30 Years Later, It’s Clear That Dragon Ball’s Most Controversial Anime Needs To Be The Franchise’s Future

Though it’s still early, 2026 has been a great year for Dragon Ball fans. At the 40th anniversary special event held in Tokyo in January, it was announced that Dragon Ball Super would return to screens after nearly a decade off the air. The anime is set to continue with the Galactic Patrol Saga, and, before then, will return in the form of a ramake-remaster beginning with the Battle of Gods arc in 2026.

The Dragon Ball Super announcements, along with the reveals of new games and exciting new content in already existing games, are more Dragon Ball news than fans have been treated to in quite some time. Following the passing of series creator Akira Toriyama in 2024, the future of the franchise appeared largely uncertain. Now, there’s a clear direction Dragon Ball seems to be taking in the coming years.

However, beginning the franchise’s next era with a remake-remaster of Dragon Ball Super likely isn’t the direction many expected. The anime has a number of flaws, especially early on in its episode count, but the series only just celebrated its 10th anniversary. There are other, older entries that could use a fresh coat of paint. And one, in particular, desperately needs it.

Dragon Ball GT Would Benefit from a Remake

The Left-Behind Dragon Ball Series Is a Better Candidate for a Remake than Dragon Ball Super

Custom image created by Evan D. Mullicane

When Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods hit theaters in 2013, Dragon Ball GT, the black sheep of sorts of Dragon Ball entries, was rendered non-canon to the series’ official timeline. The 1996 anime was never a massive hit among fans of the franchise, and when Dragon Ball Super introduced gods and other universes, directly clashing with the future portrayed in Dragon Ball GT, those fans had little problem leaving the series behind.

Nevertheless, Dragon Ball GT was enjoyed by an entire generation of fans, and despite how many may feel about the series, it did introduce the fan-favorite Super Saiyan 4 while contributing some beloved characters and villains to the wider Dragon Ball universe. It just happened to do so in a show riddled with pacing issues and a variety of other problems.

Related

Dragon Ball Super: Galactic Patrol: All of the Details We Know So Far

Dragon Ball Super is back, which is a huge victory for fans, but it’s been long enough to warrant a recap of this latest anime announcement.

Dragon Ball GT had good bones. Its premise was revisited in 2024’s Dragon Ball Daima, where, once again, its cast was aged down. Arguably its best villain, Baby, was the blueprint for Dragon Ball Super‘s Goku Black. The Shadow Dragons, birthed from the misuse of the Dragon Balls, were an interesting consequence of all that occurred throughout Akira Toriyama’s original story.

Those storybeats deserve a modern remake that will handle them with all the benefits modern animation techniques and technology afford. And Dragon Ball‘s massive, ever-growing fan base deserves to experience that story at the best quality with which it can be delivered. Dragon Ball Super has its own issues, but the series proved effective enough on its own to become a major hit. Dragon Ball GT wasn’t quite good enough to do the same, and would greatly benefit from the treatment its replacement is currently receiving.

The Future of Dragon Ball Is Bright

After a lengthy period of uncertainty regarding Dragon Ball‘s future, fans can finally rest assured knowing the story of Goku and company is far from over. As long as the franchise remains profitable, it’s unlikely Dragon Ball will ever truly end, though it’s undeniably good for the series’ health that its fan base’s undying support is reciprocated.

There’s no better time than now for Dragon Ball‘s older entries to get the fresh coat of paint they need. And while Dragon Ball Super‘s issues being corrected is far from a bad thing, it can be argued that any of its three preceding anime series would be better suited for remakes. Dragon Ball GT, in particular, would greatly benefit from a revisit.

Release Date

1997 – 1997-00-00

Network

Fuji TV

Showrunner

Akira Toriyama

Directors

Minoru Okazaki, Mitsuo Hashimoto, Yoshihiro Ueda, Takahiro Imamura, Hidehiko Kadota, Osamu Kasai, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Shigeyasu Yamauchi

Writers

Akira Toriyama

• 

  Masako Nozawa

  Oob (voice)

• 

  Yûko Minaguchi

  Uncredited