Did Toriyama "ruin" Battle of Gods?

[Hellspawn28]

I would like to see a movie or show with a movie serious tone similar to the Trunks TV special, but nothing dark and gritty. DBZ should be fun and not so dark. I don't want to see them make DBZ edgy because it's cool now. So no rape, super brutal death scenes or anything too dark in DBZ please.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I'd say no, he helped make it as good as it was. Even the stuff that I'm not incredibly fond of sounds like it would have been much worse in the original version. I mean...I...I don't know if I could have taken Super Saiyan God seriously if it was insanely-buff Goku with a cape. Say what you will about it's actual design now, at least it's not that.

Now, I do wish some of the 'darker' elements had made it through. Not the turning races evil stuff, since I find that more of a cop out than 'what few good Saiyans there were got killed off', but some of the 'what makes a hero' stuff. I don't know how they would have handled Goku having to deal with some of the crap he's done in the past, but that certainly would have been an interesting character study at least.

[Ajay]

No.

He turned it into something that actually felt like Dragon Ball. That's not something many of the films achieve so this was certainly refreshing and yet perfectly nostalgic considering it was the first film in a long while.

I feel like western audiences' perception of Dragon Ball is severely warped. It's not a super serious show and shouldn't be. So, yes, I'm happy Toriyama gave his input and brought the series back to how it should be.

[Fizzer]

Now, I do wish some of the 'darker' elements had made it through. Not the turning races evil stuff, since I find that more of a cop out than 'what few good Saiyans there were got killed off', but some of the 'what makes a hero' stuff. I don't know how they would have handled Goku having to deal with some of the crap he's done in the past, but that certainly would have been an interesting character study at least.

That sounds interesting, where can I read about it? I hadn't heard about it before.

As to whether or not Toriyama ruined it, I think not. Maybe it would have been more dramatic and complex in its original form, and I'd love to be able to read the original script as it's own parallel version, but nothing Dragon Ball has ever been good without Toriyama's involvement, so I wouldn't want to risk it. I also feel that BoG is something of a celebration of Dragon Ball, it's a huge nostalgia trip after 17 years that brings all the fans together again and sends them home smiling, so it had to be happy and energetic. I think the "celebration of Dragon Ball" thing is why the manga was in the credits. (Has that remained the in international versions by the way?)

If another film comes out in a couple of years, then as long as Toriyama's still involved, I think that one should be a bit more dramatic. We know he can pull that stuff off, look at the Piccolo, Freeza and Cell arcs. BoG had to be upbeat because it's the first release of the "revival".

[Blu-ray_Mistress]

That sounds interesting, where can I read about it? I hadn't heard about it before.

As to whether or not Toriyama ruined it, I think not. Maybe it would have been more dramatic and complex in its original form, and I'd love to be able to read the original script as it's own parallel version, but nothing Dragon Ball has ever been good without Toriyama's involvement, so I wouldn't want to risk it. I also feel that BoG is something of a celebration of Dragon Ball, it's a huge nostalgia trip after 17 years that brings all the fans together again and sends them home smiling, so it had to be happy and energetic. I think the "celebration of Dragon Ball" thing is why the manga was in the credits. (Has that remained the in international versions by the way?)

If another film comes out in a couple of years, then as long as Toriyama's still involved, I think that one should be a bit more dramatic. We know he can pull that stuff off, look at the Piccolo, Freeza and Cell arcs. BoG had to be upbeat because it's the first release of the "revival".

Absolutely agree!

[cesarcoronel07]

No he didn't ruin it because it felt like Dragon Ball's comedy and Dragon Ball Z's action. And I also like the idea of 12 universes it opens up for a sequel to the movie or possibly a new series!

[Gyt Kaliba]

Now, I do wish some of the 'darker' elements had made it through. Not the turning races evil stuff, since I find that more of a cop out than 'what few good Saiyans there were got killed off', but some of the 'what makes a hero' stuff. I don't know how they would have handled Goku having to deal with some of the crap he's done in the past, but that certainly would have been an interesting character study at least.

That sounds interesting, where can I read about it? I hadn't heard about it before.

Oh geez. I wouldn't be able to pinpoint exactly where it is, but it was brought up either somewhere in the mass of Battle of Gods news updates and info on the site, or during one of the many, many podcasts leading up to the film's release. Granted, this is in regards to the 'what makes a hero' comment. I can't remember if the 'Goku dealing' stuff was honestly factually stated as having been an idea, or if that was how I or someone else interpreted the previous comment. Wish I could be more precise than that. ^_^;

[BlackCatScott]

For the most part, Dragonball has always been a fun, vibrant series with lots of humor - quite a "light" tone. I think people may have a view that because Bills is a very silly villain that the movie should have taken a darker approach. I love the character personally, but despite his enormous strength he just didn't feel evil like previous villains we've seen in Dragonball Z. Like Frieza, Cell, Broly, Cooler etc. So maybe people wanted to see that, after such a long absence of DBZ. I really enjoyed it. Thought Bills was hilarious too and a character I really want to see again - and because the movie does set up future films, in the future ones I hope the villains are a bit more serious about destruction.

Thought BoG did a great job of starting to build the foundations for a whole new universe of Dragonball stories!

[VegettoEX]

Every single bit of "behind-the-scenes" information that we've talked about in a news update or on the podcast itself - and even more than that, actually - is detailed right on the "Battle of Gods" page in our "Movie Guide" (there's a section called "Original Draft/Design Concepts").

If you haven't seen our revamped pages in said guide, you're missing out.

[dario03]

I was expecting something darker and more action packed. I don't dislike BOG but since it was a full movie release I was expecting them to go more action epic blockbuster style of movie. To me BOG would of worked better as a TV special to start a new show or something.

[Vice]

Dragon Ball stopped being silly after the first tournament and only semi returned to it with the Buu Arc. I don't get this claim that all of a sudden DBZ is this light-hearted comedy series when more than 3/4's of it was played serious.

B.O.G. was okay, but I was hoping for a more serious tone this time around. We already had this jolly reunion thing with the Son Goku & Friends movie.

[Fizzer]

Dragon Ball stopped being silly after the first tournament and only semi returned to it with the Buu Arc. I don't get this claim that all of a sudden DBZ is this light-hearted comedy series when more than 3/4's of it was played serious.

B.O.G. was okay, but I was hoping for a more serious tone this time around. We already had this jolly reunion thing with the Son Goku & Friends movie.

I do kind of get what you're saying, but it was definitely light-hearted until the Tenshinhsn arc started. That makes it about half of Dragon Ball and a third of Z (and most of GT but...) so light stuff is definitely welcome.

[TheGmGoken]

Dragon Ball stopped being silly after the first tournament and only semi returned to it with the Buu Arc. I don't get this claim that all of a sudden DBZ is this light-hearted comedy series when more than 3/4's of it was played serious.

B.O.G. was okay, but I was hoping for a more serious tone this time around. We already had this jolly reunion thing with the Son Goku & Friends movie.

Though more focus was put into the action part. There was still gag scenes. Ginyu Force for an example. They wasn't really gag but they were goofy. We have Mr Satan as well.

[DragonBoxZTheMovies]

When making a film for DBZ, I think Toriyama should always be there in some capacity. Both for marketing, and the movie itself. Like someone said, that "Toriyama-flair" is so important in maintaining that 'Dragon Ball-feeling'. At the same time, I do feel Toriyama was being a little too safe in the way he went about writing the story for the film. I appreciate what he was trying to do by making a feel-good, family film, but I don't think he was ambitious enough in creating a story that makes good use of the feature-length run-time and it seems like he didn't really take advantage of the medium they were using.

However, looking at the tidbits we got regarding Yusuke Watanabe's original script, I am ultimately glad that Toriyama came on board and left a swirly poop on a lot of those concepts (like Super Saiyan God's original design...ugh). I especially like Toriyama's ending (that was his idea, right?). Easily one of the highlights of the film, for me. It really caught me off guard, and at the same time it was so Dragon Ball.

There's another note for my review which I'm writing...

On a side note, I think it's awesome to think about the fact that there was a script for the film that was almost completely different to the one we ended up seeing. Even better that we know enough about it to have a discussion like this. It's also nice to know the reasons for why some scenes seem a little out of place within the film, such as the back-story for Super Saiyan and the random appearance of King Vegeta.

EDIT: Didn't realize I'd made more than 2000 posts now! It's been fun, hope to make 2000 more at some point...I need a life.

[Black_Liger]

I just hope a sequel can have the same amounts of comedy but introduce more emotion. a sequel that is just as lighthearted as battle of gods with no drama will get old quickly, it worked now because it's different from all dbz movies. But i think we can mix some drama and emotion properly, fans are gonna complain anyways XD

[The Monkey King]

Am I the only one who wants to see the original sketches of SSJG Goku and Birus?

[TheGmGoken]

Am I the only one who wants to see the original sketches of SSJG Goku and Birus?

No. But a man can dream right? They sound bad yet I still want to see them. They're part of history.

[TheMightyOzaru]

Yeah, I actually want to see the original sketches pretty bad. I often wonder why they heck they were never released.

[TheGmGoken]

Yeah, I actually want to see the original sketches pretty bad. I often wonder why they heck they were never released.

Toriyama hated them that bad?

[goku the krump dancer]

The thing is, when most people hear "Battle of Gods" they don't think of oversized cats break dancing.