How would you have handled the Garlic Jr. arc?

[WittyUsername]

Like it or not, the Garlic Jr. filler arc was a necessary evil for Toei and Toriyama. The anime was in danger of catching up to the manga, so unless Toei wanted to drag out the Freeza arc even longer, making a series of filler episodes between the heroes coming back to Earth and Trunks showing up was something they needed to do. With that in mind, how would you have done it?

To be more specific, would you have even brought back Garlic Jr. at all? Or would you have done something new entirely?

[ZodiacBeast]

I wouldn't have brought back Garlic Jr. - I would have instead made a "Garlic Arc" set before the arrival of Raditz if Garlic were to be used in the TV anime. There's some nice backstory with Kami and Garlic that I would have liked to see.

As for a filler arc between the end of Frieza and Trunks making his appearance? Hmm...

Well, other non-canon stuff that I'd like to see include Turles (with a different face) and the Tree of Might, Lord Slug, Cooler, Janemba, Baby, the Shadow Dragons and Cumber. Broly became canon, although it feels weird that he's SSB Gogeta level so soon after being introduced.

Out of those, I'd like to see Turles and Lord Slug fighting over what's left of Frieza's empire, with Cooler swooping in and trying to take it for himself. Right after Frieza's death would be too soon for such an arc.

Janemba, Baby, the Shadow Dragons and Cumber would be waaaaaaaaaay too strong to be fought right after Frieza.

So, to replace the Garlic Jr. arc I would probably just invent an anime-original villain. It doesn't have to be an actual villain, it could simply be an opponent in a tournament or something similar.

Hopefully they wouldn't suck.

[JulieYBM]

So, operating purely under the terms of the time? I'd have extended the arc with flashbacks to Garlic's youth, his escaping the Dead Zone and the other Mazoku on the Makyou. Let's aim for 26 episodes!

[ABED]

Can't we just ask "what do you like/dislike about it?" Asking us what we would've done is next to useless because we couldn't have made DB in the first place.

Anyway, my big issue with the arc is that it's several episodes too long and it doesn't play fair with the audience. Kuririn's eyes indicate he's been turned and yet he's faking? That's not how you do a plot twist.

[WittyUsername]

Can't we just ask "what do you like/dislike about it?" Asking us what we would've done is next to useless because we couldn't have made DB in the first place.

Anyway, my big issue with the arc is that it's several episodes too long and it doesn't play fair with the audience. Kuririn's eyes indicate he's been turned and yet he's faking? That's not how you do a plot twist.

I see your point, but I already asked this question about GT, so I thought I’d so the same for this.

[Peach]

I would have brought back Piccolo Daimao somehow and made him an ally of Garlic Jr through their mutual dislike of Kami.

Would have drawn more inspiration from the Piccolo Daimao saga in general. Maybe had Garlic Jr conquer the world and throw it into complete ruin. I don't think the vampire stuff was really necessary either when Garlic Jr should have had an army of demons. Basically, i would have made it more bold, darker, more hopeless, had characters die, and raised the stakes.

I think it should have been more about the Z fighters as a whole than just Krillin and Gohan. Yamcha, Tien, Chaiotzu, Oolong, Roshi, Yajirobi, and Launch could have had much bigger roles. Maybe there could have been some legacy characters like Eighter, Giran, Nam, and Mercenary Tao.


Also don't think Garlic Jr should have opened the dead zone again either lol.

[ABED]

I would have brought back Piccolo Daimao somehow and made him an ally of Garlic Jr through their mutual dislike of Kami.

Would have drawn more inspiration from the Piccolo Daimao saga in general. Maybe had Garlic Jr conquer the world and throw it into complete ruin. I don't think the vampire stuff was really necessary either when Garlic Jr should have had an army of demons. Basically, i would have made it more bold, darker, more hopeless, had characters die, and raised the stakes.

I think it should have been more about the Z fighters as a whole than just Krillin and Gohan. Yamcha, Tien, Chaiotzu, Oolong, Roshi, Yajirobi, and Launch could have had much bigger roles. Maybe there could have been some legacy characters like Eighter, Giran, Nam, and Mercenary Tao.


Also don't think Garlic Jr should have opened the dead zone again either lol.

How would the characters have died if they are in the next arc?

[Peach]

I would have brought back Piccolo Daimao somehow and made him an ally of Garlic Jr through their mutual dislike of Kami.

Would have drawn more inspiration from the Piccolo Daimao saga in general. Maybe had Garlic Jr conquer the world and throw it into complete ruin. I don't think the vampire stuff was really necessary either when Garlic Jr should have had an army of demons. Basically, i would have made it more bold, darker, more hopeless, had characters die, and raised the stakes.

I think it should have been more about the Z fighters as a whole than just Krillin and Gohan. Yamcha, Tien, Chaiotzu, Oolong, Roshi, Yajirobi, and Launch could have had much bigger roles. Maybe there could have been some legacy characters like Eighter, Giran, Nam, and Mercenary Tao.


Also don't think Garlic Jr should have opened the dead zone again either lol.

How would the characters have died if they are in the next arc?

With the Dragon Balls, obviously.

It could have been really cool to see another arc where the cast has to split up, go around the world, and fight for the Dragon Balls again.

[MyVisionity]

Ditch the Maron subplot as besides being annoying, it takes significance away from the #18 story later on.

Have Garlic Junior revive Garlic Senior and they team up against everybody. Or instead, have it so Garlic Junior secretly sired a child in the past. Gohan befriends Garlic III and they bond over "missing their dads". Either way Gohan realizes he can handle things himself without his father around.

Otherwise just do something else entirely. Maybe an arc involving the Three Eyed people rising up to take control and they want Tenshinhan to be their leader. There's a female member who wants to be Ten's queen and so she comes into conflict with Lunch. And so forth and so on.

Or instead of a whole "saga" just do a bunch of standalone episodes.

[ABED]

I would have brought back Piccolo Daimao somehow and made him an ally of Garlic Jr through their mutual dislike of Kami.

Would have drawn more inspiration from the Piccolo Daimao saga in general. Maybe had Garlic Jr conquer the world and throw it into complete ruin. I don't think the vampire stuff was really necessary either when Garlic Jr should have had an army of demons. Basically, i would have made it more bold, darker, more hopeless, had characters die, and raised the stakes.

I think it should have been more about the Z fighters as a whole than just Krillin and Gohan. Yamcha, Tien, Chaiotzu, Oolong, Roshi, Yajirobi, and Launch could have had much bigger roles. Maybe there could have been some legacy characters like Eighter, Giran, Nam, and Mercenary Tao.


Also don't think Garlic Jr should have opened the dead zone again either lol.

How would the characters have died if they are in the next arc?

With the Dragon Balls, obviously.

It could have been really cool to see another arc where the cast has to split up, go around the world, and fight for the Dragon Balls again.

So the appearance of stakes but no actual stakes.

[Dr. Casey]

Or instead of a whole "saga" just do a bunch of standalone episodes.

This sounds good to me, as much as I loved the relatively self-contained episodes leading up to the 23rd Budokai and the fight against Nappa and Vegeta. The 22nd Budokai training episodes are nice too, though I don't enjoy them quite as much as the latter two arcs.