Filler that the series needed.

[matt0044]

Watching Dragon Ball Dissection made me realize that when the Anime isn't stretching out Manga content with looooooooooooooooong panning shots that linger more than they should, they actually do add some stories that enhance the narrative like Gohan's six months in the wild or additions to the Manga material like the Z-fighters trying to help Gohan against Cell.

In retrospect, it does feel like there also should've been other additions and not just in terms of slow pacing. Like Goku battling Colonel Silver in the Anime should've been more of a spectacle with how they built the latter up. What additional material do you think the Anime could've done to both entertain the viewers and let the Manga keep well ahead? How? You may provide additional examples from other Anime that might've done it well too.

[KBABZ]

Like Goku battling Colonel Silver in the Anime should've been more of a spectacle with how they built the latter up.

It would have been more epic but it would also have deviated from how the manga handled those events, an with very rare exceptions the anime stuck to the script when depicting manga events. However if I were to expand it, an easy way would be to simply have Silver get back up to continue the fight and make him feel more like a proper anime end boss rather than the tough manga lackey he is on the page.

[TrunksTrevelyan0064]

I don't know about "needed", but I'm very surprised the long batch of filler episodes in the Saiyan arc didn't include the adventures of Bulma & co. gathering the Dragon Balls to wish back Goku. How did they miss that opportunity? It could even have fleshed out characters like Pu'er and Oolong a little bit, or at least gotten people who hadn't seen pre-Z more familiar with them.

[MasenkoHA]

, or at least gotten people who hadn't seen pre-Z more familiar with them.

I would think the assumption by Toei is most people watching had seen Dragon Ball. The first episode of Z aired like a week after Dragon Ball. Not like they had the foresight that some countries would skip Dragon Ball.

I don’t think Z is treated as separate of series from Dragon Ball in Japan, as in the US, but as a continuation like Sailor Moon R

[OhHiRenan]

I don’t think a single piece of filler the anime added was necessary. There are some good episodes in Gohan’s filler arc, but Toriyama already had a complete arc for Gohan in the manga. The filler just makes it feel derivative when the actual development comes into play.

The anime already had pacing issues just adapting the actual material, and extra filler certainly wouldn’t have helped.

[KBABZ]

I don't know about "needed", but I'm very surprised the long batch of filler episodes in the Saiyan arc didn't include the adventures of Bulma & co. gathering the Dragon Balls to wish back Goku. How did they miss that opportunity? It could even have fleshed out characters like Pu'er and Oolong a little bit, or at least gotten people who hadn't seen pre-Z more familiar with them.

I've wondered about that too! Would have also made for a neat video game as well. I mean, comparatively, we got to see Bulma and Chi-Chi and Videl gather the Dragon Balls in some Buu saga filler!

[Marco Polo]

Cell Saga - Buu Saga time skip could have been explored a little IMO. Something like Bojack Unbound but more in line with the canon.

[CWCprime]

More recently, I think the first part of the Universe Survival arc could've exchanged some of its filler episodes (the Tenshinhan dojo episode, the second #17 episode where they fight the poachers, Goku vs. Gohan, and more that I'm not thinking of) with episodes that explored more of the other universes. We got some of Universe 6 with Cabba training Caulifla and Kale, but it was always intercut with Universe 7 stuff in the same episode. Same with the brief snippets we got of the other universes. Having entire episodes dedicated to just the Pride Troopers, or perhaps an episode highlighting the Namekians of Universe 6 and how they fused with all the other Namekians. I think that would've added a lot more tension to the eventual fight and allowed us to connect more with the other universes and its characters. Seeing episode after episode of just Universe 7 got a little tiresome.

[FFJamie94]

I'm going to break this down between the first two series.

Dragon Ball
Anything with Chi Chi in it- for me, I kinda wished Akira put kid Chi Chi in more of the Manga. She just leaves and turns up again about 100 chapters later. At least her presence was felt throughout the anime. We could just take a break and go back to her for a breather before a new conflict arises.

The Tien Saga- Honestly, this Saga had the best filler in the whole series, it added more depth to the characters and gave off a sense of how long this Tournament really is. I find the anime adaptation more interesting than the Manga because of it.

Dragon Ball Z
Gohan's Training- Just gives more Character to Gohan and really makes the training more interesting.

Garlic Jnr Saga- This is going to turn a lot of heads for People, but I like what this Saga did for DBZ, or what it did for a DBZ we never got. Let me explain, I felt this could have done for Gohan what DB did for Chi Chi, in that we get a saga where he becomes the main protagonist. While that was where the Cell saga was heading and the beginning of the Buu stuff, it kinda put Gohan as a character who can stand on his own without being in the shadow of Goku. It needed this Saga where he fights a Movie Villain, a low-level enemy to show his progress, the fight with Cell, to show he can stand with Goku in saving the World, then it should have been him destroying Buu to show that he is a Hero and has progressed beyond Goku.
But I'm happy with the Spirit Bomb.

[KBABZ]

Dragon Ball
Anything with Chi Chi in it- for me, I kinda wished Akira put kid Chi Chi in more of the Manga. She just leaves and turns up again about 100 chapters later. At least her presence was felt throughout the anime. We could just take a break and go back to her for a breather before a new conflict arises.

I actually disagree. Part of the joke about her turning up again in the 23rd Tournament is specifically the fact that nobody can remember her, since she was just some one-off bit character from the manga's early days and you haven't seen her since then (it'd be like the mermaid girl coming back to Kame House for revenge, or a real date).

That said, I DO agree when it comes to the Wedding Dress arc (despite it's galactically stupid premise, IMO). Having some Goku and Chi-Chi time is important to establish that, despite the time gap, Goku does care about her, and they make a lovely couple. It helps reassure the audience that the relationship has some solid foundation so that they haven't divorced by the time Raditz shows up.

[FFJamie94]

Dragon Ball
Anything with Chi Chi in it- for me, I kinda wished Akira put kid Chi Chi in more of the Manga. She just leaves and turns up again about 100 chapters later. At least her presence was felt throughout the anime. We could just take a break and go back to her for a breather before a new conflict arises.

I actually disagree. Part of the joke about her turning up again in the 23rd Tournament is specifically the fact that nobody can remember her, since she was just some one-off bit character from the manga's early days and you haven't seen her since then (it'd be like the mermaid girl coming back to Kame House for revenge, or a real date).

That said, I DO agree when it comes to the Wedding Dress arc (despite it's galactically stupid premise, IMO). Having some Goku and Chi-Chi time is important to establish that, despite the time gap, Goku does care about her, and they make a lovely couple. It helps reassure the audience that the relationship has some solid foundation so that they haven't divorced by the time Raditz shows up.

I get that was the joke in the Manga, and yes... in the anime it is ruined.
But it does bring the two a lot closer to one another.

I think in the media of Manga it works, as it is a print media meaning it's easier to keep back issues of and keep an archive, so forgetting a character/event or coming in later can let the reader easily go back and catch themselves up with current events, making Chi Chi's arrival in the Tournament a more "Oh it's here" rather than "Who?"

But as someone mentioned elsewhere, Dragon Ball was released at a time when TV shows weren't planned to get home releases, making the realisation on the viewer much harder if the gap is wider. Many could be out of the loop even if they had watched it from day one and there is no going back for them. So giving us hints and clues throughout the show may spoil the joke, but it A. Adds depth the character and B. Allows audiences to piece together the "twist" in the final saga.

That being said, I can understand if anyone disagrees with me and my argument is based on "What if" scenarios.
I do agree that the wedding dress stuff is important going into DBZ in order to set up the relationship and bit better.

[KBABZ]

I think in the media of Manga it works, as it is a print media meaning it's easier to keep back issues of and keep an archive, so forgetting a character/event or coming in later can let the reader easily go back and catch themselves up with current events, making Chi Chi's arrival in the Tournament a more "Oh it's here" rather than "Who?"

For me that's the joke! You are supposed to be saying "Wait, WHO??" when she reveals who she is, and if you still can't remember, there's a handy flashback to their time in the original episode (which the manga does as well by pasting in some of the old panels above Goku's head).

But as someone mentioned elsewhere, Dragon Ball was released at a time when TV shows weren't planned to get home releases, making the realisation on the viewer much harder if the gap is wider.

I disagree on this specific point because the anime shoots through the story much quicker than the manga did. At this point the anime had shortened the Chapter gap from 62 to 20-30!

[FFJamie94]

I think in the media of Manga it works, as it is a print media meaning it's easier to keep back issues of and keep an archive, so forgetting a character/event or coming in later can let the reader easily go back and catch themselves up with current events, making Chi Chi's arrival in the Tournament a more "Oh it's here" rather than "Who?"

For me that's the joke! You are supposed to be saying "Wait, WHO??" when she reveals who she is, and if you still can't remember, there's a handy flashback to their time in the original episode (which the manga does as well by pasting in some of the old panels above Goku's head).

But as someone mentioned elsewhere, Dragon Ball was released at a time when TV shows weren't planned to get home releases, making the realisation on the viewer much harder if the gap is wider.

I disagree on this specific point because the anime shoots through the story much quicker than the manga did. At this point the anime had shortened the Chapter gap from 62 to 20-30!

I take your point.
I still enjoy it regardless and felt it was a worthy addition to the story, but I'm glad not everyone sees it that way.

[ABED]

I never cared for their relationship, such that it is, so I have little desire to see more of it as even with the added material, there's not grand connection between them. It's a relationship that's mostly played for laughs.

I don't think there's any filler that the series actually needed that wasn't there. If it didn't exist, I would've said more about Gohan during the year prior to the Saiyans' arrival.

[obiwan23s]

I don't know about filler in the main show, but I've always felt like this series has sorely lacked a legitimate gaiden, TV special or movie on the origins of the Ginyu Force. How the five of them met and became so feared that they became Freeza's personal hit squad. Maybe they could have done some flashback filler material of that in the Namek Saga.

[KBABZ]

I don't know about filler in the main show, but I've always felt like this series has sorely lacked a legitimate gaiden, TV special or movie on the origins of the Ginyu Force. How the five of them met and became so feared that they became Freeza's personal hit squad. Maybe they could have done some flashback filler material of that in the Namek Saga.

Dragon Ball Z: The Ginyu Special Squad Galactic Tour of the Universe!