Hell no brother, in Japan the first episode of GT aired the week after Z finshed. Z ended Jan 31 1996 and GT aired right on Feb 7 the following week.
Toei had it in the works knowing that Z was finishing and changed the ending Toriyama had for the Manga so as to lead right into GT without any brakes on the anime train.
Jeff is right, some of the art in these episodes (particularly the Gohan fight) is top notch stuff.
Those parts were key animated by Keisuke Masunaga of Studio Cockpit, known for his fluid action sequences. It's pretty easy to tell when it's him as he draws very dramatic teeth gritting.
I’m preempting negative reaction to the SSJ3 design but I feel it needs a little defending. The Buu saga was an attempt to go back to the ideas of old Dragon Ball with magical-style villain, tournament, return of the gag manga “perv” humour etc.
SSJ3 was an attempt to recall the "wild man" aspect of the Saiyans with the wild long hair referencing Raditz’s design and the strong eyebrow-less forehead giving a more primitive early man simian appearance. It was quite intentionally depicted in the anime, showing the great ape evolution like Goku is tapping into his primordial essence.
It’s a shame that Toei only produce a TV broadcast master of the final chapters and everything is cropped and zoomed in for 16:9 broadcast. Tadayoshi Yamamuro’s is so good but really suffered as a consequence, some of the tight action framing is ruined and really needs to be viewed in 4:3 like this.
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