New series based on multiple universes?

[JulieYBM]

Instead of having new material,

I'm stopping you right here. Yes, I want properly remastered releases of the first three series', films, and specials, but I also want new stories. I've been a fan of the franchise for fifteen years. Simply digging up old information (Super Saiyan dai go dankai) excites me to no end, having newly created information and products, like Battle of Gods, does it even more. Also, being a fan of animation and many of the new crop of animators I'd like to see new chances for the genius' of the Japanese animation industry get to try their hand at Dragon Ball.

[Marco Polo]

Toriyama has already called GT a side story. Isn't that good enough?

But what does he mean by "side story" ? if he means non-canon then why not word it better and actually say non-canon ?

Because "non-canon" implies that there is a canon to begin with.

[Pikachuuu]

What's a Chozenshuu?

[JulieYBM]

Toriyama has already called GT a side story. Isn't that good enough?

But what does he mean by "side story" ? if he means non-canon then why not word it better and actually say non-canon ?

Because such a term doesn't exist in Japanese fandom or the industry. To say nothing of the fact that Shueisha and Toei have never constricted themselves to such an idea. Everything happens where everything happens. Did Battle of Gods happen in GT? No. Did the exact events of the 1984 comic happen in GT? No. Did GT happen in the 1984 comic? No. Everything happens. Where everything happens.

[Blade]

Blade, I feel like your response to B doesn't even make a lick of sense.

Okay.

It would have been rather helpful in regard to continuing the debate if you had provided some form of rationale with such a statement. Furthermore it would have done wonders as to not make it appear as if you're being crass or just making an effusive remark.

[Saiyan Prince Vegeta]

What everyone else said about my comment for me. Thanks guys.

[Bussani]

I'm well aware of what the Chōzenshū's mention, however I don't take the movies very seriously, therefore the universes that pertain to said movie don't exist in the main timeline.

So? You don't have to consider them canon. You don't even have to watch them if you don't want to.

[Herms]

Toriyama has already called GT a side story. Isn't that good enough?

But what does he mean by "side story" ? if he means non-canon then why not word it better and actually say non-canon ?

I doubt Toriyama even knows the word "non-canon".

...For that matter, I'm not really sure what the closest equivalent word would be in Japanese.

[Hellspawn28]

Toriyama has already called GT a side story. Isn't that good enough?

But what does he mean by "side story" ? if he means non-canon then why not word it better and actually say non-canon ?

I doubt he knows what canon means? I think AT saying that GT was a side story was in a interview years ago. I wonder if he remembers saying that or not?

[AnimeMaakuo]

.

[VegettoEX]

Yes, it was. It's a perfectly fine response to what you're talking about.

If you're so concerned with something you like being overwritten, ignored, contradicted, etc... you can just not watch those other things and keep on enjoying whatever you enjoy. No-one's holding a gun to your head over it.

You're going to miss out on a TON of extra conversations and fan interactions over it, though...!

[B]

Are you seriously trying to suggest that it hasn't occurred to Toei at all what kind of continuity implications the setting of this expansion of the franchise has on an entire series that they commissioned as a direct sequel?

Yes. Yes I am. Look to any of the 17 Dragon Ball films for why I think they're not worried about continuity. The first three(and seventeenth, subsequently being all the films for the first DB TV series) are reimaginings of manga storylines.

Do you really think that they've just forgotten that it ever happened or that they ever spent several years producing it? I think you're being a tad naive.

Forgotten, as in, memory erasure? No, of course not. I'm sorry, but I'm just failing to understand your argument. Let's say Battle of Gods undoes Dragon Ball GT storywise; there is no feasible way both can coexist in the same continuity. This is a hypothetical scenario. Then what happens? The sky falls on Toei Animation's main building in Tokyo? Riots in the streets? Sales for a 17-year-old series finally begin to plummet? Why would that happen? Do you have any sort of proof or numbers on the correlation between GT's DVD sales and how well the series fits with Dragon Ball Z? Isn't more likely the series sells so well because of the four TV series we have so far, it's the only one not based on a pre-existing, much cheaper comic? And the fact that it's the shortest and easiest to collect in full?

[TonyTheTiger]

I think we're at the point where we're going to have to loosen up our notions of "canon," dragged there kicking and screaming if necessary, if only to preserve our sanity. Any ongoing story that has a sufficiently long run is going to hit this point. Nothing as big as Dragon Ball is possible without a team effort and it's impossible for something to last as long as Dragon Ball hopefully will if it's shackled to the limits of its origin. Much like how Superman moved beyond Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Star Trek moved beyond Gene Roddenberry, and Mickey Mouse moved beyond Walt Disney, Dragon Ball is going to have to move beyond Akira Toriyama if it's going to actually stay relevant or even, ya know, alive. Otherwise we'll be sitting here ignoring absolutely every little thing that happens in the Dragon Ball world, and only because Akira Toriyama mostly walked away from it around 1995. We'd be killing the story we claim to love.

It'd be such a waste to shun all of Dragon Ball's future potential because of one person's lack of involvement. The reason we as humans bother to create anything in the first place is because we have a drive to give the world something that can outlive us. So, at least for me personally, I'd consider it an slap in the face to write off everything from here on out as "non-canon." It'd be like denying Dragon Ball's potential, telling Akira Toriyama that his creation doesn't matter anymore now that he's semi-retired from it. Not to mention insulting the hard work that countless people invested in it to help make it as big as it became in the first place. If we expect kids in 2013 to really care about Dragon Ball the way we do, or kids in 2023 to even know what Dragon Ball is, then we can't be so rigid.