How Dragon Ball Broke Its Own World Building transcript

Dragon Ball isn't a story that's particularly known for its worldb buildinging. When people think of Dragon Ball, I imagine it's the action that comes to mind for most, whereas world building is something that's associated more with anime like One Piece. And we can pretty easily imagine why that is. It's a story that does have a lot of focus on the action, especially the further into the series we get. Dragon Ball Super might try to have a bit more focus on it, but it's pretty clear that the action took center stage in the Tournament of Power.

And I mean, Toriyama originally didn't plan on Dragon Ball being longer than one volume and was known for writing on the fly, so there's no way he could have planned out this grand expansive world. But what if I told you that I actually think Toriyama's spontaneous writing style just so happened to complement the world building perfectly in the earlier stages of Dragon Ball? for a good stretch of its run. Actually, I think Dragon Ball's world building is surprisingly good until it slowly loses itself up until recently when Dragon Ball Diamond came out.

And honestly, it kind of entirely fixed all the issues it had. But first, we need to establish how these issues were formed in the first place because again, I think Toriyama's writing style really fit perfectly for Dragon Ball's early world building. Early Dragon Ball has this real sense of adventure and discovery. Every new place, character, concept, all feels fresh and new. And the reason why the world feels like this is because of Goku.

Goku, when we first meet him, has never set foot beyond the mountains he was raised in and knows nothing of the outside world. He hadn't even seen other humans before. And so, we start off with this very clean slate. We know nothing, just like Goku. And so, everything we see is new and shocking for both us and him, except that we know the difference between boys and girls. And because Toriyama was making up a lot of this stuff on the fly, the world itself feels very random, but in an intentional way.

We got this house on a random island, a castle surrounded by fire. This guy lives inside a mountain, a secret underwater pirate base filled with treasure. Like, you just end up accepting that this is a world that has a bunch of random [ __ ] in it. The president's a dog. Yeah, that makes sense. The art style and the art design is super consistent and unique, especially with the buildings and vehicles, making it believable that all these areas come from the same world.

There are hoy capsules that are used by everyone in the world, created by Bulma's dad, who's world famous. Martial arts is a big part of the culture, and skilled fighters like Master Roshi or the crane hermit are world famous. With the world tournament itself being a huge event that just grows and grows in popularity as the story goes on. There's just so much lore and secrets to this world that you discover that becomes all the more real when other characters reference them, like the Dragon Balls themselves.

Even something as little as Ulong's ability to transform is explained when we meet Pu and we learn that they both went to a specific school to learn it. We never go to the school and it's never really mentioned again, but I love that this is just factually a thing that exists. My favorite worldbuing element though is probably Corin's Tower. Design-wise and idea-wise, it's perfect. It was perfect. It's this ancient sacred tower that no one has been able to climb.

But when we eventually do get to the top and train under the master that lives there, we come to learn that there's only one other person who has successfully climbed the tower before Goku, which was Master Roshi. This is some good [ __ ] [ __ ] This is an example of great world building. We learned that it took Roshi three whole years to take the flask from Corin to complete his training, but Goku only took three days.

And I think this highlights another one of the biggest strengths of the world building, which is how Goku himself interacts with the world. Because the world of Dragon Ball, although it's random, to the people living there, it's not, and they're used to it. For them, dinosaurs are normal. And so, they have certain expectations to the world and their surroundings. But Goku every single time shatters those expectations.

No matter where he goes or who he meets, he always exceeds expectations. Like I said, he did what Roshi did in 3 days. He learns the Kamehameha first try, even though it took Roshi 50 years to learn it. People try to shoot him, but the bullets just bounce off his skin. He has a tail. He fights armies on his own, but he can't even count to 12. This is something that's consistent even in Dragon Ball Super. And I think it's one of the things that makes S Goku such a good main character.

Now, eventually, we reach a point where there's nothing more for Goku to really explore on Earth. And I don't think anything symbolizes this better than the 23rd martial arts world tournament. Goku finally wins it. After having competed three times, he's officially become the strongest under the heavens. He even meets the literal god of the planet. The Dragon Balls are super easy to gather. And so the Earth is kind of completed.

He gets a wife and a kid, and they live happily ever after. [Music] Holy crap, it's Sonic the Hedgehog. So, Dragon Ball Z's world building is very different, and not in a bad way at all, but there's definitely a bit of a change in approach here, and also where the lack of focus on the world building starts. There's obviously still a lot of it, though, as we learn of Goku's origins and the other Sayans. We even learn Piccolo's origins and his relationship with Kami and the other Neomechians.

If the last arc was the completion of Earth, this is sort of the end of the Earth. All the Earthlings do what they can to get stronger, like train Wakami. This is actually really clever as it makes it so that Kami's training wasn't something that Goku was exclusively able to do, but something that others can still seek out and do as well. The same was done with Corin's Tower as well when Krillin and the others train with them before the tournament.

These are real places in the world that any character can come back to as long as they're strong enough. But despite that, it's not enough. Earth's strongest warriors are no match for the Saiyans. The only one who finds success in beating the Saiyans is Goku, who left Earth. He died and went to the afterlife. And I got to say, the other world, both in concept and execution, [ __ ] slaps. We technically knew it existed because of Grandpa Gohan, so seeing a fully fleshed out version of it is dope, especially with Snake Way and King Kai.

Snake Way is pretty similar to Corin's Tower in basically every way. Instead of climbing, you're running. And at the end, you'll find some goofy looking dude. But one thing that I feel like is a bit of a missed opportunity is that Goku never falls down to hell. We go through the whole story without ever going to hell or seeing even how it looks like. I really do not like Dragon Ball GT, but one of the few praises I can give it is that it actually utilized hell.

It's kind of weird that it was established just to never get used, but maybe the coolest [ __ ] in the arc is the moon. Something I didn't mention when talking about the earlier parts of the story is the way Jackie Chun just obliterated the moon. Now, if the moon was to disappear all of a sudden in real life, [ __ ] would get pretty crazy to say the least. So, for it to happen in a story, you'd think that would cause some ramifications.

And in Dragon Ball, while the Earth itself isn't particularly bothered by its lack of moon, there is still someone who is very affected. This guy, this is the man wolf, who turns into a human whenever there's a full moon. So, naturally, he's someone who' be very affected by the moon disappearing forever. It's really just supposed to be a short gag fight. But it's still really cool to see that the fight itself was caused due to a big change in the world.

And Toriyama took that idea and carried it over to the Saiyan saga when Piccolo blows it up again to stop Gohan from becoming an Osaru just like Jackie Chan did before. What was really cool about Goku turning into a giant monkey in the first place was that he was able to interact with the crucial part of the world for it to happen. And it's tied so well into the story because if the moon isn't there, while yes, Gohan can transform, Vegeta also can't.

Now, because Vegeta is just that guy, apparently, he can just throw his energy ball as a substitute for the moon and can turn into a monkey. But because there's now a substitute moon, Gohan can also turn into a giant monkey. What makes this work especially well is that the moon is something we're all familiar with. It's not something that we need to be explained to us. But because we're in the world of Dragon Ball where every character is extremely strong, they can destroy the moon, interacting with it in ways most stories can't.

But aside from that, this arc obviously focuses heavily on the action, just like the last arc did, and this is a trend that will follow the rest of the sea for the most part. However, the Namek saga actually does some genius world building on a level that I wish Dragon Ball Super would. One of my criticisms for the later stages and installments of Dragon Ball are the Dragon Balls themselves before. They were integral to the story.

They were something that made the story work. But as it got easier to gather them, I felt like they slowly turned into a convenient plot device that just kind of removed all stakes and tension by bringing people back from the dead, making people stronger, or just anything they want. I feel like Dragon Ball isn't really a fitting title for Dragon Ball Super as it's more focused on just Goku and Vegeta, whereas the Dragon Balls are just a thing in the background.

But the Namek arc solves this issue in a perfect way because if Piccolo hadn't died in the battle against the Saiyans, getting the Dragon Balls and just wishing the people who died back would have been way too easy. Gathering the Dragon Balls takes like a day maximum. Again, Earth is kind of completed. So, what do you do? Well, you move on to the next planet. We've already uncovered the origins of the Dragon Balls and lost our own.

So, we go to where we can find the original ones. And there we find a whole new type of nature, people, and conflict. The story has so far shifted to one that is a lot more actionheavy, but it still manages to revolve around the Dragon Balls by integrating the action and the search for them. Every time our heroes want a Dragon Ball, they have to fight or sneak around strong opponents. And the opponents they do have to face are really cool.

I don't know. I just love the Frieza Force. The way we have all these different officers with various strengths from Sarbon and the Dorya to the Ginyu force, it's very similar to the Red Ribbon Army. The scouters are also a great mechanic that seamlessly blends into the story, action, and world. And it's also here where we get to see Goku utilize the concept of training with higher gravity. This is something that was established in the Saiyan saga when Goku trained under King Kai.

And it's a really clever addition because it's something that totally makes sense for a character in Dragon Ball to have to deal with, especially when we start leaving Earth and dealing with aliens. And just like the way the Z fighters trained with Corin and Kami, they also trained with King Kai. Again, this is great because it makes the world feel more realistic as it utilizes established characters and places more than once.

The only issue is that this time they don't get to show off the results of their training. Only Piccolo does. Wouldn't it be so cool if Ten Shenan just like went to Namek? Anyway, Piccolo gets to go to his people's homeland and meets with another Nemkian that he fuses with. Since Piccolo is alive, Kami also comes back to life, allowing them to use the Earth Dragon Balls to wish back all the dead Nomecians, including Grand Elder Guru, which makes the Nomecian Dragon Balls activate again.

Really good stuff. Now, again, there were multiple times where Toriyama wanted to end Dragon Ball, and this was one of them, and you can kind of tell by looking at the Cell Saga, because a lot of it comes out of nowhere. I really like Frieza coming back with his dad as it expands on Frieza's history and family and Chunks showing up giving us the whole backstory to his timeline is great. We've completed Earth, Namek, the afterlife, and now we need to tackle the future.

I came back from the future and Frieza was waiting for me. He does come a little out of nowhere, but considering it's a time travel story, I have no idea how you'd even foreshadow that. What really comes out of nowhere though is Dr. JRo and the Androids. What I like about this is that it ties back to Goku obliterating the Red Ribbon Army and I guess kind of gives it a consequence of sorts, but I still think this suffers a little bit from never being foreshadow.

There's also the time chamber which is awesome but again was never mentioned before, like ever. What I thought worked really well though was Piccolo and Kami becoming one, as it delivers on something that has been set up for a while. And because that happens, the Dragon Balls are gone, meaning we need to go back to Namek to find another Nekian who can make Dragon Balls for them. This shows us that Namek wasn't just this one time thing.

It's a real place that exists in the Dragon Ball world. And you know, that's kind of it. There's not really any more world building in this arc. I mean, there's a lot of mystery surrounding Cell and his origins and the way he actually comes from a completely different timeline, and that Cell is actually the reason why our main timeline and Trunks' timeline exists in the first place. When you actually look up how these timelines are connected, it actually gets really interesting and intricate.

But not a lot of that information is given in the manga and most of the focus is on the fight against Cell. So far, I'd say this is the arc that has had the worst world building and the least focus on it. And originally, I assume that the Boo Saga will be the one that was the worst in this department. And while I do still have some problems with it, there was actually a lot of good world building that I forgot to take into account.

Like, for example, the beginning of this arc does this incredibly well. I mentioned before how fun it was to see Goku interact with the world around him. But at a certain point, there was nothing really new to see. But then we get Gohan as the new main character for a little bit, and he is completely different from Goku. So seeing him interact with the world around him is a completely different experience. Goku embrace shattering expectations, whereas Gohan purposely tries not to and has to hide who he really is.

And this leads to some satisfying moments, especially with the way the other characters all know about the blond-haired people who fought Cell years ago, making this section feel so much more grounded. Like I mentioned before, we get to go back to the world tournament once again, which is now bigger than ever with Mr. Satan as the world champion. This is so cool because before the world tournament got more popular because of Goku and the others, whereas now nobody remembers them and Mr.

Satan is the main attraction instead. Goku saved the world once but is now only a shadow of the past as he hasn't really interacted much with Earth since he found out he was a Saiyan. I mean he's been dead for the past seven years and it's been peace on Earth so it makes sense that people have forgotten him. And there is one character who serves as a great commentary on the way it's changed and that is of course none other than the announcer.

[Music] I love this guy so much. She is easily one of my favorite Dragon Ball characters. He has been here since the very beginning and seeing the tournament change in real time and we get to hear exactly how he feels about this. To hear someone outside the main characters actually point this out is so cool. But unfortunately, this is where we get introduced to the worst worldbuing aspect of the first 42 volumes of Dragon Ball in my opinion and is where Toriyama's lack of planning shows itself again.

Throughout the story, we have met several gods and deities with the last one being King Kai. But not once was Shin or any Kaioshin ever mentioned. Now, in a sense, this is kind of similar to the Dr. JRo example where it does technically makes sense that there is a god that oversees the whole universe. But the difference is that Goku had no possible way of knowing what Dr. JRo was up to, whereas he had been in contact with several gods for like 10 years and lived with one of them for 7 years.

Like, you're telling me that this never came up even once? King Kai had his reasons for not telling Goku about Frieza as he knew Goku might want to fight him and assume that everyone who did would die pretty quickly, but there would have been no downsides of telling Goku about Kaioshin. This is not kid Goku that explores the world for the first time. This is a Goku who has more knowledge and experience than anyone. And similarly, Bobby and Buu were also never foreshadowed, not even earlier in this arc itself, even though they had been on Earth for a while.

This again makes it come kind of out of nowhere and a bit cheap. The story has had similar things happen before with the Saiyans and the Androids, but the difference there is that when we learned of Goku being a Saiyan, while yes, Toriyama might not have planned that from the start, it was still foreshadowed with the way he has his tail and turns into a giant monkey. And again, the way he always exceeds expectations and does things that are not normal for humans to do.

I swear at several points the other characters actually remark that he can't be human, but don't quote me on that. Him being a Saiyan totally makes sense. JRo and the androids weren't foreshadowed, but again, it at least tied back to a previous plot point. Everything about Shin and Buu showed up out of nowhere. This isn't a huge issue, but definitely noticeable. I like the lore we get though about the previous Kaioshin and their clashes with Buu, as it plays a big role in how Buu actually evolves during this arc.

And a bit later on, we return to the time chamber, which I imagine you all know why I like at this point, but I also like it because it actually plays a huge role in the story. They use it to buy time and get stronger at the same time. It's so cool. And once we get in there, we see it get destroyed and find out that there is no way to escape without the door trapping the characters in there. Then there's the whole scream to get out thing, which comes out of thin air, but overall, I love the use of the time chamber and the Boo Saga.

Now, there's really not a lot to say about the world building for the rest of the arc because there isn't really that much of it, and the little there is, I just don't have a lot to say about. Like we get to see the Kai's world and it's like completely empty aside from the sword with old Kai sealed in it. There's also the Potara earrings introduced out of nowhere. Kind of whack, but I love Vegeta coming back via Baba.

I forgot to mention, but this is the second time it happens in this arc. The first time was when Goku came back for a day. This is something that we know have been possible for so long. So, it's pretty dope to see it get utilized. And again, at this point, we're mostly just focusing on the action with the fighting against the Bu. There is one thing at the end of this arc that showcases possibly the best piece of world building in all of Dragon Ball, and a lot of you will probably be surprised when I say what it is.

This arc has made it pretty clear just how differently the characters interact with the world around them, specifically Earth, and how much it has changed over the course of the story. And nothing makes that clearer than Goku's final spirit bomb. It feels kind of weird to say that Goku's spirit bomb against Kid Buu has some of Dragon Ball's best worldbuing ever. But let me explain. First of all, the spirit bomb is a genius idea in the first place because as Vegeta says, let the Earthlings save themselves for once.

Goku and the others has saved the world so many times at this point, but this time they allow the world to save itself. I mean, you got to agree that's pretty genius. And the thing about the spirit bomb is that it's an attack that can only exist by interacting with the world. It takes the energy from the life of whatever planet they're on. When they were on Namek, there was almost no life left as all the Neomechians were dead and so there was only the energy from the trees and nature plus some of the surrounding planets.

So, the spirit bomb couldn't be as big as it needed to be. So, if the world was going to save itself, what better way than this. But where we really see the genius world building at play is when we actually start up the spirit bomb. Vegeta starts off by asking in the earth for energy, but he only gets the energy from the people he knows and loves. No one else trusts Vegeta because of who he is. He might have turned into a father and a family man as of late, but even then he just recently killed a bunch of people at the tournament and wasn't brought up on Earth.

Also, they use Kai to communicate with Earth, which is a great mechanic to bring back, but because they do that, the Earthlings are worried that it's Bobby and Buu speaking to them, just like they did earlier in the arc. For a number of reasons, Vegeta can't get the energy, but mainly because of who he is and his relationship with Earth. When Goku asks for energy, on the other hand, he gets energy from all the people and bonds he's met and created on Earth throughout the story.

Characters we haven't seen in literal ages are shown here again now. Because even though Goku hasn't interacted much with the Earth in a while, the impact he created when he did is still felt by them. But it's still not enough because even though Goku helped out and met a lot of people in his youth, he hasn't done so in a long time. And so there are several new generations of people he hasn't met. He can't connect to them because he doesn't know them.

He's turned into a legend instead of an active part of the world. What's wrong with you in great? Can't you lend us a hand? And that's when Mr. Satan steps in. Mr. Satan, even though he's a fraud, he's still a man of the people. Dude, if that was not the champ, I will eat the hat I am wearing. Everyone knows and loves him, and he's able to secure all the energy. Look at how differently the world reacted to these three characters.

I mean, this literally couldn't be more perfect. Or could it? Because even though they have all the energy required, it's still not enough. Goku is exhausted and Kin Buu holds the spirit bomb back. But then the Nomecians use the Nomecian Dragon Balls to wish for Goku to get to full power. Again, I don't think I need to explain why I like this so much. Dragon Ball's greatest evil gets defeated by the Dragon Balls. When I first started working on this video, I assumed the Bu Saga would have the worst world building by far and that the Cell Saga would have the second worst.

But I got to say that I underestimated the Boo Saga so [ __ ] much. It might have done some of the worst world building in the story, but it also gave us some of the absolute best. And I think I just underestimated the world building as a whole because like yeah, it's not really the first thing that comes to mind with Dragon Ball. But man, Akira Toriyama truly was a legendary writer and managed to make this world come to life even without proper planning.

That spirit bomb at the end is genuinely so damn good. But this has definitely brought to my attention what his strengths and weaknesses was when it came to Dragon Ball's world building. His weaknesses should be pretty obvious at this point, which is his lack of planning. A lot of characters, villains, and mechanics get introduced out of thin air, which can be really frustrating for the audience. However, what he truly excelled at was utilizing these new elements once they had already been established in the story. like the time chamber.

It came out of nowhere in the Cell Saga, but after it went from a new plot device to an already established one in the Buu saga, it got used in so many unique ways. After we were done on Namek, the planet and its people were still integrated into the story in big and important ways. But unfortunately, the creators of Dragon Ball Super seemed to only take with them Toriyama's weaknesses when it came to its world building.

But first, there's one aspect of the original Dragon Ball manga's world building I forgot to mention, and that is, of course, the chapter cover pages and the volume covers. Typically, in these, Toriyama would just make like some silly drawings of the main characters goofing off, and it's awesome. I mentioned in another one of my Dragon Ball videos how this was really effective in the earlier volumes of the story when Goku was still a kid.

We get to see the main characters just chilling, vibing, or driving some sick car or vehicle. I actually think this does a lot for the world building. So, just to show my appreciation for them even further, we're doing the Dragon Ball volume cover tier list. And yeah, I'm not ranking the chapter cover pages as well because that would take all day. Now, I'm not going to be ranking these based off of world building, just how much I like them.

Starting with number one, and you know, I got to say this one is iconic. And I also don't think anything encapsulates the vibe of early Dragon Ball better than this photo right here. And the second one, h it's all right. I do like the third one though cuz bro is just chilling like that dead ass just looks like Master Roshi telling Goku to post in front of the world tournament so he could take a picture of him. So, you know, I'm going to put it in A.

This one kind of kind of meh. He looks kind of goofy. I'm not the biggest fan of this one either. Like why is the bike so small? This one's better though. I'm I'm going to put this in B. This also pretty well fits the vibe of early Dragon Ball. So I I guess I'll put it in B. Okay, the car here looks sick. Ulong got a [ __ ] revolver. Like come on now. I love this one. This one is just adorable. I can't lie. I'm going to put this, you know what?

I'm going to put it an S. And this one iconic, bro. That Come on, bro. Look at Bulma, bro. This is iconic. And this is just like the boys on vacation, you know? I'mma I'm going to put this in A. Goku, just post the [ __ ] up. Yeah. You know what? I'm going to give you an S. Motorcycle Goku. I mean, it's all this kind of a vibe, you know? I'm going to put this in B, too. This one's also pretty solid. I do [ __ ] with this one very heavily, though.

Like, who gave Goku all that drip, bro? [ __ ] is the [ __ ] drip, man. Solid A. I'd say I like this one, but I also don't like how Piccolo is just staring into my soul. So, I'm going to put this in B. Really like the colors on this one. That's pretty solid. I'm going to put that at A. This car is just so [ __ ] fire, man. Like, look at look at the drip. Like, this one just has everything. I'm going to put this one an S.

Really love the blue colors here. It really works well with Goku's outfit and, you know, even his just skin color. So, I'm going to put this one an S. And this one, man, I do love the colors and style on this. Like none of the other volumes covers has this type of style. You know, I'm going to put this an S. Goku on the Nimbus. I don't know why the Nimbus is so big, but you know, it's fire, man. It even got the dragon.

Come on, bro. Now, come on. Have you ever seen Master Roshi this dripped up, bro? We got to put that in S. And I love just seeing all the C fighters together. And something about Chunks having like pink red hair is pretty cool. I'm going to put that one in S, too. This one is solid, but you know, I feel like Android 18 and 17, you know, if they were going to be on the cover, like I don't know. I feel like this doesn't quite show off like how much these two were just vibing out while they were just murdering people and destroying cities.

So, I'm going to put this one in B. This one is like really wholesome. I got to put this one in I don't know. I guess A. Goku on this fire bike. I'm going to put that in I I'mma put it in A. Goku saying goodbye. You know, it I I like the idea, but maybe Goku could have used like a little bit more sauce here. So, I guess I'm going to put it in B. This one is really wholesome. I'm going to put this one in S. This one is fine.

I I guess I I don't know. I'm going to put it in B. This is maybe one of my favorite, bro. I cannot believe we were robbed of Goten being the main character. Man, we were robbed of this. Majin Buu. Okay. Okay. This one kind of funny to be fair. You know what? I'm going to put an S. I do love this one. just all the freaking characters from the Boo Saga here. I'm going to put this one an S. And the last one is iconic. I'mma put it an S.

So yeah, that is my Dragon Ball volume cover tier list. Uh I hope you guys enjoyed. I know we were all very curious. And now it's time for Dragon Ball Super because while I think there were a few issues that the original gradually started getting, Dragon Ball Super takes all of those issues and amplifies them. Now, a lot of you might be surprised to hear this because Super does have a lot of worldbuing. It introduces so many gods and universes.

So, why isn't that good world building? Well, here's the thing. To me, more world building does not equal good world building. I mentioned before that One Piece is something more famous for its world building because of how much of it it has. And it's true. One Piece's world building is pretty [ __ ] peak. But in the later stages of the story, the world building h okay, it's definitely not bad at all, but in my opinion, it's gotten noticeably worse, for sure.

And part of the reason for that is because it has a lot more than it used to have. The purpose of world building in the first place is to give the characters, story, and themes a stage to stand on. But the world building itself is not the story and can never replace the story. As we get introduced to more and more characters later on in the story, while that does make the setting exist and feel more real, if those characters don't actually have anything to do in the story, their existence is pointless.

If we get a ton of exposition delivered to us about the origins of a town or a special location, but that location never gets utilized in the story, that exposition is pointless and takes away from the story. Like let's say we go to a new island and we meet this dude called Borp Dragons and we learn that he's lived on this island for 10 years and works as a plumber. This character never does anything in the story at all and he never shows up again after this.

That would be bad world building. I think this is what makes people underestimate Dragon Ball's world building because it doesn't have this super expansive lore for every single object, character, and town like something like One Piece does. But the reality is that the things in Dragon Ball's world that gets expanded on are specifically things that affect the story. It's simple, but that's not a bad thing at all. It being simple is what makes it so genius because you don't notice it.

There's action, story, and world building all at the same time. Less is more. And so, it doesn't introduce a thousand different cities and characters because why would it need to? So, the conclusion is Dragon Ball Super sucks. Okay, I'm going to go into detail a little more, but it's going to be very difficult for me to bring up every aspect of Dragon Ball Super World building because the amount of changes in addition the show does is off the charts.

I have never seen a story be so confidently wrong in almost everything it does at every turn. So, to make it easier, I'm just going to mention the main points and not go as in detail as I did with the original manga. Also, I will only be talking about the anime here, not the manga. So, first of all, Super starts off by introducing two major new additions to the world. I'll start with Beerus and Whis. My issue with this is pretty similar to my issue with Shin, but it's even worse here.

Again, we know the literal guardian of the universe and several gods, but at no point did we hear about a god of destruction. Vegeta actually knew about Beerus, but just never mentioned him. Again, I shouldn't need to explain why this is kind of whack. You would think that Vegeta would bring it up at least once, but no, it's unsatisfying because not only had he never been foreshadowed, but also because we thought we knew everything about how the universe worked, only to find out we didn't know the first thing about it.

But what I think is one of the worst decisions made in all of Dragon Ball Super is when it's explained to us that Beerus and Shin's lives are linked together. Why? Genuinely, why was this introduced? This is worldb building. We are learning more about how the gods work, but why? This never ever plays a role in the story. Shin's life is literally never in danger. Like, the story would have been the exact same if they hadn't revealed this information to us.

I mean, dude, Shen literally goes to the battlefield. Like, he doesn't give a [ __ ] Shin's never even a part of the story at all. This is worldbuing just for the sake of having worldbuing, which makes it bad in my opinion. But what makes it like particularly bad is that Shin was risking both his and Beerus's lives while fighting Buu and also just offers up Beerus's life at the end in order to get Goku back to life. Why did he fuse with Kabido?

Did he know that wouldn't kill Beerus? Shin didn't even know that the Potara earrings had the ability to fuse. What about Kai? What god of destruction was his life linked to? This whole time, Beerus could have just taken out Majin Buu. And they try to explain it away by saying, "Oh, Beerus sleeps for decades at a time." But according to Toriyama, Majin Buu has existed since the beginning of the universe. And you can't say that he isn't a big enough threat to the universe.

Because if Beerus leaves for decades, that's more than enough time for Buu to destroy the whole universe. Maybe even move on to the other ones. I mean, how did Beerus even get this job in the first place? Surely Senna would erase Beerus if he let anything like that even remotely happen. And considering how scared Beerus is of Zeno, there's no way he would allow a chance for Buu to do anything like that. And after this information is revealed, Beerus never has a single fight for the rest of the story.

Genuinely, why did they tell us this? I don't understand. This is how it is for a lot of things in Dragon Ball Super. I feel like if you stop and think about them for more than like 2 seconds, it falls apart. Now, Beerus can still be a good addition to the world if he ends up contributing to the story. And you know, we'll come back to that actually because we also have Super Saiyan God introduced. A transformation that literally no one had ever heard about, not even Vegeta or Frieza.

Oh, wait. Frieza did actually know about it in the Dragon Ball Minus manga, even though it was specifically the regular Super Saiyan he was afraid of, even though it's like hundreds of times weaker than Super Saiyan God. But a little bit after this is where all hell breaks loose as we get introduced to all the universes and gods. Now remember what I said about new additions to the world needing to play a role in the story.

Yeah. So about that. I mean we can first off continue with Beerus and Whis because while I love their inclusion in Battle of Gods after that point they do not do jack [ __ ] The only times is when Whis rewinds time against Frieza and when Beerus is Hakkai Samasu. But that's such small inclusions considering how long Dragon Ball Super is so far. Like I remember after watching Battle of Gods for the first time, being like a little ass kid imagining what was going to happen with them in the future.

Is Beerus going to die at some point? Will we ever see Whis fight seriously? No, we never get that. And yeah, sure, Super is still an ongoing story, but it has also been an ongoing story for 10 years. But this gets to its absolute worst when we get to the Tournament of Power where we get introduced to 87 new characters. Now, you can take your guess as to whether or not all of these characters were able to contribute to the story or not.

You see this guy? Do you even know who he is? No, you don't. His name might as well be Borb Dragons. What even is this? I get showing all the gods of destructions, but why do we need to get introduced to all the Kaioins as well? And I [ __ ] hate the Grand Priest. [ __ ] this little piece of [ __ ] Remember when everyone thought he was going to be evil? Part of the reason for that was probably because of his devious ass smile.

But another big reason was probably because it's expected of him to do something in the story. I mean, he's a new character that's been introduced and we've established that he's like super important. So yeah, you'd think he'd have some role to play in the story like overthrowing Seno or literally anything. But no, he's just there to look weirdly evil and that's it. And speaking of Seno, he is just the strangest and most puzzling inclusion of a character Dragon Ball has ever had and probably my least favorite.

This is a bit of a tangent, but isn't it kind of strange that this like godchild that will kill quadrillions of people if he feels like it, makes the main characters dance for him, and if they refuse, he'll kill them and like bajillions of people. And this is supposed to be like funny. Like they play this off for laughs. In a sense, he reinforces the idea Master Roshi taught Goku and Krillin way back that there's always someone stronger than you.

So you should never get complacent or overconfident. So keep training instead. But that's not really accurate because there is no way for Goku to ever beat Seno or get to his level. Seno is untouchable. His powers don't even come from skill or training. It's pure innate raw power. Goku beating him isn't even an idea that's hinted at even a little bit. So, the message ends up being something more like, "No matter how much you work, you'll never be the strongest." Now, you might be thinking, "Aren't these the exact same?" Well, while they appear similar, they do convey pretty different things.

There will always be someone stronger than you means that no matter how strong you are, other people are working hard and can surpass you. Meaning, you need to keep training and not grow complacent. Whereas, you'll never be the strongest feels more like there's no point in even trying in the first place because again, you'll never be the best, so why even bother? Even though this person you'll never be is more than willing to murder you and everyone you love, it goes from hard work pays off to accepting your limits.

Okay, that was a bit of a tangent, but I feel like it was important seeing how crucial of an addition Seno actually is to the world and how much impact he has. I suppose I can't necessarily say he's been underutilized though, as he did put an end to the Goku Black arc and is the reason for why the final arc even happens. So, I might not like how he gets utilized, but hey, at least he does something. What I will say is that the scale and the way the world expands feels really jarring.

Like, we go from slowly meeting people and enemies higher up the chain in the original, but once Super starts, it's just like boom. Okay, here's this guy, this guy, this guy's sister. There's this guy, and the future version of this guy who can both destroy 12 universes at the same time with their little finger, a bunch of Sayans from a different universe. Like, I feel like it moves way too quick. And the new things that do get introduced never play a big role in the story.

Like, wouldn't it be cool if we got like a whole arc where Goku and Vegeta went to Universe 6's Saiyan planet and got to explore what it's like there? After what we experienced in the Tournament of Power though, that doesn't really seem interesting anymore. It's kind of beneath us, especially because Goku and Vegeta are so much stronger than everyone there that it's not even funny. Surprisingly, the arc that I can give the most noteworthy praises to in this department is the worst arc in Dragon Ball Super, aka the Goku Black arc.

Now, they completely break the time travel rules, and it makes absolutely no sense, but hey, at least they brought it back. And I feel like Chunks' timeline is pretty accurate considering the circumstances and Yajirobei was a pretty smart inclusion as well. In the original, I always felt like we were kind of missing information about what happened to like other characters like Master Roshi and stuff. So seeing Yajirobei here is pretty cool.

And them using the old time machine that Cell came to Earth with is an incredible call back. I also love that we get to see how Chunks dealt with Majin Buu because yeah, that is the thing that he would totally have to deal with as well. I wouldn't have been surprised if Super just completely ignored this, but they didn't. And that's pretty dope. The introduction of Zamasu and Gowasu is a good idea, but I guess a bit weird that we don't see any of the other Kaioshin from their universe.

But I will say that seeing Gowasu again in the Tournament of Power is pretty rewarding and God tube is pretty funny and stuff, I guess. And the end of the arc also has the spirit bomb. And for some reason, they decided one Seno wasn't enough. So now there's two. What does this add to the story? What does it change? Nothing. Okay, cool. But possibly the strangest addition in this arc is Suno. This guy has all the knowledge in the world and is stated to know everything and decides to let anyone ask him questions in exchange for what I can only describe as sexual favors.

Now, okay, this is just a silly joke. I get it. It's fine. But like, this is a pretty big deal for a character to have this type of power. This is something you'd expect them to utilize a bunch throughout the rest of the story because of how useful it is. Like ask how to win the tournament of power. Maybe that's not Goku's style, but I can think of a few other characters that will be very interested in, you know, not getting erased.

You'd think Zuno himself would actually, you know, use his own power to foresee Zamasu holding him at gunpoint and asking whatever he wants. Then again, I guess knew that he'd survive just fine. But on the other hand, him letting Zamasu ask that question led to the entire multiverse getting erased in Trunks' timeline. Did he just not care about that? If so, damn. I I didn't realize Sudo just gave no [ __ ] like that.

Apparently, he shows up in the manga as well, so sure. I mean, maybe he gets used in a cool way there. But I think the biggest issue with him is that anyone could ask him how to gather the Super Dragon Balls, which yeah, I forgot to mention uh Dragon Ball Super introduces the Super Dragon Balls. I really, really don't like the Super Dragon Balls. And the main reason for that is that they have almost no reason to exist.

The whole reason Dende became Earth's god was to combine the Earth's and Namex Dragon Balls and get rid of their respective restrictions. Now, we have Dragon Balls that can literally do anything. So, why do we need another set? Okay, the Earth Dragon Balls technically still have two restrictions, which is one, they can't increase the person's power higher than their current maximum potential, and two, they can't revive a group of people that's been dead for over a year.

So, they can revive one person that's been dead for a year, but not multiple at the same time. And they can't grant a wish on a person if the person refuses it. So, you think that if another set of Dragon Balls gets introduced, it's because they need to perform a wish that the Earth Dragon Balls can't, right? Well, let's take a look at all the wishes made by the Super Dragon Balls. First of all, Shampoo wants to use them to wish his universe 6 Earth back.

So, Beerus does it at the end of the tournament. But why did he use the Super Dragon Balls? We have seen the regular Dragon Balls restore planets twice. Maybe the Earth Dragon Balls can't perform wishes in other universes, but even then, Shopan confirms that there is a Namek in his universe and reveals that they have Dragon Balls. Why don't you just use them? Is it because he wouldn't be able to wish back the living people there?

Well, I have no idea because the show never tells me. Champa just says, "Uh, well, mine are better." And that's the end of it. Then Zamasu uses them to switch bodies with Goku. This [ __ ] is trash. Really? Are you kidding me? You're using the super dragon balls that are the size of planets to do something Captain Ginu could do. He then uses them again to wish for immortality. [Music] This is something that not only has basically been done before, but several characters have attempted to do this with the Nomecian Dragon Balls.

We don't need the Super Dragon Balls. Again, more world building does not equal good world building. And also, why are they so big? Like seriously, what is the purpose of that? Because this never really plays a role in anything. Like sure, the Nomecian Dragon Balls are bigger, but like only a little bit. That's not really something that will make much of a difference anyway. But these things are the size of planets. But why?

It doesn't make them harder to find. In fact, we never actually see the main characters gather them. The first time Champa has already gathered six of them and are looking for the last one. Then Bulma is like, "Okay, I'll just make a dragon radar. No problem." And they find it and summon the new Shenron. I will say that it being disguised as a planet or meteor or whatever was pretty cool and unique. But after that, when Zamasu has asked Zuno for their location, he just gathers them offcreen twice.

And for the Tournament of Power, Seno and the other gods just already had them ready for the tournament. Great. If anything, it's easier to gather these than the Earth ones because of how visible they are. I mean, they literally introduced a character that allows them to know the location of all of them instantly. I would talk about the movies, too, but I'm not really sure how fair that will be. Like yeah, Broly was never foreshadowed and his introduction and existence comes out of nowhere, but then again, he definitely doesn't come out of nowhere for the fans.

Like, we all know who this [ __ ] is. Then we have the superhero movie, which doesn't really give me a lot to talk about aside from the fact that another Red Ribbon Survivor is pretty lazy. I already had some problems with the first one, so this is towing the line a little bit, but who cares? You know, in real life, when you truly start to think about and comprehend just how big the Earth is and how small and insignificant it really is compared to the solar system, galaxy, and universe, you start feeling really small.

Like, damn, I really am just some dude among 8 billion others on a rock flying through space. Like, it really doesn't matter what the [ __ ] I do, it won't matter. And in that same way, Dragon Ball Super expands the world of Dragon Ball so much so that everything feels much smaller. We defeated the greatest evil ever except that we really didn't. And there are like hundreds of people stronger than him that all could have beaten him.

And there's this one dude who easily could have beat him and should have actually beat him, but he was sleeping. We aren't even the last Sayans. There's a whole another planet with Sayans, more Neomecians, but that don't matter. We don't need to go there or see that cuz who cares. We're really not that strong either. There's this dude who's like hundreds of times stronger than us and 12 others who are just as strong.

But that doesn't matter cuz there's another 12 guys who are hundreds of times stronger than them. But that don't matter because there's this one dude who could beat them all really easily. But you know that doesn't matter either cuz there's this one dude. No, scratch that. There's two of this one dude who can both destroy all of existence by blinking. And we're never going to reach the strength of these guys like ever.

It's impossible. The whole journey we've been on up until now, well, it feels pretty inconsequential now knowing what we know. And we were just ignorant of it this whole time for some reason. If you can't tell by now, I'm not a big fan of Super. And I feel as though the world of Dragon Ball has been damaged far beyond repair. Or has it? What if I told you that Dragon Ball Da takes all the worldbuilding problems of not only Dragon Ball Super, but also the original manga and fixes them?

Remember how I said the Dragon Balls were too hard to gather? It would seem that Dragon Balls are relatively easy to gather on Earth. The show literally acknowledges this immediately and introduces a new set of Dragon Balls to fix it. And they gather them through action just like they did on Namek, a style much more suited for the current state of Dragon Ball. Literally, the first frame of this show already shows us a perfect direction to take the story, the demon realm.

The demon realm is not something new that was introduced just for this show. We've known about it for like 35 years. There's obviously demon king Piccolo, which later got recconed, but then we have the Buro, the actual demon king. The realm itself isn't ever directly confirmed to exist, but the Burough's existence makes it pretty obvious. And considering Diamond takes place right after the arc that dealt with all these demons or Majin characters, the natural progression for a sequel to that arc would be to explore the demon realm.

It's like this show was specifically made for me. The new additions to the world actually play a role in the story. things happen and are introduced for a reason. It's genuinely so good. But of course, I wouldn't say it's perfect. There are definitely some issues I have with Diamond's world building, just like I have with the rest of the franchise. But honestly, Da has so much stuff in it that it would be kind of overkill to talk about all of that here.

So, I'll save that for when I do my full review of Dragon Ball Da. So, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss that. And check out this video to find out just what I look for in new Dragon Ball content.