A few years back, I put together a crazy-person’s guide for watching Dragon Ball in order. This is extra challenging as the series has released nearly twenty movies, plus TV and other specials. This list describes Dragon Ball as it was experienced by its original Japanese fans at the time that it came out.
As fans know, Dragon Ball Kai (in the US, called Dragon Ball Z Kai) is a retelling of the events of Z but closer to the original vision of Akira Toriyama. You’d have to be even crazier than crazy to watch Kai immediately after DB/Z/GT, but if you want to do it, I include those episodes here as well.
- Dragon Ball episodes 1-43
- DB Movie #1 (12/20/86)
- Dragon Ball episodes 44-70
- DB Movie #2 (7/18/87)
- Dragon Ball episodes 71-114
- Dragon Ball public safety specials (Fire Safety & Traffic Safety)
- Dragon Ball episodes 115-118
- DB Movie #3 (7/9/88)
- Dragon Ball episodes 119-153
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 1-11
- DBZ Movie #1 (7/15/89)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 12-39
- DBZ Movie #2 (3/10/90)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 40-54
- DBZ Movie #3 (7/7/90)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 55-63
- Bardock Special (10/17/90)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 64-81
- DBZ Movie #4 (3/9/91)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 82-99
- DBZ Movie #5 (7/20/91)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 100-130
- DBZ Movie #6 (3/7/92)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 131-147
- DBZ Movie #7 (7/11/92)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 148-175
- Trunks Special (2/24/93)
- Dragon Ball Z episode 176
- DBZ Movie #8 (3/6/93)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 177-192
- DBZ Movie #9 (7/10/93)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 193-195
- Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (2 episodes)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 196-220
- DBZ Movie #10 (3/12/94)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 221-232
- DBZ Movie #11 (7/9/94)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 233-258
- DBZ Movie #12 (3/4/95)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 259-270
- DBZ Movie #13 (7/15/95)
- Dragon Ball Z episodes 271-291
- Dragon Ball GT episodes 1-4
- Dragon Ball 10th Anniversary Movie (3/4/96)
- Dragon Ball GT episodes 5-41
- Dragon Ball GT Special (3/26/97)
- Dragon Ball GT episodes 42-64
- Jump Super Anime Tour Special (9/21/2008)
- Dragonball Evolution (4/10/2009)
- Dragon Ball Kai episodes 1-30
- Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans (11/5/2010)
- Dragon Ball Kai episodes 31-80
- Episode of Bardock (12/17/2011)
- Dragon Ball Kai episodes 81-98
- Movie – Battle of Gods (3/30/2013)
- Dragon Ball Kai episodes 99-155
- Movie – Resurrection F (4/18/2015)
- Dragon Ball Kai episodes 156-167
- Dragon Ball Super episodes 1-131
- Super Dragon Ball Heroes episodes 1-5
- Movie – Broly (12/14/2018)
- Super Dragon Ball Heroes episodes 6-Present
Keep in mind that this has absolutely nothing to do with when the movies and specials “fit” in the timeline– they mostly don’t– only about when a Japanese viewer would have seen them. It assumes for the films that the passionate fan caught them on the day of release.