Dragon Ball’s combat has become increasingly heightened since the anime’s debut, and it’s been a fascinating exercise in escalation. The majority of Dragon Ball’s battles are unstructured chaos where anything goes, but martial arts tournaments are one of Dragon Ball’s longest-running traditions, and have also served as a convenient way to showcase back-to-back battles.
There have been a wide range of combative competitions throughout Dragon Ball’s history, and they always build to a genuinely exciting final fight. However, a satisfying final round doesn’t mean that the rest of the tournament’s bracket is evenly matched. There have been some truly unbalanced tournament matches that barely even qualify as fights.
Botamo’s Protective Physique Doesn’t Get Him Very Far Against Goku
Dragon Ball Super‘s Tournament of Destroyers helps set the stage for the even greater multiversal mayhem to come in the Tournament of Power. One of the least interesting battles from this tournament puts Goku up against Universe 6’s Botamo.
The fact that Botamo is here at all indicates tremendous strength on his part, but he doesn’t do much to prove his skills, and he instead just coasts on his body’s shock-absorbing resilience. There are some brief moments of tension in which Goku’s punches and Kamehameha are useless against Botamo, at least until Goku course-corrects and casually drags Botamo out of bounds to win the fight.
Ranfan’s Salacious Battle Strategy Against Nam Doesn’t Work Out
Dragon Ball‘s 21st World Tournament features its share of genuine battles, but the series was very much still a gag comedy at this point in its run, and many of these tournament clashes embrace comedy over action. The premise of this fight is very low-hanging fruit and reduces Ranfan, a female martial artist, into a beautiful body that’s subject to the male gaze.
Ranfan’s strategy involves derobing during battle so that Nam is distracted and embarrassed, at which point she attacks. Nam narrowly wins, and only after he closes his eyes and fights blind. It’s a regressive gag that’s very much of its time, and one that takes away Ranfan’s power.
Monaka Is Helpless Against Hit Before The Assassin Throws The Fight
Monaka is an ordinary delivery driver with zero fighting ability who gets roped into a comprehensive lie that’s designed to make Goku and Vegeta train harder and surpass their limits. Beerus tells them Monaka is Universe 7’s strongest fighter and hopes that Goku and Vegeta will dominate during the Tournament of Destroyers so that Monaka never needs to step into the arena.
Goku’s unexpected forfeiture against Hit means that Monaka needs to do his part for Universe 7. Thankfully, Hit is in on Beerus’ scheme, and pretends to be knocked out by Monaka’s pitiful punch, receiving a handsome payout as a result. Monaka would be out of his league against Bulma, let alone one of Universe 6’s strongest fighters.
Killa Is Completely Outclassed By The Unconventional Mighty Mask
Dragon Ball Z‘s reintroduction of the World Martial Arts Tournament is accompanied by a new Junior Division for younger fighters. Goten and Trunks headline this younger roster of fighters, but they also sneak their way into the regular proceedings when the two of them disguise themselves as the mysterious fighter, Mighty Mask.
Goten and Trunks adapt to fighting as a singular person surprisingly quickly, which may be a sly way to foreshadow the fusion that lies ahead in their future. Killa is a run-of-the-mill human fighter who apparently lost to Spopovich in the 24th World Tournament, and Mighty Mask defeats him with a single punch, as would be expected from the Super Saiyans.
Videl’s Battle Against Spopovich Becomes A Brutal & Bleak Beating
Dragon Ball Z’s 25th World Tournament is presented as an exciting opportunity to bring back this custom from the original series, while also incorporating the next generation of characters. The tournament unfortunately coincides with Babidi’s efforts to awaken Majin Buu and unleash unprecedented chaos on the planet. The first stage of Babidi’s plan involves his Majin minions, Spopovich and Yamu, stealing energy from the public.
A possessed Spopovich is paired against Videl in the tournament, and he intentionally goes overboard with his attack in order to draw Gohan out of the crowd and steal his energy. Spopovich is more than twice Videl’s size, and it’s hard to see her get tossed around the arena as this wicked warrior gleefully inflicts the most realistic damage in the series on her.
Bandages The Mummy’s Typical Tricks Fall Short Against Goku
Fortuneteller Baba’s Tournament is a playful change of pace that features heightened supernatural opponents that test Goku and company’s strength before the 22nd World Tournament. There’s a gimmick present for many of the unusual altercations. However, Goku’s fight against Bandages the Mummy is rather bland, and tries to get mileage out of the idea of the already tired gag of a little boy overpowering a hulking behemoth.
Bandages makes some direct hits on Goku that prove to be useless, even though they previously eliminated Yamcha. Similarly, Bandages restricts Goku with his bandages, which is said to be a fatal maneuver that’s impossible to overcome, only for Goku to find his way out of it. In the end, Goku knocks out Bandages with a single punch to the stomach.
Goku’s Clash Against South Galaxy’s Caterpy Is Put On Pause For Over 1000 Years
Dragon Ball Z‘s Other World Tournament is a compelling concept that assembles the strongest deceased warriors from the universe’s four quadrants. However, it’s not until Goku’s battle in the finals against the West Galaxy’s Pikkon that Goku actually experiences any struggles. The rest of his Other World Tournament opponents pale in comparison, and this is especially true with the South Galaxy’s Caterpy.
Caterpy’s major strategy is to use his numerous arms to restrain and tickle Goku into a submission, which Goku manages to evade simply by powering up. Caterpy decides to become a pupa and enter a form of metamorphosis to access greater strength, with the only problem being that this process takes 1200 years. Goku openly acknowledges that Caterpy is in over his head and not especially strong.
Yamcha Is Quickly Conquered By Jackie Chun In The 21st World Tournament
The 21st World Martial Arts Tournament is Dragon Ball‘s introduction of this custom, and it builds to a thrilling showdown between Goku and his mentor Master Roshi, operating under the alias of Jackie Chun. To build suspense and raise the stakes regarding Chun’s power, Yamcha becomes an early casualty when the two face off in the quarterfinals.
Yamcha hasn’t had the privilege of training under Master Roshi at this point in Dragon Ball, but he’s no slouch. Nevertheless, Chun seamlessly dodges every attack that Yamcha throws his wa, and then proceeds to push him out of bounds and eliminate him with the force of air.
The earliest World Martial Arts Tournaments from the original Dragon Ball are still set at a grounded enough point in the franchise that these competitions feature plenty of ordinary martial artists who lack any special powers. The 22nd World Tournament’s quarterfinals pair Goku up against a brash kickboxer named Pamput.
Pamput showcases his skills as he tears up the arena and boasts that he’ll be able to defeat Goku in only three seconds. The moment he launches his attack, Goku parries the strike and defeats Pamput with a powerful blow to the chest. This fight is over before it really even begins, and Pamput is deeply humbled. What’s telling is that Tien perceives that Goku actually delivered three fast blows to Pamput, not one, and recognizes his abilities.
Goku’s Endless Skill Somehow Succumbs To Mugley’s Tickle Technique
Dragon Ball GT brings back the World Tournament tradition, yet Goku’s child-like transformation means that he needs to participate in the Junior Division. Goku, unsurprisingly, makes it to the finals and finds himself up against Mugley – a terrified boy who seems to lack any significant fighting skills. However, Vegeta comes to interrupt the event and fight Goku, and his presence leaves Goku distracted and open to Mugley’s attacks.
Mugley gets Goku to head over the arena’s edge and eventually gets Goku to let go and lose when he resorts to a relentless tickling tactic. All this is meant to be played for laughs and to appreciate a certain irony in Mugley being crowned Junior Champion. However, Goku should still have been able to effortlessly anticipate Mugley’s moves, even if he was distracted.
- Cast
-
Sean Schemmel, Laura Bailey, Brian Drummond, Christopher Sabat, Scott McNeil
- Created by
-
Akira Toriyama
- Latest TV Show
-
Dragon Ball DAIMA