What is Dragon Ball Super Playing At (post Episode 92)?

Dragon Ball Super (DBS) has been a strange beast of an anime since it began two years ago. It adapted the stories of two previous movies and had all sorts of complications with the fans. It ended its best arc yet with an unsatisfying conclusion, and has had several more episodes focused on minor characters than it's predecessors ever did, it seems. Now, with the "Universal Survival Arc," Dragon Ball Super is poised to make it's biggest push yet...that may end up with the largest amount of backfire.
Quite a few people who have been keeping up with DBS as it comes out have noted that there seem to be a few moments where we're back to the formula of Dragon Ball Z: lots of shouting, insane power levels, over-the-top music scored with over-the-top-fighting, and tons of Super Saiyans. And, yes, this arc has re-introduced quite a bit of that. The Zen-Exhibition Match as well as the bout between Gohan and Goku certainly felt reminiscent of "Z."

And it seems that it's paid off, as quite a few people who initially flocked into the "Future Trunks" arc are now sticking around to see what's going on. Toei, the company producing DBS, really stepped up their game these last few months with the animation quality as well as the quality of their stories. We've gotten to see a lot of material regarding side characters, and it really pushed them into the limelight to show how compelling they can be. Tons of fans got hyped for the return of Android 17, and many wanted to know what role Master Roshi could play against being with god-like powers.

But as the arc has gone on...and on...and on...it has become apparent to me that the creators have dug themselves into a bit of a hole. While they were in one to begin with, which I'll get to in a second, they may now find themselves in an unwinnable situation. All because of...

The first major flaw is the premise of the arc, and that, if the story is to continue, Universe 7 (the one where all the main characters reside) HAS to survive. However, I found it unlikely that Zeno is going to eradicate all other universes and just leave ours. That makes no sense. It eliminates all narrative potential from those new characters, like Hit or the newly introduced Kalifla. 

If they don't go through with it, then this was all just a means of showing off new characters with no stakes. DBS has suffered from a complete lack of stakes all along, even in the "Future Trunks" arc. The moment Zeno showed up to eradicate Zamasu, it became apparent that they should've just called on him all along. Sure, there were some heavy moments, like when Goku and Vegeta were down for the count and it all came down to Trunks. But we saw there what we might see with this arc: the creators just pulling random things out of nowhere (Trunks' Spirit Sword) to get to the resolution quicker. We may get cool things on the way, e.g. Super Saiyan Blue Vegito, but the end result is ultimately disappointing. 

The hope is that this arc is a means to an end for something else, something bigger. It's curious that there are, after all, two masters of the multiverse when there should only be one. Perhaps one universe will try and stage a coup, or one universe will have to be joined with another. Perhaps instead of complete destruction, all the universes are combined, adding to the threat since now all those enemies gunning for the Z-Warriors are so close to home, instead of a universe away. This also adds strife between the Kais and Gods of Destruction: why let there be so many if one universe only needs one of each? 

Arcs in Dragon Ball have had actual consequences before. In "Z," for the most part, those would later be rectified with the Dragon Balls, but is isn't like when Piccolo Jr. was born after the tournament he was just swept under the rug and forgotten about. The destruction of the Red Ribbon Army led to the Androids and, by extension, Cell. But in "Z?" Yeah, Namek was destroyed but it was recreated. Cell killed Goku only for Elder Kai to give him his life back. And DBS is redoing all the things that the end of "Z" provided. So we haven't seen an arc with long-lasting effects in a while. 

But what does Freeza have to do with any of this? Well, as MasakoX, from TeamFourStar (creators of DBZ Abridged) points out in his videos on DBS, it's all about marketing. In Japan, Freeza is the most popular DBZ villain. In the West, many kids from the 90s, who would watch DBS with nostalgia, remember Freeza as that iconic villain that Goku fought as a Super Saiyan, or that got diced up by Future Trunks. It makes sense to bring him back for DBS to boost ratings and collect attention. Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection "F" is one of the highest-grossing anime movies of all time thanks to the return of everyone's favorite galactic emperor. 

As. A. Villain. 

Recent previews, and possibly leaks, for upcoming DBS episodes point to Freeza returning as a member of the Universe 7 team. Majin Buu was recently put into a deep sleep that he will not come out of, and even one of the series' main creators, Toyotaro, pointed out that the Universe 7 team we've been led to believe with form "may not be final." All signs point to Freeza coming on and joining the Z-Warriors to defend the universe. 

Talk about pandering. The biggest problem DBS is suffering from fans who have, overall, enjoyed the series is that of pandering. We wanted Future Trunks, so we got him! We wanted an "evil" Goku so we got him! And now apparently we want Freeza, so we got him! 

I'll admit that it's difficult for the creators to make decisions like this. Again, in the West, it doesn't seem that Freeza is the most popular villain, but rather Cell. However, Dragon Ball Super is made for Japanese audiences. If it were made for Western audiences, I suspect we'd see a lot more DBZ-esque episodes, and fewer episodes featuring Arale or Great Saiyaman. They're tied down between two majorly different audiences, that generally like the same things, and have to make decisions as such. 

But bringing Freeza back seems a bit much. Sure, his presence was welcomed as a means of revitalizing the franchise, but even that story had a horribly botched climax. It's best to leave this galactic emperor alone. What makes this worse is that it almost seems lazy to bring back Freeza. I don't mind that Buu can't find, since it means now we get to explore the universe and find other characters to possibly bring along. 

There's nobody left on Earth, but what about in space? If the creators want a nice callback to DBZ, why not bring back Pikkon? Sure, all material with him was filler, but it would be neat to see him again. There's also Vegeta's brother, Tarble, roaming the galaxies. It'd be neat to see him and Cabba get into a small fight. 

Or, and probably the most obvious of them all: FUTURE TRUNKS. Beerus, Whis, and the Supreme Kai are some of the biggest morons in the show, but at least they're willing to do whatever it takes to win. Screw the "no more time-travel" laws, they need a tenth warrior and Trunks is the best bet. A team of him, Super Saiyan Blue Goku/ Vegeta, and Mystic Gohan is essentially unstoppable. Add onto this that Trunks would have to fight alongside both 17 and 18 to really bring his story to a close. Not to mention that the Future Trunks is, otherwise at the moment, pointless. Sure, we have a second Zeno...but all he's done is raise the opposite hand as the main Zeno and repeat the same things as him. 

It seems that DBS is either a bit directionless at the moment, or it's headed for an unsatisfying conclusion, again, to a story that was majorly hyped up by both Toei and the fanbase (again). If this fails I would not be surprised to see scores of fans dropping off the show, since the arc would have been a major waste of time. Thankfully they've had episodes dedicated to side-characters, otherwise I wonder if anyone would be watched. This arc was slated to really get going back in February, but it seems like the tournament won't actually get going until the middle of June! 

I do hope that DBS can come back around again, and manage to tell a cohesive, true-to-character narrative. Goku has flucuated between an absolute moron and somewhat competent, but we've seen great strides from Krillin, 18, Piccolo, and best of all, Gohan! Maybe the point of the arc is just to highlight these characters and prep us for more action with others (Kalifla, Kale, the Troupe from Universe 11)...I don't know. We'll see in the coming days just what exactly DBS is up to, but for now, I have to watch every episode with a sizable dose of doubt. 

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