The amazing Dragon ball franchise took a vary controversial turn in 1996 when the show Dragon ball GT premiered. Without the original Dragonball creator, Akira Toriyama, the show left a bad taste in many of the fan's mouths, either negating character development or ignoring it entirely. This article will focus on three things that I believe the upcoming Dragon Ball Super can do to be more successful than the terrible DBGT.
1. Return slighted characters to relevance.
When Goku went Super Saiyan for the first time in DBZ, his power level (when compared to the other Z fighters) was completely dominant. The other Z fighters, Krillin, Piccolo, Tien, basically anybody without the capacity to transform into a super saiyan became obsolete. Some had brief glimpses of relevance, (Piccolo vs. Cell, Tien holding cell in the pit, more that I'm sure I'm missing). For the most part they were reduced to watching in awe while other characters surpassed their strength level without the comparable time spent training, such as Trunks and Goten. This is a terrible slight to these characters, as the diversity of the Z-team in the beginning of Z and for the whole of its predecessor was always shown as a strength, now the fact that all the Z fighters aren't Saiyans is a hindrance. How to return them to relevance? The answer is in number two.
2.Shift away from the one big bad villain format.
Frieza, Cell, Buu, even Raditz and Vegeta really had a bad format to put the spotlight on all the characters, Raditz the least, as it took both Piccolo and Goku to take care of the villain, but every one since have been to isolated. Nappa ran amok with the Z-fighters until Goku shows up, because he was the only one who could defeat Nappa. So even though there were two fighters, there was nothing for the other Z fighters to do, because none of them (besides Gohan's hidden strength) had the power to do anything against Nappa or Vegeta.
In this new series, I would like for the show to broaden its scope a bit. Similar to what they did with the Ginyu force, every big bad should come equipped with henchmen of varying power levels, and instead of the usual one fight per fourteen episodes, show all the Z fighters at once, each facing off with a creature of comparable power levels. The catch being if one of the Z-fighters lost, their opponent would join forces with another of his group and then a Z fighter would have to fight two versus one, upping the stakes. Never has there been a fight against a big bad that everyone was a part of, this way, everyone gets a reason to continue training. Picture your Krillin, arguably the strongest human in the world, but Goku can fart a planet out of Orbit in Super Saiyan sixteen, you have no reason to train. Now though, there isn't always one big bad, there are groups of them. You now have to be sure that you are as strong as you can be, because it isn't just Frieza or Cell, its a bunch of Frieza and Cell's varying in power.
3.Do something about Saiyan dominance.
There is a legend of a Super Saiyan, and that is it. No other races had any other legends, no race in the entire universe has anywhere near the potential power level of Saiyans, and my question is, why? Why can't there be a legend of a Namekian badass, or a human that can move faster than light etc, or whatever the hell Chiaotsu is. My point is, there needs to be a way for other races to surpass their potential. Imagine if Piccolo could tap into his connection to the Dragonballs to increase his power level, or if Krillin fusing with a Saiyan left him with an increased power potential (similar to how Goku retained increased potential after going Super Saiyan God) little tricks to increase peoples power level used to be common place, but now they are rendered obsolete by the huge power of Saiyans. I say bring them back. This is the biggest one for me. I don't even care if the Saiyans are somehow depowered, either by a wish or a celestial event, I just want Piccolo to be a badass again, and the show needs it. The formula had become stale by the end of Z and GT's attempt to return to Dragonball's humor and childhood format did not work. Changing the reliance on the Saiyans would make the show much more team oriented, a change many fans would welcome. Either way I'll be watching the new movie (I already bought my tickets for Resurrection of F, first DB movie I have seen in theaters) and the new show religiously.
So what do you think? Do they need to change Dragon Ball Z format for the new show? Is Dragon Ball Super even something your interested in watching? Hit the Comments and let me know!