What is the darkest moment/theme in Dragon Ball?

[Son Edo]

Goku burying Vegetas body is my most darkest to pick from.

[Shiyonasan]

I always thought Goku's nightmare in Z Episode 139 was pretty dark, even though it was just a dream:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0SxDakI ... re=related

Also, after watching the Buu arc via the Dragon Boxes, I didn't realize just how many dark scenes there are in that arc. Although it's not as dark as some of the other arcs in Z, it does have its fair share of dark moments, such as the death of that one gunman by Buu.

[JakeisVegeta]

The entire Freeza saga has Toriyama letting out all of his dark shit. We've got genocide, gory deaths, the most twisted villain in DB history, and just the most twisted/sad moments in all of Dragon Ball.
1. Cargo's death
2. Dodoria ripping a Namek's guts out
3. Vegeta slaughtering a village (best filler ever)
4. Nail's arm being ripped off
5. Kuririn's impalement
6. Dende's death
7. Vegeta's torture
8. Vegeta's plea to Goku/Death
9. Kuririn's death
All of them in the same, twisted saga. (Which is why it's one of the better sagas)

[DBZ Mick]

The 22nd Budokai is where, IMO, it starts becoming somewhat darker. Lots of death, people fighting for revenge...

Kuririn's death post 22nd Budokai was the best twist that Toriyama did, I love how it was handled it the anime. You knew something was up when we kept getting focus on Kuririn especially as he ran off to get Goku's stuff...

I think the whole end of the Saiyan-Freeza saga was particularly dark. Everybody getting killed, God dying so no more Dragonballs, and then on Namek, Gohan and Kuririn have to be sooo careful not to slip up and make a mistake.

Trunks' future. 17 and 18 of that time were monsters! Really wish they had some of that in the main timeline because they never felt like a threat.

Cell absorbing people and Piccolo torturing Goku at the end of the 23rd Budokai as people have mentioned. Oh and Oozaru Vegeta torturing Son as well.

Boo with chocolate on his lips and knowing that it's actual a person...

[Drayenko]

It has to be when Piccolo Daimaku kills Shen Long and all that saga. It felt like there was no hope. It is probably my favorite.

[Majin Buu]

Surprised no one has mentioned this yet:

The two humans that shot Buu's dog and later Mr.Satan. In their first scene they shoot an elderly couple dead and then revel about how awesome it feels to kill someone. At this point, these two mere humans with no exceptional abilities are more evil than the Big Bad himself (that quickly changes though). In a series where the exceptionally evil ones are usually non-humans that use ki blasts to kill people and blow up cities and planets, it's noteworthy and kind of disturbing to see regular, normal people being just as evil and heinous by randomly murdering innocent people, just for the hell of it, with normal looking guns. I personally consider the scenes with these two guys some of the darkest moments in the entire series.

[Fin]

Surprised no one has mentioned this yet:

The two humans that shot Buu's dog and later Mr.Satan. In their first scene they shoot an elderly couple dead and then revel about how awesome it feels to kill someone. At this point, these two mere humans with no exceptional abilities are more evil than the Big Bad himself (that quickly changes though). In a series where the exceptionally evil ones are usually non-humans that use ki blasts to kill people and blow up cities and planets, it's noteworthy and kind of disturbing to see regular, normal people being just as evil and heinous by randomly murdering innocent people, just for the hell of it, with normal looking guns. I personally consider the scenes with these two guys some of the darkest moments in the entire series.

they were mentioned in the op. i agree that those scenes are a serious contender for darkest in the series. certainly i'd consider them the darkest of the z era storylines.