Where you think the series should have ended?

[Captain Cadaver]

It would limit the potential of the series far more than ending at the Saiyan or Freeza Arcs, given the hints of Goku being an alien beforehand and similar foreshadowing with Piccolo and Kami's language. That, and the arc itself was a pretty poor one to end the series on without major changes (though still a better ending than most Shonen, at least).

 

[Papasmurf]

Yeah it seems Toriyama actually planned arcs like Namek and Saiyan longer than most would suspect given he said he changed his mind on Piccolo being a demon and made him an alien by the time Kami showed up. Maybe he didn't necessarily have the thought to do entire arcs on them but he figured it'd make a decent storyline at least.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Well technically the story was a rather down-to-earth/humble martial-arts story at the beginning (comparatively speaking) to what it would become later (strongest in the universe). Was Goku's goal to become the strongest person in the world (even-though world can be used rather ambiguously now to even mean universe) at the beginning of the series? I can't remember exactly, but if it was it really does end everything on a good note.

 

[Papasmurf]

Well technically the story was a rather down-to-earth/humble martial-arts story at the beginning (comparatively speaking) to what it would become later (strongest in the universe). Was Goku's goal to become the strongest person in the world (even-though world can be used rather ambiguously now to even mean universe) at the beginning of the series? I can't remember exactly, but if it was it really does end everything on a good note.

I think at first he just wanted to explore the world and then made it his life goal to win the Tenkaichi Budokai/be the strongest in the world when he lost to Jackie Chun. The fact that he got extremely arrogant after defeating Daimao and that he literally refused to accept Kami's help because it'd soil his fight with Piccolo to decide who wins the tournament proves this

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Well technically the story was a rather down-to-earth/humble martial-arts story at the beginning (comparatively speaking) to what it would become later (strongest in the universe). Was Goku's goal to become the strongest person in the world (even-though world can be used rather ambiguously now to even mean universe) at the beginning of the series? I can't remember exactly, but if it was it really does end everything on a good note.

I think at first he just wanted to explore the world and then made it his life goal to win the Tenkaichi Budokai/be the strongest in the world when he lost to Jackie Chun. The fact that he got extremely arrogant after defeating Daimao and that he literally refused to accept Kami's help because it'd soil his fight with Piccolo to decide who wins the tournament proves this

Yeah, so all things considered the 23rd Tenkaichi-Budokai ends everything on a good note, besides the very light foreshadowing that Goku might be an Alien earlier-on. Which isn't even all that strange considering all the earthlings in the early part of the series, only weird thing was Goku's really unbelievable strength at the beginning of the series but even then there were people like Tenshinhan and Chaozu who were also very strong.

 

[Papasmurf]

Tenshinhan and Chaozu were only really strong because of Tsuru's voice acting extremely harsh training though. The fact that Chaozu got nowhere after the 22nd tells me he probably didn't start out that strong until he trained his ass off and didn't have much potential.

I also think Saiyan/Freeza were smooth enough transitions that they didn't feel unwarranted unlike asspull villains like Cell and Boo. None of the side heroes really had any role in saving the world either in Part 1 considering Yamcha sat out of pretty much everything and Tenshinhan and Kuririn never managed much besides getting stomped until Z.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Tenshinhan and Chaozu were only really strong because of Tsuru's voice acting extremely harsh training though. The fact that Chaozu got nowhere after the 22nd tells me he probably didn't start out that strong until he trained his ass off and didn't have much potential.

I also think Saiyan/Freeza were smooth enough transitions that they didn't feel unwarranted unlike asspull villains like Cell and Boo. None of the side heroes really had any role in saving the world either in Part 1 considering Yamcha sat out of pretty much everything and Tenshinhan and Kuririn never managed much besides getting stomped until Z.

And Grand-Pa Gohan trained Goku. He even says at the beginning that he is hard as steel because he trained him. But yeah wasn't like that wasn't foreshadowed.

 

[Papasmurf]

Tenshinhan and Chaozu were only really strong because of Tsuru's voice acting extremely harsh training though. The fact that Chaozu got nowhere after the 22nd tells me he probably didn't start out that strong until he trained his ass off and didn't have much potential.

I also think Saiyan/Freeza were smooth enough transitions that they didn't feel unwarranted unlike asspull villains like Cell and Boo. None of the side heroes really had any role in saving the world either in Part 1 considering Yamcha sat out of pretty much everything and Tenshinhan and Kuririn never managed much besides getting stomped until Z.

And Grand-Pa Gohan trained Goku. He even says at the beginning that he is hard as steel because he trained him. But yeah wasn't like that wasn't foreshadowed.

He probably didn't train him too much given early Roshi's training nearly killed him though. and it was kind of implied Goku was physically different because his parents abandoned him and he was never injured much by bullets which still pierced Roshi's flesh.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Also, Gohan wouldn't directly believe Galu was so strong due to alien heritage, since even with such knowledge, he'd have no idea about the benefits of Saiyan biology. Aside from having a higher durability to bullets than others of his level, Goku's race was practically human were-monkeys with tails for all Gohan knew.