10 Times the Anime Broke All the Rules (For Better or Worse)

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10 Times the Anime Broke All the Rules (For Better or Worse)

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To call the Dragon Ball franchise a staple of anime would be an understatement. It’s one of the most beloved series in the art form for several easy-to-see reasons. It set trends other anime series follow, created one of the most popular main characters in entertainment, and spawned several sequels that have earned just as much acclaim. While it’s known for setting tons of trends for the anime art form as a whole, it has also broken a lot of rules within its own series and the art form as well.

There are plenty of unwritten rules almost every anime series follows. These rules are there to help anime series make sense, convey their message to audiences, and retain some sense of continuity. Dragon Ball is one of the few franchises that can take some liberties with the rules, for better or for worse. Telling Dragon Ball to adhere to rules would be like telling Michael Jordan that he should have changed the way he played basketball. When a series, or a person, is that good, they can do what they want.

10

The Existence of Tarble

Goku and Vegeta Were Supposed To Be the Final Two Full-Blooded Saiyans

The annihilation of the Saiyan Race is a huge plot point in Dragon Ball Z. Not only does Goku discover that he’s not a human, but an alien called a Saiyan, he also discovers he’s one of the four that are left when his brother Raditz comes to visit Earth. The other two are Vegeta and Nappa, the next villains in the series. When Vegeta comes, and later joins the Z Fighters, he talks about how Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta and killed any survivors other than himself and Goku.

Though Vegeta and Goku are the only full-blooded Saiyans throughout much of the original Dragon Ball, Super has made a wide variety of others canon, such as Broly.

Vegeta often laments the fact that he and Goku are the only pure Saiyans that are left in the universe, which doesn’t make sense when the existence of his brother Tarble is revealed. Vegeta spent a ton of time upset that he and Goku were the only ones left while he had a full-blooded Saiyan brother the entire time.

9

Goku Chose To Stay Dead

He’d Rather Not Come Back to Earth

Dragon Ball is a rare series that is willing to kill off its main characters time and time again. It’s willing to kill them off because of the titular Dragon Balls, which allow characters like Goku to come back to life. During the Cell Saga, Goku sacrifices himself to save the Earth from Cell, passing away as a consequence. Luckily for Goku, his friends gather the Dragon Balls quickly and wish for his return.

In one of the most shocking moments in Dragon Ball, Goku chooses to stay dead. He feels that most of Earth’s problems are because of his existence. The fact that he’s so strong has attracted a litany of villains, so staying dead might be the safest thing he can do. It’s a decent logical conclusion for a character not known for thinking, but it doesn’t make the moment any less rare within anime. Goku is one of the most popular anime heroes ever, and him choosing the safety of others over his own life is the perfect example of why.

8

Frieza Can Survive (Nearly) Anything

One of the Most Durable Villains in Anime

Characters seemingly dying only to come back later in the series is one of the worst tropes in anime. Nothing is more frustrating than feeling a ton of emotion because a character died, only to see them perfectly alive not too short thereafter. Frieza’s defeat on Namek was one of the most conclusive in the series. Goku beat him handily, let Frieza bisect himself, finished him off with a massive Ki blast, and let him explode with Planet Namek.

Even after all that, Frieza still lived. It’s a frustrating moment that only a series like Dragon Ball can get away with. Funnily enough, when Frieza arrives on Earth in his Mecha form looking for Goku, he’s actually killed by Future Trunks in an instant.

7

The Spirit Bomb Rarely Works

Goku’s Ultimate Attack Isn’t Consistent

A shōnen main character’s ultimate attack often works with 100% efficiency. When a protagonist feels the need to go all out, their final attack is usually their most devastating and conclusive, ending the fight in dramatic fashion. This unwritten rule does not apply to Goku in Dragon Ball. His ultimate attack, the Spirit Bomb, rarely works. It doesn’t work on Vegeta, Frieza, Turles, or Jiren.

It’s pretty wild that Dragon Ball’s strongest character’s strongest attack has such a low success rate. When Naruto finally discovers the Rasenshuriken, it takes the immortal Kakuzu out immediately. Gon’s Jajaken Punch works just about every time he uses it. Goku’s Spirit Bomb, on the other hand, doesn’t come close to the previous two.

6

Krillin Has Died (And Been Revived) Three Times

Breaking the Dragon Balls’ Initial Rules

Dragon Ball has a bad habit of setting up rules only to change them later down the line. Like the supposed annihilation of the Saiyan Race, a big plot device early in Dragon Ball was that the Dragon Balls could only revive someone once. This was later changed when the Z Fighters went to Namek and started using the Namekian Dragon Balls, allowing them to revive their friends as many times as necessary.

Krillen has died and then been revived three times in the Dragon Ball franchise. He died to Tambourine, then Frieza, then Super Buu. He then died a fourth time to Android 17 in Dragon Ball GT as well. He comes back to life every time, making the concept of death in the Dragon Ball franchise next to meaningless.

5

Vegeta Tells Zarbon To Power Up

Vegeta Lets His Opponents Get Stronger

Vegeta can be seen as his opponent’s best ally. He’s often so arrogant, that he can’t help but allow his opponents to power up when he fights them. There are few, if any, other characters in anime so willing to let their opponents get a power boost against them in the middle of a fight. The first time he fights Zarbon on Namek, the Frieza Force fighter wipes the floor with the Saiyan Prince. It’s a one-sided beatdown that Vegeta never forgot.

Cover of Dragon Ball Super volume 12, with art of Goku and Vegeta by Toyotarou.

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Saiyans get stronger when they get close to death. With his newfound power, he finds Zarbon once again and tells him to transform into his more powerful state. It’s a rare moment where Vegeta breaks an unwritten rule that only villains don’t follow. He lets Zarbon transform, just to obliterate him anyway.

4

Goku Makes Goten and Trunks Fight Buu

Goku Steps Back Against Buu

Dragon Ball is a rare series for its willingness to let Goku take a back seat to other characters in the series. While Goku isn’t smart enough to realize that his Spirit Bomb might not be the most effective ability, he is smart enough to see that his allies can sometimes surpass him in power. During the Buu Saga, Goku realizes that Gotenks is actually stronger than him.

It’s an unwritten rule, especially in shōnen anime, that the main character is either the strongest or can unleash a hidden potential that takes them there. Naruto is the strongest character in the Hidden Leaf when Pain comes to Konoha, surpassing the Hokage and everyone else there at the age of 16. Dragon Ball gives Gotenks the limelight when it allows him to go Super Saiyan 3 and take Super Buu on for himself.

3

Vegeta Executes the Ginyu Force

Vegeta Brought a New Level of Brutality to Dragon Ball

Vegeta has his own unique set of morals in Dragon Ball. While most of the Z Fighters believe in forgiveness, Vegeta doesn’t know the definition of the word. He gets demolished by most of the Frieza Force members on Namek and the Ginyu Force as well. When he’s finally strong enough to beat them, he takes his chance viciously.

Goku forgave Frieza numerous times on Namek, even after he killed Krillin. It’s a common theme in Dragon Ball that only Vegeta ignores. After he beats the members of the Ginyu Force, he executes them brutally in one of the darkest moments in Dragon Ball.

2

Vegeta Lets Cell Absorb the Androids

Vegeta Has a Habit of Letting His Enemies Get Stronger

Vegeta was successful when he let Zarbon power up, but Cell was different. His son, Trunks, tried warning him, but Vegeta’s pride got the better of him. When Cell tells him that he had to absorb the rest of the Androids to get stronger, Vegeta let him. It’s a prideful moment from the Prince of Saiyans that eventually led to his son’s quick death.

Feature header contrasting Vegeta with Super Saiyan 3 Goku

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Only villains in anime let their opponents get stronger on purpose. When a hero is fighting a villain, there’s usually something important on the line. In Vegeta’s case, it was the fate of the Earth. He was willing to break one of the most followed unwritten rules in anime just to have a little more fun against an insanely powerful opponent.

1

Goku Gives Cell a Senzu Bean

Goku Made a Controversial (Calculated) Decision

When Goku gave Cell a Senzu Bean during the Cell Games, it earned him a spot for many as one of the worst fathers in anime. Not only did he ask his pre-teen son to fight one of the strongest villains in the series, but he even gave Cell one of the few ways to recover all of his health in an instant. He took a page out of Vegeta’s book at the worst time possible.

Like letting Gotenks fight Buu, there’s some logic to Goku’s decision. In the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Goku realized that Gohan had a potential greater than his. He also knew his son wouldn’t unleash it unless he truly had to. The decision makes some amount of sense it hindsight, but it doesn’t change the fact that helping your enemy is a rule no other series would have the audacity to break.

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