A lot of people compare Dragon Ball Super to Dragon Ball GT, and it’s a pretty safe bet to say that the older anime was better. There’s no denying that Super also has its charm and merit for some new and unique ideas for the Dragon Ball universe, such as the concept of the Multiverse, the introduction of malevolent deities and angels, or the huge battle royale for the survival of the Universe that took place back in the Tournament of Power arc.
Dragon Ball Super failed in other areas that were extremely important for the Dragon Ball franchise, and that cannot be overlooked. We’ll be referring strictly to the animes of the two series, not counting the Moro or the Granolah arc from Dragon Ball Super, which were available only in the manga.
Dragon Ball GT was initially released in 1996, and its story takes place 10 years after the end of Dragon Ball Z. The new show focused on Goku, who was accidentally turned into a kid again and forced to look for the dark star dragon balls in the whole galaxy to regain his adult form. Dragon Ball Super, on the other hand, came out in 2015, and its storyline is placed after the Majin Buu Saga of Dragon Ball Z and in the 7-year gap that took place in the show until Goku met Uub at the World Martial Arts Tournament. Dragon Ball Super follows the adventures of Goku and the gang as they encounter new opponents, not necessarily true villains, and gain godly powers.
Let’s see what Dragon Ball GT did better than Dragon Ball Super:
Better animation
Let’s be frank on this one: the animation in Dragon Ball Super mostly looked horrible until the Tournament of Power arc. Goku and the gang looked as if they were drawn by a 12-year-old, not to mention that Vegeta lost his muscles. The online community was enraged at how the animation in Dragon Ball Super looked, especially during the first two arcs: Battle of Gods and Resurrection F. That animation was horrendous.
On the other side, Dragon Ball GT’s animation might not have been as good as it was in Dragon Ball Z, but it was still decent for a continuation of the legendary “Z.” Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Gohan, and the others looked mature and with their muscles clearly defined. Dragon Ball GT only had 64 episodes, but there wasn’t a single episode with bad animation. As for Dragon Ball Super, it had 131 episodes, meaning more than twice as many episodes as GT, and most of them had horrible or bad animation.
More unique ideas
Dragon Ball GT had more unique ideas than Dragon Ball Super about transformations, major villains, and the way those villains tried to wreak havoc. Baby, one of the major villains in GT, used a powerful technology to infiltrate himself as bacteria into people’s blood and brains in order to control them completely. Omega Shenron, the final major villain of GT, was an extremely powerful monster who was born as a result of negative energy accumulated due to overusing the dragon balls over the years. Those were truly unique and original ideas for the entire Dragon Ball franchise.
Let’s not forget about the Super Saiyan 4 transformation, which was probably the best thing in the entire Dragon Ball GT series. That transformation had a unique and original design as well, as it was far from just a repainting of the hair, as we can see throughout the entire Dragon Ball Super series in transformations such as Super Saiyan God, Super Saiyan Blue, Super Saiyan Rose, Ultra Instinct, or Golden Frieza.
In Dragon Ball Super, the major villains were mostly dull and boring, and the writers gave them some features that existed before in the franchise. For instance, Zamasu, one of the major villains of the show, stole Goku’s body, which is something that we had already seen in a villain before (Captain Ginyu from Dragon Ball Z called and said he wanted his technique back!). Except for Zamasu and Goku Black, all we get in Dragon Ball Super are the big tournaments for the survival of the Universe, but Dragon Ball is already known for having tournaments. Furthermore, those tournaments have rules, which automatically eliminates a big part of the tension. In Dragon Ball GT, there were fights where the only stake was to kill or be killed, and such a plot was almost completely gone in Dragon Ball Super.
Dragon Ball Super relies too much on old Dragon Ball concepts, and recycling something only to milk money is no way of putting up a good show. In “Super,” Frieza came back not once, not twice, but three times. Regardless of how big a fan of the evil intergalactic overlord you might be, you still cannot cope with that. Dragon Ball Super also brought back Future Trunks, Broly, the Red Ribbon Army, and Cell (if we count the ‘Super Hero’ movie). As for Dragon Ball GT, that show tried to be a lot more original and not bore the fans with old concepts that should have been done for long ago.
A lot more tension
When you watch Dragon Ball GT, even if the show has its fair share of flaws, you just feel the need to take it a lot more seriously than you do in the case of Dragon Ball Super. In GT, there are no angels ready to reverse time in case something goes wrong, as we can see in the case of Super’s Whis character, the angel who trains Lord Beerus. There are also no magic buttons to push to call for the supreme deity to clean up the mess in case Goku & co can’t handle it, as we can see in Dragon Ball Super when Goku called Zeno with the push of a button to take care of Zamasu when the evil god gained too much ground. What’s even the use of an anime in the first place where the good guys fight against powerful and dangerous villains if the gods will always be there by their side if needed? Dragon Ball Super killed all the tension with those kinds of plots.
Dragon Ball Super also focuses too much on comedic acts, exaggerating Goku’s foolish behavior. The writers probably wanted to revive the humor when Goku was a kid in the first Dragon Ball series, but the price to pay was unacceptable: Goku’s character was drastically reduced, as the beloved Saiyan became a fellow who doesn’t seem to know anything else but fighting. He doesn’t even seem to care about anything else in Dragon Ball Super. As for Dragon Ball GT, yes, Goku accidentally became a kid again, but at least we’ve seen the same caring and altruistic version of the Saiyan hero that we know and love.
There’s no denying that both Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super have their flaws. Even Dragon Ball Z does. But overall, Dragon Ball GT was a lot more convincing, more serious, and it had more unique ideas than Super. Oh, yeah, and the animation was light-years better overall.
We would like to hear about your personal opinions on this subject. Do you think that Dragon Ball GT was better than Dragon Ball Super or vice versa? Feel free to tell us in the comments what you think, as we’re very curious to find out!