10 Questions About Dragon Ball Storyline

10 Questions About Dragon Ball Storyline

          Dragon Ball is certainly the greatest thing that has ever happened to the history of manga and anime - aside from Death Note and Detective Conan, I believe - but surely there are many faults and errors in the story-line of Akira Toriyama's best marketing product. I have written this blog as a criticism of Dragon Ball and to question some of its aspects that are usually kept in the shadows. While watching their favorite show, fans often ask themselves why Krillin doesn't use his Ki Disc at the right time etc. Also I observed that my other posts haven't hit even hundred views but this one about Dragon Ball was read more than three hundred times and mainly from USA. I don't know why people prefer searching for fictional cartoons rather than concrete facts about our world but, well, whatever kindles you guys' interest! I'm happy if my blog keeps getting attention.

Warning: I've only detected those errors that have taken place in the manga because only manga is considered canon by hardcore DB fans.

1) Five Kaioshins For Universe Seven

For those who don't remember, Supreme Kai or Kaioshin told the ancient history of other Kaioshins at the beginning of the Kid Buu Saga. He narrated how Bipidi, an evil wizard, conjured up Kid Buu to destroy the universe. Buu began his diabolic adventures by attacking the five Kais. He killed some of them and ate/absorbed others. That's how he turned into the final version of Majin Buu who escaped the egg by the help of Bapidi. Only West Kai survived who is our current Kaioshin.

Fun Fact: "Saga" actually means an Icelandic story.

So here's the drill. Why were there five Kaioshins for Universe Seven - four to serve in all directions and one to oversee them all - when there is only a single one for all other universes in Dragon Ball Super? We learnt from Kaioshin's account that all four of his partners coexisted. So why isn't there any universe with more than one Supreme Kai?

Fun Fact: These characters in Buu Saga were named after this childish sentence: Bipidi-Bapidi-Boo. Just like J. K. Rowling utilized Abracadabra and invented her infamous Death Curse.

2) Goku's Death in Trunks' Future

We all know that Goku dies in Future Trunks' timeline and Bulma builds a time machine to send her Saiyan son back in time and try changing the history. Instead, he creates a parallel universe (a fact a genius like Bulma should've known) and ends up warning the heroes in our main timeline that they must tidy up for a battle in near future.

Now for the question. Why didn't they revive Goku and the other dead people in Future Trunks' timeline? Yeah, I know that you can't use Dragon Balls if Kami (can't call him God!) dies and Kami's fate is related to that of Piccolo. But wasn't a similar anomaly dealt with after the end of the Saiyan Saga when Piccolo was dead and Bulma took Gohan and Krillin with him to search for Namekian Dragon Balls?

They could save all the time and trouble just by spending their lives building another space shuttle like the one they used to reach Namek. Now the point is: How to locate the Namekians? Goku did that by transmitting himself instantaneously to New Namek. King Kai could help too. King Kai is able to communicate without resistance to any of the people down below on earth like he helps Yamcha break the news of Goku's apparent death to Bulma. That's the only way he can help, though!

3) Identity of Future Androids

Who were the two Androids who wrecked the future of Trunks? Every DB fan knows them by number. They were Seventeen and Eighteen, the Frankensteins created by Dr. Gero.

Do you know that, in the manga, Trunks actually tells Goku that Nineteen and Twenty will destroy earth. Yeah, he names them wrong. But does he name them wrong or was it the original design?

Yep, Toriyama actually drew Nineteen and Twenty as the models who will eventually fight Goku and his friends. But his editor wasn't happy with his ideas. The reason was simple. Nineteen is a goofy-looking chubby doll. Twenty was Dr. Gero as a cyborg, an old geezer who even doesn't look solemn. That was when Toriyama replaced them with Seventeen and Eighteen. But the error was done and so it remains till date.

4) Goku's Soul

When Goku died in Future Trunks' timeline, where did his soul go? In our main timeline, Goku wanders about the Other World and even reaches the sacred planet of the Kais. Why didn't he try help out his friends (what was left of them) in an alternate universe?

Goku can find time in his busy schedule to return to earth for a silly martial arts tournament and he is even granted permission for that. Hell, why didn't he ask for a day off from death just to kill the two Androids? Even Vegeta gets permission to help Goku when he is fighting Buu. The religion Toriyama created for his world is really very shallow when it comes to death rituals.

Fun Fact: There are no rules like who can or how one can keep his clothes on after dying. And I'm talking about DB multiverse so no religious discussions here! Most guys are turned into blazing white forms. Others can keep their bodies like Goku and Vegeta did. But why are they always dressed up in the clothes they died in, is beyond my guess. Evil guys keeping their bodies is something only anime has shown. Manga never displayed any such favor to an antagonist.

5) Cold or Frieza

Z Warriors explicitly mention this fact that King Cold is as powerful as his son Lord Frieza. But he was never spoken of before his son's defeat by the hands of Kakarot. It seems quite unnatural that all of Vegeta's goonies failed to remind each other of their master's equally strong father who could be used as a means of protection against Frieza's whims.

It also strikes me as irrational that Frieza forgot to seek help from his dad and called Ginyu Force instead.

Fun Fact: People who think that Frieza is a girl are utterly mistaken. And his brother Cooler is not a real thing. He's just a made-up creature and still non-canonized.

6) Cell's Regeneration

Cell has Piccolo's cells in his body so he can regenerate. That's what he does multiple times throughout the story. Piccolo can regrow his body parts if his head in intact. Cell, too, can perform this trick if his brain is undamaged.

But Goku blasted Cell's head off with a mighty Kamehameha Wave. Cell lost his entire torso and his head was completely destroyed. Though he still managed to grow his body back. How? I don't know.

Fun Fact: Cell is the only product of Red Ribbon Army without their tag on him. Vegeta constantly refers to Cell as 'it', making the ultimate killing machine looks like a nonliving entity. Red Ribbon Army appeared in lots of episodes but it was before DBZ. Goku single-handed annihilated the entire army when he was a kid. Only one guy escaped. He was Black. Yes, his color as well. So then Toriyama had to invent another mastermind for the RRA. That's how we got Dr Gero.

7) Beerus' Absence

It seems unnatural that Beerus, the God of Destruction of Universe Seven, slept like a log the whole time Buu was busy exterminating Kais. Now one can argue that Beerus is very selfish, sluggish and he doesn't like to interfere in universal affairs even if a world's existence is at stake. But Buu's onslaught on the Kais was lethal for Beerus because his life is connected to that of the Kaioshins and if they die, he ceases to exist as well. I think peril to a Kai's life is significant enough to trigger the wrath of a Hakaishin.

Fun Fact: Beerus and Champa (the Gods of Seventh and Six Universe respectively) are brethren. This means one of them ruled the universe he didn't belong to. I used past tense because Champa is dead with his worlds. One more thing. Toriyama based the names of Beerus, Whis, Champa and others on those of beverages. That's the same trick the creator of Detective Conan has played when he created the characters of Gin, Vodka, Tequila and others.

8) Roshi's Age

Master Muten Roshi-sama, or the old pervert who likes to hit on every pretty young woman he encounters, is hundreds of years old. That's because he drank from the Fountain of Life (called Aab-e-Hayat in Urdu). His sister Baba has connections up the Other World so she may have extended her life line using other spiritual methods.

Roshi was a pupil of Master Mutaito. Don't remember who Mutaito was? He was the man who trapped Piccolo in a jar by applying Mafuba trick. Roshi was trained under Mutaito's skilled persona. Roshi's rival there was Shen, the master of the Crane School and the ex-teacher of Tien and the white Pokemon guy I can't spell correctly.

Why is Shen still alive? He was there when Goku fought Tien. He also attended the tournament in which Piccolo Jr. participated. Goku married just after that competition had ended. There isn't no hint about Shen drinking from some kind of fountain. Even Shen's brother Mercenary Tao (Taopaipai) is alive (he became a cyborg). How are they all still living when all of them are hundreds of years old?

Fun Fact: Goku has only won Tenkaichi Budokai once in his life. It was the time he defeated Piccolo Junior. DB ended after that and we started watching DBZ. Goku never fought till the end in any other episode of Tenkaichi Budokai. He left one because Kaioshin intervened. He will leave one where Uub will fight him.

9) Frieza's Alternate Killer

In the timeline where Goku got a heart disease and then fell dead, who killed Frieza? I know Goku died ony after Frieza's been dealt with. But there was no Trunks there to help his friends. Goku reached earth two hours after Frieza's arrival and nobody stood a chance against Cold and his savage of a son except for Goku or Trunks. How did the Z Warriors manage to keep Frieza busy till Goku arrived?

10) Cell Juniors

Cell Juniors are Cell's children. He produced them asexually. They have all the abilities of Cell. They can even regenerate which they don't when Gohan has killed them. A loud and huge why!

Fun Fact: In the latest manga series of DBS, a TV announcer interviews Mr. Satan. (His name's not Hercule Satan; that's just some bloke made up because it seems devilish to call a man just ''Satan''.) The man says that Satan has saved the world two times. Now he actually took the credit of saving humanity two times, that's correct. Once he bragged about how he'd killed Cell. Then he really helped Goku and Vegeta gather enough ki to create a massive Spirit Bomb. But that one incident everyone forgot because of Goku's wish. He wanted Majin Buu to live a happy life so he asked Shenron to eradicate the memory of the entire mankind (except for Goku's own lot) and make everyone forget Buu's tyranny. I don't know why that one particular announcer remembers those days!

          So here I declare an end of my post. Next time, I'll try debunking some DB fan theories that are, according to me, totally stupid.

Fun Fact: The concept of a Hakaishin came from the Hindu concept of Shiva, one of their three major deities, whose job it is to destroy the worlds. A God of Destruction is paired by a Preserver. So we have Vishnu in Hinduism and Kaioshin in Dragon Ball multiverse. Brahma is the entity who has created everything, according to Hindus. I don't know who exactly is Brahma in Dragon Ball, Zeno-sama or the Grand Priest? But I'm sure my readers can understand why Dragon Ball Evolution borrowed so much stuff from Hinduism. They virtually used their prayer Om-Naman-Shiva (which is about prostrating before the god Shiva) in the movie. So, along with Buddhism and Christianity, Hinduism becomes the third religion to exist in the world of Akira Toriyama.