The Dragon Ball series is one anime/manga series that is full of some of the most iconic characters in the entirety of the two mediums. However, while the characters of the series have proved to be one of the most timeless and well-known they have become some of the most polarizing when it comes to the fans.
Many in the fandom of Dragon Ball constantly cry foul when it comes to different characters that are used a bit too much and others that deserve more spotlight. This list will be showing just who exactly so many fans feel this way about.
10 UNDERUSED: VIDEL
Videl is seen as one of the biggest mistakes of the Dragon Ball series. The mistake part doesn't come from her inclusion, but it comes from the way she was overall handled throughout the series which leads her to be one of the most underused characters in existence.
Videl is introduced as a very strong woman that is always ready to fight. She stands by her beliefs and wants to live up to her father's name as the strongest person alive. That is sadly thrown out and nowadays she is relegated to a silent wife that's just there to be a spouse and a mother.
9 SEE TOO MUCH: FUTURE TRUNKS
While Future Trunks only really has two appearances in the anime, he also shows up as a main character in tons of Dragon Ball side-lore. The character isn't bad at all and is definitely one of the most iconic in the series, but for the most part, he shows up to not do much of anything.
Many fans have come to realize that in his original Dragon Ball Z appearance, the character simply came to join the cast to just be another body added to the team to not amount to anything. Future Trunks is a character that could easily join the underused category if he weren't shown and pushed so much.
8 UNDERUSED: MAJIN BUU
Majin Buu is constantly shown to be one of the strongest warriors on the Z-Team. He can stand up to both Goku and Vegeta, even when they are both at the level of God due to his origins, race, and his "fusion" with the Great Supreme Kai.
However, Majin Buu's greatness has largely been squandered throughout the series even with his small pieces of spotlight in Dragon Ball Super. He is shown to be important in the next arc of the manga, but it has yet to be seen if the canon anime will follow suit.
7 SEE TOO MUCH: KRILLIN
Many may think that Krillin should be a part of the underused category but they'd be mistaken. Krillin is a character that enjoys a lot of time in the limelight due to being the "strongest human" of the series.
The thing is that this limelight adds up to nothing due to the series constantly using Krillin in the same way each time he shows up. Use his smarts to take out some low-level enemy and ultimately get defeated.
6 UNDERUSED: PICCOLO
Piccolo is a character much like Krillin but without as much time really amounting to anything. It's been shown many times that Piccolo is capable of holding his own but it seems that the series would much rather not fully focus on the demonic Namekian.
It would be great to actually see Piccolo be able to get some real new character moments, especially if those moments are anything close to his small scene with Android 17.
5 SEE TOO MUCH: GOKU
Goku is the main character of the series, but the series has evolved so much and introduced so many characters that the fans are expecting more than the series still being completely focused on him.
The thing about Dragon Ball is the fact that it's been criticized for focusing way too much on too small of a cast when other anime have shown it's possible to let the main character grow and give others time as well.
4 UNDERUSED: GOTENKS
Gotenks is up there with Videl in the category of being one of the biggest wastes of potential in the entire series. He's introduced as the first fusion character and is hyped up to be a serious threat but becomes a one and done character.
Many are still holding out hope that he and his fusors, Goten and Trunks, will gain some relevance but it's looking doubtful.
3 SEE TOO MUCH: GOHAN
Gohan is a character that could use a lot more attention but the thing about him is that his character arc is actually complete, the series just keeps redoing and forgetting about it.
Gohan has been seen going through a complete growth from the Saiyan to the Buu Saga. Now the series just needs to have him stay consistent which is unlikely.
2 UNDERUSED: TIEN
Tien is probably the most misused human character in the entire series. Krillin may be the human with the most spotlight, but Tien has to be the most deserving.
He is the character that never stopped training and it would be awesome to have him be the human to somewhat keep up with the non-Earthlings. Like the rest of the hopes though, it seems unlikely.
1 SEE TOO MUCH: HIT
Hit is one of the newer characters to the Dragon Ball franchise and became a fast fan favorite. Unlike other side-characters of the series, it seems like he's going to retain some of his importance but the thing is that he hasn't really given anyone a reason to care.
Hit is a fun character that was going to be Goku's new rival, but since he was quickly surpassed it's seeming that there's no real reason to keep him around anymore unless the series finds a way to pick him up more.