Hundreds of new anime series come and go every year, and there’s such an avalanche of content where it can be truly difficult to connect with audiences for an evergreen period of time, like what’s happened with Akira Toriyama’s prolific Dragon Ball series. Dragon Ball has carefully leaned into staples of the shonen genre as it develops its ongoing narrative about Goku’s quest for power and to become the most dependable defender of Earth.
Dragon Ball has found ways to subvert shonen archetypes, but it also gleefully embraces caricatures and broader ideas when it’s able to serve a purpose. Accordingly, there are some figures who have emerged in Dragon Ball who are total clichés, even if some are also quite dangerous.
10 Jiren Never Rises Above The Role Of The Strong And Silent Rival
Dragon Ball Super’s Tournament of Power multiversal battle royale is one of the anime’s most ruthless competitions. Goku and the rest of Universe 7 have dozens of opponents to eliminate, but very early on Universe 11’s Jiren emerges as the major challenge in this tournament. Jiren turns into a more than satisfying target for Goku, who even triggers him to access Ultra Instinct for the first time. The problem is that Jiren never stops filling the role of stoic juggernaut. He barely feels like a character and is instead just an immovable force that the heroes need to conquer.
9 Cooler And King Cold Hit Diminishing Returns With Frieza’s Family
Goku’s battle against Frieza on Planet Namek is one of Dragon Ball’s most thrilling battles, but it doesn’t take long for the series to drag its feet and milk this rewarding rivalry dry. Following the defeat of Frieza is the arrival of King Cold, his father, and Cooler, his vengeful brother. Both of these characters are basically just weak attempts to recapture the magic of Frieza. Plenty of anime series have explored the cliché idea of a fallen villain’s family showing up to avenge them, and Dragon Ball doesn’t add anything new to the tradition.
8 Hercule Satan Gleefully Fulfills The Role Of Showboating Stereotype
So many characters in Dragon Ball have Godly powers where they could destroy the whole planet on a whim if they truly wanted. This makes more grounded characters, like Hercule Satan, a breath of fresh air, even if they can also occasionally be grating.
Hercule fills the role of audience surrogate to some extent as he becomes the public figure who takes credit for Goku and company’s victories. Hercule is supposed to feel like an exaggerated wrestling stereotype and he never strays from that persona.
7 Golden Frieza Is Just A Fresh Coat Of Paint On An Old Idea
The battle against Frieza becomes emblematic of some of the bigger clichés that begin to dominate Dragon Ball’s biggest villains. Frieza pioneers the tradition that most major threats will cycle through a series of transformations until they’ve achieved their full power. The initial fight against Frieza is clichéd in this respect, but the character’s bold return in Dragon Ball Super is even more egregious. Golden Frieza isn’t nearly as intimidating as the series thinks it is. It’s just a new color on Frieza’s old design, which really hurts its impact.
6 Goku Black Turns To The Popular Device Of An Evil Doppelgänger
One of the most exciting arcs in Dragon Ball Super is the stretch of Goku Black installments where Zamasu is able to successfully hijack Goku’s body and nearly triggers the elimination of all mortals. There’s a genuine impact made as the heroes watch someone who looks like Goku killing those they love. The only problem here is that Dragon Ball has turned to this trope several times before. Goku Black feels more cliché than he needs to be after events like the appearance of Turles, Copy-Vegeta, and Captain Ginyu’s body swap, all which explore comparable ideas.
5 Broly Is Yet Another Super Powered Saiyan Who Comes Out Of Nowhere
One of the biggest historical events in Dragon Ball’s canon is that Frieza’s destruction of Planet Vegeta leaves the Saiyan race contained to only a few dwindling survivors. Despite this decision, Dragon Ball seems to continually find new Saiyans who are able to emerge as convenient villains.
Broly has become a popular character, likely due to his extreme strength, but his power is only a reflection of his clichéd nature. Broly is just another ultra burly Saiyan threat who gets defeated as suddenly as he appears.
4 Old Kai Fits The Lecherous Old Man Tradition Without Compromise
There’s an odd stereotype that exists, which isn’t restricted purely to anime, where elderly martial arts masters can be a complicated dichotomy of excellence and more puerile impulses. There are many Kais that show up in Dragon Ball, with many of them feeling unique from each other. Old Kai is near the top of the chain of command, but his exceptional insight and power is frequently suppressed by his crude interests. Old Kai feels less essential due to the way in which he presents himself, and it’s a caricature that Dragon Ball has already previously explored with Master Roshi.
3 Dabura’s Devilish Roots Are Painfully Front And Center
Dragon Ball has been a home to some incredibly evil characters, some of which are explicitly demons who come from dark realms. Akira Toriyama’s character designs are one of the highlights of the series, but the decisions made with one of Babidi’s head helpers, Dabura, is a little polarizing. Dabura is a Demon King, so his Satanic look is certainly appropriate, but he just looks like some standard devil. Even Dabura’s powers pull from demonic lore and mythologies, which turns him into more of a cliché than an original creation.
2 Fortuneteller Baba's Look And Role Never Defy Expectations
Fortuneteller Baba is a Dragon Ball character who doesn’t always get to be in the spotlight, but she’s served some important purposes and is still Master Roshi’s older sister. Roshi is a bit of a clichéd stereotype himself, but his sister is even more run of the mill. Baba never gets the opportunity to rise above her descriptive title, and so she routinely plays the role of cryptic fortuneteller and witch-like figure. There could easily be depth for her, but instead she’s pushed more into this supernatural stereotype position.
1 Brianne De Chateau’s Magical Girl Transformation Into Ribrianne Is Genre Perfect
Dragon Ball Super’s Tournament of Power is extremely exciting because of how many new competitors it brings into the picture, but since these opponents are all from different universes, they often reflect completely different sensibilities. Dragon Ball Super seems to indicate that Universe 2 is a world that embraces the magical girl genre of anime. This comes into play with Brianne De Chateau, who performs an extremely clichéd transformation before she achieves her stronger form, Ribrianne. Ribrianne is such a cliché that many feel like she had no place in Dragon Ball’s action-heavy world.