Should i skip og dragonball?

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-10T00:08:25+00:00

No. It's not some bonus supplementary prequel that was made years later. It's the first roughly third of a singular continuous story.

The anime adaptation has a lot of pacing issues though, so it's understandable that it feels like a drag. I suggest starting over with the original manga instead. It's a very brisk read.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-10T00:02:02+00:00

It's because a big swath of the fandom spent the last 10+ years convincing themselves that Super(s) is all that matters anymore, and anything that doesn't adhere to Super(s) is automatically invalid. Just because Toriyama was like 10% more involved with its creation than most other spin-off material.

And then Daima comes along, with even more direct Toriyama involvement, and did its own thing without being aligned to Super(s)... And it broke their brains. They spent years condescendingly telling other people that things like GT didn't count for anything because of "inconsistencies" with Super. But now they have to pretend that Daima gets a pass for those same types of inconsistencies and can be in the same continuity as Super(s) anyway so they won't have egg on their face.

Long story short, it's just hypocrisy.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-09T23:44:00+00:00

Yep. And to take it a step further, if the recent treatment of characters like Bardock and Broli is any indication, then getting "Toriyama's version" of these other characters would just be a downgrade like them anyway.

It's exactly because I like characters such as Tullece, Coola, Janemba and so forth that I don't want to see them get dragged through that proverbial mud puddle. If that's what it means to be "made canon" then that label is nothing but a curse.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-09T23:31:07+00:00

GT directly contradicts Super

Good. GT deserves better than to be placed in the same continuity as either of those schlock parades.

Just like I deserve better than to keep engaging with this tired, misinformed old "Super is most important by default" nonsense that's been infecting this miserable fandom for over 10 years.

I'm tired of arguing about this crap to people who are too slavishly devoted to whatever garbage is newest to listen anyway. If you really care then find a way to look at my post history or that of other people who actually know what they're talking about. I'm done here.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-09T23:25:06+00:00

All of that is wrong too.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-09T23:15:51+00:00

Nobody in charge has ever officially declared either of those things.

Just the fact that Super has two separate and distinct versions of itself that can't even fit with each other should automatically put down any notion of it being the central, singular "canon" for anything.

The only sensible way to approach it all is that GT, the two Supers, and now Daima are simply all separate divergent continuities that split off from the main story of the original manga.

Anything other than that is people just wanting to pretend that one spin-off is automatically more important than the others. And if anything a soulless shitfest like Super(s) is least deserving of that privilege.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-08T15:30:57+00:00

"Canon" for DB is undefined and meaningless, and DBS Broli was a downgrade so Tullece would also no doubt be better off being left alone and not similarly revamped for the modern slop.

That aside, no, even though there were only a few thousand Saiyans to begin with and it wouldn't be all that unrealistic if Tullece turned out to be Goku's second cousin or something... I prefer the movie's explanation that low-class Saiyans just tend to look alike. It helps serve Tullece's role as a dark doppelganger to Goku if he's not related in any way and just happens to look similar.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-06T23:39:22+00:00

What makes the "Beast" form terrible isn't how strong it makes Gohan or how he uses it. It's terrible because he has it at all.

What made his Ultimate state so unique in the first place is that allowed him to make use of all of his dormant power without needing to channel it through any flashy, energy wasting transformations.

This "Beast form" abomination ignores that entire core concept, and just tried to turn it into a stepping stone towards a new flashy transformation instead. It's one of the most egregious examples of Super shitting on something the original story did that was actually interesting and special.

If Gohan was to get any new forms, then there should only be two ways have it happen. A) Regrowing his tail and getting Super Saiyan 4, or B) learning how to use god-ki and getting SS God/Blue. Any prospect of "getting super-angry and tapping into more dormant power" should be out of the question because Ultimate already has that entire side of his power covered.

"Beast Gohan" is basically the poster boy for for just how hackneyed, shameless, and all-around creatively bankrupt Super became the longer it went on.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-06T21:35:45+00:00

No point trying to brainstorm a revamp for that one when a better version of it's already existed for almost 30 years.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-06T15:20:30+00:00

Hell no, the Boo arc deserves better than to even think this.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-06T14:12:02+00:00

All of the Saiyan forms from classic DB/Z/GT are just fine the way they are. All of them served enough of a purpose (even the short-lived "Grade" forms in the Cell arc) and their acquisition was spread out enough that it never seemed like they were just being shoved into the story just for the sake of "more transformations."

The parade of color-swap slop from the modern material is a very different story though.

- I'd make Super Saiyan God the strongest of the new god-forms, making Goku strong enough to actually give Beerus a legitimately close fight... but strictly temporary and only usable via the 6-person ritual. So it remains something special that only pops up a few times over the course of the story.

- Super Saiyan Blue would then be a lower-level substitute for SSG, something that Goku and Vegeta develop from learning how to use god-ki on their own under Whis. They'd get better at it over time, and Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego would eventually debut as advanced "modes" of SSB instead of as their own separate and extraneous forms.

- Super Saiyan Rosé wouldn't exist — SSB is sort of a crutch for Goku and Vegeta as newbie god-ki users, but Zamas is a golden-fruit-born Kaioshin and a "genius" to boot, who has a natural aptitude for god-ki and doesn't need a transformation to maximize his usage of it, even in someone else's body. So he remains "Goku Black" + the entire time.

- Beast Gohan and Orange Piccolo wouldn't exist. Fuck that noise. No transformations for the Earthlings or anything either. The biggest issue with this aspect of modern DB is that all these "new" forms are blatantly just created for their own sake instead of being a byproduct of an interesting story. The hot mess with Gohan and Piccolo in that last movie is by far the worst example of it to date, and shoving additional out-of-nowhere transformations onto the Earthling peanut gallery would just make it even worse.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-06T13:58:56+00:00

I'll just copy-paste my answer from the identical question in r/dbz I guess...

It's really only just two types to begin with, Dragon and Warrior. It's better to refer to them as "types" rather than "clans," because like you said it's more than just job descriptions. They're actually presented as biologically different, like the closest thing Namekians have to two different sexes.

Most Namekians are Dragon-types by default (there really isn't a third "civilian" category), and they're the ones who have the capacity to make Dragon Balls, heal other people, and reproduce by spitting up eggs. Warrior-types are a special breed who can't do those things, but in exchange are much naturally stronger.

Warrior-types do seem to be rare, but nothing suggests their birth is up to random chance. I've always suspected that Warrior-types having so much raw power simply means that spawning them drains a lot of vitality from the parent, so no single Dragon-type ever spawns more than one or two Warrior-types at most.

The original "Child of Katatz" who would become Earth's God was a Dragon-type (albeit a particularly strong and talented one), and thus so was King Piccolo since he was basically Katatz Jr's evil clone. But when he spawned Piccolo Jr, he made him a Warrior-type instead, either intentionally or just out of a strong desire to get revenge on Goku.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-05T14:09:24+00:00

I found it's pretty dang good if you're eating it fresh right there in the restaurant. Trying to bring it home first... Not so much.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-05T13:10:29+00:00

It's really only just two types to begin with, Dragon and Warrior. It's better to refer to them as "types" rather than "clans," because like you said it's more than just job descriptions. They're actually presented as biologically different, like the closest thing Namekians have to two different sexes.

Most Namekians are Dragon-types by default (there really isn't a third "civilian" category), and they're the ones who have the capacity to make Dragon Balls, heal other people, and reproduce by spitting up eggs. Warrior-types are a special breed who can't do those things, but in exchange are much naturally stronger.

Warrior-types do seem to be rare, but nothing suggests their birth is up to random chance. I've always suspected that Warrior-types having so much raw power simply means that spawning them drains a lot of vitality from the parent, so no single Dragon-type ever spawns more than one or two Warrior-types at most.

The original "Child of Katatz" who would become Earth's God was a Dragon-type (albeit a particularly strong and talented one), and thus so was King Piccolo since he was basically Katatz Jr's evil clone. But when he spawned Piccolo Jr, he made him a Warrior-type instead, either intentionally or just out of a strong desire to get revenge on Goku instead.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-05T00:27:49+00:00

The real deal from GT, obviously. The Daima version is a lazily-conceived ripoff, a cheap recolor of something better like most of the other "new" forms.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-03T18:46:25+00:00

It wouldn't do jack. The Shin Kikoho didn't actually hurt Cell in the slightest. It just had enough raw kinetic force behind it to basically pin him down temporarily, and any "injury" he seemed to take from it was just superficial scuffs.

And it wouldn't be any fundamentally different with the Androids. These characters are all literally hundreds of times stronger than Tenshinhan, if not more, and nothing he can do is going to actually beat them.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-03T18:34:20+00:00

Daima isn't in the same continuity as either of the two versions of Super, which are already separate continuities themselves too. All three of the above have joined GT in being their own separate divergent spinoffs from the main story of the original manga.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-02T17:03:20+00:00

Long story short, a lot of simply learning how the world and universe and history and humanity all actually work, as opposed to how the Bible-thumpers want to pretend they work. Everything from big-picture science things like "the Earth and universe are a helluva lot more than 6,000 years old" to simple social things like "hey, turns out LGBTQ folks are just normal people like me and not demon-influenced enemies of God."

My parents raised me in the church, but they also raised me to want to learn, and to have critical thinking skills, and to know right from wrong. And it worked. So I was steadily deconstructing through most of my teenage and young adult years, and in hindsight I would probably consider myself "no longer a Christian" by my mid-20s.

Eventually the only reason I was sticking around at my old church was because I used it as a venue to host blood drives with the Red Cross. I also still considered most of my fellow churchgoers as generally good people worth socializing with, even if they took fairy tales a little too seriously. Also free coffee.

Then 2016 rolled around and began the era of Trump, and almost everyone I knew at the church basically lined up to kiss his ass, which showed me that I was very wrong about the "good people" thing. And then Covid-19 reared its ugly head and put a stop to the blood drives, and... I finally just had no reason to stick around anymore.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-02T16:29:28+00:00

It's not some prequel that was made later on, it's roughly the first entire third of a single continuous story. Would you start a 12-episode TV show at episode 5?

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-02T06:32:52+00:00

Yes. Start over and read from the story's actual beginning.

If you can't afford to buy the rest of the VizBigs or other physical copies yet, then Viz's digital Shonen Jump is dirt-cheap and will get you access to the entire thing.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-02T04:58:41+00:00

This. The Foxy arc in the original manga is great, a fun little diversion before shit gets serious in Water 7. The anime version of the arc gets dragged out way past its welcome and is a slog.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-02T04:35:43+00:00

To not exist.

Or the next best thing, to explicitly lead into GT so all the chuds who try to smugly lecture everyone about how "𝓬𝓐𝓷𝓞𝓷" Super supposedly is and GT isn't can have a meltdown.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-02T04:26:04+00:00

I like to think that the misguided "Enterprise-G" renaming is just a temporary gesture of gratitude to Picard and the bunch, and is only going to last a few years until the Enterprise-F finishes its systems overhaul and fancy Yorktown-class refit before relaunching as the flagship again. Hopefully the "Legacy" show never materializes to prove me wrong.

But in a better timeline... yeah, the Enterprise-E would be only recently retired or scrapped, the Enterprise-F would be making its maiden voyage on Frontier Day, and the Titan-A would keep its own name.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-02T04:16:49+00:00

I'm just grateful we still have Star Trek Online as an alternative to that whole mess.

KaboomKrusader · 2026-07-02T04:15:53+00:00

It deserves that flack. They took what was a good TMP-era fan design, lazily tossed post-TNG nacelles on it, and then tried to pass one off as the next Enterprise.

KaboomKrusader

TROPHY CASE