What if Dragon Ball Series came out now instead of 80's/90's, would it still be as Famous?

[Ripper 30]

I have been always wondering, what if DB series came now instead of the 80's/90's ,could it still have been popular compared to the Quality animes which have came in modern times?
Would anyone still care for Dragon Ball? What are your thoughts?

[KBABZ]

Assuming that we're detaching the anime from the manga (and assuming that the manga didn't exist as well), I think that it would have slumped after the first Tournament arc and been cancelled. The Pilaf Arc isn't that compelling by modern standards, and while the Tournament arc has some good stuff in the training portion, I don't think there's enough there to justify taking the story further. It isn't until the Red Ribbon arc that it feels like the story has a direction.

If we start directly with Z, and assume that we get a Kai-style montage showing Goku growing up, I think it would have picked up a fair bit of steam and kept going long enough to what we recognize as the iconic and defining moments.

[sintzu]

Without DB the industry wouldn't be what it is now so it could end up being just as successful as it would be a new thing like it was before.

Now, if everything was the same just without DB then chances are it wouldn't have lasted past the first arc unless somehow the Saiyan arc ended up as the first one with everything about it and what comes after being the exact same as we know them now.

[MajinMan]

It would do just fine. I don't know if it would be AS famous, but it would be up there for sure. There's a reason it got popular in the first place. You can argue that other shonen could overshadow Dragon Ball, but none of those shonen would exist if DB never existed in the first place. I think it would thrive off its memorable characters, simple and attractive plot, action, and comedy. The notion that "kids these days won't like Dragon Ball because it started as a comedy" is absurd.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

It's a very conditional question, because obviously, as stated the anime and manga industry wouldn't be what it is today, then you need to take into consideration would another mangaka have come up with similar ideas to Toriyama in a different series? Would it still be ahead of its time.

Anything that came before a hypothetical Dragon Ball franchise that didn't already exist for 30 years and did well (and it would have to to an extent for anime and manga to retain a following up until the 2010s) would inevitably have an influence, and if it did there's always the chance Dragon Ball could be seen as derivative and unoriginal if that was the case.

The dirty humour and violence would also need to be toned down for modern day standards, which would have an effect as those aspects made Dragon Ball what it is.

Also consider the fact action series are easy to market compared to other genres like comedy, drama, horror, etc. In mainstream cinema Star Wars and Marvel are the perfect example as those movies almost always perform exponentially better than other types of movies. Dragon Ball is popular because it got there before most other franchises did.

In short, I have no doubt it would have been popular, but not as big or iconic.

[Cipher]

That's impossible to answer, considering how instrumental Dragon Ball, and Toriyama's general presence in JUMP was, in crafting the shonen manga/anime landscape we have today. Also, did Dr. Slump exist in this alternate timeline?

I lean toward "yes, it would still be very famous" in most hypothetical scenarios though, because Toriyama's craft is tremendous whether it's in the context of reshaping an industry or not. "As famous," with an additional thirty years of market history and market saturation? Hard to say.

[Michsi]

I'm torn between saying yes, it would definitely reach some highs as far popularity goes, and no, because today's SJ higher-ups have a lot less patience with new series. Newcomers get the ax fairly quick if they don't perform well in the first few weeks, and DB did need some time to take off. The Pilaf arc wasn't DB's best, and you could argue that even if the 21 TB arc got better reviews, I don't know if it quite managed to gain the level of popularity it would need to survive in this day and age.

[sintzu]

The Pilaf arc wasn't DB's best, and you could argue that even if the 21 TB arc got better reviews, I don't know if it quite managed to gain the level of popularity it would need to survive in this day and age.

I think it wasn't until the end of the RRA-22nd Tenkaichi were it really took off. Same thing with Naruto and One Piece, both took awhile to become what we know them.

I think Jump's current mindset of expecting things to be mega hits out of the door has caused us to miss out on what would've been the next big thing had they got the time to properly develop.

[Michsi]

The Pilaf arc wasn't DB's best, and you could argue that even if the 21 TB arc got better reviews, I don't know if it quite managed to gain the level of popularity it would need to survive in this day and age.

I think it wasn't until the end of the RRA-22nd Tenkaichi were it really took off. Same thing with Naruto and One Piece, both took awhile to become what we know them.

I think Jump's current mindset of expecting things to be mega hits out of the door has caused us to miss out on what would've been the next big thing had they got the time to properly develop.

To me it just seems like they're scared of investing time in a title that might end up not being the next Naruto/One Piece/Bleach so they immediately cancel them to make room for the next contender. It's not just WSJ. I feel like this is how things are done in show business lately too. Nobody is willing to let things build over time.

So I guess I'm leaning more towards no then. Of course if Toriyama was already a renowned artist, then maybe they would've been more lenient with him, but I think I read somewhere that even company veterans go through the same process as the greenhorns.

[KBABZ]

I think Jump's current mindset of expecting things to be mega hits out of the door has caused us to miss out on what would've been the next big thing had they got the time to properly develop.

Having listened to the latest Kanzenshuu podcast episode, Toriyama was already a popular artist thanks to Dr. Slump. But expectations have changed since then and I don't think the popularity of his work at that time would have cut it.

[precita]

No, it would get canceled because of low ratings.