Son Goku might be the protagonist of the Dragon Ball series, but with how large the cast is, he isn’t always the fan favorite. Other characters can take the spotlight away from him and we’ve seen that happen with Vegeta, Goku’s rival, and a fellow Saiyan.
Vegeta’s popularity stems from his redemption arc. At first, he is the main antagonist of the Saiyan Arc, and after that, he is still quite villainous. He acts mainly out of selfishness and narcissism because that’s all he’s been taught as a Saiyan. Vegeta is surprisingly nuanced, despite his straightforward personality.
He’s the perfect foil to Goku and only becomes a hero when he starts working through that. Despite being his rival, he realized he could learn a lot from him. Vegeta became the character we love now. However, he’s often overshadowed by Goku. Main character syndrome will do that but not for very long.
Dragon Ball DAIMA avoids Vegeta being in Goku’s shadow
In Dragon Ball DAIMA, we see Goku and his friends become children again and enter the Demon Realm. Near the end of the first season, the protagonist transforms into his Super Saiyan 4 form. Vegeta, on the other hand, did not, although he did use Super Saiyan 3. That itself was a major plot hole anyway.
Throughout the Dragon Ball series, Vegeta worked through rivaling Goku into becoming his greatest asset. That, however, was a complaint many of his fans had. He’s often used Goku’s sidekick for powerful fusions rather than a strong warrior in his own right.
Dragon Ball DAIMA had the opportunity to do exactly this but didn’t. Since it doesn’t exactly follow the established lore, Vegeta could’ve somehow had Super Saiyan 4 but only after Goku got his.
Reddit users brought up that this was the better course for Vegeta’s character in Dragon Ball DAIMA. It’s best to not show him get Super Saiyan 4 at all if he will eventually be surpassed by Goku anyway. It shows a lack of care for his arc.
I’m honestly glad that we didn’t get ssj4 vegeta
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Other fans didn’t necessarily agree with the user’s sentiment about Vegeta’s character in Dragon Ball DAIMA. They argued his use of Super Saiyan 3 was used as an asset to Goku.
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Nevertheless, Vegeta deserves to not have his powers overshadowed at every turn. If they are meant to be equals, he should be able to defeat some villains by himself. Akira Toriyama shouldn’t have redeemed him to reduce him to Goku’s sidekick.
Vegeta is Goku’s equal but Dragon Ball hasn’t gotten that point across
Every time there’s a strong antagonist they have to fight, Vegeta is depicted as the person who can’t defeat them by himself. He always makes way for Goku’s eventual win.
Even though Dragon Ball DAIMA didn’t introduce Vegeta’s Super Saiyan 4, it also included a scene where Bulma convinced him to stop fighting by threatening to stop showering with him. It’s quite hilarious and shows how in love they are. However, it distracts us from the truth.
Vegeta’s powerful enough to have won against Gomah but as it goes in Dragon Ball, he’s only meant to make space for others to fight, particularly Goku. If he’s meant to be his equal, then show us how he can also defeat villains by himself without having a convenient joke make us forget about it.
Dragon Ball DAIMA is available on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
