Do you feel weird watching Mai's scenes in Dragonball now?

[SSJ Human]

I kinda feel like this whole Mai X Trunks thing is proof that Toriyama wasn't kidding when he said he had no idea how to write a romantic subplot and always just skipped ahead.

I remember him saying that. You hit the nail on the head.

[JulieYBM]

Tomioka Atsuhiro writing the Trunks and Mai storyline is pretty ironic given he's the head writer of Pocket Monster: XY where Satoshi is completely oblivious to Serena liking him.

Anyway, I see no problem here. Mai is playing the role Toriyama thought would be entertaining. That's all that is necessary to know.

[StrawHatPatriot]

It's weird.

She's technically in her 40's, since she and Pilaf and Shu still maintained their memories of world domination and dragon balls and Goku.

Don't know why they couldn't make a new female character.

[SSJ Human]

It's weird.

She's technically in her 40's, since she and Pilaf and Shu still maintained their memories of world domination and dragon balls and Goku.

Don't know why they couldn't make a new female character.

My guess is that they figured they should bring somebody back from the past to appease longtime fans and have some comedic purpose with the relationship. I'm not justifying it but I take it as them just wanting to do something out of the ordinary.

[JulieYBM]

It's weird.

She's technically in her 40's, since she and Pilaf and Shu still maintained their memories of world domination and dragon balls and Goku.

Don't know why they couldn't make a new female character.

It was a spur of the moment gag in the 2013 film that was so out-of-left-field that fans latched onto it, leading to re-enforcing of it.

[SSJ Human]

It's weird.

She's technically in her 40's, since she and Pilaf and Shu still maintained their memories of world domination and dragon balls and Goku.

Don't know why they couldn't make a new female character.

It was a spur of the moment gag in the 2013 film that was so out-of-left-field that fans latched onto it, leading to re-enforcing of it.

You've got that right. No one saw that coming or the Pilaf Gang ever showing up again.

[StrawHatPatriot]

yeah probably... sigh...

[SSJ Human]

yeah probably... sigh...

Don't feel too bad. I'm sure it won't last. At least the mainstream version won't; the future one might and I'd be alright with that since they're both adults.

[precita]

Uh, really?

Trunks/Mai is probably going to be canon even with the "kid versions." There can always be a timeskip if they move to the end of DBZ showing them as teenagers. Once a ship gets introduced in Dragonball it usually sticks besides a few exceptions like Yamcha/Bulma and that's because Toriyama needed another Saiyan kid.

[SSJ Human]

Uh, really?

Trunks/Mai is probably going to be canon even with the "kid versions." There can always be a timeskip if they move to the end of DBZ showing them as teenagers. Once a ship gets introduced in Dragonball it usually sticks besides a few exceptions like Yamcha/Bulma and that's because Toriyama needed another Saiyan kid.

That could happen but I'm hedging my bets on the alternate timeline one staying since there's basically no one left on that planet by this point of any significance. Maybe Videl's alive but who knows?

[precita]

They've already shown kid Trunks is attracted to Mai as well, he blushed over her a few times.

[MonkeyKing16]

Anyone think Mai looked better with blue eyes?

No.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I honestly think she just looks better sans make up, as we've seen with her future self in Super.

[SSJ Human]

I honestly think she just looks better sans make up, as we've seen with her future self in Super.

Interestingly enough, there's this one screenshot from the original series where she isn't.

Here it is:

It makes Future Mai more believable as the same person to me now.

[Cold Skin]

I must say I like it when the re-use of a character retroactively makes them more interesting when you have the knowledge about what happens to them later.

It's kind of hard to put into words, but with the more important role of the Pilaf Gang, and especially Mai, seeing them all along young Goku's three arcs is more interesting now than it was before.
Likewise, I already liked Future Trunks as a character, but with his return lately, he becomes retroactively even more interesting during the Cell saga.
It's a bit like when knowing about Goku being a Saiyan makes Oolong's line about him possibly being an alien more savory in the first saga.

So I don't know if I make myself clear, but it's like knowing things that happen years later retroactively brings more depth and interest to some characters.
And that's definately what happened with Mai for example, she has become much more interesting to me when I see her in early Dragon Ball due to knowing the link she will have to Trunks in both timelines (albeit with a different personnality depending on events, much like Trunks himself).

[WittyUsername]

Looking back at the early days of Dragon Ball, it is kind of weird to think that a minor character who served as 1/3 of "evil" comic relief is now being established as a fairly important character, and a close ally to Trunks in the future. Come to think of it, Dragon Ball: Evolution also gave Mai somewhat of an expanded role compared to her initial manga counterpart. Even though it's probably unintentional, it's kind of funny that Toriyama and Toei have begun following the example set by that movie.

On another note, it's kind of weird seeing an adult version of Mai without the make-up, especially with Toriyama's new style. She almost looks like a completely different character.

[FoolsGil]

Yeah, plotwise. If Mai in Dragonball had even a quarter gumption as she does in Super, Great Ape Goku would have been needed just to defeat the Pilaf Gang.