God, this was a long time coming.
Ok, firstly, I'll be honest; I prefer the DBZ kind of Dragon Ball, with powerful fights, earth-threatening, amazing villains, and some humor interspersed, but when it's time to get serious, it gets really serious, with blood, deaths in the main cast (even though we know they'll be back by next saga) and surpassing really strong opponents...
I prefer that to OG DB style stories, which I understand, have their place in the fandom, but I just don't dig Toriyama's humor that much, and I don't watch Dragon Ball to get a good laugh, but mostly to be amazed...I also don't mind much stuff like animation (more interested in choreography than animation), as in, I loved the dbz-era fights where characters where just points crashing on each other, and you just had to imagine both of them fighting; i love well-animated battles, but I can also enjoy a lot a battle that is not like really-well executed or animated (in fact the bad animation at the beginning of Super didn't do much to change my opinion of it). Having said that:
GT:
Actual sequel with grown up characters, new designs for the z warriors, plenty of years passed, bold new ideas, amazing execution in many places, awesome ost...The series starts a bit low after the first couple episodes, with alien fodder here and there (still better designed in many cases than Super and Daima's fodder) and the premise of going back to Dragon Ball's roots but this time exploring the galaxy...As I said, the childish version of DB is not my cup of tea, and besides, this arc was certainly worse executed than OGDB, but soon enough, Baby appears, a sole parasite that, just by himself, fucks the entire earth and most z warriors, using his brains no less (Base Baby couldn't even beat Goten, prob). Shit hits the fan, the show gets serious and actually quite dark, we get to see former friends and family suddenly become slaves to a vengeful alien, and actually become threats to Goku..I mean, the scene of Videl kicking Pan was brutal.
I also loved how progessively Baby takes a hold of Earth defenders, and the design of Vegeta Baby's final form is just amazing. Also, Oozarus were back into the picture (something that Super removed in favor of SSj), Trunks and Pan got the spotlight (I particularly enjoyed how mature Trunks was in comparison to his young self), Goku had a tail again, people die and it matters (krillin, piccolo) and Ssj 4 was one of the best things that had happened to the franchise, period.
It had its lows, too, sure, like Uub not doing much (though I loved his design), Pan not getting ssj in the entirety of the series, and, sure, the battles themselves where not like the best ever. But I did like villains like Rilldo, Mutchy or Ledgic, and the whole saga was pretty bold in its ideas and concepts. I remember getting chills the first time I saw Baby manifest on Earth. I don't know, that whole part was just really well-done. And then Gohan noticing that something's wrong with his brother, but not sure what...anyways, I'll say that the Baby saga was clearly the high for GT, but I also like Super 17 (unlike many people here), I think it's a short, nice saga, that further explored the really cool concept of past villains wreaking havoc on the world (I didn't feel they did it justice with the Janemba movie) and some things that didn't make sense, but hey, at least they had the balls to kill off a character in cold blood, they closed the story of 17 and 18 (never made sense to me that 17 became a z warrior in Super), and at least Super 17 had a new design (if it was Super, it would be 17 but with green hair, prob).
The Shadow Dragon Saga was nice, though I didn't enjoy some of the antics of the dragons (some looked odd tbh); it had some issues, but the premise of the Dragon Balls being the enemy is just too good and original, and even though some of the dragons were a bit disappointing, they still pulled off an amazing ending and swan song for the anime trilogy, which punches me in the gut like a dragon fist everytime I see it, and I also don't forget stuff like the awesome designs (Gogeta and Vegeta ssj4, goddammit, omega shenron...) and the fact that there was actual blood, which, for me, makes the battle way more appealing than good animation. Among the things I would change, I would make Uub do more things, but, thinking about it, Uub is a complex character to fit in the story, since this anime trilogy (and modern DB too, so far) is actually Goku's story, and Uub indirectly removes the focus on the characters the audience has grown to love...I guess that can be fixed by making Uub more relatable, showing us more of his background...but, in any case, the point here is, the lows of GT are not enough for me to dislike the series in general. Will defintely rewatch it in the future DB marathon. 9/10
Super:
Toriyama approved, Anubisj hated, fans generally accepted, I believe this show had potential, but the execution was a mess. Basically, they went the way of most franchises when they have been around for a long time; mass-appealing, lack of originality in favour of the same shit that you know will sell, more and more kid friendly, fear of changing the status-quo, and Toriyama's name everywhere, without allowing others to give their input (broadly speaking ofc, I know there were many writers, too, but it seems like if Toriyama said something, it was like God's Word).
There's just a lot of things wrong with this show and manga, from the horrible/mediocre designs for plenty of characters, to the recolored ssjs, to the fan service stuff that just doesnt make sense (why is Yamcha not fighting at all while Roshi is on par with some of the most powerful beings of a universe??); it had its highs, too, like Jiren (though the design was a bit plain), Zamasu's concept, Ultra Instinct, the gods of destruction and angels, etc. But then you see stuff like the Teletubbies (Ribrianne and company), Gohan Beast being a longer, white ssj2 (I'm sorry, it just looks ridiculous), orange piccolo (cant say it with a straight face), recycling of characters (cell recolored, frieza recolored, again Broly with new design but yeah, its broly but "cAnOn")...jeez, for all the people complaining about the granolah saga, I actually enjoyed it and think the cerealians, Granolah, the Heeters with their war to gather more info and use their smart asses, it's all original (forgetting about Bardock ofc), and the designs are not lacklustre (except, well, black frieza looks passable, but, I mean, it's just another recolor xD). Anyways, all things considered, the series was chaos, but there's some shining in the mud.
It also doesn't help that it's not a sequel but a midquel, with the same boring dynamics between Vegeta and Goku, and Gohan studying, and goten and trunks antics, and blablabla. And what was Mai doing there proposing to Future Trunks??God, they only put her there because of her design, jeez. Mai was always a simpleton, why would they make her some Sarah Connor all of a sudden? I just can't watch the EOZ epilogue and imagine Super happening before it. 6/10
Daima:
Ah, yes. The Toriyama-super approved. It seems the more modern Toriyama contributed to the franchise, the more it became a dumpster. It's funny, because I remember seeing how people where like "oh but you have to watch it with the heart, not analyze it so much"; welp, I don't have much problem with the pacing, I think it has an average ending, and animation is top-notch. If I view it with my heart, though, it would just break, and I can't have that so soon. So, question, who was this series for? Another question, would you watch it with Super-level quality of animation?
Like, for Kami's sake, it's like someone made this series on purpose so that Super would look better in comparison. It basically took almost everything that I disliked about Super, added some of good ol´"Toiryama's humor", mixed it up in a cocktail with super-mega-hyper-ultra good animation, and voila.
More childish, (now not only Goku, everyone is a kid, yaaay"), horrible, and I mean really horrible designs (nothing that tops the teletubbies, but, I don't know, whenever I see the Tamagamis, I can't avoid thinking of them as toys, like they look really out of place next to, say, Kaioshin or Piccolo; Where are the days of new characters like Raditz, Cell, Ginyu force, Dabura...appearing?).
In fact, Dabura just doesn't fit either in this so-called demon realm, everyone looks like bunnies, you almost wanna hug the villains. We didn't get to see much of the demon culture (and why are they called demons? Only demonic being was Dabura tbh); plenty of things that didn't go anywhere (the machine of borrowing life years, an avalanche of lore drops that were completely unnecessary and just disrupted the established one, sort of like midichlorians for star wars...), them being kids didn't amount to much, just like Vegeta or Piccolo coming again...I mean, sure, Vegeta got ssj3, and they did something original by making it a different design...but, tbh, I actually prefer the xeno vegeta ssj3. Like, how is Vegeta Daima holding his head straight, the hair should weight too much!
The battles themselves were nice and exciting, but I never cared less about who won and who didn't, like, I couldn't care less about the Gomah guy and his looney toons personality, and his new form with the third eye is just him but bigger and more muscular, which actually, and hilariously enough, makes him look like Jiren (as if the recycling and creative wasteland of the design department wasn't barren enough). Ssj 4 Daima is just the putrid icing on the expired, melted cake, with the same, exact design but this time red, and with big, monkey arms and no waistband, which somehow makes it less appealing in general (especially since it wasn't at all earned, and it appeared first as a kid and then another time as an adult, like two climaxes).
The final battle was nice, but it was so kid-friendly, that sometimes I couldn't help but laugh when i saw the monkey Goku just punch repeatedly the rubber-like big guy, and the big guy repeatedly getting healed, to a point that became silly. Bulma again wanting to be beautiful and sexy, Glorio being boring, Piccolo being useless (the hit on the back could've been done by Vegeta or Glorio or whomever), Majin's design being lacklustre (I just dont feel hype to play them in a game or something, really, especially Kuu), 10 min of Buu saga exposition in the first episode, Porunga the same but red, Degesu being less than a joke... best design hands down was the Minotaur, and even that was a "homage " (they so enjoy homaging the past huh) of the Oolong story. I didn't even want to watch the series anymore, but forced myself like suffering through an ilness, hoping it would get good in the end...and it got better, in the last couple eps, but not by much, certainly not enough to deserve a rewatch for me (yes, even tho it's 20 eps).
Bunch of retcons of retcons (don't get me wrong, I love the potaras being permanent, Super screwed it there, but...why saibamen need to be Majin??), and when it seemed like they would add another kind of fusion, they stepped back, adding insult to injury (only Heroes had the balls to add new fusion designs, aside from that, since GT we only had Gogeta Super, the same but with yellow vest, and Vegito Super, exactly the same), so, I'll ask again, who was this show for? Well, guys, clearly not for me it seems.
Tbh, I think they tried to appeal to the OGDB kid audience (OG DB being wayyyyyyyyyy better than this thing), and, in the last couple episodes, decided to add some explosions so the general DB audience wouldn't feel betrayed. But, I mean, if I were a new youngster in search of good anime, I would most definitely not enjoy Daima and it would probably not make me check out the rest of the franchise. And, being a veteran and long-time fan, I'm appalled by this series and deeply hurt, refusing to believe it belongs to my beloved franchise (plus it was Toriyama's last project,; btw, if this didn't have Toriyama's name on it, I'm sure it would get even more thrashed). To sum it up, there's just very few things that make me care about this show, that make me enjoy it, which is sad. This is not how I like my Dragon Ball. 2/10
I really hope that they will improve the quality of the new series going forward, but my expectations are each time lower (like, why would they try harder, if they are already selling well as is?). I'm sure there's a lot of able artists out there, just waiting to be hired, that could make a really enjoyable and spectacular continuation for the franchise that we all love, so I won't lose hope.
