Melkezadek
Member
I know it's sacrilege, but I really loved this show growing up.
Often fairly criticized for its execution, Dragonball GT is kind of the blotch on the series. "Everyone hates GT" is something I had to hear a lot growing up, and it's almost as bad as admitting you're voting for Hillary Clinton in public. You're going to get screamed at. Over the years I learned how to stop caring about what other people think about the stuff I like, but sometimes it's nice to feel like you have a support group. With Super being hit or miss for some people, I wanted to reflect on why I loved GT so much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJcuDgVYjgI
I remember buying bootleg GT tapes from an old website back in the mid 90's, before it aired on Cartoon Network later on. I had limited excess to the internet, but I managed to discover photos of SSJ4 Goku and this "new darker Dragonball" series known as GT. All of these videos were fansubbed, so many of them took liberties with the swearing.* It felt more mature and something we'd never get over here in America (before Dragonball blew up)
The series starts off slow, as Goku, Trunks, and Pan get into shenanigans; exploring the Universe for the Blackstar Dragonballs. There was some good episodes here and there, but often you found yourself kinda bored. I wonder if it was money or this reason as to why they chopped off the first 13 episodes when they localized it. I ultimately think it hurt the Western reception more than it helped it. GT already gets a bad rep, but skipping so much just left the viewer confused IMO. Not a good start.
Soon afterwards though, things kick in with Bebi. I'm pretty sure the concept is a rehashed idea from an old Japanese video game, but it's still really cool. I like them going back into the Saiyan mythos and having things come up from their past they bites them in the ass later. Bebi, a Tuffle (Tsufuru-jin), wants to seek revenge of Vegeta and the remaining Saiyans. His people were the original inheritors of what became known as Planet Vegeta. I won't go into all of the details of the arc, but the writing here was pretty good. This encounter was completely unexpected. Kind of like where Cell came out of no where, when the original problem was the Androids. Just deeper story telling.
And it also introduced one of my favorite SSJ forms, Super Saiyan 4. Sorry, the design just screams badass to me.
I also really liked the tone of GT. One of my biggest complaints with Super is the spot on the timeline it takes place in. I wish it was AFTER Z, where it shows the characters older and more mature. GT always felt kind of "slice of life" and moody. Vegeta's a dad now and wears leather pants. Trunks is the CEO of...something? (capsule corp related, I don't remember). Gohan's a scholar. Everything just feels real chill. The music helps a lot with that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqRFhUzNVtg
I could honestly go on all day about how much I love the series, but I wanna hear from other people. Doesn't have to be love, but what are some things you liked about GT? A personal favorite is the ending. I think it did it better than Z.
*Also, I want to say, I recommend never watching the Funimation Dub. It's TRASH. I promise you will like it a little better if you watch the original Japanese.