Saddest Pieces of Music in Dragon Ball.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Dragon Ball is unique as far anime is concerned. The old Kikuchi Music for better or worse never had an iconic sole "Sad Piece of Music" that plays in most major moments like Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist did, Kai had that Saint Seiya esque wailing woman music I dont know the name of. I wont just cover Kikuchi but the entire franchise. But sadly my viewing of post GT material is extremely sparce. Oh and any music from Dragon Ball is welcome, even Faulconer or any other composer, sub or dub.

I will try to name the most iconic sad pieces I remember.

-Most of the sad versions of Gohan's theme: You know the one, the one that plays during the most sad and heartbreaking moments in Gohan's Journey, especially the Dinosaur and Robot death episodes. Its so cute and gentle and its extremely unusual that it doesnt go too hard in the "CRY NOW DAMMIT" direction of Naruto's Sadness and Sorrow or Fullmetal Alchemist's Bratja but combined with the animation it hits you like 100 tons of bricks.

-Detekoi Tobikiri ZENKAI Power: This song isnt sad on its own but when paired with Gohan's gruellingly cruel journey it makes one cry.

-Bokutachi wa Tenshi Datta: One of the most beautiful songs in the franchise. Nuff said.

Mind Power Ki: This one is more cool and badass than sad, but boy does it hit hard with the hopelesness of the Future. This one is one of the best and saddest pieces of music in the franchise

Unmei no Hi, Tamashi vs Tamashi: This is amazing that its another badass song but this one deliverately avoids bombastic gestures but rather portrays someone who is driven by anger to fight for justice.

Most of the GT OST Mixes of Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku and Hitori Janai: The sad tone of GT is really enhanced by these pieces of music.

I am sorry if this is misplaced. But I checked out the music sections and its more about the technical side of music rather than discussing it as art and the emotion it evokes.

[nineko]

I'll have to go with Tapion's Theme, I'm surprised you didn't mention it, I thought it was the obvious choice when it comes to sad music.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Good catch! But this is the exact intent of the thread! To look for things I that havent been mentioned before. But still, major omission from me.

[ABED]

Upa/Bora's theme especially if they got rid of that damn mouth harp.

[DB1984]

For its countless faults, the music for GT seemed to take on a more emotional approach.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ ... agonBallGT

Scroll down here for discussions on the music.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Upa/Bora's theme especially if they got rid of that damn mouth harp.

OMG HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN THIS ONE!? Major agreement! Sorry for the all caps but this one is just soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sad.

[MasenkoHA]

In agreement with Abed on Upa and Bora's theme


https://youtu.be/L7tLLY9vMvA

[ABED]

For its countless faults, the music for GT seemed to take on a more emotional approach.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ ... agonBallGT

Scroll down here for discussions on the music.

I don't have any particular example off the top of my head, but the music in GT says "melancholy" to me. It's like someone said to the composer "make it sound bittersweet because this is gonna end soon."

[TheGreatness25]

To represent the Bruce Faulconer side of things (this has nothing to do with whether the music should have existed in the first place), the track called "Episodic Trunks" is pretty sad, especially in the second half. Maybe it's just because that's the music they used in that moment between Goku and Vegeta after Goku killed Boo.

[DragonBallFoodie]

I'm sure this track would count.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha88kkoPHfQ

[Cure Dragon 255]

OMG it really does.

BTW minor request, you dont have to do it if you dont want to but please do explain what piece of music is behind the videos you guys post. Otherwise if the link doesnt work or it gets taken down no one will know the music you meant to show.

BTW The above piece is Goodbye Song Goku and I THINK it plays during Vegeta's death.

[Grimlock]

Bardock Falls, The Fall of Planet Vegeta, this BGM track and Hitori Janai. That Dragon Ball GT ending song always felt like a sad music to me. Might be because of the lyrics/adaptation the dub in my country did to it.

[sunsetshimmer]

To not repeat what was mentioned already i will say this one is very sad, even though it's from FUNI dub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmXgPEkfUps

Not sure how many times it was used. I know it played in scene where Gohan tells Chichi that Goku is dead after Cell Games and in retrospection of Old Kai fusing with a witch. It also appeared in Legacy of Goku 3 in scene where Gohan visits Videl after she was heavily beaten by Spopovich.

[GhostEmperorX]

To represent the Bruce Faulconer side of things

Honestly speaking, there was never that much in the way of material one would normally call "sad" in that score, especially outside of the tracks associated with Trunks like the one you mentioned.
That's probably a consequence of Funimation's direction though, like what we're presented with the most throughout.

[GhostEmperorX]

More to the point though, shouldn't this thread have been in the Music section? Also...

Movie 3 M-1023

This track (the last rendition of the Tree of Might theme) is quite like a requiem. Nothing else like it in the soundtrack as far as I know.

M-1623

This is probably Spaghetti Western inspired (haven't seen any of those really, correct me if I'm wrong), and it fits the bill, although it's quite apparent that the track is scored to picture.

Some others I'd cite are from Movie 8:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5p4gsXHW1U (M-1527, also likely Western-inspired)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPH_t1dtwQs (M-1528)

And Movie 11:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2mZPMH8f58 (M-1822, the fact that it begins with and features Cello amplifies that a lot)

[MasenkoHA]

I'm sure this track would count.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha88kkoPHfQ

What was always funny to me, was even though it got appropriated for sad goodbye music in the Boo saga (its used for both Vegeta getting ready to sacrifice himself and Goku saying goodbye after his 24 hours are up) its original use was for Gohan turning Super Saiyan 2 in the Bojack movie, where I assume it was meant to invoke heroism.

[Majin Buu]

The track from Movie 7 that plays when Goku is getting beaten up by Super 13. It gets reused when Piccolo is telling Vegeta what his fate will be before Vegeta sacrifices himself against Buu. It evokes both sadness and despair.

[GhostEmperorX]

The track from Movie 7 that plays when Goku is getting beaten up by Super 13. It gets reused when Piccolo is telling Vegeta what his fate will be before Vegeta sacrifices himself against Buu. It evokes both sadness and despair.

M-1419

What was always funny to me, was even though it got appropriated for sad goodbye music in the Boo saga (its used for both Vegeta getting ready to sacrifice himself and Goku saying goodbye after his 24 hours are up) its original use was for Gohan turning Super Saiyan 2 in the Bojack movie, where I assume it was meant to invoke heroism.

Actually that was when he was explaining why he allowed himself to be taken over, it was a different one (M-1615) right before the sacrifice.
I wonder if I'm misremembering something though, but tbh that's one of those tracks that isn't meant to be used too often.

[Majin Buu]

Actually that was when he was explaining why he allowed himself to be taken over, it was a different one (M-1615) right before the sacrifice.
I wonder if I'm misremembering something though, but tbh that's one of those tracks that isn't meant to be used too often.

It plays again when Vegeta is giving Trunks his goodbye hug. I remember that well because it abruptly cuts off when Vegeta chops Trunks in the neck.

[coola]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gggOXFk0BKc DBZ Movie 1, but i first heard it in Saiyan Saga
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSTKcmrXsHU DB Movie 3, Piccolo sacrifice...