Dragon Ball Watch Order Made Simple

Dragon Ball has more series, remakes and movies than almost any franchise in anime, and the timeline is a mess if you do not know which ones count. Here is the simple version.

The core order

Start with Dragon Ball (153 episodes), Goku’s childhood adventures. Then Dragon Ball Z (291 episodes) or Dragon Ball Z Kai (167 episodes), which is the same story recut to remove filler and match the manga’s pacing. Kai is the better watch for most people. After Z comes Dragon Ball Super (131 episodes), which picks up after the Buu saga, and Dragon Ball Daima, set shortly after Super’s events, where Goku and friends are turned into children.

The movies that matter

Most of the classic Z movies are non canon side stories. The exceptions are Battle of Gods and Resurrection F, which were folded into the first two arcs of Super, and Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Super Hero, which are canon and take place after Super’s Tournament of Power. Watch those two after the series.

GT and the remake

Dragon Ball GT was made without Akira Toriyama’s manga and is not canon. Many fans skip it entirely. Toei’s Dragon Ball Super: Beerus is a new remake of the Beerus arc, so it retells the Battle of Gods material rather than adding a new chapter.

Fastest route

Kai, Super, then the two canon movies. About 300 episodes, and you get every essential moment.

My take: Watch Kai instead of Z. The pacing fix is enormous, and you lose nothing except the filler that gave Namek its five minute reputation.