Of all the sagas in Dragon Ball Z, the "Buu Saga" is generally seen as the weakest. The final entry in the Dragon Ball franchise’s second series, it increasingly felt like an excuse to throw disparate concepts into one storyline, despite all eventually coming back to Goku and Vegeta. Despite these legitimate flaws, the "Buu Saga" has one element that’s rather underrated.
Balancing out the storyline’s increasingly dark tone was a bevy of humor and jokes. These not only fit the arc’s beginning given childish nature of Majin Buu himself, but also acted as a brief full-circle homage to the original Dragon Ball. Here’s why, for all its faults, the "Buu Saga" was at least the funniest arc in DBZ.
Dragon Ball Z's Buu Saga Was Full of Silly, Whimsical Jokes
Given that the corpulent Majin Buu just likes to eat, sleep and have a good time, it’s no surprise that his titular saga is based around all his favorite things. For instance, one episode of the anime has him and Babidi going to a cake shop, with the powerful pink creature simply stealing the pastries from the conveyor belt in the back as he begins chomping away. His powers allow him to turn people into helpless candies that exist merely to briefly stave off his insatiable hunger.
A later scene in the saga even sees Buu taking a dump on his self-built porcelain throne. These are all examples of the pink villain's whimsical, often comedic nature, as he's really just out to eat and have a good time. He's not the only source of comedy from this particular DBZ saga, however.
Buu's ironically great relationship with Hercule is pretty funny, too, namely because it stems from the latter's failed attempts to kill Buu. Then there's the comical arrogance of Gotenks, who acts just as childish as Buu, with these antics also extending to his ghost fighters. Gotenks tends to get on Piccolo's nerves, making him something of an audience stand-in toward their rambunctious antics. With everything that happens in the "Buu Saga", it's easily the funniest arc in all of Dragon Ball Z, which is actually something of a poignant full circle return to form for the franchise.
The Buu Saga Being Funny Is a Full-Circle Balancing Act for Dragon Ball Z
It might seem out of place that the "Buu Saga" is initially quite comical in nature. After all, by the time it comes to an end, the world and almost all the Z-Fighters are destroyed. The evil Super Buu and Kid Buu were far more fearsome opponents than their hungry predecessor, with the tone surrounding them being night and day. As strange as this is, it actually represents the path of the Dragon Ball franchise up to that point.
The original Dragon Ball was very much an action-comedy, a whimsical tale inspired by the early movies of Jackie Chan. It would later begin to take on a more serious tone, and by the time of Dragon Ball Z, the comedy-driven nature of the story was gone forever. The "Buu Saga" is much the same way, going from something entirely ridiculous to a far more dramatic and earth-shattering affair. The first Buu fits in with the comedic and cartoony foes of the original Dragon Ball, but by the saga's end, Buu would be an even bigger threat than Frieza and Cell before him. Keep in mind that for a while, the end of the "Buu Saga" was the end of the franchise as a whole, so it was fitting to conclude everything together in this manner.
Besides just being a series retrospective, this balance between humor and action was simply necessary in such a dark story. The biggest concentration of jokes involve the fat Majin Buu, and it's all a build up to how harrowing things would become down the line. Providing the most jokes in the series since it was retitled Dragon Ball Z, the show's final saga might not have been the best, but it certainly had the last laugh.