Change one thing about a Dragon Ball series and make it better

[Matches Malone]

The original manga: Toriyama should've been given more time off to avoid getting burned out, especially between the longer arcs of Z.

DB: They could cut out some of the inappropriate scenes.

Z: I would've preferred for them to produce original arcs instead of extended the manga's arcs.

GT: They shouldn't have started it right after Z, but rather waited a few years in order to properly plan and revise everything.

Kai: This should've started with the original DB.

Kai TFC: I would've liked to see more content cut out, especially between Vegeta's sacrifice and Gotenks' main fight.

Super: It should've gotten the average 6-9 month production period, not 3 months.

[goku the krump dancer]

DB - Shorten the Red Ribbon arc a bit, Muscle Tower and The Tao stuff is great but General Blue's portion drags on a bit too long as well as some of the more "One off" moments that I cant specifically pin point at the moment.

GT - Keep a serious tone throughout the entire Shadow Dragon arc. Trying to incorporate more slapstick silly humor into it after ignoring it post the first 16 episodes not only felt random but cheapened the threat that they were supposed to be. I also would've had everyone participate since it wasnt just Goku who went to find and use them. If anything he only ever cared about the 4 Star Ball because its a memento from his "Grand Pa". the humor doesn't work because the head writers of GT don't really understand Toriyama's humor and comedic timing, so they couldnt recreate the Silly but serious threatening feeling that Boo had. The only time I genuinely laughed in GT is when Goku ate the dragon ball.

Also either get rid off or completely rework the Super 17 arc.

That would be a way to improve Super - get rid of Freeza. No Saturday Morning Cartoon villains.

And THIS, ALL OF THIS!. Granted I've enjoyed the way Freeza was written in the Tournament of Power and Broly. He's had tremendous growth as a character while still remaining an evil bastard BUT I'd still much prefer him to have stayed dead.

I think I'd nix the Broli movie too. So far with the Moro arc and Granolah storyline its had no lasting impact on the story, nothing was gained or lost so it might as well have not happened at all.

Also I'd have Zamasu be a Makaioshin instead of a random Kai going rogue. A negative character arc can work well enough but I'd save that for something like Granolah as opposed to having a Kai do it. To me, it's just better off having the good gods stay.. well, good. Further more I'd have Zamasu WISH for a body like Goku's instead of swapping bodies with him, it'll help save us from a good chunk of the time traveling nonsense.

[Shaddy]

DB - cut the Roshi sexual assault antics and the pedophilia and misogyny and such. I guess you should cut that out of the whole franchise though. I'll also then say that I think the Red Ribbon arc is a little long and meandering, and I wouldn't miss most of the Arale stuff. Part of that is me having no real affection for Dr. Slump as a series, but it just feels out of place in Dragon Ball's world.

Z - Either find something for the rest of the cast to do or stop bringing them in all the time. It doesn't have a lot of impact to see Super Buu slaughter most of the supporting characters when the extent of their presence in the series has been filling out the backgrounds.

Super - For fuck's sake, connect things to each other. All five arcs and the movie feel like they were written at the same time, and then given connective tissue and minor character moments after the fact. I hear the manga's been doing better with that recently, but it's a lot harder for me to care when everything the TV series covered was either half-finished or half-assed in the manga.

GT - Just have Goku stay an adult, honestly. The show's still bad, but it wouldn't feel like as much of a regression. Fixing the rest of it takes more than "changing one thing", after all.

Heroes - I dunno, make it stop existing? Force the creative team at gunpoint to put even a smidgen of Dragon Ball's charm or personality in there? Package every episode or chapter with a suicide hotline? Take your pick.

[Desassina]

That would be a way to improve Super - get rid of Freeza. No Saturday Morning Cartoon villains.

And THIS, ALL OF THIS!. Granted I've enjoyed the way Freeza was written in the Tournament of Power and Broly. He's had tremendous growth as a character while still remaining an evil bastard BUT I'd still much prefer him to have stayed dead.

I don't get it. It is one thing to say that I would not like Freeza to return before Resurrection of F (and during the movie perhaps), but to say that he should stay dead after enjoying his depiction in two consecutive arcs (one of them being an episode run and the other a movie) begs the question on whether it's a preference for the sake of it, or justified despite the fact that you enjoyed his latest appearance. And in hindsight, Resurrection of F was his reintroduction for the development that he was about to get, so I can forgive Toriyama for bringing him back after all those years in the original Dragon Ball manga. What's the problem? People enjoyed his presence, but want him to stay dead, just because...? This is weird.

[SupremeKai25]

Less slice of life after the Future Trunks arc. I'm referring to the 10 or so episodes of slice of life and then the 20 episodes of Recruiment for the ToP, which were just unnecessary. The manga TOP rightfully gets trashed by the fandom, but if there's one thing it did right was skip most of the Recruitment phase, and not pretend that fodder like Krillin or Tien was going to be relevant.

Very weird pacing honestly, there's 30+ episodes between the end of the Future Trunks arc and the beginning of the Tournament of Power that could have been cut or reduced, as they are mostly slice of life.

Like I know some people really enjoyed the Gohan and Videl episodes or the Baseball episode, but to be honest I didn't... the baseball episode was funny, especially with that Yamcha reference at the end, but that's it. I'd rather just get to the stuff that matters. If I wanted to watch people messing around I'd go watch a high school anime.

This is for Super of course.

Also I'd have Zamasu be a Makaioshin instead of a random Kai going rogue. A negative character arc can work well enough but I'd save that for something like Granolah as opposed to having a Kai do it. To me, it's just better off having the good gods stay.. well, good. Further more I'd have Zamasu WISH for a body like Goku's instead of swapping bodies with him, it'll help save us from a good chunk of the time traveling nonsense.

Honestly I doubt Granolah will end up like Zamasu did. Zamasu had no connection with the protagonists, only Gowasu as his teacher could sympathize with him, so he died unrepentant. But Granolah has clear connections with Vegeta, and coincidentally Vegeta is also feeling regretful for the crimes committed by the saiyans, so there's a 99% chance that Granolah won't stay a villain by the end of the arc but be redeemed instead. Meaning that he won't have a full negative arc like Zamasu.

I like Zamasu as a Supreme Kai gone rogue, he's meant to be the Satan of the DB verse. A good angel who fell from grace and rebelled against the other Gods. The concept would fail if he had been born as an evil demon.

[ABED]

That would be a way to improve Super - get rid of Freeza. No Saturday Morning Cartoon villains.

And THIS, ALL OF THIS!. Granted I've enjoyed the way Freeza was written in the Tournament of Power and Broly. He's had tremendous growth as a character while still remaining an evil bastard BUT I'd still much prefer him to have stayed dead.

I don't get it. It is one thing to say that I would not like Freeza to return before Resurrection of F (and during the movie perhaps), but to say that he should stay dead after enjoying his depiction in two consecutive arcs (one of them being an episode run and the other a movie) begs the question on whether it's a preference for the sake of it, or justified despite the fact that you enjoyed his latest appearance. And in hindsight, Resurrection of F was his reintroduction for the development that he was about to get, so I can forgive Toriyama for bringing him back after all those years in the original Dragon Ball manga. What's the problem? People enjoyed his presence, but want him to stay dead, just because...? This is weird.

Sometimes less is more. It doesn't always follow that if you like something you should get more of it. Often we like something so much because it isn't done all the time. DB's big bads were often one and done with the exception of Piccolo and Vegeta who eventually became heroes.

[Desassina]

That is the reason why Freeza is still a villain in the backstage while Vegeta and Piccolo became allies. It allows him to retain his status when as a dead person he would be a non factor. Perhaps now you understand why I want some things to remain constant threats, but not as "saturday morning cartoon villains", because their development doesn't have to happen on screen/panel. We end up learning what they were doing with their sudden appearance.

[ABED]

That is the reason why Freeza is still a villain in the backstage while Vegeta and Piccolo became allies. It allows him to retain his status when as a dead person he would be a non factor. Perhaps now you understand why I want some things to remain constant threats, but not as "saturday morning cartoon villains", because their development doesn't have to happen on screen/panel. We end up learning what they were doing with their sudden appearance.

Not really. I don't at all get why you want them to remain constant threats. Both sides end up looking incompetent after a while if they can't put the other away permanently. He was effective in the original arc, but that aura is gone. He's just not as interesting when he's all "I'll get you next time, Goku!"

[Desassina]

It was interesting, because he developed things so that Broly could fight Goku and Vegeta, and I seriously don't get why you're so against getting more of it when he haven't gotten anything new at all. He's not in the Moro arc, I haven't seen him in Granola's premise, and Freeza's deal was of no concern to Gods, so why would Goku care about letting him live, when he probably wants to fight him stronger? You're judging Dragon Ball with respect to the standards of fiction in general. Just remember that it's a Japanese piece of an author's work. One where Goku mourned Freeza's death on Namek instead of being the righteous hero in the anime that you're probably confusing him with.

[ABED]

It was interesting, because he developed things so that Broly could fight Goku and Vegeta, and I seriously don't get why you're so against getting more of it when he haven't gotten anything new at all. He's not in the Moro arc, I haven't seen him in Granola's premise, and Freeza's deal was of no concern to Gods, so why would Goku care about letting him live, when he probably wants to fight him stronger? You're judging Dragon Ball with respect to the standards of fiction in general. Just remember that it's a Japanese piece of an author's work. One where Goku mourned Freeza's death on Namek instead of being the righteous hero in the anime that you're probably confusing him with.

Because I don't find him as interesting anymore. He was great as the unstoppable emperor of the universe who feared he would be overthrown, now he's like any other recurring villain. I haven't confused Goku with anything. i know he's not a righteous hero. I don't see how that's relevant to why I'm tired of Freeza. He's had his day. I'd like to see the story move past him jut like it move past the other antagonists.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

DBZ: In the Saiyan arc inverse the order in which characters die when fighting Nappa, so Piccolo goes out first, followed by Chaotzu and Tenshinhan and finally Yamcha. Taking out the stronger fighter first and leaving less stronger ones on the defensive line would have made for better tension.

DBGT: After unlocking Super Saiyan 4 transformation, Goku recovers his adult body. Him beind child just didn't add much to the story so better bring him back in shape.

DBSuper: In the Ressurection F Arc Whish and Beerus don't get involved in the conflict and the group try to fix the destruction of Earth and death of people with another alternative mean, that's not reversing back time.

[PurestEvil]

DB: tone down the creepy sex stuff
DBZ: restructure the Cell Games arc to make it feel MORE natural
GT: Let Pan grow tf up
Super: get rid of the shitty anime retellings (I would push the reveal of SSJ blue until the U6 Tournament, but technically RoF was a DBZ film)

[BWri]

DB: I wouldn't rush to always have Goku fight "the strongest guy."

DBZ: Lessen the power gaps or simply add more creativity to fights so fighters aren't completely useless when facing strong opponents.

Super: Streamline Saiyan transformations (SSG replaces all mortal SS forms). No SSB. SSG refers to all the new Saiyan God forms. The SSG forms are all red with a fire motif and each form adds modifiers to various attacks. UI Omen is UI (no changing hair colors)

GT: Alter Pan's personality (introduce more battle maniac/martial artist traits and innocent optimism) and make her the protagonist.

More stuff:

Spoiler:

DB: I'd revel in the adventure more so Goku could meet more strong guys and slowly climb up the totem pole. I'd have Ox King and Chi-chi take a more active role and show off that Ox-King does know some of Muten Roshi's turtle school techniques. Goku. Give more weight to Goku's RR killing spree. Maybe this is what makes him become the overly merciful Goku we all know later on. Add even more emphasis on the importance of technique and mastery so that battles don't devolve into who's number is higher.

DBZ: Have the earthlings and Piccolo not be so hopeless versus Nappa. Keep Chi-chi as a somewhat active fighter. Again, don't rush to face the strongest guy (Frieza). A couple of arcs in space against other generals in Freeza's army could have been even more satisfying than what we got. Have the earthlings be visibly better fighters after training with Kaio including access to many of his techniques. Keep Tien as a rival to Goku (in his own way). Age Gohan up just a little bit more so he's not slightly older than a Toddler. Around 7 at the start is good then space things out so he's around 14-15 when he fights Cell. Give each character a touch of common sense during the Cell arc.

Super: Flesh out the movie retellings for a more cohesive story but remove bloat. Flesh out all the arcs so that we aren't always rushing to the fights (U6 needs it the most). God ki means something and without it, mortals cannot hope to defeat someone divine. RoF is initiated by Champa to distract Beerus from his presence in U7. It's Vados who trains Freeza which dovetails into RoF and then U6 right after.

GT: Don't de-age Goku. Add more martial arts choreography. Have some episodes focusing on the lives of the other cast, but mostly keep them off doing their own thing and helping only when things get truly out of control. Have Pan learn something from each of the previous Z-fighters.

[90sDBZ]

It's actually surprisingly hard to think of anything for OG DB, and I'm someone who prefers Z. I would say ditch the messed up stuff with General Blue, although both English dubs already did by having him mistake that kid for his long lost brother.

For Z the filler is the main thing that comes to mind, but Kai already addressed that. I guess I'd do more to forshadow Gohan throughout the Android/Cell saga like with Goku on Namek.

GT could have benifitted from letting the other characters like Gohan, Goten, Vegeta, and Uub do more against the Shadow Dragons.

For Super I'd make Goku less of a caricature, and stop sacrificing his character for cheap gags like saying he's never kissed his wife.

[OmegaRockman]

I'm gonna assume that "redub it" doesn't count (which is the first thing I'd do for the first three series).

DB - Tone down the added sexual humor in filler, which would include removing the Obotchaman scene.

DBZ - I don't know how to really improve things here other than the pacing, and Kai covers that already. So I guess my response here is "Watch Kai instead?"

GT - Cut down the Ultimate DB hunt by a lot, especially the Dolltaki stuff and Pan getting molested by a deer. There's some really gross shit in that first arc.

Kai - Use of the OG music from the getgo - I mean Cha-La as the opening (I love Dragon Soul but Cha-La is better), a better placed Kikuchi score, Unmei no Hi. I'm fine with also keeping the new insert songs (they're all largely great IMO), but having new versions of the old songs and more variety in the BGM in general would be a great compliment.

Kai: TFC - Even as a big fan of Boo Kai, I recognize that there are tons of problems that solving just one won't fix (though the same can be said of GT). If I had to pick one, though, it would be removing more filler. Not in the haphazard way that the Japanese cut did it, though, but in a way that gives the series room to breathe while also sticking true to the goal of Kai in the first place. In particular I'd want the Hell filler gone, because not only does it pad the last episodes unnecessarily, but it also causes continuity headaches with Resurrection F and later Super. I still prefer Kai TFC over Boo Z, but the difference is a lot more narrow compared to Kai vs. Z Saiyan to Cell.

Super - I'm really tempted to murder that godawful Tenshinhan recruitment episode and replace it with a better version that doesn't contain the worst Muten Roshi scenes (he was bad in the past, but that episode was particularly bad), but I have to go with gutting the movie retellings. I have never been more irritated with new DB content than those terrible wastes of time. It especially sucks since the original movies are legitimately great (F less so than BoG, but still a fun time at the movies nonetheless). We spent SIX MONTHS ON THAT SHIT, time that could've been spent on preproduction instead of giving us worse versions of stories that we very recently saw and thus never asked for.

[super michael]

DB - NA

DBZ - No Zenkai, since that made the Saiyans too broken and made the others useless. Everyone gains Kaioken, to keep up with the Saiyans.

DBGT - Pan isn't written to be a damsel in distress and gains Super Saiyan 1, 2 and 3. Trunks also gains Super Saiyan 2 and 3. Both Pan and Trunks contributes more.

DBS Manga - stop excluding Goten and Trunks. They should age their characters.

DBS Anime - Tone down the gag, don't make the character regress and downgrading them. Example of this is Goku and Chi Chi. Don't show and hype Goten and Trunks to be excited to fight, train and help if they are going to be forbidden. Stop excluding Goten and Trunks.
They should age their characters.

[MasenkoHA]

Original Dragon Ball- Remove the Roshi sexual assault. He can still be horny old man just no need for him trying to grab women’s ass and tits while they’re preoccupied or knocked up

Dragon Ball Z- Produce lengthier filler material on the journey to namek not just the characters journey to Namek but episodes showing the dead Z warriors going on snakeway and their misadventures on the way, some earth bound stories focusing on characters like Roshi and Chi Chi. That way we don’t have a 20 episode long Goku vs Freeza fight


Dragon Ball GT- Replace Pan with Goten.

Dragon Ball Super- Dump Super Saiyan Blue. It makes Super Saiyan God so damn useless

[Koitsukai]

DB: get rid of the perv stuff, or get Roshi killed, I don't care, nothing would be lost until the ToP happens anyway. Or get him reformed, although that might give the wrong message, the DBs can do just about anything.

DBZ: can't think of anything, I like it as it is. Without Roshi, there's no perv stuff until Rou Kaio shin is a thing.

DBGT: Goku regains his adult body after unlocking SS4, the Kid Goku joke outstayed its welcome. Pan gets treated right (SS or ultimate, her rage outbursts actually do something, let her defeat somebody, even if it only happens by the final arc)

DBS: stop wanking Beerus, go past EoZ. Change, even if slightly, the children's looks.

SDBH: go fucking crazy with it. Bring people from other universes, fuse people together, fight the GoDs, blend continuities together(GT vs DBS), have Zamasu fight Vegeta Baby I don't know.

[sunsetshimmer]

Dragon Ball GT- Replace Pan with Goten.

This is something i will never agree with. Cast was perfect imo, Pan just should've gotten a bit more contribution to fights. We don't get many female fighters in DB, let alone one being primary character. Also, i'm afraid bringing Goten would end up them fusing all the time and not existing without each other which would be no different from DBZ/DBS. Splitting them helped them become characters on their own, especially Trunks who found his own role in a team, while Goten has gotten his first (and sadly only so far) fight against main villain. Them hanging out together works when they're kids, but for adult versions i kinda prefer them finding their own things to do.

[MyVisionity]

DB: No Chichi/Ox filler. Let her show up at the Budoukai after years of not being seen.
Remove Tenshinhan from the pre-22nd Budoukai filler. And do that filler arc without jumping ahead three years at the end.
No Taopaipai climbs Karin Tower during that fight.

DBZ: Replace single-story filler arcs with one and done filler episodes. The exception being maybe a Three Eyed Clan arc featuring Tenshinhan and Lunch.
Let Bulma and Trunks have the same hair color, whichever it may be.
More holiday themed episodes, maybe some featuring Roshi as Santa Claus with Oolong as his little helper.
Another TV special during the Boo saga, maybe featuring the Kaioshin/Bibbidi/Boo backstory.
More high school episodes and more episodes later in the Boo arc featuring Erasa and Sharpner.
More nudity maybe, especially in the movies.

Not sure about GT...

Super and beyond: Bring back Sharpner and Erasa, bring back Lunch. More Oozaru forms, Piccolo giant form, and giant mecha for the Earthlings. Traveling through dreams.