5 Things We Want From Dragon Ball Super

Last week, news of a shocking nature came to my attention. After eighteen years, Dragon Ball would be returning with a new series. Goku, the galaxy’s dimmest super being, is back for a new series following on directly from Dragon Ball Z.

The new show, titled Dragon Ball Super, has already started airing in Japan and has the backing of Akira Toriyama, the writer of the original manga.

If you’ve never heard of Dragon Ball, imagine a slightly dumb Superman with spiky hair fighting a succession of goofy space monsters with martial arts and giant energy balls. Back in the nineties, when it made the leap from its native Japan to the West, the show became a mega hit with kids.

Each season would follow Goku, a humanoid looking alien called a Saiyan, and his friends as they fought a different big bad who wanted to destroy/take over the world. It honestly didn’t really get more complicated than that. It’s just the kind of dumb thing kids will buy action figures of.

The new show’s not been dubbed into English yet, but given its popularity, it can’t be far off.

Be honest though: isn’t the reason we’ll be watching so we can feel like kids again watching it on Cartoon Network? Here are some things from the old series we want to see in the new one.

1. Future Trunks

Remember when Trunks came back in time and totally kicked Frieza’s ass? The guy chopped a galactic emperor in half like he was sunflower spread.

I’m a little fuzzy on what happened to Future Trunks after the Cell Saga, as I was still learning my times tables at the time. I think he went back to his future, which was now a different timeline, or, I don’t know…something.

But Future Trunks was awesome! He had a nineties curtains hairstyle and it was hilarious to watch him hang out with his grumpy future dad, Vegeta. Also, he is called Trunks.

 

2. Heaven

I’ll admit much of my understanding of Dragon Ball is filtered through the eyes of my eleven year old self. But didn’t Goku at one point hang out with God? Or at least the Dragon Ball world’s equivalent of God?

My comprehension of the mythos is a little fuzzy, but after Goku is killed by Cell, he goes to heaven and meets a guy called Grand Kai. Grand Kai watched over all four quarters of the galaxy. A quick Google image search also reveals that he’s an ageing hippy, with white beard and long white hair, as well as denim waistcoat and jeans. Oh, and sunglasses. And a boom box.

Given Dragon Ball‘s track record, at least a few characters are going to end up dead (temporarily), so it would be awesome if we could see that guy again. And the rest of heaven of course, and all the weird characters that hang out there.

 

3. Super powered kids

What did Harry Potter do when he was eleven? He started at Hogwarts? Well, Goku’s son Gohan defeated the most powerful being in the entire universe. One handed.

I was too young to really remember how big a deal it was when Goku first turned glowy and yellow haired. He had become a fabled Super Saiyan, not seen in centuries. By the end of Dragon Ball Z though, we’d seen at least five characters go super. That included a seven year old child.

This is ridiculous and also, strangely, part of the show’s charm. As kids it allowed us to imagine ourselves in the action. As adults it’s pretty hilarious watching eight year old Trunks defeat earth’s strongest man with one punch.

 

4. Mr. Satan

Speaking of earth’s strongest man, Hercule Satan needs to be in the new show. Easily the funniest thing about Dragon Ball Z was watching Mr. Satan try and maintain the facade of being Earth’s most powerful guy. And technically he is, except for the ever expanding roster of god like aliens and monsters. Do they really count?

And somehow Mr. Satan succeeds. The people of earth are so willfully ignorant of Goku and co that they still believe Mr. Satan was the one who beat Cell. He’s a coward and an egotist desperately clinging to his fame in the face of unthinkable threats. If we were put in his position would we really do any different?

 

5. Perfect Cell

This is a hard one to put on the list, because as an adult Cell makes my skin crawl. And I understand that’s the intention, but there are certain things that Cell does that I just can’t watch anymore.

At the same time though, Perfect Cell is one of the most compelling villains that Dragon Ball ever produced. In his final form he’s refined and well spoken, yet unyieldingly malicious. As a kid I loved watching him. I remember rushing over to my friend’s house (he had Cartoon Network, we didn’t) to find out what Cell would do next. He was the coolest, evilest baddie ever.

But these days Cell creeps me out on an instinctual level. The character taps in to our lingering prehistoric fear of predators. For a show that’s mainly about dudes shouting at other dudes, then beating on each other for ten episodes, there are moments where Cell manages to genuinely disturb me.

So I put him here grudgingly, because of the eleven year old in me that thought he was so cool.