Givethanks
Superstar
Anime nerds who you got?
One piece v Dragon Ball? What's better
- Thread starter Givethanks
- Start date
OneManGang
Veteran
Not really a fair comparison. One Piece still going. Dragon Ball a classic for its short run
Velvet_Ace
Pro
Look I love Dragon Ball. It's one of the most if not the most influential manga of all time and it directly influenced One piece.
With that said, strictly from a narrative standpoint One Piece is way better.
Every Dragon Ball story can be summed like this: a strong enemy is going to destroy earth. We need to train, learn new techniques/ transformations to raise our power. Enemy is defeated, yay. shyt!! A new enemy even stronger appears and is going to destroy earth/the universe/whatever! We need to train even more and learn these new techs guys... Rinse and repeat.
With that said, strictly from a narrative standpoint One Piece is way better.
Every Dragon Ball story can be summed like this: a strong enemy is going to destroy earth. We need to train, learn new techniques/ transformations to raise our power. Enemy is defeated, yay. shyt!! A new enemy even stronger appears and is going to destroy earth/the universe/whatever! We need to train even more and learn these new techs guys... Rinse and repeat.
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Both are great in their own ways.
Dragon ball is so damn influential and foundational.
Dragon ball is more of a "adventures of Goku and friends fighting against bad guys" series, which is why you can literally start at DBZ and not even watch the og DB... as where One Piece is more of a widescale epic narrative - which is why the show has to heat up a little bit.
It literally starts with Luffy having to assemble his crew from small low key villages. It gets really good between episodes 20-45-ish. As where DragonBall /Z is more straightforward.
So as a result, many One Piece arcs have intentionally slow, methodical development - you have to pay attention to basically every scene because each of them builds towards a strong, dramatic conclusion, with payoff... that actually in itself builds towards the story's ultimate narrative
and when you go back and reread the previous arcs, you realize all the foreshadowing you missed the first time around 
. The Arlong Arc of one piece (episodes 30-45) is the arc that many say made them fall in love with the story, because it's the first time we truly see the storytelling style get realized. The build of the episodes prior all comes together magically.
Both are great, just different. You just have to clear your mind/expectations so you don't judge a show for something it wasn't trying to be in the first place.
I love both. It's hard to say one is better than the other because both do what they do well.
Dragon ball is so damn influential and foundational.
Dragon ball is more of a "adventures of Goku and friends fighting against bad guys" series, which is why you can literally start at DBZ and not even watch the og DB... as where One Piece is more of a widescale epic narrative - which is why the show has to heat up a little bit.
It literally starts with Luffy having to assemble his crew from small low key villages. It gets really good between episodes 20-45-ish. As where DragonBall /Z is more straightforward.
So as a result, many One Piece arcs have intentionally slow, methodical development - you have to pay attention to basically every scene because each of them builds towards a strong, dramatic conclusion, with payoff... that actually in itself builds towards the story's ultimate narrative
and when you go back and reread the previous arcs, you realize all the foreshadowing you missed the first time around . The Arlong Arc of one piece (episodes 30-45) is the arc that many say made them fall in love with the story, because it's the first time we truly see the storytelling style get realized. The build of the episodes prior all comes together magically.Both are great, just different. You just have to clear your mind/expectations so you don't judge a show for something it wasn't trying to be in the first place.
I love both. It's hard to say one is better than the other because both do what they do well.
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Kenny West
Veteran
Dragon Ball took an entire prior series to "get good"the one that doesn't have over 9000 episodes and take 100 eisodes to "get good"
seriously tho never seen one piece because it's too many eps and people say the first arcs aren't good.
And most of the stans who will enter this thread have never watched/read it
Eh, this isn't really fair. I've seen One Piece haters say "every arc is them going to an island, meeting someone with a problem, spending 10 episodes on flahsbakcs, defeating the main villain, learning something minor, leave, rinse and repeat"
Both shows aren't the same. Dragon Ball is almost meant to work like certain books series, which each book has its own self-contsined scenario/arc. You're meant to enjoy the character writing, fights, and unique concepts of each arc (the terminator-inspired story of the Androids arc, and the Superman-inspired story of the Saiyan Arc). And they occasionally make call backs to previous arcs. And it still does have strong writing sometimes, even if the plot isn't really designed to be a consistent narrative.
As where One Piece is a long-form odyssey type of story, with slow methodical plot development and the like. It's similar - each arc also has its own themes and scenarios, but they build towards a cohesive, grand tale. It's Shonen, but the actual fights are less and less of the highlight of the show as it has gone on. The drama and narrative are more important.
Dragon Ball belongs on the Mount Rushmore of anime, but One Piece is probably objectively just an overall better series. More unique characters, better story, more lore, world building, drama, etc. Has an actual end goal.
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