What if Dragon Ball was about High School life?

[rereboy]

...

Who cares about how many other anime with that genre exist as long as it's actually good?

[Captain Strawberry]

I actually had an idea a while back about a parody manga like this. Instead of Super Saiyans they became "Super Scholars" and their academic ability went through the roof, battle powers were grades, etc.

Although, that would mean Goku would have to be the smartest character. That would be pretty strange.

Only because I guess we never seen Goku studying. What would Goku's motivation for studying even be... he seems too listless for that kind of stuff

[Gyt Kaliba]

I'm with rereboy - as long as some of the individual shows are good, then who cares how overplayed the genre is? I could care less about zombies in general for example, but The Walking Dead is good enough that I enjoy it despite how overdone it's genre is. And again, anything done with a DB characters in 'high school' territory would almost certainly be more of a parody, something akin to the Attack on Titan high school anime, rather than something you'd look at and be expected to take completely seriously on it's premise.

Besides, a good chunk of those series you list Kunzait? They're actually quite good. School Rumble = one of the funniest things I've ever seen. And Fruits Basket is easily one of the best shojo stories I've ever read (I like the manga far more than the anime), and is entirely based much more around the characters interacting and the Zodiac curse than it is 'zany antics at a school' or whatever. And Persona 4 speaks for itself almost - just because the characters are school age and, shock, attend school, hardly means the main story itself is set at the school. I'm also not sure I'd really count School Days as a 'fluffy high school series' given where it goes...

The anime whould be trash, nobody likes Slice of Life animes.

Right, I'm sure they keep making them just to waste money and annoy people then. Clearly that's the answer.

[TheGreatness25]

But if it were set in high school, it wouldn't be Dragon Ball. It would just be a show with the characters. Dragon Ball is what it is because they went out to search for the Dragon Balls, dedicated their lives to training, and then fought to save the Earth later on. None of that would happen if they were in high school... so... why even go down that route? That's like saying "What if Batman was a preschooler???" When you take the entire concept and premise out of the series that you like, you're basically turning it into something totally different just using the same names.

[Desassina]

I can imagine their power levels clashing in a Math class, and Majin Boo sticking himself under the table.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

I can imagine the Saiyans being replaced as the High School Bullies.

[Noah]

[spoiler]

[/spoiler]

No really. We're starved, STARVED I tells ya, for more silly, goofy, over the top, giant-sweat-drop-filled, stereotype-laden, fanservice-loaded anime centered around a high school and its hormonal teenage students.

**NOTE** - That very last, bottom image? The actual name of that anime, and I swear I'm not making this up: "Daily Lives of High School Boys".

NOTE 2: You used two pics to reference "Daily Lives of High School Boys" that is indeed a good anime, even by its overused genre, I like their cuts that resembles parodies of serious shonen animes lol

[Lord Beerus]

Kunzait_83 just won another thread.

But in all seriousness, I'm not sure as to how well the whole "slice-of-life high-schoolers" shtick would work with Dragon Ball. In the hands of competent writing team, it could be hilarious. But in the hands of a lazy and complacent writing team, it could terribly unfunny and bland. It all comes down to execution, in all honesty.

[Bansho64]

Kunzait_83 just won another thread.

Agreed. You just can't top a ppst

But in all seriousness

What do you mean? That was serious

[8000 Saiyan]

I find high school anime to be pretty generic, so I wouldn't like Dragon Ball if it was like that.

And congratulations to Kunzait_83 for winning another thread!

[JulieYBM]

I'd like one if it focused on the girls and had good staff working on it.

[Naughty Kinto Un]

There's some irony in describing "high school slice of life" as an overused genre when talking about a shonen series. Like rereboy, Gyt Kaliba, and Lord Beerus say, it's all in the execution. There are some really wonderful high school manga/anime out there.

I'm not sure I need to see a Dragon Ball high school spin-off series, but it is fun to think about. If it were to happen, I'd like the plot to loosely parallel that of the original series. Deviating enough to be its own thing and unpredictable, yet with enough references and inside jokes to make an adaptation count. It shouldn't take itself too seriously. Ah man, now my mind's relentlessly trying to piece together a fan version. I hate when that happens.

[szopman]

We already had a High SchooL version of DB ... It's called Great Saiyaman Saga

[Hellspawn28]

No thank you since I'm sick of High School theme anime. I have to agree with Kunzait 83 with High School anime, there has been so many since the 2000's decade. In the 60's-90's, there was way less compare to 2000-now. I also think a AU spin off with the characters in High School would not work. I remember they wanted to do that with Batman for the show "Gotham High" and the show was scrap before it even begin.

[JulieYBM]

Otaku used to fap to giant robot shows. Now they fap to high school shows. Nothing has changed and I find it ridiculous to gather around the notion of one being inherently worse or more prevalent.

[Cipher]

I'd rather Dragon Ball were a genuinely unnerving horror anime.

They spend all arc going back and forth to an alternate future, and the gut-punch reveal is that every time they return to the past, they create an alternate timeline, so there are multiple worlds in which they never return to their families. Each time they visit the future, they're just gone.

Or Goku blows away the top half of Cell's body, and it turns out his victims were inside him all along.

Or someone keeps a bunch of candy from Boo's attacks as a collection, and one day one of their old chocolate bars begins making muffled sounds.

The gang realize they can wish back everyone killed by Piccolo Daimao's minions, but they come back wrong.

An animal person realizes members of his species are mysteriously disappearing, but no one else believes him or seems to care.

An ordinary man discovers God is an alien child.

A group of friends find wish-granting orbs and use them continuously to help others and themselves, but each time they make a wish, energy builds up that will eventually destroy Earth.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

If the core staff working on a high school Dragon Ball project is good enough to put together some good ideas with good execution I will welcome it with open arms. Also, it would be fun to see Son Gokuu deal with high school problems.

As for high school theme being overused I agree, but so is battle shounen. The theme doesn't matter to me as much as the execution and staff working on it matters.

- Travis