On November 29, 2022, the official Twitter account of Dragon Ball Super teased an announcement concerning a revival of the Red Ribbon Army. The safe path is to assume this is meant to reference the Blu-Ray release of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and when it’ll begin streaming.
But that’s not what fans want to hear. We want to see Dragon Ball Super: Season 2. The manga has grown, we’ve got a few video games, and the movies have proven the fandom is ready.
Unfortunately, the tweet doesn’t say where we can find the announcement. Not even the official site for the anime or the Toei Animation YouTube channel mentions it.
But we have a time slot!
The struggles of being a fan
At 10 am JST or 1 am CST, the announcement will arrive. The Red Ribbon Army is one of the oldest enemies in the franchise.
Without them, we wouldn’t have the androids, the Future Trunks storyline in DBZ, or the Super Hero movie. But bringing back classic enemies is something the franchise often does.
That’s how GT started, and Super is loaded with nostalgia. But the Red Ribbon Army rarely came off as a threat.
The androids and Cell are a threat. So unless we’re about to see the Red Ribbon Army do more than create more androids, a revival feels forced.
It’d be better to remake the Dragon Ball anime and give it a visual update. Then, there’s no need to touch the story, and the Red Ribbon Army won’t have to compete with other enemies.
Like Frieza. The Pilaf gang made themselves useful during the Resurrection F movie/saga. And the thought of Frieza being able to make androids after what happened in the Survival Tournament would be scary to see!
More Canon, less Filler!
The Dragon Ball Super anime was a hit and a miss for me. I had no desire to see the Battle of the Gods movie reborn into the anime.
But that does give me hope for a start for DBS Season 2. I’ll gladly watch the Super Broly movie, and the Super Hero movie remade into the anime!
The Super Broly movie was excellent and made Broly a better character. I haven’t seen Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero yet, but since Akira Toriyama helped make it, I have high hopes for it.
No one can argue that Dragon Ball as a franchise is still awesome. Of course, not every iteration will please everyone, but there is something for everyone to enjoy.
For example, the manga has been wowing fans since August on the VIZ website, and there’s plenty of content for adaptation. Even if animated films are the only way we’ll see them on screen, fans still want more Dragon Ball.