Dragon Ball GT fixes Dragon Ball Z’s biggest failure

The forgotten son of the Dragon Ball series may not have a place in most fans’ hearts. So today, we’re taking a good look at Dragon Ball GT and explaining why it is worth your time.

Like its spiky-haired protagonists, Dragon Ball is a franchise that’s always growing. There are multiple anime based on the manga, larger-than-life movies, and extremely fun games – and plenty of new releases are on the way. With that said, what about the least talked about member of the Dragon Ball franchise? The series most fans wish Frieza would obliterate (after he’s done with those responsible for Dragon Ball Evolution), Dragon Ball GT.

Dragon Ball GT was the afterthought of the franchise before Battle of the Gods and Dragon Ball Super revitalized the series. Working off their popularity to create new entries in the series and some fantastic films that have become mainstays for the franchise. While those are all great, we’re going back to the past to see why Dragon Ball GT is worth watching.

Dragon Ball GT is worth watching for the adventure

Toei Animation

Dragon Ball GT returns to the roots of Dragon Ball and goes on an adventure. Where Dragon Ball Z is all about massive battles and fighting, Dragon Ball is about a young Goku finding out what he wants to do in life. After figuring it out, his master sends him out to travel the world because he needs to “live,” and life is the best teacher. So Goku travels across the globe, getting into all sorts of trouble and making new friends wherever he goes.

Dragon Ball GT brings back this adventurous spirit but combines it with Dragon Ball Z’s epic scale. The show follows Pan, Trunks, and Goku – who’s been transformed back into a child – as they travel the universe to hunt down the Black Star Dragon Balls before they destroy the Earth.

GT revolves around our heroes traveling the stars and finding new friends and enemies along the way. This is the formula that made Dragon Ball a phenomenon, but DBZ really steered away from it. Instead, DBZ was all about high-octane fights, and eventually, the series became known for action rather than adventure.

Dragon Ball GT gets cheesy at times, a contrast to the overall serious nature of Dragon Ball Z, making it difficult to watch with silly side characters and very kiddy-style humor, but at the end of the day, Dragon Ball as a franchise is always aimed at younger fans and DBGT fits the criteria very well.

A significant roadblock Dragon Ball GT faced from the get-go is that there was no manga or other source material for the series to work off of. Although Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama did contribute to GT during its production, going on record calling it a “side story of the original Dragon Ball.” Dragon Ball GT is purely a work of Toei Animation. For better or worse, Toei had to work from the ground up to get the series going, which is impressive in the world of anime, where manga adaptations rule the day.

What really boosts Dragon Ball GT’s power level is the “Shadow Dragons” Saga, whose main antagonist, Omega Shenron, becomes one of the most imposing villains in all of Dragon Ball. The saga calls out the main characters recklessly using the Dragon Balls, leading to the wish-granting orbs transforming into seven evil dragons that Syn Shenron later absorbs to become Omega Shenron, the Z Warrior’s greatest threat.

Toei Animation

Outside of Shenron complaining that the same people always summon him, we never really saw Dragon Ball Z tackle our heroes’ overreliance on the Dragon Balls. It was something fans talked about a lot, so ending GT with the story’s safety net literally fighting back against the main characters felt like the perfect way to end the series.

Dragon Ball GT has since been tossed aside as this non-canon side series and treated as something fans can check out if they want to, but it’s not essential. Still, it hasn’t been outright replaced with Dragon Ball Super, as some fans think. Super actually takes place between the end of the Buu saga and the end of Dragon Ball Z. GT meanwhile follows on from the DBZ’s final episode (set after Super), so there is room in the timeline for both series to exist.

Dragon Ball Super continues the series standard set by DBZ: larger-than-life than life fights, more new heights for Vegeta and Goku to reach, and more hair color-changing forms for them to unlock. The most significant issue with Super is that it doesn’t feel like there’s growth for our heroes because they’re not moving around that much for the sake of going somewhere.

They go to a new place in DB Super because there’s a fight to be had. Take the “Future Trunks Saga,” for example. They time-travel to take on Zamasu and Goku Black, and that’s it, with the most interesting part of the saga being a quick side-quest to Universe 10. Where Goku, Beerus, and Whis solve a murder attempt. That’s a short-lived adventure with a goal instead of just going somewhere and fighting the boss.

Whereas in Dragon Ball and DBGT, we’re physically on the move for a good portion of the series, experiencing an adventure across new lands with fights along the way that get in the way of their journey, we’re not going to fight someone; we’re traveling to a new place and moving past enemies in our way and often fighting the villain who’s plaguing our newfound friends.

The primary goal, often being a journey to find the Dragon Balls, made Dragon Ball and the Namek saga in Dragon Ball Z great. GT stands for “Grand Tour,” and you cannot deny Dragon Ball GT takes you on one. Also, no one can deny that Super Sayian 4 is the coolest form in the entire Dragon Ball universe, so much so that it makes a return in Dragon Ball Heroes.

The future of Dragon Ball may take inspiration from Dragon Ball GT

Toei

Looking towards the future, Dragon Ball GT could be having an influence on the upcoming Dragon Ball Daima series. An unknown threat turning main characters into children and them having to travel the universe to find a way to regain their adulthood while fighting all sorts of threats along the way sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

That’s why we believe Dragon Ball GT is worth a watch for any fan of the series. For more Dragon Ball, check out our rankings of the best fights in the series and, of course, who we consider the strongest fighters in Dragon Ball Z. If pirates are more your speed, consider our rankings of the strongest One Piece characters that have sailed the Grand Line.