Dragon Ballis home to a few of the most recognizable villains in anime. The likes of Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu have long ventured outside the boundaries of theDragon Ballcommunity, and established themselves as some ofthe medium’s very best bad guys. All have entertained generations of fans, and have returned in different forms at different times.
ThoughDragon Ball’s greatest villains are undeniably evil in a number of ways, none are so brutal and vicious in everything they do that they become unlikable. According to Akira Toriyama, the series' legendary creator, that was intentional, and it’s what has allowedDragon Ball’s villains to become absolutely iconic throughout the years.
The Series' Creator Kept His Villains From Becoming Too Evil
Many ofDragon Ball’s villains are responsible for quite a bit of misery throughout their time in the series. Especially Frieza, whose evil deeds include a tyrannical rule over the galaxy and the destruction of countless planets. However, every one of them has some sort of quirk or quality about them that keeps things mostly lighthearted.
Frieza,as vicious as he is throughoutDragon Ball, is rather self-conscious about his height and how he’s perceived by those around him. Cell was cowardly early on, before becoming the king of one-liners as his power increased. Buu, in all his forms, was incredibly immature, and often came off like a far too overpowered child throwing a tantrum.
Those qualities have allowed fans to find some humor in whatever it is the villains are trying to achieve, even if what they’re doing is something terrible.In an interviewpublished for the 30th anniversary of the series in 2014, Akira Toriyama revealed that he drew his villains that way for a reason. He said:
“When drawing bad guys, I won’t make them so devious and underhanded that they leave a bad taste in the reader’s mouth afterward. Not because I’m overly concerned for the readers, but rather because I personally hate drawing that kind of stuff.”
Touching on Frieza in particular, he said, “I paid a fair amount of attention to how Frieza talked. After all, villains pretty much always talk rudely. I thought the contrast between his polite speech pattern and his cruelty and strength was really unsettling.”
Modern Dragon Ball Villains Have Largely Followed Toriyama’s Golden Rule
FollowingDragon Ball’s mid-2010s revival,Dragon Ball Supercontinued the story of Goku and company beyond the finale of Akira Toriyama’s original series, and the villains who have since appeared have all followed his golden rule to some extent.
Even the worst of the bunch, Goku Black and Zamasu, can come off as humorous at times in their total misunderstanding of the Saiyans they’re fighting, and just how terribly they misjudge mortals. Broly, though not really evil, is endearingly immature throughout his film.
The tradition was continued intoDragon Ball Daima,where Gomah is laughably cowardlybefore powering up.Dragon Ball’s villains work so well because they all seem to have some quality that takes much of the gravity away from their evil deeds, and though Toriyama didn’t draw that way for the sake of the audience, they sure benefited from it.
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.
