Chou Gohan wrote:The ironic thing about trying to find evidence of what was intended to be the story by Toriyama is the fact that the real answer would be, "whatever makes the children, and more importantly the editors, all happy." And it is unlikely any of them would be happy with an anticlimactic ending.
This is a good point that is quite true. It is quite ironic that there are people hoping to find things like interviews of Toriyama confirming their "religion" when there is the common mold that all series like Dragon Ball follow. Toriyama would have known people (especially his editors) would want would be for the villain's last form to be the strongest one. The first time I read the Buu saga, I was a bit divided on it because the way things went together to me made it look like Pure Buu was the second or third strongest at first, but when you consider the flow dragon Ball has always gone by, you'd think that the villain's last form would be the strongest. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Toriyama himself who requested all those lines about the last Buu being the strongest be added to anime since the manga was a bit vague.
In a way, the existence of Pure Buu could be likened to the existence of Super Perfect Cell. A plot twist to make the villain stronger so the story could end with a bang, even if it does cause some inconsistencies. I would say Pure Buu's plot twist was actually thought out a bit better and less inconsistent than Super Perfect Cell, though. The build up to it all started when Evil Buu panicked and said, "I will no longer be myself!" to Vegeta. What Evil Buu meant by that was later revealed when Kaioshin explained the affect the absorptions had on Buu and why. Kaioshin said absorptions changed Buu's heart which also caused his power to be reduced. So that means the previous Buus were somewhat controllable, had personality traits like like love for food, and reduced power thanks to absorptions. When Evil Buu turned back into Pure Buu, he had lost the heart he had gained and the reduced power that came with it, resulting in a killing machine that was even more powerful.
As for the one line from Goku inside Buu, it actually makes sense and adds up with the above if you put everything into context. When Goku said, "No matter how normal he becomes, he's still to strong for us to face. If we go out there like we are he'll beat us for sure!" he was correct. When they actually left Buu's body, they didn't regain their size until they were about forty feet away from him. If they had just attempted to leave Buu's body and Buu had not lost his mind from having the other Buu ripped out, then he could have easily killed them before they regained their size. When they did get far enough away from Buu to change back to normal, Goku in relief says, "We did it! Everybody is back to normal!" and then they immediately proceeded to hide the people they had rescued before Buu could notice them. All this adds up to to Goku and Vegeta being unable to win due to a huge handicap. Goku knew that they were inside Buu and that there was no guarantee that they'd return to normal and that they had several helpess folks to protect, and so Goku knew the odds were completely in Buu's favor. There was also an earlier point where Goku showed he was willing to fight an even stronger Buu without fusing. When Rou Kaioshin offered to give Goku his life, rather than rejecting the offer under the claim that it would be pointless, Goku accepted it with the impression that he was to go fight Buu without fusing. This is shown by the fact that Goku immediately stuck his fingers to his head saying he was off right after being revived. Rou Kaioshin then tells him to wait and asks how they can win which leads Goku to ponder for a moment and then say that if him and Gohan fuse they could win for sure to which Rou Kaioshin offers to potaras as a better means of fusing. That shows Goku wasn't scared to fight Evil Buu under normal circumstances that involved no handicaps.
And the end of the series makes the most sense that way, too. Why would Goku be waiting anxiously for ten years for a rematch with the reborn Buu if he already had guys that were way stronger around that were already trained? All he'd have to do is be honest and say, "Gohan, you need to promise to fight me at least once a month or else I'll run away from you and your mother yet again!"
