For as good of a job Toei did at adapting the franchise, the Dragon Ball anime makes a number of changes to Akira Toriyama’s original story that end up contradicting, or outright ignoring, the manga. Any anime is going to have to make changes from its source manga at the end of the day – that’s just the nature of adaptation, after all – but Dragon Ball’s are glaring for fans of the manga.
For what it’s worth, not every change Toei made was for the worse. In many cases, Toei saw opportunities to flesh out story and character beats in Dragon Ball that Akira Toriyama flew past. No work of art is perfect, and the Dragon Ball anime doesn’t always suffer from ignoring the manga.
10 Breaking Up The Tenkaichi Budokai
The Tenkaichi Budokai as designed is a tournament that takes place over the course of a single day, a consistent fact throughout the Dragon Ball manga. Not so much the case in the anime, where each Tenkaichi Budokai is split into at least two days. The 21st Tenkaichi Budokai is rained out before Goku’s fight against Giran; the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai has several intermissions; and the registration for the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai actually takes place before the tournament itself. While this does naturally affect the pacing of each tournament (not for the better,) it does allow the anime to make the Tenkaichi Budokai feel like an even grander event in-universe.
9 Planet Vegeta’s Divine Meteor Shower
Planet Vegeta’s destruction is retconned in the manga proper, but the anime makes the situation far more perplexing. In the manga, Raditz simply says Vegeta was destroyed by a meteor, a detail which is ultimately revealed to have been Frieza Force propaganda in-universe. In the anime, Kaio confirms to Goku that Planet Vegeta was indeed destroyed by meteors – albeit one triggered by an angry God. Unlike with Raditz, however, Kaio’s comment can’t be handwaved as propaganda.
8 Gohan Transforms Into An Oozaru Three Times
In the manga, Gohan only transforms into an Oozaru twice: at the start of his training with Piccolo and during his fight against Vegeta at the end of the Saiyan arc. In the anime, Gohan actually transforms three times even though Piccolo destroys the moon early on in the saga. Gohan is able to transform via a fake artificial moon streamed from the space pod Goku flew to Earth. Piccolo is forced to destroy the pod to make Gohan turn back to normal, which in itself creates a plot hole when Goku’s pod is used to build his spaceship to Namek.
7 Dodoria Kills Cargo Instead Of Frieza
In one of the strangest changes in Dragon Ball Z, Cargo is killed by Dodoria in the anime. In the manga, Frieza kills Cargo – a young Namekian – almost as soon as he’s introduced on-screen. The sight of Frieza killing a child is a heavy one that puts the stakes of the Namek arc into perspective.
For whatever reason, Toei decided to have Dodoria kill Cargo, not Frieza. While this makes Dodoria seem more evil out the gate, there’s no real reason to do this. It doesn’t take long for Dodoria to be killed, after all. Then again, Dororia does play a key role in the Bardock TV special so it’s possible Toei simply liked the character.
6 Zarbon Doesn’t Tell Vegeta About Frieza’s Transformations
In one of Dragon Ball Z’s most glaring plot holes in the anime, Zarbon’s conversation where he tells Vegeta that Frieza can transform simply doesn’t happen. This scene is completely omitted from the anime, but Vegeta ends up referencing it during his battle with Frieza anyways. While this sequence is completely smoothless in the manga, it comes off stilted in the anime, as if the audience should have information they were never actually privy to.
5 Bardock, The Father Of Goku
During the anime’s adaptation of the Frieza arc, Toei decided to produce a TV special focusing on Goku’s then unnamed, unmentioned, and unimportant father: Bardock. A lower class Saiyan from Planet Vegeta, Bardock spends his last times trying to stage a coup against Frieza that doesn’t take, dying alongside his planet as he has one last vision of the man who will defeat Frieza: his son, Kakarot. Akira Toriyama ended up liking the TV special so much, he would go on to reference Bardock twice in the manga, effectively making him (and the special) canon, before offering his own interpretation of the character in Dragon Ball Minus & Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
4 Goku’s “Death” On Namek
While fighting Frieza on Namek as Kaio & God are planning out their Dragon Ball gambit, the anime features a sequence where Goku seemingly dies during his battle, prompting Gohan to rush Frieza and try to succeed where his father “failed.” Goku only comes back up from the water after Shenlong has granted the wish to bring back everyone killed by Frieza. This does not happen whatsoever in the manga and is an anime invention. There’s no comparable scene either. In-canon, Goku simply fights Frieza until Namek explodes with Gohan never turning back.
3 History Of Trunks
In the manga, Trunks’ backstory is revealed in a short side chapter leading up to the Cell Games. Trunks, already a Super Saiyan, is being trained by Future Gohan for the fight against the Androids, but the situation proves dire. Gohan’s already lost his arm, seemingly hit his limit, and there’s little the two can actually do to save the day.
Toei decided to turn this side chapter into a genuine tragedy, making it so Trunks doesn’t trigger Super Saiyan until after Gohan’s already died while fleshing out their fights against the Androids. Where the manga chapter is charming, History of Trunks is one of the best pieces of Dragon Ball media, period.
2 The Cell Games’ Pacing
The Cell Games takes its sweet time in the manga, but it’s paced well and every chapter has a clear purpose. Mr. Satan is used as comic relief, but sparingly. The supporting cast remain on the sidelines to exposit drama, but never egregious. Akira Toriyama’s fight choreography is fantastic and there’s a clear passion for storytelling that masterfully sets up Gohan as the next lead (even if it doesn’t take.) The anime, however, breaks up the manga’s natural pacing by giving Mr. Satan his own group of side characters to periodically distract from the action.
1 Great Saiyaman Storyline
The Great Saiyam portion of Dragon Ball doesn’t land especially long in the manga. In a matter of four chapters, Gohan becomes the Great Saiyaman, does all the crime fighting he’ll do in the series, and is found out by Videl. The anime not only expands the Great Saiyaman section of the Majin Buu arc, it does so by more or less charting its own course. Virtually nothing from the manga is actually adapted, making it so Dragon Ball Kai actually had to rely on “filler” material when the series finally got around to the Majin Buu arc.