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Tuesday morning saw a fan-made Dragon Ball manga scene become a trending topic of discussion amongst the series’ hardcore faithful. However, the scene may have been trending for the wrong reasons, depending on who’s asked.
Furthermore, the majority of the die-hard Dragon Ball fandom appears to be united on the fan-made manga scene. There seem to be different opinions about how good this latest piece of franchise fanon, or fan-canon, is.
Follow along as this article fully breaks down the latest fan-made Dragon Ball manga scene, as well as covers predominant reactions by fans.
Fan-made Dragon Ball manga showcasing dark times for Gohan's family was heavily deconstructed and critiqued by fans
Fan reactions
The fan-made manga scene in question is seemingly made by Twitter user @DragonBall_Rage (DBR), who seems to imply themselves as the original creator in their tweet. They also claim that it’s “one of the best” fan-made scenes for Dragon Ball, citing that the main criticism for their contribution to the franchise’s fanon comes from it being “too edgy.”
DBR’s scene shows Gohan arriving at his family home, and finding the door open before calling out for Videl. He enters what appears to be Pan’s room, seeing her crib empty and wondering what’s going on before hearing Pan scream outside. He flies outside to see Perfect Cell holding both Pan and Videl hostage, shocking Gohan.
Cell then goes on a speech here, essentially saying that he spent his time in hell thinking about how to take his revenge should he ever get out. He teases that an “opportunity… [he] couldn’t pass up” presented itself to him, likely being what got him out of hell. Cell then shares that, while his original goal was to kill Gohan, he’s decided to kill Videl first.
He snaps her neck here as she says she loves Gohan, horrifying the Saiyan-halfling as Cell throws Videl’s body at him. The next scene sees Cell continue to mock Gohan, saying there was “nothing [he] could do to save [his] wife.” Cell then turns his attention to Pan, questioning who would kill such an innocent child before he seemingly does as much with a ki blast as Gohan begs him not to.
Fan reaction to this Dragon Ball fanon scene and DBR’s claims about their own work have been less than popular with fans of the original series. Many are pointing out how the scene is seemingly trying too hard to turn the series into something it’s not. While there have always been dark tones, there’s never been anything quite like an innocent woman and baby being unquestionably murdered on screen.
Many are also pointing out how this feels like it was made by someone who only watched Dragon Ball Z, and began extrapolating the more adult nature of that series to their work. In reality, however, the franchise overall doesn’t quite go as dark as this, and is meant to be more of a light-hearted series.
Many fans do agree that this scene feels much too “fan-made.” One user describes it as taking what the franchise can be in certain moments and turning these subtle instances up to 11, throwing them in the face of fans. In this regard, it certainly does indicate that it was made by an amateur, rather than a professional, writer.
Final thoughts and observations
In one respect, it’s truly hard to critique something which has obviously had a lot of effort put into it. While the story may be lacking, this Dragon Ball fanart is extremely well done and does (to a degree) capture the feel of a professionally made manga. In that regard, it is indeed exceptionally well-made, featuring stylistic choices which distinguish it from canon material but also pay homage to it.
The writing certainly leaves much to be desired, however. Beyond the criticisms discussed above, a fundamental issue with the scene is Gohan’s character relative to how it plays out. While Gohan may hear Cell out for at least a little bit, even to the point of Videl actually dying, he’d likely not stand there patiently as Cell teased the killing of Pan and actually killed Pan.
Furthermore, one of the major discrepancies in the opening scenes is that Gohan can sense ki, yet he’s shocked to see Cell, whose ki he would’ve sensed. Likewise, he should’ve been able to tell that both Videl and Pan were missing instantly, with both canonically able to use ki, as well as locate where they were without Pan’s scream.
Overall, the scene feels like it was made by someone who hated to see Dragon Ball Z’s evolution of Gohan’s character in the Buu saga. The choice of Perfect Cell, the killing off of Pan and Videl who are responsible for the change in character, and the dialogue all indicate as much. While certainly a respectable effort, this scene from DBR simply doesn’t live up to the quality of official Dragon Ball series, in any capacity.
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