Current Dragon Ball Is Ass
First and foremost, rest in peace to Akira Toriyama, indisputably one of the greats of mangaka. His work has inspired many, many works of manga that we’re all currently grateful to have, or have had. You have your Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, My Hero Academia, Yu Yu Hakusho, Black Clover, Fairytail, Seven Deadly Sins, etc, etc. That’s the kind of legacy that you can only hope to achieve as someone aspiring to tell a story for others to enjoy. The very pinnacle. Alright, now with that being said, hear me out. I understand that Dragon Ball has made little sense, since the very start of the series. Most of what we love and enjoy about it are things that are simple, or that we have to turn our brains off for. However, as long as this series has been going on for, you would think that they would have started putting in some effort to the series in those ways. I’ll be honest, and blunt as possible. Whenever I think of what Dragon Ball use to be in it’s glory days, it makes me absolutely hate the new Dragon Ball. Fuck Dragon Ball Super. Fuck Super Dragon Ball Heroes. Fuck Dragon Ball Daima. Fuck. It. All. There’s your only trigger warning, because I’m about to peel back some layers throughout this rant of sorts. The nerd rage activated in me , and I’ve got the time today. Now if you’re curious about why I think these things, keep calm and carry on.
First of all, Dragon Ball use to take all kinds of risks that they no longer take anymore. The same kind of risks that other, newer anime are doing all the time now, but they originated in Dragon Ball. There use to be darker humor, goofy interactions, high stakes, blood, and well-choreographed battles. Whenever I watch any of the Dragon Ball shows that I mentioned before this full-blown ramble, I don’t feel any tension happening. In fact, I don’t even really expect it anymore. Nobody dies anymore in the show, and none of the fights are as brutal as they use to be. What happened to the blood? The bones breaking? The fists blowing out the backs of the opponents to the point where they vomit? The cool ass visuals of characters being completely decimated by a wave of energy? That feeling of when we weren’t sure if we’d see a character return or not? It’s literally no where to be found. And then there’s nothing making me consider that it would happen, because we know that it won’t happen. Someone said to me, “Oh, it’s because there’s kids watching and blah blah blah” Bitch, there were kids watching back then too, and I was one of them. Not to mention, like I said before, there are series that are popular today that literally still do those things. Why is the series that pretty much made these tropes popular, playing it safe? The fights use to feel well-choreographed, and the impact frames, speed lines, and sound effects use to add more weight to the punches and the movement. Back when they powered up, you could feel the pressure and intensity. Waves would flow, smoke would fester, rocks would slowly levitate before popping, and you saw the heat radiating before the muscles started to bulge and clench (Pause). Then, there was an explosion of power and anticipation, coupled with a cool ass pose and the smoke would clear. It was cinematic as fuck. Then, the theme music would be playing in the background at just the right time to capture what we all wanted to happen. Remember that? Or, maybe you forgot because we’ve been taking it up the ass as Dragon Ball fans for so long now. Point being, there was a lot more quality that went into expressing those things to the viewers.
Now, naturally, there’s been a lot of rinse and repeat, recycled things that happened for the sake of them stretching scenes and prolonging it, we can’t negate that fact. It was repetitive as hell for a lot of it, but for the moments where it wasn’t? Absolutely beautiful. The art also wasn’t always the best back then as we like to think, due to our nostalgic lenses. Even so, it was still a better look than what we have now. Remember what Dragon Ball Super looked like when it came out? It was worse than fan-made animations. I don’t really like the art in Dragon Ball recently as a whole. The characters look too soft compared to their prime days. The eyes aren’t as sharp, the expressions aren’t as keen, the way their bodies are drawn looks less detailed. You get the point. I noticed it the most when Vegeta was doing his Final Explosion during the Tournament of Power, then they cut to a flashback scene of when he originally did it to Majin Buu. I was just sitting there like “Now… how the fuck are you gonna’ show me that scene as if it even looks the same, and then give me a discounted version of it?” The problem with the more recent iterations of Dragon Ball is that it’s not even that they lost the plot, it’s that they’ve leaned too heavily into it. Before I even get into what I mean by that, I’ll have to give some credit for a moment. Dragon Ball Super: Broly is an amazing film. That movie was probably the most peak Dragon Ball related thing we’ve ever had in terms of how the art looked and how the fights looked, aside from some moments in Daima. The original Broly films were great, and better in their own ways even, but no where near as carefully crafted and enjoyable as the newer Broly film. So, let’s just get that out the way right now. Now, what I meant by them leaning into the plot too much is that everything has become a cesspool of power. Power. Power. Power. Even when it makes no damn sense for power to be there. Then, the scale of the power is consistently inconsistent, and the only thing justifying it are the incels online who have to make up all these excuses or baseless reasoning for why its there. Even back when Akira Toriyama was here to explain things, he always made it seem like he himself didn’t actually know where these characters were ranked. Every time some new form or character was revealed, they were the strongest. Once Beerus and Whis were introduced, there was a ceiling that was created. Meaning, it doesn’t matter how strong the other characters have gotten, because we all know that they are still weaker than someone in their series. For a while, I kept seeing people say things about other anime characters like “Can he beat Goku tho?” Goku can’t even beat everyone in his own anime, so that’s not an argument. It use to be, back when we thought it was all said and done.
Dragon Ball characters just remind me of the power rangers now. There’s a color for every type of transformation, and now we all pretty much expect it. I mean think about it, there’s a gold, red, blue, and pink in terms of super saiyan. Then there’s Ultra Instinct Goku that’s basically white, Ultra Ego Vegeta that’s purple, Legendary Super Saiyan Broly that’s green, Orange Piccolo, Beast Gohan that’s silver, and Black Frieza. It’s like wow, it all just looks like pop-art now. Now that I’ve listed these characters and forms, that leads me to my next point within them losing the plot. That being, it makes no fucking sense. Let’s go down the list shall we? So, first of all, Ultra Instinct Goku seems to be a form that’s constantly expanding as Goku gets stronger, like its supposed to be his peak form now. At least until he somehow figures out how to use it combined with Kaioken and Super Saiyan God since it’s classified as a technique more than a transformation. Which once again, bullshit. They’re all “techniques” if we’re being honest. Goku’s is the most justified on the list given he has main character plot armor and the form seemed to arrive at a dire moment in a life or death tournament. That still doesn’t change that it was just an obvious buff they wanted to give him just because. I mean shit, the universe 6 saiyans were getting back tingles to turn super saiyan. It triggers me every time I see it. Really? Some fucking back tingles? After everything our characters have been through?
Anyway, let’s continue. Ultra Ego Vegeta is literally the worst one of them all. I hate to say that because Vegeta is my favorite character. They literally gave him a form that acknowledges that he always gets his ass kicked and then turned it into something that still makes no sense. How many times have we seen that trope of “The enemy gets stronger when you attack them!” and then they all have the same exact weakness. “We just have to wear them out enough or give them so much power that they explode!” Literally, they want Vegeta to be a punching bag. It’s like they completely circled back with his character. The man left to Planet Yadrat to learn spirit control, and that seemed like something that would unlock a form for him that was relative. But no, none of that. Let’s just make him purple and regress his character so that he can have something that seems to directly oppose Goku’s form. Oh, and take his eyebrows, because why not?
Next character, Legendary Super Saiyan Broly. The OG Beserker, right? Wrong. First of all, Broly use to be a damn menace. He compared himself to the Devil in the older films, and quite literally didn’t give a fuck about anything. He decimated an entire planet right in front of the people who were from there. I find it ironic that the old Broly didn’t speak any sense in his base form, but then spoke in his legendary form just fine. However, the newer Broly speaks in his base form, but not his legendary form. Even though it’s less intimidating than it use to be, especially considering that we already saw Berserk Kale before we got that iteration of Broly. Now they have it where he’s trying to control this form, gain sense, and fight like the rest of the saiyans. Which is both cool, but also pretty annoying? I like the identity of Broly being The Hulk, like just having enough sense to know who not to attack, but then raging on everything else. Every time they “master and control” their rage, the power is significantly less than when they were just angry. I think that could’ve been his edge, but that’s just me.
Moving on, we have Orange Piccolo. Okay, maybe Vegeta’s form isn’t the most bullshit we’ve seen, maybe it’s Piccolo. Plain and simple, he made a wish to Shenron. Shenron was like “Aye, don’t worry about a thing big homie, Imma give you a little extra to go with it.” And this man turned orange and bulky. Honestly they could’ve made a better form for Piccolo than that, but it’s not bad either. It’s just the premise. These power hand-outs. Sure, we got other cases in the series where they “unlocked their potential”, but not in this way. Using the dragon balls is just a cheat sheet now to greatness. Even Granolah made a wish to get stronger, but given that he was considered a villain at that time, I think it was more justified than a character we know and love, and can tell is capable of reaching power through training on his own. However, I do understand that they haven’t given enough attention to Piccolo to justify giving him a new form that quickly without some kind of life hack. But how is that our fault? Maybe if they spent more time on the other characters in the way they use to, we could get that kind of development naturally.
Our next character is Beast Gohan. I had to take a deep breath before I wanted to type this part up. This one probably, actually is, the most bullshit. Gohan, without any training, preparation, or true justification, leaped to a form that’s considered the strongest. At least in terms of the saiyans in the series. People keep trying to justify this form by saying “He thought Piccolo was going to die, it was a highly triggering situation.” Or, “Gohan has always had more potential than anyone else.” Or, “Gohan was always meant to be the strongest, and now that’s happening. He’s a Half-Saiyan!” Please, disrespectfully, shut the fuck up. Now listen, Gohan hadn’t had a lick of training to justify getting stronger than Goku and Vegeta. Especially when you consider that they’ve been training with Gods. We actually see the kind of work that Goku and Vegeta put in to get their forms, a bit of the reasoning. None of this happens with Gohan. He just skips the line entirely. The level of power he reached, even if it was through anger, shouldn’t have been on that scale from where his power currently was, especially without training. Gohan couldn’t even wear his old cloak without stumbling at the beginning of the film, and by the end he’s the strongest? That writing is garbage. Even back when Gohan had moments of transformation they were more justified at least. He turned SSJ2 because it was already something foreshadowed through his training with Goku. Goku knew that Gohan was ready to break the limit and saw it himself in the Time Chamber, and that his fight with Cell would reflect that, he just didn’t know how or when. So, when he finally snapped and transformed, it made sense why. When Gohan got his Ultimate/Mystic form, he was training in the Land of The Kais, using the Z-sword before shattering it, revealing The Elder Kai who then unlocked his potential through an old ritual. Even so, he earned that himself and was proven worthy. But Beast Gohan? Stupid as fuck. The form is amazing, I’m so glad that Gohan has it and it fits him perfectly, but the way that it happened is akin to eating a bowl of shit. But honestly? Even the fact that they made the form look like SSJ2 is exactly how we know that Gohan hasn’t peaked in a while, in that way. The whole damn movie near the end is just a rehash of older stuff that did it much better, with basically the same exact villain. Go figure. And no, don’t give me that bullshit about it happening through his rage of Piccolo’s supposed death. Where the fuck was this form during the Tournament of Power? You know, the battle where their entire reality was about to be wiped out if they didn’t win? Is that not anger inducing enough for Gohan? Literally all of his friends and families ceasing to exist at once? Like come on, man.
And last but not least, Black Frieza. So, Freiza left for 4 months, and turned gold. Now, he left for 10 years, and turned black? He found a room of spirit and time on another world, so he claims. Now, it doesn’t matter that we don’t know what that world is, or where it is because I don’t expect them to even explain that much, let alone through Frieza telling it. And sure, we can say that the universe is full of many things in Dragon Ball, so it isn’t far-fetched to think that Frieza found this room. My thing is, couldn’t they just have made something more original? I mean, he has the exact same form and look as his last two previous forms. They could’ve done literally anything else. Like maybe add the transformation that Cooler had with the mask, bulky build, and thicker tail (Pause). Like they didn’t even try with it is what gets me the most. Frieza use to have 4 different forms, and that use to be a fun thing to see. I just want to see a change in physique for Frieza if he supposedly trained for ten years straight. Even Piccolo had a change in appearance for his form, so why not Frieza? Although, I speculate that Black Frieza isn’t even his final form (Laugh if you get it). Then his power-scale once again makes no sense. I’ve seen things saying he’s around the same tier as God of Destructions. Excuse me? Wasn’t Toppo in the same tier? Wasn’t Jiren in the same tier or above? Didn’t they all stand up when Goku “mastered” Ultra Instinct? The shit is just imbalanced no matter how you look at it. And the fans just eat it up like slop. In addition to all this, Goten and Trunks are now relevant again? I mean, that’s something. If only we got to see them during literally any other time in the story so far when it mattered. Not having Gotenks in the Tournament of Power was just a criminal act.
Then, there’s Dragon Ball Daima, a short adventure with a relatively decent plot and some fan-service. I’ll be honest, Daima looks leagues better than Dragon Ball Super. Like if they decide to bring Super back, which I hear they are, it’ll have to have a shift in quality. Too many shows look better than Dragon Ball despite Dragon Ball having all the money in the world compared to them. Daima looks good, but it still pisses me off because it seems like just a place where they can both give fan-service and throw away ideas at the same time. Think about it, we finally got SSJ3 Vegeta, and it was a cool moment, but now because of that, they’ll likely never have a moment again where he would ever need to use that form. And apparently Daima takes places before Battle of Gods, Beerus’ arrival. They’re telling me this is all canon. Which also makes no sense because if that were the case, why didn’t Vegeta go SSJ3 against Beerus? Goku even says that Vegeta was stronger than him in his SSJ3 form when Bulma was slapped. Then the whole fandom was like “Oh, Vegeta’s SSJ2 can excel limits and is capable of getting to heights like SSJ3 without actually making the transformation.” Where the fuck did you get that idea from? We all watched the same movie, or read the same story. Stop justifying the fact that it’s just bad writing. And people have to get over this “Well, SSJ3 uses too much power, that’s why they never use it.” Are you people slow? It’s obvious that they’re using that as a crutch because they don’t want to have to draw and animate that transformation every time. Logically it makes more sense that Goku and Vegeta could control SSJ3 by now with where they currently are in the series. They should be able to transform and conserve energy with that form by now, and obviously they could, if it were written that way. But no, let’s not draw it if we don’t have to, and let’s be lazy with the regular art as well. SS4 Goku is apparently canon now, in the worst way possible, and it doesn’t justify why him nor Vegeta couldn’t use their forms during the time of Dragon Ball Super. Unless they do some strange memory-wipe shit, or say that there was a lock on those powers, then we have no reasoning. And even still, that makes it sound like bullshit, because it is. It gives them a reason to not show us those forms again and still make them relevant. And as a side note to that, I still prefer the original SSJ4, because it looked darker and more intimidating. It looked like a true saiyan form, and the art style was much better before, because SSJ4 doesn’t look good with the proportions that they currently use in Dragon Ball.
I’ve rambled on and on about this enough, with different aspects as to why Dragon Ball currently sucks, all things considered. Am I still going to watch it? Of course I am, because I’m a hypocrite and a fan of the series. It doesn’t change the fact that I can see the inherent flaws and annoyances. Honestly? I’m just waiting for it all to end. At this point, I just want them to wrap up the series and leave it alone. Akira Toriyama is gone now, rest his soul, but even he really didn’t want to continue with Dragon Ball for so long. I know there’s Toyotarou, who has been deemed as the successor and what not, I get that. But really, I don’t think I care to see the torch being passed to someone else. I think I can respect if he manages to reach a conclusion with the story, and then gets out of there. Naturally they’ll always try to milk Dragon Ball, but true fans have to let it end. Good things have to end, that’s how we value that it’s good. So much is happening with the series now that it’s more exhausting than anything, unless you turn your brain off and just take the disrespect like a champ. It’s annoying hearing the community say “Just be happy, just be happy and enjoy it.” No, go burn alive. Because normally that’s what we do, but today we speak up about it. It’s a healing journey. I continue to follow the series, but in my mind, Dragon Ball Z was just the end. The rest is just because. In which case, who knows if the ending of Dragon Ball Super will even tie in to Dragon Ball Z in the end? Goku’s Gi at the end of Z kind of resembles the colors of the angels outfit, right? Maybe something will happen with that? Whis is the final teacher kind of thing? Alright, I’ll stop coping now. That’s all I have to say about it.
Leave a Reply