What if sets of multiple Sagas were actually Big Single Sagas?

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Rafa Fast
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What if sets of multiple Sagas were actually Big Single Sagas?

Post by Rafa Fast » Sat Feb 04, 2023 1:49 pm

I really have no idea if someone already came up with a similar thread, if already, then please link the thread for me.
Plus i don't know if should post this at the General Franchise Discussion or in the In-Universe discussion, I'll post in the General because I believe the subject goes a bit beyond the universe.
So, suddenly at moment's notice, It simply came to my mind how actually segments of several arcs of the series can form bigger arcs, technically, it seems that Toriyama and Toei writers planned to some arcs in order share a theme in common, this results in actually Much Larger Sagas with a specific theme where in the beginning, it starts slowly, and in the end, gives everything that the specific theme can offer, then later, with a new story, it starts a New Long Saga with a new different theme.
So I decided to reunite every single story arc in the series and analyse them to see which ones share the same themes as others to form larger sagas, of course, all of them need to be in chronological order, plus, I also decided to included some extra stories as fillers and the Z movies.
I know some people don't like attempts in making the z movies fit into timeline, after all, they aren't canon, but I just decided to include them because it seems they also share the same themes as the arcs that were running at the time of their releases! And well, they will all be in release order, with only a few exceptions.
And of course, all of this is only my personal opinion, you can disagree about certain arcs or movies featuring a specific theme as you want.
With all that said, here is my list.

Path to Power Saga
Name & Theme: Not to be confused with the movie "Path To Power", The reason for this name is because the main theme and basic goal of this saga is Goku's primary objective of becoming stronger and exploring the world, facing his first strongest opponents, it's his first time discovering new things in the world.
▪︎Pilaf/Hunt for Dragon Balls: There is the hunt for the dragon balls, but the main focus here is Goku meeting new people and discovering the world and new things, his desire to be become stronger begins here.
▪︎21th Tenkaichi Budokai: Training starts here, Tournaments too, still a lot of emphasis on worldbuilding.

Red Ribbon Saga
Name & Theme: the actual main plot and goal are the defeat of the Red Ribbon Army and the search for the Dragon Balls, this time for a true wish, so technically, Goku having now a objective while exploring the world even more. Red Ribbon is as well Goku's very first true antagonist. It's pretty much the 2nd Chapter.
▪︎War Against Red Ribbon: Goku faces two challenges, defeat the Red Ribbon and get the DBs to resurrect Upa's father, world exploration is even bigger, with Goku traveling to different continents.
▪︎Uranai Baba: Red Ribbon defeated, but Goku still needs to complete his goal of finding the last DB and resurrect Bora.

Ultimate Earth Saga
Name & Theme: the main plot and goal are Goku trying to go beyond the objective he had in the Path to Power saga, here, Goku not only needs to prove himself as the strongest, but also needs to save planet Earth, even harder objectives than Red Ribbon Saga, meeting new levels of power and breaking his limits, this is the last saga to make a worldbuilding around Planet Earth, the world exploration is notoriously getting frayed here, after it, the Series never tried to make Goku & friends explore the Earth again, that's why "Ultimate Earth Saga", it's as well the Last Chapter of the Classic DB trilogy.
▪︎Training on the Road: Some fillers that still tries to give us more of world exploring.
▪︎22th Tenkaichi Budokai: Another Tenkaichi Budokai, except that this time it is proven for us that Goku surpassed his master, he faces a new level and the current stroongest on Earth, Tenshinhan, he as well, loses.
▪︎War Against Piccolo Daimao: First Battle to Save the World, plus the last time you have Goku going in some sort of a "adventure" around Earth, you can notice how the world exploration is weaker here, but Earth is still relevant. Plus, Goku and Tenshinhan are said to be the current strongest people on Earth, but with the release of Piccolo Daimao, he also comes to the count.
▪︎Training with Kami: The filler of the animated series still shows some world exploring, for the penultimate time.
▪︎23th Tenkaichi Budokai: Last Original Tenkaichi Budokai, this time Goku don't just have to prove himself to be strongest, but also save the world. After it, the TV series give us some fillers with more world exploring, ones of the very last, as this is the last time where this theme is still relevant.

Outer Space Saga
Name & Theme: First time the Series leaves Planet Earth or goes beyond it, world exploration is ditched completely, the main plot and goal goes around Goku & friends facing alien threats (on Earth or in other Planet), and discovering the space & different planets for the first time, but restricted to a very small number of planets only.
▪︎Dead Zone: Garlic Jr. and his henchmen are aliens from Makyo-sei, and let's not forget that Dead Zone is a parallel to Raditz. So there is our first entry in the Outer Space Saga.
▪︎Saiyans: 3 Saiyans arrive on Earth, them all reveal that Piccolo, Goku and themselves are aliens. The TV series for the last time, show us some world exploring, but this theme is not more relevant.
▪︎Namek: alien planet, fight alien people. I'll also count here the fillers before they arrive on Namek.
▪︎Tree of Might: Battle against a group of Aliens to stop the growth of a Alien Tree.
▪︎Bardock The Father of Goku: Past history about Aliens.
▪︎Episode of Bardock: Even older history about Aliens, placed it here becaus it's a "sequel" to the Bardock Special.
▪︎Ginyu: aliens everywhere.
▪︎Lord Slug: another alien invasion on Earth.
▪︎Freeza: no need to explain.

Revenge Saga
Name & Theme: title speaks for itself, a sequence of stories where you have return of villains, and most of them are aiming for revenge. The major stories features Time Travel.
▪︎Return of Garlic Jr.: Garlic Jr. Returns and takes revenge on Kami & everyone.
▪︎Cooler's Revenge: While actually Cooler doesn't want to avenge Freeza, his goal is pretty much to finish what he started, so works as revenge imo.
▪︎The History of Trunks: Androids 17 and 18 create the chaos in the future, their original plan was to follow the orders given by Dr. Gero's computer, the orders of a revenge plan for what Goku did years ago to Red Ribbon. Plus, Trunks and Gohan want to take revenge for what the Androids did to their friends.
▪︎Freeza's Revenge: Freeza returns to Earth and wants to take revenge on everyone, specially Goku.
▪︎Return of Cooler: Speaks for itself.
▪︎Androids: The Recently awakened Androids 18, 17 and 16 want to kill Goku, following the orders given by Dr. Gero's computer, the orders of a revenge plan for what Goku did years ago to RR.
▪︎Super Android 13: The Recently awakened Androids 13, 14 and 15 want to kill Goku, following the orders given by Dr. Gero's computer, and again, the orders of a revenge plan for what Goku did years ago to RR.
▪︎Cell: Cell himself isn't someone who wants to take revenge, but he was made by Gero's computer, someone who wants revenge.
▪︎The Legendary Super Saiyan: Paragus the father of Broly, wants to use Broly to kill Vegeta and everyone, as a revenge for what King Vegeta did to them.
▪︎Gaiden/Plan to Eradicate The Super Saiyans: Dr. Raichi wants to take revenge on the Saiyans for what they did to the Tsufurujins years ago. Plus, return of past villains (sorta)
▪︎Cell Games: Cell returns after exploding and wants to take revenge on everyone by destroying everything. Plus, the story ends with Trunks taking revenge on Androids 17, 18 & Cell in the future.
▪︎Bojack Unbound: technically not a revenge story, but you have Bojack, who was messing around in the past and wanted to dominate the galaxy, but was sealed in a star, and now returned, another Return story?

Universe Saga
Name & Theme: the main plot and goal are pretty much still the same as the previous saga, but this time you have for the first time the interference of deities, the characters and villains all come from different places around the universe, worldbuilding not only planets, but the universe, going beyond than just Outer Space, that's why "Universe Saga".
▪︎Other World Tournament: Goku in the Other World faces several dead warriors from around the Universe.
▪︎Majin Boo: this story have a slow start, with its progress, it starts with aliens hiding on Earth, then a lot of stuff happens until a battle to save the whole universe happens.

Bridge Saga
Name & Theme: Nothing new or special is introduced in this Saga, its only purpose is to serve as a bridge from Z to Super. Only random events happen.
▪︎Post-Boo: The events that take place after the defeated of Kid Boo. Most specifically, those two filler episodes before the End of Z timeskip. Nothing happens in them.
▪︎Wrath of the Dragon: 3 Aliens arrive on Peaceful Earth, 2 of them want to destroy everything, Goku & Friends must stop this.
▪︎Yo! Son Goku & Friends Return: 4 Aliens arrive on Peaceful Earth, 2 of them want to destroy everything, Goku & Friends must stop this.

Gods of The Universe Saga
Name & Theme: the main plot and goal is to introduct even more deities, but a new level of Deities, and the most important, Goku & Vegeta are introduced to the Divine Power Scaling, giving a huge focus to the "God" theme, way more than the Universe Saga, where the "deitie" theme was very secondary. Also, "Gods of The Universe" is actually a official name.
▪︎Battle of Gods: Beerus & Whis, new deities, are introduced, they search for a deitie called "Super Saiyan God", Goku & friends perform a divine ritual to give Goku the power of a god.
▪︎Freeza Resurrected: Due to the revival of Freeza, it could be seen as a revenge saga, but actually, the movie also gives emphasis to Goku & Vegeta's training, and of course, their new forms, all related to the Divine Power Scaling. Plus, there's the big interference of deities in the end.

Multiverse Saga
Name & Theme: while still having some elements of the previous saga, the main theme and goal of this one are the introduction of characters, gods, villains and worlds from other Universes.
▪︎Champa Tournament: Universe 7 team face off Universe 6 team.
▪︎Future Trunks/Goku Black: Battle Against Zamasu, a Kaioshin from Universe 10. Some scenes also take place in U10's Kaioshin realm.
▪︎Universe 7's Preparedness: the filler episodes that take place in between Black and ToP, some of them are really random but a few can be seem as a 1st training for the ToP (before the ones after the Zeno Expo), and there is the episodes where Universe 6 and 7 play baseball, and the Goku & Hit rematch.
▪︎Tournament of Power/Universe Survival: Battle Royale of the Universes.

Strongests of the Universe Saga
Name & Theme: the main theme and goal of this saga is pretty much a weird mix between the "Ultimate Earth", "Universe" and "Gods of the Universe" sagas. While Universebuilding is questionable, clearly the goal of the characters here is to show that they are the strongests of the universe, interference of deities is very small, but you still have a lot emphasis in the "Divine Power Scaling", with villains having incomprehensible power & strength, and of course, all of them come from several places around the Universe. A name for this saga could also be "Ultimate Universe Saga", but I personally think it's still soon to call it that, as we don't know if they are done with exploring Universe 7 (Actually I don't even think that will ever happen lol)
▪︎Broly: Goku & Vegeta push themselves to their limits against Broly, one of the strongest warriors in Universe 7, a Saiyan lost in a distant planet.
▪︎Moro The Galactic Patrol Prisoner: Goku & Vegeta return to their training with Whis, Goku also trains with Merus, another Angel, and improves his UI. Moro, a alien, challenges Goku and becomes UI level (sorta) by using 73's copy ability, also making him one of the strongests in Universe 7 at the time.
▪︎Granolla The Last Survivor: Plot is literally one hero and one villain (both aliens) who wish to become the strongest warriors in the universe. And by the end, Freeza becomes one of the strongest as well.

Neo Earth Saga
Name & Theme: the main plot and goal of this saga is to take place in a Peaceful Earth, no sigh of Villains from outer space or other universes, It's almost like as if it was a throwback to the Path to Power saga. Currently can't say much as this Saga is still on the run.
▪︎Super Hero: The New Great Saiyamen: Goten & Trunks facing some non-threat opponents made by Dr. Hedo, a earthling.
▪︎Super Hero: The Movie: Return of the Red Ribbon Army, there are a few scenes in Beerus' Planet but they are irrelevant, so the movie is totally focused on Earth. All of the new characters are earthlings. Cell Max is the only real threat. Movie gives slice of life vibes for most of the time. I know the plot actually gives the impression of revenge with the Return of Red Ribbon, but the reason for me to believe that it makes more sense to place it here is because the villains doesn't really want revenge, but rather get rid of who can be a threat for them so they will achieve world domination, and almost all of them changes to the hero side in the end, plus Cell Max is a uncontrollable monster that just wants to destroy eveything. I don't see much revenge plot here.
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▪︎(Still not sure) 28th Tenkaichi Tournament: Peaceful times tournament, nothing happens.


Incompatible
These are the stories that I couldn't reach a conclusion on how they could fit into a Saga without messing up the release or chronological order
The World's Strongest: released in between Saiyans and Namek, this movie doesn't feature any element from Outer Space theme, it's Goku & friends facing a giant robot who wants to take over his body (Z-Zamasu?) to become the strongest and dominate the world. Fits more into the Ultimate Earth Saga, but its release and chronological order aren't compatible.

The Dangerous Duo: released when the trip inside Babidi's ship started, this movie doesn't feature anything from the Universe theme. Due to Broly's return, this could be very well a Revenge saga story, but its release and chronological order aren't compatible.

Bio-Broly: released during the first fat boo showcase, this movie also doesn't feature anything from the Universe theme. While Broly actually doesn't really returns, you have Baron Jaguar Badda, someone who wants to...take revenge on Mr. Satan? Idk, this movie is pretty much its own thing, it could be a Reveng saga story, but again, its release and chronological order aren't compatible.

Fusion Reborn: released in mid-Boo, this movie also doesn't feature anything from the Universe theme. Of course, there is Paikuhan and the Other World tournament at the beginning, two elements from the Universe saga, but that's really it, Paikuhan, while having his moments, the Other World Tournament definitely isn't relevant, the Main Plot and Events of the movie are all very focused on Earth and the Hell. This actually could be very well a Bridge Saga story, but unfortunately the release and chronological order aren't compatible as well.

▪︎Copy Vegeta: I really took a long time thinking about this one, and my conclusion is that it is its own thing. Taking place in between Champa and Black, this mini filler arc doesn't feature any Multiverse element. I know that some episodes in between Black & Zeno aexpo and in between Zeno Expo & ToP also doesn't feature the major Multiverse element, but they at least feature a important element from this saga, the interference of deities (Arale episode is a example), something that Copy Vegeta doesn't have, plus, the Kuririn and Gohan centered filler episodes can be seen as a species of training for the Zeno Expo. Of course, there is the Divine Power Scaling in Copy Vegeta, but to be honest, it's irrelevant, change SSJB to regular SSJ and see if something changes. So yeah, this filler story is incompatible.

Honorable Mention:
Grand Tour Saga
The majority likes to consider the entire GT series to be pretty much a full saga, myself included (it's mostly related to GT being short), but maybe I can also see a separation of two Sagas in GT, Black Star DBs & Baby are Universe-centered, while Super 17 & Shadow Dragons are Earth-centered, there you go, I can't think of names for them tho.

And that's it for now, I don't know if I will update this when new story arcs and movies come out.
But this was really one of the most interesting threads for me to do, I really came out with this idea out of nowhere, and that's pretty how I'll view the sagas from now on.
And yeah, ideas of placement for the incompatible stories or better placement ideas for the overall list are strongly welcome ^^
I simply wouldn't want to imagine my life without Dragon Ball, thank you Akira Toriyama (1955-2024), you are now immortal.