Why a next generation series should be a PRIORITY

[sangofe]

DB's current popularity is higher than it was when its manga was in publication so that should tell you something about Goku's power to bring in viewers.

I don't think that dragon ball will continue as a series... but if ir happens... having the next generation should be inevitable at some point.

Why should it when Goku is making them millions of $$$ ?

Say what you will, but there is no DB without Goku. He'll never be a sidecharacter.

Goku being dead, comatose, or otherwise out the action for most of Z says otherwise.

He was still the focus of everything.

I don't believe for a second that Dragon Ball is more popular now than it was when the manga was ongoing at its strongest. Until you prove me differently, I'm gonna say you're just pulling words out of thin air here.

[Michsi]

Both Batman and Superman had a few sidekicks at most. Dragon Ball, ever since Z, was pretty much an ensemble cast story, even if with a clear lead. Big difference. And actually, Batman who did have a few occasional sidekicks, had a succesful 'next gen' story in Batman Beyond. So yeah.

Batman Beyond existed alongside of the current Batman and was considered a spin-off. So your argument is flawed.

No it didn't. There was no Batman at the cinemas during that time nor another animated series. Beyond was the main product of the franchise.

I think they're referring to the comics. There's always a Batman comic series being published, and that's where the heart of the franchise lies.

Batman Beyond is a successful example, but not a great example since they went back to Bruce Wayne and I haven't heard of Terry for years.

[Kataphrut]

For me, it's as simple as that most of the next generation cast aren't interesting. Gohan is, but we've already seen that he can't carry a series. He was interesting as a side-character/foil, but the thing that makes him stand out, his pacifism, is counter-intuitive to a show about fighting. Goten and Trunks don't have the depth to carry even a coming-of-age arc the way he did, and as I said elsewhere, their identity is tied to being the kid appeal characters. There's no room for growth.

That leaves Pan and Uub. They have slightly more potential, but that would require commitment to pouring gasoline on their GT equivalents and burning them to the ground. We know GT isn't considered "ze canon" even officially, but it still gets merchandised and the powers-that-be don't seem to want to commit to outright contradicting it. But if hypothetically they were to become regulars...I could maybe see it. It would be a work to make them interesting enough to care about their development, and obviously Goku would have to retain the lead at the end of the day. That's another thing we need to be clear on; it should be accepted by now that Goku will never be replaced as the franchise figurehead, whether a new series happens or not.

The mentoring angle worked well in Super with the U6 Saiyans, so maybe there is weight to it. The more I think of it, the more I realise Caulifla is what Pan should have been, minus the punk attitude*. That's the sort of attitude that can carry the franchise, and it's why Goku has endured for so long. Keep Goku and Vegeta on as mentors, transfer that fighting attitude over to Pan, have Uub be the middle ground kid and don't completely neglect the beloved supporting cast (Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin, etc), or the new lore (Beerus, Whis, the other universes, maybe Zeno) and maybe you've got potential.

*Seriously, didn't it use to be a kind of accepted fandom thing that if we ever got a sequel to Dragon Ball Z, Pan would be the first female Super Saiyan? I feel like she got robbed haha

[Hawk9211]

First,dragon ball has always been about goku and company.The world of dragon ball may be quite expansive but it is not developed outside of earlier part of story.

Second,you really think that new characters can be developed without being overlapped with previous charactes while keeping the theme of story.That while keeping an interesting plot without shitting on previous characters,then sure go ahead.Now,some sci-fi or magic based show is possible and it might even be good,but it would not be dragon ball.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

Absolutely. I would say take Gokuu out entirely. About damn time, some risks were taken in this stagnant as shit franchise. Gokuu has nothing to offer anymore.

[Low Tone G]

Here is the biggest problem being a mentor: it would go against his entire character.

Goku did not train Uub to replace him, he trained Uub to fight him!!

According to EoZ, he intented both...

[Lord Beerus]

It doesn't have to be a Monkey's Paw scenario. It's possible to have the best of both worlds. All it takes is good writing, direction and proper planning, and you can have a series that reaches the middle ground of focusing on the new generation of fighter while also retaining Goku and Vegeta's roles as central characters. It would be perhaps a bit difficult to pull off, but it can work.

[TekTheNinja]

If Shueisha doesn't want me to give them any more money OR spend any more time indirectly promoting new DB stuff, then yes, go for it. Save me time and money.

I have no love lost for the next gen, the "mentor" thing is boring imo, and the aspects about EoZ Pan that I like I've already got in Caulifla and Goku himself. None of the next gen cast interest me.

Dragon Ball isn't about the world to me, it's about Goku and his friends/allies. Replace them and I have no reason to stay.
Yeah I watch Precure and that reboots with a next gen each year, but Precure reboots its entire universe and not just the characters. It's like magical girl mad-libs at this point and I enjoy that, but it's a different case entirely.
JoJo reboots to a new gen after each arc, but you know it's going to do that going in and the world Araki creates is so much richer and more reliant on solving puzzles than pure strength battles. (Oh! That's a baseball!)

If I want a series about a group of next gen then there's tons of fresher franchises with much younger authors that I can get that from. Dragon Ball doesn't need to be MHA or Boruto. It's Dragon Ball.

Is it a wish-fulfillment thing? Like do people want to self-insert themselves as Uub or Pan or Bra and live vicariously through them? Is it like how some people who got attached to kid Gohan did so because they were around his age while first watching Z? I don't know. Is it people who like everything about Dragon Ball except the Z fighters themselves? How could you watch a show despite not liking any of the characters if that's so?

Not to be rude, but you're honestly VERY biased in your judgement about this in particular seeing as you've literally had no interest in Super during the FEW times Goku wasn't front and center.

By the way, to those comparing it to Boruto, Boruto's failure is mostly unrelated to being about the next generation. It fails because it's just an awful, badly written show. The Boruto movie and very beginning of the series was actually decent because of more direct Kishimoto involvement, but now it's just the "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" of Naruto. For Dragon Ball, we're more wanting a Batman Beyond than a Cursed Child, ya know?

[Dbzk1999]

Not interested in a dragon ball series where goku is a side character. Mainly cause I find the "next generation" to be nothing more than stale bread in terms of character.

[emperior]

Here is the biggest problem being a mentor: it would go against his entire character.

Goku did not train Uub to replace him, he trained Uub to fight him!!

According to EoZ, he intented both...

People don't understand that Goku decided to finally become a mentor to get himself new and stronger opponents. Super showed that Goku never even thought about becoming a master to someone and at first he wasn't very keen of training Uub when Dende mentioned it.
Do you want Goku and Vegeta to stay stagnant forever, and only get stronger through training with Whis? Becoming masters to someone else may be a new way for Goku and Vegeta to improve.

It's also unfair to say that Uub and Pan won't ever have the same drive as Goku and Vegeta. Maybe under Goku's guide Uub could become a battle-obsessed person like Goku is. Pan was introduced as a little girl who already liked to fight a lot, so much that she entered the tournament and was training too while Goku was sparring with Goten. When Gohan was introduced he was 4 too, and his first line was about his wish of becoming a scholar and, guess what, he is a scholar.
About Goten and Trunks, they may find the same drive as their fathers later on and for whatever reason. In EoZ it is mentioned they slacked off but it doesn't mean they don't like to fight, considering it's been shown many times that they enjoy play-fighting. Kid Trunks also swore he would get as strong like his future counterpart, and I doubt Vegeta would want his son to be a weakling.

[Michsi]

Regarding Goten and Trunks as part of the 'new gen', I feel that one of the more subtle messages of the final chapter is that the age of the fighter is setting. DB had always been filled with characters whose lives revolved around fighting, but most of those characters are either too old and have retired or not interest in pursuing a life like that. Gohan never wanted to be a full-time martial artist, Goten and Trunks were clearly in it more for the fun of it and lost interest in as they grew older (hence Vegeta's comments) Pan and Uub may be the only exception, in the sense that they wanted to show that the spirit the story was known for wasn't completely gone, but there was definitely a hint of melancholy to that last chapter with Vegeta and Goku (and Piccolo I guess) technically being the only real fighters left.

[TekTheNinja]

I still keep seeing people say that it wouldn't work because they find the next generation to be boring, but that's missing the point entirely. Of course they're boring. They haven't really had a chance to do anything yet, especially characters like Pan and Uub who are blank slates that they could do pretty much anything with. No one saw Gohan when he first appeared and immediately loved him. The next generation still just need to have the kind of growth that Gohan got and I'm sure they'll be fan-favorites in no time. Why is this so hard for people to understand?

[Michsi]

I still keep seeing people say that it wouldn't work because they find the next generation to be boring, but that's missing the point entirely. Of course they're boring. They haven't really had a chance to do anything yet, especially characters like Pan and Uub who are blank slates that they could do pretty much anything with. No one saw Gohan when he first appeared and immediately loved him. The next generation still just need to have the kind of growth that Gohan got and I'm sure they'll be fan-favorites in no time. Why is this so hard for people to understand?

Gohan is a bad example because they actually did try the next gen bit with him and it failed. And it's not like he got the MC spot overnight. He was introduced and developed alongside the older cast and was massively popular (even more popular than Goku at some point, with one of the highest votes I've ever seen in a manga popularity poll ) and he still couldn't carry the show.
If anything, Gohan's case might be seen as a cautionary tale for the writers. No Goku, no good.

[Totamo]

Here is the biggest problem being a mentor: it would go against his entire character.

Goku did not train Uub to replace him, he trained Uub to fight him!!

According to EoZ, he intented both...

You mean like with Gohan? Yeah, how did that go?


Alright, he came back the next arc. was half the reason Buu was revived, purposely let him go, made his kids do the fighting then he fixed it.




......Why would anyone want a repeat of that?

[Totamo]

Here is the biggest problem being a mentor: it would go against his entire character.

Goku did not train Uub to replace him, he trained Uub to fight him!!

According to EoZ, he intented both...

People don't understand that Goku decided to finally become a mentor to get himself new and stronger opponents. Super showed that Goku never even thought about becoming a master to someone and at first he wasn't very keen of training Uub when Dende mentioned it.
Do you want Goku and Vegeta to stay stagnant forever, and only get stronger through training with Whis? Becoming masters to someone else may be a new way for Goku and Vegeta to improve.

It's also unfair to say that Uub and Pan won't ever have the same drive as Goku and Vegeta. Maybe under Goku's guide Uub could become a battle-obsessed person like Goku is. Pan was introduced as a little girl who already liked to fight a lot, so much that she entered the tournament and was training too while Goku was sparring with Goten. When Gohan was introduced he was 4 too, and his first line was about his wish of becoming a scholar and, guess what, he is a scholar.
About Goten and Trunks, they may find the same drive as their fathers later on and for whatever reason. In EoZ it is mentioned they slacked off but it doesn't mean they don't like to fight, considering it's been shown many times that they enjoy play-fighting. Kid Trunks also swore he would get as strong like his future counterpart, and I doubt Vegeta would want his son to be a weakling.

Right, but now that we have a multiverse of fighters, GoDs and angels as well as Vegeta, Goku doesn't need to get strong opponents. He has literally a buffet of people to fight whenever he wants to.


There is a huge reason why Gohan worked and a next gen wouldn't, Gohan wasn't the main focus , he was different from his father in that he didn't want to fight and the last thing and the most important thing, Gohan had to struggle because his dad wasn't around or was weaker.

[Totamo]

I still keep seeing people say that it wouldn't work because they find the next generation to be boring, but that's missing the point entirely. Of course they're boring. They haven't really had a chance to do anything yet, especially characters like Pan and Uub who are blank slates that they could do pretty much anything with. No one saw Gohan when he first appeared and immediately loved him. The next generation still just need to have the kind of growth that Gohan got and I'm sure they'll be fan-favorites in no time. Why is this so hard for people to understand?

We grew up alongside Gohan and he was the only new gen at the time.


We were just introduced to 3 saiyans who were basically mentored by Goku and Vegeta and guess what? They were controversial everywhere because they got things too easy.


yes, lets have a focus on 2 characters that started that.

[TekTheNinja]

I still keep seeing people say that it wouldn't work because they find the next generation to be boring, but that's missing the point entirely. Of course they're boring. They haven't really had a chance to do anything yet, especially characters like Pan and Uub who are blank slates that they could do pretty much anything with. No one saw Gohan when he first appeared and immediately loved him. The next generation still just need to have the kind of growth that Gohan got and I'm sure they'll be fan-favorites in no time. Why is this so hard for people to understand?

Gohan is a bad example because they actually did try the next gen bit with him and it failed. And it's not like he got the MC spot overnight. He was introduced and developed alongside the older cast and was massively popular (even more popular than Goku at some point, with one of the highest votes I've ever seen in a manga popularity poll ) and he still couldn't carry the show.
If anything, Gohan's case might be seen as a cautionary tale for the writers. No Goku, no good.

Gohan never failed. Toriyama just kind of decided he didn't want him holding the torch anymore.

I still say to this day that the overall narrative of the Buu arc and in some ways, Z as a whole was ruined when Goku ended up as the one to kill Buu.

[Michsi]

I still keep seeing people say that it wouldn't work because they find the next generation to be boring, but that's missing the point entirely. Of course they're boring. They haven't really had a chance to do anything yet, especially characters like Pan and Uub who are blank slates that they could do pretty much anything with. No one saw Gohan when he first appeared and immediately loved him. The next generation still just need to have the kind of growth that Gohan got and I'm sure they'll be fan-favorites in no time. Why is this so hard for people to understand?

Gohan is a bad example because they actually did try the next gen bit with him and it failed. And it's not like he got the MC spot overnight. He was introduced and developed alongside the older cast and was massively popular (even more popular than Goku at some point, with one of the highest votes I've ever seen in a manga popularity poll ) and he still couldn't carry the show.
If anything, Gohan's case might be seen as a cautionary tale for the writers. No Goku, no good.

Gohan never failed. Toriyama just kind of decided he didn't want him holding the torch anymore.

I still say to this day that the overall narrative of the Buu arc and in some ways, Z as a whole was ruined when Goku ended up as the one to kill Buu.

Whatever the reason was (though I'm pretty sure it was the fan reaction to Gohan being in charge since his popularity took a nose dive in the Buu saga) it shows that the next gen idea isn't new and that they had a go at it in a way. GT could also count as an attempt, since Trunks and Pan are part of the next generation and they where Goku's co-stars for a good portion of it. Didn't help.

[Doctor.]

All I see in this thread is a quite surreal lack of imagination.

[Chuquita]

If Shueisha doesn't want me to give them any more money OR spend any more time indirectly promoting new DB stuff, then yes, go for it. Save me time and money.

I have no love lost for the next gen, the "mentor" thing is boring imo, and the aspects about EoZ Pan that I like I've already got in Caulifla and Goku himself. None of the next gen cast interest me.

Dragon Ball isn't about the world to me, it's about Goku and his friends/allies. Replace them and I have no reason to stay.
Yeah I watch Precure and that reboots with a next gen each year, but Precure reboots its entire universe and not just the characters. It's like magical girl mad-libs at this point and I enjoy that, but it's a different case entirely.
JoJo reboots to a new gen after each arc, but you know it's going to do that going in and the world Araki creates is so much richer and more reliant on solving puzzles than pure strength battles. (Oh! That's a baseball!)

If I want a series about a group of next gen then there's tons of fresher franchises with much younger authors that I can get that from. Dragon Ball doesn't need to be MHA or Boruto. It's Dragon Ball.

Is it a wish-fulfillment thing? Like do people want to self-insert themselves as Uub or Pan or Bra and live vicariously through them? Is it like how some people who got attached to kid Gohan did so because they were around his age while first watching Z? I don't know. Is it people who like everything about Dragon Ball except the Z fighters themselves? How could you watch a show despite not liking any of the characters if that's so?

Not to be rude, but you're honestly VERY biased in your judgement about this in particular seeing as you've literally had no interest in Super during the FEW times Goku wasn't front and center.

By the way, to those comparing it to Boruto, Boruto's failure is mostly unrelated to being about the next generation. It fails because it's just an awful, badly written show. The Boruto movie and very beginning of the series was actually decent because of more direct Kishimoto involvement, but now it's just the "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" of Naruto. For Dragon Ball, we're more wanting a Batman Beyond than a Cursed Child, ya know?

It doesn't help win me over when you start out with not to be rude and immediately follow it with a capslock insult.

It's a forum. Everyone is biased. You're biased in favor of next gen if I'm biased in favor of the current Z cast.

Same thing with Boruto. There's probably people who love that show. Same with Batman Beyond. It's all subjective. It's not math. There is no right or wrong here.