Dragon Ball Z vs. Naruto – Who’s Winning?

From mimicking Goku’s Kamehameha (Turtle Destruction Wave) to weaving Naruto’s Jutsus signs, Dragon Ball Z and Naruto made our childhood memorable.

However, if you were to choose one anime between them, which would it be? Tough question, right? I’d choose Naruto, and even if you like DBZ more, great choice!

That being said, I’ve seen a lot of anime lovers debating over DBZ and Naruto. While some people argue that DBZ has epic fights, some say that Naruto has the best side characters. Even though I believe there’s no comparison between the two greatest shonen anime, don’t you think it would be fun to compare them?

Below, I’m going to compare these anime series, but before that, don’t you miss watching these shows? I do, and I bet you do as well, and since these shows may not be available on TV anymore, let me start by telling you where you can rewatch these shows.

Where to Watch DBZ and Naruto?

The Naruto franchise, including Boruto, is available on Netflix. As for Dragon Ball Z, it is not available on Netflix, but several of its movies including The Dead Zone, Battle of Gods, and more are available. So, whenever I want to watch DBZ, I always head over to Crunchyroll.

Also, you can choose the streaming quality, but what’s the fun of watching DBZ or Naruto’s epic fights in low quality? For that reason, you might want high-speed internet for a seamless experience.

As for me, Spectrum Internet does the job and I can easily stream or download episodes. If you’re looking for a reliable and low-cost connection that offers the best internet speeds, you can also check out Spectrum Internet packages.

Now, let’s compare two of these legendary series.

Naruto Has a Better Storyline

If I were to critically analyze the storylines of both shows, I’d say Naruto has the upper hand.

Naruto’s story starts with an orphan kid with a nine-tailed beast inside him. The villagers hate him for this, and no one wants to befriend the poor lad. However, Naruto brimming with positivity, wants to be the Hokage to end the hate from the ninja world.

All the events that happen in Naruto take him a step closer to his goal. And, not to forget the emotional side of this character that makes it more “human” and relatable.

On the contrary, Dragon Ball Z is mostly about epic fights, where Goku always saves the Earth from the bad guys. Plus, DBZ’s story has some patches where it gets difficult to understand the show. For instance, it doesn’t make sense why Piccolo gets to train Gohan, and why not Goku? I mean, Goku was the strongest fighter and more than that, Gohan’s father.

So, these few factors don’t make much sense to me when I compare the storylines of these anime.

Naruto Has More Impactful Side Characters

I like Sasuke, but I love Vegeta. Similarly, I’d choose Gohan over Sakura, Shikamaru, or even Kakashi. But when it comes to contributing to the respective series, Naruto’s side characters are much better.

For instance, every side character in Naruto has an arc. Be it Sasuke, Kakashi, Itachi, Sakura, and more, everyone has a story. Moreover, as the show progresses, every character contributes to the story and makes it more interesting. And, it’s a major reason why some people may even like Sasuke or Itachi more than Naruto.

On the other hand, DBZ is all about Goku. Even though we can see little cameos from other characters like Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, etc., they rarely play an important role in the story’s development.

Also, DBZ’s side characters always rely on Goku. For instance, instead of fighting and helping Frieza, he tried to run from the fight. But in Naruto, side characters act on their own, and rarely wait for Naruto’s help.

Naruto Has Ambitious Villains

Not just in anime, villains are important in any show, as they’re the ones keeping the heroes on their toes. That being said, it’s equally important for villains to have a purpose, and not just to dominate everyone because they want to.

If we analyze DBZ’s villains, we’d see that Frieza had no purpose other than to become the omni-king. He wanted to end all races, people, and superheroes and become the strongest. But, what then?

The same goes for Cell. He wanted to achieve the perfect state to be the strongest and undisputed ruler of the universe. And ironically, Gohan still defeated Cell in the perfect state.

On the flip side, let’s look at what Akatsuki or Pain wanted to achieve. All the individuals in these organizations had a bitter past with their villages. Their villages had ousted them, and they wanted to end the hate caused by the ninjas.

Even though the methods or techniques to achieve their objectives, like capturing all the tailed beasts are arguable, they had a real purpose.

In short, Naruto’s villains were a step ahead of Frieza and Cell as both had a typical goal: to become the most powerful ruler of the world.

DBZ’s Fights Make More Sense

It’s a fact that some fights don’t make sense in Naruto. For instance, remember when Naruto fought Orochimaru? Although it was visible that Naruto had no control over the nine-tail beast’s chakra, he nearly thrashed Orochimaru – one of the three legendary Sannin.

Not just this, the first real fight of Team 7 was against Zabuza, the notorious and fearless fighter every village wanted to eliminate. And, all it took was Naruto’s speech in the middle of the battlefield to change his mind.

If I talk about DBZ, fights actually look intense and entertaining. From transforming to one Saiyan stage to another, and not to mention Goku’s spirit bomb, every move had a purpose. So, when it comes to fights, I’d choose DBZ over Naruto every day.

To conclude, the above comparison shows that Naruto has an upper hand over Dragon Ball Z. And while there may be shortcomings in both shows, I believe they’re the best shonen anime produced till now.

Also, I’d love to hear your thoughts about this comparison, so, do let me know what you think in the comments section.