An Essay (OP vs DB Comparison)

Yamakaze · Post by **Yamakaze** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:43 am

I'm in my final year of Media Studies and we have to do a comparative 3000 word essay. In my infinite wisdom, I decided on the following question - Compare and contrast the representation of villains in the manga 'One Piece' and 'Dragonball'. I thought getting some views from you lot would be an easy way to get some meat for the above mentioned essay. Now the villians I'll be talking about in particular are ...

Pilaf (filling the dual role of the comedic/recurring villain)
Chaotzu (filling the role of the side villain)
Tao Pai Pai (filling the role of the minor villain)
Piccolo Daimao (filling the role of the main villain)
Tenshinhan (filling the role of the Anti Hero)

Now if you have any ideas about bad guys that would better fill these roles, please say. As for what I need you wonderful people for is this: do you like this characters and why/why not? Do you think they forfill the role of the villain in the traditional sense and if they don't, how are they different? Finally what do you think they add to the story? Any other interesting tidbits would be welcomed.

My other request is this. I noticed One Piece had a character popularity poll a while back and although it would be hard to track down, I was wondering if Dragonball had one too. Thank you for any help in advance!

FindKenshi · Post by **FindKenshi** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:09 am

Well, Vegeta is much better example of an "anti hero" then Tenshinhan is. Of course, it would seem from all of your other choices, that when you say "Dragonball", you are talking about the first 16 volumes of the story only? In such a case, maybe Yamcha would be a better anti-hero then Tenshinhan? Neither of them really come close to being Anti-hero though.

Yamakaze · Post by **Yamakaze** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:31 pm

Yup, I'll be focusing mainly on the first 16 volumes. Perhaps anti hero isn't good wording. 'Reformed villian' or something maybe. But focusing on Yamcha/Tien seems like a good plan.

Big Momma · Post by **Big Momma** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:28 pm

Do you think the Red-Ribbon Army would fit into any of those?

FindKenshi · Post by **FindKenshi** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 10:41 pm

Tenshinhan never really struck me as a villain in the first place. Sure he broke Yamcha's leg, and came from the Crane School... but he also didn't want to kill Goku, and he desired a fight with honor. Yamcha started out as an outright villain. He tried to jump Goku. He also tailed the heroes, lurking in hiding, waiting to strike.

Of course, I'm sure there's people out there who saw Tenshinhan as being much more villainous then Yamcha, because of how goofy Yamcha was...

Post by **desirecampbell** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 11:26 pm

Ten wanted to become an assassin, like Taopaipai.

FindKenshi · Post by **FindKenshi** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:10 am

desirecampbell wrote:Ten wanted to become an assassin, like Taopaipai.

He said he did, but it was more or less implied that this is not truly what he wanted out of life. At least, this is the impression I got out of the manga.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:21 am

FindKenshi wrote:
desirecampbell wrote:Ten wanted to become an assassin, like Taopaipai.
He said he did, but it was more or less implied that this is not truly what he wanted out of life. At least, this is the impression I got out of the manga.

He changed his mind after meeting Goku. His life of seclusion hadn't allowed him to fully grasp what being an assassin would entail .He understood the 'murder' aspect, but until he met Goku he didn't have a problem with it. Goku gets him to question his beliefs and reexamine his morals.

Yamakaze · Post by **Yamakaze** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:28 pm

Thanks for all the helpful replies! The change in Tien is what made me consider me consider him as a good one to discuss within the essay.

Neon Z · Post by **Neon Z** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:45 pm

He changed his mind after meeting Goku. His life of seclusion hadn't allowed him to fully grasp what being an assassin would entail .He understood the 'murder' aspect, but until he met Goku he didn't have a problem with it. Goku gets him to question his beliefs and reexamine his morals.

Huh... what? Roshi said that he was a good person and not an arrogant fool before Tenshinhan had a conversation with Goku (besides Goku's comment about killing Taopaipai).

Then, when he fought against Goku, Tenshinhan said that he never had felt so great before (and Chaozu mentioned that it was the first time he was fighting for real) and didn't obey Tsufuru's orders to kill the paralyzed Goku because he wanted to win with his own strength and didn't want to be eliminated from the tournament.

Goku had no role at all in Tenshinhan leaving Tsufuru (besides being the first one who forced Tenshinhan to fight seriously) and only was convinced that Tenshinhan was a good person after he had abandoned Tsufuru.

At that point in the series, Goku himself did not seem to understand the concept of killing very well, considering the way he casually talked about having killed Taopaipai.