The best way to solve Dragon Ball‘s power creep is also the best concept for a new spinoff series. From its humble beginnings as a whimsical martial arts adventure inspired by Journey to the West, Dragon Ball has grown into one of the most expansive and influential anime franchises of all time. Across Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, and multiple theatrical films and specials, the franchise has constantly pushed the boundaries and reinvented itself.

Despite its long history, Dragon Ball’s future looks stronger than ever. The upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Beerus promises a refined reimagining of one the series’ most important chapters, while Dragon Ball: The Galactic Patrol is set to finally adapt the manga’s Moro arc. Alongside these, the newly announced Dragon Ball Age 1000 video game opens the door to an unexplored timeline. Together, these projects prove Dragon Ball isn’t slowing down anytime soon and suggest that more projects will soon be on the way.

A Classic Martial Arts Tournament Series Would Be Dragon Ball’s Best Spinoff

Dragon Ball Doesn’t Need To Keep Pumping Up Its Power Levels

As Dragon Ball‘s new installments follow multiversal battles, characters stronger than gods, and transformations stacked on top of transformations, an Earth-based, human-centered Dragon Ball spinoff could take the franchise back to its roots. Early Dragon Ball thrived on pure martial arts and physical combat. Today, a classic, grounded, tournament-focused Dragon Ball spinoff could still feature energy attacks and supernatural abilities, but only as extensions of the real martial arts seen in the early Tenkaichi Budokai arcs.

A modern-day Dragon Ball spinoff centered around Earth’s martial arts could feature humans, demons, cyborgs, and anthropomorphic animals, all competing under a shared ruleset that prioritizes skill over power-ups. Running parallel to Dragon Ball‘s mainline projects, this series would complement Goku’s story as a love letter to Akira Toriyama’s early vision. Human Z fighters like Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha could finally get something significant to do, being Earth’s most powerful humans; and overlooked fighters like Yajirobe and Chichi herself could receive another chance to battle.

There’s So Much More To Dragon Ball Than Escalating Power Levels

Dragon Ball’s Power Creep Can Only Get So Far

Dragon Ball is rapidly approaching the ceiling of what power creep can possibly sustain. Once gods get left behind and Ultra Instinct gets surpassed, the idea of characters becoming more powerful is rather pointless. If a character’s latest form can solve virtually any problem, then earlier transformations are trivialized, and combat eventually becomes unnecessary.

This level of near-omnipotence also makes most of the cast redundant. As Goku, Vegeta, and a handful of top-tier characters transcend past godhood, many beloved characters are left behind with little to nothing to contribute. The franchise’s least disruptive and most rewarding solution is to let less powerful fighters headline their own more grounded stories elsewhere. This approach would preserve the stakes and honor the ensemble nature of the series.

• 
  

  

  
  

  Release Date

  1986 – 1989

  Network

  Fuji TV

  Directors

  Osamu Kasai, Daisuke Nishio, Kazuhisa Takenouchi, Minoru Okazaki, Mitsuo Hashimoto, Yoshihiro Ueda, Yutaka Satoh, Yûji Endô

  Writers

  Akira Toriyama, Keiji Terui, Toshiki Inoue, Takao Koyama, Michiru Shimada, Yasushi Hirano, Katsuyuki Sumisawa, Yuichiro Oguro, Miho Maruo, Shunichi Yukimuro

  • 

    Masako Nozawa

    Son Goku (voice)

  • 

    Mayumi Tanaka

    Krillin (voice)

  
  

• 
  

  

  
  

  Release Date

  2015 – 2018

  Network

  Fuji TV

  Directors

  Ryota Nakamura, Masanori Sato, Kenichi Takeshita, Takao Iwai, Hideki Hiroshima, Masato Mitsuka, Kazuya Karasawa, Ayumu Ono, Takahiro Imamura, Tatsuya Nagamine, Kôjiro Kawasaki, Kouji Ogawa

  Writers

  Ryu King, Hiroshi Yamaguchi

  • 

    Masakazu Morita

    Whis (voice)

  • 

    Masako Nozawa

    Son Goku/Goku Black/Son Gohan/Son Goten (voices)