It's time for Goku and Vegeta to learn how to breathe in space

[Code]

I think it's time for Goku and Vegeta to learn, through any plot contrivance, to breathe in space. Have Whis teach them to eliminate the need for oxygen using Ki or something. They can use Ki for any number of things, why not this?

Breathing in space would have one huge advantage for the entire franchise: Things could finally look different!

Let's be honest for a moment. Fights in Dragon Ball always look the same. If you take a random person, who doesn't know anything about the series, and you show them a couple of fights... they would NEVER be able to put them in order.
For example, show them Recoome vs. Vegeta and Piccolo vs Android 17. Then ask them who is stronger. They wouldn't know. How could they, the fights look exactly the same. Piccolo and Android 17 are on a completely different level, but you could never tell that just from looking at the fights.

Who is stronger? This guy



or this guy



I think you get the idea.

Breathing in space would solve that problem. A couple of things the writers/animators could do in that scenario:

• Have people crash through planets. How many times have we seen fighters being thrown into mountains, just to come back with a huge Ki explosion? Do the same thing, but with planets.

• Show planets exploding left and right from random Ki blasts.

• Have a zoomed out shot with fighters jumping from galaxy to galaxy, to show how insanely fast they are.

• Have a normal shot of people fighting, then zoom out to a galactic level to show their impact. Something like this:
  

We would finally see that people are getting stronger instead of just being told that they are stronger now.

What do you think?

[Alruneia]

They can't learn how to breathe in space, it's a biological limitation. (They shouldn't be able to, anyway.) I agree with the idea itself and think that they should try to invent a way to circumvent that limitation, though. It would be an important piece of training that isn't just a matter of increasing strength, which I think would be refreshing. The Granolah arc has also been doing that so far, Goku and Vegeta's training has been focused on techniques rather than strength, and it's been nice. Separately, the more of a "just barely working" factor the technique has, the more intense and therefore engaging the battles could become. If done right, anyway, so that you don't just get the Namek 5 minutes thing again.

And yes, opening for battles that make use of space will allow for grander feats, more destruction, that kind of thing, but be careful with that aspect of it. Most people don't really have an intuitive sense for things that go very far beyond the planetary scale, especially most people in Dragon Ball's target demographic i.e kids and teens, unless they've studied or looked into a fair bit of astronomy. Sure, they can see that a chunk of a galaxy got blown up and they can be told that that means that billions of planets and stars were wiped out, but... 100 stars or 100 million stars would have almost the same impact for most readers/viewers. Basically, don't waste the universe by laying it all to waste at once. Less really is more here.

[Skar]

One of my favorite fights in DBS was Beerus vs Champa in the manga. It's the only interstellar battle we've had and really shows how these guys are on another level. I'm not sure if surviving in space comes with being a GoD or something their race is capable of naturally.

[Polyphase Avatron]

There's technically nothing stopping them from doing something similar to what they did against Lavender in the ToP: Create a ki shield to hold air in while they fly to space. Of course the problem there is that it would only last a limited time, and if an enemy breaches it they're in trouble.

Perhaps Bulma could create some kind of device that sends oxygen directly to their bloodstream so they wouldn't have to breathe.

[Code]

They can't learn how to breathe in space, it's a biological limitation. (They shouldn't be able to, anyway.) I agree with the idea itself and think that they should try to invent a way to circumvent that limitation, though. It would be an important piece of training that isn't just a matter of increasing strength, which I think would be refreshing. The Granolah arc has also been doing that so far, Goku and Vegeta's training has been focused on techniques rather than strength, and it's been nice. Separately, the more of a "just barely working" factor the technique has, the more intense and therefore engaging the battles could become. If done right, anyway, so that you don't just get the Namek 5 minutes thing again.

I'm pretty much indifferent as to how they would explain the ability. It could be a technique. Something like: Using Ki to sustain yourself on a single oxygen molecule (which exist in space, just in very small numbers). I don't think that would be any more implausible than using Ki to fly.

Ki in Dragon Ball has the same role as magic in other franchises, so they can justify almost anything with it.

I love the idea of a time limit, though! That could give fights another layer of tension.

You're right, the implications are probably not clear to a kids audience. But then again it wouldn't hurt their enjoyment of the show. And a lot adults watch/read Dragon Ball, too.

[TheQuestioner]

While I like the concept in theory and it could work through the magic that is Ki, I don't really see how it could be anything more than just useful for flashy stuff since it isn't really practical. Destroying planets like that works for the characters like Beerus and Champa who don't care about the sake of these planets, but more heroic characters shouldn't do that since it's really stupid for them to do so. Blitzing around space at high speeds sounds cool, but also sounds like a huge waste of stamina and chi, it's impractical. And attacks that have large-scale consequences came in Battle Of Gods and then vanished even faster than it became a thing in DBS.

Goku and Vegeta could use it to move a battle into outer space to further reduce damage or maybe the writers can impose some tension by forcing them to fight in outer space, but that's it. The first idea would be impractical because if there is a time limit or a significant drain, while the latter doesn't seem likely to me. Not to mention, this will also get stale pretty quickly. So yeah, I don't see this changing much.

[Code]

Destroying planets like that works for the characters like Beerus and Champa who don't care about the sake of these planets, but more heroic characters shouldn't do that since it's really stupid for them to do so.

Well, there are only 28 inhabited planets in Universe 7 Spread across two trillion galaxies, if it's the same size as our universe.
"Let's take this fight to an uninhabited wasteland" could become "Let's take this fight to an uninhabited galaxy".

But yeah, it should be made very clear that Goku and Vegeta are not wiping out civilizations as collateral damage.

[TheQuestioner]

Well, there are only 28 inhabited planets in Universe 7 Spread across two trillion galaxies, if it's the same size as our universe.
"Let's take this fight to an uninhabited wasteland" could become "Let's take this fight to an uninhabited galaxy".

But yeah, it should be made very clear that Goku and Vegeta are not wiping out civilizations as collateral damage.

I guess they could take to an uninhabited planet or something, that would be useful. But yeah, it should be made very clear.

On an unrelated note, the Kais REALLY should make some more planets with living creatures.

[Cipher]

I don’t know about breathing, but I actually am in the camp of “Fuck it, let them be able to put up ki shields or something for the length of one short space battle,” because I think that’s the next, suitably ridiculous scope and field the action needs to be taking place on.

...Also I really think there should be a scene in which Broly tries to ram a Super Dragon Ball into a villain—a setup which requires a space fight.

Absurd visual escalation in DB is fun, and there’s no need to be so precious about this one element.

[UpFromTheSkies]

Do you mean hold their breathe? There's nothing to breathe in space. They can already fight under water for a good ammount of time, so they could probably do the same thing in space if they wanted to, as long as they can withstand the cold.

[Tectorman]

Yes, they have long, long, long since needed this! Requiring a nearby planet for air has been done again (Frieza nuking Namek to finish Goku) and again (Vegeta dying to Frieza destroying Earth before Whis's mulligan), and I think it's long been exhausted as a plot device. The vaunted heights of God ki, Ultra Instinct, etc. just cannot be as impressive as they should be when the user is still planet-bound because of air.

Heck, I was hoping this would get addressed in the Moro arc. They were having trouble fighting him near a planet because his magic let him drain them through their proximity to it. The obvious solution was what Grand Supreme Kai Buu was doing, fighting him out in space. How to solve?

One way: Vegeta (and later Goku after Vegeta finally gets a win and defeats Moro) learns how to instant transmission air from a planet directly into his lungs, and in so doing, can negate Moro's (at the time) biggest advantage.

Shame this is still an issue.

[Thani]

Just give them space suits or something. Btw, I was SCREAMING this when Moro took the fight off-planet - MERUS was using it, just lend one or two to Goku and/or Vegeta!

Also, God Ki should absolutely solve this issue. The god forms let them to temporarily turn into full-on deities, thus able to survive even the vaccuum of space with no ill effects - solved. No one will question it because "well, they're gods in those forms, right?"

[Lionel]

It would help to reinforce the grandeur of the scales they've escalated to now but I can't but think that their inability to survive in space is one of the few limitations keeping them grounded as beings amongst the people surrounding them -- to take that away would disconnect them even further from their natural selves, in my opinion.

Plus, oxygen deprivation shouldn't be the only noted peril surrounding exoplanetary combat. Atmospheric pressure is also nonexistent within space. Logically, the fluids in their body should be evaporating in an ebullistic breakdown of their internal functions with bloating of the skin, lung blockage, and haemorrhaging inside the body. Sure, they could perhaps create a temporary "biosuit" utilising their ki that's pressurised and oxygenated but I assume that's contingent on what they're able to meld into said field or "suit".

[TheQuestioner]

Also, God Ki should absolutely solve this issue. The god forms let them to temporarily turn into full-on deities, thus able to survive even the vaccuum of space with no ill effects - solved. No one will question it because "well, they're gods in those forms, right?"

Honestly, they should have done this with SSG. SSG and SSGSS have no hax whatsoever, it's disappointing. Even this would have made them significantly better.

[Mac]

I agree. Divine Ki should grant some sort of special abilities, but it does literally nothing special. It's a shame they didn't give it the ability to go into space. Everything being stuck on a planet always is so stale when it's an easy fix for even more dynamic fights.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

No, they should still have limits and weakness. There's no need to turn them into Superman.

[BagetaSama]

Why? I think it furthers the underlying premise that Saiyans are very similar to humans, if the Saiyans also cannot breath in space, yet many other alien species are capable of doing so.

[Polyphase Avatron]

No, they should still have limits and weakness. There's no need to turn them into Superman.

Even Superman has limits and weaknesses. You should have maybe said the Spectre for a truly overpowered DC character.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

Even Superman has limits and weaknesses. You should have maybe said the Spectre for a truly overpowered DC character.

While technically true, his limits and weaknesses don't generally affect his stories, with Superman you don't generally get stuff like:

* Goku having to beat Freeza asap before Namek explodes because he can't survive in the vacuum of space.
* Almost being killed by drowning.
* Him being almost killed by a heart diseace because he doesn't have super antibodies.

The only way you get stuff like this with Superman is if someone else weakens him.

[ZeroNeonix]

I love the idea of a time limit, though! That could give fights another layer of tension.

It might...until you realize they're using Frieza time, and it takes six thirty-minute episodes just for five minutes to pass. lol