Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Discussion specifically regarding the "Dragon Ball Super" TV series premiering July 2015 in Japan, including individual threads for each episode.

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TheUltimateNinja
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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by TheUltimateNinja » Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:05 am

No, the writing's terrible. But it's still canon Dragon Ball so I have no choice but to love it.

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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by Hawk9211 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:18 am

Professor Freeza wrote:
Hawk9211 wrote:
Professor Freeza wrote:Better than the hapless manga.

Sure, there's odd stuffs all around. Like just take ToP. Why didnt U10 do better? Why didnt U3 eliminate ANYONE? Why didnt a non U7 Universe eliminate another universe?

But what is HAS done in scores is give moments. People complain about it being fanfictionish, but honestly, did you NOT get excited when you saw the UI KHH vs Kefla? Or a dream team u7 going against Aniraza? Average writing doesnt do that. It doesnt make you excited. Like RoF. or like Buu arc. Super did give us a lot of things.
You ignored the bad moments.Sure,there are some great moments but there are also garbage moments like ribrianne,all the red herrings,fake tension etc.

Ribrianne redeemed her by the end. SO much so that i was more upset with U2's erasure than U6's.

Red Herrings are part and parcel of good writing. But there does need to be some pay off. U4 one was tossed aside. But they can still make it up to end freeza's story on the highest possible note.

Fake Tension? Can you have real tension at all when you already know what's happening at EoZ? Its like reading the last pages of a great mystery novel to know the ending, then then complaining about why the book has no tension. The only thing they could have done is kill of Roshi. Maybe.
Ribrianne redeemed her,how?She has one good moment which may redeem her character but what about the false hype and fake tension?

What about the fact that 90% character s out of U6 and U7 are either negative assholes or some one dimensional parody?

What about the logical fallacies like jiren being above time and aniraza warping space due to power?

What about goku's stamina?

What about the fact that most of gimmicks and abilities of top warriors of universe are so basic that even on street level stories their is some twist on them,even og dragon ball had better abilities.

What about the fact that there are no new techniques outside generic ki blasts and variations?

I am not even going to talk about power scaling.

Now,you will say that there are 80 characters but should there be 80 generic characters or less but more fleshed out characters?

Red herring and lying are different. Red herring is a misleading or confusing detail,not watch out for kale and Ribrianne they are not even ss3 level.

Personally,I don't think dragon ball has stakes even before namek.What I call tension is more along the outcome of a specific fight or how are they going to resolve a fight.
Why power levels are important?
The genre and roots of dragon ball

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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by prince212 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 6:57 am

Yes I think is good, it brings new characters and universes and possibilities that keeps my attention, Zeno , grand priest etc , no one can bet all the money about how is gonna end and I like it . Of course there’s bad chapters or situations , but overall is worthed for me .
Note that the creator of this post just made this post and run ....
It was as if a whole lot of people ...were screaming in pain....

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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by Issei189 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:31 pm

Professor Freeza wrote:
MisteryOne wrote:Definetly not. Extremely inconsistent, random power ups, made SSBlue a joke, awful power scaling, bad use of Future Trunks, Future Zamasu was shit, and fake tension that doesn't even need to exist. Also Goku is terribly written for most of the show, including the start of the TOP. It still had great moments trough, mainly Goku Black, until they showed how incompetent he was in the anime. Outside of when Goku turns UI, I'm definetly not rewatching it except maybe some parts of the FT arc.
Professor Freeza wrote:Better than the hapless manga.

Sure, there's odd stuffs all around. Like just take ToP. Why didnt U10 do better? Why didnt U3 eliminate ANYONE? Why didnt a non U7 Universe eliminate another universe?

But what is HAS done in scores is give moments. People complain about it being fanfictionish, but honestly, did you NOT get excited when you saw the UI KHH vs Kefla? Or a dream team u7 going against Aniraza? Average writing doesnt do that. It doesnt make you excited. Like RoF. or like Buu arc. Super did give us a lot of things.
Have you read the manga? How on hell is it bad written compared to the anime? Please elaborate, I'm curious as to how it can be worse that the mess that is the anime.

Weak writing. So SSB Vegeta lost to Hit so easily because he used SSB ONCE to one hit KO Cabba? WTF? [cant remember any other BS from the U6 tournament right now. I know there are more.]

FT Arc. DESTROYED whatever meaning the time travel thing made. Out the roof. Goku Black didnt get to Fight Goku once? SSj2 Trunks supposedly having problems to beat Dabura but can go TOE TO TOE with SSj3 Goku? Supposedly can heal people but doesnt know that? Completely ignored to show WHY Zamasu turned on the gods and mortals, which the anime did so wonderfully. COMPLETE and UTTER fuck up of the storyline. So only a Kaioshin can wear a time ring. That MAKES Zamasu [and Black] kaioshin. Proof is in Black's right hand's index finger. But supposedly the fusion ran out because they arent a kaioshin, what? WHAT??????? And Merged Zamasu using hard METAL CUBES as attacks? Really? Some random hard metal Cube can hurt Universe Busters in Goku and Vegeta? [Kachi Katchin is stronger, as proved by GP in the anime. Yet its breaking like ordinary rocks on impact]. MZ is a God and apparently as strong as Beerus but he has no grand attack? Goku using Hakai? Since when did we see anyone except the Gods use it? Goku learned it by seeing it once? Trunks being reduced to garbage and a glorified male Mai?

I dont like Manga Jiren at all. but i have to see more to comment.
MisteryOne wrote:Definetly not. Extremely inconsistent,awful power scaling, bad use of Future Trunks, Future Zamasu was shit, and fake tension that doesn't even need to exist. It still had great moments trough, mainly Goku Black, until they showed how incompetent he was in the anime..
LOTS of things you said about the anime can be said about the manga. and more. Manga should stay as it is,Promotional material, because is the worst crap i have ever seen. Toyotaro is a GREAT artist but a WORSE storyteller than even the folks at TOEI.
And I didn't get excited with any of those. Aniraza was still a random enemy, and the Kame Hame Ha was just good because of the storyboard and the way it was handled, but it was stil obvious that Kefla would lose. Beerus' and Goku's respective Hakai actually excited me more.
Aniraza a random enemy? Cant wait to see the manga throw away hoards of people out of the ring off panel. At least the anime gave at least ONE good showing to all universes except U4.

Nothing in the manga is worth a dime.

Some of your points are valid, but You're exaggerating it.

1) Vegeta lost to Hit because of SSB's huge stamina flaw. After transforming into SSB for the second time, He wasn't able to exert 1/10th of its power. I don't see how this is worse than a Non-weakened SSB Vegeta losing to Hit in the Anime.

https://i.gyazo.com/4137f853dee9a8c93f4 ... ed3181.png

2) Trunks obviously kept training after his fight with Dabura. He said he was never satisfied with the power of SSJ2. Also, In the beginning of their spar, Trunks mentioned that he trained every day as his life depended on it

http://i.imgur.com/BvDnebD.jpg

3) Since when was MZ strong as Beerus ? Mastered SSB Goku fought on par with him. Also, If I recall correctly Mastered SSB Vegeta( strong as Goku) got one shotted by a suppressed Beerus in a sparring Match.

4) Yeah, they can break Katchin \Super Katchin, but Why wouldn't it hurt if someone was hitting them with it ?
Last edited by Issei189 on Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by SupremeKai25 » Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:39 pm

3) Since when was MZ strong as Beerus ? Mastered SSB Goku fought was par with him
They probably confused him with Vegito. It is alluded by Shin that Vegito has reached the realm of Beerus in the manga. We can see that Fused Zamasu was no match for Vegito in the manga, and the supreme immortality granted to him by the Super Dragon Balls was effectively the only thing keeping him alive. The fight wasn't as onesided in the anime, that needs to be said. In the anime, [Corrupted] Fused Zamasu proved to be far stronger than his anime counterpart and even fought on-par with Vegito despite his flawed immortality and crumbling sanity.

My only gripe with the manga was the portrayal of Fused Zamasu. I don't hate manga Fused Zamasu. In fact, i like him. But i was disappointed. I expected more. Anime Fused Zamasu looks far more like a God, even creating a halo and standing above the ruined landscape of Earth to prove his divine power. Manga Fused Zamasu felt more 'Human'. There was not a lot of symbolism like in the anime. This is not a bad thing, and many friends of mine prefer manga Fused Zamasu over anime Fused Zamasu. This is just a personal preferrence of mine. But i'm digressing.
What the form actually is was not explained but how Trunks achieved it was.
This is very grave. If the transformation truly had had good writing, then they would have explained it in the show, instead of leaving the community to theorize what it might be, given the absence of an actual explanation in the anime.

And why did Trunks achieve Super Saiyan Rage, but Goku, Vegeta or Black never did? Is it a form unique to half-breed Saiyans? Well, too bad the show didn't explain it.
At his core Zamasu is good like Shin, though I guess you could say he was so fastidious that it backfired. But you know, for this "Future Trunks Arc" you had to depict Zamasu and Trunks' inner conflict, right? If this was back when I was drawing the manga myself then I doubt if I could have done it. I mean, I'm not very good at depicting the characters' psychology on the page. So this all came together because now I only have to think up the story. [...] On my own, I doubt I would have been able to express Zamasu's fall to the dark side.
Akira Toriyama, DBS vol.4 joint interview with Toyotaro

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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by Kanassa » Fri Jan 05, 2018 9:59 pm

Super's writing has it's flaws, it has completely stupid moments, it has moments where I wonder about just how drunks some people were; but it's still pretty well written. It has a nice flow between episodes even in the worst arcs, it feels like the story is progressing at a good pace, it isn't rushing through (Well, aside from episode 66) nor is it stopping in its tracks to bloat the series for a few weeks. It feels like the next step in Goku's journey.

And hell, I'd go as far to say that Super is the best instance of the cast in the entire franchise. Yeah, the OG era is till my favorite, but Super does such a good job of making me know and care about most of its cast; which is why the slice of life episodes are the best part of the show. Goku and Piccolo babysitting Pan, Future Trunks facing PTSD, Gohan taking the mantel of the Great Saiyaman again, Android 18 and Marron getting Krillin to train, Vegeta and his family going off on a vacation, even as something a minor as Goten and Trunks trying to get Videl a wedding gift. Seeing these moments with the characters adds a lot to them, and contributes to making the awesome moments of the show even better.

I think that is something I appreciate from Super, in my opinion it does better than the likes of Z at creating a good thematic and emotional connection between the characters, the story and the audience. Trunks slicing up Merged Zamasu was an awesome scene to me (Whether SS Rage was explained well or not), but it wouldn't have meant anything if we hadn't spent the story building upon Trunks's emotions and lack of success, if we never got to feel his desperation. Nor would it have been awesome if it was someone like Goku or Vegeta dicing Zamasu, even if in the end it made things worse.

I know in a fighting anime that action is the go to medium to show off a character, but I appreciate character moments more than just 'badass' moments. Like, I will always say that Ultimate Gohan and SS2 Gohan moments tend to be terrible because they're forsaking personality and charm for the sake of being 'cool'. I would take Vegeta telling Future Trunks not to lose hope over Vegeta kicking Black's ass (Not trying to say Vegeta kicking Black's ass was bad). I'd take Gohan getting tortured by Frieza and Goku arriving just in time to bat away the killing blow with that scowl on his face, than Gohan just powering up and kicking ass. I'd take Piccolo getting knocked around and him still swearing he'll fight on even if he's not the strongest, than him just being 'badass'.

Super (Including the manga, even if I'm not a fan of it) is something I will always say that, even in its darkest moments, I can see the heart and effort that went into it on full display. Could it be better written? Yes. But it still has a long way to go before I'd say that the overall package is badly written.
When Super apparently shoves Goku down our throats:

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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by emperior » Sat Jan 06, 2018 3:01 pm

Future Trunks arc was well written apart from a few moments here and there, which is also why it was very well-received, apart from its ending, by the majority of the fandom. The story was interesting, quite well-paced and the character interactions were almost always good and entertaining. Both of the villains were among the best villains we ever got in Dragon Ball, and greatly helped to elevate the whole arc. If only animation was more consistent, Pilaf gang got removed in favor of showing more of the future earthlings' situation and some things were explained more in-depth, the arc would have been flawless in my eyes.
As for the current arc, I can't say the same thing. Most of the fights are dragged out, uninteresting and the format of the tournament has been quite boring and repetitive. A few episodes have been outstanding though, which shows that this tournament can be really good sometimes, and interactions are still great even though I feel like Vegeta is very uninteresting lately while Goku's characterization has definitely improved. I'm quite optimistic about the last episodes of this arc, so let's see how it ends before calling out the whole arc boring and badly written.

In general I believe Super is a decently written show, with its highs and ups.
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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by AdventurousAugustus » Sat Jan 06, 2018 4:00 pm

TheUltimateNinja wrote:No, the writing's terrible. But it's still canon Dragon Ball so I have no choice but to love it.
You don't really HAVE to love it.

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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by Basaku » Sun Jan 07, 2018 1:44 pm

It's below average for the most parts sadly. Few moments of brilliance like Freeza's perfectly reinvented role for TOP, Beerus/Whis or some parts of Future Trunks saga and the amazing lore expansion/world-building are what makes Super pass above GT in my books (and evidently most of the fandom as well) but longterm, I think Toei/Toyatoro/Toriyama will have to step uo their game or the popularity decline will begin again. Cutting off nostalgia/comeback coupons has its limits too.

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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by STH » Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:32 pm

TheUltimateNinja wrote:No, the writing's terrible. But it's still canon Dragon Ball so I have no choice but to love it.
This is not a definite case. So, you do not have to love it.
Melkaniator wrote: "DBS anime is a fan service series that delivers irrelevant dialogue, inconsistent writing, and lazy designs.

The DB manga never had so many mistakes, nor those were this constant."

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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by BWri » Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:23 pm

I forgot to mention the slice of life stuff before. It proves that Super has a good overall writing staff. When they can do what they want with very few things limiting them, they produce pure magic. I think the heart of DBS can be attributed to the writing staff.

I think, if allowed to do their own anime at this point, that Toei's current writing staff could do something really interesting with DB, but ultimately (and strangely) I think they are being held back by Toriyama in some ways, all due respect. AT gives the show a legitimacy and many of his ideas are energetic and eye catching. His art is irreplaceable, but plot, characterization, and things like that are not his strong suit and that's where Super is faltering. They have to follow his plot outline and I think that's what holds them back. When they insert their ideas, which are interesting, with his ideas it often produces more inconsistencies.

I think if he gave them a basic premise (such as two universes fighting in a tournament), character designs, a rough idea of the ending and let them roll with it, we'd likely get something better than the U6 tournament arc, which ultimately felt rushed and underutilized just about every character but Frost. Toei's writers seem to know the characters better, or at least know how to use them better than AT. The filler is proof enough of that.
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Re: Do you think Dragonball Super Anime is well written?

Post by BrolyKale » Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:48 pm

It really depends... lacks of info and the power scaling is a mess :crazy: and it looks like they never learn from their mistakes.
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