One of Dragon Ball Z’s most defining features is that it’s a battle shonen anime that favors especially heightened combat. Dragon Ball Z’s heroes and villains acquire unbelievable strength, which frequently translates to explosive battles where there is the potential for incredible casualties. These fierce fights can put the fate of the entire planet on the line.
However, there are also many cases where the impact of this action is felt on a personal level as a specific individual — or small group of people – takes on brutal damage. There is occasionally a sanitized quality to some of Dragon Ball Z’s battles, and it’s not an anime that particularly relishes over the top violence and brutal acts of torture. That being said, Dragon Ball Z hardly avoids bloodshed and there are some fights that really go for broke when it comes to the unflinching nature of their violence and the damage that’s distributed.
Related
10 Most Iconic Anime Beatdowns, Ranked
Iconic anime showdowns like Trunks vs. Freiza in DBZ and Gojo vs. Jogo in JJK have gone down as some of the most brutal beatdowns in anime history.
10 Android 18 Doesn’t Hold Back When Faced With Vegeta’s Super Saiyan Strength
Dragon Ball Z, Episode 135, “Deadly Beauty”
Vegeta is feeling at the top of the world when Dr. Gero’s evil Androids first reveal themselves. Vegeta showcases his new Super Saiyan power when he easily defeats Android 19 and mistakes that Android’s lackluster strength as a general weakness in Androids across the board. Vegeta doesn’t hesitate when it comes to taking on Android 18 in battle, but his second Android experience couldn’t be more different than his first. For one, Android 18’s strength is still considerably higher than Vegeta. He’s able to defend himself and stay afloat, but his attacks appear to have very little impact on Android 18.
Furthermore, Android 18’s strikes progressively wear Vegeta down. Their battle plays out on a crowded highway where they’re jumping on top of moving vehicles and weaving in and out of traffic. Android 18’s mechanical exoskeleton allows her to bloody Vegeta up, the likes of which culminates in a brutal blow to his body that leaves his arm broken. Vegeta looks like a bloody mess by the end of the fight, but his pride and ego are bruised even more than his body.
9 Future Trunks Gives Mecha-Frieza A Bloody Welcome To Earth
Dragon Ball Z, Episode 120, “Another Super Saiyan?”
It takes Goku dozens of episodes to finally defeat Frieza on Namek, which leaves Dragon Ball Z’s characters — and audience — crestfallen when the galactic tyrant somehow manages to survive the experience and show up on Earth for revenge. Panic ensues, since Goku’s whereabouts are still unknown, but this becomes a valuable opportunity for Future Trunks to make his bold introduction and prove that the Super Saiyan transformation isn’t specific to Goku. Future Trunks becomes a Super Saiyan and fires his Burning Attack at Mecha-Frieza and King Cold. The villains avoid this energy attack, but Future Trunks takes advantage of their confusion and uses it to strike.
Future Trunks slices Mecha-Frieza into dozens of pieces with his signature sword, only to then vaporize the pieces so that there’s no chance of another revival. Future Trunks could have just used this energy blast to destroy Mecha-Frieza, but his decision to chop the villain up into many pieces is an extra brutal detail that helps usher in a more violent style of combat. Future Trunks’ victory over Mecha-Frieza is a violent display of vengeance, but his subsequent murder of King Cold is also quite bloody.
Related
10 Most Creative Dragon Ball Z Fights, Ranked
Dragon Ball Z is known for its epic fights between overpowered heroes villains, but some battles showcased Akira Toriyama’s creativity like no other.
8 Buu Rebels Against His Malevolent Majin Master, Babidi, With Vicious Violence
Dragon Ball Z, Episode 246, “Buu’s Mutiny”
Babidi, the dark wizard who is responsible for Majin Buu’s awakening, causes no shortage of carnage on his own. Babidi’s powers of magical manipulation are genuinely intimidating and he casually uses these powers to psychically explode his minions, Spopovich and Yamu. Majin Buu gets tired of Babidi’s constant insults and insolence and decides to give him a reality check regarding who is really in charge. It’s worth mentioning that not long before Babidi and Buu’s altercation, Piccolo had violently severed Babidi in half.
This is an extreme act, but it’s depicted rather bloodlessly and Babidi is able to recover through Buu’s healing Mend Beam. It’s all the more ironic that Buu is ultimately the one who finishes Babidi off for good. He strangles the tiny terror and then releases a brutal energy blast at the wizard’s helpless body. It’s a vicious evisceration that helps highlight how Buu is a loose cannon, especially now that he’s no longer tied to Babidi’s strings.
7 Vegeta’s Rematch Against Zarbon Becomes A Soothing Excuse For Slaughter
Dragon Ball Z, Episode 57, “Gohan, The Hunted”
Vegeta makes several powerful enemies during his time on Planet Namek, some of whom become helpful training exercises for when he finally takes on Frieza. There’s a tense history between Vegeta and Frieza’s trusted soldier, Zarbon. These two come to blows over the topic of the Dragon Balls and Zarbon beats Vegeta within an inch of his life, but keeps him alive because of the valuable intel that he possesses. This is a brutal fight that really puts Vegeta through the wringer, but their rematch becomes an even bloodier debacle.
Zarbon is unaware of the zenkai boost that Saiyans experience when they recover from the brink of death. Vegeta returns stronger than ever and he doesn’t struggle against his past aggressor this time around. Vegeta’s means of destroying Zarbon are particularly painful. Vegeta punches his fist into Zarbon’s stomach, breaking through his Saiyan Battle Armor. Then, with his fist inside his enemy, he fires a powerful energy blast that breaks through Zarbon’s back. It’s a memorable level of carnage that speaks to Vegeta’s desire to do whatever it takes to acquire the Dragon Balls.
6 Frieza’s Second Form Gores Krillin & Celebrates The Carnage
Dragon Ball Z, Episode 78, “Fighting Power: One Million??”
Frieza is easily one of Dragon Ball Z’s most vicious villains. He’s responsible for the deaths of millions of people, and he’s destroyed hundreds of planets. The heroes do their best against Frieza before Goku is able to help, which pushes the villain to cycle through multiple transformations before he reaches peak power. Frieza’s second form is considerably more intimidating than the first. He’s taller, stronger, and sports dangerous bull-like horns on his head. One of Dragon Ball Z’s bloodiest scenes – and one that was heavily edited for the anime’s Toonami broadcast — involves Frieza impaling Krillin on those sharp horns.
Krillin bleeds heavily from his wounds, but also coughs up blood while he’s at death’s door. To make matters worse, Frieza toys with Krillin while he’s in this vulnerable state. He shakes his head around so that Krillin’s body flops around on his horns and experiences greater pain. It helps audiences understand Frieza’s truly vile nature. Dende manages to heal Krillin’s wounds, but Frieza still kills Krillin with his Psycho Death Bomb, where he causes the human to painfully explode with psychic energy.
5:09
Related
10 Most Violent Dragon Ball Fights, Ranked
It goes without saying that a martial arts franchise like Dragon Ball can get violent, but some fights went way further than most shonen anime do.
5 Gohan Uses His Super Saiyan 2 Strength To Slice Through The Cell Juniors
Dragon Ball Z, Episode 185, “Awakening”
Dragon Ball Z subverts expectations when Goku doesn’t only fail to defeat Cell, but he’s actually killed by the resourceful villain. Cell appears to be unbeatable at this moment, and he produces seven Cell Juniors to keep the rest of the heroes occupied. The Cell Juniors may be tiny, but they all have strength that’s identical to Cell. Everyone struggles against these monsters. However, Gohan’s Super Saiyan 2 ascension helps him not only dominate against Cell, but slaughter the seven Cell Juniors.
Gohan could have killed these creatures through a massive energy blast or even an explosive burst of aura. Instead, Super Saiyan 2 Gohan viciously destroys these creatures. He decapitates the Cell Juniors and slices through their bodies as if his arm is a razor-sharp blade. It’s a violent display that hits even harder because it’s coming from a character like Gohan, who is typically so kind and reserved.
4 Nappa Leads A Full-Scale Assault On The Z-Fighters
Dragon Ball Z, Episodes 24-27
Dragon Ball Z has featured plenty of powerful villains who make Nappa seem weak in comparison, but the burly Saiyan deserves credit for taking out so many of the anime’s heroes and forever changing the status quo. Several heroes, such as Yamcha and Chiaotzu, never fully recover from their Saiyan Saga deaths. Nappa’s superior Saiyan strength makes it difficult for anyone to actually inflict any damage on him. Chiaotzu’s selfless self-destruct maneuver doesn’t do any lasting damage, and it reduces Tien’s best friend to disturbing burn marks and smoke.
Tien’s emotions get the better of him, and he launches an epic attack on Nappa, only for the Saiyan to slice off Tien’s arm and bask in his opponent’s pain. Finally, Nappa’s Bomber DX attack wipes out Piccolo and causes him to experience a brutal end before he passes away from his injuries. These deaths are quite bloody and violent, but the additional pain that he inflicts on Krillin and Gohan is also quite severe.
3 Recoome Recklessly Wails Away At Vegeta Until The Saiyan Submits
Dragon Ball Z, Episodes 64 & 65, “Recoome Unleashed” & “Let The Battles Begin”
The Ginyu Force are Frieza’s top mercenary team who the galactic tyrant turns to whenever he needs some extra reinforcements to take care of business. Vegeta, Gohan, and Krillin pool their talents together against this villainous team, which is an exciting turning point for these characters. Their combined efforts are enough to take out Guldo, the Ginyu Force’s weakest member, but they seriously struggle against Recoome.
Recoome doesn’t hold back against Vegeta, and he delivers a particularly brutal beatdown on the Saiyan. Recoome bashes Vegeta around like he’s a ragdoll. Gohan and Krillin attempt to aid Vegeta, but Recoome gives them just as intense injuries. Vegeta does manage to get a few good hits on Recoome that draw blood and generate rage. However, the heroes are left as one big bloodied mess before Goku arrives to settle the score.
Related
10 Best Dragon Ball Z Fights Where The Heroes Lost, Ranked
Dragon Ball Z has so many unforgettable fights that it’s easy to take for granted just how many the heroes straight up lose.
2 Super Buu Eliminates Smitty In An Especially Painful Manner
Dragon Ball Z, Episode 255, “Buu Against Buu”
The heroes’ battle against Majin Buu is temporarily interrupted by some small-time criminals, Smitty and Van Zant, whose wonton mayhem inadvertently leads to the death of Mr. Satan’s dog, Bee. This brutal act is what triggers Majin Buu to produce Evil Buu, which in turn leads to the creation of Super Buu. Super Buu doesn’t forget about Van Zant’s atrocities and decides to get revenge on him through truly twisted means. Buu’s malleable nature and his ability to regenerate is nothing new at this point in Dragon Ball Z.
However, Super Buu puts a disturbing spin on these abilities when he forcefully funnels himself into Smitty’s body. Smitty grows increasingly bloated as he fills up with Buu, at which point his body explodes. There are few moments in Dragon Ball Z that genuinely evoke horror, but this is one of them. Evil Buu may no longer be in the picture, but Super Buu’s sadistic means of handling Smitty indicates that he’s even more sinister than his predecessors.
1 Videl Gets The Beatdown Of A Lifetime Against The Relentless Spopovich
Dragon Ball Z, Episode 217, “Videl Is Crushed”
Videl’s fight against Spopovich in the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament remains one of Dragon Ball’s most brutal encounters. Spopovich is under Babidi’s Majin influence and brainwashed to do whatever it takes to gather enough energy to awaken Majin Buu. This results in a vicious scheme that’s designed to pull Gohan out of hiding so that he’ll intervene and Babidi’s forces can steal his energy. This is exactly what happens, but it’s preceded by a harrowing fight where Videl is rendered a bloody, defeated mess. Spopovich is more than double Videl’s size and this would make for an unfair fight even under normal circumstances where Spopovich is willing to play fair.
It’s horrifying to see that Videl’s attacks are useless against Spopovich, who punches, kicks, and assaults Videl with incredible intensity. Videl wouldn’t have survived this fight if not for the Senzu Bean that she received afterward. The level of violence that Spopovich inflicts would be too much for most Dragon Ball Z characters to bear, but it’s made even worse by the fact that Videl is just a teenage girl who lacks any fancy ki abilities. She’s completely out of her league here.
With the help of the powerful Dragonballs, a team of fighters led by the saiyan warrior Goku defend the planet earth from extraterrestrial enemies.
- Release Date
- September 30, 1996
- Cast
- Sean Schemmel , Brian Drummond , Christopher Sabat , Scott McNeil
- Seasons
- 9
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Creator
- Akira Toriyama
- Number of Episodes
- 291
Discover more from reviewer4you.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
