Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Discussion specifically regarding the "Dragon Ball Super" TV series premiering July 2015 in Japan, including individual threads for each episode.

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Lord Beerus
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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by Lord Beerus » Sun Aug 20, 2017 7:45 am

I care about all of Universe 7 (for obvious reasons), a good chunk of Universe 6, a decent chunk of Universe 11, a small fraction of Universe 9 and Universe 10 by proxy (Gowasu).

It's a doubled edged sword with the kind of setting the Tournament Of Power has. Some characters work better when they don't have a build up as it can create mystique and intrigue going into the main event. But at the same token, you do need to, on some substantial and tangible degree, get invested into at least some of the participants taking part in the tournament. Of course, developing 80 characters, to the point where you're truly invested in their survival and have some kind of emotive reaction to their demise, is almost down right impossible without taking a incredible amount of downtime before the tournament happens.

You also need to remember that Dragon Ball has historically treated death and non-existence with little to no levity, and even in-universe death is treated as more of an inconvenience. Given the fact that, somehow or someway, they always manage to bring back all those who have been killed back to life. Only a select few in Dragon Ball, who have had a substantial amount of screen-time in the show, have died and stayed dead.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by MozillaVulpix » Sun Aug 20, 2017 7:54 am

In this situation, I look at our protagonists to make us understand what we should be caring about. Goku kind of cares, but is more excited to fight the strong guys. Gohan cares, but knows the situation means he can't let it get to him. Everyone else, we haven't really seen what they feel.
I could have gotten into anything...and yet I chose the story aimed at young Japanese boys about martial arts, and later about super-powerful aliens punching each other really hard.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by Nickolaidas » Sun Aug 20, 2017 8:06 am

I simply don't believe that the universes will actually perish. I still believe that (at some point) there's going to be some 'Marvel Comics cosmic cube' crap where possibly Goku will press a Reset Button (Super Dragon Balls) and will either merge all the universes into one (have all the habitable planets appear in a single universe) or simply ask the Dragon to return the universes as they were. It will be interesting to see Zen-Oh's reaction to such a thing though. If the purpose of the Tournament was to decide which Universe gets to live, what would such a wish mean? Why shouldn't Zen-Oh go all 'lol-NO!' and re-erase all the universes and make Goku look like an idiot?

I still cannot see what is going to happen with the Angels though. As well as Frieza. What's Toei's angle? Is Frieza supposed to be Vegeta 2.0 with a weird redemption arc? Is he going to kill Beerus and become the next (and only if all universes merge) God of Destruction, forcing Goku into one last final God Match? I must admit, the possibilities are many, and have my interest piqued.
MozillaVulpix wrote:Everyone else, we haven't really seen what they feel.
Everyone is fighting to protect their loved ones and their memories.

Krillin fights for 18 and Marron.
18 fights for Krillin, 17 and Marron.
Tien fights for Chiaotzu, Roshi and his school.
Roshi is fighting for his pupils and his friends.
17 is fighting for his new and old family.
Vegeta fights for Bulma, Trunks and Bra. Actually that's bulshit, he fights in order to beat strong opponents.
Goku fights for Gohan, Goten and Chichi. Actually that's bullshit, he fights in order to beat strong opponents.
Gohan fights for Videl, Pan and Piccolo.
Piccolo fights for Gohan.
Frieza fights for Frieza.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by Lionel » Sun Aug 20, 2017 9:24 am

I felt a tinge of sadness for Obuni when he was eliminated and promptly erased alongside the rest of Universe 10. Their sullen downturned expressions of resignations did strike a cord in me personally. I can't really say the same for most of Universe 9. Most of them proved to be a cocksure bunch with little to no redeeming qualities about them that would compel me to feel any compassion for them. It's likewise for most of the other universes. The Pride Troopers' camaraderie has made me warm up to them some, even if their overt diatribes about justice vanquishing "evil" were becoming a bit tiresome up until Toppo's realist epiphany this episode. Most everyone else are too wooden and caricature-like for us to really build a strong emotional attachment to. I like Majora for his aesthetics, but that doesn't mean I'm going to fret over his inevitable demise. Truth be told, I don't even care for some of Universe 6. I would sooner grieve for Magetta than Caulifla and Kale.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by Totamo » Sun Aug 20, 2017 12:30 pm

The thing is are we supposed to? I don't know what many of you were expecting. I know super and I know what it will give me and what it won't. Do you guys not.

Lets be real, we all know death means nothing in this series and they will all be wished back by the super dragon balls so why should we care?

Its a tournament, they are there to beat the crap out of each other for the enjoyment of 2 toddlers for no reason other than because they are bored.


With a premise like that, it wasn't in the characters, but what every character brought to the table in terms of fighting abilities. So far every character has been shown to have something different.

If you were expecting backstories, tense moments, tears of sorrow and anger, backstabbing and a bunch of other crap. Did any of super give you any reason to expect that here?


This isn't the first arc people, its the 5th. All I can say is what were you expecting and why would you think they would do it.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by Spider-Man » Sun Aug 20, 2017 3:02 pm

Even if I find Caulifla a fun character why should I care for her,She didn't even care when the universe is in danger,she also was playing with goku through she denied Goku handshake when he was acting friendly.Same case with Brianne she is a fun character but the show never give me reason to root for her also the trio de danger despite they actually care for the universe,they were grossly under utilized making their Erasure anticlimactic, they had potential to be interesting but the writers threw them off the windows way too early.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by fadeddreams5 » Sun Aug 20, 2017 3:25 pm

Some people are missing the point. Yes, we watch the show mainly to see the progress of universe 7, but if the writing was any good, we'd care about the other universes to. I'm sure everyone here is interested in universe 6 and their characters. Why? Because we feel we know them, given their screen time and development. This is not something that should be exclusive to only one other universe.

I'm legitimately surprised the majority of the pride troopers have been dropped out like fodder. Even that Dyspo guy was portrayed as an obnoxious antagonist when he fought Hit. We should have equally cared for both, given Dyspo is like the third most important pride trooper, but they made him so cocky and arrogant like the wolf guys. >_>;
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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by precita » Sun Aug 20, 2017 5:45 pm

We're not supposed to care about the other universes from a fan perspective. We were never supposed to know about 70 other fighters.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by GigaDrill » Sun Aug 20, 2017 6:06 pm

Was anyone supposed to care about the characters getting erased?

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by perucho1990 » Sun Aug 20, 2017 6:15 pm

Saikyo no Senshi wrote:Pretty much as you said. I don't care for any of these characters cause the show doesn't give me a reason to care for them. Most characters aren't even characters to begin with which was to be expected, but then I don't know why the staff went the ambitious route when they know the limitations of a TV production. That too, DBS which took quite a bit of time to even become a "normal" TV production. The abysmal setting is proof that this wasn't a good idea.

The tone of the arc is such a failure. Gokuu is the biggest problem. I still have some hope that things will get more serious and clear cut as it approaches the climax, but yeah so far I'm not the least bit invested in what's going on. It is just boring.
If Kishimoto was workin with Toei instead of Toriyama, things wouldve gotten better, Take Boruto and how they handled Sumire(the plot-twist that involved her was well done), and how Pierrot has handled Borutos classmates overall.

Toriyama isnt known for developing secondary characters and below...

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by Doctor. » Sun Aug 20, 2017 6:29 pm

precita wrote:We're not supposed to care about the other universes from a fan perspective. We were never supposed to know about 70 other fighters.
So you don't care about U6? You're supposed to care about U6. And if you're supposed to care about U6, you're supposed to care about everyone else.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by Kanassa » Sun Aug 20, 2017 6:32 pm

I care plenty about the other Universes, plenty of their characters have been pretty entertaining and make me sad at the chance of never seeing them again. I want to see guys like Toppo, Dyspo (Really, most of the Pride Troopers aside from Jiren), Brianne and the rest of the Fireballs, the Trio, Obuni and Universe 6 again. They've had small screen time, but they've had a good enough impact. Hell, I want them to survive more than most of Universe 7. I just hope that the ones already erased have some sor tof way of coming back...
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by irreality » Sun Aug 20, 2017 8:51 pm

I care: I care about a lot of universe 6 characters. I like that there are finally different, interesting saiyans, maybe even a saiyan society which we may not get to see. I love Hit. I don't care about the individual characters in other universes, but it is a question of story diversity. The universe seems so rich and interesting with all these different universes. It seems like a great loss to see a taste of them and have them be gone forever. The more the tournament advances, the less I want the universes killed off. I am pretty certain universe 7 will win, if not universe 6 and maybe the strike a deal to save their sister universe or use the Super DBs.

That said, I keep thinking, can they somehow save the other universes? via a wish? via a deal? Can zeno only destroy, not create?

I care in a existential sense, i want the multiverse to remain rich, not get poorer. Not necessarily about any one character.

Maybe we'll get some sort of hunger games deal, where universes refuse to keep fighting. I hope so.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by TheMikado » Sun Aug 20, 2017 9:19 pm

I think they initially were supposed to be characters that we cared about dying. But I think the backlash over Goku being presented as a bad guy may have made the direction a bit more gun shy in later episodes.

This is where I think the manga will shine, we already had an emotional near death for Gozawa in the Trunks arc. It was heart wrenching. I feel like we will see the same display play out when his universe is destroyed and it will be more meaningful because we literally just watched him almost die. We will see but I do think we as the audience are meant to care. Otherwise why would they have the long universe Destruction sequence? I think they are failing at the tension though.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by Beerus-sama » Sun Aug 20, 2017 9:57 pm

The characters that had a good design for me are already gone :cry: ... Atleast Majora had a decent fight with Krillin.

I cared about Gowasu. It was sad seeing Cus' reaction to their erasure.
I would have liked to see Beerus reaction to U10 and Gowasu being erased though....

I care about Shampa and Beerus and some of their team members.

The rest of the participants and Universes, not really.

Though, its sad when a universe get erased, because all the possibilities of getting to know that universe and its characters more are gone.
We were told about other universes just for watching how they get erased instead of exploring them a bit. :(
Sleeping until the tournament is over.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by dbzfan7 » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:07 am

Doctor. wrote:The fact that most of them are being portrayed as cocky assholes doesn't help. At best, we can feel a bit of pity, like with Obuni. The exceptions being half of U6's team, since an arc and some filler episodes were dedicated to them, and Gowasu, a character we actually had the time to get attached to last arc. Maybe the Trio de Dangers, along with Rou and Sidra, because of the recruitment arc, but then again, they were cocky assholes, so why should we care?

There's no tension because there's no emotional investment in any of these characters. This is genocide we're talking about, how can a series fail so badly at making us feel bad about something like that?
I hate so much how it's the same fucking song and dance most of the time. Just our U7 vs some other cocky asshole. It's so boring and interchangeable, who gives a shit? It makes everyone as grey as Jiren is.
Why Dragon Ball Consistency in something such as power levels matter!

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by Zagacious » Mon Aug 21, 2017 2:46 am

No, they gave us no reason to care about a majority of the characters. Almost any character that introduced for the first time in the ToP has been fodder, I don't know if that was intentional or just to make U7 look good, but it diminishes the 'mysterious fighters from other universes' vibe that was in the beginning, since no one yet has had any sort of power to even come close to Android 17... I at least expected some people to be on Android 17, Buu, or Gohan's Level, but it seems no one is relevant except U7, U6, Toppo and Jiren. The Trio De Dangers had the potential to last into late tournament, but they were wasted by placing them immediately against two of the strongest fighters in the tournament. That really disappoints me because they were at least using teamwork, and they were by far more interesting than any other new characters we've been shown.

So I guess I do care about the Trio De Dangers coming back,and maybe the girl who had the energy shield/containment ability was pretty interesting, but other than that no one's really been given a suitable amount of screen time or feats to be cared about. Come to think of it, the other flower girls were using teamwork somewhat, but it's hard to notice because they made them all incredibly weak to show off how badass Android 17 is :? as if U7 didn't already have enough power..

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by SsjCookie » Mon Aug 21, 2017 3:11 am

What i find so vexing is that U7 was supposed to be the second weakest universe of the whole tournament.
I was expecting some seriously badass characters from the other universes....but......Mr Robotnik?.....a Teletubby? A Rosswell alien on steroids?!
Such a shame, I find myself wishing they followed the DB Multiverse comic instead, soooo much better.

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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by Boo Machine » Mon Aug 21, 2017 3:14 am

SsjCookie wrote:What i find so vexing is that U7 was supposed to be the second weakest universe of the whole tournament.
I was expecting some seriously badass characters from the other universes....but......Mr Robotnik?.....a Teletubby? A Rosswell alien on steroids?!
Such a shame, I find myself wishing they followed the DB Multiverse comic instead, soooo much better.
To be fair, they never said second weakest. They just said second lowest ranking. They never specifically stated the ranking went by power levels.
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Re: Does anyone actually care about the characters getting erased?

Post by SsjCookie » Mon Aug 21, 2017 3:21 am

Boo Machine wrote:
SsjCookie wrote:What i find so vexing is that U7 was supposed to be the second weakest universe of the whole tournament.
I was expecting some seriously badass characters from the other universes....but......Mr Robotnik?.....a Teletubby? A Rosswell alien on steroids?!
Such a shame, I find myself wishing they followed the DB Multiverse comic instead, soooo much better.
To be fair, they never said second weakest. They just said second lowest ranking. They never specifically stated the ranking went by power levels.
Isn't that technically the same?
Or maybe earth is just the only powerhouse in the U7 universe since every fighter (except Frieza, Vegeta and I suppose Goku) comes from earth.
As far as we know the fighters from the other universes all come from different planets.

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