Kanzenshuu

People were used to episodic, isolated stories focused on keeping a certain status quo. Dragon Ball and Pokemon however were not, they were serialized stories that went on for hundreds of episodes in which the status quo (besides Ash's age) would change on a regular basis.
The serialized ...

Some people in these sorts of conversations often take for granted how extremely un-American something like, say, "Pikachu" sounds. And yet, well, here we are.

Goku likes to fight fair, if that option's on the table. He lives for the tournament match. If that option's not on the table (Raditz, Gotenks/Gohan-Boo), or it seemed like it was but he's clearly lost the fair fight (Vegeta, Freeza, Cell, Pure Boo, Broly), and the stakes are life and death, he will ...

This is up there with the anime's Copy Vegeta arc as probably my least favorite things in the entire revival era. Some genuine "I don't even care about remembering that this happened"-type material. I don't like Moro's goons for the most part, their designs or their names. Having Yamcha and Chaozu ...

The way Gohan has been handled in the revival era is very funny to me.

Goku isn't turned into a kid. Oob is more central to the story, has a personality more resembling Goku (goofy kid whose love of fighting charms even deadly enemies), and is also brought into space to help retrieve the Dragon Balls; his training is not done yet. Pan becomes a Super Saiyan while out ...

If it's in my head then it's there, right?

Yeah, I think it would have been successful. Shit's pretty rad.

I think the main thing that made him (and others before and after him) feel redundant past a certain point was that Toriyama mainly cared about focusing on characters' rivalries with Goku, and very rarely ever with one another. I often mention how cool I think it would have been to see Piccolo have ...

I think if Toriyama cared about keeping Tenshinhan relevant to the story as a major rival and fighter in what is effectively the Super Saiyans Arc, he could have easily justified it by having Ten learn the Kaio-ken and be inventive with it, yeah.

It's just something you get a feel for with exposure. Mainly centered around the shape and design of the eyes.

...

All 2005-2010 examples. It's not necessarily a dramatic change or something that's different in a way that's better or worse, but it's enough that almost anyone who's seen a ...

I think that if we want to see the subtle differerences it would be better to compare 2 shots from the same franchise, code geass and dungeon meshi have such different styles and at direction that it doesn't feel like a fair comparison
I'm not sure that seeing differences within the same franchise ...

2005 anime is starkly different from the present; if you're presented with screenshots from 2005 anime and screenshots from 2025 anime, it's basically impossible to mix them up. That holds true until 2011 or 2012, which to me felt like an incredibly rapid modernization. Anime from 2010 itself are ...

I mean, I'd call the 2000s digital era of anime painfully dated by now, too. Dragon Ball Super winds up looking much older than other anime from 2015 because it's still colored and processed the same way that a lot of Toei anime were in 2005.

It's a crude comparison, but early digital paint stuff ...

The point I ultimately wanted to make was that things change and what was once 'new' will ultimately become as relatively 'old' as anything before it. I don't think staunchly cutting off what counts as 'old Dragon Ball' at 1997 (or 1998-1999, where Gokuu was appearing in Dr. Slump's second animated ...

BernardoCairo wrote: Tue Apr 08, 2025 4:37 pm Damn, 2015 was 10 years ago... That's hard to stomach.

Anyway, I agree, the term "modern Dragon Ball" doesn't make sense. It's like using "Modern Sonic" to refer to the design Sonic has had since 2008.

Or since 1998.

If we're talking about new Dragon Ball content made after Toriyama's passing, and without any posthumous contributions from him, then I can say that I have no plans on dropping the series. I won't be surprised if I do eventually lose interest in keeping up with the new stuff, but it's unclear what ...

I've been a fan of Dragon Ball since I was 6 or 7 years old.

I joined this community when I was 18. Since then the locus of my interest has gradually shifted from Funimation's dub(s) of the anime, to the original Japanese version of the anime, to the manga (via the Viz translation of the Tankobon ...

I prefer the term "contemporary" to "modern", and that's probably partly because in terms of historical periodization 'modernity' begins roughly in the 1500's. The former is more of a sliding scale term than the latter in my mind.

That said, even if Dragon Ball Super (the TV show) is no longer ...

Goku and Gohan's fight establishes Gohan still gets rage boosts in this form.
Are you talking about what he says to Goku after getting that clean hit?

"I boosted my chi just up to the point where I might snap...while still maintaining control. That's how I'd best describe it. For now, that's the ...