DBGT's Animation/Artstyle/Color Scheme Looks Old?

[ATA]

Howdy,

I know the title of the topic is a lor (lor = little in Baltimore Creole) convoluted, I just get artstyle and animation confused sometimes so I just wanted to be sure. Now onto the topic.

Is it me or does DBGT look older than DBZ and even Dragon Ball in some episodes? Is it because the color scheme of DBGT makes it look dated? When I rewatch DB-DBZ, I think DBZ animation and artstyle aged nicely in my opinion. I would't say it's on par with modern anime but I think it still looks good. Dragon Ball looks dated but in a good classical way. Especially during the 3 Tenkaichi Budokai arcs. However when rewatching DBGT scenes...it looks hella old at times. Dare I say bland? I'm not saying DBGT didn't have moments where the animation/artstyle was giving what it's supposed to give (Goku turning to a Golden Ape, SSJ4 Dragon Fist on 3 Star Dragon, etc). However I just feel like DBGT as a whole just feels older than what it actually is. Even DBGT's music felt older than Shunsuke Kikuchi (RIP) music for DB-DBZ. What do you guys think?

Honroable Mention:
I do love Path To Power's animation. It has the same color sceme as DBGT so maybe I can't blame DBGT's dated apperance on the color. But I do love how Path To Power looked. It was Bulma having purple hair for me . And Yamcha's wolf fang fist was giving vicious.

[Majin Man 101]

Howdy,

I know the title of the topic is a lor (lor = little in Baltimore Creole) convoluted, I just get artstyle and animation confused sometimes so I just wanted to be sure. Now onto the topic.

Is it me or does DBGT look older than DBZ and even Dragon Ball in some episodes? Is it because the color scheme of DBGT makes it look dated? When I rewatch DB-DBZ, I think DBZ animation and artstyle aged nicely in my opinion. I would't say it's on par with modern anime but I think it still looks good. Dragon Ball looks dated but in a good classical way. Especially during the 3 Tenkaichi Budokai arcs. However when rewatching DBGT scenes...it looks hella old at times. Dare I say bland? I'm not saying DBGT didn't have moments where the animation/artstyle was giving what it's supposed to give (Goku turning to a Golden Ape, SSJ4 Dragon Fist on 3 Star Dragon, etc). However I just feel like DBGT as a whole just feels older than what it actually is. Even DBGT's music felt older than Shunsuke Kikuchi (RIP) music for DB-DBZ. What do you guys think?

Honroable Mention:
I do love Path To Power's animation. It has the same color sceme as DBGT so maybe I can't blame DBGT's dated apperance on the color. But I do love how Path To Power looked. It was Bulma having purple hair for me . And Yamcha's wolf fang fist was giving vicious.

Ajay has covered this before in his animation breakdowns. I can’t remember all the details but someone who worked on a bunch of mech anime also worked on GT if I’m not mistaken. It does very much have a feel of a mid 80s anime Color scheme sometimes despite it coming out in 1996.

I agree the Color’s used in Dragon Ball and Z are timeless. They did a great job.


And maybe this deserves a thread of its own but Tokunagas music score for GT is VASTLY inferior to the classic Kikuchi.

It sounds poorly mixed and artificial a lot of the time, like as if it was done on a CASIO keyboard or something.

[TheGreatness25]

I don't know if the colors look "old," but they do look more dull and dreary. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z had fun, bright, vibrant colors that popped, while GT was like... depressing almost. And Funimation played into that perfectly with their dreary, unexciting music. I think that Funimation's end credits were a perfect representation of what the series felt like in general, even though the Japanese version had lighter music. It just felt "blah" to watch, honestly.

It's going to sound weird, but this is what I associate the look and feel of GT with: you know how when you were a kid, there were those nights when you're just in your room, it's 6pm but it's pitch black outside, and you're doing some homework assignment that you don't want to be doing? That's how I feel watching GT. It's really sad and I think a lot of that is just the look of the show.

I don't have a particular problem with anything in GT, but it did always give of an unfun feel.

[BernardoCairo]

I always thought that it looked old and uncanny, which is funny because the series is set in a bright future after Boo. Probably because of the dull and dreary colors TheGreatness25 mentioned. It has this almost depression feel to it. It just doesn't look like Dragon Ball. I look at it and see "GT", not "Dragon Ball" (even if GT is Dragon Ball, but you got it...)
Also, there's this great emphasis on machinery. Nice to know that a mecha artist worked on it. No jokes, it reminds me a bit of Nadia for some unknown reason XD

[ABED]

I wouldn't use the term "depressing". "Melancholic" feels more fitting. Even the music has a beautiful but melancholic feel to it. And yes, GT looks/feels like a slightly older series than its predecessor.

[Hellspawn28]

Many people felt the same way too. GT's color scheme always look odd considering how bright and colorful the other DB shows were. It's like they want GT to feel darker than the other two shows, but end up making GT feel more childish than DB and DBZ did IMO.

[coola]

Path of Power had similar problem, it worked great during moodier parts, like Muscle Tower, but even scenes in daylight and on flower field felt dark and moody

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

[jjgp1112]

Dragon Ball GT just looks ugly... and of course, there's those damn mustard yellow pants on Goku. Nothing's worse than mustard yellow.

[eledoremassis02]

GT always gave that "U.S version of Dragon Ball" feel.

[ABED]

Dragon Ball GT just looks ugly... and of course, there's those damn mustard yellow pants on Goku. Nothing's worse than mustard yellow.

Dwight Schrute wants a word with you.

I don't mind mustard yellow but the color scheme doesn't work for Goku.

GT always gave that "U.S version of Dragon Ball" feel.

This is about as succinct of an explanation of why the show feels off from the other series.

[MasenkoHA]

GT always gave that "U.S version of Dragon Ball" feel.

Especially Super Saiyan 4 which always felt like Funimation personally designed it as part of their reversioning of Z

[eledoremassis02]

GT always gave that "U.S version of Dragon Ball" feel.

Especially Super Saiyan 4 which always felt like Funimation personally designed it as part of their reversioning of Z

GT reminds me a lot of the later seasons of the 80s Ninja Turtles cartoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIg4YeuKJlI

[MasenkoHA]

Even DBGT's music felt older than Shunsuke Kikuchi (RIP) music for DB-DBZ. What do you guys think?

I disagree. Tokunaga's score felt much more contemporary than Kikuchi's score. Kikuchi has been accused of being out of style even back then. To me this isn't a weakness against his music but a strength since Dragon Ball was suppose to be a throwback to 70s chop socky films. Ones starring Jackie Chan in particular.

Q: Since this volume is a story guide, I thought that I'd ask you about things relating to DragonBall's story. First of all, why did you begin the story of DragonBall?
A: I had just ended "Dr. Slump", and for the time being I was thinking about what I should do for my next serialized work. I had many meetings with my editor at the time, Torishima-san. As it happened, at that time I loved Jacky Chan's movies and had seen "Drunken Master" dozens of times. Since I liked that sort of thing, Torishima-san advised me to try and make a kung-fu shounen manga, so I drew a one-shot called "Dragon Boy". That got an incredibly positive response from the readers, so I decided to go that route for my next serialized work

Shunsuke Kikuchi was the only composer who felt truly in sync with Toriyama's influences more so than any other Dragon Ball composer in Japan or the USA.

Tokunaga's music is fine but it doesn't feel much different than a lot of other 90s anime soundtracks to my ears. I guess that can contribute to making it feel more dated NOW. Much in the same way Faulconer's music felt modern at the time but is so ridiculously dated now to the late 90s/turn of the millennium

I do love Path To Power's animation. It has the same color sceme as DBGT so maybe I can't blame DBGT's dated apperance on the color. But I do love how Path To Power looked. It was Bulma having purple hair for me . And Yamcha's wolf fang fist was giving vicious.

Path to Power is a gorgeous film and it makes me wonder if the GT had a reduced budget from Dragon Ball and Z? Like you said similar color scheme and art direction but the difference is night and days between the movie and GT.

[Hellspawn28]

I hate the sky colors in the Shadow Dragon saga. It always look like vomit to me.

[Pride9000!!!]

To my knowledge og db/Z had various different animation studios working on it. That's why you saw sometimes excellent looking episodes and sometimes laughably bad animation/art style. While GT had mostly one consistent animation studio working on it.

As far as the colours are concerned the colours do look very vibrant if you look at the cels https://i.imgur.com/dMPrkO0.jpg and not the home releases. Of course they are not gonna look the same as og db/z because they're going for a different story.

[Cursed Lemon]

Agree with the prevailing sentiment. DBGT is just straight up dingy.

[Ashur]

It's not that it looks old, but that it looks blander than DB/Z, because they made the animation much more consistent given it was more in-house and on-model than Z, it ultimately made the good animation episodes average and the "bad animation" episodes sub-par, which meant that overall it didin't hit as hard as the previous two series.

But i think you also just don't like the color schemes they used, they had a different, other-worldy feel in GT which included changing some color schemes frequently used, far more heavy use of purples, cyans, etc. on top of the different character designs such as Goku having more brown-ish skin, which resulted in a different look altogether color-wise, i like it, but it is definetly different than the original two series, even considering Z had some different coloration than DB, it wasn't anything major and it ultimately stayed consistent.

So it is a mix between the color schemes not clicking with you + the episodes not being as varied in animation styles and more bland.

[Luso Saiyan]

It's going to sound weird, but this is what I associate the look and feel of GT with: you know how when you were a kid, there were those nights when you're just in your room, it's 6pm but it's pitch black outside, and you're doing some homework assignment that you don't want to be doing? That's how I feel watching GT. It's really sad and I think a lot of that is just the look of the show.

That came out of nowhere but it's a perfect description of the mood/state of mind that GT evokes with that color palette. I get what you're saying.

[ABED]

I don't. I get the feeling of not wanting to do your homework, but I'm not sure how that applies to GT.

[Saiya6Cit]

I get what you mean.

Even the choice color for the SSJ4 is kind of an... not common color.

Back in those days, animated drawings were inked (or Xeroxed) onto clear plastic cells, then the cells were flipped over and painted on the back, so colors were carefully mixed, maybe those paints were cheaper? Maybe they just wanted DBGT to look really different from DBZ?