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Here is what I will say about Dragon Ball Z: It is a mixed, mixed bag.
There is no real plot work going on here, because Toriyama does not know how to write. So, things are not set up: They just happen. Twists are not rational: They are surprising. Stakes are not built because there is a reason for stakes to build: They are built because WOAH SO COOL!!! THE MOST POWERFUL ENEMY!??!?! BIGGER STAKES???!??!
Goku does not get more powerful because he should: He gets more powerful because he is Goku. And this is Dragon Ball Z. And that is what happens to Goku in ... Dragon Ball Z so stupid children lose their minds over the meaningless, anti-art nonsense we now call power scaling.
It is a series for stupid children, and as such is written stupidly.
All of this said, and let it also be said that the fight choreography is, as the kids say 'utter mid', Dragon Ball Z has the same appeal as.. The Fast and The Furious, for example. In that it is dumb. And badly written. And for children (or manchildren).
But yet it looks very, very pretty and is quite a good time. It's funny, it's silly, it's kinda cool. And if you learn to laugh at what it fails to do and appreciate all it succeeds at, you will enjoy it.

Now, the original Dragon Ball..
Is near perfect. The fight choreography is actually insane. I have never been more excited by manga than I was during the Tienshinhan arc. I was losing my mind. It was that awesome, and that brilliantly drawn, and that inventively choreographed... It is what Shonen combat should be. Dragon Ball understands Shonen combat. And it understands every other aspect of a good battle Shonen.. Because it is one. And maybe one of the best ever. It is such a pure, perfect and shockingly heartfelt distillation of the genre, with one of the best protagonists of all time.. It does not get much better than OG Dragon Ball.

So. Here's what I would say:
If you want fine dining, read the original.
If you want a 7/11 hotdog that tastes way better than it should for spinning on that rack for so many days, read on to Z.

Utter and complete garbage. To preface on why a person would ever choose to watch Naruto, were they sane of mind: Quite honestly they wouldn't. The only rational setting for the show to be viewed is as background noise. While cooking, or building a dresser, or something of the sort. Which is how I began watching Naruto:
Binging while redecorating my room. And for that time, the show was tolerable. The opening arc is solid enough, and paying attention for five seconds out of every thirty and cracking a joke to myself about how absurd things had gotten by that point was fun enough. But funnily, ... as soon as I started paying attention to Naruto, all that mild enjoyment faded.
Because it is a horribly written, terribly paced, absurdly generic travesty with some of the most unlikable characters ever put to screen. Gaara, Sasuke, Sakura, Orichimaru.. Every time these characters appear on screen, a rational viewer cannot help but feel sickened to their very soul. By their incessant, never ending whininess, or their absolutely pathetic (and unceasing) attempts to come off as 'cool'. Nothing about Naruto is 'cool'. Nothing about Naruto is 'badass'. Because it is such an exemplary failure in writing, on every single level. Things take utter years to happen, and mean nothing at all.. Never once was a good line of dialogue divulged by a character besides the shockingly perfect Rock Lee. Never once did anything interesting happen to anyone.
It is boring, slow, revoltingly annoying garbage burdened by an absolute pathetic amount of effort for such little reward.
Rock Lee is a great character: Naruto is okay: Some ideas are good: Sometimes the animation is as well.
But the reality is that the final product will make you wince with irritation by the sheer sound, sight and experience of it.
Oh, god.. Have I not mentioned the music? Watch out for that. Abysmal. One of the worst, most grating scores I have ever heard.
Anyhow:
No one in their right mind could watch the 77 excruciating episodes of Naruto I watched and leave with a positive impression. This show is trash.