The ending of Dragon Ball

[Lord Beerus]

I'm perfectly content with how Dragon Ball ended. The whole "And the adventure continues..." feeling I got from the original ending was actually kind of heartwarming to me. But there has always been this lingering thought in the back of my mind like, "Maybe Toriyama should have stopped with Cell". I mean, ironically I love the Buu arc more than the Cell arc, but the Cell arcs ending felt more definitive. Like you would have really bought that as the true ending of the show/manga and everything after that as filler. I know that there are a lot of people on many on YouTube and other Dragon Ball forums that feel the same. But what do you think? When do you think Dragon Ball should have ended? Or more specifically, how would you have ended Dragon Ball?

[Saiga]

I still would've ended it with the Boo arc, but with Gohan defeating Boo and being the hero. That would naturally mean the ending is significantly different, with the focus being on Gohan's new family and resolve to protect Earth even if he doesn't like fighting.

My only problem with Dragon Ball's current ending is that it's Goku-centric. Naturally it couldn't be any other way when Goku was made the main character then, so my only problem is that it's following from that. Ignoring the problems I have with Goku being shoe-horned back into the hero role, it's a perfectly fine end for him.

The Cell arc does have a really good ending to it, but I wouldn't want to end the series there. Gohan had barely been the main character for that, and there's too much I like about the Boo arc to see it go. Especially the high school antics at the very start of the arc.

[Chuquita]

I like teen Gohan too much to lose the Buu arc. I enjoy his Great Saiyaman antics.
Also Majin Vegeta, Trunks gaining a friend his age in Goten, Kuririn and 18 getting together and starting a family, the entire (despite being anime-only) Gokû and Vegeta go on an adventure together inside Majin Buu, Mr. Satan going from changing from being annoying to being entertaining, the resulting 2008 Jump Tour Special and later BOG. (I can't include Fukkatsu no F yet(?) because I still don't know enough about it. And have not seen it.)

I think the manga ending proper feels a bit like it was crafted with "hey they're making an anime-only sequel series" in mind, but I have no way of knowing if it was or wasn't.

[Rocketman]

It's really dumb that the series had a "the adventure continues" ending right there, but they keep jamming more and more stuff in before it.

[Akumaito Beam]

It's really dumb that the series had a "the adventure continues" ending right there, but they keep jamming more and more stuff in before it.

It feels like they're so desperately trying to avoid stepping on GT's toes that they're instead trampling on all the material before it that was worth a shit.

[MarCas92]

The problem here really lies with Toriyama's lack of foresight. From the Saiyan Arc and all the way to the end of the Boo arc he flip flops between making Gohan the main character and then going back to Goku. Now at the end we get this kid who we don't know anything about? All throughout the Boo arc Goku and Gohan talk about the new generation and even Goku states that his time is done. But nope. He saves the Earth again. It's just inconsistent with it's themes. I know this sounds strange. But for Z I actually thing the party episode would've been a better finale to the series. It's relaxed, laid back and highlights the traits that made Goku such a lovable character. The ending mentioning that everything is better with Goku around seemed like a great way to end the series.

[kaioken12]

Wasn't it that he wanted to make Gohan the main character but then was rather "forced" to roll back to Goku again, because he was way more popular?

About the ending: The thing that I never understood was why he had to leave his family again in order to train Uub.

I mean, we have that guy who could fly around the earth at super-speed and even more, he could teleport!
Not to mention that most of his family could move just as fast!

This is why abandoning his family again always sounded kind of wrong to me - unless you watch it from the "worst father of the century" perspective.
But this would make Goku look like a d*ck, which I doubt would have been Toriyama's genuine intention ;)

[ABED]

But for Z I actually thing the party episode would've been a better finale to the series. It's relaxed, laid back and highlights the traits that made Goku such a lovable character. The ending mentioning that everything is better with Goku around seemed like a great way to end the series.

I've often said the same thing, I'm glad someone agrees. It's more low key than I think one would expect but I think it works.

[Kakacarrottop]

My only problem with Dragon Ball's current ending is that it's Goku-centric.

So? It's essentially his show, always has been, always will be. Even when Gohan beat Cell he was still the main character of the show. It's like saying Spiderman is too Spiderman-centric, or Batman is too Batman-centric. Obviously Toei went a little overboard with the whole "It's Goku's Show" concept in GT and the Movies by having him basically defeat every single villain but still the show started off with him as the main character so naturally it should end with him as the main character.

[Saiga]

My only problem with Dragon Ball's current ending is that it's Goku-centric.

So? It's essentially his show, always has been, always will be. Even when Gohan beat Cell he was still the main character of the show. It's like saying Spiderman is too Spiderman-centric, or Batman is too Batman-centric. Obviously Toei went a little overboard with the whole "It's Goku's Show" concept in GT and the Movies by having him basically defeat every single villain but still the show started off with him as the main character so naturally it should end with him as the main character.

No, it was not always Goku's show. It was actually said in the manga itself that Gohan would be the new main character, to argue otherwise is to be wilfully ignorant.

So even though it's for a small portion of the series, Gohan was the main character. And as I said in the rest of my post, my only problem with the ending is that it follows from the decision to make Goku the main character again. If it was never for the fact that Gohan had been made the main character, and it was consistently Goku all the way through, the ending's focus would make much more sense. But the fact that we had a change in lead and the ending just ignores that rubs me the wrong way.

We were talking about the ideal ending, and my ideal ending would have followed slightly different events leading up to it, because I disagree with the decision to make Goku the main character again.

It's a completely different situation from works like Spider-man or Batman. They're continuous works for one thing and they don't even have endings to compare it to.

[Kakacarrottop]

My only problem with Dragon Ball's current ending is that it's Goku-centric.

So? It's essentially his show, always has been, always will be. Even when Gohan beat Cell he was still the main character of the show. It's like saying Spiderman is too Spiderman-centric, or Batman is too Batman-centric. Obviously Toei went a little overboard with the whole "It's Goku's Show" concept in GT and the Movies by having him basically defeat every single villain but still the show started off with him as the main character so naturally it should end with him as the main character.

No, it was not always Goku's show. It was actually said in the manga itself that Gohan would be the new main character, to argue otherwise is to be wilfully ignorant.

So even though it's for a small portion of the series, Gohan was the main character. And as I said in the rest of my post, my only problem with the ending is that it follows from the decision to make Goku the main character again. If it was never for the fact that Gohan had been made the main character, and it was consistently Goku all the way through, the ending's focus would make much more sense. But the fact that we had a change in lead and the ending just ignores that rubs me the wrong way.

We were talking about the ideal ending, and my ideal ending would have followed slightly different events leading up to it, because I disagree with the decision to make Goku the main character again.

It's a completely different situation from works like Spider-man or Batman. They're continuous works for one thing and they don't even have endings to compare it to.

Well all these new movies which retcon GT combined with stuff like Dragon Ball Heroes and Dragon Ball Minus have pretty much turned Dragon Ball into a continuous work ala Batman or Spiderman. Also the series was supposedly (repeat supposedly) originally originally meant to end after Freeza, so AT wanting to end with Gohan as the main character could be viewed as him changing his mind at the last minute regarding the ending.

[Saiga]

Well all these new movies which retcon GT combined with stuff like Dragon Ball Heroes and Dragon Ball Minus have pretty much turned Dragon Ball into a continuous work ala Batman or Spiderman. Also the series was supposedly (repeat supposedly) originally originally meant to end after Freeza, so AT wanting to end with Gohan as the main character could be viewed as him changing his mind at the last minute regarding the ending.

We have a guide on this very website for those kind of rumours: The Intended Endings Guide. It details how the Freeza arc being the intended ending is nothing more than a rumour.

It's not really comparable to Spider-man or Batman, though. The manga had its ending, the franchise continues. Spider-man and Batman's main comics are just sort of all over the place with reboots and relaunches.

[WittyUsername]

American comics in general aren't meant to have any sort of definitive ending, not just Batman and Spider-Man. There's never any ending in sight for any of the DC or Marvel characters, that's one key difference between manga and American comics.

[B]

It's really dumb that the series had a "the adventure continues" ending right there, but they keep jamming more and more stuff in before it.

It feels like they're so desperately trying to avoid stepping on GT's toes that they're instead trampling on all the material before it that was worth a shit.

Uh... no? Toriyama's #1 hang up with continuing the story where the manga ended is that everyone is stupid old; a problem GT does away with by simply giving Pan and Goku the bulk of story material. Of course, Pan is a complete cipher in the series, and if you want the characters you've grown to enjoy doing anything, the ten-year-gap is pretty much your best bet.

The Buu arc is brimming with finality and pretty aptly closes up shop on Gohan and Vegeta. Battle of Gods re-opens that shop, but it paid attention to what had come before it, so it's hard to fault it.

[Kakacarrottop]

Uh... no? Toriyama's #1 hang up with continuing the story where the manga ended is that everyone is stupid old; a problem GT does away with by simply giving Pan and Goku the bulk of story material. Of course, Pan is a complete cipher in the series, and if you want the characters you've grown to enjoy doing anything, the ten-year-gap is pretty much your best bet

What about the EOZ and start of GT gap? I always thought there was a lot of untapped potential for interesting stories in that period.

[RandomGuy96]

I like the ending of DB just fine. The series was never one big, overarching epic. An ending that offers no real definitive end, but ties up all of the plot points before hinting at future adventures, is the perfect conclusion for a series like this. However, I do dislike what it took to get there. If I had a chance to revise the ending, I'd keep the Uub stuff the same, but make some minor changes to everything in between Gotenks-Buu forming that Vanishing Ball and Pure Buu dying. For example, changing Pure Buu to Pure Evil Buu, and having him get one-shotted by Gohan right before he kills Mr. Buu, but after he defeats Goku and Vegeta.