Are there parts of Dragon Ball that remind you of your own life?

[Peach]

My parents divorced when i was very young and my mom had full custody. Goku always reminded me of my own dad. Not always around, but he was my best friend when he was. I remember when Goku came back to life on his day pass in the Buu arc. The joy Gohan felt was like the joy i would feel when i hadn't seen my dad for a while.


Is there any part of Dragon Ball, Z, GT, or Super that reminds you of your life? Any characters that remind you of people you know?

[Matches Malone]

I guess the themes of self improving and never giving up helped me through the likes of college when things got hard. I think these themes are the ones most can identify with.

[JulieYBM]

Kale's self-hatred is a big one. I've got the self-esteem of a wet piece of paper. Her devotion to a loved one is another eery reminder of where I've been, too.

It's funny that this came up, since I just finished my eighth rewatch of Eva last night. Shinji reminds me of me as an egg, Asuka reminds me of me in general and as a teenager and Misato reminds me of me as an adult.

[Cure Dragon 255]

My parents divorced when i was very young and my mom had full custody. Goku always reminded me of my own dad. Not always around, but he was my best friend when he was. I remember when Goku came back to life on his day pass in the Buu arc. The joy Gohan felt was like the joy i would feel when i hadn't seen my dad for a while.


Is there any part of Dragon Ball, Z, GT, or Super that reminds you of your life? Any characters that remind you of people you know?

I LOVE THIS. This is exactly getting Goku right. He isnt the horrid deadbeat he is on Abridged.

And this is adorable.

[It_Is_Ayna_You_Flips]

Besides Yamcha's disastrous life and unfulfilled dreams? Not much.

I relate to Bulma's ever changing hairstyles pretty strongly tho

[Planetnamek]

I feel kinda like Goku at times as I live on a farm and there's a lot of stuff that flies over my head(mainly due to my autism).

[Metalwario64]

The Gohan birthday filler episode always makes me feel good because it reminds me of my childhood and how my family used to be together and happy, regardless of all of the problems going on in life.

[Polyphase Avatron]

Sometimes I feel like Krillin in the Tournament of Power.

[emperior]

Goku’s exchange with Vegeta in the Saiyan arc is something that has always reminded me of my life.
I was never the talented one but ever since I was a kid I knew that if I worked harder than the others then I would have closed that gap.

I used to be the most un-athletic, uncoordinated kid ever, even up until a few years ago even. But nowadays nobody would ever believe I was, and that’s something I take pride on. For example I used to be quite the slow one, despite the fact I used to be very skinny. And I used to be incredibly weak.
Nowadays after years of training I can lift some heavy weights, can do one hand pushups, muscle-ups, and can run quite fast (thanks to squats and deadlifts).

Heck, it literally took me weeks to learn how to ride a bycicle as I had no balance at all. And I was quite grown-up, around 10 years old.
I eventually learned by saying “screw it, either I learn now or I kill myself in the process” and went down the highest hill and found the balance in order not to badly injure myself

Nowadays I can ride a bycicle without using my hands, can do a free handstand and other tricks find impressive. But it took me a lot of effort and hard work because this stuff never came naturally to me. In fact I still suck incredibly hard at every new stuff I try, but I’m used to it so it’s no longer a problem while as a kid it made me angry at myself.

It’s funny because DB inspired me to better myself, which in turn made me go to the gym, and training taught me the right mentality when it comes to hard work and the importance of consistency and discipline, and I have applied that mentality to my studies with great success.

[Fionordequester]

Goku’s exchange with Vegeta in the Saiyan arc is something that has always reminded me of my life...

It's like they say... "Hard work always beats Talent, when Talent doesn't work hard".

In any case, I actually relate a lot to Gohan & Krillin, in regards to martial arts. My sensei and his assistant instructors were mostly pretty chill... Except for when I was earning my Black Belt. For that, you had to go through a 6 month long ordeal that involved...

-Full contact sparring
-Psychological torment
-A day of 30 hour food & sleep deprivation
-Getting thrown through walls (Our called was dubbed the "Demolition Crew" when all was said and done)
-Our clothes getting torn off (since that's how a realistic street fight would go)

And the catch? You could not give up at any point, or you would be permanently barred from ever getting your Black Belt. It was one of the two scariest times of my entire life, and there wasn't anything I could do to give up.

You were warned in advance, of course, but, there are some things you don't truly realize till it's already too late. For that reason, Gohan & Krillin always spoke to me. They were afraid as all H.F.I.L. when they needed to fight, but they always did so anyway... Because that's what good soldiers do...

EDIT: Gohan's decision to focus on his schooling also made a lot more sense to me after that. You kind of...DON'T... want to touch Martial Arts for a while. Not after going through something like that.

[Vijay]

Besides Yamcha's disastrous life and unfulfilled dreams? Not much.

I relate to Bulma's ever changing hairstyles pretty strongly tho

ROFL Yamcha's life...dayum

[LoganForkHands73]

I think Toriyama's free-flowing writing style is what makes it all most relatable. The way characters drop in and drop out at a moment's notice. It's quite sad and mature how the Z-Fighters can go for years without even seeing each other, but that's how life works - priorities change and before you know it, you haven't seen your old mates in like five years and you're a dad. I haven't experienced anything that extreme yet (though I've had some scares on the latter - wrap your willy, dudes) and hopefully not for a while, but it's a realistic lesson to keep in mind.

There's weird things as well. Like, say I've finished a load of work or jobs, then I find out there's a little more to do, it's like when a villain miraculously comes back for one last punt (e.g. Mecha Frieza, Super Perfect Cell). Idk, my mind's a circus.

[NeoKING]

Freeza's racism comes to mind.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Areyouracist.lol

[Dr. Casey]

And the catch? You could not give up at any point, or you would be permanently barred from ever getting your Black Belt.

To me, that sounds like it's crossing the line from 'strict' to just being kind of shitty. Seems kind of counterproductive, for a field that's all about self-improvement, to punish failure by permanently forbidding you from reaching the next level of growth forever.

[Fionordequester]

To me, that sounds like it's crossing the line from 'strict' to just being kind of shitty. Seems kind of counterproductive, for a field that's all about self-improvement, to punish failure by permanently forbidding you from reaching the next level of growth forever.

It's a Self Defense school as well as a martial arts one. IIRC, the philosophy was that a "real fight" fight wasn't something that just stopped the moment it got too much for you. Failure in a real fight means death, hence... Failure in Black Belt training means the end of the road.

That said, no one's ever dropped out before, so... It's up-in-the-air whether or not it was just nonsense to motivate us. I sure didn't wanna find out, though !

EDIT: Oh yes, and you also operate very differently under terror than you do when you're calm, so to fight properly, you need to get used to that. That's a big point in his teachings.

[Metalwario64]

I guess I could also add that that birthday filler I mentioned was also an episode I happened to be watching in 2011 or so when the Dragon Box with it came out.

I was watching it when my uncle came over. He died shortly after, so that's the last time I ever saw him... That episode reminds me of my uncle now every time I watch it.