Cell Juniors, 16 dying, Gohan transforming, and Goku sacrificing his life, a lot happens after Gohan steps up during the Cell Games. 11 episodes might be pushing it (and there are certainly some sections of the fight that could be trimmed), but the sheer emotion at play during this part of the franchise is hard to ignore.
The Dragon Ball Z anime plays up the Cell Games considerably, turning Gohan’s transformation into a Super Saiyan 2 into one of the anime’s most legendary moments – arguably carrying more impact than Goku’s own transformation on Namek. It’s emotional resolution that carries the fight through each episode.
1 Goku Vs Frieza (20 Episodes)
Infamously the longest fight in shonen anime history, Goku vs Frieza was not adapted as elegantly as it should have been in Dragon Ball Z. With Toei dangerously close to catching up with the manga, the anime had no choice but to drag out the story as much as humanly possible. Unfortunately, Goku’s fight against Frieza was the only thing DBZ had to work with at the time.
The end result is an excruciatingly slow final battle where plot development happens at a snail’s pace. The manga had a substantial beat happen every chapter of the fight, never overstaying its welcome, but Dragon Ball has no choice but to chew on every little detail of the battle. The last few episodes with Goku as a Super Saiyan feature some of the slowest pacing in anime history.
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