Idea on how they could keep the series going forever?

[sintzu]

That doesn't mean they should go on forever.

The risk of running forever inevitably leads to problems like characters either going nowhere or being constantly regressed.

I fully agree that they shouldn't but I just mean that if they want to they can.

That's been happening since RF and will most likely continue the longer they go on.

[ekrolo2]

That doesn't mean they should go on forever.

The risk of running forever inevitably leads to problems like characters either going nowhere or being constantly regressed.

I fully agree that they shouldn't but I just mean that if they want to they can.

That's been happening since RF and will most likely continue the longer they go on.

Of course if they want to and can they will but sometimes you need to let things lie and so far, Dragon Ball hasn't really justified coming back. A lot of recent revivals haven't bar Samurai Jack.

[8000 Saiyan]

I don't think Dragon Ball is a series that should continue like Pokemon. Two more years of Dragon Ball Super are okay in my book.

[precita]

I don't think Dragon Ball is a series that should continue like Pokemon. Two more years of Dragon Ball Super are okay in my book.

Super will probably have a 5 year run at the minimum. It began in 2015, I can easily see it going to 2020.

[sintzu]

Dragon Ball hasn't really justified coming back.

It has with the Battle Of Gods movie. I know the majority of new products have been mixed but I think most will agree that BOG is a good movie.

[ekrolo2]

Dragon Ball hasn't really justified coming back.

It has with the Battle Of Gods movie. I know the majority of new products have been mixed but I think most will agree that BOG is a good movie.

If the stuff afterward was as good or close to BoGs quality I'd agree but the very next movie blatantly forgets BoG happened character-wise and only keeps stuff like Goku & Vegeta being vaguely stronger and having to deal with Whis & Beerus.

[sintzu]

If the stuff afterward was as good or close to BoGs quality I'd agree.

I don't think that should take anything away from what BOG did.

[ekrolo2]

If the stuff afterward was as good or close to BoGs quality I'd agree.

I don't think that should take anything away from what BOG did.

When the following stories actively hurt the thing that kicked them off, it's kind of hard to ignore, especially since the much vaunted Super Saiyan God is a piece of crap joke as every arc keeps on going and whatever the movie tried to accomplish character-wise meant nothing.

[precita]

Everything from Super is spawned from Beerus/Whis being introduced. So yeah, the movie did pave the way for the entire future of the franchise.

[ABED]

A big reason I don't like many of these series revivals, like Gilmore Girls, is they either keep the characters in stasis from the last time we saw them or they regress them for the sake of an arc, often one they already went through. The best revivals push the characters forward. For instance, in Creed, Rocky isn't doing the same thing he did in previous films. His story fit a man of his age. In Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, the most interesting character is the grandmother because her story was a logical progression of where the character was at that stage in her life. Sure, there are usually stories you can tell, but it's best to give a story proper closure.

[Hellspawn28]

I think the Dragon Ball series should do what the Japanese Godzilla franchise does by taking a break once every generation. We did had a break from 1998-2007 with no material before we got the 2008 Jump Special, Episode of Bardock, the last two movies and Super. People would be burn out if we keep it going on forever.

[ABED]

I think the Dragon Ball series should do what the Japanese Godzilla franchise does by taking a break once every generation. We did had a break from 1998-2007 with no material before we got the 2008 Jump Special, Episode of Bardock, the last two movies and Super. People would be burn out if we keep it going on forever.

Godzilla movies aren't truly about story. It's about monsters smashing shit, but I agree about burn out.

[Xiao Long Li]

It doesn't tell me anything. Pokémon isn't much of a story. The whole premise is to "catch them all." Since new species are created all the time, it can go on infinitely.

The premise of the anime wasn't to capture them all (catch em' all is a dub slogan) nor is it a required aspect in the games. Collecting is certainly an aspect of the franchise but the game stories can be completed with a minimum of one Pokemon. lol

The anime series kept a solid sense of progression until the end of the third series, where they chose to soft-reboot the protagonist and never end his story because it's easier that way (imagine if Goku always reverted back to his child self in the first chapter every arc for no explanation, while at the same time still putting on airs as if past events still happened... loose continuity, basically). One of the manga series Pocket Monsters Special keeps itself going by exploring new arc-based stories with new protagonists every generation and sometimes revisiting old ones without pushing the soft reset button.

There's also more to the Godzilla franchise than just monsters smashing shit similar to how Dragon Ball isn't all about muscle men powering up and punching/kicking/shooting ki blasts at each other, but I don't want to get into that argument right now.

[ABED]

I got the whole Godzilla as an analogy for the atom bomb, etc. but at the end of the day, it's about monsters smashing shit. I've seen the movies. It's really all there is to them. I'm not being cynical, I simply never cared about the human story. I wanted to get to the monster on monster violence.

Point taken about the catch em all thing. I was being a tad reductive, but Pokémon is relatively easy to keep going. You just need new Pokémon. You don't need to change much about it from season to season. It's like sports. Football is football every year, about the only thing that changes is the players.

[SaiyanGod117]

I don't think Dragon Ball is a series that should continue like Pokemon. Two more years of Dragon Ball Super are okay in my book.

Super will probably have a 5 year run at the minimum. It began in 2015, I can easily see it going to 2020.

The Olympics are gonna take place in Tokyo in the year 2020 and Goku is one of the ambassadors. So I can definitely see that as well, Goku's story might not go forever. But the Dragon Ball franchise can, to be honest I can see Goku's story going on forever as well. Marvel, DC, and other companies who have hold of old franchises are constantly writing or rewriting stories for decades. Darth Vader's story technically ended in 1980, yet they keep writing stories about him.

[Xiao Long Li]

I got the whole Godzilla as an analogy for the atom bomb, etc. but at the end of the day, it's about monsters smashing shit. I've seen the movies. It's really all there is to them. I'm not being cynical, I simply never cared about the human story. I wanted to get to the monster on monster violence.

I can understand that, but just because you choose to ignore those parts doesn't mean other people do the same. Cool giant monsters fighting each other or destroying cities is certainly the main draw, but there are folks out there that do welcome fleshing out Godzilla as a character other than "the giant monster that invades Tokyo" or give some depth to the human conflict. At the very least, Shin Godzilla felt like more than just a standard daikaijuu film, with Hideaki Anno providing interesting political and social commentary on recent Japan. In fact, I wouldn't doubt they would totally be standard daikaijuu films if Toho kept shilling them out every year.

The franchise even survives on fighting games during its breaks. Using it as an example of how to maintain franchise longevity for Dragon Ball isn't out there.

[ABED]

I got the whole Godzilla as an analogy for the atom bomb, etc. but at the end of the day, it's about monsters smashing shit. I've seen the movies. It's really all there is to them. I'm not being cynical, I simply never cared about the human story. I wanted to get to the monster on monster violence.

I can understand that, but just because you choose to ignore those parts doesn't mean other people do the same. Cool giant monsters fighting each other or destroying cities is certainly the main draw, but there are folks out there that do welcome fleshing out Godzilla as a character other than "the giant monster that invades Tokyo" or give some depth to the human conflict. At the very least, Shin Godzilla felt like more than just a standard daikaijuu film, with Hideaki Anno providing interesting political and social commentary on recent Japan. In fact, I wouldn't doubt they would totally be standard daikaijuu films if Toho kept shilling them out every year.

The franchise even survives on fighting games during its breaks. Using it as an example of how to maintain franchise longevity for Dragon Ball isn't out there.

I'm not denying that the franchise has social commentary, but the popularity is driven by monster fights and it intermittently has to take a break because I don't think the idea can sustain if it was as frequent as DB or even Bond movies.

[Xiao Long Li]

I got the whole Godzilla as an analogy for the atom bomb, etc. but at the end of the day, it's about monsters smashing shit. I've seen the movies. It's really all there is to them. I'm not being cynical, I simply never cared about the human story. I wanted to get to the monster on monster violence.

I can understand that, but just because you choose to ignore those parts doesn't mean other people do the same. Cool giant monsters fighting each other or destroying cities is certainly the main draw, but there are folks out there that do welcome fleshing out Godzilla as a character other than "the giant monster that invades Tokyo" or give some depth to the human conflict. At the very least, Shin Godzilla felt like more than just a standard daikaijuu film, with Hideaki Anno providing interesting political and social commentary on recent Japan. In fact, I wouldn't doubt they would totally be standard daikaijuu films if Toho kept shilling them out every year.

The franchise even survives on fighting games during its breaks. Using it as an example of how to maintain franchise longevity for Dragon Ball isn't out there.

I'm not denying that the franchise has social commentary, but the popularity is driven by monster fights and it intermittently has to take a break because I don't think the idea can sustain if it was as frequent as DB or even Bond movies.

Super Sentai and Ultraman say hello. Granted Super Sentai's more than just giant monster fights, there are giant robos and superheroes with cool powers shitting out toys every season (and also by Toei), but it's not like Mecha Godzilla wasn't a new idea they experimented with long ago.

[ABED]

I've never seen Ultraman, but I have seen several seasons of Super Sentai and it has the benefit of a new cast and a new story every year.

[Xiao Long Li]

I've never seen Ultraman, but I have seen several seasons of Super Sentai and it has the benefit of a new cast and a new story every year.

Yeah, just pointing out there are multiple ways to refresh any idea given the production has the freedom to do so.