You can never have too much Dragon Ball. The franchise has gotten to where it is thanks to its incredibly popular manga and anime adaptation, but there are also tons of games, movies, and OVAs/specials.
The latter are often overlooked, but we've seen some of the best Dragon Ball stories come out of its OVAs and specials. While the movies are getting a lot of attention, here's a look at how all the Dragon Ball OVAs and TV specials rank.
7 nostalgic anime you can stream on Crunchyroll this weekend
If you're feeling nostalgic this weekend and want something good to watch, Crunchyroll has you covered.
Summer Vacation Special / The Dragon Ball Z Year End Show!
You've probably never heard of or come across any of these specials unless you're a pretty dedicated fan. The Special summer vacation was released shortly thereafter Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!and have Goku and Gohan talked about everything Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z films released up to that point. The Dragon Ball Z Year End Show! special is just a flashback to what happened in the series in 1993, and was released on New Year's Day that year.
Aside from being pretty fun, obscure finds, it's not that interesting either. These can be hard to come by, but they are floating around the web.
Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special
You'll never see a team-up like this again. As the name would suggest, the Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special features Dragon Ball's leading man goku, One Piece's future Pirate King, Luffy and Toriko's eponymous Gourmet Hunter, all interacting alongside other characters from their respective series.
The special is pure fan service, and that's great. Not much to do here, but sit back and watch interesting match-ups like Vegeta vs Zoro and Zebra, and all three main characters teaming up to take down a giant sea monster named Akami.
The Return of Son Goku and Friends!
Before Battle of Gods brought the series back for good, The Return of Son Goku and Friends! served as the first new Dragon Ball anime content this year. When Toriyama writes the story, the OVA is considered canon, even if you find out how and where with everything that has been introduced in Super is a little unsure.
The OVA is best known for introducing Vegeta's brother, Tarble. Although he has been mentioned a couple of times in passing since the OVA came out, it seems the franchise has no intentions of really doing anything with the character. Maybe that's for the best. Dragon Ball's the list is already tight enough as it is, and Tarble doesn't bring anything to the table aside from the shock reveal that he's Vegeta's brother.
Plan to exterminate the Saiyans
The history of Saiyans is something that has been touched upon in Dragon Ballbut not something the series has revisited too often. Considering how few of them remain, it makes sense. But whenever Toei or Toriyama decided to use the history of the Saiyans in a story, it usually turned out to be a fun ride.
Plan to exterminate the Saiyans revolves around a Tuffle scientist named Dr. Lychee, seeking revenge on the Saiyan Race for taking over the Tuffles' homeworld years ago, sets out to destroy the remaining Saiyans left in the universe. That naturally puts him at odds with Goku and Vegeta. This leads to Lychee placing canisters of deadly gas all over Earth, and the Z-Fighters must fight the vengeful constructs of fallen enemies to stop his plan.
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Bardock – Goku's father
The first DBZ special and the one that made Bardock a fan favorite, Bardock – Goku's father is still loved by many fans all these years later. While focus in Dragon Ball has always been goku, Bardock – Goku's father showed that fans were just as interested in learning about his Saiyan heritage, especially his father Bardock.
The special does a great job of showing us the moments leading up to the destruction of Planet Vegeta and the near extinction of the Saiyan Race. It paints Bardock as a flawed but ultimately tragic character, not making him an outright hero, but allowing you to sympathize with him at the end. Bardock's brave but ultimately futile final stand against Frieza remains one of the best moments of the series.
Episode of Bardock
20 years after Bardock – Goku's fatherfans got a different story with the low-class Saiyan warrior. This time it was a what-if scenario right after the end of the Bardock special.
The Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock The OVA is actually based on a short manga that ran in V-Jump during the summer of 2011. It sees Bardock transported to the past after his confrontation with Frieza, where he ends up on an unfamiliar version of Planet Vegeta (Planet Plant) and is forced to face a Frieza Clan member named Chilled. Although initially reluctant to help the inhabitants of Planet Plant and powerless against Chilled, Bardock manages to unlock the Super Saiyan transformation and defeat Frieza's ancestor.
The history of the trunks
The history of the trunks is clearly the best Dragon Balll special. It gives us a look into Future Trunks' grim future, and provides a complete tonal shift from what we're used to seeing from the series. It also provides some great character traits for Future Trunks that really make you appreciate his journey through the Android and Cell sagas all the more.
The bond between Future Trunks and Future Gohan, and the grim situation they find themselves in, make this one of the darker stories in the franchise. Since death is almost always reversible thanks to Dragon Balls, seeing the consequences of a world where that's no longer on the table is a welcome breath of fresh air, but it also leads to some gut-wrenching moments.
Dragon Ball Z
- Release date
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1989 – 1996
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Directors
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Daisuke Nishio, Shigeyasu Yamauchi, Osamu Kasai
- Author
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Akira Toriyama, Neil Bligh, Hiroshi Toda, Katsuyuki Sumisawa, Aya Matsui, Keiji Terui, Reiko Yoshida, Toshiki Inoue
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Masako Nozawa
Son Goku / Son Gohan / Son Goten (voice)
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Ryo Horikawa
Vegeta (voice)
