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By looking at the concept on paper, it really seems to hit the nail on the head. Goku was wished to be pint-sized and he and Trunks, along with Pan, travel across the universe looking for a new set of Dragon Balls but with a strict deadline. They visit strange new places and meet some weirdos, but at least fans got to meet the adorable robot Giru. But as the series progressed, they realized that the actual execution hit the nail on the coffin instead.
The original plan forDragon Ball GTwas different from its final product
While there is a lot of criticism surrounding the sequel and its execution, the original plan forDragon Ball GTseems to be more convincing than the actual one.According toDragon Ball GTproducer Kōzō Morishita, the aforementioned initial plan was to have the story focus only on the next generation, like Trunks, Goten, and Pan, basically likeBoruto: Naruto Next Generations.
The last chapter of the original manga is set ten years after the battle with Majin Boo, so initially the idea was to have anime-original stories depicting the events of those ten years, and various such stories were planned out. Content-wise, it was thought that the plot would revolve around the exploits of characters such as Pan or Trunks; in other words, the next generation of children.
Morishita mentioning stories depicting the events taking place during the 10 years before the end of Z seems to be something Toei Animation later took forDragon Ball Super. But even that focused on Goku for the most part. But what changed forDragon Ball GTis that the higher-ups at Weekly Shonen Jump wantedDragon Ball GTto be a completely original story, separate from the original manga.
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And there was also the opinion that it would be terribly disrespectful not to make it a separate work fromAkira Toriyama‘s original manga. With that, Toei Animation decided to take it in the direction of depicting events afterDragon Ball’s final chapter.
Dragon Ball: The Next Generation could have been the betterDragon Ball GT
Even though dragging a show to depict the next generation of characters has been criticized, especially in the case ofBorutoandYashahime(Inuyasha‘s sequel),Dragon Ball: The Next Generationmight have been executed well, especially if Toriyama was on board with the idea, if not with the execution.
The Buu Saga ofDragon Ballwas originally meant to have Gohan as the main character but after Toriyama realized that he wasn’t suitable for the role, he had Goku return and make the finishing blow. Some fans had the opinion that Toriyama reverted back to Goku because he was scared of Goku fans or the ratings weren’t so high but the truth wasn’t the case at all.
The Most Idiotic Dragon Ball GT Storyline is Hard to Make Sense Even if You Throw Shonen Logic Out of the Window
However, Kōzō Morishita admitted that they made Goku the main character forDragon Ball GTjust to appeal to the target market and keep the TV ratings high. According to him:
When Goku’s not the main character, the story gets out of hand, or perhaps I should say it becomes unstable.
For instance, back withDragon Ball Z, when there were episodes with characters other than Goku fighting, even if the ratings didn’t suffer, younger viewers lost interest.
Adults watch for the story, so they can still enjoy watching how things play out even if Goku doesn’t appear, but children watch for the characters. So you have to have Goku appear.
As a result, both Toriyama and Toei Animation failed to make other characters like Gohan and Vegeta hit the spotlight more than Goku, even though Vegeta won the character polls numerous times.Dragon Ball Super: Super Herohad Gohan and Piccolo as the main characters and that movie still hit numbers on the box office, albeit not as much asDragon Ball Super: Broly.
But even so, currentDragon Ballproducer Akio Iyoku still took that step. Dragon Ball DAIMAfeatures multiple leads other than Goku, like Shin, Piccolo, Vegeta, Bulma, and 2 new characters travelling in the Demon Realm, and that seems to be more interesting thanGT.
5 Reasons Dragon Ball GT Deserves More Love
What the creators ofGTshould have done is have multiple leads like Trunks, Pan, Gohan, Bra, and Uub travel along with Goku to these different places, focusing on making these characters shine and exploring their characters deeper. And Goku should have been made a supporting character. But alas, the makers of GT made Pan’s role a damsel in distress just to make her a “heroine who makes Goku a hero.”
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z,Dragon Ball Super, and Dragon Ball DAIMAare all available to watch on Crunchyroll.
Anand Bhaskaran
Articles Published :134
A Dragon Ball fanatic who also loves to read and talk about Indian spirituality. An MBA finance graduate with a passion for doing everything that is unrelated to it. Anand has over 4 years of experience under his belt, having worked with leading content heads in the anime community. Currently, he’s more into Slice of Life and Romcom shows than actual Battle Shonen. But unfortunately, he’s stuck with a job writing ONLY about Battle Shonen (smh).
