Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series is everything nice that a Shonen series could feature, from a memorable protagonist to iconic transformations that made a lasting impact on the otaku culture. As a result, the show has stayed relevant and a fan favorite despite being featured for 35 years.
Even though the show has been so popular that fans continue, the recent series, Dragon Ball Super, has failed to resonate with the same essence as the old. Fans of the OG series have often complained how the transformations featured in the series seemed too unnatural.
Consequently, this brings fans to praise one hated non-canon addition to the series, which might have a ton of flaws, but it featured one notion that was just perfect, making DBS an inferior version of the detested series.
Dragon Ball GT knew How To Make Super Saiyans Look Much Better Than DBS
Even though Akira Toriyama is no longer between us, his greatest creation continues to be present among his fans, as the franchise features Dragon Ball Super, which happens to be the latest addition to the series. However, the show has always been criticized by viewers of the show about how the series has not done justice to the transformations featuring Goku and Vegeta.
The legacy of the franchise has often been decided, especially if the series is canon, but this series has often done injustice to the transformations following Goku and other Saiyans featured in the show. The majority of the fans complained about making polarizing decisions that had ruined the essence of the original show.
However, some critiques of the show have now built a perspective on how Dragon Ball GT, the non-canon addition of the franchise, had done justice to the transformation to the Super Saiyan 4 transformation. Instead of going all out and coming out with some crazy theory following the show, it went to the basics and improved the show from being all bad.
In all of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series, the show has always featured an interesting relationship with the Saiyans. However, Dragon Ball Super has always failed to feature that notion, making its transformations look monotonous instead of something unique.
Though Goku has mastered the technique of the gods, it does not resonate with the same essence of the franchise. However, on the other show, it went back to basics, where it went back to its roots. Dragon Ball GT made sure that the Super Saiyan 4 would tap into the power of Oozaru.
Super Saiyan 4 is the ultimate hybrid between an SSJ and The Great Ape, which made the show much more entertaining. However, it was not limited to featuring an SSJ4 because the show also featured a Golden Great Ape form, which felt more fitting and did justice to the notion that Akira Toriyama had originally featured in his show.
SSJ4’s Original Designer Earned Toriyama-Sensei’s Praise
Even though Dragon Ball GT is detested among the fans of the original series, the creator of the show feels otherwise. Toriyama-Sensei had shared a few words for the show on the occasion of its DVD release via MeriStation.
The artist stated how he only gave the title and some character design for the show because he had faith in his staff on how they could do the rest. He said,
For ‘GT’, all I did was just come up with the title, design the initial main cast and some of the machines, and also do a few images. However, I was able to rest easy handing things over to the excellent staff, who had continued on Dragon Ball for all this time.
He further praised Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, the original designer of Super Saiyan 4. He added,
In particular, the animator Nakatsuru-kun is amazingly skilled, and mastered the peculiarities of my drawings in no time at all, to the point where there were even times when I couldn’t tell whether I had drawn a certain character design, or if he had. For instance, one of Nakatsuru-kun’s designs was ‘Super Saiyan 4,’ which appears in GT, and the picture above is a portrait that I drew looking off it. Did I draw it well?
While the show is universally hated, the fact can’t be denied that the show has done justice to the core part of the series, a trait that is exclusive to the title, making it an achievement of its own kind!
Dragon Ball Super can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
