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[Hot Take] Dragon Ball would have been a better story if It Concluded with the Frieza arc

Best Place to end Dragon Ball Narratively

  • Piccolo Jr

    Votes: 17 2.8%

  • Vegeta

    Votes: 3 0.5%

  • Frieza

    Votes: 125 20.2%

  • Cell

    Votes: 360 58.3%

  • Buu

    Votes: 66 10.7%

  • Tournament of power

    Votes: 26 4.2%

  • fb

    Votes: 21 3.4%
  • Total voters
    618
jman1954goat

jman1954goat

Linked the Fire
Member
May 9, 2020
12,593
Edit: Messed up poll Final option is keep going.

First let me just get this out of the way, I love lots of the Post Frieza Content in Dragon Ball. The androids are great, I love Gohan betting Cell, I love Buu aand Gohan in highschool, Big Fan of Tournament of power and Dragon Ball Super Broly.

I appreciate all The Dragon Ball content we have and continue to get over the decades But I enjoy it just as a casual popcorn show that I don't think to Hard about.

Dragon Ball was not always pure popcorn for me. I absolutely fell in love with the characters and was super invested around the Tournament and Red ribbon Sagas

The Story started not serous and fun then Had a perfect Ramp up of Drama and stakes From Tournament to Red ribbon then to King Piccolo and Piccolo Jr as the big Earth threats

After We got the introduction to Saiyan's and the incredible fights with Raditz, Nappa and Vegita Leading to the series turning Space bound in the Best Arc of the whole Series The Frieza Saga

I can't overstate How much I love the Frieza Especially the beginning . The incredible Tension of Krillin and Gohan Sneaking through Frieza's forces severely out matched to keep the Dragon Ball's out of frieze's Hands was Spectacular. Then Goku Going Super sayian and "Finishing" Frieza was such a Cathartic moment and I really felt like the series would have been perfectly rapped there.

Then we get the to the Cell Saga and Trunks comes in and effortlessly kills Frieza the strongest thing in the universe built up for over a Hundred Chapters and That was when I started to disconnect emotionally

Ever since that point nothing Felt special anymore. any Character goes super sayin There's always a bigger Bad guy than the Last that's 10 times as strong (even though Frieza can destroy Planets) and we just keep retreading the same type of content over and over and over again.

what's worse is once we Hit the Buu Saga almost every character has no Development at all. Every single person from the Buu saga to present day Broly movie is an exact snapshot of themselves at the start of Buu.

TLDR: While I appreciate a lot of the Post Frieza Content it's a Narrative mess that should have ended after Chapter 329.
 
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Hayama Akito

Hayama Akito

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,326
This is not a hot take at all, it's a classic topic in the DB fandom from 25 years ago that a lot of people agree, but you know... money.
 
KadeYuy

KadeYuy

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,084
I thought this was the popular opinion. My favorite part of DBZ is probably gohan killing cell one handed but the story itself was definitely at an end state after frieza. But meh it's dumb fun
 
Dragoon

Dragoon

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
11,231
It had the perfect lead up to it. I'm with you.


My hot take is that the Buu Saga, which is the weakest of DB and DBZ, would have been one of the best arcs fullstop if Buu died by Vegeta's sacrifice and Vegeta never comes back to life.
 

jdmc13

Member
Mar 14, 2019
2,956
Buu Saga is best and would have worked as a great capper to the series if they had been willing to let Gohan finally take over as protagonist.

Dragoon said:
It had the perfect lead up to it. I'm with you.


My hot take is that the Buu Saga, which is the weakest of DB and DBZ, would have been one of the best arcs fullstop if Buu died by Vegeta's sacrifice and Vegeta never comes back to life.
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This works too, but Goku should have stayed dead as well.
 
Superpupperbabysassy

Superpupperbabysassy

Member
Oct 29, 2017
12,927
I would have been cool with the Cell Games. But I also would have been cool with Goku winning the World Tournament and marrying Chi-Chi.
 

Hideo GOATjima

Member
May 30, 2018
1,255
Everything from King Piccolo to the end of Frieza is right up there as the best stretch in any anime.
So I wouldn't say this is a hot take at all
 
RoadDogg

RoadDogg

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,095
Agreed, but I would accept ending after Cell too since it did an ok job of closing out DB characters too.
 
StarStorm

StarStorm

"This guy are sick"
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
7,648
Cell Saga is my favorite so I have to disagree. Buu Saga wasn't that great.
 
Magneto

Magneto

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,449
This is a pretty standard take regarding Dragon Ball Z.

Hell, Dragon Ball minus Z is the best saga, so i could live in a world without Dragon Ball Z, in retrospect.
 
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mopinks

mopinks

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,674
I couldn't care less about character development in Dragon Ball

I want it to be as dumb as possible
 
UnderTheKillingSun

UnderTheKillingSun

Banned
Jul 10, 2020
3,598
Eh, I argue Cell with the son surpassing the father.

DBZ starts with Gohan being a cowardly crybaby little boy who gets kidnapped, it should have ended with him assuming his father's mantle after destroying Cell.

It's like poetry.
 
SigmasonicX

SigmasonicX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,653
Ramathevoice said:
I seem to remember hearing that was originally what Toriyama planned, and he was pressured into continuing by his editor because of the success?
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Toriyama planned to end it at Emperor Pilaf's defeat. Saying he planned to end it at Freeza gives that arc undue importance; he planned to end it with every arc.

www.kanzenshuu.com

Intended Endings Guide - Kanzenshuu

An in-depth look at where the Dragon Ball series was supposedly ending, and dispelling many common fan misconceptions and rumors about its intended ending
www.kanzenshuu.com www.kanzenshuu.com
 
Reym

Reym

Member
Jul 15, 2019
2,702
It kinda did for me.
I watched through Frieza, and then I watched one episode past it and I felt like it was going to be the same thing all over again, which was fine, but I'd already seen it, so I moved on after that.
 
Gotchaforce

Gotchaforce

Member
Oct 31, 2017
5,733
When I was a kid the Saiyan arc was on local tv. By the time Frieza arc was on I got bored and moved on. I've gone back since in my adulthood and enjoy it since I liked FightersZ a lot, though. But it's mainly a show I watch with the little guy now.
 
Welfare

Welfare

Prophet of Truth - You’re my Numberwall
Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,942
Raditz came out of nowhere and was stronger than Goku and Piccolo combined, the same people well above the massive threat that was King Piccolo.

Z kind of already had that problem from the beginning. Raditz was super strong, but Vegeta is actually way worse and can grow Raditz level beings.

No but wait! Ginyu is even more mega strong than Vegeta (and most Ginyu members before the Zenkai) and Frieza wipes them all out no difficulty.

Trunks was just another arc transition that already existed, just more forward facing about it.
 
Autumn

Autumn

Avenger
Apr 1, 2018
6,555
Should have ended with Gohan defeating Cell. I also enjoyed those slice of life Gohan episodes too.
 
Dark Ninja

Dark Ninja

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,080
The series ending Gohan defeating Cell and hitting his potential that was beat into the audience at the start of Z would be better.
 
Mr. Genuine

Mr. Genuine

Member
Mar 23, 2018
1,630
Every major saga in Z was written as if it could have been the last.

But to me, nothing beats the conclusion of the Cell saga.
 
Liam Allen-Miller

Liam Allen-Miller

Member
Nov 2, 2017
6,863
Shibuya
I'm inclined to agree despite how much I love the androids and Cell later on. Almost makes me wish the Cell saga could somehow have been it's own thing separate from the major Z fighters.
 
entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
61,238
This is one of the coldest takes in DBZ fandom lol. The food has been out all day. You will get food poisoning it's so cold.
 
Lord Azrael

Lord Azrael

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,976
It's not really a hot take, I think general consensus is that Saiyan and Freeza parts are the best, and that Buu arc is the worst. Personally I also feel that each subsequent arc got worse so I agree as well
 
jacket

jacket

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,044
SigmasonicX said:
The short answer is that the success of Dragon Ball did compel Toriyama to continue drawing it for far longer than he had ever planned, but that the various claims about specific places or ways in which Toriyama was going to end it are almost all unsupported by any real evidence.​
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thanks
 
Biestmann

Biestmann

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,418
Here's a hot take: the Frieza arc was nearly unbearable in the anime. I once got into an accident breaking both of my collar bones, and the greatest pain I felt was waking up in the hospital bed to the Frieza arc playing on TV.
 
Vincent Alexander

Vincent Alexander

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,923
Dragoon said:
It had the perfect lead up to it. I'm with you.


My hot take is that the Buu Saga, which is the weakest of DB and DBZ, would have been one of the best arcs fullstop if Buu died by Vegeta's sacrifice and Vegeta never comes back to life.
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Agreed. If Goku and Vegeta stayed dead, it would have been a great jumping off point for a new generation of heroes.
 
Ottaro

Ottaro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,557
Dark Ninja said:
The series ending Gohan defeating Cell and hitting his potential that was beat into the audience at the start of Z would be better.
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Yup yup yup. The most interesting aspect of the show is Gohan beginning his training with Piccolo as a toddler and growing into the person he is at the end of Cell saga.
 

Calvinien

Banned
Jul 13, 2019
2,970
Hard disagree. It would have been best if it ended with the cell saga and goku passing the torch to his son. It's the last saga where everyone has something to do anyways.

Though I would argue the Buu saga COULD have been salvaged if goku/vegeta was allowed to stay dead. Make it so that the reason that buu can't be defeated is not that he just has a bigger number than anyone else and can regenerate (which just makes him a less interesting Cell) but that he exists in the afterlife and real world simultaneously and has to be defeated in both. So then you have goku and the Kai's fighting him in the afterlife, with gohan and the rest fighting him on earth.

That way Vegeta's sacrifice has meaning since his death allowed him to be in the same place as goku so the fusion could take place, and he actually has to give something up in order to fix the mess that was 100% his fault. Meanwhile Gohan has to teach trunks and goten how to fight and they end up taking on earth-buu together. You have a final passing of the torch with gohan now being the teacher, and a final hurrah for the older characters as goku and vegeta put aside their differences to help save the day one last time.
 
bushmonkey

bushmonkey

Member
Oct 29, 2017
5,649
My favourite characters are 'good guy' Vegeta, Videl, Goten and Trunks, good Buu, future trunks. Yes the stories kept repeating the same loops in a way but I think it's more about your relationship with the characters than the stories themselves that made DBZ so special.
 
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