There are many prolific anime series that have left their mark on the medium, but Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball has emerged as a permanent fixture of the shonen genre. Dragon Ball tells a traditional action-based story where protagonist Goku and his allies ward off evil threats who wish to harm the planet.
Dragon Ball has shown consistent change since its debut, whether in response to the series’ scope or the strength of its heroes and villains, which has helped the iconic series persevere for so long. Dragon Ball is considered a foundational action anime, but it still succumbs to certain stereotypes and clichés that are common within the medium.
10 Goku Always Gets To Be The Winner
One of the biggest recurring trends in Dragon Ball is that Goku is practically always the one who gets to seal the deal on the victory and celebrate the big win. Admittedly, Goku is Dragon Ball’s main character, but the series frequently embraces a teamwork approach to its battles.
Every other character’s development begins to carry less impact when it’s obvious that Goku is going to once again show up to save the day. Goku’s accomplishments are frequently worthy of celebration, but the series needs to share the love.
9 Deaths Are Reversed With The Dragon Balls
It’s an incredibly somber moment the first time that a character passes away in Dragon Ball. Shortly after, it’s made clear that the wish-granting powers of the Dragon Balls are able to bring people back to life, under the right circumstances. This is a rewarding prospect, but it routinely gets abused to the point where death has very little weight in the series.
Several characters, Goku included, have been resurrected on more than one occasion. Firmer restrictions needed to be established because now death just feels like a momentary setback.
8 Human Characters Will Never Be Important
One of the biggest shifts that are experienced in Dragon Ball is how the series progressively moves away from powerful human characters. When the anime begins, there are a wealth of human characters and it’s even unknown that Goku is a Saiyan. As the series continues, Saiyans become the most important characters and the human fighters slowly recede into the background.
Even the humans that remain, like Krillin and Master Roshi, feel perfunctory in nature. Fans want to see these characters become important again, but Dragon Ball has settled into territory that’s too strong for humans.
7 Goku Always Shows Sympathy Towards The Villain
There are a lot of important qualities that go into a hero and Goku is an individual who can tap into an aggressive fighting spirit, but is also often cavalier and lighthearted with his approach to combat. Goku understands that true evil must be destroyed, but he has a nasty habit of believing that most enemies are capable of redemption.
This has led to Goku rewarding villains with Senzu Beans and giving them unnecessary second chances, much to the frustration of his friends and the audience. It’s a bad habit that Goku can’t break.
6 Frieza Will Never Be Truly Gone
There is a wide range of creative villains who have attacked Goku and company in Dragon Ball, but the series repeatedly pushes the idea that Frieza is the ultimate antagonist. The rivalry that exists between Frieza, Goku, and Vegeta is palpable, as is Frieza’s poisonous history with the Saiyans.
Frieza has met his end on more than one occasion, yet Dragon Ball continually finds ways to bring him back. This reaches its apex in Dragon Ball Super when Frieza actually becomes a reluctant ally and is rewarded with his life.
5 The Introduction Of New Super Saiyan Forms & Transformations
One of the most satisfying moments in the entirety of Dragon Ball is when Goku turns into a Super Saiyan for the first time. This transformation forever changes the series and there have been many powerful new forms that follow in the footsteps of Super Saiyan.
These transformations are exciting, but it’s become somewhat repetitive as characters attain Super Saiyan 2, Super Saiyan 3, and beyond. It’s common practice for a new Super Saiyan transformation to be the key to victory and the audience is used to this development.
4 Vegeta’s Upper Hand On The Villain Becomes Pointless
The dynamic between Goku and Vegeta is one of Dragon Ball’s most rewarding relationships, but even it has fallen into a repetitive rut in some respects. There are many battles where Vegeta triumphantly shows up with a new technique or burst of power and it looks like he’s going to take out the enemy.
These turns of events almost always end with Vegeta’s luck quickly running out, him becoming humbled, and Goku ultimately picking up the slack. This pattern has reduced the impact of Vegeta’s attacks since it’s assumed they’ll fall short.
3 More Saiyans Will Always Emerge From The Woodwork
Planet Vegeta, the homeworld of the Saiyans, was destroyed by Frieza. This means that the warrior race is endangered and there is an extremely small number of survivors. Despite this tragedy, Dragon Ball continues to find ways to randomly insert more Saiyans into the story, with some instances, like Vegeta’s brother Tarble, feeling especially sloppy.
Audiences know that Saiyans are supposed to be scarce, yet it becomes less and less of a surprise whenever new Saiyans show up. This has become even more egregious with the many Saiyans from Universe 6.
2 The Earth Will Never Get Permanently Destroyed
Goku and company typically rise to the occasion when it comes to the protection of the Earth, but there are still a few rare instances where the heroes fail and the planet faces destruction.
This is a crazy turn of events when it first happens, but Dragon Ball has devised ways to reverse this decision, whether it’s through Whis’ convenient Temporal Do-Over or the infinite powers of Omni-King Zeno. The destruction of the Earth suddenly becomes irrelevant when the audience knows that it can just be reversed.
1 The Continued Rivalry That Exists Between Goku & Vegeta
Anime that have hundreds of episodes under their belt typically have the luxury of lengthy character development that’s a delight to play out. From the moment that Goku and Vegeta meet it becomes clear that they’re destined to be rivals that continually push each other to greater levels of power.
The friendly rivalry dynamic between Goku and Vegeta is deeply gratifying, but it’s also turned into a cliché. Fabricated arguments between the two of them and contrived reasons for why they can’t work as a team continue to arise.
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