Dragon Ball is my… second favorite anime franchise. Not going to lie simply on the basis of nostalgia alone, Yu-Gi-Oh! will always hold a special place in my heart to put it above Dragon Ball but I do indeed like it. Unlike a lot of people who love Dragon Ball, I didn’t get into it as a kid but as a young adult. Maybe it’s because of this that I don’t see Dragon Ball with the same rose-colored glasses as many people in the fandom do. As such, I can say this with all honesty; Dragon Ball as a franchise has some problems.

Now, on the whole, I still adore the series from its comedic moments all the way to its supremely intense fights. But there are several things the series falters on. Sometimes it’s introducing characters who don’t have any meat behind all their pomp and circumstance. Other times there are characters who are supposed to be our “heroes” but in reality are people that are severely lacking in moral fiber or who make decisions which only endanger our planet. Also, the amount of plot holes to deal and research you must do to understand what’s going on is insane. And finally, there are times where the fanbase itself is the problem. We’ll get into that more as the list goes on. Here are 19 problems that fans don’t want to admit about Dragon Ball.

19 Strong Doesn’t Mean Good

There is a part of the fanbase in Dragon Ball whose biggest concern about the series isn’t it’s personalities, the humor, or the plot. It’s how strong its characters are. The bigger and stronger the character, the more they like them. The apex of this phenomenon is the movie/video game exclusive character, Broly. The only problem is that he’s terrible.

Funny thing is, his power is highly overblown.

Villains of the series like Vegeta, Cell, and Frieza all have interesting backstories to them and developed greatly as characters but the same can’t be said for Broly. He was made for one of the films to be a big brute that the heroes have to beat up and that’s it. Oh, I’m sorry what was his reasoning for being mad again? Because Goku cried a lot as a baby.

18 Sorry, He’s Not Invincible

Few things drove the internet more ablaze than Screwattack’s pair of battles pitting Superman vs Goku. Superman won both of those matchups, but that didn’t stop whiny fanboys from yammering on about how their boy was robbed. The thing is even if Goku won that match, there are tons of other comic book characters who can make him cry for Grandpa Gohan.

Putting aside all of the cosmic/magical deities from Marvel and DC who can snap their fingers to blink Goku out of existence like Mephisto (basically the devil of the Marvel Universe), we got aliens like the Silver Surfer. What is one of his powers? Controlling the very elements of the universe. Basically, he could turn Goku into whatever he wanted. Have fun fighting as a houseplant, Goku.

17 I’m The Main Character Here!

Goku is undoubtedly the star of the original Dragon Ball series. His journey of growing from a child into an adult is chronicled in the 153 episodes. While he is still the main character of Z, Gohan is also important, especially in the Cell saga. Indeed, Gohan was set to be the main character of the series going forward. But Akira Toriyama changed his mind. He shouldn’t have.

Toriyama felt Gohan didn’t suit the role of the main character.

Gohan is an infinitely more interesting character than Goku was at the point of the Buu saga. While Goku’s character journey had peaked, Gohan’s had much more to go. This can be seen in Dragon Ball Super, as Goku is the worst part of the show. If Gohan had been given more of a chance, he could have knocked it out of the park.

16 Good Ideas, Not So Good Show

While Dragon Ball Super has experienced a mixed reaction from the fanbase, the series to come before it Dragon Ball GT was anything but. GT is reviled by most of the fanbase for its characterizations of some fighters, how it focuses almost exclusively on Goku and for some truly lame fights. Having said that, there are some good ideas buried beneath the surface.

Baby is one of the most under-appreciated villains in the franchise. Personally, I love the idea of the Dragon Balls being used to the point where they create the worst villains of them all. Baby Tuffle is a villain with a legitimate reason for being evil and the look of Super Saiyan 4 is cool. This doesn’t excuse all its flaws, but fans need to lay off this series.

15 A Non-Ending For A Good Show

Sometimes it can be a little exhausting to understand the vast amount of material there is in the Dragon Ball franchise. Well, the reason why so many fans had trouble saying goodbye after the end of Z was that… the end of Z was awful.

So once Goku and his pals all contributed to defeating the magical entity Kid Buu, the series flashes forward 10 years to see how the characters grow.

There are parts of it which are good, like the introduction of Gohan’s daughter Pan and the still strong friendship between Goten and Trunks. But things go off a cliff when Uub is introduced. Out of nowhere, Goku abandons everyone he should care about to go train this warrior of great potential. Pan, Gohan, or even Goten could have been placed in this role. But nope, Uub it is. Horrendous.

14 Same Personality, Different Women

The women of Dragon Ball hold an interesting place in the series. There’s no doubt that there exists plenty of women who are strong, intelligent, and will not take any crap from anyone. The problem is, Akira Toriyama relies on tired tropes of fiction and can really only rely on one personality; the loud, obnoxious, and hysterical woman.

18 should have fought off Frieza when he returned instead of Krillin, just saying. Bulma, Chi Chi, Launch, and Pan (in Dragon Ball GT, anyway) are all fiery, quick-tempered ladies who explode in fits of rage when things don’t go their way. The only female who seems to be spared from this template is Android 18, but even she is sent off to bear Krillin’s child and drops off from the series after the Cell arc. At least we got a female super Saiyan in Dragon Ball Super.

13 Maybe It’s The Fans

Now, before you feel personally offended by what I’m about to write, know that I may not be talking about you dear reader. Unless I am, in which case, yeah feel offended and see if I care. Always be selective of where you discuss DBZ.

In any large fandom, like Dragon Ball has, there are plenty of toxic fans who can make life miserable for anyone else.

Sometimes it’s because they will defend anything that Akira Toriyama writes as if it’s beyond criticism. Other times if their favorite character has dropped down in power level (Gohan fans are particularly bad with this), they will rage about how a character now sucks. Finally, you have the fans who look back on Dragon Ball Z with the rosiest of nostalgia goggles and think it is perfect. Makes it embarrassing to be a fan at times.

12 The Great Saiyaman

The Buu saga is widely considered by most DBZ fans to be the weakest saga in the franchise. There are quite a few reasons for that, but one of them seems to come from fans who absolutely despise the fact that Gohan went from the child who ended Cell to a high schooler stopping street crime in a costume.

Tell me, though: if you were an awkward yet wholesome high school kid who had superhuman powers, wouldn’t YOU dress like a superhero too? Let’s not forget that Gohan didn’t like fighting all that much, but in this form, he can help the average person, have some fun, and not exert himself too much at the same time. Also, let’s not forget that humor is a staple of Dragon Ball, alright?

11 Still Truckin’ (For Some Reason)

A long-standing rumor in the Dragon Ball fandom is that Akira Toriyama wanted to end the series multiple times before Z finally concluded with the defeat of Majin Buu. There is, however, no actual proof of this being the case.

But perhaps this rumor has stuck around for so long because the series should have ended long ago.

Obviously, that isn’t going to happen now because there is just so much money to be made by continuing this franchise. But if we go by a pure narrative perspective, the defeat of Cell seems to be the best ending to the series possible. Goku sacrifices himself, Gohan becomes the new protector of Earth and Cell was a villain comprised of all the characters’ cells, what more can be done? Oh, a pink blob who absorbs people just like Cell. Greattt.

10 The Curious Case Of Bio Broly

The Dragon Ball films were mostly attempts by Toei Animation to cash in on the franchise when they were running low on source material from Akira Toriyama. Because of this, most of them are trash with Bio-Broly being considered to be the worst of the lot. But it isn’t.

Let’s face it: since the movies are non-canon, they might as well have fun and experiment with things that the show wouldn’t have time for. That’s why it’s refreshing to see Android 18, Krillin, Hercule, Goten, and Trunks get their time to shine in this movie. Yes, the bio-warriors are dumb, but are they any dumber than Broly, Android 13, Lord Slug, or Cooler? Nope.

9 The Arc That Shouldn’t Exist

This slide can extend in general to plenty of Dragon Ball’s storylines throughout its history, but the Goku Black/Zamasu arc of Dragon Ball Super was the apex of time-traveling nonsensical malarkey in this franchise.

The gist of this plot is that Zamasu stole Goku’s body in a different timeline and traveled to Future Trunks’ timeline to wipe out all mortals.

Due to multiverse rules of DB time travel, multiple characters committing actions which cause the timelines to mess up and multiple versions of the same character appear everywhere. By the end, you feel as dumb as Goku. Not to say the arc was terrible, as it had plenty of great moments, but when fans have to make 15-minute videos explaining what is going on, then the show has done a disservice to viewers.

8 Willfully Ignorant

For anybody who has played the Dragon Ball Xenoverse series of games, you will know that there are a ridiculous amount of skills for your custom character to learn. Theoretically, you can make a character with the special beam cannon, kaioken, and supernova attack. SO WHY DON’T ANY OTHER CHARACTERS DO THIS!?

I understand Vegeta not wanting to learn, but the other characters have no excuse. Well to be fair, Goku does it. In fact, Goku’s whole deal is learning other people’s techniques and improving on them. That is what a real martial artist does. But why don’t the other characters learn Instant Transmission, the Kaioken or any other technique not exclusive to a race? You’re telling me that Piccolo or Krillin wouldn’t want to learn new techniques to save the earth? Nope, Toriyama just didn’t think of it.

7 The End Is Never Truly The End

It’s common in the world of comic books for characters to come back to the realm of the living no matter how they lost their life. However, those comics usually have to come up with a clever mechanic or method to bring people back. In Dragon Ball? Okay. Whatever.

You have to nothing to fear but… really nothing, I guess.

The whole idea of the Dragon Balls granting nearly any wish imaginable is incredibly lazy writing which takes away any sort of drama that could occur. But wait, you say! Earth’s Dragon Balls can only bring somebody back one time. Well, you can always travel to Namek and use their Dragon Balls since you can bring people back more than once. Can’t do that? Well, if King Yemma likes you, he can always bring you back.

6 The Worst Tactical Genius

It is often stated by many characters and fans that Vegeta is a tactical genius, contrasting him with Goku’s carefree, laid-back nature. But in reality, he hasn’t been that way in a long time. Nothing screams genius like overbearing amounts of pride, right?

I’ll clarify. In most of the Frieza and Saiyan sagas, the Prince does indeed show tactical intelligence. The way he picks off Frieza’s forces one by one while staying under the radar is great stuff. But in the Cell saga and Buu sagas oh my does Vegeta drop in intelligence. He lets Cell buff up to full power, he thinks blowing himself up will defeat Buu, and several times he thinks spamming the opponent with ki blasts will win the fight.

5 Still Somehow Hanging Out With This Guy

Goku has been trained by several people in his life, but one of his most important was Master Roshi. The series’ signature Kamehameha, after all, comes from this old man. But his shtick has long since run its course.

DBS frames Roshi’s gross habits as not his fault, but the women’s. Not cool.

Up until Dragon Ball Super’s Tournament of Power, the way Master Roshi would creep on girls is just casually accepted by the cast. The only time where his lecherous actions are confronted is in the Tournament of Power. There he trains to rid himself of his habits. Not because he shouldn’t be doing that period, but to compete in a tournament. Why is he tolerated among the women in the cast again?

4 Just Can’t Keep Him Down

Unlike many other comic book characters’ super villains, when villains arise in DBZ they are usually destroyed by the heroes with no qualms. Sure, they come back sometimes like Frieza has, but they mostly stay down. But to the extremely complicated nature of his morality, “Good” Buu is still alive at the end of DBZ and in DBS. But he shouldn’t be.

Honestly now, can somebody tell me what has been gained by having Majin Buu in the cast? He not only causes tons of problems and headaches for our heroes, but his role as comic relief is failed because he’s not even funny. If Toriyama or Toei didn’t have a good plan for Buu, he should have just been ignored.

3 Brought Back The Wrong Villain

In Dragon Ball Super, Frieza is brought back to life by his minions. We get an entire arc dedicated to his return and fight with Goku. Once he’s defeated, you think this is it for the emperor right? Wrong, he’s brought back AGAIN for the Universal Survival Arc. That’s like teaming the Green Goblin with Spider-Man. Now some fans were okay with this, as Frieza is the number one villain in the franchise.

But wouldn’t Cell have been a better pick?

Let’s think about this. Cell is no doubt evil (he does have Frieza’s cells) but he does also have a Saiyan’s urge for competition. We’ve seen him have fun with the Cell Games before and overall can be reasoned with more than Frieza can. Plus, who doesn’t want to see Cell absorb some fighters from other universes?

2 Love, Regardless Of Orientation

If you go to fan art, you will find tons of pictures of Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, Chi-Chi, and others experimenting. By this, we mean with members from both ends of the gender aisle. Now, I’m not saying it has to be revealed that the Saiyan bros have to have a thing for each other. But it would be nice to have some LGBT representation in Dragon Ball.

You can cry that we’re trying to be too inclusive all you want. But Dragon Ball is a highly popular franchise with a diverse fan base that I’m sure would appreciate having some representation in this series. What’s that, you say? General Blue in Dragon Ball was gay? Yeah, and relied on offensive stereotypes to the max. Next.

1 Just Can’t Get These Right

As of late, we have been spoiled silly with Dragon Ball video games. The Xenoverse series and Dragon Ball Fighterz have been doing the franchise proud on consoles/PC. Fusions on the 3DS was an instant classic. Even Dokkan Battle on mobile has a huge following. But we should never forget that taken as a whole, the Dragon Ball series has had a ton of garbage titles.

You’re better off firing a Kamehameha in your mirror than playing Kinect.

For every Fighterz, we have three Dragon Ball Ultimate Tenkaichis, Dragon Ball Z Kinects, or shudder Ultimate Battle 22. There are a ton of DBZ video games that gave the series a bad name among gamers. But hopefully, as years roll on, the hits will keep on coming. Keep it up, Bandai Namco.