Top 5 favorite Z characters and why?

[Perfect]

My favorite Z character or just character period as you or may not have known, since I've made it pretty obvious, is Son Goku. I love his naivety and overall calm and collected composure. I think he's a lot more realistic than a lot of other fictional heroes, because he's selfish at times and doesn't always do the right thing, even when he's meaning to. He has a lot of character development, to some he even seems senile by the Boo saga. He's a humanoid creature so of course he makes mistakes, which means he isn't "perfect" and never claims to be. He doesn't patrol around the city like Superman to fight crime, he lives his own life and evil just tends to get in his way. He has his own shonen morals which of course rubs off sometimes on the villains around him. He doesn't drink as we saw on his trip to Namek, which is one thing I thought was pretty cool. I suppose it's ironic my favorite quality that derives from him stems from brain damage, being his naive, cool and composed self. I also like how even in the most hopeless of situations he always holds his head up high and enjoys the challenge.

My list consists of:
1. Son Goku - Everything above.
2. Cell - He's perfect.
3. Vegeta - Serious and arrogant, just the way he should be.
4. Mr. Satan - One of the best comic relief characters in the series.
5. Freeza - Love his mock-polite demeanor.

[samuraix123]

1.) Paikuhan - I just love the look of him and his fighting techniques
2.) Vegeta - I love him because he just seems to have so much pride and honor. and he always gets the most bad-ass lines.
3.) Master roshi - I love how perverted he is
4.) Future Gohan - I love the story about him and how his life was so hard in the future. but yet he still wouldn't back down even though he only had 1 arm left
5.) Bardock - I love the old school saiyans. he's just bad-ass all around.

Also I'd just like to add that just because I picked those 5 doesn't mean that I hate the others. because there isn't a character in the Dragonball universe that I dislike

[dprez]

1. Son Goku - What else can I say. This guy is like, the nicest guy in the universe, and also the strongest. His heroism is unmatched in the Dragon Ball world. His actions when he was just a kid, fighting to the end in every tournament, annihilating an entire evil empire, showing up the greatest fighters in the world, all before hitting puberty. Goku is the epitome of awesome, in every way, shape or form.

2. Super Boo - There's just something about his first appearance (Especially in the anime, even though it ain't much different) that makes me say "Holy fucking shit what a badass evil motherfucker", pardon my language, but that's how I feel. The way he's different from Fat Boo and Pure Boo made him very entertaining to me. He inherited the Fat Kaioshin's smarts from the Fat Boo, but his evil part makes him more like his original pure "mindless" self, so he can be very gullible and therefore funny and likable, as a character with some personality. Loved his fight with Gotenks and his interactions with Piccolo.

3. Vegetto - Yea we only saw him for a small amount of time, but he is the God of the DBZ verse. His cunning and power is unrivaled throughout the cosmos, and his confidence and attitude about the situation he was in while fighting Boo made this guy quite the badass.

4. Piccolo - This guy is the definition of cool. His fight with Goku at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai was probably the greatest fight of the entire series. Every time he fights, he makes a difference. Every time we see Piccolo anywhere in the series, it's always one of the best parts of the story, especially early on. Shame he was only a mentor in the Boo saga, but without him, everyone would have been screwed. I actually considered making a thread about how Piccolo is unappreciated during this arc after finishing my Dragon Boxes. Without him there is no Gotenks.

5. Vegeta - O yea. This guy is some kind of monster. Genius fighter. Epic personality. Brilliant strategist. Vegeta made Dragon Ball Z, hands down. The show would not have been such the hit that it was in the U.S. without Vegeta. Funny because a while back, I was watching DBZ (orange bricks) with some random people at some party, and this black dude was like, "Vegetas my nigga". LOL. He knew nothing of the true DBZ ( original version) or the manga, or anything else the FUNi dub doesn't tell you, and even his knowledge there was limited, but Vegetas savage personalty and all around bad-ass-ness made a lot of people in the United States keep watching the show solely because of Vegeta.

A hard list to make. Piccolo and Vegeta are both worthy of the 2 spot in my book, but being a huge fan of the Boo saga, Super Boo and Vegetto took the honors of 2nd and 3rd. Goku has to be #1, I think that's understood by everyone.

[Gokuman1993]

1. Son Goku: Goku is "awesome" and "goodness" in it's physical form. He is noble, pure-hearted, selfless, kind-hearted and loves facing new challenges head-on. Of course, he is also naive and a little selfish when it comes to fighting powerful fighters (ex. he decided to train Uub not just to create a new hero for Earth, but also to fight him in a battle.), but all of Goku's heroic actions throughtout the series make those moments of his worse moot, in my opinion. It's too bad he gets bashed for his negative qualites (which are very few) than praised for his more postive qualites by fans (perferably one's who seen Z or Vegeta fans.) Either way, Goku will always be #1 in my book

2. Krillin: Krillin is the immortal best friend Sure, he started out a little smartass when he first met Son Goku, particuarly during the scene where they had to fetch a rock Master Roshi threw far into the woods. However, he and Goku became such great friends and Krillin himself became an honorable, selfless and heroic martial artist. I mean, of course he has his cowardly moments and he often complains about being single and never finding a wife (until he meets Android #18...), but that's all right. Krillin's a human, and quite possibly one of the most human characters in the series.

3. Piccolo: Piccolo's evolution from a villain to hero will always be a heartwarming part of Dragon Ball for me. As a villain, he proved to be very sinster, malicious and vengeful (especially towards Goku). However, when he trained Goku's son Gohan and sacrficed his life for him, it proved that Piccolo was on his way to becoming an honorable warrior who will risk everything to protect his home. Plus, he's a BADASS!

4. Master Roshi: Without him, Goku and his friends would have never become great and powerful martial artists, as well as selfless heroes. He is wise, kind and badass when he wants to be. Not to mention, he's really funny when in "pervert" mode

5. Emperor Pilaf: I know, it's surpising you'd find him in this list XD But, remember, he was techincally the first Dragon Ball villain and he was quite funny Not to mention....HE FREED KING PICCOLO FROM HIS RICE COOKER and TRIED TO STRIKE A DEAL WITH HIM TO RULE THE WORLD ALONGSIDE HIM (of course, he failed, but what he did before hand was pretty badass!) It makes me sad that he never appeared again after that....

Well, that's my top five

[dbboxkaifan]

1. Son Goku - Reason is I grew up watching him, it's a very likeable character, silly also and the moment he goes Super Saiyan was great. I personally would never look up to him, I'd rather have Freeza or Cell than him.

2. Freeza - I loved seeing Freeza on Namek, wish he'd have gotten a huge pack of episodes like Boo did.

3. Cell - More like Kai Cell (Dameon Clarke) his English voice/script is epic (Wakamoto's better but for English I prefer Dameon.

4. Cell Junior - Small, cute, funny and when turned into green little Cell's it just makes me wanna have one myself.

5. No. 18 - She's beautiful regardless of not being an actual human being (I wonder how Kuririn and her were able to have a child).

[dprez]

1. Son Goku - Reason is I grew up watching him, it's a very likeable character, silly also and the moment he goes Super Saiyan was great. I personally would never look up to him, I'd rather have Freeza or Cell than him.

2. Freeza - I loved seeing Freeza on Namek, wish he'd have gotten a huge pack of episodes like Boo did.

3. Cell - More like Kai Cell (Dameon Clarke) his English voice/script is epic (Wakamoto's better but for English I prefer Dameon.

4. Cell Junior - Small, cute, funny and when turned into green little Cell's it just makes me wanna have one myself.

5. No. 18 - She's beautiful regardless of not being an actual human being (I wonder how Kuririn and her were able to have a child).

Gero used a human base because making an android out of nothing must have been far more difficult. He surely strengthened their bones muscles and flesh, but I doubt he had to alter any of their reproductive organs. I always figured #18 has normal, uhh..."lady parts", therefore could 100% pass for a normal human from the outside.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Piccolo: There's a reason why the Piccolo Daimaou arc is one of the best parts of DB, and this guy is a big part of it. His introduction marked a definitive shift for the series towards a darker tone, with the abrupt deaths of main characters like Kuririn, Kame-sennin and Chaozu, Daimaou being the first serious villain, and the first one who Gokuu had a personal vendetta against.

But I especially like Piccolo in the Saiyan arc. We see brief glimpses of his internal struggle over becoming less evil (I think this should've been fleshed out a bit more), but I like the character development he gets through his relationship with Gohan, and then his sacrifice during the fight with the Saiyans. I don't like the way his fusions were handled in the Freeza and Cell arc, since he gets his moment in the spotlight for all of five minutes before the villain powers up again and he has to take a backseat to Gokuu and/or Vegeta. But at least in the Boo arc, despite not fighting, his role as mentor to the kids and his antics with Gotenks (which the anime expanded on) were great to watch.

And he's just a cool guy and highlighted as one of the most intelligent and observations characters in the series, with even Super Boo deciding to absorb him for his brains along with Gotenks.

Son Gokuu: Despite all his faults (especially as an adult), it's almost impossible to dislike Gokuu. It's no surprise that he's a role model to many, because he's always full of energy and always optimistic about things, even in the most grim of situations, and approaches things with such a composed, nonchalant manner. I think his naivety and general social inexperience, for a lack of better word, means that he kind of lives outside of the boundaries that many humans in real-life do, because of certain "norms" that we're supposed to conform to. But Gokuu, the superhuman monkey-tailed boy who used to live in the secluded mountains, isn't bound by these "rules". And he's not your average crime-fighting superhero or anything; he's merely a martial artist that happens to get tangled up in fights with evil a lot.

Also, I think his character development is somewhat underappreciated, alongside characters like Piccolo and Vegeta (whose developments are more dramatic). Of course, it's subtle, but it's still there. For example, 22nd TB Gokuu has matured from his RRA incarnation.

Son Gohan: I think it's interesting how, despite having no interest in fighting at all, he's one of the strongest characters in the series, possessing dormant power that trumps even Gokuu and Vegeta. It's this that makes him a very flexible character to play with, as he develops from a timid, cosseted little boy to quite a mature boy for his age who's willing to fight for the protection of his friends. And that's in the space of, what, a year? The anime expands on this during his Super Saiyan transformation scene, as we see that he berates himself for his cowardice and not being strong enough to protect his friends in previous battles. This is probably why I'm so disappointed with his apparent refusal to fight or even defend himself against Cell pre-SS2, even if you factor in the fact that he may've believed that his father cared more about the rules of his fight than his life.

And the Great Saiyaman storyline is one of the best parts of the Boo arc. It was nice to see a teenage Gohan struggling to adapt to social life around peers that weren't battle-obsessed superhuman martial artists, as well as him becoming the Great Saiyaman: pretty much the first and only "superhero" we see in DB. This shows an entertainingly goofy side to Gohan, what with him liking his costume (in contrast to Trunks' dislike) and his eccentric poses. All in all, a character with a surprising amount of depth, especially for Toriyama.

Kame-sennin: A veteran of the martial arts and the DB series, he's another character with a surprising amount of depth. He initially comes off as a perverted old man, sexually harrassing Bulma on numerous occasions. But looking past that dirty exterior, you can see the reputable strength of the Muten Roushi. It's interesting how easily he's able to flip from a goofy and pervy side, to a serious and responsible master, and his sacrifice against Daimaou is a fantastic scene.

Not to mention the reams of backstory this over 300-year-old guy seems to have. It's enough to dedicate an entire special, and yet, Toei haven't capitalized on this yet and many fans prefer to make countless Gokuu/Vegeta fics where Gokuu transforms into a Super Saiyan 7 and subsequently destroys Vegeta's arse with a Kamehameha out his Japper, or something equally as ridiculous and insubstantial as that.

Kuririn: Ehhh...I'm too tired to write out yet another large paragraph, so I'll just say this: bald but bold, bags of character development, classic underdog, awesome attacks, only Earthling to be remotely relevant past-Saiyan arc.

Gero used a human base because making an android out of nothing must have been far more difficult. He surely strengthened their bones muscles and flesh, but I doubt he had to alter any of their reproductive organs. I always figured #18 has normal, uhh..."lady parts", therefore could 100% pass for a normal human from the outside.

I've always thought that Dr. Gero was a pervert. It does fit the "dirty old man" shtick that Toriyama plays out with Kame-sennin and the old Kaioushin (despite the latter apparently being asexual merged with a witch).

[Relight]

1. Future Trunks.
2. Piccolo
3. Tien
4. Future Gohan
5. Perfect Cell

[VegettoEX]

1. Future Trunks.
2. Piccolo
3. Tenshinhan
4. Future Gohan
5. Perfect Cell

Why, though? The point of the thread was not to simply just list a bunch of characters, but to explain your reasons.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

5. Krillin- He's not the strongest character on the show but he's one of the bravest. He gets a lot of shit for being a weakling but think about it, he was one of the few people to survive and help Goku fight Vegeta. He traveled across the galaxy with a five year old and Bulma; heading towards the universe's biggest threats, in order to revive his friends. He stood up against Freeza, Cell and even had a sparing match with Buu(granted it was a filler episode but it was pretty damn cool). Even when he got his ass handed to him, he never stopped standing by Goku and the others' side.

4. Master Roshi- The second he appears he steals the show. He's by far the most entertaining character in the series; plus he's a martial arts genius.

3.Future Gohan- He's everything Gohan should have been. He's strong, brave and really reflects the personality of his Father Goku and well, his father Piccolo. Plus Trunks' training with Gohan reflected a lot of elements with Piccolo training with Gohan and I thought that was really cool. I think some of Toei's best work comes from this special and I think that's why I love that character so much.

2. Piccolo- I think it's fair to say that he will be on many people's list and for good reason. He (along with my number one) shows the most character development. He went from one of the scariest villians to one of Goku's closest allies. He was there for Gohan when Goku wasn't(or couldn't be). He was one of the smartest fighters and every fight he was in was one of the best fights to watch(Goku vs Piccolo; Piccolo vs Freeza; Piccolo vs 17).

1. Vegeta- Goku may be the star of the show, but Vegeta is the most fun to watch. Toriyama gave him enough backstory that you really could feel his emotions. Yea he was reckless at times but his drives, his pain, they were all for a reason. As a viewer/reader I really felt his frustration and I started to feel sorry for him. Watching him struggle to prove himself to Freeza; fighting for his losses and the glory of his people. That's something you didn't get with Goku vs Freeza(as cool as that fight was). His rise and fall of being a Super Saiyan only to have that glory squashed by 18; and then again by Cell. His rematch with Goku(one of my favorite fights) and then his humble sacrifice to stop Buu. That was really sad. Some of Toriyama's best writing came out when he was writing for Vegeta. At least that's how I felt.

[Zeroplus]

1. Bardock - First time I saw him, in an AMV, I fell in love with him because of his fighting.
After seeing the Bardock special I had a new found respect for the character and have
liked him ever since. He's just a bad ass and doesn't take anyone's shit.

2. Goku - How can you not like Goku, he is Dragon Ball. It's like watching your own child
grow up and because I don't have one I can have a special connection with this character.

3. Broly - I feel he's what Bardock would have become if he lived and was able to fight
Freeza as a Super Saiyan. He is the ultimate bad ass of Dragon Ball and I think they
could have used him a little better in the movies. His presence was like Godzilla to me as a child.

4. Cooler - The Cooler movies gave you a nice sized experience of what a fight with Goku and
Freeza could have been like. The character himself was O.K, but it was the fact that he was a
Freeza V2.0 that made me like him. It gave me a chance to get to see a proper 'arc' with less
of the time wasting filler.

5. Krillin - Because he just can't win, and because I have a shorter friend who reminded me of
Krillin. Krillin was also his favorite character, so I bought him the Kirllin Mini-Bust one year.

[SSJBardock91]

5. Frieza-easily the most evil character in DBZ.
4. Vegeta-great character development and made Z fun to watch.
3. Goku-his happy-go-lucky personality makes him seem like a fun guy to hang around.
2. Bardock-a combination of Goku's determination and Vegeta's coolness.
1. Future Trunks-despite all the crap in his world he never losses hope and never turns bitter. Plus swordsman are my favorite kind of fighters.

[Jackal puFF]

1. Goku - I love that Goku is always willing to adventure and do anything without any kind of fear holding him back, no matter what the situation is. His development in dragonball was very fun to watch. And This music video of Goku is like perfect. Makes me like him so much more.

2. Master Roshi - Every scene with Master Roshi is amazing! They're either hilarious or really tense moments. His fight with Tien is still one of my favorite dragonball fights. And his "moments" with Launch or Bulma is always a blast to see. Plus he's the inventor of the Kamehameha! Tons of characters have 'stolen' it and made it their own!

3. Bulma - I like her a lot cause she's basically the catalyst to Dragon ball. Without her Goku would have been in the mountains forever. Plus she's a genius that's also pretty hot haha.

4. Krillin - I don't know what it is with this guy but he's just really likable. He's really well rounded. All his interactions with everyone is great.

5. Piccolo - Just loved how he was this one noted crazy villain who wanted revenge in the beginning and then have a change of heart later on. And he's always got that strong silent type going on too, which is pretty cool.