If a Dragon Ball anime were made today, would the first arc be rewritten?

[Fizzer]

If the Dragon Ball anime, or a "Kai" or "Brotherhood" type series, were made for DB today, would the first story arc need heavy rewriting around some of the heavier sexual jokes?

How do you think it might be handled? And do you think the action elements of the early parts of the series would also be punched up to bring it more in line with what DB is famous for?

I expect that the way Bulma gets the dragon ball from Roshi, the Oolong roofie scene and the pafu pafu may not make it past the stricter standards these days, and there'd be a bit more emphasis on the fights.

[Duo]

Probably. Dragon Ball launched with a completely different audience than it faces today. The story doesn't really hit proper stride until Kame'sen'nin starts training Goku & Kuririn...which is still mired in "lure an exaggeratedly bi-polar woman into a sexually threatening situation with two children and a super old guy". Pretty funny, but not easily accepted in a modern context.

[sintzu]

I think things like the way Goku figures out how someone's male or female would be taken out. Same thing with how Bulma got the dragon ball from Roshi, I could see that being changed to her giving him a rare, collector's edition magazine or something like that.

[Lord Beerus]

Some of the more sexually suggestive content(?) would be toned down, but the breaking-the-fourth-wall gags and poop jokes would be the same.

[Robo4900]

Well, some certain things would have to be toned down a lttle; Oolong at one point intends to sneak up to Bulma while she's sleeping in his van, and feel her up, but is unable to since Yamcha and Puar sneak in. I think they'd probably at least tone that down(Doing it like the Funi dub's complete censorship, where Oolong sends Goku and Bulma to sleep so he can grab the Dragon Balls is one option, but maybe that's going too far. They could just censor it to Oolong just wanting to get a peek at Bulma, which would still be fittingly morally reprehensible, but not so uncomfortable to see Oolong attempting to do). Otherwise, the worst it gets is Bulma flashing Roshi without realising she's not wearing panties(Which I don't think need altering), and Oolong disguised as Bulma letting Roshi feel him up(This could just be pulled back to Oolong flashing Roshi, like in the Funimation dub), and Goku walking in on Bulma in the bath, wanting to assist her in washing her back, and asking her why she has a secondary butt on her front(Which really isn't that bad. No malicious intent exists, Goku doesn't even really see anything, since the bath almost entirely covers her up, and really, the scene is just funny, and further establishes Goku's lack of understanding about culture and the world around him).

Honestly though, the only part of OG Dragon Ball that makes me really uncomfortable, in fact uncomfortable enough I'd encourage removing it in any modern edit or remake, is in the Red Ribbon Army arc, when two soldiers attempt to corner Bulma, and are heavily implied to want to rape her. She runs away, and nothing ends up happening aside from a brief chase scene which IIRC Goku saves her from, but it's exceedingly uncomfortable to watch.

[KBABZ]

I think the majority of the Pilaf antics would be taken out; the story works well enough without them showing up all the time and it would help for more brisk coverage of that story so we can get to the good stuff.

[Desassina]

Goku would die by taking a bullet to the head.

Seriously though, have you ever played Conker Live & Reloaded on the Xbox, which was a remake of Bad Fur Day? Some people claim that the N64 title was much better, in spite of its quality being worse, due to the uncensored content and dirty jokes. Whether you find Dragon Ball's humour amusing or not, it would get reimagined into something that you may not appreciate, but its visual and sound quality would be expected to improve.

[KBABZ]

Goku would die by taking a bullet to the head.

Seriously though, have you ever played Conker Live & Reloaded on the Xbox, which was a remake of Bad Fur Day? Some people claim that the N64 title was much better, in spite of its quality being worse, due to the uncensored content and dirty jokes. Whether you find Dragon Ball's humour amusing or not, it would get reimagined into something that you may not appreciate, but its visual and sound quality would be expected to improve.

Yeah, this was mentioned quite a bit in the "would you want to see a new series of the manga?" thread.

[Desassina]

Could you point me to it? I would like to know what people wrote about it.

[KBABZ]

Could you point me to it? I would like to know what people wrote about it.

Here you are! The topic is about if DB and Z would be combined in that instance, but we get onto the topic of what such a production would be like in today's industry at... some point.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=39745

[Desassina]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[ABED]

Honestly though, the only part of OG Dragon Ball that makes me really uncomfortable, in fact uncomfortable enough I'd encourage removing it in any modern edit or remake, is in the Red Ribbon Army arc, when two soldiers attempt to corner Bulma, and are heavily implied to want to rape her. She runs away, and nothing ends up happening aside from a brief chase scene which IIRC Goku saves her from, but it's exceedingly uncomfortable to watch.

They're bad guys! It's way better than if one of the good guys does the harassing.

[precita]

I honestly think characters like Oolong and Puar would not exist. In fact I don't think any talking animals would be around.

The original cast probably would have been Goku, Bulma, Krillin, Roshi and Yamcha.

[KBABZ]

I honestly think characters like Oolong and Puar would not exist. In fact I don't think any talking animals would be around.

The original cast probably would have been Goku, Bulma, Krillin, Roshi and Yamcha.

As far as periphery characters go they are pretty useless, however if we assume that this were a new thing that Toei commissioned today, there's no way they'd write those characters out since they appear in later works like Z Kai and Super.

[Super Sonic]

Why do I have a feeling that Bulma would be a lot bigger than 34-C if it were made today?

[Hellspawn28]

They would make Bluma look very moe like .

[precita]

Chi Chi's kid outfit would also be different. No way would that fly today, or at least she would have pants instead of panties.

Kid Goku wouldn't be showing his penis in every other episode.

[KBABZ]

Chi Chi's kid outfit would also be different. No way would that fly today, or at least she would have pants instead of panties.

I honestly have no idea what Toriyama was thinking with that one. The Helmet, cape and boots are cool, but the rest make her look like an underage stripper.

[MajinMan]

If Goku grabbing someone's penis and shaking it is okay on today's DB, I think a remake wouldn't cut or change scenes, especially manga "canon" scenes, out of the show. There would probably no blood though, like when Chi-Chi cut that dinosaur's head off.

[floofychan333]

It could be, but I don't think that kind of stuff is viewed as wrong in Japan. I'm not sure how the stuff made it on to North American TV without being completely censored back in the day but networks may be more tolerant today so the stuff might slide here these days if it did in the early 2000s.