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It’s impossible to deny that Dragon Ball Z’s influence on the anime medium will exist for as long as the medium itself. Creator Akira Toriyama found something of a perfect balance between action and humor but this doesn’t mean there weren’t some seriously weird aspects of Son Goku and the Z-Fighters’ story. Luckily, now feels like as good a time as any for us to break down some of the strangest moments in Dragon Ball Z history, whether they be story-related and/or taking place outside of the lives of the Z-Fighters. Needless to say, there were plenty of options to choose from.
What Happened To Launch?
While Bulma, Yamcha, and Krillin couldn’t keep up with the likes of Son Goku and his various forms of Super Saiyan, they all had a significant role to play in Dragon Ball Z. The same couldn’t be said for Launch, the female character whose personality would change whenever she sneezed. Launch didn’t have the ability to upgrade her power level and mostly spent her time threatening to shoot characters around her, but she added some major humor to the sequel series. While she made the odd appearance in DBZher status on the sidelines felt so bizarre in the face of her influence on the original series.
Gohan Fumbles The Bag
When the Cell Saga ended, Dragon Ball Z appeared to be setting the stage for Goku’s son to finally become the world’s premiere protector. In Dragon Ball Z: Bojackwe even were witness to Gohan becoming the prime fighter against the all-powerful space pirate. Unfortunately, it appeared as though you couldn’t keep a good Saiyan down as Goku would be resurrected in the fight against Majin Buu and in doing so, took the mantle from his son. Losing against Super Buu thanks to his own hubris, Gohan would mostly be a supporting character until Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero finally gave him his due once again.
Vegeta Badman
Listen, Vegeta’s “Badman” t-shirt has become legend within the Dragon Ball franchise but this fact doesn’t stop it from being downright weird. Number one, what drew Bulma to this shirt specifically and number two, why would Vegeta wear this? It’s especially confusing when you keep in mind that Vegeta was preparing to fight against Frieza, seemingly more than willing to wear the shirt onto the battlefield. Ultimately, the series is made better for the pink shirt than without it but that still doesn’t put our questions to rest.
The Censorship of Dragon Ball Z
Anime fans sometimes don’t realize how good they have it these days. Most anime adaptations arrive on streaming services completely uncensored though the same couldn’t be said when it came to Dragon Ball Z’s arrival in North America. Countless, utterly strange edits were made such as death being replaced with “another dimension”, beer transforming into lemonade, and “Hell” becoming “HFIL”, aka the Home For Infinite Losers. To this day, some of the edits are understandable for Saturday Morning Cartoons but there are many that still stump us to this day.
Super Saiyan 3
Much like Vegeta’s Badman t-shirt, I’m a big fan of Super Saiyan 3 and its original debut but there’s still an issue with how Goku accessed this power. For Super Saiyan 1 and 2, these giant transformations were linked to two of the most emotional moments in Dragon Ball Z. Goku became a Super Saiyan thanks to Krillin’s death while Gohan became Super Saiyan 2 thanks to the death of Android 16. For Super Saiyan 3, Goku simply appeared from the afterlife with it, stating that he had gained it via serious training while dead. Even with Gotenks and Vegeta gaining the same transformation, neither was given an emotional backdrop for the form, making it hit much less hard than its predecessors.
The Many Faces of Majin Buu
Buu having several different personalities rattling around inside of his form based on absorption certainly differentiated the terror from Frieza and Cell. Unfortunately, we’re still trying to figure out some details when it comes to the transformations. Evil Buu for example simply separated from the initial Fat Buu, absorbing his other self to create Super Buu, with the Evil version simply arriving thanks to the death of a dog. Kid Buu effectively being far stronger than the original Majin Buu, despite missing some beings absorbed into his guts, is also quite the headscratcher. Buu was a colorful villain but his transformations were almost the perfect viewpoint into some of the issues with his saga that ended in Dragon Ball Z.
The Android Energy Problem
Androids 16, 17, and 18 never felt fatigue and were able to use the maximum of their energy without missing a step. Unfortunately, the trio were deprived of a major element that might have had them make easy work of Cell and the Z-Fighters. Androids 19 and 20 had the ability to absorb energy through their palms, a trick that might have been the move to cement victory for the three artificial beings. Perhaps Dr. Gero only wanted the best tech for himself but it’s a question that still surrounds the Cell Saga.
