Yes they were intense in the anime, but lost all the essence Z, GT and other works had. No Blood, no brutal scenes like in the DBS manga and Z, generic and almost no tension soundtracks, childish soundtracks we hear most of the times, even in serious moments...., Goku and co having Zeno's button as a backup literally took down any real/potential threat for the Z fighters, not the dynamic/intense fighting Styles and hits classic Dragon Ball works had, doesn't help the fact that the sound effects do not feel like what we saw in our childhood. Black arc was serious but Z, GT, and og dragon Ball were terrifying enough to watch even to the point of parents not wanting us to watch It at times.
I want to feel the same tension, I want to feel scared for the characters, I want to feel the pain from the hits, I want to see villians getting the respect they diserve instead of a lame argument like having Beerus's or Zeno's help behind.
I understand your fondness of a heightened maturity in Z compared to Super, I'm just not entirely getting how this doesn't apply to the manga. The manga has the aspects you criticize like Zeno's button and the presence of Beerus.
Comparing the different Future Trunks conflicts. In the anime Bulma dies onscreen (albeit obscured). Anime Goku Black goes the extra-mile of killing Chi-Chi and Goten. When it comes to brutality, Goku Black penetrates both Goku and Vegeta with his ki blade. In the manga he only penetrates Gowasu with the blade, who isn't a main character or even a fighter. (He also penetrates some civilians with ki blasts.) While it's not bloody, Anime Goku breaks both of his arms fighting Zamasu and Zamasu crushes his ankle. It's purple blood, but half of Zamasu's body becomes melted flesh which is pretty crazy.
The power scaling while maybe higher and more absurd, is used to its advantage to make the villians a threat. I watched reaction videos where they see Blue Vegeta get smirked at by Base Goku Black, before he too transforms, and they have no idea how Goku and Vegeta are going to defeat him. Without this element or the ki stab, manga Goku Black kind of just feels like a stronger guy who was just somewhat too much for Vegeta to handle. Manga Goku Black isn't even given the honor of fighting Goku. Goku fights Future Zamasu the whole time, and unlike the anime where he gets some higher scaling, he becomes a non-threat against SSG. Then with Merged Zamasu, in the anime you feel like he's actually a threat to Vegito. Manga Zamasu is literally helpless against Vegito, which has its own merits, but exchanges a "tense fight" with a "watch how cool this guy is" moment.
I feel like the anime version even makes the Zeno Button less soothing in practice. The anime places extra attention to the human survivors, making them more stand out and an important part of how they destroy Zamasu's body. That makes it absolutely dreadful when Zamasu becomes an unstoppable force of nature and reduces all of them and Trunks' world to a desolate land of fog and his braindead laughing. The Zeno button practically helped them the least possible, which I think is the crux of it.
The manga version has some brutal moments of course. (Vegeta's beat down, Goku beating up Zamasu.) But to me the added blood just feels like a superficial difference in comparison to what actually happens and how things feel. Toyo gets to trade in dirt scratches, with red scratches and liquid pouring, which is nice but just doesn't seem like a big difference to me. The anime versions both feel way more tense and arguably more brutal despite being limited by the rating.
Sorry if this sounds like I'm going strong. Of course the manga feels more gorey. (I'm unsure of how the anime would compare to the many impalings in the manga Moro arc.) But I just feel like blood, while would be nice, is not a big game changer when it comes to the tension and brutality that blood seems to be aiming for.