The Pitch: Dragon Ball - Tournament

The internet is full of "takes" on how the characters, world and themes of the Dragon Ball series could be adapted from animation to live-action. As well as the widely-decried Dragon Ball Evolution, there are plenty of fan-films, dodgy international remakes and plenty of work that draws inspiration from the work of Akira Toriama. Personally, I'm pretty much not a fan of any attempt to adapt the vibrant and over-the-top world of Dragon Ball Z to live-action, I just really don't think it works, especially when the focus is on adapting the hair-styles and energy blasts more so than the themes or characters. Now, I have actually enjoyed a few Manga/Anime to live-action adaptations, especially the more recent Japanese examples, like Ace Attorney, and I think it can be achieved stylistically, but I have concerns about how the Dragon Ball world might work with such a transition of medium. 

First of all, I don't follow with the "conventional fan-wisdom" that to be successful, a Dragon Ball/Z/Super/GT adaptation needs to be more "faithful" to the original material. Adaptation is not a straightforward process, it's difficult and rarely turns out as well as one might hope. Pointing at one successful adaptation and claiming that it holds the answers for a different property is a fallacy perpetuated by those who don't have a thorough understanding of the process. So, no, just "getting the guys" who did Ace Attorney or Fall of Man to take a swing at a DB script is not the answer. First off, the entire franchise encompasses thousands of episodes and manga issues, dozens of movies and specials and even video games that all fill in the story to some degree or another, so where would a potential writing team even begin? When looking at the closest allegorical relative to the expansive DB canon, namely comic books, there is a hint of something there, which I tend to name the "broad strokes" approach. 

In the broad strokes approach, characters are adapted in such a manner where the essentials are retained, but the minutiae are glossed over, leaving just enough to wink at the hardcore fans. The Marvel Cinematic Universe Iron Man/Tony Stark is an excellent example of this, with the broader strokes of "playboy, genius, billionaire, philanthropist" intact, but specific elements of the Armour Wars or Demon In A Bottle stories only hinted at. So what then are the broad strokes of the DB franchise? From my take, friendship, adventure, wish-granting balls and, of course, martial arts. Now, the titular Dragon Balls aside, each of those themes have worked well enough in countless films before, and really, the Dragon and his rules are pretty basic, easily introduced in an opening sequence. 

So how do we do this? Well, you know what concept has made for some of the best Martial Arts films in history? A tournament. And what do the DB series have plenty of? Right again, tournaments. Specifically, I'm thinking that the "21st World Martial Arts Tournament" is a great place to start our story. At this stage in the story, most of the main players know each other, the Dragon Balls aren't really a major point and there's plenty of fighting but not too many hoopy powers. The cast would mostly be younger, with Goku and Krillin still being children functionally and Yamcha somewhere in his late teens or early twenties; this would be advantageous because younger actors could be secured before they developed big followings and still be around for later films, such as in the Harry Potter series. 

A note on casting, whilst I appreciate that the Manga style is used, most often, to represent Japanese people, I think casting only Japanese and/or East Asian actors would be a bit of a mistake for a live-action DB film. Not because of any reason other than I feel it would be a missed opportunity to expand the diversity of the cast a little. Although it hasn't been revealed yet, Goku is an alien, so really could be played by anyone suitably masculine and physically capable. Krillin has always had elements of Buddhist/Shaolin monk about him, so why not lean into the symbolism of the Saffron robes and hire a South Asian actor? What I'm saying is don't just hire a bunch of white or Asian actors and call it a day, get creative with the casting and see what comes up.  

As to the narrative and script of the film, it doesn't really need a lot of changing from the Anime and manga. Just make the pacing fit a three-act structure, alter the jokes that don't translate well and beef it out a little; all of the existing beats work, so it's more of a filling-out process. For example, some more lines and development for the non-fighters in the group, like Bulma and Launch would be good, as well as some brief asides that deal with some of the more outlandish elements of the setting, like shape-shifting and animal people. Don't go overboard with exposition, but Oolong and Puar talking about the school they went to would cover things nicely. If we're married to the idea of a sequel tease, a cameo by Tien or maybe Tambourine would do nicely, no need to lay too much in just yet. 

Sorry that this one was more of a "think piece", but all that has been rattling around my head for a number of years, so it was good to get it all out.