Which character do you think is wasted in DBS

[Peach]

Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu.

[precita]

Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu.

They're all handled fine though? There's not much for them to do anymore but they made use of them. Chiaotzu was already jettisoned from relevance after the Saiyan saga anyway. The human cast was retired in the Boo arc so they've gotten arguably more screentime in Super. Krillin didn't get a single real fight in the Boo arc outside of filler scenes.

[theherodjl]

Goten & Trunks, and that's not even when it comes to fighting. Despite being Saiyans as well as the sons of the main characters, they've been largely neglected even as simple side characters and get shoved off to guard 17's island whenever Toriyama & Toyotaro cannot figure out how to incorporate them into the story. Chaozu at least appeared to fight in the previous arc and he hasn't done any fighting since the Saiyan arc. It's also been 6 years since the battle with Boo and Goten & Trunks do not appear to have trained or found any sort of improvement to their fighting styles, something antithetical to the Saiyans that we've seen.
I guess Goten & Trunks are just the exception to the rule, either that or creator's apathy.

[GatoF]

Goten and Trunks. I think they don't want to show kids fighting anymore.

[precita]

And if they don't want kids fighting, it's mind blowing they don't age them up especially since they're SUPPOSED to be older at this point and they haven't grown an inch since the Boo arc.

One of the reason I want an arc in EOZ is because with Trunks/Goten as adults there's a chance they can actually fight again or be involved in the story. Also having adult Gotenks in canon would be cool too.

[JulieYBM]

Forcing yourself to write shit that you don't want to is bad for your health.

[LoganForkHands73]

Majin Buu has been done dirty. As koitsukai said, he was reduced to an unfunny, unsatisfying running gag of him constantly falling asleep before every arc to conveniently keep him from the action, presumably because Toriyama A) perhaps thinks he's too overpowered with his magic and regeneration, or more likely B) never had any plan or intention to use Buu past the end of his original arc. Looking back, the idea that Buu redeemed himself and started hanging around with the Dragon Team was one of the more uplifting things that was left to your imagination after the original story concluded. What's worse is that Toriyama added an extra layer of intrigue to his character with this whole "he wasn't created by Bibidi, he's actually from the dawn of time" interview retcon, which hasn't been explored at all. At least the Super manga doesn't insult our intelligences quite as much by not bothering to tease him unless he's needed, but even then he doesn't get much to do until his Dai Kaioshin persona takes over.

Videl. Thanks to this forum, my eyes have been opened to the fact that Videl is just a shell of her former self at this point. Her tough go-getter attitude has been pushed by the wayside and now she's just another passive housewife/child-rearer. Chichi, Bulma and #18 never completely lost sight of who they were after settling down, but Videl definitely lost something.

Pretty much every interesting new character. Super has now gotten into a bad habit of introducing us to really cool newcomers and leaving them on ice indefinitely. The only ones who got a good deal were the Universe 6 characters introduced in the Champa arc, simply because they got to return for the Tournament of Power. But then we have Caulifla, Kale, Jiren, Toppo, Broli and all the other gods and mortals waiting for their next shot in the spotlight. I get the feeling Merus and Granola will get similar treatment unless Toyotaro shows them some bias.

I know they exist mainly for a bonus gag comic so it's definitely a stretch to call them "wasted", but the Cell Juniors on #17's island. It's great that even Cell has received some form of redemption through his children becoming park rangers, lol. I need to see them help out in a big fight one day, or maybe even grow into full-sized blue Cells.

[JulieYBM]

Artificial Human #18 is just as much as an empty shell as Videl, just with a different flavor. Neither of them ultimately do anything in the series or achieve any character development.

[LoganForkHands73]

Artificial Human #18 is just as much as an empty shell as Videl, just with a different flavor. Neither of them ultimately do anything in the series or achieve any character development.

Eh... I don't think #18's been done nearly as bad as Videl. #18 is still recognisably #18. I'd say she does have an arc in the anime at least, which is that she learns to come out of her apathy and start to wear her humanity on her sleeve. Her relationship to Kuririn got fleshed out a great deal as well. Seeing them overcome difficulties in their relationship was more compelling to me than Gohan and Videl's nauseatingly perfect marriage.

[JulieYBM]

Artificial Human #18 is just as much as an empty shell as Videl, just with a different flavor. Neither of them ultimately do anything in the series or achieve any character development.

Eh... I don't think #18's been done nearly as bad as Videl. #18 is still recognisably #18. I'd say she does have an arc in the anime at least, which is that she learns to come out of her apathy and start to wear her humanity on her sleeve. Her relationship to Kuririn got fleshed out a great deal as well. Seeing them overcome difficulties in their relationship was more compelling to me than Gohan and Videl's nauseatingly perfect marriage.

She doesn't really come out of her apathy, though. It's hardly established in the first place that she needs to develop, either.

The big issue is in listening to Toriyama as a central figurehead. Stop doing that and you'll stop being afraid to change and develop things. This applies for all of the characters, not just #18.

And also, Videl still gets her coolest moments in Super. Standing up to Chi-Chi and Barry are a thousand times cooler than getting slaughtered by Spopovitch and being portrayed as a sentient Resting Bitch Face until she misinterprets Gohan being into her romantically.

[LoganForkHands73]

She doesn't really come out of her apathy, though. It's hardly established in the first place that she needs to develop, either.

The big issue is in listening to Toriyama as a central figurehead. Stop doing that and you'll stop being afraid to change and develop things. This applies for all of the characters, not just #18.

And also, Videl still gets her coolest moments in Super. Standing up to Chi-Chi and Barry are a thousand times cooler than getting slaughtered by Spopovitch and being portrayed as a sentient Resting Bitch Face until she misinterprets Gohan being into her romantically.

I'd say there's a clear shift from how #18's initially unwilling to lift a finger in a fight unless she's guaranteed payment to screaming at her brother to run away from Jiren by the end of the series. Clashing with Ribrianne, a girl who talks a big game about being the Goddess of Love without having any real, mature understanding of what love means at all, is one of the catalysts for her change. Seeing #18 cut her down to size was one of the series' best moments.

I preferred Videl's resting bitch face years but I will admit that scene of her melting when Gohan suggests to cut her hair was cringe. Toriyama really cannot write romance to save his life.

[Peach]

Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu.

They're all handled fine though? There's not much for them to do anymore but they made use of them. Chiaotzu was already jettisoned from relevance after the Saiyan saga anyway. The human cast was retired in the Boo arc so they've gotten arguably more screentime in Super. Krillin didn't get a single real fight in the Boo arc outside of filler scenes.

Meh.

I would personally like to see them all as important as Gon, Killua, Ikalgo, Knuckle, Meleoron, and Morel were in the Chimera Ant saga in Hunter x Hunter, or a "weaker" character in Bleach still putting up a hell of a fight for several episodes.

Instead, they pretty much just show up for quick cameos to hold off the invasion until Goku and Vegeta get there. Or for the occasional "party" episode between the main stories. They could have all at least been given a couple episodes in the Tournament of Power that hit all the feels, like Roshi was. Even in the King Piccolo and Saiyan sagas they still had things to do despite being outclassed.

It sucks to see characters you love be total non-characters.

[BWri]

Too many too list. The story is remarkably small to be so ... multiversal.

Trunks is probably the biggest offender. He got tons of screentime, sure, but most of it wasn't good. The anime got the concept right by giving him agency over his own story in the end but quickly undoes all that by having his efforts amount to nothing and losing worse than anyone has ever lost in the history of the show. Everything he's ever fought for and loved has been scraped from existence ... and he accepts it. The first time I've seen a character in the franchise utterly defeated with no drive to repair things. It should've been the start of him seeking the Super Dragon Balls but Trunks' is a defeated man, cowed by circumstance.

In the manga, he's a complete sub-character in his own story which is tragic.

[Jamtia]

Goten & Trunks, and that's not even when it comes to fighting. Despite being Saiyans as well as the sons of the main characters, they've been largely neglected even as simple side characters and get shoved off to guard 17's island whenever Toriyama & Toyotaro cannot figure out how to incorporate them into the story. Chaozu at least appeared to fight in the previous arc and he hasn't done any fighting since the Saiyan arc. It's also been 6 years since the battle with Boo and Goten & Trunks do not appear to have trained or found any sort of improvement to their fighting styles, something antithetical to the Saiyans that we've seen.
I guess Goten & Trunks are just the exception to the rule, either that or creator's apathy.

Wait it's been 6 years?

[Cipher]

I'd say there's a clear shift from how #18's initially unwilling to lift a finger in a fight unless she's guaranteed payment to screaming at her brother to run away from Jiren by the end of the series. Clashing with Ribrianne, a girl who talks a big game about being the Goddess of Love without having any real, mature understanding of what love means at all, is one of the catalysts for her change. Seeing #18 cut her down to size was one of the series' best moments.

I honestly think it would have been better for #18 to stay home than to be given a climactic moment that depends on her teaching someone else what being in a relationship means.

Especially coming off of Videl getting exactly the same kind of ... uh, moment.

Better to just not have an arc and do some fighting as a side character than to sell these “look at what good wives we are!” moments as triumphant ones for the main female cast. Not very compelling and not a very good look.

Then again, #18’s not alone in being handed a really sloppy, hard-to-swallow, convenient “arc” in the anime ToP. They give character-defining moments out like candy there. Sometimes multiple ones for the same cast member!

[The Monkey King]

Majin Buu is EASILY the worst case.

Good lord, does Toriyama hate the pink fat bastard that much??

I could somewhat understand him sleeping for RoF because that movie was full of stupid reasons to have more focus on characters in the Namek saga, but even the anime adaptation brought in Goten and Trunks for a gag.

But to use the SAME EXCUSE to write him out of two arcs is just so dumb, especially since in the ToP recruitment mini arc there was some hype building up for Majin Buu, we had his cool fight with Basil and his new Fit Buu design (I liked it sue me!) just for him not to participate at all!

At least the DBS manga went some way to make him relevant again in the Moro arc.

[ABED]

I get why some would say Buu but considering he already went through a hell of a change, falling back into a running joke (a funny one at that) doesn't bother me. I suppose Goten and Trunks feel the most wasted as there's a journey to take them from the kids we meet them as to where we see them at the end of the manga.

[LoganForkHands73]

I'd say there's a clear shift from how #18's initially unwilling to lift a finger in a fight unless she's guaranteed payment to screaming at her brother to run away from Jiren by the end of the series. Clashing with Ribrianne, a girl who talks a big game about being the Goddess of Love without having any real, mature understanding of what love means at all, is one of the catalysts for her change. Seeing #18 cut her down to size was one of the series' best moments.

I honestly think it would have been better for #18 to stay home than to be given a climactic moment that depends on her teaching someone else what being in a relationship means.

Especially coming off of Videl getting exactly the same kind of ... uh, moment.

Better to just not have an arc and do some fighting as a side character than to sell these “look at what good wives we are!” moments as triumphant ones for the main female cast. Not very compelling and not a very good look.

Then again, #18’s not alone in being handed a really sloppy, hard-to-swallow, convenient “arc” in the anime ToP. They give character-defining moments out like candy there. Sometimes multiple ones for the same cast member!

Bit of a cynical take. I don't see it that way as #18 bragging about being a better wife at all, more a case of her showing superior strength and quiet dignity in her feelings in contrast to Ribrianne's vacuously performative idea of love, which becomes so vague that it loses all meaning. It's not like that's all she does in the entire story either, she gets plenty of other triumphant moments.

I'm not sure what's problematic about #18 showing Ribrianne what being in a relationship means. Brianne is incredibly naive and superficial, so she can't comprehend why #18 and Kuririn would have any kind of attachment. It makes sense to me that #18 would give her a needed reality check. IIRC, the manga role-reverses the situation in a clever way by having her regard #18 as the ugly one unworthy of Kuririn's peak male performance, but it's essentially the same deal. Seeing as the anime's Tournament of Power is as insanely bloated as it is, I'd rather they keep as much focus as possible on the good character moments and arcs while they're involved.

[Cipher]

I just think hinging the sole female fighter’s big moment on a love/relationship-related comeuppance feels exceedingly cynical.

It didn’t feel like something germane to #18 or that she needed. It felt like a convenient and reductive way to hand her a big character moment against Ribrianne.

As a contrast, I much prefer the manga’s take on her reactions to Ribrianne and co., where #18 is simply put out by them, since that feels believable to the character. And her later moments in the anime with #17 (including the one she goes out on) work better for me as spotlight moments as well. Similarly, I think her response to #17 before he “detonates” in the manga—coyly saying she’s used to dealing with troublemakers—is a great little sentimental character moment for her without doing anything reductive or over-the-top.

I don’t believe that #18 would speechify about love (or about anything, really), nor do you need her to in order to give her effective character beats. (But big, speechifying moments regardless of how germane to the characters they feel are certainly the mode of the anime ToP, which is part of why it and the TV series as a whole just doesn’t even feel like the same world as the original series to me.)

[LoganForkHands73]

Meh. Suit yourself, old sport, I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

Though I will say, I think #18's reaction to Ribrianne is mostly contextual depending on the version. In the manga, they have, what, one encounter? Whereas in the anime, Ribrianne persistently mobs her and the rest of Universe 7 (plus is generally far more annoying in that version) so #18's growing aggravation feels more justified. I don't see it as much more cynical or artificial than anything else in Super.

Edit: To respond to yours, #18 never speechifies about anything. She shoots Shin in the face when he so much as suggests it, lol.