Super's pacing compared to DBZ and Kai

[Khin]

What do you guys think about Dragon Bal Super's pacing?
By Super's episode 14 or 15,The Battle of Gods Saga will come to an end.In Kai and DBZ we had.

DBZ episode 14 = The Humans has just started training at Kami's place and Goku meets the Princess Snake.
DBZ episode 18 = Goku has just arrived at Kaio-sama's place.
DBZ episode 21 = Vegeta and Nappa finally arrived on Earth.
DBZ episode 35 = End of the Saiyan Saga.

Kai episode 06 = Goku has just arrived at Kaio-sama's place.
Kai episode 08 = Vegeta and Nappa finally arrived on Earth.
Kai episode 13 = Vegeta vs. Goku fight starts.
Kai episode 16 = End of the Saiyan Saga.

Super episode 05 = Goku meets Beerus for the first time.
Super episode 08 = Enraged Vegeta vs. Beerus happened.
Super episode 10 = Goku become Super Saiyan God.
Super episode 14 or 15 = End of Battle of Gods Saga.

[Bullza]

A lot more had happened within the first 15 episodes of Super than in DB of DBZ as of the same point. Arguably more than Kai as well.

If the Resurrection F arc is wrapped up in about 30 episodes then that's quite a lot that's happened in a fairly short amount of episodes by Dragon Ball standards. It just feels slower because we already know what happens.

[dbzfan7]

Of course Super feels slow because the movie's run time get's through all of the events faster than the anime. So when we watch the anime it feels slow. BOG was like 80-100 minutes I think if we add extended stuff. Super is 15 episodes of roughly over 20 minutes per episode. Which means Super accomplished in over 300 minutes what Battle of gods did in under a third of that time. So when we see the movie's scene's play out in the anime, they are either dragged out longer than they should be, or they add boring fluff to pad out the run time of each episode.

[Froggy]

the first two sagas of super are more of an introduction and quick summery of the 2 movies to really start the story.

also I'm guessing they already signed a certain amount of episodes and they need to show everything in time, and in fear of being cancelled. i read somewhere the anime is losing popularity and ratings.

[Lord Beerus]

The pacing of Super is certainly much superior to DB, Z and Kai. I mean, it only took five episodes until Super introduced the main antagonist and had his battle the main character. And considering how light in plot Resurrection F is compared to Battle Of Gods, it can only imagine that it will take even less time until Goku and Freeza battle each other again.

[Theophrastus]

If looked at in a vacuum, Super's pacing is better than DBZ or Kai. When looked at as an adaptation of the Battle of Gods movie the pacing is less good (Battle of Gods runtime is 105 minutes according to Amazon - assuming 22 minutes of actual episode footage for episodes 3-14 gives us 264 minutes - 2.5 times longer to cover the same plot).

[LuckyCat]

I like this topic because a few times I've mused that, twenty years from now, Dragon Ball Super will be "recut" the same way Kai was for pacing. But then, that doesn't need to be done, because we have the movies right?

Anyway, I think Super's pacing is leaps and bounds ahead of Z so far. No matter how far they stretch an episode out, there haven't been any episodes that don't is some way push the BoG's story forward. Contrast that with "Goku meets Princess Snake" from DBZ. By the time that episode ends, you're left with the feeling that Goku just wasted everyone's time, and remember what pointless filler is really like.

[precita]

Super's pacing is horrible. Literally 14 episodes to cover what the movie did in an hour and half. Even if you exclude the first two episodes since they were new material not in the movie, that's still about 12 episodes.

[sintzu]

It's without a doubt a lot better then Z and based on the 1st 2 arcs it looks like it's pacing will be similar to Kai's.

Super's pacing is horrible. Literally 14 episodes to cover what the movie did in an hour and half. Even if you exclude the first two episodes since they were new material not in the movie, that's still about 12 episodes.

How would you rate the pacing if the movie never came out and this was a new thing instead of a retelling ?

[DBZAOTA482]

BOG wasn't made to be a full story arc and it reflects on Super's pacing. What's more, it hardly adds any substance to the story. The original anime's filler actually adds more.

It's obvious TOEI's just stalling for Toriyama-sensei to be done with the new story arc.

[FortuneSSJ]

Could be better, buts its still great. Definitely better than DBZ. Its hard to top DBZ slow pacing anyway.
One Piece is doing a great job on it though.

Super's pacing is horrible. Literally 14 episodes to cover what the movie did in an hour and half. Even if you exclude the first two episodes since they were new material not in the movie, that's still about 12 episodes.

Any anime movie can cover an anime arc if its done right.
And unlike when a movie is on theaters, the staff doesn't have to worry about the length and can take their time to flesh out things better, in a TV series. There's a lot of examples out there.

[precita]

Super is basically a worse version of the movie. Even the good comedic parts of the movie like Pilaf causing Videl to be shot and finding out she was pregnant was completely cut in the anime portion.

And what's good about the extra Goku/Beerus fighting? We're not getting anything special out of it.

[shadd21]

And what's good about the extra Goku/Beerus fighting? We're not getting anything special out of it.

I wouldn't exactly dismiss God tier characters being confirmed as universal busters as "nothing special".

[Chuquita]

It feels slow to me only when we spend the whole episode on one story. When they jump between two or three simultaneous stories it doesn't feel that way.

[fadeddreams5]

The pacing in Super is bad. I mean, sure, we got to the climax of the arc and final battle quickly, but the flow of the episodes themselves is no good. It could have easily been 3-4 episodes shorter. Naturally, its pace is better than DBZ's, but Super isn't following a manga, so it's less forgivable.

Also, not much even happens in Super (slice of life excluded), compared to Kai:

Super:
- Beerus and Whis are introduced. The former is shown blowing up planets every other scene, and pondering over SSJG.
- Pilaf and co are reintroduced (unnecessary)
- Beerus easily beats Goku.
- Beerus arrives on Earth and scares Vegeta.
- Bulma is slapped, enraging Vegeta.
- Beerus plays jenken with Oolong
- Goku arrives and uses dragon balls to wish for SSJG info.
- Videl reveals to be pregnant
- SSJG transformation
- Goku and Beerus fight
- I assume Whis will be revealed to be stronger than Beerus.

Kai:
- Gohan is introduced
- Raditz makes it to Earth, makes Piccolo shit on himself, and reveals that Goku is a saiyan.
- Goku and Piccolo fight Raditz
- Goku dies and Raditz reveals stronger saiyans are coming.
- Piccolo kidnaps Gohan to train him.
- Everyone else go to train in anticipation of the saiyans.
- We're introduced to a brand new realm (Other World), and Goku is set on a mission to make it through snake way.
- Goku reaches King Kai's planet, where he is introduced.
- Goku trains and provides genuinely funny scenes.
- The saiyans arrive, the saibaman kills Yamcha, and Nappa kills almost everyone else.
- Goku arrives back on Earth after being revived, saves Gohan, and beats Nappa.
- Goku and Vegeta fight.
- Vegeta is defeated through sheer teamwork.

[Duskp]

While I am perfectly ok with the pacing up to this point, I'm sure they're stalling.

They announced the series too close to release, the BoG arc is probably a way to keep something airing while they work more on the new stuff.

[Sora Saiyan]

Supers pacing is much better than Z, but it's not quite as fast as Kai. Overall it's not dragged too bad, as they've thrown some stuff in that the movie didn't have time for. I much prefer the final fight in Super compared to BoG anyway, so that making Super longer is fine by me.

[Kuririn Fan]

Dragon Ball's first arc ended after 13 episodes, GT's after 16(?,it's kinda connected with Baby Arc), so it's not that bad.

[zcherub]

I'm certainly in the minority, but I love a slow-burn story as long as it develops the characters. I.e. - I loved Gohan being in the wilderness for 8-10 episodes in Z. IMO, Super feels rushed so far. I'd like to see it somewhere between where it is and the pace of A Z (which was definitely TOO slow sometimes). I don't use BoG as a frame of reference because all of the Z movies are rushed & poorly written with no character development. Basically an animated fighting game...

[LuckyCat]

I don't use BoG as a frame of reference because all of the Z movies are rushed & poorly written with no character development. Basically an animated fighting game...

No character development? I'll just go with BoG, but in the movie alone, Goku develops in 3 ways:

1. Goku understands that what he thought was the best, Super Saiyan 3, is completely worthless when fighting Gods.
2. Goku is shown to dislike having to rely on everyone else's power, and would prefer to surpass the Gods on his own.
3. Goku realizes he's nowhere close to being the strongest in the Universe, and that there are a vast number of universes with fighters that probably outclass him.

What about this is not character development?