Did Goku spare Freeza on Namek?

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

Ha, funny title, I know. When reading over the Trunks saga, Goku thanks Trunks for beating Freeza and his henchmen, then goes on to say "I was too soft on him...I should've finished him on Planet Namek." I found this to be interesting. Goku also makes it clear he was going to finish Freeza off for good if he got to Earth before Trunks did, so perhaps it's possible he initially expected Freeza to learn from his mistakes after the battle on Namek.

Was Goku's last attack on Freeza held-back to the point where he knew Freeza would be able to survive the blast? If Goku believes he should've finished him off in their battle, wouldn't this imply his blast wasn't intended to actually finish Freeza? Or was Goku simply referring to giving Freeza energy when he was talking about the "soft" part instead of just ending the battle there? Or something else?

[Savage68]

I think it's pretty simple, actually. On Namek, Goku fired a ki blast that he believed sufficient enough to kill Freeza. But he didn't use all of his power, because he figured that it'd get the job done. For a nearly-depleted Freeza, anyway. So when the time came for him to find out that Freeza survived... he curses himself for not simply using as much of his power as he could; being as thorough as he could've been.

[dbgtFO]

Was Goku's last attack on Freeza held-back to the point where he knew Freeza would be able to survive the blast? If Goku believes he should've finished him off in their battle, wouldn't this imply his blast wasn't intended to actually finish Freeza? Or was Goku simply referring to giving Freeza energy when he was talking about the "soft" part instead of just ending the battle there? Or something else?

1. I don't think it was, Goku looked down in agony like it was over immediately after firing the blast, so I don't think it was supposed to not kill Freeza. I just think Freeza was lucky(or not) to survive it.
2., 3. & 4. I think Goku was referring to him giving energy to Freeza.
And what Savage68 said.

[Super Vegito]

I personally believe the blast was nothing more than a counter attack, to deflect Frieza's blast and to put him in his place. Not intended to kill him.

However, knowing that the Frieza arc was where DBZ was suppose to end, it may have originally been a finishing blow that killed Frieza. Same can be said about Goku not dying during Namek's explosion. It's all for continuation purposes, that Akira Toriyama never originally intended.

[Godo]

However, knowing that the Freeza arc was where DBZ was suppose to end, it may have originally been a finishing blow that killed Freeza. Same can be said about Goku not dying during Namek's explosion. It's all for continuation purposes, that Akira Toriyama never originally intended.

Even though it's plausible, that's just a rumor.

[Kaboom]

I've always kind of taken it to mean, "I should have been more thorough." But Super Vegito's idea actually works best, I think. The blast wasn't necessarily intended to kill Freeza, but Goku thought it had. Either way, his distress later related to Trunks would then mean, "I should have actually made sure he was dead."

[Savage68]

However, knowing that the Freeza arc was where DBZ was suppose to end, it may have originally been a finishing blow that killed Freeza. Same can be said about Goku not dying during Namek's explosion. It's all for continuation purposes, that Akira Toriyama never originally intended.

We don't "know" that DB was meant to end with Freeza. At least not by the time it actually was ending. I mean, everyone believed that Goku was dead for... less than a chapter or so? There's no semblance of finality whatsoever there.

[Coola Yagami]

Seeing as Namek was about to explode, Goku probably figured if the blast didn't kill him the planet exploding sure as hell would have.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

Good points, everyone. I hadn't considered the idea of Goku's statement meaning he likely wasn't thorough enough in making sure Freeza was finished. That's interesting.