Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

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Analytical Delusion
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Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by Analytical Delusion » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:01 am

I'm going to leave the definition of 'important' up to an individual's interpretation, but to me it denotes something along the lines of significance to the story.

The first few spots seem pretty clear

• Goku (main character)
• Vegeta (enemy then rival then secondary protagonist)
• Gohan (major player in every arc in Z, and big role in ToP)

The last two spots are kind of tough I'd say. There are probably a few candidates:

• Bulma (major presence in first half of DB, travels to Namek, and an important supporting character in the Android arc and most of Super)
• Piccolo (main antagonist for half of DB, probably the third most important fighter in the Saiyan-Androids arcs, supporting character in Buu and Super)
• Kuririn (consistently a strong supporting character in DB, his death sets off the Piccolo arc, heads to Namek, still present but fades into the background after)
• Freeza (when including the prologue, he's a consistent major antagonist, and was one of the key guys in the final arc who helped win the ToP)

I think I'd go:

Goku
Vegeta
Gohan
Bulma
Freeza

Who makes your top five?

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by Grimlock » Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:39 am

• Bardock
• Future Trunks
• Mr. Satan

They are actually the ones who drove the plot forward and made stuff possible. Bardock for deciding to send Goku to Earth, Future Trunks for giving medicine to Goku and Mr Satan for throwing Android 16's head near Gohan and for taming Majin Buu. Don't think I can make it to five.
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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by zarmack » Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:40 pm

In no order:

Goku - The Protagonist, most of the story is centered around his exploits.
Bulma - Goku's first (and arguably most valuable) ally and the source many plot elements in the franchise.
Vegeta - The Deuteragonist, drives most of DBZ's plot and is Goku's right hand man (more or less) and biggest foil.
Freeza - The most important Antagonist in the franchise. He is the reason why the story of Dragonball even began.

After that, its a tie between Piccolo, Gohan, Future Trunks and Beerus for 5th place.
Last edited by zarmack on Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by zarmack » Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:46 pm

Grimlock wrote:• Bardock
• Future Trunks
• Mr. Satan

They are actually the ones who drove the plot forward and made stuff possible. Bardock for deciding to send Goku to Earth, Future Trunks for giving medicine to Goku and Mr Satan for throwing Android 16's head near Gohan and for taming Majin Buu. Don't think I can make it to five.
Those are some weak choices compared to the real main 4 (Goku, Bulma, Vegeta and Freeza).

- Bardock wouldn't have sent Goku away if Freeza wasn't planning to kill the Saiyans (making Freeza the real driver here).

- Future Trunks wouldn't even be thing if Bulma never existed. She build the time machine and created the antidote for the heart virus, leading to all of Future Trunks' exploits.

- Anyone could have done what Mr. Satan did in the Cell Games, and the only arc where he actually matters in is the Buu saga (and even that would have been unnecessary if SSJ3 Goku decided to just kill Fat Buu instead of letting the kids handle it.)

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by Grimlock » Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:53 pm

zarmack wrote:Those are some weak choices compared to the real main 4 (Goku, Bulma, Vegeta and Freeza).
That's funny because your explanation for Goku and Vegeta are also weak. But anyway.
zarmack wrote:- Bardock wouldn't have sent Goku away if Freeza wasn't planning to kill the Saiyans (making Freeza the real driver here).
No. It was Bardock's choice. He could have ignored everything. Saiyans do not have much notion of family and caring about others. So from the moment Bardock willingly chose to save his son amongst many other options he had, he becomes important.
zarmack wrote:- Future Trunks wouldn't even be thing if Bulma never existed. She build the time machine and created the antidote for the heart virus, leading to all of Future Trunks' exploits.
Agreed. Probably should have mentioned her but I did not think it was necessary.
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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by zarmack » Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:14 pm

Grimlock wrote:
zarmack wrote:Those are some weak choices compared to the real main 4 (Goku, Bulma, Vegeta and Freeza).
That's funny because your explanation for Goku and Vegeta are also weak. But anyway.
zarmack wrote:- Bardock wouldn't have sent Goku away if Freeza wasn't planning to kill the Saiyans (making Freeza the real driver here).
No. It was Bardock's choice. He could have ignored everything. Saiyans do not have much notion of family and caring about others. So from the moment Bardock willingly chose to save his son amongst many other options he had, he becomes important.
zarmack wrote:- Future Trunks wouldn't even be thing if Bulma never existed. She build the time machine and created the antidote for the heart virus, leading to all of Future Trunks' exploits.
Agreed. Probably should have mentioned her but I did not think it was necessary.
1. Bardock wouldn't have even considered sending Goku away if he was under no threat from Freeza. It was Freeza's desire to wipe out the Saiyans that pushed Bardock into doing that.

2. Goku and Vegeta are easily narrative-wise more important than virtually everyone else (except Bulma).

In Goku's case - His beef with the Pilaf Gang was what drove them into unleashing King Piccolo onto the world. Killing K.Piccolo is what drove Piccolo Jr. into revenge. Raditz (Goku's brother) came to Earth to find him, kicking off the Saiyan arc. He becomes the 1st SSJ in over 1000 years (what Freeza feared the most). His destruction of the Red Ribbon Army was what drove Dr.Gero into creating the Androids. Him beating Freeza on Namek was what drove Beerus to wake up and come to Earth. Freeza's beef with him was what drove his revival. His 1st encounter with Zamasu is what drove the latter into kicking off the latter's Zero Mortals Plan. And Finally, his friendship with Zeno led to the ToP.

As for Vegeta - The fallout of his invasion of Earth with Nappa was what kicked off the Namek arc. His presence on said arc was what kept Gohan, Bulma and Krillin alive before Goku arrived. His relationship with Bulma is what caused Future Trunks (and everything he does) to even exist. His beef with Goku is what lead to Majin Buu's revival. He is the reason why Beerus didn't destroy the Earth before Goku arrives back in time. And inb4 his friendship with Cabba leading a U6 Sadala arc lmao.

Hardly anyone else in the franchise compares in importance to these 2 Saiyans. Only Bulma and Freeza come close.

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by SupremeKai25 » Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:19 pm

Zamasu is the most important character from a story standpoint by far (I'm talking only about Super, which is the only series where Zamasu appeared):

- He is the villain with the HIGHEST BODYCOUNT in all of Dragon Ball, having exterminated entire civilizations of mortals, and indirectly causing the deaths of every single mortal lifeform in the Future timeline;

- He is the only antagonist that Goku and his friends couldn't defeat, instead they had to call Grand Zeno, the Lord of Everything, who erased the entire timeline to finally get rid of Zamasu;

- AN ENTIRE MULTIVERSE has been annihilated because of his actions. We are talking about TRILLIONS UPON TRILLIONS of casualties.

We can still see the result of Zamasu's actions to this day, with the Present timeline having two Kings of All, which led to the creation of the Zen Exhibition Match. And obviously, Zamasu's atrocities left a lasting impact on characters like Gowasu, who is much more careful and cautious in his role as Supreme Kai, Goku and Vegeta, who remembered the fateful day when Future Zeno erased an entire Multiverse, and, obviously, Future Trunks, who is forced to spend the rest of his days tormented by failure, for he failed to protect his world.

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by Grimlock » Fri Oct 26, 2018 1:51 pm

zarmack wrote:1. Bardock wouldn't have even considered sending Goku away if he was under no threat from Freeza. It was Freeza's desire to wipe out the Saiyans that pushed Bardock into doing that.
It was Freeza's desire but like I said, Bardock could have ignored and let Goku there in the planet. But he chose to save him, thus allowing Dragon Ball story to continue.
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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by MasenkoHA » Thu Nov 15, 2018 9:57 am

Important in what way?

Bulma is super important in starting the series without her Goku would have lived in isolation until Raditz came looking for him and would have most certaintly been killed by Raditz. But after that she loses a lot of relevance

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by zarmack » Thu Nov 15, 2018 11:25 am

MasenkoHA wrote: Important in what way?
Narratively

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by MasenkoHA » Thu Nov 15, 2018 11:29 am

^Thanks

Then I would say Bulma, Son Goku, Raditz, Freeza, and Vegeta

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by ruler9871 » Thu Jan 24, 2019 7:33 pm

Easy:

1. Goku
2. Bulma
3. Vegeta
4. Freeza
5. Future Trunks
zarmack wrote:The whole "Dragonball is only supposed to be light and funny" mentality that exist in a lot of the fandom is in many ways even dumber than the "edgeload" side of the fandom. You know, the contrarians who think DB should be a Slice-of-Life series, the folks who worship Pre-Raditz Dragonball uncritically, the folks who downplay and often flat-out deny that Dragonball is an action series, the folks who try to push that false argument that none of the serious moments in the series were mean't to be taken seriously, etc.

Dragonball doesn't have a single tone. It has both silly and serious moments, both humor and drama, just like real life. The idea that a work of fiction should be only all-comedy or all-serious is unnatural and frankly, retarded.

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by TenshinFan » Fri Jan 25, 2019 1:14 am

DB:

Son Gokou, Bulma, Muten Roshi, Kurilin, Pilaf

Goku is the protagonist. Buluma is why it starts. Roshi is the crux of martial arts. Kurilin is the lead supporting character. Pilaf is a villain who reoccurs more than once.

Z:

Son Gokou, Son Gohan, Vegeta, Mr Satan, Trunks

Goku is the protagonist. Gohan is the successor. Vegeta is the antivillain. Mr Satan is recurring comedic relief in two arcs and grounds the power scaling. Trunks is instrumental in the android and cell arcs and reappears as a child who becomes gotenks.

GT:

Son Gokou, Pan, Trunks, Vegeta, Baby

Goku, pan, and trunks are the protagonists. Vegeta is both main villain at one point and also necessary for ultimate hero Gogeta. Baby is the only reason people watch GT.

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by Michsi » Fri Jan 25, 2019 2:03 am

Goku- goes without saying.
Muten Roshi- I was initially going to write Bulma, but her role after the first arc diminished greatly and she doesn't really do much after that except provide them with the dragon radar and other gizmos. It's ironic that her technical skills are nowhere to be found in the arc she was most important in. Muten Roshi, on the other hand, gives Goku the Kinto'un, Goku learns his trademark technique from him, trains under him, goes to fight in the TB because of him and then has and active role up until the Piccolo arc.
Gohan- even if his role crashes and burns at the end of the Boo Saga, he was by far the most important important character after Goku since his introduction. And he is the only one to ever defeat the main villain aside Goku.
Vegeta- as infuriating as he was a lot of the times, his actions did move the plot along the most I'd say. He becomes also iconic to the franchise it's hard to ignore.
Piccolo - Two arcs dedicated to his villain role and background should say something, but aside from that, he is also tied to the Dragon Balls. His death is the reason they go to Namek, the series most famous arc. Like Vegeta, he is iconic to the franchise and instantly recognizable, even if his role is severely dimished later on.

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by MKCSTEALTH » Fri Jan 25, 2019 11:58 am

I'm going to break mine down for each series:

Dragonball:

Bulma: was the one to discover Goku and start him on his journey
Roshi: Trained Goku, kept him from becoming overconfident in his abilities
Oolong: Stopped PIlaf's wish with his panty wish
Kami: Helped Goku surpass his previous limits
Piccolo (Jr): I feel his presence would and survival contribute to Goku's continued training after his defeat


Z:
Raditz: The revelation of Goku's Saiyan heritage
Frieza: Brought about the Super Saiyan transformation
Cell: Responsible for Goku's death and ultimate decision to stay dead
Gohan: Killed Cell and was to be the new "guardian of Earth"
Vegeta: The rival to keep Goku training

GT (Yeah, I'm going there):
Pilaf: Made the wish on the Black Star Dragonballs to start the Adventure
Old Kai and Kibitokai: Helped Goku grow back his tail
Pan: Got Goku back to his senses to attain SSJ4
Bulma: Developed the Blutz Wave generator to get Vegeta to SSJ4
Buu: Fused with Uub so he could hold off Baby

Now for Super:
Whis: Rewound time so Goku could beat Frieza
Pan (as a fetus?): Was the 5th Saiyan for the ritual
Future Mai: Just the GOAT honestly. Saved Future Trunks, Goku, and Vegeta a couple of times
ToP Frieza: Helped Goku in one of my favorite moments of the series
Android 17: Made the wish that saved everyone

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by Rubens » Fri Jan 25, 2019 12:42 pm

From an overall perspective, I'd say Goku, Bulma, Piccolo, Krillin and Vegeta are the most important.
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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by dragon boss z » Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:33 pm

In Dragon ball
1. Goku (main character)
2. Bulma (Goku's first friend that jump started his journey)
3. Krillin (Becomes Goku's best friend and rival)
4. Piccolo (main antagonist)
5. Roshi (Goku's master)

In Dragon ball Z
1. Goku (main character)
2. Gohan (main character's son, who is largely focused on throughout the story, even finishing off a main villain)
3. Vegeta (rival of main character)
4. Piccolo (His connection to the dragon balls and being one of the most useful Z fighters puts him here)
5. Frieza (the entire series lead up to the events started by him, causing the creation of the legend he feared)

In Dragon ball Super
1. Goku (main character)
2. Vegeta (the only other character with significant screen time)
3. Beerus (basically the cause of Super and has been in every arc)
4. Frieza (the villain of RoF, Broly, and played a big role in the ToP)
5. Zamasu (the main focus of the Black arc)

Overall
1. Goku (main character)
2. Vegeta (main character's rival, surpassed Gohan due to his prevalence in Super and his popularity)
3. Gohan (main character's son)
4. Frieza (At this point he is pretty much the main villain of the entire series)
5. Bulma (Has consistently been in the series since the beginning, and has been constantly involved in the plot)

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by Goten_jr » Fri Jan 25, 2019 6:06 pm

DBZ:
1.Gohan
2.Goku
3.Vegeta
4.Bulma
5.Piccolo

DBGT:
1.Goku
2.Pan
3.Baby
4.Bulma
5.Giru

DBS:
1.Whis
2.Beerus
3.Goku
4.FT Trunks
5.Vegeta

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by Lord Frieza » Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:47 pm

I think people have pinned them down pretty well but to look at one is specific detail.

Frieza has by far the longest and most influential reach of any villain in the series. Prior to Minus, Frieza had stronger ties to Vegeta then Goku in terms of origin. Yes he destroyed Goku's homeworld and killed his father but those were things Goku nether knew or cared about. As of Minus Frieza is directly responsible for Goku being sent to earth, making him the driving factor in Goku's origins. Besides that and his own primary arc, Frieza's influence is felt though a rather large chunk of the franchise.

In the main series alone the events of the saiyan arc were set up my him and all the main antaganists at that time are his minions also he kickstarts the Android arc and Cell, the next main antganist, has Frieza DNA. Most of the movies have some connection with Frieza, Slug's power being compared to his, Cooler being his brother, causing Classic Broly to tap into his dormant power and escape Vegeta with his father and making an actual cameo in Fusion Reborn, which incidentally has a villain who has some passing design similarities. To really push the boat out in the Ocean Dub the Turles Crusher Corps make reference to him. He has a speaking role in Z filler twice and is a secondary antagonist in Plan to Destroy the Saiyans. In GT, while Baby would likely have tried take over the universe anyway the reason he's specifically goes after Earth is because Frieza destroyed Vegeta. He pops up as a secondary antagonist again in the Super 17 arc and GT's strongest villain, Yī Xīng Lóng, was born from the wish to restore all the people Frieza and his men had killed in the Frieza arc. In Super, he's known by name to Beerus the God of Destruction and the pair both had reasons for wanting the saiyans destroyed. He gets a whole new movie and arc dedicated to him as well as an alternate universe counterpart in the form of Frost. He's a key player in the Tournamant of Power and instrumental Universe 7's victory. He's the cause of all the events in the new Broly movie and it's because of one of his defected solders that Moro the Planet-Eater goes to planet Namek.

At this stage he's more important within the series then a lot of characters who have been around longer then he has.

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Re: Who are the top 5 most important characters in DB-DBZ-DBS?

Post by funrush » Sat Jan 26, 2019 9:39 pm

Bardock - Sends Goku to Earth.
Freeza - Blows up the Saiyans and is the reason Bardock sends Goku to Earth, he's the franchise's biggest antagonist.
Bulma - Introduces Goku to the Dragon Balls.
Goku - Yep.
Piccolo - Main antagonist for the end of Dragon Ball, trains Gohan in Z, is responsible for the fusion dance characters existing. Is tied to the Dragon Balls.

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