It’s been a busy few weeks for anime, so you might not have noticed that Crunchyroll added Dragon Ball Super to its catalog over the weekend. For many anime fans, Dragon Ball Z was their point of origin into Japanese animation and remains an iconic series both for its epic highs and infamous lows. With Akira Toriyama’s minimal involvement in GT, the quality of the series declined and much of the magic was lost. Dragon Ball Kai was an encouraging return to the series that showed a dedication to quality, emphasizing the high points and cutting the fat from the story. Dragon Ball Super similarly represented an opportunity to scrap GT and try again. Toriyama had returned to the franchise with some fresh ideas and a team of writers who had grown up as Dragon Ball fans. The promise of this series was immense for the diehard fan, if only to provide the same DBZ experience with Kai’s production. The final product not only delivers, but it blows everything before it out of the water.
SWORD. LASERS.
DB and DBZ have classically been very simple stories, matching Toriyama’s fairy-tale art style. Villains are bad, heroes are good. Most of the characters aren’t too bright and even the smart ones have considerable blind spots. Villains are either after world domination, senseless destruction, or just a good old-fashioned fight to the death and their schemes range in complexity from punching to sending their henchmen to do their punching for them. Matching that beat is integral to satisfying to diehard fan and Super hit the ground in a full sprint by flawlessly integrating the strengths of DB and DBZ. That could have been enough, but Super reaches for something more, to add depth while maintaining that sense of simplicity and humor we all remember. The result couldn’t be more impressive.
Pilaf's Schrödinger eyeballs are both open and closed
Zamasu is easily the greatest villain to appear in any iteration of Dragon Ball, first and foremost because his motivations for doing evil are complicated and based within a moral paradigm, however flawed it may be. As the apprentice to the Supreme Kai, he struggles to grasp his role in the battle between good and evil, whether it’s just for him to exist passively above the conflict. As a godlike being, he sees the universe in its totality as a beautiful creation and the events of beings like the humans and Saiyans, who destroy planets and kill each other, as representing a destructive force that is reprehensible to such beauty. His ultimate decision to rid the world of both races to create a garden-like utopia isn’t exactly anything groundbreaking, but the series takes time to build his internal conflict without feeling bogged down in philosophy. He has a motivation beyond controlling others through violence which gives his conquest dimension. In his own twisted way, he believes he is dispensing justice.
I'd like to point out that this is an actual visual metaphor being used in a Dragon Ball episode
Another first is the introduction of intrigue into the story of Super. Zamasu numbers among the Kai and is both using his status as a divinity while also attempting to subvert the celestial order. He uses a third party in Black Goku to begin his attack in a manner than can’t be tied back to him. Between bouts, Goku and the gang have to make use of information they gathered during the fight and rely on Whis and Beerus to investigate the situation simply to identify the perpetrator. Not only does this dynamic provide unique narrative, but it also builds on the world of Dragon Ball. The hierarchy of Kai and gods, with Zen-oh as a supreme apex of power, provides a point of reference for the previously scattered gods and demons Goku has encountered since he was a child as well as a stable scale of power for the notoriously hard to measure DBZ.
If only Killua could make a comparison based on pillar spacing
Super also gives Dragon Ball’s ever-expanding cast of outscaled characters a chance to shine next to its famously dim-witted powerhouses. If intrigue wasn’t hard enough on a guy like Goku, Super provides some of the first villains that can’t simply be defeated with violence. Zamasu and Black Goku possess immortal bodies and are dedicated to the destruction of mankind. Even after uncovering Zamasu’s scheme, Goku and friends have to figure out how he can be defeated. More intelligent characters like Piccolo, Bulma, and Trunks are integral to the group's success, whether strategizing for combat or coming up with solutions for everything from time travel to god killing.
Even the kids and ninja dogs get to help out
For original DB fans, Super will prove to be an even greater nostalgia trip. Where DBZ narrowed the scope from the large cast of DB to a much smaller group focusing primarily on Goku, Super breaks the series back open to put all of Toriyama’s wacky characters on full display. Not only have the constant hijinks from DB returned but Super spends a considerable amount of time on character development and relationships. One character of particularly impressive focus is Future Trunks. Where before Trunk’s personal turmoil was contained primarily in his own TV special, Super spends a considerable amount of time contrasting the happy lives of other characters with his own personal tragedies and emphasizing the trauma he has experienced. Lulls between battles which were previously stretched with training montages are now brimming with moments both humorous and touching that make Toriyama's world feel real again.
The Gohan I know could only hold one cone
Lets not forget the most important part, the combat. Never before has combat in Dragon Ball been more dynamic. In terms of both animation quality and choreography, the fight scenes are closer to the Dragon Ball movies than any of the past series. Sakuga moments are frequent and fights regularly incorporate environmental features around the combatants rather than relying on wide, desolate areas to keep the conflict airborne. Stagnant ki techniques are seeing some much needed diversity, with Black Goku’s ki blade, energy beams that impale then explode, and Trunks’s unbelievably cool Z Sword laser slashes. The single greatest addition, however, is some true group fights. Where DBZ became primarily a series of repeated duels, Super has true multi-person battles which have opponents pair off, interfere in other fights, get mixed up, and pair off again. Perhaps most importantly, the sense of danger has returned. Goku’s aura of invulnerability has fallen away after battling the kami themselves and taking on true immortals, considerably raising the stakes from DBZ’s rote “waiting for Goku” narrative. If the video clips don’t convince you, then nothing will.
It's like my childhood went Super Saiyan
Super is, quite simply, astoundingly good. It’s much denser without weighing down Toriyama’s carefree style and trademark humor. What’s more, it accomplished all this without missing a beat. Despite the 20 year gap since DBZ was first released, Super fits seamlessly into the setting as if it always belonged, even if you haven't filled in the gap before episode 47 by watching Battle of Gods and Resurrection F. Minor details and loose ends from previous arcs have been woven effortlessly back into the story to create a sense of continuity that makes it feel like GT was a bad dream and Toonami took its sweet time getting the arcs after Majin Buu from Japan. For even the most jaded of fans, Super is definitive proof that a sequel can be better than the original.
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Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, and streams on Crunchyroll's official Twitch channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @PeterFobian.
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