When I first saw the news of a new “Dragon Ball” television series, I wasn’t to worked up. I guess the memories of “GT” and the live-action movie still loom large. But once I actually read what all the fuss was about, well, I got a lil’ excited.
“Dragon Ball Super” has something that the lesser iterations of the franchise did not: series creator Akira Toriyama writing the stories. With all of the magic and fighting and ridiculous hair transformations, it’s safe to say that the non-Toriyama DB stuff focused a little too much on the surface elements of the classic comic’s ideas. The visuals took the front seat while the heart and humor that made “Dragon Ball” such a success was left by the wayside. It’s this writer’s hope that Toriyama’s return is an indicator of good things to come.
“Dragon Ball Super” is set to hit Japanese airwaves in July. It’ll take place after Goku’s battle with Majin Buu, and opens during a time of peace on earth. I’m sure that there will be a super-powerful villain bent on shattering that peace and it’ll be up to Goku to help defend the planet. All of that means there’ll probably be lots of training montages which means that I could not be happier. Well, I could actually. You see, the series’ title in Japan is “Dragon Ball Chou,” with Chou (超) translating to ‘super.’ According to the folks over at Kotaku, ‘Chou’ can actually have a number of translations, including ‘very.’ So it’s not impossible that but the time this series is translated for an English audience we could have a series called “Very Dragon Ball.” Improbable? Maybe. But far from impossible!
I’m excited by this news and hopeful for the return of a Toriyama-led “Dragon Ball” series. If you’ve never read the comics that the cartoons are based on, Viz has made reading the series quite affordable. I’m partial the 3-in-1 series that’s currently being published, but there are also single volumes, those great VigBig collections, and even a few gorgeous color editions.
