Why My Hero Academia Is Better Than Dragon Ball Z (anime)

• The Dragon Ball franchise may have laid the foundation down for many anime after it, but foundation doesn't always mean better. Here's an example. The Nokia phones were cool at the time, but I'd rather have the latest Iphone or Samsung (Yes I did compare DBZ to the Nokia phone.) Dragon Ball Z gave us epic power ups, memorable rivalry's, colorful villains and crazy ass attacks from characters we'll never forget and much more to name or even remember. However there's no denying the anime hasn't aged well through time. Old fans of DBZ like me laugh at the jokes this series gets because its true. Jokes like fights taking a handful of episodes to get to and when the fight finally starts we have to wait for ANOTHER episode. Watching My Hero Academia I was not only remembering, but comparing my time as a viewer to both shows. It inspired me to write about this. It maybe an unpopular opinion for now while you're reading this. Hopefully by the end of this post I'll have you convinced and you'll be on my side. Whether you're like most DBZ fans who wont admit there are better shows out there, and wont give the new kid on the block his props. Or if you're an old DBZ fan and don't know nothing about this show or any other anime. I hope I'll be able to convince you to pick this show up and give it a try maybe it'll lead you to other great shows as well. Any ways whether you like it or not. Here's why I personally think My Hero Academia is better than Dragon Ball Z.

I.) Every Character In MHA Plays a Factor and Does Justice To Their Hero Title Better Than DBZ Characters

Even though DBZ characters don't go to school. They still hone their skills like the students of MHA. Very early into DBZ, all the characters who weren't of the saiyan race fell behind compared to their saiyan comrade Goku. Almost everyone died at the hands of Vegeta and Nappa during the saiyan saga while they waited for Goku to arrive. Basically almost all of the Z fighters were slacking off right after the original series. Even the great master Roshi himself somewhat admitted in DB Super's tournament of power that he wasn't motivated to train as hard as he could've anymore, and his students inspired him again. Rather than looking at Goku for inspiration to keep them in tip top shape and training at their best like how the Students and heroes of MHA did with All Might. They Relied on Goku to always save the day. There are many examples that can be seen with Krillin, Yamcha, Roshi and more in DBZ. For most of the Z fighters it took them dying and being in paradise in the presence of other former great fighters to reignite their passion in fighting/competing. Now let's compare that to the MHA characters. In season 3 episode 11. When All Might was fighting against All For One in his weakened state. All the other heroes show up with no hesitation. They saved civilians to make sure All Might can go all out. Compare this to the Cell saga where a handful of characters including the mighty prince Vegeta himself hesitated when he was faced with potential death. I'll give him credit though. He eventually did react and it helped the crew very much. At the end of the day saiyan saga and Cell saga have examples of DBZ characters accepting death or are used as fodder for the villain until a saiyan arrives. While compared to MHA the characters teamwork is heavily used when characters encounter trouble. Unless were talking about fusions. Team work or chemistry is hardly shown in DBZ. How frequent have we seen a Z fighter save a civilian? Seems like they rely on reviving the people of earth with the dragon balls rather than actually saving people more. Hell when piccolo became the "super namek" he watched a man die before his eyes even though he knew he was significantly more powerful than before. If it were anyone from MHA they would've made an effort to save him despite him being a money hungry slob.

Watch the "super namek" see Cell kill an innocent man while he does nothing. (Keep in mind there are way more examples of the Z fighters letting civilians die or get hurt.)

Even in the heat of an intense battle saving innocents is always top priority for the MHA world.

II.) MHA Has Less Predictable Formula To Its Show Compared To DBZ

Don't get me wrong, There are still DBZ moments I never get tired of watching that still give me chills till this day. In the grand scheme of things when you look at the series as a whole (DBZ) and even the further sagas with this franchise. You can almost predict how everything will play out. Its usually new foe, heroes get beat up, train then beat the bad guy. Sprinkle in new forms with the bad guy and heroes plus new techniques then you get almost every DBZ saga in the franchise! MHA can dedicate an episode to a B or C characters personal struggle and it still would be rewarding to the viewer. See episode 5 of season 4. Red Riot is instantly made into a lovable character over night with 1 episode. We get similar moments like this with Tien buying time for the Z fighters with Cell and Buu. Those moments obviously have too much of a gap between them. But it proves my point with it being a predictable formula, because both times a saiyan comes to save Tien.

Goku saves Tien and others from death in 2 separate clips. B and C characters can temporarily gain power ups but return back to being treated as fodder in just a handful of episodes.

Not too far into season 4 (MHA) we get to see Sun eater of the big 3 shine. This was episode 8. This comparison also plays into my first reason MHA is better than DBZ. Every character is given their shining moment. Lets talk about the villains now. Frieza, Cell and Buu all have multiple forms that lead to a defeat by a Saiyan. Two of which are by Goku. MHA arcs like The Hero Killer, Forrest Training Arc and the Shie Hassaikai Arc were met with lasting repercussions. Buu and Cell after their arcs are after thoughts in the DBZ universe. Frieza was treated as a C class villain after his defeated to Goku. The Killer of entire races including the mighty saiyan race was reduced to a 3 episode arc just to boost trunks up, and when we see him in later episodes down the line Frieza and anyone else get defeated in one punch! (I know in super Frieza gets his groove back but even super still has its similar formula points I'm currently proving. That's another post for another time.) Compare that to the hero killer arc which took a group effort from a few characters of MHA to defeat him. His actions are still felt even in current episodes of the series. Did Raditz inspire more villains? No! What about Cell? No not even Cell. Frieza was the closest. Dragon Ball Z is very straight down the line. Defeat strong villain, a stronger villain comes next. If guys like Stain or All for one ever get set free havoc will be set out into the world. Planning and strategy will be required for them to get sent back to jail again. As for DBZ whenever a character breaks out of hell its cool. B teams will take care of them. See the fusion reborn movie where Gohan takes out Frieza with 1 punch. Not even turning super saiyan. As I said, DBZ is straight down the line.

Let me make a sports simile real quick. DBZ is like a team with great scorers but their bench sucks. From these last 3 clips of MHA it shows you that their bench is pretty deep!

III.) Payoff For The Viewer/Fans Of MHA Is Better Than DBZ

If you ask a DBZ fan who's their favorite character good chances are you wont get the main. You'll get a few Piccolo's, Trunks, Vegeta's or Gohan before he got soft (older) choices. Even with DB super you'll get android 17's or even Kefla. Anyone who knows the Dragon Ball Z formula knows you'll get a chance to enjoy your favorite character to "shine" for a few episodes till the ultimate glory goes to Goku. A perfect example of this would be Gohan achieving a new stage in power. His mystic form only to be demoted again when Buu absorbs Gotenks then gets absorbed himself in under 5 episodes. His training with old Kai was longer and teased as a key to defeated Buu. Then it wasn't.

"Fight you? No, I wanna kill you." Ep 263 of DBZ had us all hype with that line thinking Gohan is back being cool again. The Supreme Kai recruits him and Kibito even call him a living legend.

In 3 episodes Buu gets the upper hand. After Goku was telling the kais, "heroes can fall from the heavens to save earth." That's exactly what he does to continue the same formula of the show.

With MHA it won't take 10 episodes of training then 10 episodes of fighting or under with a character dying because he was too weak. Each characters shining moment creates a fan base. From Bakugo to Mineta. Trunks beating Frieza with a few shots then Cell beating him with 1 shot was a sign of a power increase sure, but it was also a sign to the viewer that this character essentially doesn't matter anymore when the end game happens. Look at the recent MHA movie as an example. (Heroes Rising) During the final battle it took the entire cast of students to defeat the big bad and his entire team. You're treated with a moment or few from every character of MHA. Then towards the end of Heroes Rising they defeat the main villain with Deku "giving" his power to Bakugo. Let's look to the Cell games where Cell summons all the Cell Jr's. The whole cast but Gohan struggles to defeat them. Gohan later 1 shots them. Let's look to resurrection F does Vegeta get his shining moment? No, Goku avenges his race once again when Vegeta was the one who actually lived through the horrors Frieza put his people through. Vegeta fans are still waiting for his moment of their favorite character beating a main villain. Were paid with more eclectic moments watching MHA. With DBZ were treated to the same formula just with different villains and the heroes occasionally having different hairstyles from time to time.

Does Vegeta get to avenge his people? nope!

An amazing finish to a movie that still looks epic even when the 2 guy is sharing the glory.

IV.) Better Fight Scenes

This is my final reason I'll share for this post. And it will probably be my least agreeable point. Unless I convinced you which is the better series already. So I hope I don't lose you with this one. Point blank MHA has better fight scenes. No point in the anime has there been lines crashing into each other to simulate super speed (video will be provided to explain). MHA has less "lines" which translates to a better flow of consistent action. An example of too much lines would be most fights from the Frieza saga or Goku vs Cell. The Goku vs Cell fight was built up as a must see main event. It provided us with good moments and occasional flashes of action, but we were also treated with flashes of the arena floor, close ups of hands and feet flipping & puffs of smoke exploding. Yes part of it is a visual Representation of how fast they're moving. The other part could be Toriyama Speeding through the scene just to meet a deadline. Its been said he would draw Krillin with half the effort compared to the original Dragon Ball series because he thought he wouldn't be around that much in Z. As you can see from Krillin in the Raditz saga to him in the Cell saga there's a lot of change in detail, but were talking about fights. Lets compare Goku vs Cell to Deku vs Overhaul. When a punch is landed in the DBZ fight the character is sent crashing through rubble to show the power of the punch. Rarely do we see the process of a landed blow. Example, face grimacing the characters head turning etc. Villains wait for powerful attacks to be thrown right at them when it was shown both characters are capable of super speed. The fight at the time was cool visually, but doesn't make sense in certain moments like speed attacks. Cell took a Kamehamaha wave to the face after boasting to Goku about his speed. If you ask me its clear they wanted to save time in animation during certain moments. Now the Deku vs Chisaki (Overhaul) fight all movement is shown. When Deku dodges attacks from Chisaki. The only time we see super speed is when Deku finds out he can use 100% of his power because of Eri's quirk. After that its pure power with overhaul, vs Deku's Speed and Power. No waiting to take each others strongest move. No cheap tricks in animation to showcase their power. Just consistent action. The right amount of emotional dialogue and badass animation. The biggest key to my opinion of MHA having better fight scenes is consistency and flow in visuals.

This was cool for its time. It still is but I'd be a liar if I told you I haven't seen better animation than this. Hands crashing into lines. lines crashing into pavement. 1 second flashes of kicks and punches wouldn't pass for a good fight scene today.

No lines crashing into each other. No quick shots of a character just to see them disappear. Just action!

CONCLUSION
In a world where Attack On Titan beat Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood for the top spot on the MAL list (FMA got the top spot back but the second half of AOT's final season is still coming out. So expect the come back next year.) And Demon Slayer Mugen Train becomes Japans highest grossing movie of all time even beating Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. I think its not too farfetched to think the DB franchise will soon experience a knock off of their hill they've been on. Of course I personally believe it already happened. I'll just end it like this. Just because a new thing can knock off the old thing from their hill it doesn't mean the old thing becomes the worst thing in that category now. It means the product is more polished. It is easier to make a show flow better when you have a blu print to look at. Dragon Ball Z ran so shows Naruto and MHA could fly. To the fans who still don't agree with this. Opinions can change. I do know Dragon Ball Super is still going. Goku and friends are still creating classic moments in their world. Just as I'm telling you it isn't too farfetched for DBZ to be knocked off their perch. Its not too farfetched for them to earn it back. for the franchise to reclaim their throne the formula has to be something fresh and new. They did it once and im sure it can happen again.