Warning: Contains spoilers for Chapter 86 of Dragon Ball Super.
Finally, Dragon Ball Super fulfilled its promise to stop constantly drawing attention to Goku and give the role of the main character to someone else. At the conclusion of the Granola Survivor arc, the newest character, Granola, rises to defeat the villain Gus, even saving Goku and Vegeta in the process.
Goku is one of the most iconic characters in the world, and Dragon Ball fans love him, but they’ve also been waiting for the series to make one of the other characters more relevant, given that there are so many interesting and powerful characters in the franchise. . Of course, Vegeta is always the first candidate to replace Goku as the main character, and Prince Saiyan recently found himself in the spotlight in the fight against Gus thanks to his new transformation of Ultra Ego. However, it seemed that, in the end, Goku would once again become a hero who saves the day by using his new and improved Ultra Instinct, but everything turned out differently.
In chapter 86 of “Dragon Ball Super”, Goku is in a desperate situation after Gus strengthened himself by using all the energy granted to him by the Dragon Balls when he wanted to become “the strongest warrior in the universe” by burning his own life. While Goku is completely stunned, Granola returns after being nearly killed by Gus and teams up with Saiyan to defeat their common enemy. Goku, with some help from Vegeta, gives Granola enough time to charge up a powerful new attack that is finally able to defeat Gus, putting an end to the battle.
From the very beginning, the Granola arch teased that it would shift the focus from Goku and Vegeta in favor of a new character. Granola received a long introduction and a detailed backstory, which made him a multifaceted character with complex motives. However, during the battle with Gus, it seemed that Granloa was already being relegated to the level of a minor character, especially after it became known that his past was connected with Bardok, Goku’s father. It seemed that everything revolved around Goku again, and that Granloa was just a way to reintroduce Bardock into history. Fortunately, his miraculous comeback against Gus proves otherwise, as this is one of the few cases where the main villain of the Dragon Pearl is not defeated by either Goku or Vegeta.
It’s very easy to see why Dragon Ball Super continues to rely on Goku as the main character, given the huge success of the franchise built around his character; if something isn’t broken, why fix it? However, it is also true that after four decades Dragon Ball fans get a little tired of the same formula. That’s why Dragon Ball Super needs to experiment and innovate to stay successful, and the Granola arch proves that the story can still be good and interesting without abusing Goku.
