Dragonball GT Anime Review

It was supposed to be the epic follow up to the most successful action anime of all time. Did it deliver? Let's review!

Synopsis:

The series opens up with Goku training Uub at Dende's Lookout, the watchtower overlooking the whole world where the guardian of the earth stayed, keeping a watchful eye on everything below.

Things quickly turn sour, though when Goku's first adversary from Dragon Ball, Emperor Pilaf (along with his faithful henchwoman and dog Mai and Shu) accidentally ask the Eternal Dragon to turn Goku into a child again.

But it wasn't the Eternal Dragon we have known for 14 years - this was a red dragon. In an attempt at edginess, the animators changed Shenron's colorization and associated the new dragon with new Dragon Balls - the Black Star Dragon Balls.

So Goku, Trunks and Goku's granddaughter, Pan have to travel around the galaxy tracking down the balls or else the earth will explode.

Then an enemy from the Tuffle race (the folk who inhabited planet Vegeta when it was still called planet Plant) called Baby shows up and Goku beats him by transforming into a Super Saiyan 4!

Then along comes Super Android 17. This time Vegeta transforms.

Finally the seven Shadow Dragons come and Goku fuses with Vegeta to create Gogeta who also turns Super Saiyan 4. 

The final boss is defeated by a universe Spirit Bomb.

Does any of this sound familiar? If so, it's because the entire plot of Dragon Ball GT is directly lifted from Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z!

So let's break down each story arc.

Pilaf

I'm including the entire pre-Baby portion of the series here. Most of this part of DBGT made very little sense. When Goku fights Ledgic or General Rildo, he seems to struggle, but he fights them in his base form! That feels like a very odd step back. And I am not a fan of turning Goku into a child.

Baby

Baby was an interesting concept - a new enemy created as a robotic weapon of revenge by an old doctor who just happens to be an old enemy. It's something the Dragon Ball series hadn't done yet.

Oh.

Well at least the guy who invented Baby looked different.

Oh.

As you can see, the Baby Saga was just a rip off of the Androids Saga from DBZ and a parallel to the Red Ribbon Army Saga from Dragon Ball. That's two for two! Pilaf was the first enemy in Dragon Ball and then the Red Ribbon Army (Dr. Gero's evil robot army - but don't jump to any conclusions. It was NOT a rip off of The Terminator). 

Oh.

Super Android 17

Saga 3 in DBGT was literally just the exact same villain from the third arc in DBZ, Android 17. Not kidding. Same villain.

Shadow Dragons

The Shadow Dragons are basically just a rehashing of the final big confrontation in Dragon Ball, the King Piccolo Saga. I won't go into too much detail, but the story is basically the exact same. Sort of. 

It doesn't make sense. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z were so original. They had so many great, creative ideas and designs. There was no need to rip off other stuff. Why does GT feel the need to do it? The other two shows never did.

Oh.

Dragon Ball GT gets a score of:

57%

5/10

F