Dragon Ball GT (Funimation English Dub)

= Dragon Ball GT = Jump to navigationJump to search Dragon Ball GT (Japanese: ドラゴンボールジーティー Hepburn: Doragon Bōru Jī Tī) is a Japanese anime series based on Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga. Produced by Toei Animation, the series premiered in Japan on Fuji TV on February 7, 1996, spanning 64 episodes until its end on November 19, 1997.

It is a sequel to the previous Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime series, and was the only series in the Dragon Ball franchise not based directly on the original manga by Akira Toriyama until the release of Super Dragon Ball Heroes. The show was poorly received by fans of both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, and is considered to be one of Toei Animation's biggest flops. As a result, it has since been declared non-canon to the entire Dragon Ball franchise.

Contents

 * 1Plot
 * 2Bad Qualities
 * 3Good Qualities
 * 4Reception
 * 5Videos
 * 6Trivia
 * 7External links
 * 8Comments

Plot
Ten years after leaving his friends and family to hone his skills, Goku has become helpless against the mystical power of the Dragon Balls when a wish accidentally made by his old enemy Emperor Pilaf - that Goku become a child again - comes true. Despite this setback, Goku teams with his granddaughter Pan and Capsule Corp. President Trunks to go into outer space to find the missing Black Star Dragon Balls. Unknown to Goku and his team, the balls have a deadly secret: If they are not collected within a year, the Earth will be destroyed.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The main problem for this show is that Akira Toriyama didn't really have that much involvement in the show, other than creating the logo for this show, making the character designs and approving some of the shows episode concept, which led to GT lacking what made the original Dragon Ball and Z animes great.
 * 2) Goku gets turned back into a child in the first episode and stays that way for the rest of the show, pretty much ruining his character development. This was a cheap attempt at bringing back the old charm of the original anime and manga and to pander towards a younger audience.
 * 3) * Speaking of which, the only time we see Goku as an adult is when he transforms into a Super Saiyan 4 and at the tail end of the series. His Super Saiyan 4 state also only makes him an adult temporarily until he shrinks back down into his child state.
 * 4) The Black Star Dragon Balls serve as nothing more but contrived plot devices to shove in the nostalgia of the original anime and manga. In an attempt to create stakes, these artifacts are designed to destroy the Earth if not collected within a year's time, not to mention the usage of these balls causes them to scatter across the universe instead of well-hidden locations on the planet just because they have unlimited power. This logic not only makes no sense even by science-fiction standards, but is also very stupid. Who would create such artifacts whose downside is blowing up their homeworld?
 * 5) * Since Piccolo is somehow connected to the Black Star Dragon Balls, he is killed off to ensure their permanent destruction, which feels like the writers only did this to kill off a character they no longer deemed useful.
 * 6) The characterization is rather lackluster compared to the other Dragon Ball series.
 * 7) * The Pilaf Gang only appear as plot devices to run the entire series. Pilaf of all people is responsible for making Goku turn into a child again, which is an embarrassing reason why he and his companions went looking for the Black Star Dragon Balls in the first place. After that, Pilaf and his minions are all but forgotten about, despite being responsible for the whole series.
 * 8) * Pan is a really annoying character, especially for a new character in the franchise. While she was introduced at the end of the manga and Dragon Ball Z, she was changed here from a sweet, adorable kid to a whiny, insufferable brat who constantly abuses Giru, mouths off at Goku and thinks she's better than everyone else.
 * 9) ** In the final arc, she was eventually reduced into a "dumbass in distress" who always needs to be rescued by Goku.
 * 10) * Most of Dragon Ball Z 's heroes, such as Vegeta, Gohan, Good Buu, Bulma, Videl, Krillin, Goten and Piccolo get sidelined in GT in favor of Goku and Pan. It's no surprise that the show ended up getting the nickname of "Dragon Ball: Goku Time".
 * 11) ** Bonus points for Piccolo being absent for most of the series, only to get killed off in an incredibly stupid way at the end of the Baby Saga.
 * 12) ** This was also a problem that began in the Majin Buu saga.
 * 13) * Gogeta is portrayed as an idiotic goofball and not as the pragmatic badass he was in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn and Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
 * 14) ** In fact, he acts more like Vegito and Gotenks when you think about it.
 * 15) ** As said above, the appearance of Gogeta attempts to connect the DBZ series to the movies, only to end up even more confusing.
 * 16) * Vegeta is reduced to a "Megward the Wizard"-type character who gets routinely humiliated by the villains, which was a problem that started in the Cell Saga.
 * 17) * Most of the villains (minus the Para Para brothers) fall into the "For the Evulz" trope.
 * 18) ** The worst example of this trope is Super Android 17, whose only purpose is to make Android 17 completely irredeemable by having him murder Krillin in cold blood.
 * 19) * Uub, supposedly the most powerful being and the next defender of Earth due to being Kid Buu reborn as a human, was wasted as both a character and a warrior, being completely ignored after fusing with his good counterpart in favour of his teacher Goku.
 * 20) * On top of that, Chi-Chi is still unlikable, being the same overprotective and nagging house wife.
 * 21) * Goten was heavily flanderization as he went from being an innocent, intelligent, hyperactive and mischievous child; to a womanizer addicted to dating who thinks about it more than his relatives (although, it improves a little after Baby Saga)
 * 22) * While nowhere near as annoying as Pan, Goku himself has reverted back to his original personality, which is a step backwards to his character development like mentioned above.
 * 23) In one instance of the show, Super Saiyan 4 Goku swallowed the Four-Star Dragon Ball to prevent Omega Shenron from taking it. While he did mean well, it was an incredibly dumb idea that could've resulted in him being killed.
 * 24) The Funimation soundtrack from Mark Menza (no disrespect to him) is nothing but generic American music, much like the Remastered dub of Dragon Ball Z
 * 25) When Dragon Ball GT first aired in North America on Toonami, the entirety of the Black Star Dragon Balls Saga was skipped over in favor of starting in the Baby Saga because it was more action-oriented like Dragon Ball Z and in its place was a Funimation-exclusive recap episode to show Goku turning into a child and having Goku, Trunks, and Pan being involved with the Machine Mutants. Some of the missing episodes were later released as "lost episodes".
 * 26) Super Baby Vegeta, Super Android 17 and Omega Shenron all have evil counterparts of the Spirit Bomb as their ultimate attacks, which shows pure laziness from Toei.
 * 27) The show's lore placement is inconsistent; it makes references to filler episodes from Dragon Ball Z and the movies, such as the Tuffles, their war with the Saiyans and Gogeta's appearance (the one from the non-canon movie Fusion Reborn). Despite these films being considered side stories, GT tries to connect them with the Dragon Ball Z main continuity to tiresomely confusing results. The Dragon Ball Z Kai edit omits most of the filler, so people who either watch that version or don't like watching filler will be confused when watching this show.
 * 28) Many characters from these films also make cameos, and moves like the Dragon Fist are utilized despite being never used nor heard of in the main show itself.
 * 29) Even more so, the later series Dragon Ball Super makes no references to these films and filler episodes as it continues where the manga left off. Anyone who is new to that show will be confused.
 * 30) Atrocious character designs from series creator Akira Toriyama that are a step back from Z, with Vegeta and Baby's being especially bad. It is pretty sad since Akira Toriyama is known for making very good character designs.
 * 31) No-one bothers to use the Earth Dragon Balls, or even the Namekian Dragon Balls for that matter, to turn Goku back into an adult, which REALLY could've been useful. In later Dragon Ball media, the Pilaf gang are turned into children by the Earth Dragon Balls, which makes this show's logic more incoherent.In fact, during the first episode, Goku actually says that he likes being a kid again and doesn't want the Dragon Balls being used to make him an adult again.
 * 32) The Funimation dub, despite retaining the original Japanese soundtrack, is even worse than the Infamous Funimation Remastered 2005 dub of DBZ.
 * 33) The original Funimation intro attempted to be "hip" and "modern" by using a rap verse, which strayed from the type of genre Dragon Ball was supposed to be. It even tries to sound "epic" by using metal guitar riffs.
 * 34) While it is a badass-looking transformation, some of the physics behind Super Saiyan 4 make no sense.
 * 35) The show's presentation is even worse than Dragon Ball Z 's. The color palette takes on an even darker and washed-up hue, to the point where even daytime scenes look unnaturally dimmer than they should be.
 * 36) The show shares the same artstyle inconsistencies as Dragon Ball Z, in which the characters may look ugly or perfectly detailed depending on the animator in charge.
 * 37) The premieres of Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F', and later Dragon Ball Super, hurt this show's lore even further. For starters, these films and the new show contained changes in the main continuity of the franchise that are not acknowledged in this show.
 * 38) King Kai now has his planet back while remaining dead, whereas in this show, he still lives with Grand Kai on his world.
 * 39) Kibito Kai was split back into Supreme Kai and Kibito using the Namekian Dragon Balls. Here, they remain fused.
 * 40) This show does not acknowledge the expanded universe of the franchise (such as a multiverse of eleven universes, Gods of Destruction and their angels, Lord Zeno, etc.) at all.
 * 41) The Super Dragon Balls are introduced as the strongest type of Dragon Ball, which is not acknowledged here.
 * 42) The Pilaf Gang are children in those films and Dragon Ball Super, whereas here, they are very old. Based on calculations, if the de-aged Pilaf Gang grew up by the events of this show, they would be much younger than they are now.
 * 43) Also, Trunks and Mai are currently in a relationship, which is not acknowledged in GT.
 * 44) The introduction of the Super Saiyan God forms and Ultra Instinct as the strongest transformations made Super Saiyan 4's existence seem insignificant, as this show supposedly takes place after the end of the Z series.
 * 45) Unlike the other Dragon Ball shows, most of the jokes in here fall flat and can be unfunny like:
 * 46) The aforementioned scene where Super Saiyan 4 Goku swallows the Four-Star Dragon Ball in order to stop Omega Shenron from getting it.
 * 47) The inappropriate running gags of Goku stripping himself in some ways.
 * 48) Most of the Funimation jokes doesn't really work at all, since it also falls flat and also unfunny.
 * 49) Though the Funimation dub is still cringeworthy and worse than the redub of DBZ, for some reason, the voice actors that reprised their roles sound more phoned-in than usual, especially Stephanie Nadolny, Sean Schemmel, and Chris Sabat. Even Sean Schemmel as Super Saiyan 4 Goku sounds kinda tired and slow.
 * 50) Even the original Japanese voice acting sounds very phoned-in and bored as well as if they just wanted to leave production already.
 * 51) As a result of the show's failure, it nearly killed the Dragon Ball franchise, which didn't produce another anime series until the series got hated by parents,

Reception
The show received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, audiences, familys, parents, and Dragon Ball fans alike. It is considered by many to be the worst installment in the Dragon Ball anime series. However, there are still some fans who like it, though not all of them.