Dragon Ball: character analysis

[Keedounan]

Yamcha is probably one of the most relatable characters in the main cast, wearing clothes other than his combat gear, having grounded interests, like romance (until AT had him cheat for some reason), sports, is actually interested in earning more stable income than prize money, while most of the cast spend most of their time training and/or have no job, and actually suggests to use the wish for themselves since no one could think of a wish to do in Cell arc, before letting Krillin do his own when the others silently stared at him for suggesting a non-selfless wish (some self-righteous shit in other words).
However, as the others pointed out, AT reduced him to the memetic loser of the series, making him only useful to distract villains and heal wounded characters, having him take an OOC decision to open the room for the Bulma x Vegeta couple, and overall slowly destroying any depth he had in Part I. Yamcha isn't as much a bad character than a hideously mistreated one. The poor guy.

3/10.

 

[Keedounan]

Yamcha's score: 2,25/10

It's Krillin' time.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Kuririn is pretty underrated, being one of the best developed and consistent characters in the cast. Even during his debut arc, he was easily the most interesting member of the cast due to his lack of confidence being a flaw most could relate to and made him far less overpowered than the other main characters. Moreso to this is him being an excellent foil to Goku in a similar way to what Bulma was in the previous arc; Kuririn is weaker but smarter and a pervert compared to the pure hearted Goku. It also helps he was one of the few heroes to use his brains in battle more than his brawn, such as throwing some panties to distract Jackie Chun.
More importantly in regard to his lack of confidence, it was also executed in a way that made it constant whilst still making him seemed developed. His performance at the Budokai would boost his confidence, but in becoming overconfident against opponents such as Dracula Man or Piccolo, it'd return to the status-quo without seeming like poor characterisation.
The only thing I could see as being damaging to his character is Yamcha's trait of wanting to get married being placed on Kuririn at the start of Z due to Toriyama likely getting bored of Wolf jobber by then. However, it seems like a natural progression of his initial goal of wanting to become a martial artist to hook up with chicks. Due to this goal, Kuririn is also one of the few characters to gain some sort of catharsis by the end by marrying #18.
If I were to sum up the best aspect of Kuririn's character, it's his relatability to most. He isn't the best at what he does, but he'll try his hardest to play what role he's ideal for. It's pretty funny that the pretentious overthinkers overrate protagonists like Deku from My ripoff Academia or deuteragonists like Genos from One Joke Man as some sort of subversion for not lacking confidence or being ashamed of their weaknesses when Kuririn was doing the exact same decades before them and executing it far better.

Kuririn is a character that I have practically nothing but praise for. I may even go as far as to say his character development was the best of the manga, at least in terms of consistency and pacing (why I don't give that to Piccolo or Vegeta, I'll go into eventually).

7/10

 

[Keedounan]

While I admit that I can't appreciate Krillin as much due to the fact I didn't reach/watch much about Part I (my loss !), I can still recognize that his character is one of the most consistent and well-written in the series. The treatment he gets from most of the fandom is partially justified by the fact that a too large amount of people never read/watched part I or barely remember, which is too bad, because his character is mostly developped there.
Krillin is, alongside Yamcha, one of the most relatable characters in the manga. Plus, he has pretty much gone from the guy who fights because he wanted to impress some chicks to the guy who fights because he is willing to help his friends despite being aware of his own weakness, making him the most relevant human character in the series (aside from Bulma and perhaps Tien).

In a sense, Krillin manage to be both relatable and admirable. That's the best kind of hero you could write in my opinion. Too bad that he isn't the main character.

6,5/10.

 

[SSJ2]

I quite like Krillin. He was a very prominent character in part 1, and even throughout the first two arcs of part 2. Obviously with the Saiyans taking over, he loses out on the spotlight after that. While I resent it, you can't fault Krillin's character for it.

6.5/10

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Too bad that he isn't the main character.

If anything, I'd say not being the protagonist made him more appealing. Having an underconfident protagonist has become too much of a common theme in manga nowadays, what with Shonenshit like Boku no ripoff Academia and a wave of harem series. It'd probably lead to Kuririn becoming overpowered as well, at which point he'd lose his key qualities.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Krillin went from Goku's rival, to his friend and his 1st death kicked off King Piccolo arc which was a huge deal back then. He also managed to survived against the Saiyan, Frieza's henchmens and played his role very well in Namek arc. His second death triggered Goku's infamous SSjin transformation and since then went on to fight the Androids which he found his wife and settle down in Boo arc as a family man. He then came out from retirement to join ToP but was quickly eliminated. To me, he had his moment and managed to settle down perfectly and got a job. :Krillin

7.5/10

 

[Keedounan]

Too bad that he isn't the main character.

If anything, I'd say not being the protagonist made him more appealing. Having an underconfident protagonist has become too much of a common theme in manga nowadays, what with Shonenshit like Boku no ripoff Academia and a wave of harem series. It'd probably lead to Kuririn becoming overpowered as well, at which point he'd lose his key qualities.

Fair enough, I guess.

 

[Keedounan]

Krillin's score: 6,875/10

Let's rate Tenshinhan

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Dude was great as Goku's equal during the 22nd Budokai but was quickly overshadowed by King Piccolo arc while Goku went on to get stronger and Tien never managed to catch Goku ever again. He's nothing but a generic fighter to me and never had a character development after Saiyan arc when Nappa tortured the hell out of him.

2/10

 

[SSJ2]

Started out as an interesting character. He was a good threat in the 22nd, and showed character in the Piccolo Daimao arc, but he pretty well becomes irrelvant the second he battled Piccolo Daimao. Like was he really so dumb as to not notice that massive crack on the rice cooker? He could have done away with Piccolo then and there, but his stupidity let him down. From there on, he was irrelevant for the rest of the series, only noteworthy thing being defeating a Saibaman, as well as stalling Cell.

1.5/10

 

[Keedounan]

Tenshinhan used to be interesting. In the past, he actually wanted to become a sociopathic murderer like Tao. However, fighting in the tournament made him realize that he was never meant to be one, as unlike Tao, he has a conscience and honor. At first a cocky jerk who tends to antagonize and underestimate his opponents, he became more humble, stoic, as well as one of Goku's friends and rivals.

Unfortunately, he loses all kind of interest in Part I as a character, appearing only to perform badass feats or/and sacrifice himself. To be honest, he was never truly a character that I liked much.

2/10.

 

[Papasmurf]

Yeah he sucks, only ever appearing to recklessly challenge an enemy since the arc just after his debut and summarily get one-shotted (or defeat himself with a suicidal move). Pretty much Yamcha 2.0, only people overrate him near Broly levels.

1/10

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Tenshinhan was a classic case of good ideas and poor execution. Even at his most interesting, his introduction at the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, he wasn't that engaging as a character. His only motivation was avenging Taopaipai, which was shown to not even be that strong a motivation by the time he fought Goku, seeing how quickly he abandoned it in a very rushed and cheesy manner. His role in the Piccolo Daimao Arc was interesting due to him being the deuteragonist, but ruined by him being so dumb as to not even check the quality of the smashed Denshi Jar when all his hopes lay in the Mafuba. After this, he was just an eternal jobber, only gaining meaningless victories. His win against Taopaipai meant nothing to his character due to him having already abandoned the Tsuru Sennin school entirely and his win against a Saibaiman had no effect on the plot compared to Kuririn's win or Yamcha's loss. The only point of relevance for him in Z also comes off as an asspull, as not only did he unveil a technique beyond the power of a Super Saiyan, but never so much as attempted it against #17, making him look like a complete idiot.
Outside of battle, his role as a character was very limited. Not only was the potential for romance with Lunch very forced on her part, but also went nowhere. It also doesn't help Tenshinhan's character was so lacking in personality that he had no role beyond battle and most of his traits were passed onto Piccolo once Ten became irrelevant in the Freeza Arc (Piccolo referring to Goku as "Son" like Ten does whilst referring to him as "Son Goku" before his death against Nappa, as well as being the stoic of the main cast Tenshithands once was).

Overall, a character like Ten truly has earned the nickname Tenshithands for being a character with poorly explained motivations and a personality with so little layers it's entirety can be passed on to characters as additional personality traits.

1/10

 

[Keedounan]

A spot-on analysis as always, CC.

As expected, Tenshinhan has the lowest rating yet. I'm not even going to bother with Chaozu, who manage to be an even flatter character than him.

 

[Keedounan]

Tien's score: 1,5/10 (ouch!)

Enter our favorite Big Green, Piccolo,

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Piccolo is one of the best characters in the series. Although his role in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai was a step down from his father due to getting even more obvious in being evil for the sake of evil, the Saiyan Arc made up for it easily. His development can be seen from the start, even without Kami saying so through exposition, as we see him having not gone on a rampage since the 23rd TB. He's actually one of the few characters Toriyama bothered to provide subtlety for as his line to Gohan of "Curse your fate, just as I do" offers a large insight into how and why his character developed as he did. Piccolo was a character with some level of existential doubt, having used those 5 years to reflect on his purpose beyond being Daimao's legacy of vengeance. His sacrifice against Nappa was also one of the best moments of the series not only due to his relationship with Gohan being well paced and the fact it removed the plot armour of the Dragon Balls for the arc's finale, but also allowed his character development to become whole.
However, after the Saiyan Arc, Piccolo's character was pretty lacklustre. All his further development is artificial due to purely coming from him fusing with other Namekians. Regardless of what Nail may say, the way Piccolo's changed in 6 days makes it clear this was more of a character rewrite than development. It also doesn't help that these attempts of making Piccolo relevant were just short term ones that didn't change anything in the arc's plot and just resulted in him getting stomped back into irrelevance once the main villain went through a single power up. It also doesn't help in this artificial "development" resulting in a far more bland character, as he didn't even attempt to be proactive after the Cell Arc.

6/10

Also, are we including Piccolo Daimao in this? If so, I'll make a separate analysis of his character.

 

[Keedounan]

Piccolo is one of the best characters in the series. Although his role in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai was a step down from his father due to getting even more obvious in being evil for the sake of evil, the Saiyan Arc made up for it easily. His development can be seen from the start, even without Kami saying so through exposition, as we see him having not gone on a rampage since the 23rd TB. He's actually one of the few characters Toriyama bothered to provide subtlety for as his line to Gohan of "Curse your fate, just as I do" offers a large insight into how and why his character developed as he did. Piccolo was a character with some level of existential doubt, having used those 5 years to reflect on his purpose beyond being Daimao's legacy of vengeance. His sacrifice against Nappa was also one of the best moments of the series not only due to his relationship with Gohan being well paced and the fact it removed the plot armour of the Dragon Balls for the arc's finale, but also allowed his character development to become whole.
However, after the Saiyan Arc, Piccolo's character was pretty lacklustre. All his further development is artificial due to purely coming from him fusing with other Namekians. Regardless of what Nail may say, the way Piccolo's changed in 6 days makes it clear this was more of a character rewrite than development. It also doesn't help that these attempts of making Piccolo relevant were just short term ones that didn't change anything in the arc's plot and just resulted in him getting stomped back into irrelevance once the main villain went through a single power up. It also doesn't help in this artificial "development" resulting in a far more bland character, as he didn't even attempt to be proactive after the Cell Arc.

6/10

Also, are we including Piccolo Daimao in this? If so, I'll make a separate analysis of his character.

Piccolo Daimao isn't included, since they're technically different. But I certainly don't mind if you do anyways. If anything, I would like it just to make justice to an underrated villain.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

So I guess he's not getting his own turn then?

Anyway, Daimao was a villain with many highs and lows. Though it was great to see him as a great threat by Goku getting stomped, it wasn't that astounding when considering it, and many elements of the arc, were rehashes of the Taopaipai section of the RRA Arc. His 1-dimensional evil attitude was also damaging, though the execution of his plans and his ideas made up for it. The idea of a villain wanting to see humanity destroy itself through it's own desires and the freedom of the people made him a more interesting villain with a more original goal than almost any other DB villain, since they tend to have little scope to their goals beyond dominion over creation or destruction of all. However, this is the only layer beyond being a generic bad guy, so while I'd say he's a contender to Freeza's place of best DB Villain, he's still slightly above generic due to Toriyama's desire to never go psychological or very layered with his villains' character, which is damaging for one ripe with potential for such especially.

5.5/10

 

[Keedounan]

I frankly don't know what to say that doesn't feel like a rehash of CC's analysis.

Piccolo is one of the my favorite characters in DB Universe, as he has gone through character development, from cartoonish villain to the stoic jerk with a soft spot that serves as a parental substitute for Gohan, and although Nail and Kami certainly favored this, I wouldn't talk about character rewrite, since the differences were pretty subtle to me (or maybe I didn't notice ?). Still, I would have preferred that his personality changed without any kind of artificial interference.
And unforunately, as every non-Saiyan, he gets neglected by Toriyama, whether it's in fighting, or in character writing.

Still, Piccolo is the coolest Big Green.

6/10.

As for Piccolo Daimao, although his goal of letting the world die by itself is certainly more interesting than the classic world domination/destruction, his lack of subtelety about wanting to do evil for the sake of it makes him a pretty straightforward villain without much depth. Then again, DB villains in general tend to lack depth. However, Piccolo Daimao is more competent than most of them (ex: I really liked the moment he checked Goku's heartbeat), which earns him some points.

5/10.