Changes to Dragoin Ball I Would Make in a Remake

[Winter]

Thanks for all your comments and opinions on my other DB Reboot post I found it all very interesting. This time I want to talk about major changes I would make to Dragon Ball if I was somehow put in charge of making a remake of the series.

While this would be a mostly faithful reboot there are a number of changes I would want to make to the series that just bug me, ideas that I'm not fond of and I feel hurt the series as a whole and are best just thrown to the side and replaced with something better.

Goku's Good Nature

This one immediately stood out to me which is the explanation is such a good person despite all other Saiyans being highly aggressive and the reason for it is, Goku suffers from brain damage... I hate this because it makes it clear that the reason Goku is the way he is was a result of him being dropped on his head as a baby and not due to the love and kindness his grandfather showed him as a child.

This is a choice just about everyone hates and I know this to be the case because whenever anyone talks about why Goku is such a good person NO ONE talks about this plot point and just ignores it. Even Toriyama showed to regret it later when in Dragon Ball Minus it was implied that Goku gets his good nature from his mother... I hate this too because it implies that Goku was good naturally which implies that even if Goku's grandpa was an asshole Goku would have been good by default.

I would have it where Goku is the way he is BECAUSE of the love showed by his grandpa and that show why Vegeta and other Saiyans are the way they are because of the society they grew up in. Which leads to my next big change.

Bardock Stays an Asshole

Bardock is one of the most interesting characters in Dragon Ball in Episode of Bardock where he is shown to be a rather nasty piece of work. He is a villain through and through, he works for a tyrant and loves his job and is only fighting Frieza because he knows Frieza is going to betray them. He writes off his son as a lost cause because of his low power level and is only comforted by the idea that said son will one day face down Frieza and maybe defeat him.

Later stories then worked to turn Bardock into a more heroic character with the next movie focusing on him having a redemption arc and being more noble and heroic and Dragon Ball Minus showing that he cared about his son and lived a peaceful life with his family before everything went to shit.

I like the idea that the Saiyans were all assholes who valued strength above all else and will disregard all those around them if they don't measures up to what their fucked up society values. And Bardock is a great example of this, he is nothing special and is only valued because he's just powerful enough to be useful and he sees nothing wrong with that.

And Goku highlights why this mindset is wrong because someone who is a good person and had a lower power level turned out to be the most powerful Saiyan of all time while Bardock and most other Saiyans are forgotten and only remembered as mindless thugs.

The Buu Saga

Last thing I'm going to talk about is the most divisive saga in the series and my idea on how to try and fix it.

First off all I would split it into multiple arcs.

Arc one would be the Saiyan-Man arc which would focus on Gohan's time in high-school, his growing relationship with Vidal, him training Goten and him being a Superhero.

Side note, though I know I'm going to get push back for this, I would also change the Saiyan-Man costume as I've never been a fan of it. I would rather Gohan wear something similar to Piccolo's outfit like we saw at the end of the Cell arc only with a stylized Domino Mask and he just goes Super Saiyan to change his hair and eye color.

This arc would also include fan favorite villain Janemba as the main villain only with more of a personality. He's basically the Joker from The Dark Knight, a vile monster who just wants to watch the world burn and does so with a smile on his face. This would be about 15 or 10 episodes before we got into the next arc.

That arc being the 25th World Tournament Saga. This was inspired by Totally Not Mark of how a Tournamant would have played out if it had been allowed to play out all the way through instead of stopping before we even reached the halfway point. There would be a lot of setup for the Buu Saga with the introductions of the Supreme Kai's and other hints but mostly focuses on the Z Fighters and seeing how much things have changed.

However, like with the original series we wouldn't get a full Tournament as it ends before the final match which would be between Goku and Vegeta, saving that rematch for the Buu Saga proper.

After that things play out mostly the same with a few major changes. Gohan isn't taken out the way he is, Vidal gets to help out more, Super Saiyan 3 is only used by Goku, Gotenks gets to be somewhat useful and the rest of the Z Fighters get a moment to shine in this final season instead of just being cannon fodder.

We still get that awesome fight between Goku and Vegeta, the parody of the sword in the stone, Vegeto and The Spirit Bomb getting to actually do something.

The only other change would be to alter the ending so set up for Super but that's a talk for another day.

And those are some of the major changes I would make to Dragon Ball if I was hired to make a remake. The tone would remain the same, the characters would also remain the same but if given the chance these are big changes I would want to implement.

Thoughts?

[McAvoy]

There is considerable amount of debate about Goku's 'goodness' and it doesn't help that Super and the Broly movie retcons this. As in Goku may have been a good person by nature with perhaps only the programming in his head that got knocked out.

I would agree this would need to be cleared up. One thing in the later chapters of DBS is that Bardock did wish for Goku to succeed in life. Which takes agency out of what Goku does. Also I would rather have Bardock to be what we saw in the Bardock Special. Toyiyama from what I have heard liked it and incorporated it into the series. Keep it at that. Someone who was low class who was breaking through the caste system and led a unsuccessful rebellion against Freiza. That's it.

Buu saga. You could do it so many ways. But the one thing I will disagree with is Saya-man's costume. It was meant to be lame. That was the point.

[Winter]

But the one thing I will disagree with is Saya-man's costume. It was meant to be lame. That was the point.

I get that, I do, but I want to tell a more compelling story for the whole Saya-Man arc and a silly costume really undercuts that, especially one that covers most of Gohan's face. And for more dramatic moments I feel that would completely uncut Gohan. Sure you can just remove the helmet and ditch the cape but that then creates the issues of why even have it then and why bother with a secret identity?

One of the best editions that the MCU made to Spider-Man was making the eyes on the mask move which meant Peter was able to be a bit more expressive so the film would not need to come up with excuses to take the mask off or keep him as Peter for to long.

Again, I get it but I want the Saya-Man arc to have a bit more dramatic weight to it, hence the inclusion of Janemba as a Joker like villain who threatens Gohan on both a physical level and a psychological level.

Maybe as a compromise. We start with the OG Saya-Man outfit but towards the end of the arc Gohan makes a new outfit like the one I suggested for the last part of the Saga and then goes back to the OG outfit once the threat has ended.

[McAvoy]

But the one thing I will disagree with is Saya-man's costume. It was meant to be lame. That was the point.

I get that, I do, but I want to tell a more compelling story for the whole Saya-Man arc and a silly costume really undercuts that, especially one that covers most of Gohan's face. And for more dramatic moments I feel that would completely uncut Gohan. Sure you can just remove the helmet and ditch the cape but that then creates the issues of why even have it then and why bother with a secret identity?

One of the best editions that the MCU made to Spider-Man was making the eyes on the mask move which meant Peter was able to be a bit more expressive so the film would not need to come up with excuses to take the mask off or keep him as Peter for to long.

Again, I get it but I want the Saya-Man arc to have a bit more dramatic weight to it, hence the inclusion of Janemba as a Joker like villain who threatens Gohan on both a physical level and a psychological level.

Maybe as a compromise. We start with the OG Saya-Man outfit but towards the end of the arc Gohan makes a new outfit like the one I suggested for the last part of the Saga and then goes back to the OG outfit once the threat has ended.

You woukd be in the minority with that. Gohan was in High school at the time and was as sheltered as could be from society, so he wouldn't know what was cool either. Though Bulma did design it. The whole thing was just a little mini arc of goofing off between the Cell and Buu sagas.

TBH, I'd rather have a story of what was going during that 7 year time skip. Maybe no big bad. Certainly don't need to introduce a movie villain either.