Sometimes a show comes upon a great idea for an arc, but
great ideas are just that: ideas. It takes smart, creative people putting in a
lot of work to make a good idea into a good product, and even then it doesn’t
always work out. Dragon Ball Super has had a number of good ideas but only a
few of them were truly as good as they should have been.
The Universe Survival arc of Super has begun, and it brings
with it a lot of potential. The possibilities for this arc seem endless, and while
I wrote harshly about the latest episode, it did have some good character
development and prepped the series to enter a new arc. Fans--including myself are getting pretty
hyped, and why shouldn’t we? The last tournament was a fan favorite and one of the
better Super arcs. Tournament arc have always been one of Dragon Ball’s strong
points going back to the original manga.
One of my greatest regrets about the Buu Arc is that the Tenka Ichi
Budokai was cut short. Toei has done quite a lot to promote the hype-- releasing
intriguing artwork and videos to generate it, and they have succeeded. But when
hype isn’t delivered on you get a lot of pissed off fans, which is never good
for a property.
As a fan there is every reason not to get too hyped about
this latest arc. Dragon Ball Super –and I do love it- suffers from some pretty
serious flaws. Toei has delivered subpar animation for most of the production.
In terms of writing the secondary characters like Gohan and Piccolo have been
left in the dust with Goku and Vegeta getting almost all the winning fights and
character development. While the latest filler and some of the promo material
suggests that they might be trying to rectify this, there have been hints of
that in the past too with little delivered. The one exception you might say is
Mirai Trunks who was at least able to shine in his own arc. While the final
battle featuring Trunks was a bit of an asspull, it was incredibly satisfying
to see someone other than Goku save the day.
Dragon Ball Super needs heroes other than Goku and Vegeta.
We don’t want to see Piccolo, Gohan and Kuririn as helpless characters in need
of rescue, we want to see them fighting alongside Goku for the same goal. The
filler spent a lot of time building Gohan and Kuririn up. To let the drift back
into their tired old roles now would be a great disservice to their characters.
Goku and Vegeta have become much stronger than they were in the Buu saga, when
only Gohan could keep up with them. It would be great o the other charters
could also grow in strength, but this is a tournament so there are other ways
to make them relevant. They could be given matches they have to win for
personal or larger reasons. By giving the secondary characters relevant story
lines the writers can satisfy longtime fans and break the monotony of the
conclusive fight featuring Goku that we all know is coming.
While developing the secondary characters would strengthen
the series there are reasons this might not happen. Toriyama, who still has a
good deal of control over the series, might not want to go in that direction.
More sinisterly, All those fights might eat away at the very limited budget
Super seems to be operating on. Another concern is that the time those battles
would take would upset the schedule Toei is operating on. A big arc can last a while
and if it goes on for too long people get bored. Giving lots of big fights to
minor characters poses the risk of dragging things on for too long. At this
point in the series however I think it’s well worth the risk. We know there
will be a big fight with Goku, and if all we get is fifteen episodes building
up to that the arc will get old fast. How great would it be instead to have
Kuririn take on someone with super sayian like strength and win through great
technique and tactics? Some standout fights would solve a lot of the problems
this series has with its writing.
Dragon Ball Super has been a mixed bag: It’s given us
amazing content one week only to drop the ball the next. It’s an international
hit, and if Toei gives us some good writing here it can ensure the series will
have a lasting legacy unlike the much reviled Dragon Ball GT. But to do that
Super has to take some chances, give us some well animated fights and reach
beyond Goku and Vegeta to the extended cast. Hopes are high and so are the
perils of failure. The series has let me down before, but as a longtime fan I
can’t help but fall for the hype. But great projects take great writing and
great animators don’t question Dragon Ball; hope the people working on Super do
it justice.
-Gedaemon
No comments:
Post a Comment