Dragon Ball Official Worldwide Character Popularity Poll

[coola]

Shame Goku is on top, as series went on, he became more and more selfish and dumb, and right now, he is weakest part of Dragon Ball for me.

[The Dark Knight]

Shame Goku is on top, as series went on, he became more and more selfish and dumb, and right now, he is weakest part of Dragon Ball for me.

These polls unfortunately send the message that this is how the audience wants Goku to be written, but I agree, he's currently by far the weakest part of Dragon Ball. I really miss the way he was written in the original run.

[Zebra]

Not including any DBS characters as options completely defeats the purpose of this poll. An "OG manga characters only" poll doesn't work in 2025 when literally the past 10 years were spent on continuing the series long after the original manga ended in 1995, literally 30 years ago.

The fact actual fan-favorites like Broly, Gogeeta, Gokuu Black, Birus, and Jiren aren't included, but worthless trash like the Shotgun Farmer, Dr. Briefs' pet cat, and some random dolphin are makes this poll a complete joke.

[The Dark Knight]

Not including any DBS characters as options completely defeats the purpose of this poll. An "OG manga characters only" poll doesn't work in 2025 when literally the past 10 years were spent on continuing the series long after the original manga ended in 1995, literally 30 years ago.

They left out all the GT characters, the original movies characters, the Super characters, & the Daima characters. The results of this poll will mean absolutely nothing when 80% of the franchise isn't even represented. Obviously the top 5 or so will always remain the same, but everything afterwards is unreliable due to how many sections of the franchise missing from the voting.

[JulieYBM]

We do not need to put down Brief's cat simply because the poll lacks more recent characters.

[LightBing]

It's a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the manga. Not hard to understand why the character selection is such.
This is all a marketing stunt, it's not a scientific study about the "best" Dragon Ball character.

Let people have their fun.

[Majin Buu]

It's a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the manga. Not hard to understand why the character selection is such.
This is all a marketing stunt, it's not a scientific study about the "best" Dragon Ball character.

Let people have their fun.

This. Thank you.

It's the 40th anniversary of THE MANGA, the franchise's source material. It's not the 40th anniversary of Dragon Ball GT or Dragon Ball Super for crying out loud.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[MasenkoHA]

Shame Goku is on top, as series went on, he became more and more selfish and dumb, and right now, he is weakest part of Dragon Ball for me.

These polls unfortunately send the message that this is how the audience wants Goku to be written, but I agree, he's currently by far the weakest part of Dragon Ball. I really miss the way he was written in the original run.

Or, and hear me out, people who like Goku are also taking into account pre-revival material and Goku’s placement had fuck all to do with his characterization in Super?

[M16U3L2015]

Yeah, it seems that some people are acting as if this were a Super poll and not a poll of original manga, where we find the characterization of Goku that we all know and love.

It makes perfect sense that he is in first place. He is the face of the franchise and the best-known and most popular character, even among people who don't like manga and anime. He is practically part of pop culture, not only in Japan but worldwide.

[Extreme_kai]

Shame Goku is on top, as series went on, he became more and more selfish and dumb, and right now, he is weakest part of Dragon Ball for me.

I like Goku, but I do agree they have leaned too much on the "idiotic" side of his character. I feel like DBS has flanderized most of the cast to an extent. I wish Vegeta could just grow from the "I must be stronger than Kakarot, bit." It's old. It's played out, and it's not even entertaining anymore. I feel like the end of Z and GT was taking Vegeta in a better direction, all for DBS to crap all over that progress.

[The Dark Knight]

I wish Vegeta could just grow from the "I must be stronger than Kakarot, bit." It's old. It's played out, and it's not even entertaining anymore.

Vegeta isn't even allowed to get an armor change, much less actual character development. Modern Dragon Ball is more of a product to sell, rather than a story to tell, which means characters are basically stuck in time and are not allowed to change. You can't change the way they look, nor can you change the way they behave.

[JulieYBM]

I wish Vegeta could just grow from the "I must be stronger than Kakarot, bit." It's old. It's played out, and it's not even entertaining anymore.

Vegeta isn't even allowed to get an armor change, much less actual character development. Modern Dragon Ball is more of a product to sell, rather than a story to tell, which means characters are basically stuck in time and are not allowed to change. You can't change the way they look, nor can you change the way they behave.

The original Dragon Ball was the same thing, though. Modern Dragon Ball just faces more restrictions on what it is allowed to do. The fact that there's no strong leadership—in part because Toriyama has never had much of a strong creative vision beyond just doing whatever he felt like and taking advice from others—is precisely why modern Dragon Ball has been at its best when it was overseen by someone with a strong vision, like Nagamine Tatsuya.

[The Dark Knight]

The original Dragon Ball was the same thing, though. Modern Dragon Ball just faces more restrictions on what it is allowed to do.

Things were changing though in the original series, as we had characters change their looks, get older, go through arcs, time skips were allowed to happen, etc... None of these are happening for current Dragon Ball. The way the world look in the Pilaf arc was VASTLY different from the way it was during the Buu arc for example. Modern Dragon Ball has told just as many stories, yet not much is different from when we started in Battle of Gods and where we are in Superhero besides everyone getting new transformations.

The fact that there's no strong leadership—in part because Toriyama has never had much of a strong creative vision beyond just doing whatever he felt like and taking advice from others—is precisely why modern Dragon Ball has been at its best when it was overseen by someone with a strong vision, like Nagamine Tatsuya.

Fans also overestimate Toriyama's involvement in the modern material, believing he was just as involved as he was during the series' original run. Pilaf to Buu was Toriyama's Dragon Ball, while Super and Daima are Toei's Dragon Ball with Toriyama's input.

[JulieYBM]

The original Dragon Ball was the same thing, though. Modern Dragon Ball just faces more restrictions on what it is allowed to do.

Things were changing though in the original series, as we had characters change their looks, get older, go through arcs, time skips were allowed to happen, etc... None of these are happening for current Dragon Ball. The way the world look in the Pilaf arc was VASTLY different from the way it was during the Buu arc for example. Modern Dragon Ball has told just as many stories, yet not much is different from when we started in Battle of Gods and where we are in Superhero besides everyone getting new transformations.

The fact that there's no strong leadership—in part because Toriyama has never had much of a strong creative vision beyond just doing whatever he felt like and taking advice from others—is precisely why modern Dragon Ball has been at its best when it was overseen by someone with a strong vision, like Nagamine Tatsuya.

Fans also overestimate Toriyama's involvement in the modern material, believing he was just as involved as he was during the series' original run. Pilaf to Buu was Toriyama's Dragon Ball, while Super and Daima are Toei's Dragon Ball with Toriyama's input.

By 'same thing', I was referring to it being a commercial product. Toriyama was selling magazines and other merchandise. The point of editors at JUMP is to push a title to be as marketable as possible.

Dragon Ball Super isn't particularly heavy on age changes, but that's not necessarily the issue holding it back. The lack of solid character arcs and then committing to changes in characters is the core of the issue.

[Mr Baggins]

Fans also overestimate Toriyama's involvement in the modern material, believing he was just as involved as he was during the series' original run. Pilaf to Buu was Toriyama's Dragon Ball, while Super and Daima are Toei's Dragon Ball with Toriyama's input.

Well, yes and no.

When we speak of the revival material and Toriyama's involvement, it always depends on the project. There's a spectrum. For example: Toriyama had relatively little involvement in TV Super, somewhat more involvement in Manga Super, and much heavier involvement in the modern films and Daima. Additionally, Toriyama's editors had varying degrees of influence over the original run.

But also, pay no heed to reductive remarks like "Nagamine had all The Vision™ and Toriyama didn't" when there are multiple interviews with these people that dispel such misinfo. Always look to what the production staff themselves are saying.

[Zebra]

It's a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the manga. Not hard to understand why the character selection is such.
This is all a marketing stunt, it's not a scientific study about the "best" Dragon Ball character.

Let people have their fun.

This. Thank you.

It's the 40th anniversary of THE MANGA, the franchise's source material. It's not the 40th anniversary of Dragon Ball GT or Dragon Ball Super for crying out loud.

The franchise started with the manga, so the 40th anniversary of the manga is the 40th anniversary of the entire franchise. There's no reason not to include characters from DBS, which is the official and canonical continuation of the original manga.

[Majin Buu]

The franchise started with the manga, so the 40th anniversary of the manga is the 40th anniversary of the entire franchise. There's no reason not to include characters from DBS, which is the official and canonical continuation of the original manga.

1. I don't put much stock in marketing spin designed to sell a product.

2. The people running this are under no obligation to acknowledge any other part of the franchise considering the stated purpose of this is to celebrate the manga specifically.

And to put it out there- We're not very far removed from Toriyama's passing, focusing this on the franchise's source material- the part of the franchise that had the original creator's most direct involvement, doubles as a way to celebrate his work specifically in light of his still fairly recent passing.

[MasenkoHA]

We’re still calling Super canon when Daima outright contradicts it?

Super is “canon” with the heaviest of air quotes

[The Dark Knight]

We’re still calling Super canon when Daima outright contradicts it?

Super is “canon” with the heaviest of air quotes

No one in any official position has ever said one thing is canon while another isn't. Outside the original manga, everything is up for interpretation.

[PhantomSaiyan]

The franchise started with the manga, so the 40th anniversary of the manga is the 40th anniversary of the entire franchise. There's no reason not to include characters from DBS, which is the official and canonical continuation of the original manga.

No, that's wrong.
They have different anniversaries for the manga and the anime, and that's how it's always been
No matter how much you might personally dislike it, the anniversaty of the manga is not treated as the anniversary of the whole franchise.