Does it bother you when in…

Fantastische Hure

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battle-shōnens decade-long conflicts get solved by out-siders (the protagonists) who have nothing to do with it?

I can only think of 2 series right-now:

DragonBall - Goku defeated Freeza. Granted Goku is a Saiyan, but he was born on earth & wasn’t even under Freeza’s rule like Vegeta or the others.

One-Piece - Luffy in the Skypiea Saga or Dressrosa for Law.

It does seem bothersome to some though…maybe.
 

Warmmedown

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Not really. It didn't bother the inhabitants of Skypeia either. They literally needed Luffy or someone with haki to have a chance of winning, that's why it went on so long.

Vegeta's is different, since he could have feasibly defeated Freeza if he powered up a little more and went SSJ, but it still doesn't bother me. Vegeta's death was a great part of the story and seeing his suffering near to his death is part of his character's psychological story.

I suppose you can turn it on its head and imagine a random guy appearing and defeating Gero, like Trunks, and that wouldn't have seemed wrong. Or a random joe defeating Akainu in One Piece, I guess that would be a lost opportunity for a Sabo/Luffy vs Akainu victory, but that would be different to Vegeta because we read the story with Ace/Sabo/Luffy's revenge against Akainu in mind for a long time, whereas with Vegeta we only learnt of Vegeta's history with Freeza shortly before his death, so the One Piece one would be a lot more difficult to replace with something else on par with Luffy/Sabo defeating Akainu, for the audience, because we've anticipated it for much longer, whereas with Vegeta there was never any revenge anticipation because we never even knew. If we'd followed Vegeta's story from his childhood it would be different, although honestly I wouldn't mind still because I like Vegeta's story staying a tragedy for so long (until the Buu Saga, when he finds peace). I can't think of other characters like him, who have no place to call him and work hard and take risks yet fall short and can never get the victory that will finally put their ego at peace (until he eventually accepts that he doesn't have to be the lone strongest).
 

ahill1

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Sometimes I think the W could get achieved by someone else other than the protagonist, like Law finishing Doffy with the Gamma Knife and Luffy achieving G4 later on. But there's just no way in classic shounens like OP they'd get Luffy from the final hit... And they tried to make the matter for Luffy vs Doffy as personal as possible to Luffy too with him feeling the sadness of Rebecca and the whole country towards Doffy, like he did in Alabasta. And idk, although it maybe would be innovative and cool having the battle ending with the Gamma Knife, thinking back, it still would seem lacking... It'd seem we didn't get to see enough of Luffy and Doflamingo. And I think Oda knows this possible feeling fans may have towards the protagonist getting the final hit over other whose matters were more personal, but at the same time not taking from the established formula, he tries to make Law's contribution as meaningful as possible, with Luffy emphasizing it twice and Law helping to teleport Luffy to Doffy's site even at the very end of the battle, making a case to notice Doflamingo saw Law doing that and was aware he was there for his downfall.

Goku's seemed more open because he had never met Freeza... The first time he met him he was already in the final battle. There wasn't that hatred built up, there was more like a hype built up, ever since Kaio mentioned Freeza when Goku was going to Namek. But it also became very personal when Freeza killed Kuririn... Not for nothing many consider Goku vs Freeza one of the best rivalry, I think AT worked well with it all given Goku's and Freeza's limited knowledge of each other. It's also cool to some to see the ditched Saiyan, scoffed by Vegeta himself in the Saiyan's saga... Being the one to do the ultimate task... And for whom Vegeta begged to. It has a very meaningful and ironic value too.
 

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