Dragon Ball Super restricts itself too much

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

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Doctor.
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Dragon Ball Super restricts itself too much

Post by Doctor. » Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:20 pm

I think this is one of the biggest problems with the series. Dragon Ball's world was never very complex and big, but it was vague and arbitrary, leading to a vast number of possibilities. Super, somehow, in spite of opening up the world, managed to reduce that number.

Let's limit the number of planets with aliens in universe 7 to 28, forever making it unlikely that a strong person from our universe could ever show up again and making it a sure thing that fans will complain if they do.
Let's turn the universe into a multiverse but restrict it to 12 for absolutely no reason.
Let's showcase the absolute strongest fighters in existence to give Goku a ceiling that he will inevitably hit and a brick wall for anyone who tries to find him an opponent afterwards.
Let's introduce a Saiyan from another universe who can't turn Super Saiyan but let's make him the strongest, forever making it unlikely and less believable that any other U6 Saiyan could end up being strong and making it a sure thing that fans will complain if they do.
Let's introduce Namekians from another universe, who serve as antagonists for one episode, but let's say they fused with ALL the other Namekians, forever making it unlikely and less believable that any other Namekian could end up being strong and making it a sure thing that fans will complain if they do.
Let's make a multiversal tournament before we even touched any of the other universes and let's introduce all the strongest mortals in existence, so that Goku can surpass them all with ease and make it pointless to ever explore the universe we've just expanded and provide lore and backstory to these characters and their world.

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Re: Dragon Ball Super restricts itself too much

Post by Neon Z » Tue Feb 20, 2018 9:01 pm

Toriyama always suffered from that issue. Roshi was supposed to be the strongest martial artist, and Goku already came close to beating him in the 21st Budokai. Then by the 23rd Budokai he was stronger than God and the Devil. So, we go to aliens... but we're immediately introduce to Vegeta, who's the self proclaimed strongest in the universe. Toriyama quickly brushes that aside though, but in the first space faring Saga we quickly get... the strongest in the universe (for real this time, serious), who is completely surpassed by SSJ Goku. With the Angels, and the 4 remaining universes there's still more set up for strong opponents than usual for Dragonball.

The actual problem with Super is that it often fails to hype opponents well. Back in the Freeza saga, even underlings were hyped, like Zarbon, Dodoria and the Ginyu Force. In spite of not being the strongest, the heroes still were bellow them for a while. Meanwhile, Super often failed to hype anyone besides the arc's main antagonist.

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Re: Dragon Ball Super restricts itself too much

Post by GamerSkull » Tue Feb 20, 2018 9:31 pm

Personally, I do feel that while Dragon Ball Super does a lot of world-building... that world-building feels like it's ending up making things feel smaller.

I think some of what was said in the first post is probably the reason... but...

Stuff like Freeza knowing about Beerus and being given authorization from Beerus to destroy the Saiyans makes me think of him a lot less when I re-watch the Namek stuff because he comes off as middle management. It is for this reason that I also don't particularly like the inclusion of his father, King Cold or even Cooler existing (thankfully, he's only in the movies and GT).
Or the Dragon Balls not originating from Namek. Stuff like that.

It's enough to bother me and it is for this reason that I personally disregard Super as canon. Just a "what-if" or an alternate timeline (as I've said time and time again).
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Re: Dragon Ball Super restricts itself too much

Post by Totamo » Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:32 pm

Thats been happening since the beginning of Dragon ball. Roshi was said to be the strongest martial artist on the planet, Freeza was said to be the strongest warrior in the Universe and supreme kais were already surpassed before we even got to them.


If we can buy androids being stronger than mecha freea using Earth tech that can't even travel through space like he can, we will buy anything.

The world in dragon ball was never vague because its world is define by who is the strongest for Goku and gang to face. They will make up another reason, we will complain for a month then we will watch it anyway

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