Dragon Ball is blowing fans’ minds right now, as a piece of promo art for the series is making fans look back at Dragon Ball GT in a whole new light. The piece of artwork in question is a picture separated into eight panels, each highlighting a Dragon Ball Z character – Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta, Krillin, Gohan, Android 18, Videl, and her dad Mr. Satan. The detail that has fans buzzing is the picture of Gohan: he’s wearing his famous “Mr. Saiyaman” superhero costume, and we can clearly see that the bandana wrapped around his head is the same orange color as his dad Goku’s gi – and the same orange bandana that Gohan’s daughter Pan would go on to wear during her adventures in Dragon Ball GT!
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The reason that this small detail is being treated like a big deal is that it bucks the common assumption that Dragon Ball GT and its non-canon events were a flagrant departure from the level of deep mythos that Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama had created. It’s also a big revelation as the Dragon Ball Z anime series cemented the iconography of The Great Saiyaman wearing a white bandana when he wasn’t wearing his crazy helmet with its visor and bug-like antenna. To see artwork from Akira Toriyama’s manga designs and realize that there’s a deeper story being told through one small object… it hits different now that Toriyama is dead, and the theme of “legacy” takes on a whole new meaning in Dragon Ball.
What Is Dragon Ball GT?
In Dragon Ball GT, “Emperor Pilaf finally has his hands on the Black Star Dragon Balls after years of searching, which are said to be twice as powerful as Earth’s normal ones. Pilaf is about to make his wish for world domination when he is interrupted by Goku. As a result, Pilaf flubs his wish and accidentally turns Goku back into a child.
After the wish is granted, the Black Star Dragon Balls scatter across the galaxy. However, Gokuu discovers that they will cause the Earth to explode unless they are all brought back within a year. Uniting with his granddaughter Pan and a young adult Trunks, Goku sets off on an adventure through the universe to find the Black Star Dragon Balls and save his planet from destruction.“
Dragon Ball GT is set as a sequel series to Dragon Ball Z and takes place after that series ends (whereas Dragon Ball Super takes place before the time-jump epilogue of DBZ). The non-canon status of the series has been debated for years. However, details like seeing Gohan’s daughter Pan carry the legacy of her father’s heroism by donning his bandana makes that non-canon status seem even more odd. That’s especially true now that Dragon Ball has launched its latest anime, Dragon Ball Daima, which has similar DNA to GT, with Goku and co. being transformed into children while on the hunt for a new type of Dragon Balls.
You can watch Dragon Ball Daima on Crunchyroll and other streaming services, weekly.
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