So the Future Trunks Arc has reached its conclusion. Looking back, this is also the longest out of all the arcs in Dragon Ball Super or DBS, lasting 20 episodes, or almost a long season of around 20-25 episodes. Still, it's much shorter compared to the episodes from the Frieza Arc in Dragon Ball Z. There were also a few weeks of breaks because Fuji TV, the Japanese broadcaster for Dragon Ball Super, were providing live events like this year's Olympics. So it feels like we've been watching the arc in like forever.
I can blame it on the fact that most anime nowadays end their seasons, if not the series altogether, within the range of 10-26 episodes. Others like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure tend to run longer around the 40-50 episode mark or so. And then of course, shows like Naruto, One Piece, Pokemon, and Detective Conan that tend to be like literally forever, airing in the hundreds, if not thousands, over several years, if not decades.
Dragon Ball Super, technically speaking, is among the latter, despite being the first series to air almost 20 years after the end of Dragon Ball Z. With the announcement of a 'Dragon Ball Room' by Shueisha, the publisher for the Dragon Ball mangas, including Toyotaro's Dragon Ball Super, we can expect the Dragon Ball franchise to continue for many years to come, even after Dragon Ball Super reached its conclusion. I am a bit concerned how they will do it though, especially in the anime format, given that Masako Nozawa, the Japanese voice of Goku, Gohan, & Goten, is now 80 years of age. Don't get me wrong, Nozawa-san is still very strong for a voice actress, but it is a wonder if she can continue this role for the next 20 years or even more. But I won't be putting too much thought into that for the time being.
I'll talk first on the one thing the series is getting quite the bad rap since last year, and that is its animation. Regardless of what everyone says, the bad animation in Dragon Ball Super is there, and is quite noticeable. Not to say the earlier Dragon Ball shows have any bad animation, as they actually do. Just not as frequent and not as noticeable that it would make headlines even in the dial-up era of the Internet. Toei has at least acknowledged this and did something about it, making it less frequent and less noticeable. You can still still see them, if you have quite a good eye.
Toei has also placed focus on specific scenes of the Future Trunks arc where the animation itself is mind-blowing, a practice known as Sakuga. One Punch Man and the films from Studio Ghibli are examples of Sakuga-style animation, with virtually no signs of bad animation at all. In the case of Dragon Ball Super, we can see the Sakuga on key battle sequences, such as the first fight between Trunks and Goku Black, and more recently with Vegito's fight against Merged Zamasu, and later, with Trunks and his Spirit Blade.
Question remains on whether Toei will continue to do this or improve as the series progresses. Personally, I don't think Dragon Ball Super will ever reach a point where an episode onwards are all done in Sakuga. Toei is the largest animation studio in Japan. However, they have a lot of projects working at the same time as DBS - One Piece, Sailor Moon Crystal, Digimon, Tiger Mask W, and others. The studio should be aware at this point that Dragon Ball Super is being watched worldwide now, and not just in Japan. Given Dragon Ball's reputation, Toei has to deliver the product well and not just rely on fanbase loyalty for the franchise to maintain its popularity.
Which leads us to the writing part of Dragon Ball Super. Just to remind everyone, Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, only provides a draft outline on various key plot points in Dragon Ball Super. So if the outline says it is Trunks who will defeat Zamasu and NOT Vegito, then it is Trunks who will defeat Zamasu, NOT Vegito. You will see that in the Toei anime, and you will also see that in the Toyotaro manga. But the details and the lead-up to Trunks defeating Zamasu, that will be filled i by Toei in the anime, and Toyotaro in the manga. It is at this point that the two versions diverge.
Having said that, fans are split over the presentation of the plot of the Future Trunks arc. On the one hand, they love that Future Trunks returns and are amazed at the feats he has done in this arc, and by extension, Vegeta. Goku Black and Zamasu being incredibly powerful villains, and of course the return of Vegito. Mai and Bulma are also given a more active role in this arc, as well as the number of throwbacks to the original Dragon Ball series.
On the other hand, the Future Trunks arc had several retcons and plotholes that changes, if not totally disregards, the establishment of the Dragon Ball mythology up to this point. One I made an 8 minute recording of because it was what I really didn't like in this arc at the time. I haven't made a video about that particular subject until now. So for the next 8 minutes, you will hear a pre-recording of me from November 1st voicing my thoughts on that one particular subject:
So what you just heard was an older recording of me ranting over the way Toei handled the chronology of events regarding the Future Trunks arc, which was done around November 1st. Looking back, it did remind me of the Official 30th Anniversary website of Dragon Ball Super that provided an updated, yet truncated version of the history of the Dragon Ball series that led to a bunch of complaints, just as I have issues with the way the timeline is explained in the Future Trunks arc. I would not be surprised if somewhere down the road, Shueisha and Toei would update on these things in hopes of making it more easier to understand, if not worse.
The other is something that I have been always critical of with regards to Dragon Ball, and that is its overuse of the Power-Up Trope - To defeat the villain, the hero must grow stronger than the villain; To challenge the hero, the next villain must be even stronger; Rinse and Repeat. It's reaching a point where the trope cannot be used anymore because the power scaling simply can't go any further without some kind of nerfing or downpowering involved.
Imagine this. Say Goku has reached a point that he is so powerful he can destroy all of creation with a thought. How do you make a villain that will top that and challenge Goku WITHOUT nerfing? How do you make Goku even stronger than that to defeat the said villain? How do you make the next villain even MORE powerful?
If anyone who watches this video, or read my transcript version on my Toon Inferno blog (which is what you are reading now), is able to come up with a very convincing solution to my earlier example, go to Japan, go to Toei and Shueisha and Toriyama, and show them your proposal. I'm serious! If you can pull it off, you're one hell of a genius writer and you should be hired in the Dragon Ball Room!
Going back to DBS, as of Episode 66 of the Toei anime, everything regarding Battle Power or Power Level scaling has been disregarded. I've explained it on my episode review on my Toon Inferno blog, but the short version is Vegito, as a Super Saiyan Blue, could've, should've, would've, surpassed Beerus in power, meaning Vegito's attacks is supposed to break all of Universe 7. However, not only was Universe 7 completely fine and not in danger of being destroyed by Vegito's power, but in spite of all this, Vegito did not defeat Zamasu, Trunks did.
Only time will tell if the disregard of Battle Power scaling will continue past this arc. Personally, I'd prefer the Power-Up Trope is retired in Dragon Ball for good, and force Goku and Vegeta to learn that you can't always win by pure raw power alone. Even better if everyone gets to fight on a level playing field, much like the original Dragon Ball series back then.
There is also another part of the Future Trunks arc that totally irritates me. In both the Toei anime and the Toyotaro manga, it is stated that in spite of being a married couple for so many years and having two kids, Goku has NEVER kissed Chichi on the lips. It's just hard for me to fathom how is that even possible. Even more mind boggling is that it also implies that Chichi never initiated it either! So if they never ever kissed, and they are married, how in the world they convinced each other to have two kids?!
In closing (for real this time), the Future Trunks arc has its share of problems. But looking at it on a grander scale and comparing it to the other arcs throughout Dragon Ball Super, the Future Trunks arc is the best of the bunch. I don't see any way to say otherwise. And I do commend Toei for their improvement of the series with this arc, presentation-wise, of course. Not a great one, but an improvement nonetheless. I do hope that Toei continues to make improvements so that Dragon Ball Super can be as critically good as its competition.
Yes it has its fanbase and they will always say Dragon Ball is the best anime ever, no matter how many problems the franchise has. What I mean is for Dragon Ball reaching the same praise as the Hayao Miyazaki films like Spirited Away and attracts the Anime Community and the General Public, and not just Dragon Ball fans. DBS is nowhere close to that, but if Toei, Shueisha, and Toriyama really worked hard and invested on it, it can reach that point. We'll just have to wait and see if they actually do.
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