The manga and anime have been giving us great emotions for decades, but on this point, it has given us great disappointments several times
 |
| Image Credit: Toei Animation |
The energy waves, the Super Saiyans, the increasingly stronger enemies,s and the eternal battle for the title of the strongest in the universe. Dragon Ball has given us so much, so much to excite us with, and we will always be grateful to Akira Toriyama for the stories he told, but this time let's put the praise aside for a moment to raise a criticism, to turn the spotlight on a detail that has always displeased many fans. Some criticism is inevitable for every work and probably some would be ready to raise others, against Dragon Ball:
the endless fights, for example, have been the blessing and curse of fans for decades, as well as the tendency to always have the same Freezer return and to resolve situations with sudden transformations never seen before. In our opinion, however, there is another very annoying detail of Dragon Ball, and it has to do with the theme of death. We all know that the death of characters like Krillin or C-16 are fundamental to the continuation of the story, they are events that unleash the anger of Goku and Gohan and allow them to overcome their limits. However, how the passing is handled in Dragon Ball is annoying, to say the least:
throughout the various series of the manga and anime, they have died about... everyone, several times even. Death is not in fact something definitive, except for some characters, who are more than anything put aside and forgotten rather than actually passing on to a better life. The problem started to become evident, especially from Dragon Ball Z, when Goku's death opened the doors to the realm of the Afterlife, to the snake, to King Kaio, and so on. Finding out what happens after death has not only made it less impactful, but the use of the Dragon Balls to bring anyone back to life has made it much less exciting and dramatic.
“How many times has Krillin died?” has even become a catchphrase, material for memes and jokes among fans, yet how impactful would it have been if he hadn’t returned after being killed by Freezer? The same goes for Goku himself, Vegeta, Junior… Majin Buu eliminates all the inhabitants of the Earth, but at that point, we get the message and we don’t care anymore. Of course, this cut is important for the Dragon Ball manga and anime, but during so many fantastic adventures (and a thousand acrobatic actions), this is an aspect of the franchise that many fans agree to hate.