Dragon Ball: GT vs. Super

SPOILERS FOR Dragon Ball Super AHEAD!

With it's 64th episode just last week, Dragon Ball Super finally came to match it's predecessor, Dragon Ball GT in episode total. This was surpassed this past weekend, and unlike GT which has been over for many, many years, it seems like Super can still go on, and will go on, past this point. After all, there are literal universes of potential (and Golden Cell, duh) to be explored! However, with this recent tie in episode total, the fandom has been recently asking the question that, while at first seems obvious, is actually quite difficult to answer: which Dragon Ball sequel series is better? 

I'll admit that when I first heard this question I couldn't take it seriously. I'm definitely not a huge fan of the proceedings of GT. Without even considering the elements of Super, I thought GT was inferior. But...then you have to start really comparing the two. And you find that while the story beats aren't necessarily similar, you have to admit, that these two are actually quite close in terms of quality.

Neither series has a strong opening arc, but at least GT ramped things up by creating Baby and having him take over the other DB heroes. We've seen evil beings take over heroes before (see: Garlic Jr. arc in DBZ) but this was on a whole other scale. Heck, it forced Goku into a brand new Super Saiyan transformation...that I actually think is pretty sweet. It's not my favorite Super Saiyan form (SUPER SAIYAN 2!!!) but it was just a goofy thing that everyone around could joke about, since Super Saiyan 3 was so legendary and everyone thought that was hokey as well. 

I'm more a fan of it than Super Saiyan Blue, that's for sure. At least SSJ4 is a transformation compared to getting blue hair instead of golden hair! Super Saiyan God is the only transformation in years that seems to be really meaningful, though. Super Saiyan Blue is a clear power-up, as is Super Saiyan 4, but I always discredit transformations when a base form does the trick. Like how Kid Goku was able to stand up to Super 17 for a brief time, or how Super Saiyan 2 Trunks was able to fight, and would have killed, Zamasu (if he weren't immortal). 

But enough about transformations (that's what forums and Tumblr are here to discuss, after all) let's get into the stories of the series! 

Both series bear striking resemblances to the original Dragon Ball. GT is, early on, an adventure story before, like DBZ, it become about power-ups and old faces returning. Super is about new faces forcing new adventures and powers that would eventually settle around a grand tournament. 

Where GT has the advantage (oh, I can feel the hate seeping through your screens) is that it presented something new. Not something BRAND new, mind you, but we were exploring new worlds from the outset. From Episode 2-forward, we were in new territory. A brand new race was introducing, a scientist companion to Dr. Gero was introduced, and the concept of the Shadow Dragons was introduced in a way that made sense and tied all the way back to the mythos of Dragon Ball. 

Super, however, starts with Battle of Gods. And then it goes into the Frieza movie. And then at Episode 28 it FINALLY gets to the Universe 6 Tournament arc where we meet Champa and Hit and all the new cast of characters that will eventually make their way into a DBZ fighting game (I think Hit is in Xenoverse 2?). And honestly, I can't really defend Super over GT here. While GT is slow to get started until we hit the Tuffle homeworld and come into contact with Baby, Super is just boring if you've already seen the two movies. You know what's going to happen, the animation quality is pathetic compared to the movies, and there's really nothing exciting going on. Baby is more memorable to me in GT than Frieza because Baby was interesting and went after Goku for his friends, not his pride. He understood Goku's weakness, and did force a new transformation out of him that he didn't gain off-screen. Though that's a problem that the movie has as well. 

"BUT!" some of you may be thinking. "Why can't you just skip to Episode 28 after watching the movies? That makes it better!"

Sure, it probably does! Whenever I think about GT, I usually just go straight to the Super 17 arc. But that's not the complete series, and we're comparing the complete series right now. 

Now, where the first half of GT is weak, it is immensely helped out by the second half. I don't even mind owning that and popping it in sometimes to watch it. I love watching the Super 17 stuff. Goku fighting Frieza and Cell in Hell could have been better but the fight was a dream that so many wanted to see and at least we got to see it. 

The Shadow Dragon Arc isn't necessarily the most memorable, but the idea of evil dragons being spawned from the Dragon Balls is fun and it did introduce, if nothing else, Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta and the two strongest characters in DB this side of the Omni-King (aka GOD). 

Listen, kids, adults, people at home. You can't tell me that Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta isn't the most BADASS character in "Dragon Ball." I could watch him smack Omega Shenron, who is pretty dope in his own right, around all day! I love the fusion, I love his design, I just love him. He is awesome. Gogeta's appearance in Fusion Reborn is exciting and short-lived, but he has a bit of a longer stay here and makes a hell of an impact. 

Then again, we have to be fair to Super. While the Universe 6 arc isn't the strongest, it did introduce cool fights and let Piccolo and Vegeta shine where they may not normally. It gave them time and action that was much needed, particularly for Piccolo. 

I think the only reason, only reason, people have a legit argument in saying Super is a good show, though, is the current arc. The Future Trunks Arc isn't as good or suspenseful as the original Androids Saga, since that was actually pretty haunting, but it is so effective at expanding the world, giving Trunks some much needed character development, and pushing the boundaries where Super hadn't before. We've seen Goku and Vegeta go down before in this series. But to lose twice to Zamasu and Black is incredibly refreshing. It adds stakes, and it adds suspense to the fights where you don't know if they can win. 

This arc has some very memorable moments, and all remind me why I got so excited to watch Dragon Ball Z every day after school. Sure the villains are interesting, and Super Saiyan Rose was underwhelming, but man would I be lying if Vegeta's recent beatdown of Black wasn't amazing, Goku powering up only to be shut down was so well-executed, and Trunks's transformation was the stuff of beauty! UGH. It was an exceptional character moment for him; finally accepting the fact that he has messed time up beyond the point of annihilation, but not letting either Black nor Zamasu get into his head about it and standing up against them when his father and his heroic icon couldn't and his design is so good! 

GOD THAT WAS SO COOL! It's a lasting "Dragon Ball" memory for me as a fan of the series. 

Sadly...all these cool things have come so late in the show. By the time GT had gotten to this point, we'd already seen Super Saiyan 4, Super 17 be created, Krillin died, Piccolo died to save the Earth, Goku fought Frieza and Cell. Super had a fun little arc with some cool moments until it built up to the Future Trunks Arc around Episode 50. So, in a sense, Super has only really had one solid arc to prove itself against GT, which had great moments scattered around it. 

These shows are actually quite difficult to compare in that regard. Super has been a slow-burn with us waiting to get to all this amazing new content, only for it to coalesce in familiar territory. Zamasu and Black are indeed exclusive to Super but this arc feels so much like a direct sequel to Z that it almost makes me want to just butt the Buu/ Fusion stuff away. I mean it addresses that stuff, sure, but it is so familiar to what DBZ was like. GT, on the other hand, had a weak and goofy beginning but did understand it's characters, new or quirky as they may be, pretty well and had incredible moments scattered around a subpar-looking story. People forget how cool Super 17 is because of how goofy his coming around was, just as they forget how awesome the Gogeta vs. Omega Shenron fight was because the fights building to it are lackluster for the most part. 

Super has one major advantage over GT, though: it's still going. If Super can continue the quality that it's been producing since around Episode 50 I have no doubt that people will look back and summarily say that this was better than GT, just as they may very well say now. However, GT has such as strong, powerful ending that it's hard to overlook. Oh yeah, GT's ending is amazing. It really does feel like the end of all of Dragon Ball, much more than the ending of DBZ does. Dragon Ball Super is more than likely going to have a subpar ending because it has to align itself with the end of Z, and so far, neither Goten nor Trunks have grown and inch and are supposed to look way different in the future. Plus there's the stuff with Uub and Goku having not seen Bulma in, you know...a decade. 

Yeah they're gonna have a fun time writing around all that. 

As much as it may shock a lot of people, I do think, if we're looking at the series right now, Episodes 1-64, I have to say that, overall, GT is a better series. While it wasn't innovative and has many more moments of "meh" then "HECK YEAH", it's so hard to overlook how over a third of Super has been poorly animated, boring rehashes of movies we've all already seen. Topped with new characters that are cool but have't been given any time to develop until Episode 50 and you have only 14 good episodes compared to many arcs of GT that are actually pretty enjoyable. 

I do think that Super will, by the end of it's run, surpass GT and we can look back on it fondly. Stylistically it is much more different than GT and has a much greater sense for the humor that Toriyama is going for, but I just feel that the moments of GT do make it stand out more than Super does right now. Super, honestly, feels like fan-fiction until the Future Trunks Arc, whereas GT felt like an unnatural, but possible, continuation of the story of Dragon Ball. 

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