ABED wrote:LowRyder2005 wrote:ABED wrote:Except I don't think their reasons are up to snuff. DBZ didn't focus more on its supporting cast. The main character getting the lion's share of the focus is not a rarity. K9's comment wasn't sarcasm. It was a comment I share. I don't get it, either. It's like complaining that Batman is in nearly every scene of his own series.
This is quite the bold claim. I personally believe this part to be completely false; still, it's
absolutely debatable to say the least.
Even if we wanted to limit ourselves to actual screen time and not relevance to advancements of the plot, I think that if someone bothered to create a graph of everyone's screen time, I'm fairly sure you'd get the "Goku" value overshadowing everyone in Super by a much more drastic value than what it did in Z.
Regarding the comment, this is not a matter of agreeing with it or not; similar responses simply do not add anything meaningful to the discussion regardless of how candid they may be and at worst they can (and will) be seen as snarky, ad ridiculum remarks. At best, it could only be justified since the same goes for the equally snarky incipit of the entire thread.
I'm not talking about sheer screen time because it's true that Goku was sidelined much of that time. It's also an unfair comparison because DBZ is much longer. Even when he wasn't on screen, people were often either talking about him or waiting for him. I don't think it's bold at all. It's more than fair to say so. Up for debate? Sure, but still a fair statement. I would say the big difference between DB and DBZ is that in DBZ, Toriyama begins taking Goku out early to create more drama. He overuses the trope of taking out the big gun early. I would still argue that he's the main character and it doesn't become an ensemble story.
That comment wasn't snarky. It's a fair comment. What other show can you think of where people complain this much about the main character getting so much screen time in their own show? The way they word it makes it sound like it's unusual or that Goku takes away screen time from their characters because he's a diva.
... It's an unfair comparison because Dragon Ball Z is
longer? I'm sorry, but I do not see how it's supposed to be related. Did you mean to say that Super is unfinished?
"Dragon Ball" is definitely Goku's story, where Goku is always present and relevant, and much closer to Super's own way of handling things; "Z" *is* pretty much the closest thing to an ensemble cast, for the exact reason Goku is sidelined a lot of the time and if not for the supporting cast things would have immediately gone downhill -- regardless of them ultimately waiting for Goku hoping he would turn things in their favor. Goku isn't even the strongest for the sheer majority of the time, since at least half of the cast keeps one-upping each other every chapter or so, which is a pretty strong statement of how the original manga made at least some sort of effort at keeping some "variety" and pass the momentary "our only hope" baton to this or that character.
If not for Gohan & Co. vs. goons, the Saiyaman mini-arc and for the subversion of the current tournament, the supporting cast
is pretty much irrelevant both formally (power-wise) and in contributing to the plot, all the moreso as there's nothing that usually keeps the powerhouses, Goku or Vegeta, away from whichever battle is taking place (be it Beerus, Freeza, Goku Black or Zamas; but even most of the lesser villains followed this rule).
And the comment wasn't snarky
to you; to others it may very reasonably be (and in fact it was interpreted as such), and I'm pretty sure the moderators would normally invite the individual to substantiate the claim more constructively. If I added a "I think you're the only one in here who isn't realizing this", you'd
probably think I'm being snide. There's simply a better way to express yourself while adding something meaningful of the discussion, instead of what most would take as a little provocation.
