
Reason? I believe that an actual fair/unbiased review of DBGT is incredibly hard to find online. Most reviews I find start with: "I started watchin this "Non-Akira Toriyama" piece of crap and after watching the first 3 episodes I threw up on the DVDs and never saw the show again....GT SUCKS!!!!"
While I do believe that the fact that Akira didnt write it affected my initial response to the show, I still think that since this could be the last piece of new Dragonball (a franchise we all love) we will ever get, it shouldn't be just forgotten or bashed as if it was some terrible fan fic.
So here is my FAIR review of DBGT: (of course I cant go into every little thing about the show, but ill just talk about the important parts)
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Bebi Saga
***First off let me say that I am a fan of the dubs (thought FUNI was great with the Buu saga). But the DBGT dub would have to go down as maybe the worst thing in history (maybe not the voices, but the music/editing/feel of the show was terrible...........and I think what contributed to the bad responses it's been getting in North America.) So I'm reviewing the Japanese version here:
-My initial thought of the show is that it followed a pretty logical chain of events that would have happened after the end of DBZ: Gohan stopped fighting, Goku still casually training, Goten being a lazy bum (popular with the ladies), Vegeta softening up (yet still keeping with some training), etc etc etc. But besides all that, I quickly noticed something: This isnt a sequel to DBZ but really a sequel to DB , with DBZ characters (or a mixture of both in a way).
Knowing this, I quickly started to enjoy the show on the same level of the original DB (the campy jokes, the light feel of it all, etc). Not only that, but the fact that the show goes out of it's way to give you nostalgic moments (IE: when Roshi sees Goku as a kid again) and many moments that eco the original DB (IE: Trunks dressing as a woman, the DB hunt etc).......I actually enjoyed much of this. (Felt that the franchise was going full circle with a return to Dragonball type show).
-The STORY?: First of all, about the plot holes: In the DB universe, pretty much anything goes. There isnt a plothole in GT that cant be "fanwanked" in a way. (Even Pilaf being alive can make sense in that Dende wished for the "MOST evil ppl to not return" (If Pilaf can really be considered diabolical too).
But considering that people complain about this and not the fact that in the original DB: Goku uses his stick to go to the MOON(!) ......it shows you a lot about the bias that this show gets.
Now: The STORY? It was decent. The first part through space never gets bad enough that it ruins this saga but it's not really fantastic either. It's just average to good (The dancing brothers were great, I really enjoyed them)
Things start to get interesting when they get to the Bebi part, which is an interesting villain but has many "hit and miss" aspects still. (IE: the character isnt really all that interesting, yet he has a few important moments that make him stand out from even the DBZ villains : turning Golden Oozaru <just like the Saiyans killed the Tsufrurians> was very ironic, etc).
Let me get to what I liked/didnt like:
DIDNT LIKE:
- Bebi was an alright villain in general
- Making the "Z" warriors fairly useless in this. Though they do serve a purpose in the final battle, many people would have liked to see Trunks/Goten fuse or even have a significant impact in the battle (atleast finishing off another important villain). But in the context of the story, it made sense since Bebi was pretty much SSJ4 in power by the end of his saga.
- Pan was slightly annoying and sort of useless
- Gohan could have been used more: He's one of DBZ's most likeable characters. (Yet again, his story officially ends even in Akira Toriyama's mind at the end of "Z" when Gohan completely forgets fighting). <Also his Elder Kai transformation was somehow lost, though it's not too important...it still could have been used, YET it's clear that TOEI wants to make Goku the main character here by having absolutely no one challene him in terms of power.)
- Some of the fights werent very well drawn (IE: in Z there was some great hand to hand fighting while here you'd have the fighters just blast eachother with weak ki blasts for about 20 minutes of an episode).
- Not explaining the SSJ4 transformation much. (or how he can "return" SSJ4 after being a kid just like nothing)
- Using the Namek Dragonballs to wish back earth was just lazy writting. (but it served to establish the next saga)
- Some bad music.
- Bebi's death was anti-climactic.
DID LIKE-
- I thought most of the jokes were just right in the spirit of the original DB. (IE: Vegeta's moustache cracked me up everytime i saw it <people really have to lighten up>. Also all the jokes including Vegeta and his family were spot on, some could say up to par with Vegeta's best jokes from DBZ).
- SSJ4= Fantastic looking transformation. (also the actual transformation had a lot of heart put into it. It was very emotional when it happened.). I loved that it showed how the saiyans changed so much since their origins in DBZ. (Goku seemed very "Wild"/"Beastly" and yet dressed in such an elegant way. Very symbolic. It was great.)
- The surprisingly touching moments that I didnt expect from GT. (from all the bad reviews this got, I thought this was just going to be a 64 episode "ki fest" with no heart or respect to the original 2 series.) - Goku reaching for Planet Earth, Goku saving Pan from Oozaru baby, Piccolo's death were perfect.
- Good figthing scenes near the end.
- Golden Oozaru was a FANTASTIC idea. (Incredible that Akira never thought of it..........I'm sure he would have added it to the Buu saga if he had.)
- The Bebi story was all in all important to the DB saga in giving the saiyan race redemption (showing how different they were since the Tsufrurian war so long ago)
- Good music all around (different than Z but still enjoyable)
- Having 3 of the best ending songs in the history of dragonball and a fantastic oppener.
--All in all I enjoyed the Bebi saga. (the rest of the stuff i didnt mention: Goku as a kid, the black star balls........I'm pretty neutral in the matter. I believe they were fine in the continuation of dragonball (if a little farfetch with another set of balls...........but it still fits and works in some degree).
***** Now I had heard for years that DBGT "gets really good after the Bebi saga". So I thought I was in for a treat. Unfortunately, here is where most of the criticism actually lies.
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