I’ve been a grumpy old man about all things Dragon Ball for far too long. As your typical non-manga-reading, mainstream-anime-watching child of Toonami, I drew a line in the sand a few episodes into Dragon Ball Super when I first gave it a chance. I wasn’t going to continue watching because its earliest episodes didn’t feel like the action anime I’d grown up with. Likewise, before Sparking! Zero, I hadn’t played any Dragon Ball video games since Budokai Tenkaichi 3 because none of the titles released in between lived up to what I considered the IP’s quintessential fighting games.
Luckily, time is a flat circle in a culture hopped up on nostalgia, and today, I have a new Tenkaichi game in my life. But with the benefit of maturity and hindsight, I’m wondering how much good shit I’ve missed out on by being too loyal to the anime and fighting games of my childhood. Will this growth and clarity compel me to finally play Kakorot or FighterZ? (*Late Dragon Ball narrator voice*) No, probably not. But I have since powered through the somewhat juvenile opening Beerus arc in Dragon Ball Super and am mostly enjoying the rest of the show (only Master Zunō himself knows what the future holds for me and DAIMA).
While I fall deeper into the rabbit holes of both Super and Sparking! Zero, check out some of the Kotaku coverage that’s made my time with the latter that much more enjoyable.
