What Dragon Ball Heroes Does Right

The Dragon Ball franchise hasn't yet launched an official new anime, but fans have gotten the consolation prize of the Dragon Ball Heroes promo anime. Dragon Ball Heroes is a web series adaptation of the Super Dragon Ball Heroes arcade/card game, and it has managed to break through as a popular hit, despite having no official impact on the series canon. Like everything else in the Dragon Ball franchise, Dragon Ball Heroes has invited some major debate within the fandom, and it's time to break down what the series is all about. Here's what Dragon Ball Heroes dos right:

As stated, Dragon Ball Heroes is not in any way a part of the official Dragon Ball canon - and that's one of the biggest things that the series does right. The main appeal of Dragon Ball Heroes is that the series and its events are not at all constrained by the established continuity (or rules) of the standard Dragon Ball series. Goku and Co. can literally go anywhere and fight anyone for any random reason, with no need for a logical narrative context.

Dragon Ball Heroes doesn't waste the opportunity that the freedom from continuity presents: with no constraining rules, Dragon Ball Heroes is free to provide pure, unadulterated, fan-service thrills.

As stated, DBH allows Goku, Vegeta, and co. to fight anyone, for any random reason, and that has allowed for some pretty exciting battles. We've seen Dragon Ball Super Goku and Vegeta fight their own SSJ4 counterparts from another reality; they've battled an ancient (and savage) Saiyan); while DBS breakout characters like Jiren, Hit, Kale and Caulifla have all gotten additional chances to capitalize on their respective popularity and shine on the battlefield. Fans may have a lot to see about the visual quality of these fights, but they have overwhelmingly been big "event" bouts, which have kept generating interest and exposure for the franchise.

While the fan-service battles are certainly the main selling point, it should be noted that Dragon Ball Heroes has done just as much to expand Dragon Ball lore. Longtime characters or story arcs that have floated around outside the main continuity (like the video game series) get a chance to play out in Dragon Ball Heroes. That includes the Time Patrol, Chronoa, and Tokitoki birds; Goku training with Grand Priest; or Fu, heir to the Demon Realm, who has been a longtime villain in the games. Fans have increasingly supported certain elements of Dragon Ball Heroes becoming canon - how about you?

Dragon Ball Heroes airs new webisodes monthly.