Vegeta, what does your scouter say about his technique? Nothing, that’s what.
Summary:
Technique used to matter in more serious fights in Dragon Ball.
With Power Levels, it became all about raw stat numbers.
Super didn’t change much — just introduced more Goku recolors.
There’s a debate about how good fights in Dragon Ball are. Some people say that it’s the best fighting series of all time. Others declare it to be boring and inferior to most other shounen. The issue, of course, lies in Akira Toriyama’s writing itself, and how he writes conflict and its resolution.
Technique is nothing
Before Raditz came to Earth, Dragon Ball used to be both a martial arts story, and a comedy. The comedic bits usually came from kid Goku, his nonsensical naivety, and how overpowered he was compared to an average Joe. There were plenty of scenes where he tanked a hit from a martial arts “master”, and then either used a similar technique, knocked the opponent in one strike, or just accidentally intimidated them into forfeiting.
Still, when it came to Goku’s important fights — against Jackie Chun, or Tien Shinhan, or King Piccolo — it was not the power that decided the winner. It was technique, perseverance, or even plain chance. Though once Dragon Ball lost its comedic edge, things changed, and they changed fast.
Once Dragon Ball introduced power levels, they became the crux of most fights. During the Namek Saga, it didn’t matter that Evil Emperor Frieza didn’t train for a single day in his life — he was bodying every single martial arts veteran he came across, right until Goku obtained a power multiplier that made him stronger. During the Androids Saga, it didn’t matter if Piccolo had a lifetime of training, as well as guile and magic power — Android 17 was his equal AND he did not tire, leading to a draw. Later during Cell Games, the bioandroid only lost because Gohan reached a new stage of power — sure, it was an emotionally cathartic transformation, but it was still all about power.
Power is everything
Later in Super, with the introduction of Lord Berus, things haven’t changed much. Goku doesn’t really learn new techniques anymore — he just gets stronger and obtains new forms. He became Super Saiyan God (the red one) in order to stop the God of Destruction from destroying the Earth. Then, his next power spike came with layering Super Saiyan with the God form (resulting in the blue one). Then, by layering the blue one and Kaioken (blue one with red aura). And then, during the Tournament of Power, he reached Ultra Instinct — which is, to be frank, just another form (and a boring recolour at that).
You know what’s the difference between increasing strength through power, and increasing strength through techniques? With techniques, the character has more cool things they could do (remember the time Goku learned Instant Transmission, and then suddenly used it against Cell?) With power, the author quickly runs out of ways to demonstrate the scale of their progression. It’s been a dozen powerups since destroying a planet was a thing, so we don’t even have a good enough idea of how strong Goku’s latest form is anymore (nor does it matter).
Toriyama had long since run out of ways to demonstrate how strong his characters are (aside from “X beats up Y”), so why not have Goku learn something new already? Like, an actual new technique, not a power multiplying hair recolor. That’d be sweet.
Vegeta, what does your scouter say about his technique? Nothing, that’s what.
Summary:
Technique used to matter in more serious fights in Dragon Ball.
With Power Levels, it became all about raw stat numbers.
Super didn’t change much — just introduced more Goku recolors.
There’s a debate about how good fights in Dragon Ball are. Some people say that it’s the best fighting series of all time. Others declare it to be boring and inferior to most other shounen. The issue, of course, lies in Akira Toriyama’s writing itself, and how he writes conflict and its resolution.
Technique is nothing
Before Raditz came to Earth, Dragon Ball used to be both a martial arts story, and a comedy. The comedic bits usually came from kid Goku, his nonsensical naivety, and how overpowered he was compared to an average Joe. There were plenty of scenes where he tanked a hit from a martial arts “master”, and then either used a similar technique, knocked the opponent in one strike, or just accidentally intimidated them into forfeiting.
Still, when it came to Goku’s important fights — against Jackie Chun, or Tien Shinhan, or King Piccolo — it was not the power that decided the winner. It was technique, perseverance, or even plain chance. Though once Dragon Ball lost its comedic edge, things changed, and they changed fast.
Once Dragon Ball introduced power levels, they became the crux of most fights. During the Namek Saga, it didn’t matter that Evil Emperor Frieza didn’t train for a single day in his life — he was bodying every single martial arts veteran he came across, right until Goku obtained a power multiplier that made him stronger. During the Androids Saga, it didn’t matter if Piccolo had a lifetime of training, as well as guile and magic power — Android 17 was his equal AND he did not tire, leading to a draw. Later during Cell Games, the bioandroid only lost because Gohan reached a new stage of power — sure, it was an emotionally cathartic transformation, but it was still all about power.
Power is everything
Later in Super, with the introduction of Lord Berus, things haven’t changed much. Goku doesn’t really learn new techniques anymore — he just gets stronger and obtains new forms. He became Super Saiyan God (the red one) in order to stop the God of Destruction from destroying the Earth. Then, his next power spike came with layering Super Saiyan with the God form (resulting in the blue one). Then, by layering the blue one and Kaioken (blue one with red aura). And then, during the Tournament of Power, he reached Ultra Instinct — which is, to be frank, just another form (and a boring recolour at that).
You know what’s the difference between increasing strength through power, and increasing strength through techniques? With techniques, the character has more cool things they could do (remember the time Goku learned Instant Transmission, and then suddenly used it against Cell?) With power, the author quickly runs out of ways to demonstrate the scale of their progression. It’s been a dozen powerups since destroying a planet was a thing, so we don’t even have a good enough idea of how strong Goku’s latest form is anymore (nor does it matter).
Toriyama had long since run out of ways to demonstrate how strong his characters are (aside from “X beats up Y”), so why not have Goku learn something new already? Like, an actual new technique, not a power multiplying hair recolor. That’d be sweet.
