Tenshinhan's initial character arc

[Captain Cadaver]

If not counting Yamcha as fully fitting the bill, Tenshinhan was the first in a tradition of antagonists or villains changing to becoming an ally with him going from a very arrogant and cruel martial artist with ideals of being an assassin to throwing his ideals away in favour of a more pure path.
Many fans are divided by his arc, with some citing it as being too rushed in the manga. That said, do you think his arc was rushed or not and what examples would you give for this being the case?

Discuss...XD

 

[Papasmurf]

Tenshinhan's entire character development arc happened over the course of one tournament (which wasn't even half a day long) and it still didn't stop him from being an idiot (e.g. forgetting to check the state of his rice cooker before he even flew after Daimao, his dumb as fuck Shishinken move, using Kikoho on Nappa only to have it do nothing to him while causing his own death).

Instant 1/10 character arc.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

This is only concerning the 22nd TB and how it was handled, not the later events.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Why wouldn't Yamcha fit the bill? Their arcs are basically the same, only Yamcha's is better executed. Baddies whose redemption could fit into a single arc because they weren't as pure evil as guys like Piccolo or Vegeta.

The difference between the two is that BoDB Yamcha is a more fleshed out character than 22nd Tenshinhan. He's a bad guy, a bandit who most likely killed people before, but there's a layer to him besides fighting: he's also afraid of relationships. He spends the whole saga stalking Goku and co. so he can slit their throats and steal their wish, but in the end he doesn't even need to.

In contrast, Tenshinhan's change of heart was pretty simple. He wanted to be an assassin, until he didn't because he found out fighting without killing was more fun. He doesn't even stick around with the gang after the tournament: They only meet again in tournaments or because they invite him to help fight new bad guys. He's not very different from other tournament jobbers like Chappa aside from his sensei being Tsuru.
Point is, Tenshinhan's 22nd Budokai arc is pretty boring because it's one dimensional, it was all about fighting. Roshi's talk about how Tien should become a good guy didn't even change anything.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Yamcha doesn't strictly fit the bill of either a villain or antagonist in his arc, with him not exactly being the main opposition to the protagonist nor really being too villainous beyond being prepared to kill, even having a greater sense of friendship than any of the "good guys". By contrast, Tenshinhan was very much the main opposition of the arc (at least physically, with Tsuru Sennin being the mental opposition in a sense) with a fairly villainous personality throughout a good portion of the arc.

 

[Papasmurf]

I think Tenshithands' character arc could've been fine if AT weren't so adverse to putting in flashbacks in his manga, and if that InoShikaCho episode were canon and cast doubt into whether Tenshinhan was truly villainous.

Since that wasn't the case though, it was rushed indeed. Would've been better if Tenshithands showed some signs of having ruthless/evil qualities, especially considering that AT said if he'd trained honestly and followed a path of good from the start he could've developed more magical body manipulation abilities, but any trace of his ruthlessness vanished with the end of the 22nd arc. Whereas even Piccolo showed some ruthlessness as late as the early Cell arc against Gero. Piccolo's development also technically took nearly a year in the timeskip between Raditz's arrival and the Vegeta invasion, which makes it believable especially when Piccolo was only 9 (not counting his father's life). Ten's on the other hand was rushed and basically wasted when he became the Kikoho man from there on.

 

[ahill1]

I think it was somewhat rushed in the manga and I personally prefer the anime version, with it adding scenes of Tenshinhan meditating before the battle against Goku and tbh the scene in which he stopped Tsuru from attacking Goku could even serve as a foreshadow for him valuing his fight against Goku over winning unfairly and getting revenge.

But still, the anime seemed to portray Tenshinhan as more of a jackass (like him beating up a cooker due to the food not being of his taste), so at the same time someone could turn back the point and say that the change in his demeanor seems even more rushed in the anime since Tenshinhan was initially portrayed as more of an antagonist, in which case the reversal of attitude should take more time to be carved in -- which, again, I belive the anime did nicely.

To offer some critique, I think the edgy and provocative tone of Tenshinhan could be a little more shown and used after he turned teams. He was always too serious and appreciative of Kame-Sen'nin, specially in Super.

 

[Papasmurf]

I think it was somewhat rushed in the manga and I personally prefer the anime version, with it adding scenes of Tenshinhan meditating before the battle against Goku and tbh the scene in which he stopped Tsuru from attacking Goku could even serve as a foreshadow for him valuing his fight against Goku over winning unfairly and getting revenge.

But still, the anime seemed to portray Tenshinhan as more of a jackass (like him beating up a cooker due to the food not being of his taste), so at the same time someone could turn back the point and say that the change in his demeanor seems even more rushed in the anime since Tenshinhan was initially portrayed as more of an antagonist, in which case the reversal of attitude should take more time to be carved in -- which, again, I belive the anime did nicely.

To offer some critique, I think the edgy and provocative tone of Tenshinhan could be a little more shown and used after he turned teams. He was always too serious and appreciative of Kame-Sen'nin, specially in Super.

To be fair, Tenshinhan being outmatched in all his fights except the one with the Saibaman and Cyborg Tao, following his conversion at the end of the 22nd made it pretty hard for him to be cocky. At least Piccolo has been on several non-receiving ends of a stomp, like against #20 or Gingertown Cell.