Best Villain Redemption Arc

[Wrigglything]

Out of all the ones in this franchise, which ones do you guys think was handled best? I personally enjoy the Majin Buu stuff, but Piccolo was excellent too.

[MasenkoHA]

Piccolo hands down. Tenshinhan is a close second but I really liked Piccolo bonding with his sworn enemy's son and laying his life down for him.

[Lord Beerus]

Piccolo gets my vote. Bonus point for his death having the biggest impact on the plot of Dragon Ball.

[ATA]

Piccolo. Vegeta stole his own flow. Word for word bar for bar.


All jokes aside. If we count Piccolo and King Piccolo as the same character, Piccolo had a good character Arc. From the demon king to a protective Godfather to training his God-granddaughter. I wish his Namekian side was explored more in Z. Would've been nice to see how he interacted with other Namekians. Lastly a nice introduction in Superhero was the fact Nail and Kami memories influence Piccolo till this day.

[Xeogran]

I like Android 17's, because he just casually did his own redemption on the side. That's so in his style.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Piccolo is my favorite redemption, i like that he went from being merely the late demon king's reincarnation (albeit not quite to the same level even then) and Goku's rival to one of the heroes as a result of the friendship/bond he formed with Gohan. The part where he took the bullet by shielding him from Nappa's attack was a great moment. Then he softens even further as the series goes on.

[Dr. Casey]

Vegeta is both my favorite and the one I have the most mixed feelings towards. I do love the very slow, granular changes that take place across a period of around 11 years. Cell Saga Vegeta is no longer a villain, but he's still a total piece of garbage who's honestly not much (any?) better than the actual arc villain. Buu Saga Vegeta is no longer a piece of shit, but he is an asshole (speaking of the beginning parts of the saga here prior to his Majin regression). GT develops this nicely by having him change further into a genuinely kind, mellow person who loves family life. The transition works for me overall, though there's times where I have a bit of an "eh, I dunno if someone who remorselessly commits genocide for decades could ever develop a heart and a conscience" feeling. The feeling isn't strong enough to keep it from being my overall favorite redemption arc though.

Piccolo's is also great and has more logical consistency. Not only was his evil nature and behavior somewhat more moderate than Vegeta's to begin with, but he literally becomes a different person during the Cell saga. I enjoy his characterization in the Buu arc as someone that's gruff and a little bit strict, but nothing worse than that. His strict but reasonable treatment of Goten and Trunks compared to his outright abuse of Gohan back in the day reminds me of a grandparent that's softened with age but was a lot harsher as a parent.

Tenshinhan's is also really good. It's fun looking back at how much more intense and somewhat sinister he seemed during the 22nd Budokai. He radiated with a sort of low-key anger all the time.

Yamcha's and Krillin's redemption arcs were also good for what they were (even if Krillin didn't have much to redeem himself from since he was never anything worse than just a mild jerk), though highly abbreviated and of course not meant to be as powerful since they took place when the story was just a lighthearted breezy adventure comedy.

[Majin Buu]

In no particular order:

1. Piccolo, for the same reasons given.

2. Vegeta. I like how his redemption isn't smooth like Piccolo's and Tenshinhan's and involves him relapsing from time to time. Even when he's on the good guy's side, he's remains a wild card that could decide to help the villains if it served his interests, which makes sense for someone that started out as an outright villain himself.

3. Fat Buu. I like how Mr. Satan bumbled his way into redeeming him when he was initially trying to kill him, and I like how all it took was someone being nice to Buu and telling him that killing is wrong (a punchline that doubles as a genuinely great character moment for Satan). I also like that it involved Buu having to experience the pain seeing people he cares about being harmed by wanton murderers killing for fun- Like he himself was until this point. For a moment he gets a taste of what he's been inflicting on others for his entire existence.

[Anonymous Friend]

I like Piccolo's as he comes around due to having to care for someone else for his own survival after baring living through the encounter with Raditz. I like Vegeta because he had to be broken and beat down multiple times before he started to see. And he even recessed, only to realize that old life was what he really wanted anymore. Then him admitting Goku was better.

But I think Tien's the more realistic and relatable one. He was living his life with his masters, doing as they instructed. He was getting constant praise for his ability. And he worked hard for it. Then he came across Roshi and Goku who showed him there was other ways than just what his mentors had taught him. With that different perspective, he made the desicion to change.

[ABED]

I go back and forth on this. I love Vegeta's arc, both the steps forward and steps back, and I also love Piccolo's. I feel like Piccolo has a smaller mountain to climb though. He's the son of evil incarnate, so he doesn't have complete volition. That said, knowing where he starts, and the moment where he gives his life for Gohan still makes me emotional.

[StevenPiccolo]

I don't know about best, because I like all of them, but Vegeta's is the only one that really keeps me on my toes and goes to very unexpected places. Even as someone who unironically loves the power of friendship and love, it was exciting to see how reluctant Vegeta is to become an ally, and I feel that he is never done changing.

[Ashur]

I agree with the general sentiment of Piccolo being the best example, he is a redemption arc done perfectly, especially considering how evil he was before, Toriyama did a great job.

I'm also a big fan of Tenshinhan's change, even if it isn't as dramatic as Piccolo's, he did come first and it's nice that it is a similar arc but with smaller stakes, more tied to the honor of a martial artist rather than the villain having existential doubts.

I also have a soft spot for Beerus' change, not sure if we could call it a full-on "redemption", but it's nice to see how much he has warmed up to Goku and his friends.

[Zephyr]

I'd probably go with Piccolo's, mainly because it occurs inside probably the strongest part of the story. I'm currently really enjoying Freeza's ongoing one.

[Jord]

I like Android 17's, because he just casually did his own redemption on the side. That's so in his style.

Makes it all the more tragic when he fused with Hell 17 to become Super 17. They hinted throughout the Saga that the original held back though.

Piccolo seems like most logical pick though.