Scariest Arc?

Teclo · Post by **Teclo** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:12 am

Undercooked Sausage wrote:Nothing after the Freeza saga was remotely scary due to the fact that anyone who died could just be wished back by one of the sets of Dragonballs they had.

The Freeza saga was the most frightening to me because Piccolo could be offed at any moment, leaving the entire Dragon world dragonball-less, not to mention back in those days the "only can be wished back once" rule was still in effect.

Well not quite. That was actually more true in the Saiyan Saga. At that point, no one knew about the Namek Dragon Balls so it really did seem like "people die when they are killed" and if Piccolo died, the Earth Dragon Balls would disappear. By the end of the Saiyan Saga, and therefore for the duration of the Freeza/Namek Saga, we knew that there were more Dragon Balls and that these Dragon Balls wouldn't fade if Piccolo died and, eventually, that you can get two wishes off them and wish people back as often as you like. So what you're saying is true for the Saiyan Saga but not afterwards. In fact, it's the events on Namek that really took DBZ in the direction of "nobody dies in DBZ" and all that sort of stuff that it became known for.

Anyway, I actually never really found DBZ scary to be honest, though in terms of being "weird" or "freaky" I'd probably go for Fat Buu's face when he gets pissed off. There's something just horribly evil and psychotic about it. The fact that everyone is already dead and Goku and Vegeta are fighting to bring them all back makes the end of the Buu Saga more tense than at any other time, because normally they're fighting to stop the bad guy going on to kill everyone, so here's less urgency, though of course it's still very important that they win.

I'd say the closest DBZ ever came to the horror genre was the part of the Cell Saga when 1st Form Cell is going around draining all the civilians of their energy, and you see people screaming in agony as he sucks them dry. You also often see clothes scattered about in the street in a smartly understated implication of what's happened.

Metalwario64 · Post by **Metalwario64** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:16 am

Frieza's 3rd form scared the shit out of me because his brain is so fucking large!! He must be a super genius by that point!!

Teclo · Post by **Teclo** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:22 am

Metalwario64 wrote:Frieza's 3rd form scared the shit out of me because his brain is so fucking large!! He must be a super genius by that point!!

Actually, I'd forgotten about that. That was freaky too - especially how he was so eloquent and formal while in that form. He looked like he should be making odd screeching noises and drooling all over the floor, but instead he was like "Good day, sir. I will now proceed to horribly dismember you. I hope you won't hold it against me!"

caejones · Post by **caejones** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:48 am

Well, of the DB-related dreams I've had, the two scariest were Buu-saga related?
There was one involving some manner of Butoden3-style graphics in some modified Babidi's ship, with a Dabura boss-fight. All fine and well, until the end, where I was following Goku/Vegeta/Gohan as they fought and defeated Dabura, only for a trapdoor to open and drop us into a room composed entirely of fire, and being the least flyingish among the group, I wasn't able to get out before the ceiling closed...

But actual DBZ-based content... once Fat Buu showed up at my grandfather's / father's company shop place, and I was pretty worried for my own safety. Then Babidi has to jump out and declare that he's turned Buu completely evil, and there's a big explosion in the field not that far from me, and I'm backing up all anxious-like before waking...

Ur, yeah. The Buu saga had this apocalyptic feel to it that made me knowing that the Namekian DBs would eventually save the day kind of insignificant.
... Especially the episode where Buu destroyed the earth, 'cause my unkillable favorite characters disappeared in a planet-consuming fireball.

Undercooked Sausage · Post by **Undercooked Sausage** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 5:10 am

Teclo wrote:
Undercooked Sausage wrote:Nothing after the Freeza saga was remotely scary due to the fact that anyone who died could just be wished back by one of the sets of Dragonballs they had.

The Freeza saga was the most frightening to me because Piccolo could be offed at any moment, leaving the entire Dragon world dragonball-less, not to mention back in those days the "only can be wished back once" rule was still in effect.
Well not quite. That was actually more true in the Saiyan Saga. At that point, no one knew about the Namek Dragon Balls so it really did seem like "people die when they are killed" and if Piccolo died, the Earth Dragon Balls would disappear. By the end of the Saiyan Saga, and therefore for the duration of the Freeza/Namek Saga, we knew that there were more Dragon Balls and that these Dragon Balls wouldn't fade if Piccolo died and, eventually, that you can get two wishes off them and wish people back as often as you like. So what you're saying is true for the Saiyan Saga but not afterwards. In fact, it's the events on Namek that really took DBZ in the direction of "nobody dies in DBZ" and all that sort of stuff that it became known for.

I was referring to Freeza saga before they came up with that silly "The Namek Elder died of a broken heart not natural causes" loophole to bring the Namek dragonballs back.

I find it fairly baffling that anyone found the Buu saga intense because at that point any sort of peril or death I felt was cheapened at that point. The Z-warriors themselves make several references to just using the Dragonballs to clean up Buu's mess later on throughout the arc.

I still greatly enjoy the Buu arc as a throwback to Toriyama's more fantasy-based storytelling but I thought by that point most people didn't really think anyone could actually die in the dragon world.

Teclo · Post by **Teclo** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 5:28 am

I still greatly enjoy the Buu arc as a throwback to Toriyama's more fantasy-based storytelling but I thought by that point most people didn't really think anyone could actually die in the dragon world.

Yeah, that sort of thing is both a nice, reassuring part of DBZ but also a huge fault. What I think was interesting about the Buu arc is that, by the end, everyone was dead anyway so it had a more desperate feel to it, even though obviously the good guys would win in the end. Similar to Trunks' future where the good guys feel like they're on the brink of extinction.

caejones · Post by **caejones** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 5:28 am

Undercooked Sausage wrote: I find it fairly baffling that anyone found the Buu saga intense because at that point any sort of peril or death I felt was cheapened at that point. The Z-warriors themselves make several references to just using the Dragonballs to clean up Buu's mess later on throughout the arc.

I still greatly enjoy the Buu arc as a throwback to Toriyama's more fantasy-based storytelling but I thought by that point most people didn't really think anyone could actually die in the dragon world.

Like I said, I knew full well everyone would be Namek'd at the end, and I knew the Earth would be destroyed before all was said and done... I dunno, I think I blame character development.

. Buu's instability and constantly shifting personality threw stuff out of wack, and then we have Goten and Trunks, for whom the devistation and everything seemed a lot different than for Gohan earlier... I dunno.

I think even in a DBZ context there's something more to death than one's ability to participate. Hmm.

Vegeta Jr · Post by **Vegeta Jr** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 12:52 pm

Cell arc was the most disturbing, with people being sucked up and all and with Cell's twisted pleasure he gets out of it.

Sin · Post by **Sin** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:01 pm

Definitely when Yamcha went up against Android 20

Still gives me the creeps...

russ869 · Post by **russ869** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:54 pm

The end of the Cell Games. If Cell turning himself into a bomb to completely blow away the planet wasn't freaky enough, then he just miraculously resurrects himself as if nothing happened at all. The last Kamehama-ha is still the most edge-of-your-seat intense part of Dragonball for me. It's like an arm-wrestling match where if you lose the world is destroyed!

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 4:26 pm

I've never been truly scared of something in DBZ, because the Dragon Balls exist... if somebody dies it's no big deal, so any legitimate tension is gone for me.

As a child, I guess the Garlic Jr. saga would be the most frightening, but I had already seen so many movies and TV shows that were worse at the time, that it was nothing in comparison.

ShinRogafuken · Post by **ShinRogafuken** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 7:41 pm

The Ocean Dub of the Saiyan Saga.

MCDaveG · Post by **MCDaveG** » Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:01 pm

I think the scariest is the second movie of Dragon Ball, Sleeping Princess In Devil's Castle...... That Intro at the begining is awesome with that horror attitude and atmosphere))))