Dragon Ball: Why The Buu Saga Is A Flawed Finale

Summary

The Buu Saga in Dragon Ball Z had highlights like the fight between Goku and Majin Vegeta and the powerful fusions, but also confusing details and characters being sidelined.
Gohan's arrogance and fusion mechanics were disappointing, and the arc didn't follow through with Gohan being the next generation of Earth.
The Buu Saga received a mixed reception due to its cluttered storyline and unfocused plot threads, but it still had positives and will be remembered fondly.

After having explored the previous sagas; one fan would be forgiven for thinking that Dragon Ball Z ended gracefully. However, when we saw the Buu Saga, it was a complicated saga to pick apart and analyze for many. From its main villain, the subplots regarding Vegeta's development, and Gohan's subplot. This leads to a mixed finale for different reasons. These reasons vary from person to person, but many of the share a seemingly consistent trend and focus on Vegeta, Buu, and the Fusions.

At least when it comes to the Buu Saga, it certainly has its share of highlights. Such as the fight between Goku and Majin Vegeta, the sacrifice that capped off his character arc, and finally the powerful fusions that were Gotenks and Vegeto. However, some characters were sidelined as well as forgotten, and Gohan's position as the next generation was relinquished back to Goku.

The Impressive Highlights, And Confusing Details

It's no doubt that the Buu Saga as a story provides a lot of updates to animation and character progression. After all, Gohan grew up and became much more powerful during his battle with Super Buu, before that we had Vegeta's sacrifice that was the highlight of the first thing he did that was selfless, and before that we learned more about the cosmic world of Dragon Ball in the form of the Supreme Kai, and got a brilliant fight rematch between Goku and Majin Vegeta. It would be remiss to say that the Buu Saga doesn't have its share of amazing moments that make it worth watching, and that isn't even counting the fusions and their potential. However, there are just as many confusing details in the Buu Saga that makes everybody turn their heads at best, and be disappointed at the worst.

The truth of the matter is that while Fusions and Gohan's involvement in the story were to be expected, what wasn't expected and ultimately disappointing is that Gohan fell into an old habit that was a weakness during the fight against Cell. His arrogance upon unleashing his full potential when fighting against Super Buu cost him a lot of time and energy, ending with him being absorbed as well. And that's not even to say that the fusion mechanics seen in Gotenks and Vegeto are amazing spectacle, but narratively feel like a deus ex machina. That is to say, fusion felt like it should have fixed the arc immediately. Of course, there is also a huge issue that it didn't follow through with the premise of Gohan being the next generation of earth, and instead returning to the status quo where Goku returns to life and defeats Kid Buu with a Spirit Bomb.

The Truth About The Mixed Reception

Dragon Ball Z doesn't completely have winners in the Buu Saga, and certainly it can't be expected to be perfect the entire time. However, the mixed reception is not just a matter of powers, transformations, abandoned premises, or even the return of Goku despite the story moving on to Gohan's life at the beginning. It's simply because the Buu Saga is mostly cluttered and unable to find its own identity due to the constant plot threads and subplots that feel unfocused compared to the three previous arcs. For example, there is so much new information regarding the Supreme Kai, the Demon Realm with Dabura's involvement, Babidi and Majin Buu, and on top of that there is the amount of transformations and fusions that clutter the arc with a lot of episodes and content that it can be hard to follow it.

Still, despite all the mixed reception, there are a lot of positives to this arc. We learned a lot about the characters, and even got a major pay off with Vegeta's character, which is the strongest part of the mid-way point of this story. Even with its misgivings and mixed reception, his doesn't negate or even belittle much of the arc as the content was a mixing pot of multiple ideas that Akira Toriyama felt like he wanted to put out there. Due to this many ideas being put out, it's easy to see where the mixed reception comes from, especially due to how middle-of-the-road this entire arc was. Thankfully, the audience enjoyed it critically, while also acknowledging its own issues at the end of the day. Thankfully, Dragon Ball Z would be remembered fondly for years to come despite the mixed finale.