Is the Dragon Ball franchise sort of split into Classic and Modern now?

[Zephyr]

for example Toriyama introduced this massively convoluted heart disease sub plot to get Goku out the picture, whereas prior getting Goku out the picture just occurred naturally.

How was that in any way complex, difficult to follow, or unnatural?

Dude gets sick in the future. Butterfly effect made it happen later. That feels to me like an incredibly natural way to get him out of the picture.

[Duo]

Let me just fix this for you real quick:

Classic Super Saiyan

• Super Saiyan
• Super Saiyan Grade 2
• Super Saiyan Grade 3
• Super Saiyan Grade 4
• Super Saiyan 2
• Super Saiyan 3
• Super Saiyan 4

Modern Super Saiyan

• Super Saiyan God
• Super Saiyan Blue/Rose' (same transformation)
• Super Saiyan Rage
• Super Saiyan Berserker
• Super Saiyan Blue Evolution

Ultra Instinct is not a Super Saiyan transformation.

[KBABZ]

Plan to Eradicatevthe Saiyans 2010 was technically a remake so shouldn’t the original go under classic as well

I disagree. PTETS(S) is a good demonstration of one of the major differences that help categorize the Classic and Modern eras, which is the production choices that manifest themselves in the aesthetics of the final product. In other words, traditional animation versus digital, and the modern anime production process that nowadays demands quantity over quality almost all of the time. If you compare between the original and the remake, there's a very clear difference in the visual tone, mood and design. I think most would agree with me in saying that there's a certain soul that's lacking in the remake that's present in almost all of the modern content that makes it feel more rigid. The brighter visual design also greatly impacts the tone (although that could be the 90s VHS aging talking).

IMO this extends from the Jump Special all the way to the latest Super content, and is why I think Eradicate Saiyans is Classic and Eradicate Super Saiyans is Modern. Kai is sort of in the middle, but the redrawn shots, intros and eyecatches, plus Sumitomo and Yamamoto edges it into Modern for me.

If you want to include games, you could make a similar division, with Final Bout being the last Classic game in 1997 and Budokai starting the Modern in 2002 (I know it's way before the Jump Special, but the games arguably helped Dragon Ball's modern revival when there was no new show content).

[t0ffe3m4n]

Ultra Instinct is not a Super Saiyan transformation.

Thanks for pointing this out. Kinda triggers me how some people consider UI 'another Super Saiyan form'.

[Duo]

Ultra Instinct is not a Super Saiyan transformation.

Thanks for pointing this out. Kinda triggers me how some people consider UI 'another Super Saiyan form'.

That was a last minute edit on my part, actually. I was initially triggered at seeing Kaio-ken listed in Super as a transformation but the lack of any mention of it in the corresponding "classic" list. Immediately after I posted I thought about UI and was like "WAIT A MINUTE."