In previous reviews for Dragon Ball Z and the first season of Dragon Ball Z Kai, I mostly talked about how much I love the series. But I was also willing to look past the nostalgia and criticize the parts that I think some Dragon Ball Z fans hype up a little too much—especially in sagas like Frieza’s and, even more so, Cell’s.

For this review, I want to go over a saga that’s widely considered the worst in all of Dragon Ball Z—possibly even the worst in the original manga—the Buu Saga. I won’t deny that this arc has flaws. This was the point where it became painfully obvious that if you weren’t a Saiyan, you weren’t going to be useful. Toriyama didn’t even attempt to make non-Saiyan characters relevant. Even Piccolo was relegated to being a temporary mentor.

That said, I think some of the early Dragon Ball Z arcs are put on a pedestal a little too much, while the Buu Saga, at least to me, gets way too much undeserved hate. The Buu Saga is still enjoyable and important—not just because the Dragon Ball series needed a proper ending back in the ’90s, but also because of its influence on other shonen series and even future Dragon Ball content.

One thing I want to praise right off the bat is what I like to call a tone correction. Starting with the King Piccolo Saga, Toriyama shifted Dragon Ball into a more serious direction. This led to some of the most memorable fights, deaths, and character development in the series. But by the time the Cell Saga came around, I was getting sick of every villain just being "the strongest being in the universe" or "wanting to take over the world." There are only so many times you can do this before it gets old.

Thankfully, the Majin Buu Saga broke that cycle. As the series got more serious, it felt like Toriyama strayed from his original vision—Dragon Ball started as a gag manga. While Dragon Ball Z had some amazing fights, I found myself missing the fun and comedy when doing a full rewatch. The Buu Saga managed to mix the serious tone of DBZ with the goofy humor and magic elements of classic Dragon Ball.

I also think Buu’s origin makes way more sense than the random androids in the Cell Saga. The idea that Majin Buu is a super-powerful villain who has existed for millennia feels a lot more natural than "Dr. Gero made some robots that somehow surpass Super Saiyans."

Now, I’ll admit Buu having like five different forms was a bit overkill. But unlike the Cell Saga, where villains kept getting swapped out, Majin Buu remained the main antagonist the entire time. And at least in my opinion, the justification for his changing forms made more sense in the plot—even if it was obvious that Toriyama was figuring out Buu’s final design as he went.

Unfortunately, a lot of secondary characters like Piccolo, Krillin, and Yamcha were completely sidelined. The only exception was Mr. Satan, who surprisingly became an emotional buffer for the good version of Buu. But despite that, the Buu Saga had some of the most important character development in the entire series.

The most obvious example is Gohan. I’ll admit it’s disappointing that he didn’t get the final kill like Toriyama originally planned. But even back in the Cell Saga, it felt like Toriyama was forgetting that Gohan started off hating fighting and only kept going because bad guys wouldn’t stop showing up. If anything, the almost decade-long time skip between Cell and Buu, with Gohan getting “lazy,” makes perfect sense. He got rusty. Looking back, him regaining his power through an old Kai unlocking it was convenient, but at least 24 hours of non-stop meditation and dealing with weirdness gave him some effort to put in.

Vegeta, though? Hands down the best character development in the entire series. He got a little bit of it at the end of the Cell Saga, but for most of DBZ, he was just an unlikable jerk with a few cool moments. The Buu Saga showed him having a midlife crisis, starting off chill, then regressing, and then ultimately getting the best redemption arc. And I still think the way he helped end Buu was one of the coolest villain defeats in all of Dragon Ball.

But the biggest surprise? The fact that Fat Buu and Mr. Satan of all people got character development. This was a huge subversion—Dragon Ball hadn’t given a villain meaningful development since Vegeta, and even that happened by accident. With Majin Buu, it was clearly planned from the start. And Mr. Satan? The annoying joke character from the Cell Saga actually became likable. His arrogance was played for good instead of just being obnoxious.

The Buu Saga also introduced a ton of major concepts—fusion (both Potara and Fusion Dance), Super Saiyan 3, and even little kids turning Super Saiyan. Yeah, Super Saiyan 3 became kind of a joke in later series, but at the time, you could tell Toriyama wanted it to be a high-risk, high-reward form. And while fusion rarely actually defeats the bad guys, there’s a reason it’s still used in every single piece of Dragon Ball media. It’s just that cool.

And finally—after being hyped up for so long—the Spirit Bomb actually worked as the finishing move. It was so cathartic to see an old ability that should have been a game-changer actually function the way it was supposed to.

Now, as much as I love this saga, I can admit the flaws.

Gohan’s power-up was great, but his character arc was inconsistent and clearly rewritten on the fly. The high school segments were fun, but they dragged on longer than necessary and probably felt weird for fans used to Goku’s adventures.

Majin Buu constantly changing forms was fun, but it also felt like Toriyama was struggling to finalize his design—just like with Cell. And even he couldn’t keep track of which version of Buu was supposed to be the strongest, so you really had to pay attention. His regeneration powers were also way too OP. It was clearly just a way to drag out the saga because, realistically, with how strong the characters were, this arc could have been much shorter if Buu wasn’t regenerating every five seconds.

Like I mentioned earlier, Toriyama didn’t even try to make non-Saiyan characters relevant anymore. And while I personally don’t mind Gotenks and even find him amusing, I get why people were annoyed that two little kids were one of the main forces against the final villain—especially when we’d spent years watching serious, experienced fighters take on these threats.

There was also a ton of wasted potential—like Dabura and the whole Demon Realm, which it took decades for Dragon Ball to finally explore in Daima.

I haven’t talked much about the Kai version of the Buu Saga because, honestly, there’s not much to say. By the time Buu originally aired, there wasn’t much filler outside the high school arc. Kai trimmed that down, which made it a little less annoying for people (including me) who just wanted to get to the tournament.

At the end of the day, though, I think the Buu Saga is incredibly overhated. Sure, there were ideas that could have been refined, and a few characters definitely deserved better treatment. But the number of important concepts it introduced, the nonstop entertainment, the amazing character development, and the most satisfying final villain defeat in the series?

I don’t know—I just think the Buu Saga at least stands on par with the rest of DBZ. And for me? It might just be the best.