Dragon Ball Super - Why It's Not Perfect

Written by Shiggins

Another Why It's Not Perfect, because Why Not?

I've been busy for the past few weeks, but let's try and forget about my small hiatus there and move on to a new article. I have already written about Dragon Ball in another WINP article, (click here to read it), but Dragon Ball Super is so special and so strange that it deserves its own look. And enough time has passed for us to properly look back, check out the amazing dub, and get a good grasp on the ups and downs of the second-best section of the Dragon Ball franchise. So here are some of the biggest downs, because writing about ups isn't as fun!

Here's a problem; I NEED MORE!

Magetta Five... Is Alive!

I have a burning love for Auta Magetta, the robot-like Metalman who is one of the five strongest fighters in Universe 6. His design is endearing, his personality (while thin) is adorable, and his fight with Vegeta is one of the show's best. In the subbed version, he is voiced by Naoki Tatsuta, who also voices Oolong, and only says "choo-po", which is a combination of Japanese syllables. It's strange, but that's how Dragon Ball has always worked.

How can Vegeta be so mean to him?!

In the dubbed version however, and very rarely do I ever want to criticise this dub, Magetta appears to have no voice actor. Instead, it seems that he is given a text-to-speech program to handle his dialogue. So in a very robotic voice, he goes "clankity clankity" and "chugga chugga chugga". On paper, that sounds a lot of fun but it surprisingly doesn't fit.

Keep in mind that I said Magetta was robot-like. He's not a robot. He is alive, and emotional, and funny, but removing a voice actor takes away some of the charm. It isn't grating, but it is awkward. A scene when Magetta is crying comes across as silly, but not the type of silly that the subbed voice actor gave us. This is not a deal breaker, by any means, but wouldn't Magetta have benefited with a voice that fits his build? Something over-the-top, deep and funny?


Been There, Watched That

Raise your hand if you were worried about the future of Dragon Ball Super when it started with a remake of Battle of Gods and then went into Resurrection F? Well, you were not alone. To this day, I am still not entirely sure why we needed to waste time and budget on the opening seasons that walked the same path we had seen in the films that allowed this series to be made.

It's like a US remake of a UK sitcom. Not as funny, poorly made and rushed out as quickly as possible. (The Office is an exception)

To be fair, the Resurrection F arc does have a few reasons to watch it, even if you have already seen the film. The return of Captain Ginyu is hilarious and a great way to wrap up the character from the Z days, and it's always great to hear more of Chris Ayres' fabulous portrayal of Frieza that even surpasses LittleKuriboh's! Frieza himself gets to show off some more evil deeds as well, like torturing Tagoma during training sessions and killing off a major character.

But we've all been here before. We know how these arcs go because we saw the films, and neither of them needed that much expanding, especially not Battle of Gods. The two arcs were just inferior as well, not containing the same level of animation and music that won us over the first time, causing these seasons to be lesser copies in general. Thankfully, Universe 6 came along to bring us what we wanted to see.


Go Go Gogeta

I'm sharing this complaint with the fandom as well, because they wouldn't shut up about it either! Every time a new arc appeared, the fans of Dragon Ball would scream "Get out Gogeta! Do the Fusion Dance! He'll totally win!". What we eventually got was the far superior Vegito, brief but blue, and he had an amazing fight against an adversary, but the fans still cried out for Gogeta.

There. Gogeta to defeat Broly. Can stop his fandom power, right?

Basically, I wish Dragon Ball Super had caved in to fan demand and brought us Gogeta in some scene. Any fight during the Tournament of Power would have been enough, I hope. Gogeta is, let's be honest, bland and beautiful so it could have been interesting to see what Super would have done for him. Would he be as cocky as Vegito, if not more so? Or would he be lusting for battle to a psychotic degree? The possibilities were there, but the show never delivered on him.

Personally, I prefer Vegito anyway. I just put this one here because the fans wanted it.


Episode 5

I think the true moment we all got scared for Dragon Ball Super's future was when episode 5 aired. This is when Goku takes on Beerus for the first ever time, being defeated in his most powerful form and not even able to touch Beerus' might. It's a brutal asskicking, not even worthy of being called a fight, and Goku comes out looking like a chump while Beerus is a champ. In the movie, at least.

It's as bad as some of Naruto Shippuden's infamous fights.

In the series however, we got a fight that was nearly double the length but half the fun. It was longer, slower and boring. Worst of all however was the animation, as Goku was constantly off-model. Every second shot, we'd see Goku's grotesque clone Gothud smash about clumsily. As you all know, the animation eventually picked itself back up and the fights in the Tournament of Power surpassed almost all other current Shonen anime out there, but there was a time when we were scared Super was going to be the story of Gothud, not Goku.


Damn it, Gohan!

I've talked about Gohan's involvement in Super before, but to sum up; This character is depressing!

There was a time, most notably during the Android Saga, that Gohan was the most popular and likeable character. His development from terrified child into a fierce Super Saiyan 2 warrior is one of the most famous character changes in anime history, and his... divisive change to the Great Saiyaman was memorable too. At least, it was memorably cringeworthy.

This bland happiness sickens me.

On the other hand, Dragon Ball Super seems to begin starting a return for Gohan but then removes it later on for Goku to win the victory. Every. Single. Time. The Resurrection F arc had Gohan nearly die from torture. And then the Tournament of Power spent so much time building Gohan up, getting him back to strength, but it never delivered to a level that was worthy of what Gohan once was.

Wouldn't it have been amazing if Gohan fought Kefla (like in the manga), or even been the one to reach Ultra Instinct? Couldn't there have been something for Gohan to achieve, to win? His fight with Dyspo was fun, but it doesn't feel worthy of the build-up that this character got beforehand. I'll just be honest and say it... I preferred when Gohan was stronger than Goku!


Goku "Saved" the Universes

I'm 100% convinced that this was a last-minute change.

It just boggles my mind how such a cool, dark idea was abandoned and excused, as if we couldn't handle a more complex theme or lesson that Son Goku had to learn. All of the episodes before this "twist" showed how wrong Goku was, how stupid Goku was, and how selfish Goku was. It's obvious that the writers realised they might be making Goku unlikable and went "Oh shit! Better make up an excuse!"

If you don't remember what I'm talking about, allow me to refresh your mind. Basically, Goku had befriended Zeno, the king of all universes, but Beerus and Whis are concerned that Goku is acting too naive around him and could spell disaster for the universe if he doesn't take a chill pill, even to the point where Beerus threatens to destroy him for his actions. Of course, Goku didn't listen and asked Zeno for a fighting tournament with the other universes, but this has repercussions as it turns out that Zeno wants to raise the stakes by having every universe that fails literally wiped out of existence. If Goku had listened and had not desired to fight so much, this wouldn't have happened.

....He's not wrong!

Until it turns out that Goku saved the universes. Yep. In a plot contrivance so unnecessary it's actually damaging to the arc, it's revealed that Zeno was always planning to wipe out the universes and this tournament has given everyone a chance for survival. If Goku hadn't suggested this, they'd all have died. So Beerus' warnings, Zeno's shocking decision, the strange foreshadowing surrounding the Grand Minister. the way Bergamo provoked the crowd to display their anger for Goku's arrogance causing this... All of it was wrong in the end. Goku was right.

Even bringing in Frieza, arguably the most evil being of the entire universe, into this for his own goal of victory could have been seen as a horrible decision by Goku and more evidence of his obsession with fighting, no matter who gets hurt along the way. But it isn't.

I absolutely adored the Tournament of Power, but there's an alternate universe out there where Dragon Ball Super didn't make the decision to backtrack and the Tournament of Power was even better!


Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments below!

Dragon Ball 6, anyone?

Shiggins:[Admin]
  .

Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,. You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/