What if Dragon Ball went differently after 1996?

[FPSSJ4_Goku]

The year is 1996. K-Production has just finished animating the last episode, Aoni Production has finished recording the lines, and Toei is done putting it together. The episode airs on TV, and that is the end of Dragon Ball Z. Next week...nothing happens. There is no Dragon Ball GT. No, in this altered history, Toei tried to stave off franchise fatigue and stopped making animated Dragon Ball. Below are some dates:

January 31st, 1996 - the final episode of Dragon Ball Z airs on Fuji TV
Some time in 1997 - Bandai loses the rights to Dragon Ball merchandise
Some time in 2001 or 2002 - Bandai actually gets the rights back, and in November of 2002, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai is released on European shelves for the PlayStation 2. North America gets a release next month, and Japan gets a release in February of 2003.
March 19th, 2003 - the first Dragon Ball Z home release in Japan, the Dragon Boxes, get released, and interest in the franchise starts to rise once more.
from 2003 to 2008, everything goes normally. But in mid 2008, rumors spread that a new Dragon Ball anime series is being made. Toei confirms the rumors to be true, and sets a release date of April 5th, 2009.
April 5th, 2009 - the new show, titled "Dragon Ball Super", airs its first episode on the Dream 9 block, and it's a huge success! It airs until October 2011, ending with the Tournament of Power arc.
Some time in 2012 - a new Dragon Ball movie is announced, focusing on Broly and with Naohiro Shintani working on the movie. Old supervisors, such as Naoki Miyahara, Shingo Ishikawa, Ichio Hayashi, and Kazuya Hisada, would be returning.
March 6th, 2013 - On the 20th anniversary of movie 8's Japanese debut, Dragon Ball Super: Broly is released, and, like its real life counterpart, it's a huge success.
Some time in 2015 - Toei decides to do an anime-only series called Dragon Ball GT, but a few months later it gets its own manga. The story is similar to its 1996 counterpart, with slight changes.
April 26th, 2019 - For the 30th anniversary of Dragon Ball Z's Japanese debut, a refreshed version of the series, Dragon Ball Kai, is released in Japan. It later gets released internationally under the title Dragon Ball Z Kai.

I wrote this in a rush since my laptop will die soon!!!!

[DBZAOTA482]

Not much changes except Dragon Ball might be a little more popular in Japan. GT made Japanese fans lose interest in the franchise which is probably Toei never tried their hands with another anime for all those years.

[FPSSJ4_Goku]

Not much changes except Dragon Ball might be a little more popular in Japan. GT made Japanese fans lose interest in the franchise which is probably why Toei never tried their hands with another anime for all those years.

I thought that the reason people lost interest after GT was because franchise fatigue was starting to kick in, and it started after episode 218 [highest rated episode of Z]. And then it just started to decline...

[MasenkoHA]

Not much changes except Dragon Ball might be a little more popular in Japan. GT made Japanese fans lose interest in the franchise

This seems pretty based on nothing. GT's ratings didn't fall off that much and Toei started selling the dragon boxes a mere six years later.

[DBZAOTA482]

I thought that the reason people lost interest after GT was because franchise fatigue was starting to kick in, and it started after episode 218 [highest rated episode of Z]. And then it just started to decline...

The Bebi arc, Super 17 arc, and Shadow Dragon arc were all better received than the Black Star Dragon Ball arc but the damage was already done.

The Boo arc lost ratings because it dragged like a mofo and sidelined Gohan who was being built up as the new hero.

This seems pretty based on nothing. GT's ratings didn't fall off that much and Toei started selling the dragon boxes a mere six years later.

A 40% drop off is pretty drastic and the Dragon Boxes were released was because of the rise of DVD/home video.

[MasenkoHA]

[q. and sidelined Gohan who was being built up as the new hero.

Again, this is you coming from nothing. Ratings were starting to fall before Gohan got sidelined. There is no evidence Japanese viewers were abandoning the show because of Gohan's diminishing importance

A 40% drop off is pretty drastic and the Dragon Boxes were released was because of the rise of DVD/home video.

Ratings were in flux. There was no consistent fall. The last episode was only a percent lower in viewership than the first. The series averaged 14 percent. For a decade old series that is actually really good. Sailor Moon struggled to average 12 percent in its hey day.

Your assertion GT caused a loss of interest in Dragon Ball in Japan is absolutely baseless.

[DBZAOTA482]

Again, this is you coming from nothing. Ratings were starting to fall before Gohan got sidelined. There is no evidence Japanese viewers were abandoning the show because of Gohan's diminishing importance

Except for the fact that the ratings started to fall literally the very episode it was revealed Gohan got weaker and kept dropping.

Ratings were in flux. There was no consistent fall. The last episode was only a percent lower in viewership than the first. The series averaged 14 percent. For a decade old series that is actually really good. Sailor Moon struggled to average 12 percent in its hey day.

Your assertion GT caused a loss of interest in Dragon Ball in Japan is absolutely baseless.

It was good by most other standards but not good for Dragon Ball.

GT's ratings were at its lowest mid-way through the first arc when the viewers realized what it was about. It was a bit better when they decided to stick exclusively to Z's action-oriented storytelling but it never fully recovered.

[MasenkoHA]

Again, this is you coming from nothing. Ratings were starting to fall before Gohan got sidelined. There is no evidence Japanese viewers were abandoning the show because of Gohan's diminishing importance

Except for the fact that the ratings started to fall literally the very episode it was revealed Gohan got weaker and kept dropping.

The episodes immediately following it had better ratings. Right then and there your argument is bullshit. There is absolutely zero proof that the ratings drop off had anything to do with Gohan.

GT's ratings were at its lowest mid-way through the first arc when the viewers realized what it was about. It was a bit better when they decided to stick exclusively to Z's action-oriented storytelling but it never fully recovered.

And it had also picked up after that. Contradicting your baseless assertion that GT in and of itself cause a loss of interest in Dragon Ball.

[DBZAOTA482]

The episodes immediately following it had better ratings. Right then and there your argument is bullshit. There is absolutely zero proof that the ratings drop off had anything to do with Gohan.

No they did not. The ratings kept dropping (not a complete downfall mind you but a consistent trend). And it's not just because of Gohan. It dragged very bad in the anime too and the arc itself isn't very written due to Toriyama's fatigue.

And it had also picked up after that. Contradicting your baseless assertion that GT in and of itself cause a loss of interest in Dragon Ball.

Not really. The first few episodes of GT were some of the highest ratings the franchise had seen for awhile, but they rapidly declined as the arc went along. The other arcs also had increasingly low ratings at average.

I'm not just blaming GT. Dragon Ball in general was already declining in popularity during the Majin Boo arc. GT was just another nail in the coffin.

[WittyUsername]

I have no clue what the state of the franchise would be like without GT, although there is something I’m curious about; was it common for studios to decide to keep an anime going after the manga had already ended? Certain anime like Fist of the North Star (which was also produced by Toei) and Yu Yu Hakusho actually ended without even adapting the final chapters of their respective manga, so it’s a bit interesting that Toei decided to extend Dragon Ball past the manga’s lifespan.

[Majin Buu]

[q. and sidelined Gohan who was being built up as the new hero.

Again, this is you coming from nothing. Ratings were starting to fall before Gohan got sidelined. There is no evidence Japanese viewers were abandoning the show because of Gohan's diminishing importance

Sounds more like it's coming from wanting to push a narrative about Gohan.

[MasenkoHA]

No they did not.

Yes. Yes they did. "A wicked heart is discovered. Dabra's Good Idea" had a viewership of 18 .5 percent. The following two episodes had viewership of 19.4 and 19.1 percent.

In fact, my mistake the following four episodes after the episode establishing Gohan wasn't as strong as he used to be had higher ratings. https://www.kanzenshuu.com/episode/dbz/list/

Not really. The first few episodes of GT were some of the highest ratings the franchise had seen for awhile, but they rapidly declined as the arc went along. The other arcs also had increasingly low ratings at average.

The first few episodes of GT still had lower ratings than the last two episodes of Z

I'm not just blaming GT. Dragon Ball in general was already declining in popularity during the Majin Boo arc. GT was just another nail in the coffin.

Declining in popularity =/= loss of interest. Clearly Toei felt there was enough interest to make their own series independent of an existing manga. Again, a 14 percent average is actually solid ratings. Kai and Super wish they could have pulled those numbers. There's no correlation to GT ending and a loss of interest.

[DBZAOTA482]

In fact, my mistake the following four episodes after the episode establishing Gohan wasn't as strong as he used to be had higher ratings. https://www.kanzenshuu.com/episode/dbz/list/

No they did not:

https://www.kanzenshuu.com/episode/dbz/eps-219/
https://www.kanzenshuu.com/episode/dbz/eps-220/
https://www.kanzenshuu.com/episode/dbz/eps-221/
https://www.kanzenshuu.com/episode/dbz/eps-222/
https://www.kanzenshuu.com/episode/dbz/eps-223/

The first few episodes of GT still had lower ratings than the last two episodes of Z

It were still some of the highest in awhile. Also, GT was probably announced by the end of Z so it might've gotten some people to tune.

Declining in popularity =/= loss of interest. Clearly Toei felt there was enough interest to make their own series independent of an existing manga. Again, a 14 percent average is actually solid ratings. Kai and Super wish they could have pulled those numbers. There's no correlation to GT ending and a loss of interest.

Yeah, the point is that it wasn't that the Japanese viewers were sick of Dragon Ball. Obviously not as the Kanzenban and PS2 games wouldn't have sold as well as they did.

It's just the series jumped the shark in many people's eyes during the Boo arc and its performance reflected it.

Kei17, a known Japanese member of this site, can confirm this.