Dragon Ball: character analysis
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Freeza is possibly the best villain in the franchise, with Piccolo Daimao being the only contender for that spot, but does that make him a great character?
During his debut, he was a lot more entertaining than the other villains due to his polite and formal speech creating a duality between his eloquence and personality, making him far more effective as an interesting villain than previous megalomaniac brutes. His nature of quickly disposing of those who failed him and killing those who got in his way such as Cargo showed he was far more serious about his goals than previous arrogant villains. His role in the plot and ties to Vegeta and Goku made the conflict with him a lot more personal to the characters than any villain to follow as well.
However, this is somewhat tarnished by his attitude in the battle with the heroes. No longer is he the no-nonsense boss he was at the start or the eloquent charmer, but an arrogant villain who just acts spoilt whenever he's surpassed like Vegeta did in the Saiyan Arc. This is somewhat excused with the introduction of King Cold making it so that Freeza's attitude is purely a result of his nurturing, but the problem is that we never get a good insight into the specifics of this due to their deaths coming shortly after. Even in Super, we only get a glimpse of this, and Freeza's role isn't enough for me to say he's improved as a character due to it just seeming like the logical route his character would take.
5.5/10
During his debut, he was a lot more entertaining than the other villains due to his polite and formal speech creating a duality between his eloquence and personality, making him far more effective as an interesting villain than previous megalomaniac brutes. His nature of quickly disposing of those who failed him and killing those who got in his way such as Cargo showed he was far more serious about his goals than previous arrogant villains. His role in the plot and ties to Vegeta and Goku made the conflict with him a lot more personal to the characters than any villain to follow as well.
However, this is somewhat tarnished by his attitude in the battle with the heroes. No longer is he the no-nonsense boss he was at the start or the eloquent charmer, but an arrogant villain who just acts spoilt whenever he's surpassed like Vegeta did in the Saiyan Arc. This is somewhat excused with the introduction of King Cold making it so that Freeza's attitude is purely a result of his nurturing, but the problem is that we never get a good insight into the specifics of this due to their deaths coming shortly after. Even in Super, we only get a glimpse of this, and Freeza's role isn't enough for me to say he's improved as a character due to it just seeming like the logical route his character would take.
5.5/10
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Frieza is the first villain where gave us a big feel arc, a must see arc and the most evil villain in history according to Goku himself which is undeniable imo. One of the reason of SSjin Goku transformation, gave us that best final fight and much more. Although he's been treated trash after his 1st death, his 2nd return wasn't really that interesting along with him surpassing the likes of Boo arc tiers in 4 months but still managed get his ass kicked by Vegeta which is a GOAT moment worthy. His recent return in ToP is one of the most exciting, interesting going on right now especially with his unpredictability at the moment.
8.5/10
8.5/10
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At first, Freeza was a villain with a subdued and polite exterior that contrasts with his psychopathic side, which, in addition to making him intimidating, makes him entertaining to witness. He was also kind of pragmatic, berating Zarbon for beating Vegeta to near-death when he knows where is the dragon ball he had, and called the Ginyu Force even though Zarbon called it an overkill, simply because he felt the Z-Fighters weren't to be underestimated. However, once he does fight the heroes himself, in order to justify them being able to hold out for so long despite the huge power gap, AT had him toy with the heroes, making him look like an idiot in retrospect. His undignified death at Trunks' hand didn't earn him much points. Freeza deserved better than being treated like this.
One thing that he has over the others villains, however, is the personal conflicts he has with the protagonists. He manipulated and slaughtered Vegeta's entire race, exterminated Piccolo's race, murdered Goku's best friend in front of him and threatened to do the same to his son. The three of them have every reason to hate his guts, which makes the conflict on Namek all the more compelling, especially on Vegeta's side.
Freeza is by far my favorite villain. Does it make him good ? Not really, but he's still decent.
5/10.
One thing that he has over the others villains, however, is the personal conflicts he has with the protagonists. He manipulated and slaughtered Vegeta's entire race, exterminated Piccolo's race, murdered Goku's best friend in front of him and threatened to do the same to his son. The three of them have every reason to hate his guts, which makes the conflict on Namek all the more compelling, especially on Vegeta's side.
Freeza is by far my favorite villain. Does it make him good ? Not really, but he's still decent.
5/10.
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Freeza >ahill1 said:
and that's all that matters 
As for Cell, he's a villain of wasted potential. The idea of a villain being a mix of several other characters on paper seems interesting due to the unique blends that could be created, but instead we're treated to simply a copy of another character depending on the form. 1st form Cell is just Piccolo, relying mainly on intelligence and planning. 2nd form is Vegeta, overly arrogant and obsessive in his goals. Perfect Cell is at least seemingly a mix between Goku and Freeza due to having an honourable but villainous nature, however, this is ruined once Gohan overpowers him and he starts ranting about "muh Perfection", essentially becoming a far less interesting version of Freeza.
This is made worse by the fact that Cell's concept had such great potential that was unfulfilled. A villain that was the combination of heroes and villains could've allowed the cast to have some introspection on themselves due to him vicariously being the product of their actions, or the multiple personality traits within Cell could've given him some inner conflict or existential crisis on what he truly desired, but since Toriyama doesn't like to make his story psychological, we're instead given a generic bad guy with a cool design; complete style over substance. Also, him not realising Piccolo would just regenerate when Big Green was who he inherited the skill from and just infodumped all the mystery of his character to him was perhaps the dumbest villain decision in the entire manga.
Being a waste of good ideas to overall make a complete hack of a villain, I'd go as far as to say Cell was the worst of the manga's 5 most prominent villains.
1.5/10
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I think the story of how he came to be because the editor didn't like the design of the androids before him and how he was forced to transform twice because the editor didn't like his first form (or the one after that) is more interesting than the character itself.
In fact, even the Funimation dub giving him different voices for each form (not the corny lines they spoke though!) is more personality than this dumbass shows on the actual Japanese series imo. It's almost ironic that AT himself forgot Cell's formerly cunning and careful personality in his first form by the time his character arc ended, because Future Seru is pretty much Full Power Perfect Cell except dumber and a lot weaker
2/10
In fact, even the Funimation dub giving him different voices for each form (not the corny lines they spoke though!) is more personality than this dumbass shows on the actual Japanese series imo. It's almost ironic that AT himself forgot Cell's formerly cunning and careful personality in his first form by the time his character arc ended, because Future Seru is pretty much Full Power Perfect Cell except dumber and a lot weaker
2/10
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She just went from a bad guy to a good guy with a very small character development. She has a very few moment where I felt like its a forced maybe its just me feeling cringe on every anime love character in general. The only highlight of her character was whipping Vegeta's ass.
1.5/10
1.5/10
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#18 is the most interesting of the Artificial Humans due to having some sort of character arc due to being an innocent girl turned into a villain before becoming a good guy. However, the potential for it is ruined by most of this development not only taking place off-screen, but resulting in her being shelved as a character with her just becoming another housewife and her only active role after stomping Vegeta being her fight with "Mighty Mask" and Mr. Satan, fights that in no way drove the plot or character development and just served to waste time. It also reduced her to simply being a psuedo-tsundere with the quirk of being obsessed with money, rather than offering any complexity to her character. Still better than Cell due to actually having some sort of character arc, but not by much.
2.5/10
2.5/10
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Boo is often snubbed as the worst of DBZ's main three villains, as well as of the manga's 5 most significant villains (Piccolo Daimao, Vegeta, Freeza, Cell and him), but is that true?
Fat Boo was fairly interesting by having far more of a character arc than any main villain other than Vegeta, having an internal conflict and being changed by Mr. Satan's guidance, making him at least a better character than Cell. However, the interest in this is ruined by the conflict becoming personified and simplified by his good and evil parts.
Once he becomes Evil Boo, he becomes far less interesting. His attitude of just wanting to fight and kill didn't offer anything of worth or originality, with this being amplified by becoming a Cell clone later by absorbing characters and using the abilities of other characters. It's made even worse by his intelligence getting nerfed despite the fact it should've improved massively through Piccolo and Gohan (eg. believing steam to hide himself would work when both he and Vegetto can sense Ki). The only interesting part of him was him retaining some level of his development as Fat Boo by acknowledging his friendship with Satan.
Pure Boo is easily the least interesting of the three main Boos. Along with existing purely as an asspull due to Toriyama not doing the logical thing and making Boo revert to Pure Evil Boo (the grey Boo), Pure Boo is just Evil Boo without even a shred of personality or intelligence that exists only for Goku to be the hero. Terrible idea just to appease the fans.
Fat/Good Boo - 5/10
Evil Boo - 1.5/10
Pure Boo - 1/10
2.5/10 overall. Still a better villain than Cell.
Fat Boo was fairly interesting by having far more of a character arc than any main villain other than Vegeta, having an internal conflict and being changed by Mr. Satan's guidance, making him at least a better character than Cell. However, the interest in this is ruined by the conflict becoming personified and simplified by his good and evil parts.
Once he becomes Evil Boo, he becomes far less interesting. His attitude of just wanting to fight and kill didn't offer anything of worth or originality, with this being amplified by becoming a Cell clone later by absorbing characters and using the abilities of other characters. It's made even worse by his intelligence getting nerfed despite the fact it should've improved massively through Piccolo and Gohan (eg. believing steam to hide himself would work when both he and Vegetto can sense Ki). The only interesting part of him was him retaining some level of his development as Fat Boo by acknowledging his friendship with Satan.
Pure Boo is easily the least interesting of the three main Boos. Along with existing purely as an asspull due to Toriyama not doing the logical thing and making Boo revert to Pure Evil Boo (the grey Boo), Pure Boo is just Evil Boo without even a shred of personality or intelligence that exists only for Goku to be the hero. Terrible idea just to appease the fans.
Fat/Good Boo - 5/10
Evil Boo - 1.5/10
Pure Boo - 1/10
2.5/10 overall. Still a better villain than Cell.
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#17
Nothing really special. His personality was just your stock arrogant villain who believes nobody can pose a threat to him and most of the events that possibly influenced this were treat as offscreen statements. Doesn't also help that his design was extremely uncreative, making even #19 and #20 seem like amazing designs. His role in Super has improved his character somewhat, though not by enough I'd say he's a good character, seeing as how he shows very little changes in terms of his way of thinking, such as still rushing in without a plan.
2/10
Chichi
Was somewhat interesting when reappearing at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai as a female fighter, though got quickly shafted into housewife position and acted more as an obstacle in Gohan's way. Although her role as a mother makes some of her actions justified, the extreme her characterisation is taken to, even if excluding Toei's hyperbolic treatment, was still enough to make her feel like an annoying caricature (eg. stepping on and over an injured Galu to get to Gohan after the battle with Vegeta). Had decent potential, but was ruined to a joke.
1/10
Lunch
Literally only existed for a gag that became unfunny 2 chapters after it first appeared and for fanservice for the extremely short amount of time Bulma wasn't part of the plot. Her love for Tenshithands was also poorly implemented, coming out of nowhere and was the potential for romance was the only reason she had for staying in the plot. It's no wonder Toriyama removed her from the plot in Z.
1/10 (would be 0/10 but I'll professional and keep 1/10 as the minimum)
Mr. Satan
Satan is a very underrated and overlooked character. His role as a comic relief in the Cell Games wasn't anything too great, but decent. It was the Boo Arc where he shined as the best aspect of the entire arc. His friendship with Boo along with overcoming obstacles through his opportunistic thinking and luck were infinitely more interesting than the rest of the cast extending the plot through multiple asspull power ups. Seeing him develop from a pompous liar to a good supporting character, whilst could've been executed better, still made him the most interesting character in the arc by far and one of the most engaging in the series.
5.5/10
Oolong
Oolong was engaging during the first arc, being another one of the selfish characters that help make the plot a subversion of typical heroic band stories and his perverted and sneaky nature making him a good foil for Bulma and Goku respectively. It was also great to see him be the one to save the day by foiling Pilaf's plan, showing again the Hunt for the Dragon Balls Arc's strength in allowing all the cast to be relevant.
However, he quickly became irrelevant after this, being cheapened to just a joke teller at a far faster rate than Roshi did. This is made even worse by his shapeshifting giving him the potential to be of great use in the plot, yet instead Pu-erh is the only one given any slight use of such after the first arc.
4/10
Videl
Typical tsundere who got turned from tough girl to waifu only slightly slower than Chichi. Her best moment was getting wrecked by Lord :bitch
1/10
Nothing really special. His personality was just your stock arrogant villain who believes nobody can pose a threat to him and most of the events that possibly influenced this were treat as offscreen statements. Doesn't also help that his design was extremely uncreative, making even #19 and #20 seem like amazing designs. His role in Super has improved his character somewhat, though not by enough I'd say he's a good character, seeing as how he shows very little changes in terms of his way of thinking, such as still rushing in without a plan.
2/10
Chichi
Was somewhat interesting when reappearing at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai as a female fighter, though got quickly shafted into housewife position and acted more as an obstacle in Gohan's way. Although her role as a mother makes some of her actions justified, the extreme her characterisation is taken to, even if excluding Toei's hyperbolic treatment, was still enough to make her feel like an annoying caricature (eg. stepping on and over an injured Galu to get to Gohan after the battle with Vegeta). Had decent potential, but was ruined to a joke.
1/10
Lunch
Literally only existed for a gag that became unfunny 2 chapters after it first appeared and for fanservice for the extremely short amount of time Bulma wasn't part of the plot. Her love for Tenshithands was also poorly implemented, coming out of nowhere and was the potential for romance was the only reason she had for staying in the plot. It's no wonder Toriyama removed her from the plot in Z.
1/10 (would be 0/10 but I'll professional and keep 1/10 as the minimum)
Mr. Satan
Satan is a very underrated and overlooked character. His role as a comic relief in the Cell Games wasn't anything too great, but decent. It was the Boo Arc where he shined as the best aspect of the entire arc. His friendship with Boo along with overcoming obstacles through his opportunistic thinking and luck were infinitely more interesting than the rest of the cast extending the plot through multiple asspull power ups. Seeing him develop from a pompous liar to a good supporting character, whilst could've been executed better, still made him the most interesting character in the arc by far and one of the most engaging in the series.
5.5/10
Oolong
Oolong was engaging during the first arc, being another one of the selfish characters that help make the plot a subversion of typical heroic band stories and his perverted and sneaky nature making him a good foil for Bulma and Goku respectively. It was also great to see him be the one to save the day by foiling Pilaf's plan, showing again the Hunt for the Dragon Balls Arc's strength in allowing all the cast to be relevant.
However, he quickly became irrelevant after this, being cheapened to just a joke teller at a far faster rate than Roshi did. This is made even worse by his shapeshifting giving him the potential to be of great use in the plot, yet instead Pu-erh is the only one given any slight use of such after the first arc.
4/10
Videl
Typical tsundere who got turned from tough girl to waifu only slightly slower than Chichi. Her best moment was getting wrecked by Lord :bitch
1/10
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Mister Satan is indeed a character whose development is underrated. In Cell arc, he wasn't anything special. Just a random guy way out of his depth, fighting Cell of all people. It doesn't help that he steals the credit for Gohan's defeat of Cell.
This is why it's such a surprise that the next arc made me appreciate this character, if only a little. This make it clear that despite the excuses he made up in the last arc, he's very well aware of Goku's and everyone else's strength compared to his, which made for surprisngly hilarious moments. Hercules is also the only one who tried to reach Boo with something else than his fists...and succeed, becoming the closest thing to a parental figure for Majin Boo. In the end, he shows incredible courage when he takes on Boo, while very well aware of the gap between them, and uses his popularity for the Genkidama, making him an unexpected hero...for real this time.
A surprisingly good support character. 5/10.
This is why it's such a surprise that the next arc made me appreciate this character, if only a little. This make it clear that despite the excuses he made up in the last arc, he's very well aware of Goku's and everyone else's strength compared to his, which made for surprisngly hilarious moments. Hercules is also the only one who tried to reach Boo with something else than his fists...and succeed, becoming the closest thing to a parental figure for Majin Boo. In the end, he shows incredible courage when he takes on Boo, while very well aware of the gap between them, and uses his popularity for the Genkidama, making him an unexpected hero...for real this time.
A surprisingly good support character. 5/10.
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Yajirobe is a character with great appeal through being a character who stands out by being opposed to the typical structure of Dragon Ball's character writing. Whilst most characters live to fight and become stronger, Yajirobe would much rather never have to fight and just wants to live a peaceful life. Despite this, he also shows his worth in the plot by being the saviour of the cast in many scenarios, being the one who brought Goku to Karin-to, saved him from falling after the battle with Daimao and cut off Oozaru Vegeta's tail. Overall, Yajirobe isn't a character who developed too much, but his personality and role alone make him far more engaging than most other characters in the series.
5.5/10
5.5/10
