Dragon Ball started out as a comedic Martial Arts genre of battle-shonen, what exactly makes this transition work and not so jarring as many expect?
Highlights
- The Saiyan Saga of Dragon Ball Z successfully introduces the concept of contrasting themes and values between the main characters and the Saiyans, emphasizing the importance of strength, teamwork, and martial arts technique.
- The raising of the stakes in the Saiyan Saga engages the audience and allows them to become more involved in the story, as the Earth is at risk if the heroes fail to defeat the Saiyans.
- The ending of the Saiyan Saga, with the defeat of Vegeta and the characters’ decision to travel to Namek to resurrect their fallen friends, sets the stage for the next stage of the story and showcases the narrative progression of Dragon Ball Z.
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Dragon Ball as a story, started out with such very humble beginnings. From the very beginning being a comedy battle Shōnen, it started off with the journey for the Dragon Balls, and eventually ended with a strong battle between Goku and Piccolo Jr. in the World Tournament. However, when Dragon Ball Z made its premier and debut, not many were particularly expecting the idea of Goku being essentially an alien, or for the story to take a sudden shift from martial arts to sci-fi. This easily could have been jarring if it were handled any less gracefully, but it has a large amount of narrative techniques packed into the arc that make the Saiyan Saga work as an introductory arc into Dragon Ball Z. If there were any ideas that had been used by Akira Toriyama, it would have to be a selection ranging from the themes of the story, how it begins, versus how it ends and leads into the next arc.
For now, it’s important to establish the main idea behind what makes this saga work by virtue of being the introduction. The main characters theme and values, versus the Saiyan’s who believe in nothing but natural-born strength. Even more than that, it also helps to note the character growth and change of notable characters from Gohan’s introduction to even Piccolo’s own subtle change in priorities and values thanks to training Gohan. However, for the most part it bears mentioning that even with the general excitement of being able to progress through strength, the entire story only works because of an important value. The value that this growing story has become bigger than just Goku, that everything has become much grand and more risky, while also showing the importance of keeping the same values from before. Specifically, the values of strength, training, and introducing the more brutal stakes.
The Themes And Raising of the Stakes
Aside from a few obvious narrative elements, the Saiyan Saga started off with Raditz, who despite being forgotten is a perfect introduction to the concept of the themes and values of the enemies. The antithetical values that might make right, and its only what your born with that truly matters are represented by the Saiyans that arrive at Earth. However, they are contrasted with the main cast that believe and rely on their own strengths, teamwork, martial arts technique, and even forming allys out of necessity, in the case of Goku and Piccolo. After all, the earth itself is in peril if the hero’s lose, and at the beginning of Dragon Ball Z Goku sacrificed himself for the sake of his friends. Not only that, but the raising of the stakes allows for the audience to get involved and engaged with the story even more.
Overall, the themes are also important. Expectations versus your own actions, strength vs technique, and the value of hard work, over the results of being born strong. These values perfectly represent the Earthlings versus the Saiyans Nappa, and Vegeta; who don’t even fight against the humans personally. Instead, they send the Saibamen towards them, thinking that the artificially strong beings are enough against naturally weak humans; only to get destroyed by the humans and disposed of if they fail. Except in the case of Yamcha, where he tried his best but lost due to his willingness to fight a Saibamen that caught him off guard. Of course, this doesn’t end with the Earthlings fighting against the Saibamen or even Nappa, but ends with the fight between Vegeta and Goku.
The Ending And The Continuation
The final fight is as climactic and nailbiting as it ever is, but when Vegeta transforms into the Great Ape and starts destroying Goku, that is when Krillin, Gohan, and even Yajirobe arrive in time to be able to defeat Vegeta together. As a bad guy, Vegeta represented perfectly what the heroes were trying to fight against, an invader that relishes in pure strength over any sort of technique. He was not only defeated by technique, as well as exploiting his weaknesses, but he also eventually was forced to retreat from Earth in a humiliating fashion. This considerable victory does come at a grave cost however, considering most of Earth’s protectors are dead and defeated. However, with the ending of Dragon Ball Z’s Saiyan Saga, it also manages to plant the seeds for the next stage of the story.
With the reveal of a Namekian planet that should have Namekian Dragon Balls, granting the earthlings hope to gain back the earthlings that died, like Tienshinhan, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu, and even Piccolo; Krillin and Gohan both decide to head to the stars so that they can resurrect their friends. The ending continues the story into the next Namek Saga, and the Saiyan Saga succeeds and works as an arc because of the themes and stakes that are raised for the characters. Even at the end of it all, the story moves forward. Dragon Ball Z certainly succeeds in this regard.
Fuente: successacademy.edu.vn
Categorías: Anime
