The Shadow Dragon Arc is the fourth and final arc of the Dragon Ball GT anime and the finale of the Dragon Ball series as a whole...
Or it was until Toei Animation announced Dragon Ball Super.
Short Summary
After the battle against Super 17. Goku and his friends and family gather the Dragon Balls to wish everything back to normal. However they notice there are cracks in them this time. While worried, they proceed to summon Shenron only for black smoke to pour out of the balls and form into a evil version of Shenron. After the Evil Shenron disappears with the Dragon Balls in tow Elder Kai tells the group that due to constant overuse the Dragon Balls have been consumed by negative energy and have transformed into Shadow Dragons who use their new found freedom to run amuck on Earth. Feeling responsible, Goku, along with Pan, set out to stop the dragons with each one tougher then the last, in the hopes of restoring the balls and setting things right.
Main Summary
Shadow Dragon Arc has the following tropes
- All Your Powers Combined: After absorbing all seven Dragon Balls, Omega Shenron gains all of the elemental powers of his brethren.
- Ambiguous Situation: What exactly happens to Goku in the end? He miraculously revives after tanking an apparently fatal energy blast and becomes immune to all of Omega Shenron's attacks while charging the giant Spirit Bomb. After the defeat of Omega Shenron, the original Shenron takes Goku away forever and Goku seemingly becomes one with the Dragon Balls themselves. He is heavily implied to be dead, but the presentation does not match the mechanics of death in Dragon Ball as they are understood. The creators have stated that the ending was designed to be mysterious and that they didn't have a clear rationale in mind while writing the scene.
- Big Bad: The Shadow Dragons, led by Syn Shenron.
- Bittersweet Ending: The arc, and GT as a whole, ends on a doozy. On the negative side, Goku is forced to leave the Earth, along with Shenron and the Dragon Balls, meaning he will never get to see his family and friends again (and if the last scene of GT is taken at face value, then he doesn't return to Earth until Pan is an old lady). However, the Earth is ultimately saved from the wrath of Omega Shenron, all of the people that died since the Super #17 arc are revived and balance is restored throughout the universe. Plus, considering how peaceful the future is, it's likely that no new threats were able to threaten the universe since Goku left Earth.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Omega Shenron wastes too much time in his fight against Goku and Vegeta, missing many opportunities to kill them when their guard is down. When he finally gets serious and blasts Goku with a huge Negative Energy Ball, Goku gets some divine intervention and survives anyway.
- Book Ends: There is some poetry in the fact that the titular Dragon Balls play the largest role in the final chronological arc of the series, albeit in an antagonistic capacity.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Goku does this at the end of the final episode, waving to the audience, telling them in the Funimation dub "until we meet again!", before riding off on Nimbus.
- But Now I Must Go: At the end of the arc, Goku leaves with Shenron and the Dragon Balls in exchange for granting his final wish, knowing he'll never see his friends and family again.
- Canon Immigrant: Gogeta only previously appeared in the Non-Serial Movie, Fusion Reborn, but makes the jump over to the televised anime in this arc. Vegeta's perfect knowledge of the Fusion Dance indicates that he has previously used it, implying that the events from the movie happened with some Broad Strokes applied (as seems to be the case whenever GT includes continuity references to the movies or Filler material).
- Character Development: Vegeta shows how far he's come by being the one to suggest fusing with Goku to defeat Omega Shenron, despite his previous contempt for the idea. The scene demonstrates his willingness to cross the Godzilla Threshold when the Earth is at stake and his growing fondness for Kakarrot, loath as he is to admit it.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Gogeta thoroughly dominates Omega Shenron.
- Darkest Hour: When Omega Shenron seemingly kills Goku, everything goes to shit. The planet gets flooded with darkness while massive natural disasters start tearing it apart. It gets bad enough that Vegeta begs Trunks and Bulma to take a spaceship and get as far away from Earth as possible while he goes to make a vain last stand against Omega Shenron, knowing that he doesn't stand a chance. Trunks, Gohan, Goten and Uub all decide to join Vegeta. Luckily for everyone, their Hope Bringer Goku isn't quite dead yet... or is he?
- Dirty Coward: Eis Shenron is the polar opposite to his noble twin brother, Nuova, by being an honourless, backstabbing coward.
- Distant Finale: The final scene of GT begins with an elderly Pan, now a grandmother herself, watching the final round of the Tenkaichi Budokai as Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr. duke it out, much like their ancestors did in the past.
- Elemental Embodiment: Each of the Shadow Dragons represents a different element, including fire, ice, wind, electricity, and so on. Syn Shenron embodies pure evil.
- Final Boss: Omega Shenron, the One Star Dragon.
- Fusion Dance: Goku and Vegeta do the Fusion Dance in their Super Saiyan 4 modes to become Gogeta.
- The Gadfly: Gogeta intentionally plays the Troll in order to counteract the negative energy spread by Omega Shenron. Gogeta mocks all of the villain's attempts to hurt him, dismissing a beam barrage as a light chest massage before spooking him with a feint Kamehameha that only shoots confetti.
- Gelatinous Encasement: Rage Shenron does this to himself as a protective technique, making a giant version of himself out of slime to absorb incoming damage. Later does this to Goku and Pan using his slime tentacles.
- Genre Shift: The arc starts with another lighthearted Dragon Ball hunt like the first arc of GT, with Pan and Giru tagging along to help Goku find the Shadow Dragons who are scattered across the world. Most of the Shadow Dragons are gimmicky and unthreatening, but as they gradually become more menacing, the arc switches back to classic Dragon Ball Z style action, complete with a nigh-unstoppable Final Boss for Goku to defeat.
- Grand Finale: To GT. Originally, this arc was the finale to the Dragon Ball series as a whole (at least anime-wise) until the coming of Dragon Ball Super twenty years later.
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Nuova Shenron attempts to destroy Omega Shenron in a self-destructing attack, but Omega Shenron escapes by possessing Nuova's body, killing Nuova in the process.
- Goku makes one last sacrifice to defend Earth from Omega Shenron's blast. Though whether or not he actually died or became something else is up for debate.
- Irony: After so many years of fighting for and using the Dragon Balls, the heroes unwittingly unleash the ultimate enemy by making one wish too many.
- The only dragon born from a villain's wish, Nuova Shenron, is the Token Good Teammate.
- One Last Field Trip: As Shenron carries Goku off to some unknown realm, Goku makes one last request to see Krillin, Master Roshi and Piccolo before he leaves for good.
- Last Episode, New Character: Vegeta's distant Generation Xerox descendent, Vegeta Jr., is introduced in the last few moments of the final episode.
- Muck Monster: Haze Shenron spreads pollution wherever he goes.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Thanks to his strong sense of honour and growing fondness for Goku, Nuova Shenron has a Heel–Face Turn and rebels against his fellow Shadow Dragons, culminating in his valiant attempt to destroy Omega Shenron which unfortunately fails. Syn Shenron claims that no true Shadow Dragon should ever show any goodness.
- Next Tier Power-Up: Vegeta follows in Goku's footsteps by gaining Super Saiyan 4. However, he cannot achieve the form on his own and needs Bulma's Blutz Waves Generator machine to maintain it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Shadow Dragons were born out of the overuse of the Dragon Balls, more specifically wishes by by the heroes over the course of the Dragon Ball series.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Despite all the good the heroes have done with the Dragon Balls, most of the Shadow Dragons were born out of wishes to reverse damages during their adventures.
- Serial Escalation: The previous Grand Finale of the series, the Buu arc, ended with Goku gathering ki from all of his friends plus the entire population of Earth thanks to King Kai's telepathy to defeat the Final Boss. The Shadow Dragon arc repeats the exact same beat, except this time, all of the alien characters from across the universe that Goku encountered in GT, plus the deceased warriors from all four quadrants of the universe (thanks to King Kai getting help from his siblings this time) provide their ki to the Spirit Bomb, making it powerful enough to atomize Omega Shenron instantly.
- Smurfette Principle: Among the Shadow Dragons, there is only one female in their ranks, Oceanus Shenron. She is more neutral than most of the others, but conceals a hideous true form beneath her feminine visage.
- Token Good Teammate: Nuova Shenron is the only Shadow Dragon that fights honourably, leading to a full Face–Heel Turn during the arc's climax.
- Villainous Breakdown: Omega Shenron panics when he sees the Spirit Bomb coming for him and spends his last moments begging Goku to spare him.
- World's Strongest Man: In his relatively brief appearance, Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta proves to be the strongest character in the series (until Dragon Ball Super).
