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Dragon Ball Introduction
Dragon Ball is a legendary Japanese manga and anime series created by Akira Toriyama. It follows the adventures of Son Goku, a pure-hearted and incredibly strong Saiyan warrior, as he embarks on a quest to collect the seven mystical Dragon Balls. Along the way, Goku encounters various friends and foes, from the brilliant inventor Bulma to the powerful and villainous Piccolo. If you are interested, you can watch Dragon Ball anime there and Dragon Ball manga there.
Cell Saga
Cell saga takes place right after Frieza saga. Some may say it is after Android saga. Just for the sake of simplicity, I refer to Cell Saga as anything that between Frieza Saga end and Buu saga beginning.
Overpowered Villain
An “overpowered villain” refers to a character within a story, often in fiction such as manga, anime, movies, or video games, who possesses immense strength, abilities, or powers that make them exceptionally formidable or difficult to defeat. These villains are usually depicted as being vastly superior to the protagonists or other characters within the narrative in terms of raw power, intelligence, or special abilities.
The concept of an overpowered villain is commonly used in storytelling to create tension, challenge the main characters, and drive the plot forward. These villains often serve as major obstacles that the heroes must overcome through struggle, ingenuity, or personal growth. They can range from physical powerhouses with incredible strength and combat skills to master manipulators with cunning strategies and vast resources.
Overpowered villains are a staple in many genres, including superhero stories, fantasy epics, and science fiction adventures. They are designed to test the limits of the heroes and push them to their fullest potential, leading to dramatic confrontations and intense battles that captivate audiences and keep them engaged in the narrative.
This usually works and makes the dramatic confrontations where the Heroes beat the Villain more epic, until someting happens….
The Villain become too much of a problem
Throughout the years, there is many example of Overpowered Villain. You name it Madara Uchiha from Naruto, Kaido from One Piece, Yhwach from Bleach, and the list goes on.
All the name i mention is an overpowered villain. One way or the other, defeating that Overpowered Villain feels like an”Asspulls”. Why then for example when Ichigo beats Yhwach it feels like an “Asspulls”? It is because by making the Villain too powerful is at the same time making their inevitable defeat become “not earned” for the Heroes.
A Villain Job is to make The Hero (or Heroine) grows, it is true. With Heroes growth come their New Power or their New Abilities or anything that makes The Heros more powerful than The Villain. It makes the climax that much exciting and memorable.
When the villain is excessively powerful or their abilities are portrayed as overpowered, it can create a narrative imbalance where the hero’s struggles seem futile or insignificant. This can diminish the impact of the hero’s journey and character development, as their efforts may appear fruitless in the face of overwhelming odds. That is why most of Overpowered Villain defeat makes the story feels rushed.
How Dragon Ball Handle Overpowered Villain in Cell Saga
When i talk about Cell Saga, of course the overpowered Villain is none other than Cell itself. Cell has many form. Starting from Imperfect form, evolved into Semi perfect form and then into Perfect form and finally into Super Perfect form.
In every iteration of Cell form, there is always a point where Cell is the “strongest”. That is, until somehow the Heroes grow their Power and eclipsed Cell Power.
Let’s see how each form of Cell start from being overpowered to become defeated by the Heroes:
Imperfect Cell
When starting, it is clear that Piccolo is stronger than Imperfect Cell. So, Cell retreat first from his fight with Piccolo.
Imperfect Cell make his appearance again when Piccolo was fighting Android 17. Having become more powerful than Piccolo, Cell is successful in defeating Piccolo and absorbing Android 17.
Semi-Perfect Cell
After absorbing Andoid 17, it is clear that Cell is the strongest character in the story. That is until Vegeta comes with his new Super Saiyan Form (Super Saiyan Second Grade).
Vegeta then dominates the fight and could have defeat Cell once and for all. That is until Vegeta prides kick in and He deliberately allow Cell to reach Cell’s Perfect form.
Perfect Cell
When Perfect Cell first appear, nobody could defeat him. Not even Goku, not even Vegeta, not even Gohan (at least at this point). At this point Cell could have ended the story here and there by killing all The Heroes. Unfortunately, he allows The Heroes to trains to defeat him.
It seemingly is impossible when Goku (what we think is the strongest hero at that point) say that Cell is not even fighting seriously when fighting with Goku.
You know the story. Gohan comes on Goku place, still not fighting seriously. Cell decide to taunt him and Super Saiyan 2 Gohan comes.
Gohan completely overpowered Cell at this point. Same with Cell, Gohan could have ended the story here and there and defeat Cell. However, Gohan decide to torture Cell. It ended with Cell blowing himself up, seemingly died, until he suddenly return again with new form.
Super Perfect Cell
When Cell return from his seemingly demise, we still has some belief that Gohan Super Saiyan 2 is still stronger than Cell Super Perfect form. This however changes when Gohan is forced to defending Vegeta, making on of Gohan’s arm unusable.
Cell in the end still defeated with the iconic Father-Son Kamehameha, altough it is thanks to Vegeta distracting Cell at the end.
Dragon Ball Pattern
Can you see the pattern throughout all Cell form?
More or less it is like this:
- The Heroes overpowers Cell
- Either Cell retreat because the Heroes miscalculation or The Heroes let Cell become stronger
- Cell overpowers the Heroes
- Either The Heroes retreat or Cell let Heroes become stronger
- The Heroes become stronger than Cell
- The cycle Repeat until in the end Cell is defeated
The difference in Handling Overpowered Villain
You can see that at ALL and i put a big emphasis on ALL POINT OF THE STORY both Cell and The Heroes can defeat one another and end the story, but that doesn’t happen.
This is the deciding factor. Either the Heroes or the Villain, both can be defeated throughout all point of the story. It is why it raises the tension. It is also why Gohan defeating Cell doesn’t feel like an asspull and at the same time why Ichigo defeating Yhwach feels like an asspull.
Conclusion
Dragon Ball handle Overpowered Villain by making them starting out not as the strongest. At the same time it makes the Villain “seemingly” defeatable at all point of the story “if only” the Heroes ego is not in the way.