This one sneaks up on you. You come in expecting a GT victory lap and instead get a small, quiet story about a scared kid walking up Mount Paozu because his grandmother is dying and he thinks a wish can fix it. Pan as a frail old woman is the gut punch nobody was ready for, and Goku Jr. spends most of the runtime being exactly what a Saiyan descendant isn't supposed to be: timid, bullied, in over his head, dragging Puck along for company. When the transformation finally comes it isn't a power-level flex, it's a terrified boy deciding to stop running. Fans who wanted spectacle called it toothless. Fans who wanted the original Dragon Ball's road-trip heart back call it the best ending the franchise ever got. The last stretch, Goku Jr. coming home to that hospital bed, earns every tear it pulls.

A century after the close of Dragon Ball GT, every hero of Earth has passed away except Pan, the elderly granddaughter of Son Goku. Her grandson, Goku Jr., is a descendant of Goku four generations down, but he lacks the courage his famous ancestor was known for. When Pan suffers a heart attack, Goku Jr. comes to believe that the four-star Dragon Ball could save her. Teaming up with the school bully, he sets out to find it, and along the way he uncovers a bravery and strength he did not know he had. This one-episode special mixes action, adventure and comedy as a new generation of Saiyans steps forward.