Dragon Ball Watch Order: Z, GT, Super

What's the chronological order?

1. Dragon Ball (1986, 153 episodes) — Goku as a child. More comedy and adventure than the action-heavy tone the franchise later became known for.
2. Dragon Ball Z (1989, 291 episodes) — what most people mean by "Dragon Ball." Goku's adult life, the Saiyan invasion, and the Frieza, Cell and Buu arcs.
3. Dragon Ball GT (1996, 64 episodes) — a sequel with no manga source material behind it.
4. Dragon Ball Super (2015, 131 episodes) — the genuine canon continuation after Z, made with Akira Toriyama directly involved.
5. Dragon Ball Daima (2024) — the most recent series, also canon, exploring a stretch of timeline between Z and Super.

Can you skip the original Dragon Ball and start at Z?

Yes, and plenty of longtime fans actively recommend it. The original is slower, more comedic, and less load-bearing for Z's plot than you'd assume — Z re-establishes the key relationships and stakes early. If 153 episodes of a tonally different show is a bigger ask than you want, starting at Z is a completely reasonable choice.

The counter-argument is real but narrow: the original is where the friendships that give Z its emotional weight are actually built. You lose some resonance, not any plot.

Is Dragon Ball GT canon? The complicated answer

This is more contested than most quick answers admit, and it's worth unpacking properly because the two common takes — "it's canon" and "it's not canon" — are each half right.

Toriyama did have involvement in GT, but a narrow one: he provided rough character designs. The story and writing were handled entirely by Toei Animation, with no manga to adapt from. On that basis, some fans and outlets file GT as loosely canon, since Toriyama never publicly disavowed it outright.

In practice it functions as non-canon. When Dragon Ball Super arrived years later, with Toriyama directly involved in the story this time, it contradicted specific plot points and timeline details that only hold together if GT never happened — most notably around the transformations tied to a Saiyan's tail, something Toriyama has said he regretted retroactively changing. The result is that Super acts as the real continuation after Z, and GT sits in a position later canon simply declines to acknowledge.

So watch Super instead of GT?

Yes. Treat Super as the actual continuation after Z. It's the entry with direct creator involvement in the story, and it's the one Daima and everything since build on. If you're only watching one post-Z series, make it that one.

GT is worth it only if you're curious about a well-known franchise oddity, in the same way people watch a non-canon spin-off for its own sake. Nothing later depends on it.

How many episodes is a full watch-through?

Dragon Ball, Z, Super and Daima — skipping GT — comes to 153 plus 291 plus 131 plus Daima's run. That is a genuinely enormous commitment, likely the largest on any mainstream shonen recommendation list.

Start at Z instead and you're at a little over 400 episodes before Daima. Still substantial, but a different kind of decision.

Is Dragon Ball Z filler-heavy?

Notably so. Z is well documented for padding, particularly stretches that stall already-decided fights for dramatic effect — the pattern the fandom jokes about endlessly. Fan-maintained filler guides exist for Z specifically, and using one meaningfully shortens the watch without costing plot.

It's the same underlying cause as Naruto's filler problem: a weekly anime running alongside an unfinished manga has to slow down somehow.

Does Toriyama's death change what to watch?

Not for the anime. Akira Toriyama died in March 2024. The Dragon Ball Super manga has continued under Toyotaro, who was already illustrating it from scripts during Toriyama's lifetime.

Toyotaro is a divisive figure among longtime fans, criticised by some for paneling choices and creative decisions that diverge from Toriyama's style. That debate is about the ongoing manga specifically, and doesn't affect whether the existing anime seasons are worth your time.

Is Dragon Ball worth starting today?

If you're interested in understanding one of the most influential franchises in the medium, genuinely yes. Z in particular shaped the pacing, power-scaling conventions and tournament-arc structure of nearly every shonen that followed it.

Its age does show in the production compared to modern anime. Worth knowing going in rather than expecting current-generation animation.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to watch the original Dragon Ball before Dragon Ball Z? Not strictly. Many longtime fans recommend starting at Z, which re-establishes the essential relationships and stakes early on.

Is Dragon Ball GT canon? It's genuinely ambiguous. Akira Toriyama provided rough character designs but no story involvement, and later entries like Super contradict GT's plot points — so it functions as non-canon in practice, even though it was never formally disavowed.

Should I watch Dragon Ball GT or Dragon Ball Super after Z? Super. It's the entry with direct creator involvement in the story and the one that later series build on.

What's the best Dragon Ball series for a newcomer to start with? Dragon Ball Z, for anyone who wants the iconic, widely-referenced version of the franchise without committing to 153 episodes of a tonally different prequel first.

Who writes Dragon Ball now that Akira Toriyama has passed away? Toyotaro continues the Dragon Ball Super manga, a role he already partly held during Toriyama's lifetime.

Want a palate cleanser between arcs?

Four hundred episodes is a long road. We've written about short, completed anime with no filler for exactly this, and the anime recommendation quiz will find something else entirely if you need a break.