Could a Roshi movie/special work or be fresh?

[eledoremassis02]

Imagine if they did a special or movie about Roshi's fight against King Piccolo and getting Flying Nimbus. Do you think this would be a great chance to try and start a less Goku centric story/bank off the nostalgia that the franchise is running. What would you like see?

[LoganForkHands73]

Eh... I don't find the Piccolo Daimao War backstory stuff that interesting in and of itself, personally. It was some nice lore, really the first example in the whole series, but if anything, it's best left to the viewers' imaginations. At this point, it would also feel quite random and disjointed from the franchise's current direction.

I think the only way to make it interesting is if it had the quintessential "Toriyama touch" like with Jaco. Frame the story as an unrelated storyline to Dragon Ball, then suddenly throw in the curveball that the protagonist is actually Roshi. Shake up the backstory completely with new, weird details that recontexualise everything about Roshi's role in the war, his training under Mutaito, etc. Go nuts.

[HimuraBenny]

Roshi is not a good main protagonist, he doesnt crave power or fighting like Goku does. It'd be a huge shift in tone and theme to have Roshi as the main person. The story you mention has three people at the helm, Mutaito, Roshi, and Grandpa Gohan. Canonically they have the same personality, womanizing disciplined fighters. Its too late in the story to have their story be told as DBZ has completely left the magical fantasy realm for a more sci-fi approach.

If your going to tell a roshi story, it might be beneficial as a retelling of the fortune baba saga from DB, where instead of a main baddy we get more lore and backstory on the roshi family, ending with an fight between roshi and goku.

[MyVisionity]

Naw maybe back in the 90s or something it would've worked but without any of the original voice actors and in the modern style of Super it doesn't work.

If they wanted an all new series however based on the adventures of a twelve year old Roshi and whatnot then maybe that might work. Might not be any good, but might work though.

[goku the krump dancer]

Any idea can be fun/interesting with the right execution.. Whether that story or plot element is necessary I think is the more worth while question and for me as far as this Roshi idea goes, the answer is a resounding No.

[Vijay]

Ofc, Roshi is among most recognized & loved character among DB fans.

A film/special around his backstory, his training with Mutaito Sama, his funny rivalry with Tsuru Sennin & some twist & turns would be

An entertaining product is all good

[Matches Malone]

I don't think a movie would be profitable enough, but a special focused on him and others across different periods could definitely work.

[Akira]

I have given this some thought. I agree with the others that Roshi alone wouldn’t be enough to carry it. However, think about the most recent movie DBS: Brody. They started with a bunch of flashback scenes and showed how the past tied to the present. They could do something similar with a new movie centered around a Tenkaichi Budokai. It could involve Goku and maybe even Uub. Roshi could talk about the history of the tournament and get some flashback scenes to him training Son Gohan and Ox, and later Goku and Krillin. It could expand the lore and be an exciting movie rather than the usual big bad life or death fight.

[TheGreatness25]

I think it could be fun. I always thought that a spin-off of Roshi training Gohan and Gyumao would be pretty cool. Not sure how it would be received since everyone wouldn't be blasting planets.

[TheSeductiveTomato]

I've always loved the idea of a Roshi spin-off series. Studying martial arts, fighting Piccolo, his friendship-turned-rivalry with the Crane Hermit, training Gohan and Ox and putting on the Jackie Chun wig for the first time. There's plenty to be explored, but there are other ideas for spin-offs that would be more likely to happen.

[ArmenianPepsi]

I dont think it would work. Roshi is a character that works in small doses and isn't interesting enough to be able to carry a story himself.

[DragonBallFoodie]

Maybe a prequel tale with him and his sister. They could have had awesome adventures like Joseph Joestar in his youth.

Though Toriyama and whichever writer he teams up would need to make it a good and fun tale.

[Pride9000!!!]

This is something that I always wanted to see. A spin-off movie or a TV special about Roshi. Maybe a TV special would work better like a origin story, The Life of master Roshi. We would get to see everything, how did his training began, how did his friendship turn into rivalry with the crane hermit, how did he learn to use ki, and how did he invent the Kamehameha wave. Maybe also his fight with king piccolo, it would have been also fun to see him trying to get the water from Korin. In the end we would also see him train the Ox King and Grandpa Gohan. I think this would be a very fun and interesting, movie or a TV special. I know that me and many other like me wood had watched it.

But the reality and the truth is this is not gonna happen, the only time this could work is if this came out some time before the Z era.

[ABED]

A 40 minute TV special released decades ago, maybe. Now? I don't see much value in it.

[TheZFighter]

I'd love it personally if it was done well but I don't think the interest is there for fans of the Goku 'n' His Super Saiyan Friends Show.

I'm bias because I love the characters but I'd like to see more origin-type stories for characters who just seemed to rock up one day, like Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yajirobe, etc. Not only is the interest not there, as some have said above, the story has moved to far beyond that type of story telling.

[emperior]

I believe a 40 minute special about Roshi’s past would be quite interesting, but anything more than that could quickly get boring.

Besides, before they ever tell such a story, there are plenty more interesting stuff they could animate.

[Psajdak]

The whole point of his character is to be a perverted, funny, but wise and strong old martial arts master.

[MasenkoHA]

. Its too late in the story to have their story be told as DBZ has completely left the magical fantasy realm for a more sci-fi approach

A Buddhist version of the afterlife is an integral part of the story, the characters use energy from their bodies to fly and shoot laser beams, there’s a whole hierarchy of Gods and they still use magical orbs to summon a wish granting dragon. Explain to me how they “completely left the magical fantasy realm for a more sci fi approach “‘?