Is this the darkest arc, so far?

[keyz05]

Is this Future Trunks saga the darkest in all of DragonBall? If so, tell me why?

If not, then what is the darkest saga in all of DragonBall?

[Cipher]

I don't think it's touched the combined Saiyan and Namek arcs, honestly. Particularly the latter.

There's Toei's handling of this arc, which has inserted all sorts of levity that crops up on a regular episodic basis outside of the most dire action-oriented parts, at a rate which the manga never saw once it switched out of its pure comedy mode. On a plot level, with Black cordoned off in Trunks' parallel future, the sense of impending doom and hopelessness isn't quite as great. Our heroes are relatively prepared. In the Namek arc, Bulma, Gohan and Kuririn believe they're in for a jaunty Dragon Ball hunt, and walk into absolute hell.

The first part of the arc was a nice, sustained mystery, though, which is something Dragon Ball had previously only flirted with during very brief portions of the Cell and Boo arcs, and it's been great every time.

[kinisking]

Not even close. They'res been a lot of stabbing and holes being blown into our heroes I admit. But only one person has died (future bulma). Saiyan arc had like everyone die. Almost no blood. I mean namek arc even had tons of blood for gohan. Nothing broken. In the namek arc gohan had his neck broken. So either saiyan or namek arc is much more dark.

[Lujin_16]

I would say on par with the NAMEK ARC and i don't think there is other arcs who are much darker than the trunks arc

[Bansho64]

Nah. The Saiyajin and Namek arcs had way worse stuff. I'd even argue that the Androids/Cell arc was worse as well. Trunks throwing up all that blood after Cell hit him still stays, in my book, as one of the most brutal moments in that arc. Hilarious, if you're watching the Funi dub

[sintzu]

It's a huge improvement over what we've been getting but it's not as dark as the Saiyan and Namek arcs.

[Sodhi]

I think android/cell arc was the darkest. The dude drank people. Plus trunks future was pretty grim, and the special on top of that.

[Miracles]

Saiyan/Namek arc got busy in this department.

[The Patrolman]

Probably yeah

[fadeddreams5]

This arc isn't even darker than the Buu one.

It only seems super dark and edgy because of an apocalyptic setting and more-complex-than-usual villains.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

No, and none of the arcs in the original series were dark. There were a few moments where shit gets serious, but overall the light hearted moments and the carefree characters overshadow it which kind of makes sense cause it is a kids cartoon and the author doesn't excel in writing "dark and edgy stuff".

If I would have to pick something that comes close to dark in Dragon Ball it would be the Mirai Trunks special.

- Travis

[Cetra]

I thought the Baby and Xing Long saga was pretty dark. I mean, the Xing Long one was supposed to look like the ultimate doom for all and nobody was able to do anything until Gogeta was born or the Genki Dama was formed.

[DBZAOTA482]

This arc isn't even darker than the Buu one.

It only seems super dark and edgy because of an apocalyptic setting and more-complex-than-usual villains.

The Majin Boo Saga is actually the darkest saga. We had a threat the Z-Warriors barely any time to prepare for and everyone was dying left and right... we even saw a puppy nearly die. Not only that but we had stuff like Vegeta having a midlife crisis and Fat Boo challenging his inner demons.

The scene where Boo shouts for Mr. Satan literally gave me chills down my spine when I first saw it on Toonami and still does to this day.

[Hellspawn28]

The Shadow Dragon arc got dark when Yi Xing Long show up but the first half of it was pretty normal for DB standers. The first few dragons are pretty silly looking and don't feel that serious. Not to mention Goku wins each episode, so we know who wins before Xi Ying Long. Bebi saga did felt close to a typical Dragon Ball tone to me.

[PsionicWarrior]

I would say any arc of Z is darker lol

The scene where Boo shouts for Mr. Satan literally gave me chills down my spine when I first saw it on Toonami and still does to this day.

I have even more chills with THIS version.

[SSJ YUSUKE]

I know people are very biased against Super but this is really one of the darkest arcs but the main thing is it's only "dark" for a series which has never been dark and isn't meant to be dark . Dragonball is a children's series, it never going to get particularly "dark".
However in comparison to the rest of the franchise the narrative is "darker", we are talking about an arc where "Goku" technically murders his wife and son who have no idea what's going on, their screams at the end were quite chilling. The future that Trunks comes from is similar to the one that was destroyed by the androids but what makes the Black future worse is that we know everything Trunks did to save his future from the androids was for nothing, all Trunks wanted to do was save his future and the people living in it but not only did it not last he is also the responsible for what is happening to the future right now, worse still it not only affects the earth but also the entire multiverse.
The intentions of Black/Zamasu are also a lot darker and complex then any other villain in the series so far.
But I'd just like to point out that what makes a story "dark" isn't one or two particular scenes but the overall narrative and what it's trying tell us.

[PsionicWarrior]

Come on you have one episode with cold murder in Super and everyone shouts to drama, when it was a common affair in Z lol

[emperior]

Just imagine if there was no censorship:

- Future Trunks would arrive to the past bleeding
- Black Goku would have spitted blood each hit Goku gave him, and he would be smiling and laughing at his power increases
- Black stabbing Vegeta would have left him in a blood pool
- There would have been blood when Trunks stabbed Zamasu with the sword (maybe not because he's immortal)
- Trunks and Goku would have lost a lot of blood in their fight against Goku and Zamasu
- Goku would have been bleeding when he got stabbed by Black
- Future Gowasu should have bleeded when Black killed him
- Also there should have been some blood in the table when Present Zamasu stabbed Gowasu

Unless Black's ki blade cauterizes so there should be no blood in that case.
Overall this arc is quite dark though. Future Bulma's, Chichi's and Goten's deaths were quite dark.

[PsionicWarrior]

I'm not saying the arc is not dark, I'm saying there is no need to go and say it's the most darkest ever that ever happened ever lol

[GodKaio-Ken]

I would say this arc is the most twisted. The way Zamasu basically tortures humanity.

Darkest though....not sure. In some respects like the destroyed future backdrop.....yes. However as others have pointed out others were darker in other ways.