Most poorly written part of Dragon Ball

[sbk]

sadistically torturing Cell rather than killing him straight away (resulting in Goku's death)

I can see your other points but I disagree with this one. It was mentioned in the Freeza saga that the SSJ transformation taints your mind, due to the wild emotions etc.

They later found a solution to this with the whole 'Full-Powered SSJ' thing. Since Gohan didn't fully master SSJ2 in that way, it's only natural his personality becomes more instable, the same way as Goku in the Freeza arc. Goku became way more aggressive when he first transformed. In Gohan's case, he becomes sadistic
It's a good thing Toriyama didn't retcon this 'drawback'.

[dbgtFO]

sadistically torturing Cell rather than killing him straight away (resulting in Goku's death)

I can see your other points but I disagree with this one. It was mentioned in the Freeza saga that the SSJ transformation taints your mind, due to the wild emotions etc.
*Snip*
They later found a solution to this with the whole 'Full-Powered SSJ' thing. Since Gohan didn't fully master SSJ2 in that way, it's only natural his personality becomes more instable, the same way as Goku in the Freeza arc. Goku became way more aggressive when he first transformed. In Gohan's case, he becomes sadistic
It's a good thing Toriyama didn't retcon this 'drawback'.

I think it's because becoming a Super Saiyan is like unleashing your Saiyan Nature and someone, who is new to the transformation(Goku's first transformation) basically becomes unstable and acts on instinct instead of reason at first and has no clue, what they are capable of with that power.

Of course this wasn't really covered that much in the Androids Arc, when Goku transformed in front of #19 fx, but knowing how to access the form whenever you please might play a part in it.
Gohan having just accessed SSJ 2 was undoubtedly different from before, so his Saiyan Nature most certainly replaced his pacifist attitude. He wasn't raging anymore, he was calm and wanted to push his opponent as far as possible just to humiliate him, before killing him, which fits with Super Saiyan being described as a warrior, who loves blood and battle.

[Michsi]

sadistically torturing Cell rather than killing him straight away (resulting in Goku's death)

I can see your other points but I disagree with this one. It was mentioned in the Freeza saga that the SSJ transformation taints your mind, due to the wild emotions etc.
*Snip*
They later found a solution to this with the whole 'Full-Powered SSJ' thing. Since Gohan didn't fully master SSJ2 in that way, it's only natural his personality becomes more instable, the same way as Goku in the Freeza arc. Goku became way more aggressive when he first transformed. In Gohan's case, he becomes sadistic
It's a good thing Toriyama didn't retcon this 'drawback'.

I think it's because becoming a Super Saiyan is like unleashing your Saiyan Nature and someone, who is new to the transformation(Goku's first transformation) basically becomes unstable and acts on instinct instead of reason at first and has no clue, what they are capable of with that power.

Of course this wasn't really covered that much in the Androids Arc, when Goku transformed in front of #19 fx, but knowing how to access the form whenever you please might play a part in it.
Gohan having just accessed SSJ 2 was undoubtedly different from before, so his Saiyan Nature most certainly replaced his pacifist attitude. He wasn't raging anymore, he was calm and wanted to push his opponent as far as possible just to humiliate him, before killing him, which fits with Super Saiyan being described as a warrior, who loves blood and battle.

I actually wish Toriyama had expanded or gone more in depth with this. I know character insight/ development/depth isn't DB's strong point but in this case a little more emotional impact revolving around Gohan's personality change and the consequences that came with it (Goku's death) wouldn't have hurt.

Gohan, next to Dende, was the sweetest, most gentle and kind hearted character of the entire DB cast. To have him turn into that was IMO the most shocking event of the whole Cell arc. We DO see Goku and Piccolo taken aback but not much more than that.
Aand, personally, I wanted to see Goku feel a little more guilt over having encouraged and indirectly caused this. It always bothered me that in the anime, Goku gives Piccolo a little "see, I told you" after Gohan transforms, sorta implying that he had been right all along and justfied having put Gohan through all that pain.

[Piccolo Daimao]

sadistically torturing Cell rather than killing him straight away (resulting in Goku's death)

I can see your other points but I disagree with this one. It was mentioned in the Freeza saga that the SSJ transformation taints your mind, due to the wild emotions etc.
*snip*
They later found a solution to this with the whole 'Full-Powered SSJ' thing. Since Gohan didn't fully master SSJ2 in that way, it's only natural his personality becomes more instable, the same way as Goku in the Freeza arc. Goku became way more aggressive when he first transformed. In Gohan's case, he becomes sadistic
It's a good thing Toriyama didn't retcon this 'drawback'.

Fair enough, you're right. Super Saiyan 2 probably made Gohan different than he was before.

[Turtle Marked Stone]

For me the answer is easily the Boo arc. The most obnoxious, random ass pulls came from there. I find it humorous they took everything I despised from the Cell saga and multiplied it by 5. Toriyama is one of those writers I can chuckle at and look past when he does silly things like using the magic water shtick twice or when he makes some clusterfuck of a timeline. He's Toriyama, he has little regard for the petty spergy complaints of neckbearded 40 year olds. I can respect that. When you have shit like two 8 year olds that can literally go Super Saiyan on the fly for absolutely no explained reason, Super Saiyan 3 which I believe is the dictionary definition of an ass pull, a conveniently learned fusion technique that happens to have the exact requirements for the situation you had just gotten into, ANOTHER form of that technique that you’ve happened to stumble upon by chance that uses magical enchanted earrings, having that very technique and all the build up to it be all for naught thanks to “stale air” whatever that means, jerking us around about who’s going to be the hero (Gotenks,Gohan,Vegetto...oh it’s Goku again huh?) and Oob...just Oob. When you have all of that and much more in ONE saga it stops being petty stupid complaints and starts being you not being able to tell a competent story. Shit was getting goofy during the Cell arc and that’s where I hit my “letting shit slide” peak personally but it never went over.

I’m not saying Toriyama is a bad writer for the record. I’m going to quote Charlie Sweatpants of http://deadhomersociety.wordpress.com/ for this

“these kinds of criticisms apply to pretty much any franchise that lingers around too long, whether it’s books, movies, or television shows. At some point, almost everything decomposes into fan service at the lowest common denominator, and once that happens everything else (story, character development, things making any sense at all) becomes an afterthought.”

which is simply why I just want Dragonball as a whole to end.

[obiwan23s]

I don't think Gohan's behavior before the SS2 transformation was out of character at all. During any part of the story to that point, Gohan was most powerful when someone he cared about was being hurt. This goes all the way back to Raditz when he breaks out of the pod to come to Goku's defense, continues with him directly confronting Nappa post-Piccolo death (stark contrast to earlier in that very fight) and several points during the fight with Freeza. Even his sneak attack on Dodoria is rooted in this as he only does it to save Dende. The SS2 transformation is basically Gohan coming full circle. I also think the entire Cell arc is well-written save for Cell's miraculous comeback from death, and I'm only skeptic of that because Goku blew his fuckin' head off and he was able to come back, which shouldn't have been possible based on his explanation for regenerating from self-destruction. I think Gohan beating the crap out of Cell, forcing him to self-destruct to win and Goku using the teleportation technique to save the world at the cost of his own life would have been a legitimate ending to that arc. I mean, beating your opponent into using a suicide move still counts as a win, right?

[Piccolo Daimao]

I think Gohan beating the crap out of Cell, forcing him to self-destruct to win and Goku using the teleportation technique to save the world at the cost of his own life would have been a legitimate ending to that arc. I mean, beating your opponent into using a suicide move still counts as a win, right?

It would negate the initial building-up of Gohan becoming the hero if Cell self-destructed and Goku ended up being the hero again. Plus, it's anti-climactic.

[SolarBlade52]

I would say anything that is considered an "Ass Pull"

I'm saying this because around the time the manga was still being published, Mr Toriyama wrote the stories as he went along. The rest pretty much explains everything by itself.

[Turtle Marked Stone]

I would say anything that is considered an "Ass Pull"

I'm saying this because around the time the manga was still being published, Mr Toriyama wrote the stories as he went along. The rest pretty much explains everything by itself.

True, how about incredibly noticeable horrible ideas that even less thought than usual were put into. It's a bit wordy but it gets the point across.

[SolarBlade52]

Vegeta's sudden ability to sense Ki. It just came out of nowhere near the beginning of the Namek arc. There wasn't any foreshadowing regarding this power. Hell, even the abridged series hilariously noted this:

Dodoria: How did you learn to do that?
Vegeta: I dunno.

[Goku100xKamehameha]

Vegeta's sudden ability to sense Ki. It just came out of nowhere near the beginning of the Namek arc. There wasn't any foreshadowing regarding this power. Hell, even the abridged series hilariously noted this:

Dodoria: How did you learn to do that?
Vegeta: I dunno.

Actually, it's
Dodoria: How the hell did you do that?
Vegeta: I dunno.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

Tree of Might. Sure it's not cannon but it's apart of Dragonball as a whole. I hate that movie. Turles, caused so much confusion, frustration and ugg...bad idea. Also, I don't like the Freeza Arc filler. It's not that the writing is terrible it just drags out an already long saga. I think the Freeza saga is the hardest saga to re-watch because it's just soooo long.

I have no problems with the manga.

[dbgtFO]

I don't think Gohan's behavior before the SS2 transformation was out of character at all. During any part of the story to that point, Gohan was most powerful when someone he cared about was being hurt. This goes all the way back to Raditz when he breaks out of the pod to come to Goku's defense, continues with him directly confronting Nappa post-Piccolo death (stark contrast to earlier in that very fight) and several points during the fight with Freeza. Even his sneak attack on Dodoria is rooted in this as he only does it to save Dende. The SS2 transformation is basically Gohan coming full circle.

Before Piccolo died, Gohan was ready to fight Nappa and actually managed to land a hit.
When fighting Recoome, Gohan wasn't giving up, he kept on coming back for more and stated that because of being the son of Goku, he won't lose. When fighting Ginyu(using Goku's body) he wasn't reluctant to fight either. And against Freeza he didn't throw in the towel right away, even though he was far outclassed.

Gohan not wanting to fight seems weird, when he knows, that Cell has killed so many people and will only continue the killing, if he isn't stopped. It basically did come out of nowhere, that he now suddenly doesn't want to kill the one, who really deserves it.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Vegeta's sudden ability to sense Ki. It just came out of nowhere near the beginning of the Namek arc. There wasn't any foreshadowing regarding this power. Hell, even the abridged series hilariously noted this:

Dodoria: How did you learn to do that?
Vegeta: I dunno.

I guess you could call it a more advanced version of what characters did way before--looking at a technique and learning it instantly. Goku learned the Kamehameha after seeing Kame-sennin do it, and so did Tenshinhan after seeing Yamcha do it.

I'm not denying that it's probably an asspull, though. You can't see someone sense ki. Vegeta's explanation on Namek was basically, "If the Earthlings could do it, so should I!"

[NeoKING]

I thought Vegeta learned it instinctively. During the Oozaru Vegeta vs. Goku fight, you can see that Vegeta instinctively picked up on sensing Ki when he knew Krillin was behind him, ready to throw the Ki-Cutter.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I thought Vegeta learned it instinctively. During the Oozaru Vegeta vs. Goku fight, you can see that Vegeta instinctively picked up on sensing Ki when he knew Krillin was behind him, ready to throw the Ki-Cutter.

Oh yeah, that's interesting. You know, before Namek, most people would've just gone with Vegeta's explanation of "I knew you sentimental worms wouldn't let a companion come on his own!"

[Deadlyillness]

I agree with everyone who says it's the Buu saga.