Dragon Ball stands at a major crossroads at the moment. The anime series and film line are both on seemingly indefinite hiatus, with no new announcements in a year or more. And while the manga has moved forward into new Dragon Ball Super story material, the series also seems to be spinning its wheels when it comes to actually pushing the canon forward know some new and exciting places. It feels like Dragon Ball is getting stale, which is prompting new discussion of what kind of changes the series should make. There’s one be an obvious step that could be taken: giving Dragon Ball a major time skip.
Right now, the feeling is that Dragon Ball has gotten stuck in a rut, storytelling-wise. The franchise can’t (or is unwilling to) move on from characters Goku and Vegeta – nor has the current Dragon Ball Super done much to advance time and developments in any significant way, behind the small movements of time during and between arcs. In fact, the final arc of Dragon Ball Super‘s anime – the multiverse battle royal known as the Tournament of Power – unfolded over a span of, like, an hour or so. Likewise, the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie takes place just a few months ahead of the anime’s ending, and the current “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” manga arc takes place soon after Broly.
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Of course, the caveat here is that Dragon Ball Super has always been operating within restricted time parameters. Dragon Ball Z was a series that saw much more significant jumps in time between arcs, as evidenced by the growth of Gohan from boy to man during DBZ‘s run, and the introduction of a new generation of half-Saiyan warriors in Goku and Vegeta’s sons Goten and Trunks, and Vegeta’s daughter Bulla. Dragon Ball Z infamously ended on an epilogue that saw its biggest time skip a decade into the future, where the entire series seemingly comes to an end with Goku selecting the reincarnated Majin Buu (aka “Uub”) to be his successor as Earth’s defender. That event technically occurs after the events of Dragon Ball Super, leaving that series with some important continuity to bridge together. And just so we’re clear: the events of Dragon Ball GT later in the timeline don’t count as canon.
However, now is the time to put old continuity away, and move into something new. Dragon Ball is getting to a point where “evolve or die” is going to be a considerable challenge for the franchise and its makers. And yet it seems so clearly simple that a time skip could help the series overcome so many of those challenges, in a single move.
Dragon Ball fans want to see the DBZ characters that DBS overlooked finally get their day. A time skip puts characters like Gohan, Goten, and Trunks back in the limelight, while giving characters like Goku, Vegeta, or Piccolo ample excuse to retire, move on to other duties in the universe, or settle into the sort of elder mentor roles that Naruto‘s characters have taken up in the next-gen Boruto series.
A new series or continuation of Dragon Ball Super with a big-time skip also allows the actual world and multiverse of Dragon Ball to evolve in significant ways. It would essentially offer fans a rebooted concept of the series, one that’s more in tune with the modern age than the arguably quirky outdated aesthetic and concepts that Akira Toriyama first introduced. A stylistic overall is definitely something fans have been discussing since the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie came out with its unique new visual take on the series. A new stylistic overhaul for DBS (or a new series) would be much more accessible through a time skip and re-envisioned world, allowing for new visionaries like Naohiro Shintani to not just re-interpret Toriyama’s work, but give Dragon Ball a truly fresh and new start.
Are you ready for Dragon Ball to get a time skip? Let us know in the comments!
Dragon Ball anime is still on hiatus. You can read new manga chapters free online HERE.
