More characters can open up the story more, allows for character development, less repetition because we don't always wanna see Goku but it builds up for when he shows up, more character interaction etc. If you like these characters you want to them involved to a degree, not just do nothing.
Sometimes it's best to focus on the main character and in this arc, it worked like gangbusters. Tenshinhan, Roshi, Goku, and Yajirobe didn't do nothing. Yamcha had a broken leg, and in the anime, he and Bulma were heading for King Castle, so not nothing either. Character interaction is fine, but it's about quality not quantity.
Yeah of course, an evil demon who wants to take over the world isn't particularly an original idea is it. Not when you've got a biological android made up of the main characters DNA or a fat childlike Genie. The filler already had green demons before Piccolo even showed up.
At that point in Dragon Ball it was. Piccolo is WAY more interesting than Cell or Buu and he doesn't overstay his welcome. Cell is interesting in his first form and then he becomes just as much of a "generic" villain as any of the movie bad guys.
Which offspring? I've got the manga right here. He's mad because he spawned them and it was painful for him and them someone goes and kills them.
All of them. He's not mad because it was simply a matter of physical pain. Those demons were part of him. I think he even calls Drum Cymbol's sibling, thus making it more familial.
That still makes it boring because it's a non fight. If half the characters just didn't bother to fight someone they knew they couldn't beat it would have been a short series. Goku knew he couldn't beat Cell but they still made an entertaining fight out of it.
That doesn't make it boring because the characters and situation is engaging. There's suspense. We don't know how it will play out and we care about Muten Roshi. Not every situation has to play out the same way, and there was a reason Goku fought Cell even though he knew he couldn't win. It wasn't just to get his jollies and lengthen the story, it was so Gohan could see how Cell fought. If half the characters didn't bother fighting someone they knew they couldn't beat, it might have been shorter, but that doesn't mean worse. It's a bad idea to have characters fight just to take up story time.
I said they were better but I never said anything about them being terrible just because the other characters were better.
I didn't say you did. I said pointing out there are better characters isn't an argurment against other characters being good. There are better characters? Okay, great. That doesn't make this story bad because there are better stories out there.
It was a short and basic revenge plot involving a fairly forgettable generic villain. It had one half decent henchmen who was killed too early. The entire thing was so badly rushed that Goku just drank some water to get a strength boost which ruined the entire idea of the "magical water" from before.
Did you forget Piccolo? No, so don't say he was forgettable. And short isn't a bad thing. It's simple and to the point. The Cell arc, the Freeza arc, and especially the Buu arc drag A LOT. Buu is unique but he's not that interesting. Cell has the dna of other characters but after he starts transforming, his motives are very generic. Cymbol wasn't killed too early. It's like you want things dragged out simply because your used to really long arcs. Adding fights for the sake of fights do nothing but add to the runtime.
Half of the side characters did nothing and the other half did next to nothing. There was no big fight with Roshi and Piccolo. Tien was kinda shat on because he was on par with Goku and was supposed to be the strongest on Earth in the saga before and then in this arc he did nothing but get knocked around like a chump and had to be saved.
I dont' agree with a single thing you wrote here. There didn't need to be a big fight between Roshi and Piccolo. And you wanna talk about a lot of the side characters doing nothing, what did half of them do in the Cell arc? Most of their contributions didn't amount to much. Tenshinhan falling behind didn't equal him being a chump any more than him and Chaozu and Piccolo being decimated by Nappa equals them being chumps. Tenshinhan did okay against Drum, and he helped Goku in the fight against Piccolo by helping him avoid one of Piccolo's giant blasts.
The idea of Piccolo sending out Tamborine to kill Earths greatest fighters allowing for the chance for some of the previous characters to return also had a lot of potential but again was completely wasted.
This just seems like an absurd knock against this arc. It's a very straight forward plot point. Do you really want them to belabor the point by showing ALL of those characters return just to be slaughtered?
So other than being a series first and obviously influencing what path the rest of the series would become it was completely outdone with all subsequent sagas.
So wrong. Toriyama was digging running out of gas with the last two arcs. Cell is essentially Piccolo. There's no depth to him at all. The Cyborgs aren't all that interesting, there are very few interesting fights in those arcs, both are far too long, the writing is very sloppy in the Buu arc, there's very little tension in either arc. What little tension there is in the Cell arc disipates pretty quick after that big exposition dump, and Gohan turning Super Saiyan 2 isn't nearly as well done as people claim. Spirit vs. Spirit is great, but there's no proper build to the confrontation between Gohan and Cell. And once again, you use "this thing was outdone" as a counterargument. It does seem like so many's view of the entire series is based around Z including their expectations about how the stories should be structured, but Z, even without filler does have pacing issues. Either it goes too quickly or it goes on too long. The Saiyan arc in the manga is a tad too short considering they've introduced a new character, The fight against Freeza is WAY too long. The Cell arc is also too long, especially the episodes revolving around the events on the island where Piccolo fought 17, and the Buu arc is one of the most tediously drawn out arcs in any of the mediums, not to mention that Toriyama is throwing a bunch of different stuff at the audience, with almost none of it meaning anything in the long run (Super Saiyan 3, Fusion, Gotenks, Gohan's new power up, Potara) only to have it come down to the Genki Dama.
The biggest truths aren't original. The truth is ketchup. It's Jim Belushi. Its job isn't to blow our minds. It's to be within reach.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take - Wayne Gretzky" - Michael Scott
Happiness is climate, not weather.
[/spoiler]
