Do you think the Boo saga was the most brutal in the series ?

[GoodboiRaditz]

I am making a DBZ rewatch and i finally came around the Boo arc , i remember i didn't like this arc very much when i was younger , but boy i was for a surprise , from the beginning with Spopovic beating Videl to Vegeta slaughtering people to Super Boo killing and eating Bulma and co to Kid Boo blowing everything up , this arc really had it all .

I hated the Funi Dub in the precious sagas but with this arc they did excellent job with the themes of Majin Boo , out of all the Arcs in Z , i really enjoyed this one despite hating it as a boy , you can feel the despair in the main characters with this villain , watching him kill their beloved friends and families and everything , what do you think about the majin Boo saga after all this years ?

[MyVisionity]

The Boo saga is definitely the darkest and bleakest of them all. That's probably fitting since it's the final story. It's also the most ridiculous of the arcs.

I like the way that magic is portrayed as not this happy, frivolous or wonderful little thing. Instead, magic is deadly. Magic is sickening. Magic is terrifying. Those moments like Spopovitch vs Videl, Vegeta's massacre, Majin Boo's killing spree, they all reinforce just how horrible this evil truly is.

As for FUNimation, I suppose it's fair to say they stepped it up with this saga compared to the previous ones. That's not to give them too much credit, but the difference is noticeable.

[GoodboiRaditz]

The Boo saga is definitely the darkest and bleakest of them all. That's probably fitting since it's the final story. It's also the most ridiculous of the arcs.

I like the way that magic is portrayed as not this happy, frivolous or wonderful little thing. Instead, magic is deadly. Magic is sickening. Magic is terrifying. Those moments like Spopovitch vs Videl, Vegeta's massacre, Majin Boo's killing spree, they all reinforce just how horrible this evil truly is.

As for FUNimation, I suppose it's fair to say they stepped it up with this saga compared to the previous ones. That's not to give them too much credit, but the difference is noticeable.

Agreed , Boo was a beast , the time when he killed 18 and Maron was very dark , seeing a child dying like that is something you'll never see in Super nowadays and the time when Goku begged Kid Boo before he destroyed Earth was very chilling , funny how age changes the way you see things after a while .

[Vijay]

There was occasional gore here & there....stuff involving Super Boo/Bootenks & Kid Boo especially

Spopovitch/Videl beatdown was definitely brutal. Even Majin Vegeta vs SSJ2 Goku was hard-hitting, just as Evil Boo vs Good Boo. But who could forget Bootenks ravaging Ultimate Gohan...gosh that was brutal...

[LoganForkHands73]

Tonally, the Buu Saga was kind of a mess. It arguably was the most brutal and bleak point in the series, but Toriyama made sure to sprinkle loads of gags and silly aspects to lighten it up. As beautiful as Vegeta's sacrifice is, it has to be overlooked that the immediate reason for sacrificing himself is to kill a ridiculous fat pink blob in a genie costume that kills people by turning them into sweets.

Dragon Ball, especially in the Z era, is a violent, violent story. But Spopovitch vs. Videl will always take the cake for the most uncomfortable "fight" in the franchise's history, even by the standards of someone who can tolerate gory horror. I don't want to read a kids' manga or anime and watch a young girl's head get painfully crushed underfoot by a grinning psychopath five times her size while she cries her eyes out. It's worse that nobody, not even the tournament officials, try to intervene. It kinda shows that while Tenkaichi Budokai can be all fun and games, the fact that the rules and regulations are so insanely lax means that the fighters really can get away with anything so long as they stay on the white square. I can only assume that Toriyama was having a very bad week.

Then there's the business with Van Zant, representing humanity without social restraints. The scenes of him gunning down innocent people with reckless abandon were very shocking.

The fact that Goku almost gives in to despair by the end, after Buu has wiped out Earth's entire population, absorbed or eaten all the main characters, and is threatening the entire universe, means that things got pretty dire. While the people of Earth giving their energy for the Genki dama was a beautiful scene, there's a cynical, bittersweet edge to it in that Mr. Satan has to once again lie and the dumbass humans only comply because they unquestioningly believe it.

[ABED]

The events and the death are all true and yet I feel none of it. It just doesn't feel bleak and brutal. The death of the old couple and Videl's beat down are more effective than nearly anything Buu does.

[Vijay]

Tonally, the Buu Saga was kind of a mess. It arguably was the most brutal and bleak point in the series, but Toriyama made sure to sprinkle loads of gags and silly aspects to lighten it up. As beautiful as Vegeta's sacrifice is, it has to be overlooked that the immediate reason for sacrificing himself is to kill a ridiculous fat pink blob in a genie costume that kills people by turning them into sweets.

Dragon Ball, especially in the Z era, is a violent, violent story. But Spopovitch vs. Videl will always take the cake for the most uncomfortable "fight" in the franchise's history, even by the standards of someone who can tolerate gory horror. I don't want to read a kids' manga or anime and watch a young girl's head get painfully crushed underfoot by a grinning psychopath five times her size while she cries her eyes out. It's worse that nobody, not even the tournament officials, try to intervene. It kinda shows that while Tenkaichi Budokai can be all fun and games, the fact that the rules and regulations are so insanely lax means that the fighters really can get away with anything so long as they stay on the white square. I can only assume that Toriyama was having a very bad week.

Then there's the business with Van Zant, representing humanity without social restraints. The scenes of him gunning down innocent people with reckless abandon was very shocking.

The fact that Goku almost gives in to despair by the end, after Buu has wiped out Earth's entire population, absorbed or eaten all the main characters, and threatening the entire universe, means that things got pretty dire. While the people of Earth giving their energy for the Genki dama was a beautiful scene, there's a cynical, bittersweet edge to it in that Mr. Satan has to once again lie and the dumbass humans only comply because they unquestioningly believe it.

Humanity has always been portrayed as selfish, cunning animals in DB as early as RRA & Piccolo Daimou Arc. Kami-Sama himself who watched over Earth for aeons grew tired of humans sickening behavior.

To quote Netero from HXH, humanity is capable of malice beyond imagination. While its a line from different series, I think even for a gag manga, Toriyama sprinkles those facts whenever he feels it could be used as plot device

Can u imagine Gero's hatred for Goku was so strong that it wud lead up to climactic Super Perfect Cell vs SSJ2 Gohan?

Or sniper Van Zant's recklessness cost not only his life but entire universe? A chain of events, sure. But humanity's capability to induce terror is certainly key in most instances despite AT not revealing them explicitly

[SupremeKai25]

There are several moments of great tension, but there are also a lot of gag and comic relief moments. It's not as bleak or brutal as the Androids arc/History of Trunks and the Future Trunks arc of Super.

[TheGreatness25]

I always liked the Boo arc and was very surprised that the general consensus was that it wasn't good. Like any other arc, there was good and bad and of course being the longest arc, there was a lot of more to point at.

Other arcs had brutal and bleak moments, but there was more in here. That makes sense.

[Robo4900]

Nah, Piccolo is far more brutal. I'd argue Freeza is too.

Boo goes some dark, brutal places, but I don't think it's quite as shocking or hopeless, and it has a lot more levity than some others.

[TheBigBoy]

The scene of the slaughtered family by Babidi's spaceship , complete with the dead toddler and the woman cut in half with her guts hanging out always struck me as a bit much.

[TheGreatness25]

I think that we as an audience have come to take death and destruction for granted... not just us, but the characters too. It started in the Cell arc, but the Boo arc hammered home the idea of, "It's okay if people die, we'll just use the Dragon Balls to bring them back!" And even when you think that there could be permanent repercussions for those who were killed by Vegeta, brought back by Bulma, only to be killed again; they used Namek's Dragon Balls to bring them back to life.

The Dragon Balls have taken away all of the stakes in the series. At least the stakes are raised in the Boo arc when Earth -- along with the Dragon Balls -- is destroyed, but we knew the whole time that an alternative existed.

[MyVisionity]

I personally didn't think that Videl vs Spopovitch was too much or anything. Brutal, yes, but not excessively so. It helps that Videl wanted to keep going with the match no matter what. It was effective. To be honest, I can imagine a character like Spopovitch going as far as to rip Videl's heart out of her chest and start eating it, so there are other ways those scenes could have gone.

The scene of the slaughtered family by Babidi's spaceship , complete with the dead toddler and the woman cut in half with her guts hanging out always struck me as a bit much.

That's one of my favorite scenes. It tells the audience exactly what these guys are all about.

[Psajdak]

I don't think anything was as shocking for me as Kuririn's first death.

It was like, wtf, how the hell can you kill Kuririn?

[ABED]

The brutality against videl does feel excessive seeing as how it's not some important bad guy doing it. It's a lackey who gets offed a few episodes later and to a character who wasn't important to the plot.

[MyVisionity]

The brutality against videl does feel excessive seeing as how it's not some important bad guy doing it. It's a lackey who gets offed a few episodes later and to a character who wasn't important to the plot.

Spopovitch was important because he represented Bobbidi's crew. He was showing just how evil and dangerous the oncoming threat would be. Also, who else but a lackey could display that kind of brutality? That's his job.

Videl was an important character, as she was close to Gohan and someone the audience had gotten to know.

[ABED]

The brutality against videl does feel excessive seeing as how it's not some important bad guy doing it. It's a lackey who gets offed a few episodes later and to a character who wasn't important to the plot.

Spopovitch was important because he represented Bobbidi's crew. He was showing just how evil and dangerous the oncoming threat would be. Also, who else but a lackey could display that kind of brutality? That's his job.

Videl was an important character, as she was close to Gohan and someone the audience had gotten to know.

Do you think they needed someone to represent their cruelty? Beating up a relative nobody doesn't prove much, much less how dangerous they are. And his job was to gather energy. His beating of Videl was entirely disconnected with the plot. At least Freeza's men were instilling fear in the Namekians to get them to comply.

Videl isn't important to the narrative. She's nice but she has no bearing on the story. Her romance w/ Gohan was a subplot.

[GoodboiRaditz]

The brutality against videl does feel excessive seeing as how it's not some important bad guy doing it. It's a lackey who gets offed a few episodes later and to a character who wasn't important to the plot.

Spopovitch was important because he represented Bobbidi's crew. He was showing just how evil and dangerous the oncoming threat would be. Also, who else but a lackey could display that kind of brutality? That's his job.

Videl was an important character, as she was close to Gohan and someone the audience had gotten to know.

Do you think they needed someone to represent their cruelty? Beating up a relative nobody doesn't prove much, much less how dangerous they are. And his job was to gather energy. His beating of Videl was entirely disconnected with the plot. At least Freeza's men were instilling fear in the Namekians to get them to comply.

Videl isn't important to the narrative. She's nice but she has no bearing on the story. Her romance w/ Gohan was a subplot.

Without Videl , Gohan wouldn't have participated in the tournament and without him entering Goku and Vegeta wouldn't because they wouldn't know about it , so basically Goku stays in the afterlife with Babidi and Dabura wandering the earth for energies until they meet Vegeta or Gohan who would finish them off and that's would've been it for the Boo arc .

[LoganForkHands73]

I think in terms of overall presentation, the Saiyan Saga felt the most "brutal" overall in my opinion. By the end of the fight everyone is just fucked. It felt like the end of an armed conflict with everyone either dead, incapacitated or unconscious on the desolate battlefield. Part of my affection for the Tournament of Power is that it may have come closest to emulating that feeling of pure, limit-breaking exhaustion towards the end, where everyone looks like they can barely stand let alone fight. People rag on Goku seemingly exceeding his limits and getting back up so often in the ToP (the ridiculously short timeframe may help or hinder this depending on your view), but Vegeta did the same, admittedly it was cooler when he did it.

Maybe in terms of overall tone, the ending of the Cell Saga felt quite bleak in a teen-angsty sort of way. It was truly the Linkin Park age of Dragon Ball. We see our protagonists' mistakes and flaws have serious consequences while innocent little Gohan is broken and moulded into a sadistic WMD.

[ABED]

Without Videl , Gohan wouldn't have participated in the tournament and without him entering Goku and Vegeta wouldn't because they wouldn't know about it , so basically Goku stays in the afterlife with Babidi and Dabura wandering the earth for energies until they meet Vegeta or Gohan who would finish them off and that's would've been it for the Boo arc .

Even assuming there were no other way for this to happen, that's the most she does and then nothing else for the bulk of the story. Hardly what I would call vital, especially given Kaioshin would've still used Gohan as bait to find Babidi. Gohan wouldn't have finished off Dabura.