“Victory” is a term that was once reserved for war, specifically referring to martial combat. The definition has expanded to encompass any form of conflict. There is a winner and there is a loser. The concept of victory has existed in the human mind long before the written word existed and has more than a few agents in different belief systems. However, internal victories are often some of the hardest to achieve. Buddha emphasized that “it is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, by heaven or by hell.” This is a sentiment that manages to permeate many different anime characters.

dragon ball and Dragon Ball Z These are shows that feature battle at their core. As a battle shōnen—and the grandfather of battle shōnen—there are winners and losers as a natural consequence of conflict; victory is essential to making the genre work. This is an important part of the show, and a good rival can really emphasize the importance of conflict. While Goku has had a few rivals, Vegeta is the one who has managed to leave the biggest mark on the franchise as a rival. Many of these rivals have also achieved great victories over Goku—and Vegeta as well, but he would never claim anything as a true victory, especially their first conflict.

Related

The best Dragon Ball Z movies don't even Star Goku

Goku is often the center of attention in the Dragon Ball Z films, but the films in which he is absent are actually the best cinematic efforts in the series.

Vegeta and Goku's Saiyan Saga conflict set the stage for the series

Vegeta and Goku are the fabric from which modern shōnen rivalries are cut, and it all began with what is considered one of the best fights in the entire series. When Goku and Vegeta first meet, Goku has just returned from the dead to Earth to face the Saiyan threat. Goku arrives shortly after Piccolo's death at the hands of Nappa, breaking his spine in retaliation, which makes him less useful to Vegeta. It also doesn't help that his actions have rendered the Dragon Balls unusable on Earth. As a result, Vegeta quickly kills him, and Goku sends Gohan and Krillin away to set the stage for the arc's central conflict. Goku comes face to face with the man who, in another life, would have been the monarch he lived under, and here, they are able to fight as equals.

Vegeta enters this fight arrogantly. He is completely convinced that his victory is inevitable, that Goku is an inferior class of warrior that he should be able to crush. Unfortunately, things don't work out that way, with Goku using the Kaioken to keep up the pace and putting Vegeta at a disadvantage. He ends up using a technique that allows him to transform into a Great Ape, making him much, much harder to deal with. This is also a moment for Goku where he realizes that he was the one who killed his grandfather, and not some nameless monster. This is truly the moment when Vegeta, in essence, wins the fight. He crushes every bone in Goku's body with his hand and is about to kill him once and for all, if not for Yajirobe's intervention in cutting off his tail.

The only reason the heroes are able to achieve victory is because, unlike most previous conflicts, multiple members of the team end up having to take action. dragon ball, since these are actually one-on-one fights, but Vegeta was too powerful for that. Vegeta is actually defeated by Gohan and Yajirobe in the end, and finds the defeat humiliating. These moments would live in Vegeta's mind rent-free for the rest of the day. Dragon Ball Z, and he considered his humiliation at the hands of Goku, specifically - which doesn't make much sense on the surface. Vegeta and Nappa did a lot of damage to the Z Fighters, broke Goku's body so badly that he could barely move, and Vegeta was even able to live to try another method of getting what he wanted with very little to stand in his way. A normal villain would take the small L and move on with his agenda, but Vegeta didn't. This loss would be devastating to his ego in the future and would become a major plot point in his character arc. Looking deeper into how Vegeta views victory can give the audience a good idea of why he would feel this way.

Related

Does Goku die on Planet Namek in Dragon Ball Z?

Goku only died twice during Dragon Ball Z, but some fans are convinced that he was also killed and revived during the end of the Frieza Saga.

Vegeta would never claim this as a victory, because it wasn't his.

The problem with victory is that there is also the concept of a Pyrrhic victory. This is a victory in which the victory inflicts an incredible amount of damage on the victor, to the point where it is barely a victory at all. There are many victories like this in the dragon ball franchise, and this is a key element in understanding Vegeta's views on what victory should actually look like. The Saiyan race made an organized business out of annihilating planets and selling them to the highest bidder, and apparently had to expend very little effort to do so, despite having destroyed entire advanced civilizations. The Saiyans also relied on a fairly intense class and caste system, with power levels at birth being indicative of social standing. For a prince like Vegeta, his natural ability would be his most valuable asset. This is likely one of the reasons why Frieza kept him alive in the first place.

Vegeta’s opinion of Goku would be that he should be easily crushed, that he was nothing more than a paper tiger before a storm. For Goku, holding his own against Vegeta would be a direct attack on his self-image – not just physically, but mentally as well. The entire fight is a very real unraveling of everything Vegeta knows from his own culture and upbringing. Goku’s existence and ability to stay in the fight, even with help, would be a blow to Vegeta’s understanding of the workings of the universe itself. Being nearly killed in such a humiliating way would only put the cherry on top of the ego death cake. Losing his tail, something that connected him to his culture and the planet, would also be a shock – which is immediately shown when Vegeta is reduced to his base form. Victory wasn’t the only thing taken from him; a large part of his power was taken from him as well.

Despite the fact that Vegeta would have completely incapacitated Goku and would have killed him if not for his friends, Vegeta still lost—not just physically, but mentally. He was defeated because he couldn't claim a complete victory. In Vegeta's mind, he suffered more losses than the opposing side. Goku would walk again, but Vegeta wouldn't be able to grow his tail back. Goku wasn't the one who actually delivered the final blow to Vegeta, but his mere existence as a low-class Saiyan who spared his life in the long run was the biggest insult of all. Goku was beaten and broken, and he made the decision to let Vegeta live, something that ate at the prince for a long time. A large part of Vegeta's arc was about recognizing Goku as worthy, as one of the best in the Buu Saga. This major defeat would be the catalyst for that, and Vegeta's loss here would be one of the most important events in his life. Claiming it as a victory would undermine that.

dragon ball

Dragon Ball tells the story of a young warrior named Son Goku, a peculiar young boy with a tail who embarks on a quest to become stronger and learn about the Dragon Balls, when, once gathered all 7, he can grant any wish of choice.

Created by

Akira Toriyama

First Movie

Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies

Last movie

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

First TV show

Dragon Ball (1986)

Upcoming TV Shows

Dragon Ball DAIMA

First episode air date

April 26, 1989

Cast

Sean Schemmel, Laura Bailey, Brian Drummond, Christopher Sabat, Scott McNeil