Has Dragon Ball Z aged better than the major series it inspired and will this continue going forwards?

[Warmmedown]

A long time ago I thought that shows like Naruto, Blue Exorcist, Bleach and One Piece were better than DBZ, due to having more variety and complexity to their characters, plus a more intricate plot, but as time has gone on it seems that those shows were victims of their own ambition, and this is why DBZ has more popularity amongst new anime fans and the general public than the series of 2000-2015.
The character-writing can turn off-putting due to being melodramatic or even emo (eg One Piece and Naruto) and trying to make the show focused on having a complex plot or explore psychological or social themes makes the show eventually (as viewers get older) compete for attention with hundreds of shows that aren't part of their own genre - watching these shows when you're less experienced with fiction and all the potential themes is ground-breaking and a pleasant surprise if you were expecting something more simple, but watching the shows when you've got used to other content with similar themes can leave you thinking you might as well just watch an actual drama show instead. And on the other hand, if you're looking for an action series, these shows don't consistently have the highest level action and the action is interlaced with all of the story that you might not have a strong interest in.
On the other hand, DBZ offers something that is still very difficult to find from any other series, which is well-made fights and a feeling of grandness that comes from the extremely powerful and braggadocious characters and the knowing that their fight is truly at the centre of the universe.

What do you think? And whether or not DBZ has already aged better than its successors, how do you think it'll age in the future?

 

[Kyo]

I had pretty much this exact experience with regard to how I see these series.

Discovering Naruto/Bleach and other late 90s/2000s battle shounen after DBZ felt like leveling up, since those series had a "real" story and "real" characters where Dragon Ball had (comparatively speaking) none, so I considered them to be improvements over Dragon Ball. But as I continued to read them and grow older, I felt that they fell victim to their ambition more than Dragon Ball fell victim to whatever flaws it may have.

 

[Kyo]

and will this continue going forwards?

It really depends on a case-by-case basis. But I think Dragon Ball on its own at least has stood the test of time as a decent entry-level adventure/battle series, regardless of what else continues to come along, some of which will probably also age poorly in the future.

 

[Yoshi]

I'm starting to think that Naruto & Bleach > Dragon Ball. The former two have glaring flaws, but they're still just for children. Dragon Ball is for children too, but it doesn't have a coherent story, whereas Naruto & Bleach at least try to.

 

[Papasmurf]

Naruto's plot is so laughable and full of plot holes that the most major and recurring antagonist in the series started a world war over being upset that a little girl was killed, and a boy killing his entire clan over a threat of a large scale war that could have been prevented with his friend Shisui's help was glorified as some selfless and noble act, while Bleach has no coherent plot whatsoever and runs a cliched 80's formula even in its heyday. Plus, it drags on more than an assembly line of 20 herbivoric dinosaurs and has next to no dialogue to boot, making it even slower paced. OP, HxH and YYH are the only shonen that actually improved upon elements in DBZ, and they all either fell victim to their own ambition or became crushed underneath the "verbose" nature of Togashi's exposition and his inability to meet a deadline/continue caring about his series. Rurouni Kenshin and FMA are comfortably better than DBZ though.

 

[Kyo]

Naruto's war arc alone is more incoherent than all of Dragon Ball combined.

 

[Yoshi]

Coherent was the wrong word. I just meant it had no story, like you mentioned earlier. Cell and Boo have too many plot holes however, and Boo has too many power chain inconsistencies.

 

[Papasmurf]

Coherent was the wrong word. I just meant it had no story, like you mentioned earlier. Cell and Boo have too many plot holes however, and Boo has too many power chain inconsistencies.

Naruto's inconsistencies in Part 2 are waaaaaaay worse than anything in DB including the last two arcs

 

[Yoshi]

Part II Naruto (before the War Saga) is about as inconsistent as the Cell and Boo Sagas, but I think you two might be right. Sometimes I forget how badly Naruto and Bleach decline.

 

[Kyo]

I mean it depends on what you value ultimately. If the plotless nature of Dragon Ball bothers you that much or if the themes of Naruto just resonate with you for whatever reason, then fine. I don't think it's needed to make something that's just enjoyable though.

 

[Papasmurf]

Part 1 DB had a clear goal, conflict(s) and resolution. Goku knew he wanted to win the Budokai and be crowned world champ because his goal out the getgo after the Pilaf arc was always to get stronger. This continued afterwards with the goal now being to get stronger to keep Piccolo Jr. at bay, ultimately culminating in Goku becoming the strongest in the Universe with him defeating Freeza and avenging the Saiyans and Namekians. It's the shit that came after that stirred the pot and made it moreso the same shit happening over and over than having a focused narrative, but Naruto is way worse in that regard because Naruto's goal became nothing once Part 2 Gaara became capable of it and base Madara stomped him and 4 other Kages all at the same time, plus the Chosen One and Jesus parallels with that Asura/Indra reincarnation bullshit was worse than any cheap power ups/cop-outs in DBZ.

 

[Yoshi]

I think if Naruto and Bleach ended after Pain and Aizen, they would be just as good as if not better than Dragon Ball. Now they're worse than Dragon Ball because of the Shinobi War and the Quincy War.