Shueisha's 'Dragon Ball' Room, New Department Focused on Dragon Ball

[Jaetinh]

Hasn't One Piece found a lot of trouble getting fans in the west? I know Bleach and especially Naruto hit big there but One Piece, not so much.

One Piece has a huge fanbase in Europe. 4Kids fucked up One Piece real good in the US with their dub.

[ChronoTwigger]

As long as it's well executed, you can switch at will, even after years. That thing was never tried in Dragon Ball, as Gohan was a blank carboncopy of Goku, without any reason to exist if not to wait, love and follow his father.

He's not a carbon copy, Goten was a carbon copy of Goku but Gohan doesn't have the same energy, it's often pointed out in the series that Gohan is different from Goku, yes when he gets serious and does stuff like fighting Super Boo he could easily be swapped with Goku and it would be the same but you could also say that it could be Piccolo or Vegeta as well.

Also Dragon Ball has been going on for too long to change Goku as main character, JoJo did it at the start and it became a staple of that series but when people think Dragon Ball they think of Goku, especially people who haven't read or seen it.

Gohan was an attempt to retell Goku with a character shift (unwilling to fight, timid, smart) but let's be honest... he wait for his father, search for his father, and have NO reason to exist in a narrative sense if not to have a larger cast and proceed with the plot.
It's even less than carboncopy, it's a soulless carboncopy. No epic, mistery, past shadows and no personal arc to solve. You can have him fight, shout and boost as much as you want, but the same things could have been done by anyone with the same premise, excitement and outcomes. Gohan fight EQUAL Goku fights.

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

Gohan was an attempt to retell Goku with a character shift (unwilling to fight, timid, smart) but let's be honest... he wait for his father, search for his father, and have NO reason to exist in a narrative sense if not to have a larger cast and proceed with the plot.
It's even less than carboncopy, it's a soulless carboncopy. No epic, mistery, past shadows and no personal arc to solve. You can have him fight, shout and boost as much as you want, but the same things could have been done by anyone with the same premise, excitement and outcomes. Gohan fight EQUAL Goku fights.

We already got a look at what a Gohan centered continuation would be like with Bojack Unbound and it doesn't work, unless people really want it to be circular. Where Gohan is minding his own business, villains show up. Everyone gets their ass kicked, Gohan for whatever reason struggles from holding back, then his father motivates him or he gets some help and then he wins. There is no way to write Gohan outside that formula, and Gohan really has no personality outside of that. He also doesn't have the connections Goku does with other world characters, which would require Gohan to seek out and that wouldn't happen. If Gohan won't train from his own desires to, he really can't move the plot at all.


What I would rather see come out of this "Dragonball room" would be an opportunity for good doujinshi writers to get their work into the franchise. Now I know thats a dice roll because most DB fanfic is terrible. However the artists that have the most potential seem to be the very very few that understand the source material's background and not the transformation obsessed AF writers. Though I could only be saying this because of how much I liked Dragonball Sai, and Bardock After.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

We already got a look at what a Gohan centered continuation would be like with Bojack Unbound and it doesn't work, unless people really want it to be circular. Where Gohan is minding his own business, villains show up. Everyone gets their ass kicked, Gohan for whatever reason struggles from holding back, then his father motivates him or he gets some help and then he wins. There is no way to write Gohan outside that formula, and Gohan really has no personality outside of that..

To be fair, almost every Z movie is a barely altered copy of whatever was currently happening in the anime. A better example would be Gohan's clusterfuck of a character arc theat he was given in the Boo Arc.

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

We already got a look at what a Gohan centered continuation would be like with Bojack Unbound and it doesn't work, unless people really want it to be circular. Where Gohan is minding his own business, villains show up. Everyone gets their ass kicked, Gohan for whatever reason struggles from holding back, then his father motivates him or he gets some help and then he wins. There is no way to write Gohan outside that formula, and Gohan really has no personality outside of that..

To be fair, almost every Z movie is a barely altered copy of whatever was currently happening in the anime. A better example would be Gohan's clusterfuck of a character arc theat he was given in the Boo Arc.

Who or why they were fighting in the movies is irrelevant because of that. They're just scenarios, but the Broly Second Coming in structure was pretty much what it would look like if Gohan was the lead and there was no Goku. With no Goku there is no Vegeta, and Piccolo would never be strong enough to be anything but a distraction and his parachute. How he fought Broly in the 2nd Movie, shows he doesn't know how to properly handle a threat or plan strategically at all because of his he can't think on the spot the way Goku and Bardock do. He wanted to drown Broly in lava at best and then presumed he was dead. If we have a character like that, but then just assume his "hidden power" will do everything for him he wouldn't be a good lead character.

The Babidi arc had its merits with me because it gave Gohan some sort of internal conflict around his flaw. With his dad expecting him to be how he was at the Cell Games (which he and his fanbase don't fully grasp) and the fact that his lack of interest in fighting was what made him preform poorly. They could have done something with his character to give him that mental drive he naturally lacks but they didn't. Yet if the did he would end up just being like a back-up Goku. Which Future Gohan (wile justified) basically is. Why not have Goku if they need someone like Goku just to carry an arc?

[ShadowBardock89]

So, I want to revive this thread as a way to keep tabs on things coming down the pike.
Dragon Ball Room has a lot of publications right now and I have to ask when is there going to be too much Dragon Ball saturation?
I want them succeed as I think there is a LOT of fertile ground to tell stories from the franchise, it begs the question on the execution.
Should they have fully serialized publications or short, limited one-offs in a collection?
I personally would not mind a short story collection series that deals with things not shown in the scope of the original series, such as the rise of King Cold's empire.

[sintzu]

I have to ask when is there going to be too much Dragon Ball saturation ?

I think something becomes too much if it's not good anymore.

For example, if they started 5 side mangas that were all good then fans would be happy about it but if 4 were bad or average then we'd be saying it's too much and they should just focus on one instead.

The anime is the main product and out of the 76 completed episodes, only 35 are new "main" content, everything else is either filler or movies retellings.

Can anyone really say that 2 new arcs spread across 35 episodes is too much ?

[Noah]

I personally would not mind a short story collection series that deals with things not shown in the scope of the original series, such as the rise of King Cold's empire.

Yea, I think I could dig something like SW is doing with its franchise: doing side stories, movies about old characters stories and etc. I would welcome that in DB.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I have to ask when is there going to be too much Dragon Ball saturation ?

I think something becomes too much if it's not good anymore.

For example, if they started 5 side mangas that were all good then fans would be happy about it but if 4 were bad or average then we'd be saying it's too much and they should just focus on one instead.

The anime is the main product and out of the 76 completed episodes, only 35 are new "main" content, everything else is either filler or movies retellings.

Can anyone really say that 2 new arcs spread across 35 episodes is too much ?

I can understand if someone wants to dismiss the movie retellings but the "Filler" is very much part of Super and is absolutely necessary it fleshes the characters much and doesn't make it arc after arc, the breathing is incredibly necessary and in the likes of the US arc the pre-filler all feels pretty natural.