Summary
When it comes to the anime industry as a whole, transformations are a massive part of it. However, arguably no series has transformations embedded into their DNA that play as big of a role in the overall story asDragon Ball. It can be argued that Goku’s iconic power-up to achieve his legendary Super Saiyan form during the story’s Namek Saga was what got the ball rolling for anime transformations in the first place.
Since then, there have been innumerable such power-ups in the story that have become almost just as iconic and are easily one of the most recognizable parts of theDragon Ballfranchise. Although there has been no confirmation about the return ofSuper, many fans believe that if the story does return, Toyotarou shouldabandon new forms altogether, or, at the very least, limit them greatly. So, let’s see why they think this.
103 Chapters
Goku’s Transformations In That Much Time
Super Saiyan God, Super Saiyan Blue, Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken, Ultra Instinct Omen, Mastered Ultra Instinct, True Ultra Instinct
To be clear, transformations inDragon Ballare one of its most beloved aspects, as they have either been a part of some of the most memorable moments in the series or were directly responsible for these moments in the first place. Due to this, the veryconcept of having such transformationsis integral toDragon Ball’sidentity, so they should always be a part of the franchise in some form or fashion.
However, many believe that the waySuperwent about it was wrong at times. The main reason for this is oversaturation, since the series introduced almost 20 new transformations for the five main heroes alone over the course of only 103 chapters, without taking into account those of the various side characters. One of the main reasons why transformations in anime are so impactful is that they represent a whole new level that the character has attained, showing the next stage in their development that allows them to overcome an obstacle.
Power comes in response to a need, not a desire. You have to create that need.
However, this can only work if it happens sparingly, since moments like this deserve some time to marinate within fans' minds so that they’re even better to experience. InDragon Ball Super, each arc introduced one or more transformations for the heroes involved, which greatly took away from the impact that the previous one was supposed to have on the overall story.The biggest example of this is Super Saiyan God, which was incredibly important as the first canon transformation in the franchise in over 20 years that all the fans loved.
However, the very next arc/movie introduced Super Saiyan Blue, which immediately made its preceding form entirely useless. Although Blue became the default forSuper, the other transformations that would eventually follow more so reinforced the same point, which in turn even diminished the seminal moments where characters undergo a power-up to awaken a new and more powerful form.
However, with the Divine Transformations and character-specific paths to power, Toyotarou has brilliantly introduced a new aspect to the story that should ideally be the last forms for the characters. Of course, the level of mastery over these forms is something that the story can continue to show, but to have even stronger versions on top of them would be increadibly inconsistent, sinceUltra Instinct and Ultra Egoare the techniques of the multiverse’s strongest beings, the Angels and Destroyer Gods respectively.
So, to have new forms that are even greater than those used by Divine beings would be detrimental to storytelling. Toyotarou has tried this before with Goku’s Ultra Instinct, since Omen eventually led to the Perfected Ultra Instinct state, which somehow needed to be further refined into the “True” state in the Granolah arc. This needlessly overcomplicates things, creating a mishmash of different concepts that never needed to be there in the first place. Most fans agree this can, and should, be avoided altogether.
How Can This Be Avoided And What Else Can Be Done?
Alternate Possibilities
As stated previously, transformations are integral toDragon Ball’sDNA, so they shouldn’t be completely removed from the series. However, a smarter implementation of them would benefit the story greatly and would get rid of all the oversaturation problems. This would allow fights to be much more meaningful, since characters would have torely on skill and strategyover just getting angrier and, somehow, faster and stronger than before.
In theSupermanga, a whopping 6 forms were introduced for Goku alone in just 103 chapters, which is far too many in any regard. To prevent something like this from happening again, Toyotarou can simply just include one or two transformations for each character for the entirety of the remaining story ofSuperif it ever does come back, which would open the door for richer storytelling and greater stakes for everyone involved.
