^ Naruto will never reach the status of DBZ. DBZ had the right timing and the right market to make it what it is. It is popular because of that. Then again One Direction is popular so maybe popularity is not the best way to judge a show.
To the OP:
I'm pretty sure almost everyone in this thread has not even read Dragonball. When people debate about DBZ they always use anime clips to back up with they say, never anything from the manga. The anime severely overhypes the characters and what they can do. If you just watch the anime, keep that in mind.
Now which to watch/read. There is a problem with both imo. The anime and it overhyping characters, and the manga with barely any dialog. In the manga you will get like 5 pages in a row with just them standing around, then charging at each other, then a few pictures of them in different poses hitting each other. The manga is really fast to read because of this. The anime tends to drag things out a lot. The original at least. They remade it and cut out a lot of filler, but their voices.....and that music......it just isn't the same. Since you have not watched the original maybe you will think DBZ Ki is better.
Also, it should be mentioned that Dragon Ball is broken up like how Naruto is. The manga for both are the names I just said but after a time skip, the names change in the anime. Naruto Shippuden for Naruto and Dragon Ball Z for Dragon Ball. This also brings up another point. Most people have only watched DBZ, not the first part. Imo the first part is much better. Dragon Ball is 153 episodes long and DBZ/DBZ Ki is 291/277 episodes long respectively. It is a lot of watching to do. I would recommend watching both despite how long they are. If you don't have the time just read it. Just know the manga is not as epic as the anime. Much is changed to make it that way.
