Brilliant (but subtle) writing in Dragonball

[FindKenshi]

I like watching Freeza get backed into a corner... it's interesting with the personality and mannerisms he usually has, to watch him come unhinged once things stop going his way.

[Appūru-sama]

I always appreciated the escalation of Goku's opponents:

He starts out as this wild boy who lives in the woods and uses his natural superhuman strength and martial arts to beat the strongest opponents in the wild (animals, beasts, dinosaurs)

Next comes humans, whom are the rulers of this world, and beats the most authoritarian and evil of the human race - men with guns (Red Ribbon Army)

Then we learn the true strongest humans in the Dragonball world are the martial arts masters. Also, he is a martial artist, so it's only natural he fight the strongest of his peers, the greatest martial artist masters in the world (Tenkaichi-Budokai)

Now the Demon clan appear. Similar to the snake and mongoose, they are sworn enemies and they fear each other. They are the greatest evil Earth has ever known. Goku fights the King of the Demon clan (Piccolo-Daimao, and Piccolo)

Along comes Z. Goku is the strongest on Earth, so now he needs new opponents from other worlds, with training from the afterlife! We always knew Goku was special, but now we learn why; he's an alien whose strength and battle sense is naturally superior to any human's. A race of people whose sole purpose is to fight. So he battles the strongest of his own race, the number one Saiyan (Prince Vegeta)

Soon it is revealed the mighty Saiyans are actually bossed around by an all powerful being who actually was so strong he destroyed the entire warrior race of the Saiyans. Now it's the strongest earthling versus the strongest fighter in the universe (Freeza)

After beating the strongest in the universe, now Goku has to fight opponents who had to travel through time itself. These opponents aren't even natural, but were solely created to SPECIFICALLY fight and kill him, and were born and bred knowing all of his moves and tactics. Essentially he has to fight THE ultimate fighter, made up of the strongest attributes of the strongest warriors in the Dragonball universe thus far - Piccolo, Vegeta, Freeza, and even himself (Cell)

And now, we learn that across all of time, the cosmos, different worlds and dimensions and even the afterlife that there are actually Lords or Gods that control it all, not just Kaio and Enma. And these deities are terrified of a force of evil born during the beginning of the universe that doesn't want to conquer or rule, or fight, but just kill and destroy. And it's up to Goku to stop this evil personified. The strongest in existance (Majin-Buu)

Going from bears and tigers in his backyard, to an all powerful being that can destroy the universe itself.

[Eight-Star Dragon]

Future Trunks is normally quite pragmatic in killing his enemies, but takes time to fool around with Freeza and his army before finishing him off. Keep in mind that Trunks has spent nearly his entire life fighting to survive in a world besieged by two Androids he's completely powerless against. Freeza was probably the first enemy Trunks had ever faced that not only was evil enough to warrant killing, but that Trunks KNEW he was stronger than. He was taking out a lifetime of frustrations at feeling powerless on Freeza. He takes out King Cold quickly, possibly because, while we don't see it, King Cold may be able to transform and thus Trunks wanted to kill him before he did so on the off chance that King Cold's higher forms exceeded his.

The fooling around thing is more in the anime - While he does flaunt Freeza's mistaken-ness in the manga, keep in mind he does also kill Freeza there much more quickly than in the anime.

There's also him offering to spare Freeza's soldiers [which I don't remember if that was in the manga or not], but he probably should have known they'd refuse, given the odd circumstances of his offer.

[Godo]

I really liked the episode where Trunks tells Goku all about who he is and about the impending threat of the Artificial Humans. Keep an eye on Piccolo in this one; even though he's kind of buried in the background for most of the episode, the animators still took the effort to have him visibly react to each new revelation that Trunks had to give. It really helps sell the whole "Piccolo was able to listen to the entire conversation" thing later in the episode.

Yeah I noticed that too, it was cool that they put the effort in.

[The Monkey King]

I've noticed that Goku and Vegeta's brothers are the exact opposite of them.

Raditz was cocky, evil and ruthless the exact opposite of Goku who's good, respectful and merciful.

Tarble is timid, weak and kind-hearted while Vegeta is brash, strong and (was) evil.

[worldmonsters]

And apart from that, in the Funimation version Kid Trunks also sounds the same as Future Trunks did in the original dub, I thought that was a nice touch.

I don't understand. Laura Bailey and Eric Vale never sound the same, or even similar. What are you talking about?

They do the same type of scream :p In other words, they sound the same. I should've phrased that differently. Just listen to it and compare. I don't have any clips for you though :p

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

Piccolo trains Gohan harshly to be his successor and partner in terrorizing Earth.

Goku pits Gohan against Cell in the name of forcing his true power out of him.

Gohan snaps and suddenly demands Cell suffers.

...Well, look who was right after all.

---

Vegeta's charge on Cell after Trunk gets shot; it's Vegeta being rash as usual, but a "you don't know what you have till it's gone" reaction is the only way you're going to get emotion out of him at that point, because it forces a man who only trusts himself to do anything to realize he failed. And what is Vegeta's usual response to failure? Self-loathing.

[Retan]

i liked the writing of goku fully realizing he killed Grandpa Gohan as Oozaru while about to fight another, and seeing if he can do better against one.


I also liked that, Perfect Cell faces and losses to a character who was meant in a lot of ways to be even more perfect then he was, but maybe that's just my opinion, and I'm not even that big of a fan of Gohan.

[matt0044]

Just tossing this one out there...

In early Dragon Ball Z, Bulma and Roshi ask Baba if she can see the outcome of the fight against the Saiyans. Specifically, they ask whether the earth is intact one year from now. There was no apparant reason for her not to see the outcome, except for not spoiling the fight, of course. Then I realized that, if Roshi and Bulma asked her about this only a month or so before the fight, then the reason she couldn't see the a year ahead into the future anymore was because of Cell travelling to the past before that point. Remember that Cell arrived a year before Trunks, and the Freeza saga lasted barely over a month, with only a years time between then and Trunks arriving. Once time travel becomes involved, Baba can't see the future anymore! Must have hurt her business.

[ABED]

I thought it was a cool idea that the Z team had become so use to sensing ki that they had lost their skill for tracking using just their normal five senses.

[Marco Polo]

18 never actually fought Trunks in the main timeline in the Android Saga. However, she finally did during the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament.

[CaBrPi]

18 never actually fought Trunks in the main timeline in the Android Saga. However, she finally did during the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament.

Didn't she break his sword and then throw him at Vegeta?

[Marco Polo]

18 never actually fought Trunks in the main timeline in the Android Saga. However, she finally did during the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament.

Didn't she break his sword and then throw him at Vegeta?

OMG yeah I forgot about that

Well, I guess it's still kinda nice that 18 got to fight both Future Trunks and Present Trunks.

[Godo]

I thought it was a cool idea that the Z team had become so use to sensing ki that they had lost their skill for tracking using just their normal five senses.

When was this revealed? Sounds cool, but I haven't noticed/heard of this.

[Ookalf]

When was this revealed? Sounds cool, but I haven't noticed/heard of this.

I think ABED is refering to the beginning of the Android arc, when everyone's super surprised by the prospect of having to actually go down to the city and look for 19 and 20, rather than just sensing them by their ki from a distance.

[Kaboom]

When was this revealed? Sounds cool, but I haven't noticed/heard of this.

I think ABED is refering to the beginning of the Android arc, when everyone's super surprised by the prospect of having to actually go down to the city and look for 19 and 20, rather than just sensing them by their ki from a distance.

But even moreso later, when they're trying to hunt down Gero out in the wilderness but he's throwing them all for a loop by using the environment to hide.

[ABED]

When was this revealed? Sounds cool, but I haven't noticed/heard of this.

I think ABED is refering to the beginning of the Android arc, when everyone's super surprised by the prospect of having to actually go down to the city and look for 19 and 20, rather than just sensing them by their ki from a distance.

Yeah, it probably would've been better if I had been clearer. I was referring to the beginning of the Cyborg/Cell arc.

[mister yummy]

When Baba couldn't see the future of Earth in the Saiya-jin Saga, it was before Goku was fully wished back. At this point, the Saiya-jins would have destroed earth. Only the supernatural power of the wish changed that. Baba can't ee past the wish.

[ABED]

Goku fights first twice during the Cell arc, and loses both times. When the big gun loses and gives up, you know things are about to get rough. It's like a Justice League story where Superman is taking out at the beginning of the battle.

[Michsi]

I think I have mentioned this before but, one of my favorite things from the Cell Saga was Cell making the exact same mistake he berated Trunks for when he bulked up during his fight with Gohan.