In a post-Dragon Ball Super world, Dragon Ball GT feels like a relic of a bygone era. Toei Animation’s original sequel to the Dragon Ball Z anime, Dragon Ball GT had no involvement from Akira Toriyama other than him redesigning the cast and drawing up some concept art for the Black Star Dragon Ball Saga (which Funimation rebranded as Dragon Ball GT: The Lost Episodes).
Most fans write off Dragon Ball GT as a lesser sequel to DBZ, but there’s a lot DBGT genuinely did well. Perhaps the best aspect Dragon Ball GT has to its name is the progression of time. Where Dragon Ball Super feels frozen between the end of the Kid Buu Saga and the start of the Peaceful World Saga, Dragon Ball GT truly feels like the next step for Dragon Ball Z – for better or worse. Dragon Ball GT‘s main characters are stronger than ever, and even though Goku hogs the spotlight more often than not, the power-scaling in DBGT reaches insane heights.
Dragon Ball GT: Complete Series
10
Despite Being Goku’s Greatest Student, Majuub Never Lived Up To His Potential
Uub starts off Dragon Ball GT with a lot of promise. By training with Goku for five years in-between the end of Dragon Ball Z and beginning of Dragon Ball GT, Uub ends up one of the strongest Z-Fighters in the series. Unfortunately for Uub, there’s a reason fans jokingly call Dragon Ball GT “Dragon Ball Goku Time.” No matter how strong his peers are, DBGT goes out of its way to give Goku every major fight and win.
This doesn’t mean Uub isn’t strong, though. After fusing with Majin Buu in the Baby Saga and becoming Majuub, Uub becomes one of the strongest fighters in the universe, even surpassing Gohan. Majuub doesn’t get much to do other than hold off the occassionaly main villain and give Goku support here and there, but to his credit, Goku would have died fighting Baby Vegeta if it weren’t for Majuub helping him out.
9
Super Baby Vegeta 2 Would Have Killed Goku If It Weren’t For Super Saiyan 4
Although later Dragon Ball GT villains are quite a bit stronger than Baby, Super Baby Vegeta 2 gave Goku his hardest fight in the anime. After possessing Vegeta’s body and unlocking the full extent of his abilities, Baby becomes nearly unstoppable. Super Baby Vegeta 2 was strong enough to destroy Majin Buu, beat Majuub despite his power-up, and almost effortlessly put Super Saiyan 3 Goku in his place, even after Goku regrew his tail.
If it weren’t for Goku turning into a Golden Great Ape and unlocking Super Saiyan 4, Super Baby Vegeta 2 would have been able to kill Goku without having to exert much effort. Considering Dragon Ball GT was originally meant to end with the Baby Saga, it makes sense the anime would go out of its way to make Super Baby Vegeta 2 so overwhelmingly powerful: he was intended to be the series’ final villain before DBT kept going into the Super 17 Saga.
8
Super 17 is the Strongest Android in Dragon Ball
The fusion of regular Android 17 and Hell Fighter 17, Super 17 is the ultimate Android and more perfect than even Perfect Cell himself. Designed through a joint effort by Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu in Hell, Super 17 has infinite stamina and Ki like his counterpart, as well as Dr. Gero and Android 19’s signature Ki drain ability. This means that Super 17 can grow even more powerful by absorbing his opponent’s energy, something he puts to great use during his battle with Goku.
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Super 17 has insane durability, tanking massive hits from Goku – though Goku does himself no favors by essentially feeding Super 17 as he spams Ki blasts and Kamehamehas at his opponent before he realizes what’s going on. Super 17 is so strong, Dragon Ball GT functionally writes itself into a corner, needing to contrive a way for Base Goku to kill him with Android 18’s help just so the arc can end.
7
Nuova Shenron is the Most Honorable Shadow Dragon & Gave SSJ4 Goku a Great Fight
Nuova Shenron is the most memorable Shadow Dragon, and for good reason. In an arc full of villain of the week encounters where Goku and Pan fight their way through gimmick battles, Nuova Shenron shows up to offer Goku a genuinely great battle – his first since Baby as far as Dragon Ball GT is concerned.
This is an old-school Dragon Ball fight, right down to Nuova Shenron having a shred of honor and choosing to fight Goku on his own terms. In terms of Power Level, Nuova Shenron suffers the fate all the Shadow Dragons do of being slightly weaker than Super Saiyan 4 Goku, but he still manages to put up a great fight. In the end, Nuova Shenron is killed by Syn Shenron – the series’ final villain – while protecting Goku.
6
Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta Let Go of His Pride For Ultimate Power
Vegeta’s characterization is far and away one of the best parts of Dragon Ball GT. Unlike in Dragon Ball Super where Vegeta never let go of his rivalry with Goku, Dragon Ball GT explores a Vegeta’s who’s let go of his pride and ego, fully assimilating into his life as an Earthling. In the Shadow Dragon Saga, Vegeta even accepts Bulma’s help to unlock Super Saiyan 4 in order to help Goku fight the Shadow Dragons.
By pumping himself full of Blutz Waves, Vegeta turns Super Saiyan 4 artificially. What’s notable is that, even without training, Vegeta’s Power Level skyrockets to roughly on par with Goku – if not exactly equal, since they can do the Fusion Dance together. Vegeta has always had a base Power Level than Goku, but considering how overwhelmingly strong Goku is in DBGT, the fact Vegeta can skyrocket to his former rival’s level without going through the same struggles speaks to his innate power.
5
GT Super Saiyan 4 Goku is Stronger Than Super Saiyan 4 Goku in Dragon Ball DAIMA
Dragon Ball DAIMA may have finally made Super Saiyan 4 canon, but DAIMA‘s version of SSJ4 Goku has nothing on Dragon Ball GT‘s. Super Saiyan 4 Goku in Dragon Ball GT is on another level, and still one of the strongest transformations in the series. Super Dragon Ball Heroes even scales Super Saiyan 4 Goku up to around God tier in terms of Power Level, allowing him to keep pace with the likes of Super Saiyan Blue.
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Bizarrely, Dragon Ball GT goes out of its way to give Super Saiyan 4 Goku as few major wins as possible. After killing Baby, Super Saiyan 4 Goku fails to beat Super 17, Syn Shenron, and Omega Shenron, defeating those arc’s final villains in his base form instead. Most of Super Saiyan 4 Goku’s wins come from miscellaneous Shadow Dragons. This doesn’t mean SSJ4 Goku is weak, so much as it speaks to Dragon Ball GT‘s odd writing quirks as a series.
4
Syn Shenron Didn’t Need To Absorb the Dragon Balls to Beat Goku
As strong as Super Saiyan 4 Goku is, he was outclassed once Syn Shenron showed up on the scene. The strongest of the Shadow Dragons and representative of the One-Star Dragon Ball, Syn utterly dominates SSJ4 Goku during their fight. Even as a Super Saiyan 4, Goku’s attacks do virtually no damage as Syn tanks hit after hit and effectively beats Goku into submission. None of the Z-Fighters can do much of anything either, as Syn makes short work of the cast.
The tides only turn once Goku absorbs his fellow Z-Fighers’ energy and triggers a buffed version of Super Saiyan 4. Unfortunately, while Super Full Power Saiyan 4 Goku does put Syn through the motions, it’s not enough to kill the Shadow Dragon and Syn eventually gains the upper hand when he follows Goku’s logic by absorbing his fellow Shadow Dragons’ negative energy via the Dragon Balls – turning himself into Omega Shenron.
3
Golden Great Ape Baby Vegeta Could Have Beaten Super Saiyan 4 Goku
Golden Great Ape Baby Vegeta is an absolute beast of a villain. After Super Baby Vegeta 2 finds himself outclassed by Super Saiyan 4 Goku, he’s forced to transform into a Golden Great Ape just to stay in the fight. The Power Level multiplier from the Golden Great Ape form ends up making Baby Vegeta significantly stronger than Super Saiyan 4 Goku. While Goku puts up a good fight, Old Kai notes that in terms of raw strength, the fight is Baby’s.
The main reason Baby loses is because he cannot fully control the Golden Great Ape form and has all the same weaknesses as a normal Great Ape. For as powerful as Golden Great Ape Baby Vegeta is, his tail is a massive liability. In a callback to the Saiyan Saga, Goku is able to put down Golden Great Ape Baby Vegeta by strategically cutting off his tail and de-powering him.
2
Omega Shenron is Still One of the Strongest Villains in Dragon Ball History
After absorbing the negative Dragon Balls, Syn Shenron turns into Omega Shenron – one of the strongest villains in all of Dragon Ball. Omega is so powerful, not even the combined efforts of Super Saiyan 4 Goku and Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta are enough to stand up to him. The Saiyans are forced to fuse into Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta just to stand a chance. Notably, Omega Shenron actually does manage to kill Goku during their final battle.
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Omega’s Negative Energy Ball finishes Goku off, but something happens which allows Goku to come back in a state between life and death. This is symbolized by Omega’s attacks failing to connect with Goku during his final universal Spirit Bomb in the last episode. It’s implied that the Dragon Balls somehow intervened and turned Goku into a god of sorts, which is why he leaves with Shenron at the very end of Dragon Ball GT. If it weren’t for the Dragon Balls’ intervention, Omega Shenron would have killed every Z-Fighter alongside Goku.
1
Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta is the Strongest Dragon Ball Character Who’s Never Won a Fight
Dragon Ball has a very weird habit of introducing overpowered fused fighters only for them to never actually win a fight. This happened to both Gotenks and Vegito in Dragon Ball Z, and history repeated itself with Gogeta in Dragon Ball GT. After performing the fusion dance, Goku and Vegeta turn into Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta: a warrior so powerful, Omega Shenron doesn’t stand a chance. As fun as it is seeing Omega get utterly beaten, his fight with Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta is really just a lesser version of Gotenks’ fight with Super Buu.
And just like in the battle against Super Buu, Gogeta fails to pull off the killing blow by wasting too much time goofing around. That said, Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta is no slouch when it comes to Power Level. If SSJ4 Gogeta actually had some level of foresight and took the battle seriously, he would have been able to kill Omega Shenron immediately.
- Release Date
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1997 – 1997-00-00
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Showrunner
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Akira Toriyama
- Directors
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Minoru Okazaki, Mitsuo Hashimoto, Yoshihiro Ueda, Takahiro Imamura, Hidehiko Kadota, Osamu Kasai, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Shigeyasu Yamauchi
- Writers
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Akira Toriyama
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Masako Nozawa
Oob (voice)
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Yûko Minaguchi
Uncredited
