About humans in DB...

[Keedounan]

For the most part, AT doesn't seem to address the consequences of the actions of protagonists and antagonists alike on the normal people, even though Goku and the others never once bother to wipe the memory of anyone until Boo arc, and it was only done so Boo could walk on the streets without everyone losing their minds as soon as they see him. They didn't even seem to remember anyone from the main cast. You'd think anyone other than the King of Earth would remember Piccolo Daimao. Or the one who defeated him and participated in 3 Tenkaichi Budokais, even winning once. Or the Saiyans who blew up a whole city.

So, if you were to write the story in a way to make the regular humans more involved by the events of the manga, what would be your ideas? What would be the consequences of this increased involvment?

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

I'd think that's because these battles don't appear as easily to the public eye. The Saiyans nor Freeza ever got to announce they were destroying the World like Cell did, and during the Cell Games we actually got a page of the King of the World and others recognizing Goku and Piccolo.

Anime filler does helps with this partially by having the King acknowledge Goku's defeat of Piccolo and having news helicopters show up in the battlefield against Nappa, by the way.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

As GSM said, anime filler did a great job making society feel less distant from the main plot, particularly in the Piccolo Daimao and 23rd TB Arcs with it showing the fear and anarchy that came to them from Piccolo's rain and the panic of his return. The Saiyan Arc did things well in the anime too, though Yajirobe going to press conferences to talk about the Saiyans does raise some issues when it comes to the revelation to the world that alien life exists that would have huge repercussions on the plot. I'd say removing that part would work better as it'd retain the mystery amongst the population on what happened to East City.

The Cell Arc is where things become difficult to work with due to how little sense it makes for the events of superpowered warriors such as those at the 21st - 23rd TBs being basically labelled as fake news despite still being fresh in human memory as well as how human martial artists in general got nerfed is pretty bad writing. That said, I'd have added it being explained that the events of the 23rd TB almost destroying Papaya Island led to international restrictions on stronger martial artists with them being given mandatory conscriptions to enlist in the royal guard if publicly displaying superhuman abilities, something that would explain stronger martial artists fading away and this rule being disbanded after the Saiyans destroyed the planes showed they couldn't be enacted fully. There would also be more time provided to Mr. Satan giving his explanations and using his charisma to explain how Cell and Daimao's feats were "tricks".

 

[Emmeth]

Wow, a thought here.

The fact that people got their minds wiped so that Boo could live among them is an act of unspeakable crime on humanity. They have NO CHOICE but to forget everything which impedes on their free will. Yes, don't know about it but it's a decision taken by a group of people that think they know best. How do they live with themselves?
Also, how wasn't the Zet-Senshi's memories altered at all? Just because they were close to Shenron?

 

[Keedounan]

The Cell Arc is where things become difficult to work with due to how little sense it makes for the events of superpowered warriors such as those at the 21st - 23rd TBs being basically labelled as fake news despite still being fresh in human memory as well as how human martial artists in general got nerfed is pretty bad writing. That said, I'd have added it being explained that the events of the 23rd TB almost destroying Papaya Island led to international restrictions on stronger martial artists with them being given mandatory conscriptions to enlist in the royal guard if publicly displaying superhuman abilities, something that would explain stronger martial artists fading away and this rule being disbanded after the Saiyans destroyed the planes showed they couldn't be enacted fully. There would also be more time provided to Mr. Satan giving his explanations and using his charisma to explain how Cell and Daimao's feats were "tricks".

Those are interesting ideas as usual, CC, albeit the fresh memories of the aforementioned and the temporary implementation of the law on superhuman martial artists would still give Satan a hard time explaining away the damage done in the Cell Games through "tricks". Then again, you did say it wouldn't be easy.

Perhaps half of the earthlings would believe them because they need to cling onto something in order to make this seemingly hopeless situation more bearable, rather than out of genuine naivety. Wishful thinking, to sum it up. The other half would be more skeptical and at the end, refuse to believe Satan could be the one to defeat Cell after he got publicly one-shotted.

Wow, a thought here.

The fact that people got their minds wiped so that Boo could live among them is an act of unspeakable crime on humanity. They have NO CHOICE but to forget everything which impedes on their free will. Yes, don't know about it but it's a decision taken by a group of people that think they know best. How do they live with themselves?

To be fair, Boo's mere presence would cause panic at least as bad as what happened in King Piccolo's arc, if not more so given the stakes were even greater than they were back then and he did kill everyone on Earth. That's not really an ideal situation for anyone involved.

Another wish that affected everyone on Earth, but was somehow ignored in Super, was that bad guys wouldn't come back on Earth. Sure enough, criminality is still rampant enough for a superhuman martial artist like Krillin to get involved. What about the friends and families of the bad guys, which most likely included good people? Wouldn't they wonder why they were revived, but not their loved ones?
This could be an interesting element to expand on if society wasn't this distant from the events of the manga.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Those are interesting ideas as usual, CC, albeit the fresh memories of the aforementioned and the temporary implementation of the law on superhuman martial artists would still give Satan a hard time explaining away the damage done in the Cell Games through "tricks". Then again, you did say it wouldn't be easy.

It's worth noting the difference in power though. Martial artists being able to jump through the clouds or break walls with ease is indeed a great feat and something the general public would fear, but it's a far cry away from something like levelling an entire city which, at that point, only Piccolo Daimao was known to be capable of to the general public (as well as possibly his reincarnation if the information spread beyond first hand witnesses). Considering how unrefined knowledge of Ki was even amongst the more revered martial artists like Chappa with the exception of the Crane and Turtle schools, it would seem highly probable for people to be able to buy Ki blasts and more impressive destructive feats were a trick whilst still believing superhuman martial artists weren't a myth.

Perhaps half of the earthlings would believe them because they need to cling onto something in order to make this seemingly hopeless situation more bearable, rather than out of genuine naivety. Wishful thinking, to sum it up. The other half would be more skeptical and at the end, refuse to believe Satan could be the one to defeat Cell after he got publicly one-shotted.

That's a good idea as well. An additional aspect to help highlight the disconnect could be the sceptics being from the smaller locations Goku had first-hand interaction with such as Jingle Village whereas the larger cities he wasn't really active in would be more willing to go along with the lie, those knowledgeable and seeking objective truth becoming the vocal minority. An addition to that could also be the reverse from the larger locations, with them being sceptical of the idea people could really harness such power without additional aid due to living in more technologically advanced areas that Goku seldom had interaction with. It's a shame Toriyama never capitalised on this when he even serves the potential set up for this on a silver platter at the end of the Freeza Arc with it being revealed the public chalked up Porunga as a Capsule Corp. experiment, and it's not as though Goku's link to Bulma was treat as a secret at the 3 Budokai he participated in.

 

[Keedounan]

It's worth noting the difference in power though. Martial artists being able to jump through the clouds or break walls with ease is indeed a great feat and something the general public would fear, but it's a far cry away from something like levelling an entire city which, at that point, only Piccolo Daimao was known to be capable of to the general public (as well as possibly his reincarnation if the information spread beyond first hand witnesses). Considering how unrefined knowledge of Ki was even amongst the more revered martial artists like Chappa with the exception of the Crane and Turtle schools, it would seem highly probable for people to be able to buy Ki blasts and more impressive destructive feats were a trick whilst still believing superhuman martial artists weren't a myth.

That's fair enough.

That's a good idea as well. An additional aspect to help highlight the disconnect could be the sceptics being from the smaller locations Goku had first-hand interaction with such as Jingle Village whereas the larger cities he wasn't really active in would be more willing to go along with the lie, those knowledgeable and seeking objective truth becoming the vocal minority. An addition to that could also be the reverse from the larger locations, with them being sceptical of the idea people could really harness such power without additional aid due to living in more technologically advanced areas that Goku seldom had interaction with. It's a shame Toriyama never capitalised on this when he even serves the potential set up for this on a silver platter at the end of the Freeza Arc with it being revealed the public chalked up Porunga as a Capsule Corp. experiment, and it's not as though Goku's link to Bulma was treat as a secret at the 3 Budokai he participated in.

I like that idea. This could even serve to explain why Goku would be considered such a controversial figure in the Cell Games. He could be accused of having cheated in the past three Tenkaichi Budokais with performance-enhancing aid of some kind. After all, how else could a kid defeat renowned martial artists so easily? That's at least what some in the general public would think.

This would serve to tarnish the reputation of Capsule Corps enough for an investigation to be held. Obviously, this wouldn't yield much results, but getting the attention of authorities could at least serve to show meaningful consequences of the casts' actions before society and lead them to try and be more careful.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

After all, how else could a kid defeat renowned martial artists so easily? That's at least what some in the general public would think.

Also, it'd help add more to the change of a Junior Division being added to the Tenkaichi Budokai than just being a way for Videl to have had a prior tournament career.

 

[Future Warrior]

I think Toriyama just didn't want to go through the effort of having to deal with the complications of the Dragon Team's notoriety so he simply chose to leave it out in the story.