Dragon Ball GT Had a Villain Problem

Dragon Ball Daima was a dream come true for anime fans that were Grand Tour enthusiasts. Taking quite a few elements from Dragon Ball GT, the latest anime series made elements like Super Saiyan 4 canon for the first time. Unfortunately, while the black sheep series of the shonen franchise did give fans plenty of elements that remains fan-favorites to this day, Dragon Ball GT had some major issues that are tough to look past. One of the biggest was its villainous roster which had a few stand-outs but was ultimately bogged down by terrible choices for a story that could have been a truly worthy sequel to Dragon Ball Z.

To start, let’s do a deep dive on the villains of the Grand Tour that did work. Specifically, the villainous Tuffle known as Baby, who wanted revenge on the Saiyans for the destruction of his race. Thanks to both his devilish personality and his wild powerset that allowed him to possess the hero, Baby is routinely thought of as one of the best original villains that the Grand Tour created. On top of Baby, there certainly is an argument to be made for the evil Eternal Dragons were an interesting foil for Goku and the Z-Fighters. Specifically, the final villain of the Grand Tour, Omega Shenron, had a unique design that even warranted the arrival of Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta. Aside from these examples, GT was bereft in the villain department across the board.

[RELATED: Dragon Ball Daima Reveals a New Spin on a Familiar Divine Dragon]

The Super 17 Problem

One of the biggest issues in the villains’ department for GT was the introduction of Super 17. While the idea that Dr. Gero met another mad scientist, Dr. Myuu, in the underworld is solid enough, especially considering Myuu was the creator of Baby, the partnership falls flat in its execution. To start, Gero reveals that 17 was always meant to be his ultimate creation which is patently false from all angles. 17 and 18 always were meant as means to an end to empower Cell, a fact that Gero was more than willing to share in Dragon Ball Z. In changing continuity to boost this new 17, things were already off to a shaky start.

Things go from bad to worse when it comes to the handling of villains pouring out of hell to take revenge against the Z-Fighters. The idea of past threats making a return is a good one for Dragon Ball and has been used to great effect in the past. Unfortunately, GT isn’t truly able to live up to what could have been, sans for the legendary reunion between Vegeta and Nappa. Goku fighting in his kid form against Frieza and Cell comes across as more like a joke than anything else, which makes sense in a way considering the hero’s power level but it also makes Cell and Frieza look so much worse in doing so.

In the case of Super 17, the fusion of two 17s from Gero and Myuu simply didn’t have the weight that it could have. To start, 17’s personality is completely changed for GT, taking away his snark and making him feel quite generic. Despite his heightened power level, it felt like a wasted opportunity all around in creating a threat from the past to bring into the present.

The Grand Tour Problem

On top of Super 17, Dragon Ball GT had plenty of “gag villains” that fell short. Characters such as Don Kee, Ledgic, the Para Para Brothers, and General Rilldo were mostly introduced during the period before Baby’s arrival but they are so forgotten that even our readers might be stumped in trying to recall who these figures were. While Omega Shenron was an interesting enough villain, many of the other evil dragons failed to be as appealing. Should Dragon Ball Super one day make some of these villains canon, we are crossing our fingers that they will receive the “Broly treatment” and be made much better once they enter the shonen franchise proper.

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