In my time on the internet looking up Dragon Ball things, I keep coming across one question that the fans seem to have been obsessed with since Super was even announced: What is better, Super or GT? As we began the Future Trunks Saga in Super, most people I come across seem to go with Super, though I still see some die-hard GT fans posting their thoughts. Me? ...frankly, I never really cared. I like Dragon Ball... ALL of Dragon Ball. I like Dragon Ball OG for it's humor and adventure, Z for it's epic fights and memorable villains, Kai because I can actually enjoy Dubbed Z (Sorry, but that's pretty true for me...), Evolution because...ok, got me there...um ...the PSP game (Seriously, try it. It's hilarious.), GT for trying to create a fitting ending and Super Saiyan 4, and Super for the humor and... well, it's current. Yeah, I'm shallow. So to me, Super and GT are so different that trying to dissect the two and compare the main elements seem ludicrous. So why am I doing it here and now? Two reasons: First, I thought about it a lot, especially as we are about to approach episode 64 of Super, and realized that the two do have similar elements, at least in their creation, and that comparing the two analytically could be beneficial for this franchise I love so much. Second, ...I needed a valid excuse as to why I was continuing to feed my obsessive addiction to own every version of Dragon Ball ever. Hey, at least I'm honest about it...
Before getting into the examination proper, let's start with a break down of how I'm approaching this. First, I'm comparing one saga at a time, so I'll give a brief synopsis of each Saga. Second, I'll compare the animation, audio, story, and characters of each. Finally, I'll give my over all thoughts on both and how I feel they fit into the Dragon Ball franchise as a whole. Oh, and some ground rules: because their is no dub for Super yet, and the fact that I want to stay as clear as I can be with the comparisons, I will be using the original Japanese version with English subtitles. Also, because it can be some contention about where a saga ends, I'll be going by the Kanzenshuu saga break down for both; again, just to be consistent. And remember, guys, this is all for fun and to help foster discussions, so don't take any of this TOO seriously. Well, let's get started!
DRAGON BALL GT: BLACK STAR BALL SAGA; EPISODES 1-22
So we start our story... some time after Dragon Ball Z. Most Japanese guidebooks say 5 years after, Funimation went with 10 for some reason, but in the series itself they do not say. ...and character designs don't help. Regardless of what Age it is, Goku has finished his training with Uub, and is having a final match with him in the depths of the Lookout to really test his abilities. But enough of that, Pilaf is back for more high-jinx! And now he and the gang are...OLD! Like, really old! Well, it seems that Pilaf has discovered some mysterious Black Star Dragon Balls that are even more powerful than than the original ones! Because these were created by Namekian that was Kami and Piccolo before splitting! ...wait, how are these things even... oh, whatever. Well, Pilaf calls forth this set's dragon, named...uh... Shen Long. ...but now he's red! Original Character, do not steal! Well, Pilaf accidentally wishes for Goku to become a kid again, and the Black Star Dragon Balls go flying into space! Goku...could care less about being a kid again, which is pretty fitting for his character, and decides not to go searching for them. However, King Kai informs Goku that if he doesn't find the Dragon Balls and bring them back to the earth in a year that the earth will explode! ...that's a small design flaw... So, because of this massive threat, they send... 3 people to comb the universe for 7 small balls. ...ok then. Oh, it gets better! It was going to be Goku, the guy who's strong but a bit dense, and Goten and Trunks, the two teenagers that set aside their training to focus on girls, but Goten accidentally gets left behind and is replaced with Pan, the nine year old grand daughter of Goku! ...our planet's final hope, ladies and gentlemen... So, after meeting up with an incredibly annoying annoying robot named Gill, Gill, or Giru depending where you live ( I'll call him Gil cause it's easier to type...), our heroes began their quest for the 7 Black Star Dragon Balls! But during their quest, they soon begin to be targeted by the evil Doctor Ger...I mean Doctor Mu, who sends his Androi...I mean, Machine Mutants, to kill the three and retrieve the balls they've collected! It all ends with a fight against Ce... I mean Hatchya...I mean Baby, who is quickly dispatched. But when Mu escapes, Baby is revealed not only to be alive, but to be the one ACTUALLY pulling the strings all along! And he vows vengeance on the Saiyans...
DRAGON BALL SUPER: BATTLE OF GODS SAGA: EPISODES 1-14
So we start our story... some time after the Buu Saga. No really, this is even more confusing. They say at the start of the episode 6 months, but then Battle of Gods starts, which was originally supposed to be 5 years after with Videl pregnant, but then Old Kai says that Beerus was only awake half a day! ...WHAT TIME IS IT?! Insanity aside, We see what our heroes has been up to in the... whatever time since Buu. Goku is a farmer that ditches his family as soon as he can, Vegeta takes his family to a resort and ditches them as soon as he can, Mr. Satan is given a lot of money that he ditches as soon as he can, and Piccolo is creepily stalking Gohan and Videl, who are now married, and never ditches them. ...wow, our two main heroes are terrible people when you think about it... However, the peace is cut short...or long, depending on your understanding of the space time continuum... when Beerus, God of Destruction, awakens to do his job! Oh, and to eat. OH, and to find the strong guy from his dream. Well, doesn't take him long to find Goku...and to beat him. As Goku puzzles over Beerus' power, Bulma's birthday party is cut short when Beerus and his attendant Whis show up! Vegeta tries to keep Beerus calm, but Buu eats all the pudding, which makes Beerus angry enough to destroy earth. Well, our heroes are soon shown to be no match for Beerus, and all hope seems lost, when Goku arrives to save the day! ...except that he can't. Whoops. Well, after a quick talk to Shen Long, and discovering that Videl is pregnant, Goku can finally obtained the power-up and become the warrior that Beerus dreamed of: A Super Saiyan God! And so, the ultimate battle for earth commences, God vs God! And Goku...loses. With dignity, and proving that he can hold his own, but Beerus decides that it's time to destroy earth. ...he then falls asleep. Whis takes him back home, assuring our heroes that Beerus will probably forget about destroying Earth, and Goku being told by Gohan that Videl is pregnant! ...even though he was there for that scene already. ...seriously, was that a translation issue or something? That struck me as odd.
ANIMATION
Well, in a way both series captures the cultural relevance and artistic...ah, who am I kidding. Super's animation sucks here. Not every scene, mind you, but it's obvious that there were a LOT of issues behind the scenes. The original run of OG-GT had plenty of bad animation days to... but not like this. I mean, they even start changing animation styles mid episode at points! But on the Character design side of things, Super is better True, it's essentially just Z designs, but some of the designs in GT are just...odd. And I'm not just talking about Vegeta's mustache and weird hair cut, though it does suck...a LOT, I mean with the new character designs for the aliens and the villains. Most seem uninspired, and the ones that don't just...suck. Honestly, kind of a wash, but the lead goes to GT for CONSISTENT animation. ...Well, pretty consistent.
SOUND
...GT. Ok, fine, let's address the elephant in the room. I do not like Super's score that much. I mean, one or two tracks here I like a bit, most are bland and neutral to me, and some are so bad they ruin a scene. Especially one track, which I'm sure you all know... But I do like both theme songs a lot. Chozetsu Dynamic has a lot of energy, though the singer doesn't share it, and DAN DAN Kokoro is pleasant and beautiful and...obviously not originally written for GT. That's a wash, I guess, but I do like Hello Hello Hello a lot more than Hitori ja Nai, so point Super... But again, it really comes down to the score, which EASILY goes to GT. Huh, GT is doing surprisingly well...
STORY
As I hinted before, GT is kind of a mish mash of a lot of previous Dragon Ball stories... which I'm actually ok with, to be honest. GT is an epilogue for the franchise, one last hoorah. A chance to look back at what came before. Essentially, Goku's life flashing before his eyes before he finally...well, we'll get there when we cover GT's ending. So recreating the hunt for the Dragon Balls while throwing in some Cell saga and Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans stuff? Sounds not only ok, but great! ...So what the HFIL went wrong?! Well, it probably didn't help that they cut out all but three characters, but more on that next section. Also, straight up copying episodes from the Pilaf saga didn't help either. But the big issue story wise is, I think, the pacing. The saga is set up ok, but once they launch into space it's essentially one shot planets with bland, stereotype characters until they reach Lood. And yes, the Pilaf Saga was much the same, except that characters were either funny, unique, or contributed in the story in some way. Here? Pretty much one and done. Then on Lood we get a kinda confusing series of twists. The Para Para brothers (...ugh...) steal a Dragon Ball form our heroes to give to Cardinal Mucchi Mocchi, who is a leader of a religion to Lood, the God of Destruct...ion... uh... huh. Beerus oughta Sue... BUT WAIT! Mucchi Mocchi is actually... A WHIP! ...BUT WAIT! The leader of Loodism is actually Dolltaki! Who... is a doll Otaku. ...with a REALLY creepy fascination with Pan... BUT WAIT! Lood isn't a god! he is a machine! A machine MUTANT! But wait! There's more! Dolltaki is actually working for Dr. Mu! See what I mean? These are like episode by episode plot twists. So after beating Lood, our trio hits Tatooine! I kid, but actually not a bad character building episode for Pan and Gil. ...which exists solely so that the next mini arc has a deeper punch. Gil seemingly betrays our heroes at planet M2, which is filled with robots and Machine Mutants built by Mu. Eventually our heroes make it to Mu, where Gil reveals that he was secretly a TRIPLE agent all along! And Trunks was in on it from the start! Despite Trunks talking about how he couldn't believe Gil betrayed them to himself a few episodes before... Well, turns out Mu has a secret weapon: BABY! As I said, Baby turns out to be the mastermind and the big bad of the next saga. See, the pacing kills the story here, because at first there's nothing of consequence happening, and then things rush together to quick, with so many heel turns and reveals you'd need a flow chart! ...if the audience cared. Let's be honest, the audience DOESN'T care, because the heroes aren't in any real danger! But more of that in Character stuff. Oh, didn't even talk about Super...well, that's because the story is Battle of Gods the film. Not a remash or remix like in GT... no, it straight up IS Battle of Gods. ...BUT ON A BOAT! However, I feel the story for the Battle of Gods saga IS stronger than the Black Star Ball Saga. There is danger and peril, the saga is paced better (Though the ending part drags a bit), and it even ends unexpectedly... you know, unless you watched the film version...
CHARACTERS
Honestly, GT gave us 3 and a half main characters for the first saga. Goku, Trunks, Pan, and sorta kinda Gil. Gil is honestly a glorified tool, thrown in because he ate the Dragon Radar. Most he ever does is on Tatooine when he rescues Pan. Yeah, there's the whole betray the group thing going on with planet M2, but it's just so ludicrous with the heel turns. Besides, didn't really serve much of a purpose except as a tool to unmetal everyone. Trunks is oddly bland, probably because he doesn't have Goten to work off of. Remember, this isn't Future Trunks, this is bratty Trunks from our timeline. I remind you because I think the writers forgot. They try to make him tough but stoic like Future Trunks, but then add in Bratty Trunks' other traits... which kinda leaves a mess of a character. He drives the ship and comes up with plans...oh crap, he's become Fred from Scooby Doo! He's even wearing an Ascot! (Yes, I stole that joke from Mistare Fusion. Watch his Dragon Ball Dissection series. They're really good!) Pan is...kinda annoying. Her trait is that she doesn't like being treated like a kid, but then acts like a kid. I don't hate her or anything, but I feel like the writers didn't understand her character. ...or 9 year old girls in general. Goku is...well...Goku. He likes to fight, he's strong, he eats a lot, and has the social graces of an elephant in a china shop. But, that's it. While it IS in character for Goku not to care he's a child again, it would be better STORY wise to have it bother him. And more importantly, when the stake of the WORLD is at stake, it WOULD start bothering Goku. Heck, even just the fact that he's lost some strength and abilities should bother him! Most of the time they actually use Goku as comic relief! Yes, Goku was more comical in early Dragon Ball, but this is AFTER Z. The new characters are bland and uninteresting, with the exception of Baby, and the old characters are shoved aside for essentially a glorified cameo! And why was Uub, Goku's successor, pushed aside like that?! Ugh... GT didn't handle characters well. Super, however, did a find job. Honestly, the saving grace most of the time was the characters. Beerus and Whis are EXCELLENT additions to Dragon Ball, and the rest of the cast is right on target! They even let some characters shine that haven't had that chance in a while, like Oolong and Yamcha! ...well, Oolong at least... There's also legitimate growth in characters like Vegeta, Beerus, and Pilaf. Oh yeah, the Pilaf gang are here too. They don't contribute really anything, unfortunately, but I still enjoy their presence. Oh, and they're kids now. It's explained in the movie and not the Saga, but still good to point out. All in all, Super really delivers the Character moments.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Dragon Ball GT's first saga had so much promise and good production values, but failed to deliver on the story and characters. Dragon Ball Super's first saga started with a bad idea (Retelling Battle of Gods) and bad production values, but did a decent job story wise and REALLY delivered in the character side of things. In the end, both series had a rocky start, just for different reasons. I did enjoy the Battle of Gods saga a bit more, but really only because it's based on the MUCH better film version that came out in 2013. The Black Star Dragon Ball Saga, on the other hand, isn't as good, but at least it's more original...even if it is shamelessly stealing from other Dragon Ball works at least it's not a straight up remake. If you can only watch one of these, watch the Battle of Gods saga. It IS a more coherent whole. But really, you'd be better off watching the FILM Battle of Gods.
Next time, we move forward to Freeza getting pimped out and Vegeta becoming a Baby! ...I'm starting to regret my life choices...
I am The R2 Dude, and this is The R2 View!
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