Why I love DBZ

I will begin this post by prefacing everything that will be mentioned here. First, I am willing to admit that my liking for DBZ is possibly influenced by nostalgia since I began watching the series back when I was in elementary school. This is not to say feelings of nostalgia are a bad thing, but I will admit that nostalgia can sometimes make things of the past seem better than they probably are. Secondly, I would also like to say that my opinion here is in no way trying to exclaim DBZ as the best anime ever or as being superior to other anime series. I know full well that everyone has their own tastes and preferences. Some, might even hate DBZ. I am willing to accept that while, at the same time, expressing my admiration of DBZ :)

Now, on to the actual subject at hand...

One thing that I greatly appreciate about DBZ is the fact that valuable life lessons can actually be learned from watching the series. Whether it be the downfalls of having too much pride (see Vegeta) or the perseverance to always be there for your family/friends (see Goku), DBZ definitely can be used as a teaching tool. To be honest, I actually attribute watching DBZ when I was a child to the person that I am today. I sincerely believe that some of the adult qualities that I have now can be traced back to what I saw in episodes of the series. These lessons are definitely not limited to just the series' main protagonist, Goku, but also come from Vegeta, Piccolo, Tien, even Android 16. I think the fact that the series has characters that encompass a wide spectrum of personalities allows for a more of the audience to connect to said characters. Though many of us probably would like to see ourselves as the good-hearted, determined Goku, others might relate better to the hard-skinned, selfish but eventual noble heroes Vegeta and Piccolo. The series definitely touches upon a wide gamut when it comes to its characters.

Kid Buu Stronger?!?!?! I think not.

Kid Buu has typically been seen by some as being the strongest incarnation of Majin Buu.  Probably one of the most basic arguments to defend this claim is the simple chronological pattern of DBZ villains always being stronger than the previous ones. Though a viable argument it is very weak as it doesn't truly take into consideration Kid Buu's power level when compared to pass villains.  The most popular argument by many is actually something that is said by Kabito Kai as soon as he sees Super Buu's transformation into Kid Buu. In the episode titled "End of Earth", after describing how kid buu got to be fat buu in the first place, the Elder Kai makes the conclusion, "They weakened him...when he absorbed the kais...they brought his power down."  Kabito Kai continues, "This buu [Kid Buu] is even more powerful...without the influence of the kai's goodness inside of him he's evil." Thus, many would use these two quotes as evidence that not only was Kid Buu explicitly stated as being the most powerful buu but that all other incarnations of him were, in effect, weaker than him as a result of the absorbtions.  I, on the other hand, will make the claim that despite all of this evidence, including Kabito Kai's explicit statement that Kid Buu is the strongest, that in fact Super Buu w/ Mystic Gohan absorbed is actually stronger.

The first claim, namely that chronologically speaking, DBZ villains have always been stronger than their predecessors is an easy one to debunk as I can argue that any trend can easily be broken and that it could have easily been the decision of the writers to decide to simply break off from the norm and do something different in the DBZ storyline.

As for the second claim relating to what the Kais said during the episode named above, though I can easily disprove it by referencing the original manga from which the episode was based off of, I will choose to attack the argument in a different manner, namely that of using evidence from different episodes/battles that clearly shows Super Buu's (w/ Mystic Gohan absorbed) superiority over Kid Buu.

I will start off with the Elder Kai's quote regarding the fact that Kid Buu became weaker with every subsequent absorption of the Supreme Kais.  Some have actually extrapolated this fact to include even the instances of absorption of Fat Buu, Gotenks, Piccolo, and Gohan. Though the Elder Kai does state that the absorption of the Supreme Kais made Kid Buu weaker, he never says that this weakening continued with the other absorptions following it. The counterargument to this is that since Kabito Kai stated that Kid Buu was the strongest form of Buu that the above claim would be the logical conclusion since how else would Super Buu, for example, have been weaker.  I will concede that Fat Buu was most likely weaker than Kid Buu mainly for the reason that he absorbed the Grand Supreme Kai whose pure goodness most likely had a detrimental effect to Buu.  I will not concede to the argument, though, that Kid Buu was stronger than Super Buu (w/ Mystic Gohan absorbed).

Another reason why I believe that the Elder Kai's own words cannot be used to make the assumption that the absorptions after becoming Fat Buu made him weaker can be seen by the ever increasing need that our heroes had to reach new levels of strength in order to beat him.  Whether it was the creation of Gotenks, Gohan's ascension to Mystic status, or the fusion of Goku and Vegeta, each time our heroes were unable to beat Buu's new form and, thus, they had to find ways to become even stronger.  This trend can be easily seen in Mystic Gohan's battle with Super Buu.  As can be seen in their initial fight, Mystic Gohan just plain dominated Buu, so much so that Buu has to turn to absorbing Gotenks and Piccolo.  Why would Buu have absorbed Gotenks and Piccolo if it wasn't for the fact that he believed that by doing so, he would have a better chance at destroying Gohan?  After Buu had absorbed both Gotenks and Piccolo, he became a much more formidable for Mystic Gohan.  He actually became equal to Gohan if not stronger than him.

This argument can be continued even further as the story progresses from here and we arrive at the introduction of the fusion earrings by the Elder Kai.  One can easily conclude that the earrings would have been of no use to Goku if they didn't possess the ability to create a fighter that was even stronger than the current Buu form, which was Super Buu w/ Gotenks and Piccolo absorbed. From just this very fact alone, we can see that Super Buu w/ Gotenks and Piccolo alone was clearly stronger than Kid Buu.  I have reached this conclusion based on Goku's fight with Kid Buu later in the series.  Though Goku does have to resort to using the Spirit Bomb in the end to destroy Buu, he does state at one point to Vegeta that he could have defeated Buu at full power in his Super Saiyan 3 form but chose not to because he wanted to give Vegeta a chance to fight with Kid Buu as well.  So, it begs the question, if Kid Buu is the strongest form of Buu then why did Goku and Vegeta have to resort to fusing in order to beat Super Buu w/ Mystic Gohan absorbed when Goku could have defeated Kid Buu without fusion?  The answer is simple, Kid Buu is not stronger than Super Buu w/ Mystic Gohan absorbed.  Actually, he's not even stronger than Super Buu w/ Gotenks and Piccolo absorbed.

In the end, I do totally agree that Kid Buu is the most evil out of all the forms because he is the original incarnation. But, regardless of what Kabito Kai states in relation to Kid Buu's power in comparison to the other forms of Buu, the evidence demonstrates just another case of an inconsistency within the plot of DBZ.