Duo wrote:Raditz is one of the most effectively used characters in the entire narrative in Dragon Ball. His family connection makes the situation personal, he shows Goku and Piccolo how little they really are, sets up motivation and context for a far greater threat, and exits gracefully in a brutal and memorable fashion (not to mention being tied into the poetry of Piccolo finally getting his revenge).
I am sincerely glad that he has never been touched upon again. He is among the most intelligently utilized characters Toriyama ever put to paper.
I agree with everything in this.
He was the biggest challenge by far goku had ever forced. Goku - who surpassed the demon, then surpassed god himself, BY FAR, and Piccolo - the son of demon, the enemy of goku, always bloodlusted, surpassed the god by far - the two fighters who fought the bloodiest fight in the DB history, where everyone else, god included was so useless that weakened piccolo was stronger than a thousand of these levelers, were one-shot material for raditz.
Goku won after a hard-fought battle, in the most brutal moments of the fight, with a hole in his chest & all his limbs broken, and was FORCED to keep piccolo alive, unlike vegeta, who he could've got killed, but kept alive only because
"I want to beat him alone one day" or freeza, who somehow survived. He couldn't kill piccolo because if he dies, DB's die, Kami dies, everything is over. However , piccolo was bound by no such limitation, as he could've killed goku anytime. Seeing these two team-up is a bigger turning point of the series than seeing vegeta & gohan team up against Freeza.
Plus, seeing a big bad against another big bad is always a plus.
