Summary
Dragon Ballis one of the most preeminent anime franchises in existence, still going strong 40 years later as yet another newDragon BAllanime series,Dragon Ball Daima, will soon reach screens around the world. However, despiteDragon BallandDragon Ball Z’s place as classics, the two series haven’t aged quite as gracefully as fans may have hoped.
As with any work,Dragon Ballis a product of its time, and that means that certain aspects of the series are regarded very differently by modern audiences than they were at the time of its creation. That doesn’t mean thatDragon BallorDragon Ball Zis bad and should be canceled; rather, it’s important to make note of these areas where the series has aged poorly, both as a signifier of how far we’ve come as a society and how far anime has come as a medium.
10Many Dragon Ball Stories are Too Straightforward
Dragon Ball’s Plots are Overly Simple at Times
From the very beginning,Dragon Ballhas had an issue where its storylines are simple and, to some extent, a bit obvious.Goku faces a problem, usually caused by one very specific villain, and the solution to that problem is always to fight and defeat that villain. Defeating that villain will be sufficient to put a stop to all their evil activities, no matter how many followers they may have. In many cases, Goku will then befriend that villain after defeating them–it happened with Yamcha and Puar, Tien and Chiaotzu, andPiccolo just inDragon Ballalone.
On the other hand, by the time ofZ, plots can have the opposite problem; the Android and Cell sagas attempted to add complexity with time travel, but the result ended up being quite confusing as multiple timelines emerged. The Saiyan Saga leading into Namek is arguably consideredDragon Ball’s best because it hits just the right balance.
9Dragon Ball Can Feel Like a One-Trick Pony
Dragon Ball Repeats the Same Plot Points Over and Over
One of the greatest moments inDragon Ballhistory is without a doubt whenGoku goes Super Saiyan for the first time. It’s an incredible scene, and it really feels like Goku has reached a new tier of power.Can the same be said about the countless times the series attempted to repeat that moment?Was Gohan achieving Super Saiyan 2 anywhere near as great? Even Toriyama himself forgot about that moment and needed to be reminded. How about the reveal of Super Saiyan 3?Dragon Ball Zfell into a bit of a rut with its power-ups, playing the same card repeatedly.
To be fair, this did get corrected to some extent, as different power-up mechanics like fusion came into play.Dragon Ball Superalso managed to take what could’ve been another boring power-up and made it almost as epic as Super Saiyan’s initial reveal with Ultra Instinct.
8Dragon Ball Has Too Much Irrelevant Filler
When it comes to theDragon Ball Zanime, one thing that has to be discussed is the sheer amount of filler present within the series.The fact that the series was able to be cut down from 291 episodes to 167 episodes for theKairecut shows that almost half the original series' runtime was just filler. Filler can be a contentious issue on its own, butmuch ofDragon Ballfiller is completely irrelevant. While there are entire filler arcs which may have some redeeming features, there are almost as many episodes which are just goofy or weird, like Bulma and Chichi meeting Dabura in the afterlife, completely altering Dabura’s characterization up to that point.
While for many, the filler arcs can be as familiar and at home as the canon material, the fact is that these either don’t add anything to the overall story, or actively detract from it.
7Goku’s Fair Treatment of Villains Draws Out Fights
Dragon Ball Fights Become Tedious When Goku Helps His Enemies
One ofGoku’s most interesting traitsis his desire for a fair fight, even when the fate of the world is on the line.This has led him to do some pretty objectively stupid things over the years, such as feeding a senzu bean to Cell, directly harming their overall goal of defeating the monster. There have been several cases where the fight should’ve ended, but Goku took pity on his adversary and helped them out, hoping fruitlessly that they might change their ways. While this sometimes nets him friends, it’s just as likely to introduce a whole second phase to their fight, making the battle up to that point feel unnecessary.
Because it’s such an integral part of who Goku is, this can’t (and shouldn’t) simply be done away with, but should be applied more carefully, so that it doesn’t render all the fighting that’s already happened pointless.
6Dragon Ball Occasionally Uses Racist Tropes Without Realizing It
Dragon Ball’s More Diverse Characters Fall Flat
Particularly in the originalDragon Ball, the series will make use of stereotypical or even racist ideas as part of its creation of characters.Many fans' minds might immediately go to Mr. Popo, but there are actual black characters who use many of the same tropes in their designs, such as Killa, one of the competitors in the 24th World Martial Arts Tournament. Perhaps the worst is Officer Black of the Red Ribbon Army, who has the stereotypical “big lips” and pitch-black complexion, to the point where he was redesigned for the movieThePath to Power.
These characters don’t mean that Toriyama himself was racist or anything like that; it just wasn’t well understood at the time, especially in Japan, how harmful some of these stereotypes can be. Modern anime has come a long way in its treatment of black characters, but its past failings can’t be ignored.
5Dragon Ball Sidelines Female Characters
Powerful Women in Dragon Ball Don’t Get to Fight
One thing that has always been interesting aboutDragon Ballis that many of its women characters are perfectly capable fighters in their own right, but you wouldn’t know it by watching your average episode.Chi Chi, Videl, Android 18… all were introduced as powerful warriors, but were then taken away from the battlefield when they married and forced into traditional wifely roles, raising children and mostly staying home. It reflects a very dated view on women’s roles, and is often particularly baffling from a character perspective.
Dragon Ball Superwent a long way towards fixing this by allowing Android 18 to participate as a vital ally in the Tournament of Power, as well as withthe introduction of Kale and Caulifla, Universe 6’s ass-kicking female Saiyans.
4Some Dragon Ball Storylines Go Nowhere
Abrupt Plot Changes Make Certain Scenes Meaningless
Dragon Ballwasn’t firmly plotted out in advance, and that can be a rather obvious fact when watching the show.Toriyama would frequently make sudden shifts in the plot to accommodate input from his editors. For example, when Toriyama first introduced Androids 19 and 20, his editor laughed at them, necessitatingthe creation of Androids 17 and 18, who were intended to be more threatening. However, the editor regarded them as children, and didn’t like them as the villains either. Then came Cell, but Cell’s original design wasn’t well liked either, leading to the creation of Cell’s transformations.
All this constant changing direction of the plot mid-story tends to make certain events feel completely pointless. Think about it–what role do Androids 19 and 20 actually serve in the story at all? They’re utterly forgettable.
3Dragon Ball’s Glacially Slow Pacing Doesn’t Meet Modern Expectations
Dragon Ball Stands Out Even Among Older Anime as Slow
Many older anime are known to be rather slow-paced compared to their more modern counterparts, butDragon Ballis really in a league of its own when it comes to slow pacing. “Are they still on Namek?” was a question that persisted for years across playgrounds in the late 90s and early 2000s. The Namek Saga lasted 71 episodes, meaningit took over a year of airing new episodes week-to-week for Goku to finallydefeat Frieza and get off Namek.
Of course, this is related to the filler problem, as the filler artificially extends the pacing even further. However, even without filler, these arcs can be painfully long; even in the recutKai, the Buu Saga lasts for over 60 episodes.
2The Constant Harassment of Bulma Isn’t Funny
Bulma Deserves More Respect
Despite being one of the first characters introduced, Bulma really doesn’t get any respect, particularly throughout the originalDragon Ball.Bulma is often the victim of unfunny harassment, either intentionally (by figures like Master Roshi) or unintentionally(usually by an innocent young Goku who doesn’t understand). The worst part is, while this does diminish with time, it never really goes away; as late as the Buu Saga, Goku is still offering Old Kai the chance to grope Bulma, much to Gohan’s annoyance.
It’s almost a relief when she marries Vegeta, asVegeta clearly won’t allow Bulma to be harassedlike that by anyone. Vegeta has certainly yelled at Goku about this kind of thing before, and thankfully it’s more or less died off by the time ofSuper.
1Perverted Jokes Just Don’t Land These Days
Characters like Master Roshi Are Straight-Up Offensive
While the “pervert character” is an unfortunately common character archetype in anime, many of these characters can be traced back to one original source:Master Roshi. While Master Roshi isn’t the only one (Old Kai, for example) to take perverse action, he’s by far the most frequent offender, and unlike many of these other problems, that’s something that persisted well intoDragon Ball Super, with Roshi harassing female competitors in the Tournament of Power. The majority of the time someone is harassing Bulma, it turns out to be Roshi.
The lecherous old man is a rather tired trope to begin with, and using it as a source of comedy is particularly questionable, especially since it often involves victimizing female characters. For these reasons, it’s obvious that perverse humor like that of Master Roshi is the one aspect ofDragon Ballthat has truly aged poorly.
Dragon Ball
From the creative mind of Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball is a mega multimedia franchise that spans back to the 1980s. Dragon Ball expanded quickly, starting as a serialized manga for Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan. It made its way overseas via manga and an anime adaptation that is enjoyed worldwide. Dragon Ball was the initial starting animated series that followed the adventures of the young Son Goku as he sought after the Dragon Balls. These mystical orbs would grant the wish of any who gathered them together. Then, the series would branch off into the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z, which followed Goku as an adult and featured high-intensity battles and Goku’s never-ending search to be the strongest. The series has also enjoyed several popular video game adaptations and continues to release several new animated series and theatrical films up to the recent popular Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
