Dragon Ball Super: Where To Start? Ultimate Viewing Guide

The Dragon Ball Super timeline is just a little weird thanks to the Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ movies. In this article I’m going to cover where to start Super, what to watch before / after, and everything else you’ll need to know before starting the series.

Dragon Ball Super should be watched from the beginning, even though the first arc in the anime is very similar to the Battle of Gods movie. The battle between Beerus and Goku sets a different power dynamic in the anime and is important to see. After ep 18, it’s okay to skip to ep 27 to skip Golden Frieza.

I know it can be a bit of a drag rewatching the entire Battle of the Gods arc, but it’s important. The anime includes a ton of world and character building moments that you would be doing yourself a disservice by skipping. The Battle of Gods fight happens pretty early in the anime, and is much more in-depth than the movie. It also feels much more rewarding to watch (don’t get me wrong, I still love the movie fight, but the anime just has more.)

After you finish the Beerus fight, I recommend watching up to episode 18 just so you don’t miss any important context. After that, though, if you’ve seen Resurrection ‘F’, then you can skip the arc in the anime and just jump to episode 27. Of course, you can always watch the arc too, but it’s really not necessary if you just want to get through DBS as fast as possible. You won’t be missing much if you’ve seen the movie. If you haven’t seen the movie - watch the movie!

Can You Watch Dragon Ball Super Movies Without The Anime?

You can watch the Dragon Ball Super movies without seeing the anime. The movies are standalone stories that do not require the context of the anime to enjoy. The movies are canon, but they are still separate. Watching the anime may give some smaller context to the movie plots, but it is not necessary.

It makes more sense when you think of it this way - the first Dragon Ball Super movie, Battle of Gods, was actually a Dragon Ball Z movie and Dragon Ball Super wasn’t even planned. Afterward, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ came out the same year as the anime. So while the anime covers the movies, you can get the full story just watching the movies. Keep in mind, though, Dragon Ball Super may be far from over…

Even the one of the newer movies, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero can be 100% enjoyed without the context of the anime. Toei Animation and the writers probably made this decision deliberately so that the movie could be enjoyed by old DBZ fans without forcing them to watch the Super anime.

Super Hero does a great job of rewarding anime fans without making it 100% necessary to watch the series. If you’re a fan of Dragon Ball and have been holding off on the movies because you don’t have the time / desire to watch the anime, then don’t worry. You can just throw the movies on and get your fill of Dragon Ball without feeling like you’re missing anything.

Before watching Dragon Ball Super, you should watch Dragon Ball Z if you want the full context of the anime. Watching the original Dragon Ball anime is not necessary, but it will add a bit more context to the Super series. It’s also not necessary to watch Battle of Gods or Resurrection 'F' before Super.

You don’t need to watch the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods or Resurrection ‘F’ movies because the Dragon Ball Super anime actually covers these movies in the series. With that being said, the movies are still fantastic and should be watched eventually even if you save them until after you’ve seen the anime’s rendition of the plots.

Now, for the Dragon Ball anime series. You really shouldn’t start with Dragon Ball Super, even if you technically can. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z are both in the running for the best dragon manga of all time, afterall. I know not everyone has time to watch everything, though, so I’m going to help you pick and choose what to watch.

I’ll cover each series in order of importance and explain why you should watch each one.

What You Should Watch: In Order Of Importance:

1. Dragon Ball Z:

Watching Dragon Ball Z before Super is almost a requirement. I recommend watching Dragon Ball Z Kai instead because it pretty much streamlines the series and gets rid of a ton of filler.

Dragon Ball Z will let you see the main characters of Super, how they found each other, and how they’ve grown over time. It will give you a ton of context for how characters like Goku and Vegeta act in Super and their relationships with each other.

Can you enjoy Super without seeing Z? Sure. But I don’t recommend it because Super will feel so much more rewarding if you know the characters already.

2. Dragon Ball:

The Dragon Ball anime will give you even more context for Super, but most of that context isn’t necessary. While the context given by Z always feels highly relevant, the context given by Dragon Ball usually just gives you an “oh that’s cool, I remember that” feeling.

To be completely honest, most fans of Z and Super have never even seen Dragon Ball and still absolutely love its two sequels. Overall, watching Dragon Ball first wouldn’t hurt, but if you’re limited on time then feel free to skip it.

3. Dragon Ball Z Movies:

The Dragon Ball Z Movies aren’t necessary for understanding Super. The only Z movies that I would recommend watching are the Broly movies because they will help you appreciate the new Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie more. The Broly movies would also give you a little context for a small, teeny tiny part of the anime. However, overall the movies are not necessary.

4. Dragon Ball GT:

Dragon Ball GT is 100% unrelated to Super. You don’t have to watch a single episode to understand Super, and you’ll get no benefits from watching GT. I’m not one of those fans that hate GT, in fact, I have a soft spot in my heart for it and think it’s an entertaining series. However, it is not necessary at all when it comes to understanding Super.

You can watch Dragon Ball Super without seeing Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball gives a little bit of context for some characters and their relationships in Dragon Ball Super, but overall Dragon Ball can be completely skipped. You will still be able to easily follow along with the story of Dragon Ball Super.

You definitely don’t need to watch Dragon Ball before watching Dragon Ball Super. I will say, though, that Dragon Ball Super’s comedy and overall vibe is very close to Dragon Ball. Super is a lot goofier than Z ever was, so watching Dragon Ball may help prepare you a bit for Super’s style.

As far as the story, plot, and characters go, if you’ve seen Dragon Ball Z, you will feel right at home in Super. Super does reward fans of the original Dragon Ball, and gives Dragon Ball characters much more of a chance to shine than Z ever did - at least after the Saiyan Saga.

So, if you watch Dragon Ball, you will feel rewarded for your time and enjoy the call backs in Dragon Ball Super. However, nothing in Dragon Ball Super relies on Dragon Ball knowledge, so you won’t be left guessing or wondering what’s happening if you haven’t ever seen an episode of the original Dragon Ball.

You can watch Dragon Ball Super without seeing Dragon Ball Z. However, knowing the plot and characters of Dragon Ball Z will drastically increase the viewing quality of Super because Dragon Ball Super has many callbacks and references to Dragon Ball Z. Still, DBS does a fine job of explaining this context.

Dragon Ball Super’s vibe may be closer to Dragon Ball, but it still relies heavily on characters that we followed in Dragon Ball Z. If you haven’t seen Dragon Ball Z, you’ll be missing a lot of contextual history between certain characters in Dragon Ball Super. You won’t really understand the entire history between Mr. Satan and Buu, for example, or Vegeta’s origin and why he acts the way he does (and the relationship between him and Goku.)

With all that being said, all of that information is nice to have but it isn’t necessary. One of the great things about Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball in general is that it’s very easy to understand. The show does a great job of showing the dynamics between characters. So, you’ll quickly learn how characters feel about each other and what they’re all about, even if you don’t necessarily understand why the characters act and feel the way they do.

I highly recommend watching Dragon Ball Z, or at least Dragon Ball Z Kai before watching Super, but it’s not necessary and you’ll still understand the plot if you don’t. If you want an even faster, and funnier rundown of Dragon Ball Z, you could always watch Dragon Ball Abridged on Youtube. The story isn’t 100% accurate, but it’s honestly close enough to understand the story!

You can watch Dragon Ball Super without seeing Dragon Ball GT. Dragon Ball GT is completely unrelated to Dragon Ball Super because Dragon Ball GT was the original sequel to Dragon Ball Z and technically takes place after Dragon Ball Super. Watching Dragon Ball GT will not help you understand Super at all.

Honestly, most fans of Dragon Ball Super haven’t seen Dragon Ball GT. This article isn’t about whether GT deserves the hate it gets or not. I don’t blame people for not watching GT, and I have no problems with people that do watch GT. People should enjoy what they enjoy. Personally, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen of GT and think it has some great villains. However, GT is far from necessary for understanding Super. The two shows are completely unrelated, and as far as the canonical timeline goes, Dragon Ball Super actually happens before Dragon Ball GT. So, you should watch Super before GT. However, it honestly doesn’t matter which you watch first.

Should I watch Dragon Ball GT or Super first?

You should watch Dragon Ball Super before watching Dragon Ball GT. Many fans consider Dragon Ball Super to be the better show, so it will likely be more enjoyable to watch first. Dragon Ball Super also canonically comes before Dragon Ball GT in the Dragon Ball timeline so should be watched first.

The answer is going to be the same whether you want to watch the Dragon Ball story in canonical order or just start with the more interesting series. I don’t have anything against GT and think it’s actually a pretty good rendition of Dragon Ball that gets a bad rap. However, Dragon Ball Super is just much more interesting overall. Dragon Ball GT has some good arcs, but overall doesn’t have the same, classic Dragon Ball feel that Super has.

Dragon Ball Super also comes first in the timeline, so if that’s important to you, then you should start with Super and watch GT after.

You can watch Dragon Ball Super without watching anything else. You do not need to watch Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, or any of the Dragon Ball Z / Dragon Ball Super movies before watching Dragon Ball Super. However, watching Dragon Ball Z will add a lot of context to plots and characters.

As I’ve covered above, I’d recommend watching Dragon Ball Z first because Dragon Ball Super’s characters heavily revolve around Dragon Ball Z’s story. The other Dragon Ball series aren’t necessary at all for understanding the plot of Super. The Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super movies are also completely unnecessary. So, if you have time, watch Dragon Ball Z or Dragon Ball Z Kai (shorter version of Z, basically), and then watch Super. If you don’t have time but really want to watch Super, then go for it!

Where Does Dragon Ball Super Fit In The Timeline?

Dragon Ball Super takes place between Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT. Specifically, Dragon Ball Super takes place six months after Majin Buu was defeated in Dragon Ball Z, so it takes place before Goku trained with Uub and after everyone’s memories of Majin Buu had been wiped out.

The beginning of Dragon Ball Super actually answers this question for us! The narrator states very clearly:

“The Earth faced a desperate crisis with the arrival of its greatest threat, Majin Boo. But Son Goku and Vegeta stood up to him. At Satan's plea, the energy of everyone on Earth and beyond was gathered in a Super Genki Dama with which Goku finally managed to defeat Majin Boo... And then, six months later... ...everybody's memories of Boo were erased by the power of the Dragon Balls. Some time has passed since then.”

So, Super doesn’t come after the very last episode of Z. It comes after the main events of Z, before the world tournament where Goku fights Uub. Then, after Super comes the end of Z, and after Z comes Dragon Ball GT.

It should be noted, though, that Dragon Ball Super loves to retcon things here and there, and in all honesty, this timeline has probably been lost to the plot. So, I wouldn’t worry about it too much or take it too seriously because, in all honesty, Akira Toriyama never has (I’m saying this lovingly!) He likes to have fun with the story, and the best way to enjoy Dragon Ball is just to strap in and enjoy the ride!