First off, I don't consider this a direct sequel or even a spin-off, it's a what-if made fan-fiction conceived by the unimpressive writing staff who worked under Toriyama. This proves just how flimsy the DBZ plot was with him in charge, watching how this festering pile of feces made it into production. The biggest hurdle these clowns probably had was "how do we manage to come up with a plot that is just coming off of the heels of the epic Buu story arc?". Asking that question alone should've alerted these nitwits that ANYTHING you attempt to create will be nowhere near as gripping as the Z Fighters battling the most powerful villian ever. Even turning Goku back into a child (a feeble generalization to make him weaker?), adds nothing more than short term laughs. I'll get to the kid Goku thing in a bit, back to the plot.
They try early on to return to quest-based adventures that made Dragonball so enjoyable, but this clearly doesn't work, as the audience has been overexposed to the mind-numbing action of it's predecessor, and this new/old direction didn't sit well. So, with no substance or wit, GT quit being a light-hearted adventure and clumsily returned back to an action show. But the fights aren't the same. they lack the polish and pace of Z, and honestly, after watching Goku dispatch stronger enemies in the past, seeing him struggle with these interstellar geeks and dancing Par par Brothers (EEARRGGHH!!!!!) is quite insulting. If the writers were banking on the viewers saying "Oh well the universe is huge, so strong enemies can be anywhere", then nobody bought it. The story arcs just play out with little reason to care, especially the Baby story, which drags for what seems like an etenity. The Super 17 arc make little to no sense and is a bastardization of one of my favorite characters (17), but it's really short. The final arc is only story with credibility and makes some pretty solid reasoning in regards to the Dragonballs and their usage. The big downside to this in retrospective is just how utterly terrible these "heroes" are at saving the world, or anyone's lives for that matter. To have to run to a mystical dragon everytime they fail to protect their fallen comrades or an innocent race of people on a quaint little planet and wish them back to life makes the Z Warriors look very pathetic, and watching all of this come back to bite them in the ass was a little satisfying for me. By the way, constant revivals really cheapens the drama of a fight when we know they'll just be back, idiots!!
For as bad as the story is, the characters is where GT really takes a nosedive. To start, i'm going to get this out of the way: Goku has become my most hated shonen lead ever and is a strong candidate for the most despicable character in anime history. I know I'm over-analyzing this, but this has bugged me for years about him. Back when he was a kid in Dragonball, his fish-out-of-water antics and tactlessness was kind of funny. In Dragonball Z, it got very annoying watching this karate bum ignore being a responsible father figure or a decent husband drove me crazy. "But it's alright," people would say. "It's Goku being Goku!" NO. NO, no, no, NO! This mantra is drillied into not only the fans' heads, but the characters as well! Am I supposed to give him a pass because beats up a couple of bad guys long after the heroes have been beaten to within an inch of their lives? I started to feel bad for Chi Chi for having to put up with this neglectful son of a bitch, but the writing "convinced" people into thinking she was just a nagging shrew who needed to step aside and let men hit each other! Hooray for objectifying women in such a one-demonsional tone!! So anyway, Goku is still the same miserable little golem in GT, just smaller and the act has worn thin. Trunks is no better, really serving no real purpose that I could speak of. He's not as funny as young Trunks from the Buu arc, and not as deep or interesting as Future Trunks, so he's dead weight. And then there's Pan, an annoying, grating, beastly little girl that's about as comfortable as sandpaper in your underwear. She's even more irritating than Bulma in her prime, and I can only conclude that this writing staff hated women in general. Oh, and all of your favorite other characters from Z? Not present!!! The entire damn show just focuses on those three. two characters that are burnt out and an original character that adds nothing you haven't seen already from Bulma in the past. The only other original character worth noting is Uub, who would've been better suited joining the quest in the beginning instead of Trunks. He had potential to be a pretty cool character, but is quickly forgotten about and is tossed aside like any other character who isn't a damn saiyan. Long time favorites like Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, Vegeta, serve little purpose outside of punching bags for the new uninspired and rehashed villains until Goku shows up and pulls the same tired act we've seen before, only worse.
IN CLOSING: I honestly could rant forever about this, but I'll spare you. I chalk GT up as a prime example of a franchise that has long overstayed it's welcome. Even DBZ Kai just looks like a decrepit old man at a party with hip kids like Soul Eater and Tiger & Bunny trying to talk about how cool he was when he was in school, GT is a complete debacle to anything that would make an anime entertaining. Tired characters, lazy writing, poor attention to detail, does nothing new, lame villains, same scenery, bad jokes, awful Funimation soundtrack, lame animation, stupid-looking Super Saiyan 4, mediocore ending...All of this combines to make a hideous amalgam of a once decent and enjoyable franchise.
STORY: 4
ART: 5
SOUND: 4
CHARACTERS: 3
REWATCHABLIITY: 2
OVERALL SCORE: 2 out of 10
PROS: The Don Don Kokorou opening theme is one highlight of this mess
CONS: For cons, scroll to top and reread
