GT Ratings Decline & Cancellation

[bleed0range]

For some reason I decided to re-watch GT for the first time in like 10 years because I've been excited for DB Super (I'm also watching the Japanese Kai Buu arc leading up to it's premiere - yes, I am subjecting myself to a lot of pain). Anyway, starting with the Super 17 arc until the end I couldn't help but feel like the pacing of the series picked up to a even more ridiculous pace. The whole Super 17 arc beings and ends so quickly. I wondered if the ratings coming back at the time of these episodes being aired was determining how long these episodes/arcs lasted? Is it planned that far in advance that the ratings didn't interfere or did they have enough time to go, "Oh, well... this is not working. Audiences are not into this Super 17 thing" and decided to cut it short?

I especially get the feeling in the very last few episodes that, perhaps they got the news that the show has been decided to be cancelled. It's fast even for GT standards how quickly they wrapped up the evil/shadow dragons saga. it seems like they were told "It's cancelled" and were like... oh, um... Goku is actually alive and okay and let's just re-use the basic ending for the Buu arc with another Genki Dama whose energy is derived from everyone Goku has encountered. That entire thing happens in one episode. Then bam, it's over and they're wrapping up the whole entire series at the end of that episode into the next episode with some very vague stuff. Oh, the dragon has appeared and Goku has to go... somewhere... the end!

Does anyone know how much the ratings affected how GT was paced/the sudden ending and it's unexplained events?

[VegettoEX]

I don't think we'll ever know for sure. Ratings are only one piece of the puzzle; merchandise is (arguably) the biggest one, but we don't have easily-accessible documents to dive back into from that time. The fact that EVERYTHING for the franchise basically died for several years is pretty telling. Off the air, minimal merchandise... says a lot.

There's the prevailing rumor that the show was kept on the air to help promote Final Bout coming out (eventually hitting later in 1997). Not sure how much there is to that, but it's possible. The game was said to have some development issues and delays (though I'd need a source on that, myself), which speaks to the whole production of everything kinda being a fuster cluck.

[Hellspawn28]

Both the Super 17 saga and Shadow Dragon arc feels really rush and it did made me think that they where likely going to end the series sooner then later. It won't surprise me if they had a bigger story plan out, but things didn't go as plan. It's likely that we will never know for sure unless someone ever interviews any of the Toei anime staff working around that time.

[Lord Beerus]

It really did seem that after the Baby arc, Toei had run out of idea and were just throwing shit against the wall to see what would stick in a vain hope that GT would last a bit longer than they hoped. I mean, it's been rumoured for quite some time that GT was originally meant to end after the Baby arc. I mean, the Super #17 just reeks of laziness and lack of creativity from Toei's part in a desperate attempt to keep GT on the airwaves.

[Basaku]

Toei were just throwing shit against the wall to see what would stick

That's what entire GT feels like to me, especially the backtracking from "we're totally orignal DB now!" in Black Star arc to Z-style Baby arc. They started with a bad concept and tried to salvage it later one with various attempts.

[Hellspawn28]

The Cell and Freeza team up episode that was design to draw viewers in. Toei most likely thought that if they had two of Goku's most iconic enemies team up in one episode then people will tune in to watch it. I would imagine most people end up changing the channel when they saw that the episode was all hype and no substance.

[TheGmGoken]

The Cell and Freeza team up episode that was design to draw viewers in. Toei most likely thought that if they had two of Goku's most iconic enemies team up in one episode then people will tune in to watch it. I would imagine most people end up changing the channel when they saw that the episode was all hype and no substance.

I actually think Super 17 was like that too. Hell invading Earth and 17 returning w/ new form. Just screams viewership growth. Guess they was wrong.

[LuckyCat]

I think it's good to take a bit of perspective on DBGT's length. By typical anime standards, 64 episodes (5 seasons) is a long run. If DB Super runs for 64 episodes and is well-received it will still be considered success, I suppose.

There's a possibility that DBGT was planned for 64 episodes and the lulls experienced by viewers may have coincided with Japanese holidays and conversely peaks coincided with "sweeps weeks".

I guess without data we can only speculate.

[MagicBox]

For what's it's worth, the main site has the rating shares for each episode of GT posted here.

The show peaked at episode 02.

I've always been curious as to how far merchandise sales declined during GT. It'd be fun to compare it to the Kai branding's performance.

[bleed0range]

For what's it's worth, the main site has the rating shares for each episode of GT posted here.

The show peaked at episode 02.

I've always been curious as to how far merchandise sales declined during GT. It'd be fun to compare it to the Kai branding's performance.

Yikes! Looking at that it is indeed apparent that those first episodes were killing the series quickly. By episode 21 it was down to 9.6%. It seems the baby arc got back a decent amount of viewership but it could never completely regain the kind of numbers DB/DBZ had.

[Chuquita]

*Wonders how much of that "peaking at episode 2" was due to Gokû being turned into a kid, and how much was due to audiences learning that instead of Vegeta or Gohan going along for the ride, that it was not!FutureTrunks and grumpy!Pan.* >_>

[bleed0range]

*Wonders how much of that "peaking at episode 2" was due to Gokû being turned into a kid, and how much was due to audiences learning that instead of Vegeta or Gohan going along for the ride, that it was not!FutureTrunks and grumpy!Pan.* >_>

I have a feeling the moment audiences saw Goku wished back into a little kid most of them said, "Naw..." and the ones who stayed got bored eventually and the numbers dwindled off. I'm basing this on my own experience watching GT. I'll be honest, every time I've watched GT I always find myself sort of not paying attention at some point or another (especially in those early episodes).

[Retan]

On animenewsnetwork.com they say that one piece gets like a 9.6 share, and Kai get like 6.3 share are these the same as GT getting 14 and even at times 17 and 18 shares, or is that completely different? Or do the times 1996-97 Vs. Present day ratings say that's just not how it works anymore?

[NeoKING]

As time goes on and I think about GT, something tells me that the writers almost wanted it to be this way on purpose. GT is just weird. When you look beyond the lackluster fights, the re-used plots, the ending, you'll see that all of GT is just bizarre. There are so many things in GT that go unexplained, I think whoever was the main writer/director (I think it was a woman?) just wanted to take the franchise on this surreal path that was just different than what we were used to. Pan calling Goku God in the Japanese version of episode 63 before Goku dumps the Spirit Bomb on the final dragon is just strange. Even the colors of space in GT is strange - it's blue. Goku is tanned for whatever reason. Trunks' hair is purple. The music is dreamy, sounds like it came out of a 90's RPG, and almost nothing like Kikuchi's sublime track that we're used to. Okay, maybe it's a little similar.

I can't think of any concrete anime examples that are similar to the relationship between Z and GT's direction, but if I had to compare it to video games, think the very first Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Sega Genesis and compare it to it's sequel (which can also be considered a side-story just like GT) Sonic CD for the Sega CD. The staff behind Sonic CD intentionally wanted to take everything from the original Sonic the Hedgehog and make it as surreal and psychedelic as possible. If I were to think of cartoon examples in general, compare Z & GT to Spiderman: The Animated Series and it's sequel Spiderman Unlimited.

[Hellspawn28]

The Cell and Freeza team up episode that was design to draw viewers in. Toei most likely thought that if they had two of Goku's most iconic enemies team up in one episode then people will tune in to watch it. I would imagine most people end up changing the channel when they saw that the episode was all hype and no substance.

I actually think Super 17 was like that too. Hell invading Earth and 17 returning w/ new form. Just screams viewership growth. Guess they was wrong.

SSj4 Gogeta felt like that as well. When Goku and Vegeta start to fuse then it start to create the hype train. When people saw the episode, it end up being a big let down seeing how SSj4 Gogeta was poorly handled.

[B]

On animenewsnetwork.com they say that one piece gets like a 9.6 share, and Kai get like 6.3 share are these the same as GT getting 14 and even at times 17 and 18 shares, or is that completely different? Or do the times 1996-97 Vs. Present day ratings say that's just not how it works anymore?

All of those are good numbers; the problem is Dragon Ball and One Piece are merchandise-driven series and their main goal is to move product. Ratings aren't that big of a deal.

If you want DB to live long and prosper you need to buy the frying pans and the pencil cases.

[soulnova]

GT is just weird. When you look beyond the lackluster fights, the re-used plots, the ending, you'll see that all of GT is just bizarre. There are so many things in GT that go unexplained, I think whoever was the main writer/director (I think it was a woman?) just wanted to take the franchise on this surreal path that was just different than what we were used to.

Back in the day, 15 years ago, my younger sister and I used to joke the writers were just randomly drawing plot points out of a magician hat.

[dbgtFO]

Trunks' hair is purple.

Just like it always was??

If I were to think of cartoon examples in general, compare Z & GT to Spiderman: The Animated Series and it's sequel Spiderman Unlimited.

Lol, I actually liked Spiderman Unlimited(thought it looked cool and exciting). I never understood why the series was cancelled so soon.

[Flame Dragon]

Sorry, double post. Internet Connectioooooo !

[Flame Dragon]

Trunks' hair is purple.

Just like it always was??

If I were to think of cartoon examples in general, compare Z & GT to Spiderman: The Animated Series and it's sequel Spiderman Unlimited.

Lol, I actually liked Spiderman Unlimited(thought it looked cool and exciting). I never understood why the series was cancelled so soon.

It was lighter in Z. Almost gray.



Anyway, any chance they had to make GT profitable was ruined from the first episode. Whoever decided to turn Goku into a kid again without changing his personality/nerfing his power was an idiot.
It could have been interesting to build tension, like Goku is much weaker and he has to struggle with enemies that were a joke before. The first arc would still be about Baby, and Goku would be looking frantically for the Dragon Balls to be restored to normal and defeat him.
But nope, that would actually be interesting.

They turned Goku into a kid and did absolutely nothing with it. And worse, they never made him go back to adult, instead opting for a stupid SSJ4 deal (it breaks magic wishes lol)

Also the first arc (Search for the Black DBs) was a fucking snorefest!