You make a good point here. One Piece has its flaws too,
One I think One Piece shares largely since the time skip is haki and Gear forms to lazily up the steaks similarly to power levels and transformations
(though gear forms existed before then, they just weren't as drastic). You know as soon as the idea of gear third is mentioned that transformations are a thing
(I don't feel it was clear with gear second as he didn't really transform, it was more akin to Gai Ken) and that now Luffy will periodically gain a new form to win whatever battle he is in.
Whilst I think it brings the same problem to the table DBZ has, I think there's two major differences in the presentation;
1) There's a lot more of a visual difference to Luffy's transformations
(...well, with gear fourth) which at the very least gets me wondering "what will it look like?" rather than "what colour is his hair this time?". I still think SS3 and SS4 are at least visually appealing solely because it looks like more effort went into the design than a lot of everything else in the series
(was going to name something more specific, but there's so much stuff in Dragonball/Akira Toriyama's art that looks near identical to something else he's already done)
2) It still plays off of Luffy's main gimmick of being rubber but generally doing something more 'specific' with the idea of stretching, bouncing, inflating etc. Super Saiyan forms, as I keep saying like a broken record, just tell you they're faster and more powerful whilst really nothing has changed.
I think one of the more obvious flaws for both series that I mentioned are plot armour and convenience. Sometimes the author can't just kill a character
(...yet) but it's also a battle the character can't reasonably win. They may die at some point anyway, but they can't yet for plot reasons...But at least in this case something unexpected and interesting happens to make them win, something different and unexpected, even if it's quite obviously pulled out of their butt.
Again, this is a detriment in DBZ since it's never a case of it being a battle they just can't win, it's a case of going away for a bit to train, saying their power level is higher and continuing to use the exact same abilities they were 2 episodes ago but somehow better
(we're told) because they're stronger now
(we're told)...And now Goku is blue. The result is just battles that are visually identical with all the steaks coming from characters telling us there are some.
Death and the undefinitive nature of it is another thing that takes steaks away from DBZ, notably after the Frieza saga with Goku miraculously escaping. A character dies and more than likely they'll just go and get the Dragon Balls to bring them back or something, or maybe they won't because nobody really likes that character so they don't do it because 'reasons'. Or "I'm going to die, better eat this last sensu bean I've literally not mentioned I have until now...Which because I'm Goku will also raise my power level", or "I'm just going to stop being dead, but first I'll need to train and raise my power level". The planet has literally blown up but thank god there was an escape pod. "Will Goku survive!?!?!", of course he will, it's only the side characters we all hate who might actually die.
Again using Jojo as an example
(it's by far not a perfect series itself, but I've mentioned it so it's on my mind), a character death has significance because there's a very good likelihood it's definitive. A couple characters had fake outs but otherwise when a character dies they're gone, it holds weight, they're not just going to collect the McGuffin's and bring them back and nothing really exists in the universe that can do so or if it does then it has major drawbacks
(vampirism). Even main characters have died or failed to defeat the main villain.
I go on about the fights partially because it's a Shonen
(so it's a big part) but also because I don't generally dislike the story in DBZ, so it's a shame I find it so unwatchable since there's some good stuff in there, I just can't sit through so much 'blegh' to get to it.
I liked the way they built up the first Super Saiyan transformation
This especially I thought was very well done despite how I've gone on about hating the structure of 'power levels' and transformations. It was talked about pretty much from the start of Z so you knew it was a thing but had enough misinformation given that it was also a surprise when it happened. It was essentially regarded as a myth. Especially when he eventually does transform there's a lot more to it than just 'shout really loud and do the power up stance'..Then it just kinda became a thing where you knew a new transformation was going to come along with every series.
Another positive I would give
(since I do have some positives despite my dislike for the series) are the initial versions of Cell and Buu. Ultimately Freiza in his ultimate form became Goku with an alternate skin.
- Cell started out as a bug thing, then into a humanoid that 'ate' people. That was a cool unique ability that
(if you forgot about the fact every important character in DBZ is immune to permanently dying) made him more frightening in that he could easily get rid of a few main characters...Before he got his perfect form and became as generic as the rest of the cast.
- Buu, a fat guy that can turn you to chocolate. He's also friends with the stupid fighting guy that thinks he's awesome when he's not. THAT'S fun and at the very least unique. Even with Kid Buu it's unique enough, but ultimately it does devolve into the same old tropes as everything else which is a shame.
I've seen up to the Buu Saga
(everybody watched and loved DBZ in the 90's, it's only when I've gone back to watch it years later I thought "wow, this isn't good") and narratively there's nothing really wrong with it, but fights are 90% of it and they're just so visually and narratively uninteresting and repetitive to watch after you've seen the small amount of things the characters do and have realised the repetitive cycle each saga goes through.
Meanwhile, OG Dragonball is over there having a fun little adventure, meeting weird people, collecting these weird little balls, Goku learning new abilities and taking part in the obligatory shonen tournament where one guys """ability""" is that he smells really bad.
