As a casual Dragon Ball fan, I must admit that I didn't watch Dragon Ball Super because I focused on watching Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. Yeah, they're all part of Toei's catalog, but as I said, if I can choose NOT to watch Power Rangers then my choice not to watch Dragon Ball Super isn't any different. Right now, I want to think about how Dragon Ball GT is often considered low-tier. However, as a person born in the 1980s, I often feel that Dragon Ball Super being released in 2015 may have been that WTF moment. How is it a WTF moment? It's because the people who watched Dragon Ball are now all adults. Dragon Ball should've been enshrined and treated as a relic -- the same way Super Sentai is now. Sure, I may get pitchforks and torches but I'm going to write this anyway.
I remember watching Dragon Ball GT in college on GMA-7. I was already in college, but I decided to watch it. It may have been infamous for shrinking Goku back to a child. However, the stakes were set high, character development was maintained after the atrocious Buu Saga, and despite being considered NON-CANON, I could embrace it as the "true ending" of Dragon Ball because of how it went. Goku was turned into a child because an elderly Pilaf accidentally wished Goku was a child again. Goku was now a granddad, but he had become a supernaturally young parent, thanks to Pilaf's blunder.
The Black Star Dragon Ball plot was a high-stakes arc
It was when Pilaf sought the Black Star Dragon Balls summoned Ultimate Shenron. The big trade-off? The Black Star Dragon Balls had to be found WITHIN A YEAR or the Earth would explode. The show wasn't afraid to show the consequences. It was also not afraid to have some development like how Buu and Uub were fused into one again -- rendering Fat Buu from comic relief to plot developer. Majuub (the reincarnated Kid Buu fused with Fat Buu again) even tricked Baby Vegeta into swallowing him. Sure, the victory was there but the stakes were high.
In fact, the heroes didn't get the Black Star Dragon Balls but ended up with one painful sacrifice. As the Black Star Dragon Balls were created by the Nameless Namekian (that was Piccolo and Kami when they were one). The biggest solution? Piccolo had to DIE a second time. Yes, it's painful but I thought it was a brilliant death, not a random tragic detail.
Characters were ultimately allowed to grow even more. Goku may have been shrunk to a child AGAIN but he retains much of his characterization. I thought that Piccolo's redemption came in full circle. Piccolo wanted to conquer the world back when Goku was a child. Goku's a child again but this time, Piccolo FREAKING SAVES THE WORLD. The emotional bond with Gohan here truly adds up. Piccolo had fused with Kami once more during the Cell Saga. Here, it creates the ultimate finale for Piccolo. Piccolo chose to die to save the world he tried to conquer. The emotional heartbreak of seeing Gohan was there but it beautifully added to Piccolo's development.
The Shadow Dragons show that actions HAVE consequences
The heroes tried to get Shenron to undo the damage. Instead, we see the SERIOUS consequences of overusing the Dragon Balls. Each Shadow Dragon was born from wishes that accumulated negative energy over time. People overrelied on the Dragon Balls, and Bulma's Dragon Radar indeed was the culprit. For example, Syn Shenron was the evilest of all as he was born from the wish to resurrect everyone that Frieza's men had killed. Another one, namely Oceanus Shenron was born from a pair of panties Oolong wished when Goku was a kid. The wishes, whether selfless or not, violated the very principle that the Earth Dragon Balls have accumulated negative energies over time. The reason why the Earth Dragon Balls would disperse into many places was to prevent that.
It was interesting that Nuovo Shenron, born from the Four Star Earth Dragon Ball, was born from Piccolo's wish for eternal youth in his previous body. It was also Nuovo Shenron who became an ally until he was destroyed by Syn Shenron. Syn Shenron became Omega Shenron by absorbing the six others, becoming almost undefeated. I thought unleashing Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta as a last-minute gimmick was just for a toy, though some argue that he caused Omega Shenron's negative energy or the last-minute Universal Spirit Bomb would've failed. I thought of it as a "last-minute toy gimmick" but actually, it was far more narratively superior to what the Buu Saga did to a lot of new forms, just to sell more toys to children than to build a story.
In fact, the Shadow Dragons truly wrapped up the story. As I watch the final credits, there's really much emotion to it. I felt a cry that the franchise that children ran home to just to watch -- came to an HONEST AND DIGNIFIED END. The finale gave a tear to the eye and a joyful farewell. That joyful farewell was like, "It grew up with the fanbase and decided it was time to end."
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