User reviews

This show is taking a lot of heat from die-hard fans of the popular manga and anime Dragon Ball Z, because it is a revisitation to and - in some fashion - a retelling of the original dragon ball series, on a much grander scale and in increasingly obfuscated terms. The basic plot and premise of the beginning of this series is simple; a trio of child heroes disembark from earth in a rocketship to find powerful magical artifacts called 'black star dragon balls', that have been scattered across the galaxy. The result, known under the name Dragon Ball GT, is an anime series that is fair in its own right, but succumbs to its ambition. Not only does the fact that GT has been written by a large number of different storyboard writers cause the whole to be diffuse and incoherent, but the series had been canceled before its due date as well, making watching GT a laborious effort for some.

Despite this, it's hard to blame GT for how it might or might not have turned out, because the series is at its very core a large marketing exercise, a service to fans worldwide who were not ready for their favorite anime series to be decommissioned just yet. The moral of the story behind GT, then, is that trying to please everybody at the same time is a fool's errand.

GT incorporates the playfulness and adventure-element of the early Dragon Ball series, as well as the high-octane fighting from Dragon Ball Z. Fans of the former may just end up complain about the latter, and vice versa. At the same time, the resulting series is neither as original nor as exciting as either Dragonball or Dragon Ball Z. The first half of GT utilizes the same archetypical main characters as in Dragonball - Goku, Trunks and Pan in GT, compared to Goku, Yamcha and Bulma from Dragonball. The 'new' character of Pan, although often fun and rebellious, is not always interesting and may at times test the limits of your patience with her pre-pubescent levels of self-reliance. GT is a mixed bag, a mutt amongst anime that you either learn to like or love to hate.

What vexes many Dragon Ball afficionados the most is that GT introduces a lot of plot holes to the formerly reasonably tight storyline of its predecessors. Many of these storytelling oversights can be attributed to alterations of the original plot. Resultingly, GT can be considered somewhat of a retcon because of it, if not a downright non-chronicle addition to the Dragonball universe. BUT...

... let's be fair now and consider that Dragon Ball Z itself isn't exactly famous for its storyline depth to begin with. One might even argue that if it weren't for the Saiya-Jin and Freezer sagas, and the thoroughly interesting and well-developed character of Cell, Dragon Ball Z wouldn't have enough story to wrap around on itself and make a hole in the first place. What GT doesn't fail to bring, then, is an engaging little plot, even if it diverges from the canon. Said plot is interspersed with a myriad of interesting locales, characters and villains, and allows for a variation not seen since the early stages of Dragonball (I am of course referring to the recurring theme of high-octane battles over barren mesas). Also, perhaps by virtue of their absurdity, GT boasts less emphasis on the by then truly cyclopean power levels of the characters it features, whether that is for the better or worse.

In conclusion, GT is definitely worth a once-over. Find out for yourself if you love or hate it, but don't think it isn't worth watching, because it is. 6/10

Many people bash Dragon Ball GT for being simply a commercial hit by Toei Animation, because it's not made by Toriyama, and because Z is 100000 times better. I can agree on these points, they are all true, but GT is not as bad as it could have been.

Biggest Dragon Ball fans know full well that after GT ended, fans were so wanting for more, even if GT wasn't quite the big deal - it was even cancelled after only 64 episodes, compared to the total of over 400 of the previous 2 series. Many, many fan-fictions were made (at times, I even made a few, I so loved the world created by Toriyama). Dragon Ball GT, in a way, is a fan-fiction, as it's hardly even related to Toriyama, if not for a few concepts like the SSJ4. So, a Dragon Ball made purely to make the crying fans shut up, by different authors who didn't properly follow the previous events of the series? Well that sounds just terrible. The series though, isn't all that bad.

The Dragon Ball fan-base was always split in 2 - those who preferred the comicity and absurdity of the 1st Dragon Ball series, and those who loved the sci-fi macho fights between ubermuscle'd saiyans of Z. GT obviously tries to give bread to both fan-bases, making the 1st part of the GT series a tribute to the 1st series with all the searching of the Dragon Balls - some plots even rip-off completely previous plots from the 1st series! Even the trio, Goku, Trunks and Pan seems a homage to the Goku - Yamcha - Bulma trio of 1st series. In fact, the 1st part of the series is actually pretty lame. It gets interesting in some parts, but only the Baby part really changes the things for the best, thus making GT actually worth a watch.

This part is obviously a homage to Z, more like to Buu series, and it's the longest enemy in GT, lasting quite some episodes - which is good, because I find this part far the most interesting in the series. Here we get some insane combats, some actually pretty inventive, but most of them kind of missing the thrills of DBZ, but with many situations that are resolved by luck and not by skills. This thing happens later on as well, in the following enemies, which are far less interesting than Baby in fact. The way Toei tries to continue the android-saga over 3-4 years after it ended is quite mad, as it really adds no depth - except for the final words about it maybe, which I won't spoil. The last part of the series focuses on a situations that fans were "what-if-ing" from several years - what would happen if the Dragon Balls turned against our friends? Well, despite the logical happening of that, this part is actually very boring, and only at the very end it gets any interesting, even thought it's very much like the Janemba movie of Z. The ending is fairly logical, but it's not worth the wait, and I think a better ending should have been made.

At the end, GT is not bad, considering. The core fighting is still very good, and some fights are really well-done, especially for the time. Some parts though fail very hard, because they completely rip-off earlier plots. The characters aren't as good as before either, with Pan being so whiny that it's often annoying. Goku turned out to be stupid as well. And there's some heavy plot-hole. But at the core, this is Dragon Ball. If you liked the mindless combats in Z, there's no reason for you to miss GT either. Just be prepared that GT is a cheap and unofficial way to end an amazing series, and while it's not bad compared to general animes, it's quite a downfall for Toriyama.

A must for hardcore fans, otherwise you won't be missing much.

Continuing from Dragon Ball Z was a near impossible task considering how good it was. GT seems to want to try to mix Dragon ball and Z into a darker show. Its worth a watch but probably not another.

Still, it was a nice series, I do believe the main problems the show has are both rather easily fixed. Granted, it is to late to do that now. The first problem is the show needed more development. A good twenty episodes more could have helped this show immensely. That way some fights could have lasted longer, Vegeta could have had more face time and new characters explored a bit more. The other problem is the problems in the stories plot. These are not mistakes I am used to seeing in a Japanese animation, but rather the type found in American animation of the type found in a lot of the cartoon shows I watched in the 80's. Like they said let's forget about what happened here, and try this idea that does not fit in the universe anyway. However, complaints aside there is still a lot to enjoy about this series. It starts out like "Dragonball" with Goku being reduced to child form by black star dragonballs that for all purposes should not exist (see the plot problems complaint). These balls are scattered across the universe and Goku, his granddaughter Pan and Trunks must track them down or the earth will be destroyed. Why they pick Trunks is a mystery, I would have rather seen Vegeta tag along as seeing his and Goku's friendship continue to develop after the Z series would have been nice, not to mention Trunks is virtually a non factor once the fighting portion of the show begins with the battle between Goku and Baby. During the search portion of the series the adventures tend to be on the humorous side and sometimes the annoying side as you wonder why Goku and Trunks do not simply turn into super saiyans during some of their fights as that would have simplified things immensely. Once Baby enters the picture the show shifts to more of a "Dragonball Z" feel to it. Then Android 17 reenters the fray and finally there are numerous battles with what are called shadow dragons with the final battle against a rather tough foe called Omega Shenron. Piccolo is almost a no show through the whole series only really making a contribution in the short Super 17 saga. Vegeta was needed more too, but he really makes an impact during the final battle with Omega as he fuses with Goku and Gogeta is born, for like a half an episode (a place where another episode would have worked). All in all though the fighting once Goku begins his battle with Baby as a Super Saiyan 4 is nearly nonstop the rest of the way. Shame it had to end the way it did, I would have liked to seen more, however as the original creator had stopped doing anything Dragonball at this time it was time for this show to be laid to rest.

Im not sure if anyone reads this Thread anymore but i would just like to say dragon ball dragon ball z and gt was the best thing i every watched on TV and I'm very sad that it has finished especially with such a poor ending in gt i was very confused about the ending but Apart from that It was a excellent series and the Only Animation i have ever enjoyed. And people saying there fans and they complain about the dub etc please if you really enjoyed the series you wouldn't care about that. And yes even till this day i still watch Dragonball z and hopefully I can one day see all the movies

Just thought id say that

PAN character is the most irritating and annoying thing I ever seen. it ruined the show

There are many complaints against DragonBall GT. Many people complain about the lack of characters who get things to do, the lack of favourite characters from the first two series, and the mix of styles from the first two series. The first DragonBall was a very comedic show that centered around Goku growing up as a child, while DragonBall Z introduced many new characters, evolved the existing ones and took itself a lot more seriously. Both shows worked fine in their individual styles, but did feel slightly contrasting next to each other.

DragonBall GT is also disregarded by many fans, as the series original creator did not work on this series other than having the job of character consultant.

But looking past the complaints, and regarding it as a series in it's own right, DragonBall GT is very fine. The first step it takes is noticeable - reducing Goku back to the state of a child. The second is probably more noticeable - reducing the regular cast list to only 3; only two of which were favourites from DragonBall Z. In later episodes, an all new fourth party is also added - Gil, a robot who swallowed the Dragon Radar from the original series - unfortunately, he generally slows things down, but at least there has been innovation, which is commendable.

What this series does - and very successfully, it's worth noting - is consistently merge the comedic DragonBall with the action-laden DragonBall Z. Everyone is a winner here, even if their favourite style is not featured as much as in their favourite of the two original series. Reducing Goku to a child was a sensible move, as it allowed fans of the original who drifted during Z's adult-Goku to become interested in the series with the character they knew and loved again. The series utilises it's license to the fullest - resurrecting Emporer Pilaf from the original series (noticeably absent from DragonBall Z), and recreating the importance of the DragonBalls (who were generally merely aesthetic in DragonBall Z). The series also introduces the character of Pan - who showed a lot of potential at the end of DragonBall Z. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the show, Pan does take up a lot of the screen time, but her character is a direct descendant of Bulma from the original series (despite family tree relations), with the role of 'growing up' given to Goku in DragonBall and Gohan in DragonBall Z.

The series is not perfect, however. Early episodes are generally unengaging, with sometimes uninteresting villains and often farcical situations. The early episodes seem to focus mostly on the DragonBall style over the DragonBall Z one - and because of this the series feels alienated to those who have only experienced DBZ (which is probably a large percentage of the fanbase). Animation has dropped noticeably in quality from DragonBall Z - feeling a bit more 'clunky' and hard-edged. Character re-designs are generally awful; Vegeta starts off the series with a moustache, Gohan's glasses now dominate his face, Trunks has been given an odd suit that really can't be categorised, and Krillin is almost completely unrecogniseable from the first series.

On a redeeming note, though, some character redesigns are good - Pan's costume suits the feel of the show, and Bulma looks exactly the same as in DBZ, save a few wrinkles. Goten also looks great as the skinny teenager, and his role is well written. Hercule also looks much better than expected with a bald patch.

Fans of DBZ will be disappointed that many of the characters are left out of the action - Gohan, Goten and others seemingly never get to fight at all, or do anything of utmost importance. Krillin is annoyingly underused, but he was becoming like that in DragonBall Z as well. Yamcha, again, is noticeably missing. And most surprisingly, Vegeta gets considerably less screen-time in DBZ - though of all the supporting cast, he probably does the most, so it's not all bad.

So what is DragonBall GT? It's a decidedly mixed bag - many good features, and many bad. But as a series in it's own right, it is very good, and a few steps above many other action animes that have all action and barely any substance. The light humour adds a lot, too, and feels very much a part of the DragonBall continuity. And because of the linked styles from the first two series, which works very well in the later episodes, the series really does take on a new perspective, and truly does feel like a DragonBall series. It's not perfect, but for fans of the series it's more of the same - repetitive fight after repetitive fight, with Hercule throwing in some overused (but still welcome) cameos here and there.

A good follow up, if not perfect. Definitely worth investing in if a fan of either original series - or if DBZ left you begging for more - which it did for many people.

After Z the choices were to either find new enemies in other planets/galaxies or go on the path of Super with the afterworld and deities.

The evolution made much more sense to continue exploring the universe. New enemies would appear, and continue progressing the characters (SS4). That's what DBGT did, albeit not without its flaws especially the first part of the series which felt quite long.

DBS on the other hand had to immediately give an illogical boost to Goku and Vegeta to god mode in order to continue the story. That made less sense and the power levels were getting confusing.

Overall I really enjoyed a lot of the DBGT arcs, I think the baby arc was especially amazing. The transformation to SS4 is one of the most memorable of DB history. Really exciting moments in the show.. many flaws yes but the story made sense.

While dragon ball and dragon ball z are two of the best animes ever created the pitiful ending that it was given doesn't do it any justice.Dragon Ball GT was clearly poorly written while it was some what entertaining it is a utter disgrace to previous dragon ball sagas.The fact that is was canceled was shame enough.The creators should have just ended it with Dragon Ball Z as the original plan was.Another thing,Goku in his super saiyan 4 form is as cocky as Vegeta since when Goku has the cockiness of Vegeta.All he is babbling about is what he is capable of when really there doesn't seem to be much strength in that form.Its Super Saiyan 4 for God sakes at Super Saiyan level 1 he seemed to had more power.How the hell you could get trashed so much at level 4?Very disappointed in this stupid end to a brilliant anime saga.

Look this was the best show ok the baby saga and super 17 and shadow dragon we're so cool in the own ways super Saiyan 4 was the best the only thing they did wrong we didn't get to see much of krillin and PAN!!!!!! (She's annoying nothing at all just annoying) but hey you ungrateful critics at least we got something or we would be stuck with out dragon Ball for eternity so shut up with your negative comments and be grateful that people love this

There are so many logical errors in this show it's barely worth me stating. 1) Mystic Gohan is non existent 2) Uub is as powerful as MAJIN BUU yet plays absolutely no role in the show, somehow he is easily overpowered by every bad guy 3) The whole Super Saiyan 4 idea is retarded and it's appalling that he loses to super 17 (which is the worst idea for a DB villain EVER) 4) Super Saiyan 4 Goku is no match for Super 17 but non transformed Goku using a move he learned in a movie that wasn't supposed to happen, kills him with ease 5) Vegeta is utterly useless 6) No character other than Goku has any impact to the outcome of the battles 7) The series ends with a spirit bomb...come on 8) Goku invincible? absorbs dragonballs? lame 9) Gotenks?...better yet Goten??? Trunks??? they both suck 10) Super Saiyan 4 involves a magical transformation into an adult 11) Goku is a kid 12) Goku is a kid 13) No super saiyan level 2 (characterized by electricity) 14) No imagination with the animation of Gogeta 15) Gogeta utterly useless 16) Big Bang Kamehameha is the biggest let down in anime history (not really logical but I'm going off on a tangent) 17) Shortest character fights ever

I could go on longer if I hadn't repressed the majority of memories associated with this show. When I make enough money I am going to fund the remaking of this series.

Dragonball GT began life in 1996 as the immediate 'sequel' to Dragonball Z. However, its creator Akira Toriyama was only used as a character consultant and its clear from watching the show that it has taken on a new creative and artistic spin.

For the first 25 episodes the show returns to its roots with the original Dragonball, filled with oddball humor, various locales (and its denizens), and of course the hunt for the black star dragonballs. The premise of the whole series is that Son Gokuh has been turned into a little boy again by the evil Pilaf, and now must beat the clock to recover the black star dragonballs which have now spread out across the galaxy (as opposed to merely the Earth).

As they wrap up their dragonball hunting, they unleash a mutant machine named Baby whose goal is to get revenge on Gokuh and take control of everyone on Earth. I won't spoil the plot from here on.

What I truly enjoyed about this series was that all the characters seemed to have evolved and changed, although not in a way that alienates their original personality. Vegeta is still a hardass who wants to be the strongest fighter ever, but (as he had conceded at the end of DBZ) knows Gokuh is #1 and has made a life for himself with Bulma and his two kids. Trunks has turned from an arrogant brat into the mature Future Trunks we saw back in the Cell saga. It is this great attention to detail and plot that made this a joy to watch.

The final two episodes are filled with raw emotion- deservedly so, for it represents the end of three generations of great anime. So long, Gokuh!

Dragon Ball GT (1996-2003) is an Action / Adventure / Comedy anime with a total of only 65 episodes. DB GT is a continuation of the original DBZ anime, following Son Goku as the main protagonist. The story is composed of 4 arcs of which only 1 I liked (Baby Arc), the rest of the 3 were not that captivating to me. The anime suffers from a lot of problems like the classic dragged-out scenes + it's filled with a lot of useless information that serves no purpose to the main story. The Power Levels are very ambiguous, most of the characters are nerfed and tossed aside so that ONLY Goku can shine.

Conclusion: Dragon Ball GT (1996-2003) currently available only in 480p has an intriguing start but, it fails to deliver what the original DBZ had. Goku is displayed as the supreme character and everybody has to rely on him to get things done, thus no other character is flashed out and it gets repetitive. It's a step down in the quality but gets the job done nevertheless. 6-7 / 10 rating from me.

With all the major inconsistencies in story and irritating characters (Pan), the series still does well in many aspects. The story and most characters are pretty satisfying with familiarity of the original DB and DBZ to boot

In English sucks because English language is too "gay" ..Preferred in Japanese with subtitles. Excellent continuity from where Dragon Ball Z ends. Best Manga ever. Hope to see more of this. Goku has became a legend. But for somebody to truly live this manga, he has to watch from the very start all the story ( from Drabon ball) ... Then you love it. ALthough little childish at the beginning it ends up with your heart bouncing and your adrenaline to its maximum. Worth every single minute i spent on it. Every other manga is not even close enough to this fantastic piece of art. Can't wait to see if there is going to be more of Goku!

Tried to be both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z and ended up not being either one of them. 1 extra point because SSJ 4 is badass.

I don't care what your opinion is about Dragon Ball Z, whether you think it's a great show, not a good show, or overrated. In my opinion, Dragon Ball Z is the greatest show/cartoon of all time. You can't deny the legacy of the Dragon Ball Universe with mind bottling statistics like it grossing almost 4 billion dollars in merchandise and being the #1 watched show of all time (cable) through ages 9-24.

It was clear that fans always wanted more of Dragon Ball Z. As Akira Toriyama wanted the series to end after the Frieza Saga but fans wanted more. We got the Android/Cell Saga but fans wanted... MORE! And then we got the closing chapter of the show which was the Buu Saga which ended the perfection of Dragon Ball Z. It was clear that Akira was done with the show after the show pretty much over stayed it's welcome. Akira then dumped everything to Toei Animation in thus, creating the mutation disaster sequel that we all know as... GT.

GT is a lackluster sequel that fails on all cylinders where almost everything in the entire show is inconsistent with the Dragon Ball universe. Not to mention that all the characters lacks personality and emotion as if they were robots. Every single plot in GT was already used in its predecessors, they basically turned Goku into a child again and sent him off on a journey to find Dragon balls just like Dragon Ball. The show makes the Z warrior's powers look absolutely trivial as if they aren't the strongest fighters in the entire universe as accomplished at the end of Dragon Ball Z, to where they act like they can't even fly (THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENS) and the fighting is absolutely appalling.

The only reason people actually watched this show was for one reason.

Hope.

Nothing more. We wanted more of Dragon Ball! The Dragon Ball universe holds a special place in everyone's heart who watched it. We watched the show just to see our favorite characters. So we tuned in every week hoping this show would get better but it didn't... That's why it was cancelled after one measly year. The bottom line is that GT is a disgrace to the name of Dragon Ball which is why there's a huge controversy of it being cannon. The only small upside I can give to this show is that the animation was pretty stellar at the time, the show had this really dark aura surrounding it and the soundtrack (American) wasn't bad at all.

The only advice I can give to the people who watched this show is move on. Pretend it didn't happen and let's all re-live the moments of Dragon Ball Z that we all love.

Ssj4's design had me hooked. As a massive fan of the franchise, I can say, it starts off rocky, but overall it's a true follow up to the original, and goes back to Dragon Balk's roots. A series full of fun and adventure.