Ki Breaker wrote:Why watch it?
It's more Dragon Ball content, and Toriyama-sensei is behind-the-wheel more or less. There's been too much investment from me over the years to not keep up with it -- these characters have been a part of my life for over 20 years. Some of the new characters having been introduced are very much welcome additions to the Dragon-world -- Beerus, Whis. Plus, getting some character interactions and moments that didn't get much attention during the
Z run, as many of the early cast were left behind in favor of the Saiya-jins and super villains.
And on the subject of characters, I'm watching (listening) because I'm also very much invested in the many seiyuu that have given life to many of these characters that have been doing crazy stuff onscreen for over THIRTY YEARS. I'm enjoying the ride as much as possible, because who knows what the future holds...
Would you have done the same if it wasn't Dragonball content?
I've never seen a non-Dragon Ball anime other than
Attack On Titan, so no.
What separates super from Z? Which one of them do you enjoy the most and why?
In comparison to
Z,
Super feels like a TOEI feature film -- things happen for a while, then it ends abruptly with it feeling like there are a few gaps missing in some cases. Everyone laughs at the end and then things pick up the next arc like nothing happened.
Z felt like the overall content was richer and the storytelling and characters were given more attention to detail, with the aftermath of the battles having a somewhat lasting effect on the characters.
Super feels like a weekly sitcom in some ways that's self-aware of its own popularity rather than emphasis being put on just telling a story. There appears to be an influence from online culture and pandering to the international market going on in this show that didn't exist in the previous series that I feel has negatively impacted tone and story structure.
Overall,
Dragon Ball (
Z) is much more enjoyable for me in nearly every way -- although I do like
Super's quicker-to-the-point pacing to an extent. The biggest deciding factor by far though is the entire sound design.
Dragon Ball and
Z had a soundtrack that complimented those series perfectly, imo. It's impossible for me to think about DB and not have Kikuchi's music attached to that same thought stream. It's mystical, it can range from epic to subtle, and it's timeless - but more importantly, his music complimented and enhanced scenes with an aural texture, rather than
Supers approach of the music being the main driving force behind any given scene. The music in
Super rarely stops, while in
Dragon Ball (
Z) silence is used effectively in its own way to deliver tension and let other moments stand out on their own whether they be comedic or just characters exchanging dialogue.
It's not just the music either. All of the various sound cues associated with the original run are sorely missed. The vibraslap, the low-key piano notes when something shocking happens, the sound cue when a dragon ball is onscreen are just a few examples - there's so many! And that's not even getting into the sound effects as a whole.
Another aspect that I favor more heavily in the original run is that its aesthetic was somewhat... gritty... ? Leaving a sense of realism on animated characters or objects, if that makes sense. For this kind of series,
Super is way too polished, clean, waxed, shiny, yadayada. Another thing that stands out to me in
Super, is that when characters are standing around they appear to be more static, flat, and cardboard-y... like props rather than characters brought to life. The backgrounds, water, and weather effects in
Super, however, are beautiful.
Do you feel people who don't like Super have their facts twisted? Do you not understand how they aren't enjoying such good show? Or are you neutral towards this situation?
My advice for anyone that has chronic issue with
Super not explaining every detail is this: Look at
Dragon Ball (
Z) as your training manual. For every epic battle and shocking transformation, there were cutaways to various characters giving an idea of the weight of changes that had occurred through dialogue bits, explanations, and reaction shots.
Super bypasses these things and allows the audience to deduce what is occurring/had occurred. Is it lazy writing? Perhaps. But, often times I feel that there has been enough there to puzzle events together. I get where people are coming from with many of the complaints, but in the end -- lots of merchandise will be sold worldwide and
Super will remain a popular brand. Cha-ching! TOEI.
If all defending is forgotten, you are enjoying it yourself, Does it really make sense with the pre established lore to you?
I'm enjoying it for what it is. I don't have any expectations and am just kinda rolling along with whatever happens at this point. The early re-tellings gave me a really good idea of what is to be expected out of this series, although I've been surprised every now and then with some of the events that have happened. It's enough to keep me coming back.
I would say that
Z might have made some mistakes in shooting a select few characters so far ahead of everyone else that other characters didn't seem to matter in the narrative. Is
Super attempting to "correct" some of that by creating a bit more of a level playing field now... ? DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN
So yeah, it's Dragon Ball and it's worthwhile enough.
