-I'd flesh out Gohan's high school life and would do more with Great Saiyaman. Having him uncover some threads of Babidi's plot on his own, ahead of the tournament would be a great use of the character, something that Ayna mentions in awesome detail below.
-It's also a great chance to flesh out Gohan. We're essentially introduced to a completely new character in the original Buu arc. By making him younger, and keeping his design somewhat similar to the last time we saw him, we don't have to lose out on the child-like qualities that defined Gohan for so long. We can keep those while expanding his character and design.It_Is_Ayna_You_Flips wrote: ↑Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:22 pm But if I absolutely had to rewrite it I'd drag out the superhero stuff, using it as a launching board for the introduction of Spopovich. The way Babidi's minions gather power has a lot of potential to create suspense if why and what they were doing was hid from the audience. All Gohan and Videl would know (at first) is that once meak, mild mannered people are suddenly becoming freakishly strong masochists throwing themselves into dangerous situations. Everytime Videl or Gohan manage to subdue one of them they start to shout crazy shit like 'Babidi! Babidi! Blood and souls for my lord Badidi!"
-Everything else is pretty much the same up to the tournament.
-For the tournament, I'd change things up. I wouldn't have this weird retcon business of the world and the tournament participants getting this realism nerf. No, the fighters are all of a similar caliber to the fighters of Dragon Ball, fighters such as Nam, Giran, Chappa etc. This means that Satan is actually quite strong, just not by current cast standards. This would make things a little more fun, I think and could be a good time to introduce some fighters with weak but strange and interesting gimmicks. Also, animal people are still a thing.
-Piccolo doesn't forfeit to Shin. Shin forfeits to Piccolo after recognizing him and recruiting him to his cause telepathically. He's also not as much of an a****** or mysterious for the sake of being mysterious. He'll be initially tight-lipped and somewhat furtive, which will create the mystery. Also, Shin is in disguise (like Kami before him) and he and Piccolo do trade a few blows before their telepathic conversation. Piccolo can't land damaging blows because something is holding him back (the presence of Kami).
-Supreme Kai struggles to contain Gohan's SSJ2 power until Piccolo assists him which shocks Goku and the others. I think this is where I'd reveal Kaioshin's plan with Piccolo telling everyone to trust them and explaining things completely once Spopovich and Yamu fly off. I'd probably have Piccolo reveal this to Goku ahead of time.
-#18 forbids Krillin from going with them, so he stays in the Tournament.
-Dabura spits on Kibito and Piccolo. It's a strategic move. No need for weird statements about hidden power.
-Dabura teams with Gohan to defeat Buu. They fail and Dabura dies. Piccolo and Kabito arrive to help Kai and Gohan. Kai mentions that they may have a shot if they can escape with Gohan. Buu immediately goes to kill Gohan. Kabito intervenes to try to save Gohan, but both are blasted away. Kabito takes the brunt of the attack and detonates the blast which allows Gohan to survive. Kai realizes this but is knocked out cold by Buu. Piccolo is the last one on the battlefield until Vegeta arrives to save him.
-I think I'd probably still use Goten and Trunks here, though they're more irritants at this point than anything else. I'd have it so they could raise their power levels really high when enraged, just like kid Gohan. Seems to be a big half-saiyan trait. They'd show up to backup Vegeta when he's getting the stuffing beaten out of him.
-Piccolo threatens Babidi but doesn't kill him. He notices Vegeta knocking out the boys.
-Vegeta still sacrifices himself.
-I'd have Piccolo and Krillin train the boys for a couple of years in the time chamber. Influencing their fighting styles. They'd come out of the chamber at the ages we see them at in the original story or perhaps a little older.
-I'd have SSJ3 be much more unstable. Not stamina drain wise, but more destructive and personality changing, making Goku more savage. Goku attempts to tame the form through training.
-Kai dies in Vegeta's explosion but he and Kabito are revived and they take Gohan to the world of the Kai's for training. Gohan's training is similar but different. He's more active during it, but overall the focus will still be on drawing out his latent potential, a potential that his unique heritage, life experience, and pure heart has created. He undertakes the training Elder Kai's former mortal champion. The Goku of his era.
-In the end, for me, Gotenks will defeat Fat Buu decisively and convince him to turn on Babidi and live a good life. (I don't really want to use fusion, but there's too many fans of it for me to omit it completely.) After Buu threatens Babidi, Babidi lets him go. As Buu tries to live a normal life, Babidi poisons the hearts of nearby bandits and makes them extra savage. We'd be losing out on the "but man is the true monster" trope but this works well with the story as I'd have Babidi's magic and influence be what pushes Buu to shed his innocence. As much as I like Old Buu, I'd shed him completely and just have Buu turn into Super Buu. Super Buu then goes on a rampage and takes out Piccolo and Gotenks. This time, Gohan is still training and so Goku and Vegeta go in his stead.
-Goku and Vegeta throw everything they have at Super Buu. Goku even goes SSJ3. SSJ3 Goku does well, but the form is still beyond his control and so he commits many mistakes due to unnecessary movement and bloodlust. (Also SSJ3 either has eyebrows or those ridiculous monkey like sideburns). Buu defeats him and Goku and Vegeta. Gotenks steps in to defend them and Buu, stinging from his previous defeat, absorbs Gotenks coach, Piccolo as well as Babidi. The intelligence and magick boost gives Buu just the advantage he needs to defeat Gotenks. Gotenks is also fighting emotionally.
-Goku and Vegeta step in and are forced to fuse into Vegetto to save Gotenks. Vegetto gets the better of Buu and is the one to get the dreaded "retard" line. Vegetto's playful nature also allows Buu to take his time and plot another absorption. Knowing about Gotenks' time limit, thanks to Piccolo, he manages to nab them. He then proceeds to wear Vegetto down before giving him the Ultimate Gohan treatment from the original story.
-Instead of absorbing Vegetto, Buu beats him down until he has virtually no energy and is unconscious. These conditions are enough to defuse the Potara fusion (in this version). As he goes to eliminate Goku and Vegeta, the remaining human Z fighters step in to keep him busy. None of them died in this version. Krillin and Yamcha step in first and when Buu nearly kills them Tien and Chaozu interfere. Buu toys with them and readies to finish them off until he feels a massive power zeroing in on him with a speed he has never before witnessed.
-Gohan arrives at the battlefield in the garb of an old warrior. The ancient armor and reconstructed sword is funneling the deep reserves of Gohan's power but also greatly restricting his use of it. Fighting with this armor reduces Gohan's overall power but it's like a resistance band in that as he's using it, he's building up the "muscle" that allows him to harness more of his hidden power. Buu shatters all that and Gohan now fights him evenly without gimmicks. After a prolongued battle, Gohan maxes out his power and punches Buu inside out. Kai and Kabito use their magic to extract the pods containing Piccolo, Goten, and Trunks from Buu's puddle. From there, Gohan vaporizes what's left of Buu and Babidi.
-You could either end the arc here with a show of Buu recollecting as a vapor cloud to do a Kid Buu arc next or you could introduce Kid Buu here and if we do that, I hate to say it, but we need Goku, because we need the spirit bomb and Gohan just does not know it and it's weird to stop the arc to have Gohan stop his training to go train with another technique from a master he doesn't know. It's pragmatic to a degree, but weird for Dragon Ball. We could just skip Kid Buu altogether, but he's iconic enough to include, plus the reincarnation stuff with Uub works better for me if the Spirit Bomb is the thing that takes out Buu. Unfortunately Z's existing ending is probably the best possible way to end the Buu arc. You get some much cool character interaction and developments from it as well as some great groundwork for future developments. I guess I'd probably have everyone be there to hold off Buu and have Gohan take point. Put the Goku Buu/Uub dynamic is too good to pass up, so Goku would unfortunately get the W thanks to all his friends. But at least everyone else (aside from Vegeta, yikes) has more to do.