How Long Would It Take to Watch Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super? (Including Movies)
Dragon Ball has been around for a while, with the first chapter having been published on February 26th, 1986. As such, there’s a lot of content to watch, and new fans might be turned away. It might seem like a lot, but that just means there’s more to enjoy! So how long would it take to watch the whole Dragon Ball anime?
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, and all their respective movies would take you 8 to 9 days to finish it all, without taking breaks. Without filler, it can be done in less than 7 days.
Dragon Ball is a long-running, beloved series that has gained worldwide popularity. People know Dragon Ball for its crazy battles and strong but goofy main character, Goku. Although the length of the series can be intimidating for new fans, it’s nothing compared to some other series. Read on to learn how long it would take you to watch all Dragon Ball content.
How many episodes do Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super have?
Dragon Ball is the beginning of the story, following a young Goku as he tries to become stronger. He learns about the mystical Dragon Balls, which grant the person who collects them all anything they wish for.
The original Dragon Ball consists of 9 seasons, and a total of 153 episodes. The movies that take place in the Dragon Ball universe are Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies, Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle, Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure, and Dragon Ball: The Path to Power.
In Dragon Ball Z, aliens become an essential part of the plot. Now an adult, Goku must protect the Earth from formidable alien opponents, all the while he’s still trying to become the strongest possible version of himself.
Dragon Ball Z is a lot more popular, and it ran for longer too. It has 9 seasons, totaling 291 episodes.
The movies that take place in the Dragon Ball Z universe are Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone, Dragon Ball Z: The World’s Strongest, Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug, Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge, Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler, Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! , Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan, Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound, Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming, Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly, Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, and Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F.
Dragon Ball Super is the latest installment in the series, and it’s considered canon. Goku is now living a peaceful life, but must now rise against the terrifying power of the God of Destruction.
Dragon Ball Super has 5 seasons, consisting of 131 episodes. The movies that take place in the Dragon Ball Super universe are Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. For all three series, you’re looking at 575 episodes in total.
Should you watch Dragon Ball GT?
Dragon Ball GT is supposed to take place right after Dragon Ball Z. Goku is accidentally turned back into a child by Emperor Pilaf, and he embarks on a journey to find the Black Star Dragon Balls which can turn him back into an adult.
Dragon Ball GT is not considered canon. The plot isn’t based on the manga, and the author of Dragon Ball didn’t write the story for the anime either. Nevertheless, Dragon Ball GT only has 4 seasons with 64 episodes.
Dragon Ball GT is very much worth watching, but if you decide not to watch any filler episodes at all, skip it. Adding this to the Dragon Ball series raises the total number of episodes to 639.
How long are Dragon Ball episodes?
An episode of Dragon Ball can be 18 to 22 minutes long. This is the standard length of most anime episodes, and it still applies to most modern anime today.
The length of an episode also depends on whether you include the opening, ending, and next episode preview. When binging a show, most people just skip these.
How many movies do Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super have?
Dragon Ball movies
Dragon Ball has 4 movies in total. Here they are, their run time, and a brief plot synopsis.
Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies is 50 minutes long, and it retells the beginning of Dragon Ball. Goku, Bulma, Yamcha, and Oolong all come across king Gurumes as they’re looking for the Dragon Balls.
Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle ran for 43 minutes. Goku and Krillin must rescue the sleeping princess from Lucifer, as ordered by Master Roshi.
Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure ran for 48 minutes. The synopsis is that Goku and Krillin enter the World Martial Arts Tournament. Meanwhile, Bora and Upa attempt to hide a Dragon Ball that they found from the tournament organizer, Emperor Chiaotzu. We also get to see the events from Bulma’s perspective, in which she’s doing her research on the Dragon Balls.
Dragon Ball: The Path to Power is 1 hour and 20 minutes long. It simply retells the Dragon Ball series, which is why it’s longer than the previous movies.
Dragon Ball Z movies
Dragon Ball Z has 15 movies. Here’s a glimpse of their duration and summary.
Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone ran for 45 minutes. It’s about Garlic Jr. kidnapping Gohan, Goku’s son.
Dragon Ball Z: The World’s Strongest is 1 hour and 1 minute long. Our protagonists have to fight Dr. Wheelo to prevent him from taking over the world.
Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might is 1 hour and 5 minutes long. A space pirate plants a tree on Earth, which has the ability to absorb all life on the planet. Goku must stop him and save the Earth.
Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug ran for 1 hour and 2 minutes. The titular Lord Slug used the Dragon Balls to become young again. Now that he’s more powerful than before, he’s a much bigger threat to Goku and the planet.
Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge ran for 1 hour. Cooler, Freeza’s brother, is looking to avenge the death of his brother. He becomes a serious new threat to the Earth.
Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler ran for 1 hour and 2 minutes. Cooler comes back to try and defeat Goku with a large army of robots.
Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! is 1 hour and 22 minutes long. The Z Fighters must defeat three new androids, which were specially designed to target and kill Goku.
Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan is 1 hour and 12 minutes long. The Z Fighters, accompanied by Vegeta, find themselves at odds with Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan.
Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound ran for 1 hour and 22 minutes long. Gohan and the Z Fighters must stop Bojack after he tries to invade a martial arts tournament.
Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming ran for 48 minutes. After having survived his encounter with the Z Fighters, Broly is back for vengeance.
Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly ran for 50 minutes. Broly has been cloned by a mad scientist and is back to try and defeat the Z Fighters.
Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn is 50 minutes long. The dead are being revived inexplicably, so our protagonists must find out what’s causing this phenomenon and put an end to it.
Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon is 1 hour and 10 minutes long. A gigantic monster is heading to Earth. After getting wind of this, the Z Fighters must prepare to face it.
Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods ran for 1 hour and 45 minutes. The God of Destruction Beerus wants to fight the Super Saiyan God. His search leads him to Goku.
Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F ran for 1 hour and 33 minutes long. Frieza is resurrected by his army and tries to take over Earth a second time.
Dragon Ball Super movies
Dragon Ball Super only has 2 movies in its repertoire. Here are both of them.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly ran for 1 hour and 40 minutes. The surviving Broly is rescued by Frieza. He joins forces with Frieza to fight Goku.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is 1 hour and 40 minutes. It came out very recently, in 2022. Vegeta and Goku are training, so it falls on the shoulders of Gohan and Piccolo to save the Earth from the Red Ribbon Army.
All the movies put together make up a collective runtime of 1 428 minutes.
How many days would it take to watch Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super?
If you went on a nonstop binge of Dragon Ball, it would take you 8 to 9 days. Adding the movies to that would take you about 10 days.
This isn’t very healthy, so let’s take a more realistic approach. If you watched around 1 hour (3 episodes) of Dragon Ball a day, it would take you 237 days to finish everything in the series.
How long are Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super without filler?
Dragon Ball has 153 episodes in total, 21 of them being filler. Dragon Ball Z has 291 episodes, and 38 are filler episodes. Instead of Dragon Ball Z, you can watch Dragon Ball Z Kai, which is just a revamped Dragon Ball Z without the filler.
Dragon Ball GT is all filler, so all 64 episodes are filler. Dragon Ball Super Super has 131 episodes with 14 filler episodes.
Which movies are canon and which are filler is hotly debated among fans. Many don’t believe there’s a canon at all, but it’s pretty well-established that the only canon movies are the Dragon Ball Super movies; Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. If you want to shave some time off your Dragon Ball binge, only watch those two movies.
Without filler, Dragon Ball would take you a little less than 7 days to watch. This is if you did nothing but watch Dragon Ball the entire week, but it would probably take you a lot longer if you took breaks.
If you watched one hour of Dragon Ball every day (3 episodes), it would take you 163 days to finish the series with no filler. That’s no small commitment, but definitely a worthwhile one.