Even after 30 years, few anime are more divisive than <em>Dragon Ball GT</em>. It’s one thing for it to be a blatant cash grab sequel designed to keep Dragon Ball going as long as possible, even after it reached its natural ending, but it did all of that while being dragged down by bad writing and visuals that never reached the heights of its predecessors. It’s to the point that most fans refuse to acknowledge it as canon, and that got especially easy after Dragon Ball Super was made with Akira Toriyama’s direct input and blatantly contradicted GT’s lore.
Dragon Ball GT was hardly the worst anime, and it did have some good ideas that made it worth watching, most notably the iconic Super Saiyan 4 form, but its bad elements far outweigh its good ones, so it’s hard to argue with anyone who thinks it’s the worst Dragon Ball anime in the franchise. That being said, the series played a surprisingly pivotal role in the anime industry, and without it, there’s no telling what could have happened to the medium as a whole.
How Dragon Ball GT Kept The Anime Industry Alive In The 90s
It’s been well-documented that when Dragon Ball and Slam Dunk both ended in the mid-90s, Weekly Shonen Jump’s readership hit an all-time low to the point that the magazine was at risk of being cancelled. Naturally, it stands to reason that the anime side of things was also in trouble; while Slam Dunk’s anime only ran for three years, Dragon Ball’s anime had been running for straight years, so when the millions of people obsessed with it would inevitably be forced to watch something else, the thousands of people working on the franchise would be out of work, as well.
Which Dragon Ball Character Are You?
“Power comes in response to a need, not a desire.”
Goku
The Fighter
Vegeta
The Prince
Piccolo
The Mentor
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A powerful new enemy appears. What’s your first reaction?
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The end of Dragon Ball Z was essentially a ticking time bomb for the anime industry in the 90s, and that’s where Dragon Ball GT came in. The legendary former editor of Dragon Ball, Kazuhiko Torishima, was a guest at the most recent Napoli Comicon in Italy, and during an interview, Kazuhiko Torishima revealed that Dragon Ball GT was created specifically to keep Dragon Ball going and prevent half the anime industry from losing their jobs. Sure enough, neither Toei Animation nor the anime industry collapsed in the 90s, so it’s safe to say that the plan was a success.
Much has been said about how Dragon Ball GT was a cheap way of keeping Dragon Ball alive to the point that it premiered immediately after Dragon Ball Z’s finale, and while that hasn’t changed, if Kazuhiko Torishima is to be believed, then it was less of a cynical cash grab and more of a desperate attempt to save an entire industry. With that in mind, the mere existence of GT feels far more admirable, and it makes it just a little harder to hate it when all’s said and done.
30 Years Later, Dragon Ball GT Still Gets Way Too Much Hate
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The new revelation about why Dragon Ball GT was created adds some much-needed context to its existence, and it perfectly emphasizes that Dragon Ball GTgets far too much hate. As much as GT failed in writing, pacing, and fight scenes, it still did a good job of capturing Dragon Ball’s sense of adventure most of the time, leading to a fantastic ending that’s still unmatched by anything else in the franchise. GT’s execution wasn’t perfect, but it put far more effort into things than people say, and it’s now clear just how true a statement that is.
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As much as people view Dragon Ball GT as a stain on the Dragon Ball franchise, its story had far more going for it than people say, to the point that things like Super Saiyan 4 becoming canon in Daima can be treated as a big deal, and the fact that it outright saved the anime industry is an even bigger reason to show it some respect. For better or worse, it’s hard to imagine what Dragon Ball would be like without<em> Dragon Ball GT</em>, but hopefully fans can move on from hating it simply for existing.
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The end of this article provides insight into how significant Dragon Ball GT‘s impact has been on both fans and creators alike.
