I recall that Akira Toriyama said he wasn't very good at love stories. I can't really disagree on that; Chi-Chi and Goku, and Bulma and Vegeta's romances are pretty much skipped over, while Krillin and Android 18, and Gohan and VIdel got some romance but not really enough.
But I'm really enjoying the Trunks and Mai romance that has been developing, in both the past (BOG saga) and the future (Black Goku saga). Even though the two got together by comedy (Pilaf's wish turns Mai into a child) and tragedy (Mai leads Earth's soldiers to assist Trunks against Black Goku), it's nice to see how they come to care about each other.
Toriyama can be fairly good at romance, when he puts his mind to it.
"Don't take pleasure in destruction!" / "I will not let you destroy my world!"
A true hero goes beyond not the limits of power, but the limits that divide countries and people.
Toriyama doesn't strike me as the type to study romance from other works. I think this is just more of the same of his old work. That is, he starts off development as a joke and somehow makes it work without directly addressing it. His aversion to the trope also works in his favor as it never overstays its welcome, hardly being welcomed at all from the start. It's nowhere close to being the same, but it's akin to Senbei and Midori's slow development in Dr. Slump.
I'm just glad that Future Trunks may have found his significant other. For all the shit that he has gone through, he deserves love.
Spoiler:
Akira Toriyama wrote:My policy is to try and forget things once they’re over. Since if I don’t discard the old and focus on what’s new, I’ll overload my brain capacity. I still haven’t lived down going, “Who the heck is Tao Pai-pai?” that one time I was talking with Ei’ichiro Oda-kun. But the fact that there are still people reading the series after all this time… All I can say is; “thank you.” Really, that’s all.
Akira Toriyama wrote:Drawing Dragon Ball again reminded me of two things--how much I love it, and how much I never want to do it again.
Kunzait_83 wrote:And if you're upset because all this new material completely invalidates the tabletop RPG rulebook-sized statistical system and flowchart for the characters' "canonical Power Levels" that you'd been working on painstakingly for the last bunch of years now... well I don't think there's a kind, non-blunt way of saying this, but that's 100% entirely your own misguided fault for buying so deeply into all this nonsensical garbage in the first place. And that you also have IMMENSELY skewed and comically backwards priorities in what you think is most important and needed to make a good Dragon Ball story.
Zephyr wrote:Goodness, they wrote idiotic drivel in a children's cartoon meant to advertise toys!? Again!? For the ninetieth episode in a row!? Somebody stop the presses! We have to voice our concern over these Super important issues!
Kamiccolo9 wrote:Fair enough, I concede. Sean Schemmel probably has some kind of hidden talent. Maybe he is an expert at Minesweeper. You're right; calling him "talentless" wasn't fair.
Michsi wrote: Mon Jul 04, 2022 11:29 amIn Super Piccolo got yelled off the stage by Vegeta in the U6 Tournament arc and lost to Jiminy Cricket in the ToP , he deserved 15 new transformations with his theme song played by Metallica in the background.
Going to be honest: I love the Trunks and Mai thing. It's an unexpected and hilarious repurposing of an old gag character that's become weirdly sweet.
I also like that it began as a one-off joke in Battle of Gods and Toriyama just fucking ran with it. Across time and space, no less.
In all this years i think Akira has learned much from other animes
This seems like exactly his M.O., actually. Beginning relationships through tenuous happenstance or a joke, and skipping any development before actually bringing the characters together.
The sole major exceptions in his work are Senbei and Midori, and Gohan and Videl. And even then, only kind of.
Just kiss already!
Future Trunks deserves a happy ending. Even if he doesn't get the future restored by the Super Dragon Balls (which is a real possibility), at least give him this.
Probably Kanzenshuu's biggest Bulla fangirl. Current avatar: DBU Bulla as Sailor Princess Sadala, based on Sailor Moon: Cosmic Dance
Dragon Ball Ultimate - 74 out of 150 chapters complete JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Action Blue - link Sailor Moon: Mindful of Love - link | Sailor Moon: Cosmic Dance - link
I love the ship, but I'm tired of all the mushy teen awkwardness that's going on. Trunks is "supposed" to be 31 and I assume Mai is also 31, so why are they acting like pre-teens and saying "Oh no, it's not like that he he he". I'm also disappointed with the artwork concerning Trunks, because he still looks like a teen where at the end of his arc in DBZ, he looked very mature. (Of course I don't blame the artwork of Super on Toriyama)
It would have been nice if Trunks and Mai were presented as already being in a relationship, or even being married with those two kids Trunks were holding being their kids. How fun would it have been for Vegeta to meet his grandkids? That would have been epic.
precita wrote:The only thing that feels odd about it to me is they're writing Trunks/Mai as if they're teenagers.
But they're like....30 year old adults.
I don't think 30+ year olds really act like teenagers in love.
I have to agree. They've been reminding me of teens I've been to school with and that isn't necessarily a bad thing but I would believe that adult relationships have a different tune to them or ooze maturity.
precita wrote:The only thing that feels odd about it to me is they're writing Trunks/Mai as if they're teenagers.
But they're like....30 year old adults.
I don't think 30+ year olds really act like teenagers in love.
Trunks is a half-Saiyan, and Saiyans age slowly.
And both Mai and Trunks are able to act professional and badass when they have to (Mai being a decoy for Trunks)
I don't understand romance, but I thought it felt very natural and sweet to see Mai and Trunks together. It wasn't overly sentimental and melodramatic.
"Don't take pleasure in destruction!" / "I will not let you destroy my world!"
A true hero goes beyond not the limits of power, but the limits that divide countries and people.
I'm more interested in the Zamasu and Black love story.
"Dragon Ball once became a thing of the past to me, but after that, I got angry about the live action movie, re-wrote an entire movie script, and now I'm complaining about the quality of the new TV anime. It seems Dragon Ball has grown on me so much that I can't leave it alone." - Akira Toriyama on Dragon Ball Super
Cipher wrote:
If they don't hold hands by the end of next episode, Super is RUINED and I'm not gonna illegally stream it any more.
Agreed!
Zamasu touched his shoulder in this episode. Black is seen smiling later. It was adorable.
"Dragon Ball once became a thing of the past to me, but after that, I got angry about the live action movie, re-wrote an entire movie script, and now I'm complaining about the quality of the new TV anime. It seems Dragon Ball has grown on me so much that I can't leave it alone." - Akira Toriyama on Dragon Ball Super
I like how subtle the anime made it compared to the manga in the ealier episodes. I think it fits more with Toriyama's writing style, but that's just me. As to why they act like teenagers, well, Trunks is really shy when it comes to such topics (watch the scene where he explains how his parents got together to Goku) and the Pilaf gang have always been naive and innocent when it comes to romance, too. They don't exactly have time to start a serious relationship, either. Not to mention, most DB characters don't act their age anyways, especially in Super. (Not a complaint)
fadeddreams5 wrote:I'm more interested in the Zamasu and Black love story.
Make it canon, Toriyama!
An angry Final Fantasy fan wrote: And after all the outrage, when I'm ready, I'll go out on to GameStop and buy a Persona 5 copy. And when my mother finds me investing my precious time trying to bond with this hot anime girl, I'll look straight into her eyes and say "but have you looked at the menu screen? have you actually seen the menu screen? In that very moment, she knows. She fucking knows. As she handles me the nugget pieces she previously cooked for me, she leaves my room with these words: "Persona 5 is the true savior of the JRPG".
VegettoEX wrote:
In a blunt nutshell, no-one wants to read bullshit. Don't post bullshit. Be a cool person that posts cool things that other people would actually want to read. Don't be Zamasu from episode 63 talking to himself.
Shinomori wrote:I love the ship, but I'm tired of all the mushy teen awkwardness that's going on. Trunks is "supposed" to be 31 and I assume Mai is also 31, so why are they acting like pre-teens and saying "Oh no, it's not like that he he he". I'm also disappointed with the artwork concerning Trunks, because he still looks like a teen where at the end of his arc in DBZ, he looked very mature. (Of course I don't blame the artwork of Super on Toriyama)
It would have been nice if Trunks and Mai were presented as already being in a relationship, or even being married with those two kids Trunks were holding being their kids. How fun would it have been for Vegeta to meet his grandkids? That would have been epic.
One of my favorite theories before the arc started was that Bra would be Future Trunks and Mai's kid, and they'd give her to Vegeta and Bulma to be raised in a better time.
To be honest the incisiveness makes it ackward for me knowing the actual age difference. It's almost as if they aren't confident that a relationship would be alright or ok.
It feels like almost acknowledging they have some sort of "forbidden love" undercurrent going on.
Its also possible they did it to give shippers and/or female fans another pairing to latch onto. Trunks was one of the few main characters never paired up with anyone, and the rest of the main cast is already married.
I don't like it cause I never cared about romance in DB. But ep 56 really made the shippers go crazy. They wanted to see Mai and Trunks kiss but it didn't happen. I think this is more of a Toei thing than Toriyama.
Saikyo no Senshi wrote:Ep 56 really made the shippers go crazy. They wanted to see Mai and Trunks kiss but it didn't happen.
They "kissed", or touched lips at least, in Episode 60.
"Don't take pleasure in destruction!" / "I will not let you destroy my world!"
A true hero goes beyond not the limits of power, but the limits that divide countries and people.
Just kiss already!
Future Trunks deserves a happy ending. Even if he doesn't get the future restored by the Super Dragon Balls (which is a real possibility), at least give him this.
They done did it!
Probably Kanzenshuu's biggest Bulla fangirl. Current avatar: DBU Bulla as Sailor Princess Sadala, based on Sailor Moon: Cosmic Dance
Dragon Ball Ultimate - 74 out of 150 chapters complete JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Action Blue - link Sailor Moon: Mindful of Love - link | Sailor Moon: Cosmic Dance - link
