History DeconstructedTrope / DragonBall

** This was already explained by Goku himself to Gohan during the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in the Cell Saga. In a father-son bonding moment, Goku explains to Gohan the importance of resting and pacing oneself when training, and that simply abusing your body won't let you really reach the level you want.

* The concept of PassingTheTorch gets deconstructed in the Buu arc. Right before the final battle with Kid Buu, Goku privately admits to Vegeta that he could have defeated Fat Buu with Super Saiyan 3 earlier in the arc but didn't because he wanted to leave something for the next generation to do. The next generation ends up not being up to the task due to various factors- Namely Buu's unpredictable nature, the immaturity of Trunks and Goten, and Gohan's carelessness; with Goku having to come back to life to set things right. Instead of being proactive and stopping Buu when he had the chance before things could get worse, Goku chose to gamble with the fate of the planet and the entire universe just to give the next generation the spotlight- resulting in the deaths of almost the entire cast, the entire population of Earth being wiped out, and the planet itself eventually being destroyed (with Goku and his remaining allies barely managing to undo all of this and defeat Buu). Goku's attempt at Passing the Torch wound up being a costly failure due to factors he didn't/couldn't account for.

* The concept of PassingTheTorch gets deconstructed in the Buu arc. Right before the final battle with Kid Buu, Goku admits that he could have defeated Fat Buu with Super Saiyan 3 earlier in the arc but didn't because he wanted to leave something for the next generation to do. The next generation ends up not being up to the task due to various factors- Namely Buu's unpredictable nature, the immaturity of Trunks and Goten, and Gohan's carelessness; with Goku having to come back to life to set things right. Instead of being proactive and stopping Buu when he had the chance before things could get worse, Goku chose to gamble with the fate of the planet and the entire universe just to give the next generation the spotlight- resulting in the deaths of almost the entire cast, the entire population of Earth being wiped out, and the planet itself eventually being destroyed (with Goku and his remaining allies barely managing to undo all of this and defeat Buu). Goku's attempt at Passing the Torch wound up being a costly failure due to factors he didn't/couldn't account for.

* The concept of PassingTheTorch gets deconstructed in the Buu arc. Right before the final battle with Kid Buu, Goku admits that he could have defeated Fat Buu with Super Saiyan 3 earlier in the arc but didn't because he wanted to leave it to the next generation. The next generation ends up not being up to the task due to various factors- Namely Buu's unpredictable nature, the immaturity of Trunks and Goten, and Gohan's carelessness; with Goku having to come back to life to set things right. Instead of being proactive and stopping Buu when he had the chance before things could get worse, Goku chose to gamble with the fate of the planet and the entire universe just to give the next generation the spotlight- resulting in the deaths of almost the entire cast, the entire population of Earth being wiped out, and the planet itself eventually being destroyed (with Goku and his remaining allies barely managing to undo all of this and defeat Buu). Goku's attempt at Passing the Torch wound up being a costly failure due to factors he didn't/couldn't account for.

* The concept of PassingTheTorch gets deconstructed in the Buu arc. Right before the final battle with Kid Buu, Goku admits that he could have defeated Fat Buu with Super Saiyan 3 earlier in the arc but didn't because he wanted to leave something for the next generation to do. The next generation ends up not being up to the task due to various factors- Namely Buu's unpredictable nature, the immaturity of Trunks and Goten, and Gohan's carelessness; with Goku having to come back to life to set things right. Instead of being proactive and stopping Buu when he had the chance before things could get worse, Goku chose to gamble with the fate of the planet and the entire universe just to give the next generation the spotlight- resulting in the deaths of almost the entire cast, the entire population of Earth being wiped out, and the planet itself eventually being destroyed (with Goku and his remaining allies barely managing to undo all of this and defeat Buu). Goku's attempt at Passing the Torch wound up being a costly failure due to factors he didn't/couldn't account for.

** LastStand: Gohan doesn't kill either of the Androids before he dies and because he doesn't humanity is in an even ''more'' hopeless situation as the only one who is lest to defend Earth and humanity from extinction is Trunks. And he wasn't anywhere near as strong as Gohan was, let alone as strong as the Androids. So in a nutshell, Gohan's LastStand only made things ''worse''.

** DyingMomentOfAwesome: Gohan's attempts at invoking this trope did ''nothing'' to change the plot. Even when Trunks becomes a Super Saiyan as a result of his death, Trunks is still no match for the Androids. Gohan's death is even ''more'' worthless in the manga version of the story as Trunks was already a Super Saiyan by the time Gohan died. And just to add insult to injury, in the manga version of the story it's strongly implied that only Android 17 had fought and [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped]] Gohan on his own as supposed him taking on both Android 17 and 18 at the same time and putting up a reasonable fight. So Trunks and humanity as a whole gained nothing from Gohan's supposedly epic and poignant final stand.

** CozyCatastrophe: One of the few safe places left on Earth turns out to be, of all things, an amusement park. Due to the carnival constantly being lit and giving too much noise it doesn't take long for the Androids to find and raze it to the ground alongside everyone who was inside.

Despite being billed as your typical {{Shonen|Demographic}} series, ''Franchise/DragonBall'' plays around with and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstrcuts]] a ''lot'' of Shonen tropes before the genre itself went into a divergence.

** His status as TheAce is deconstructed starting from the Android/Cell Saga. Because he is so good and so powerful his friends and family [[CrutchCharacter tend to depend on him too much to solve the current problem]]. They also become noticeably deflated and pessimistic when he isn't around and Gohan firmly believes that he can never surpass his father, despite Goku showing him otherwise. Goku's death in Trunks' timeline was one of the many reasons things got so bad and Bulma invented the Time Machine mostly to save him, firmly believing that he could something to stop the androids. Vegeta eventually [[OvershadowedByAwesome got so tired of being overshadowed by Goku]] that he sold his soul for power and unleashed Majin Buu upon the world. Goku himself has realized that his loved ones are far too dependent on him; he knows that one day, he will be dead for good, and if his loved ones don't stop relying on him so much, then no one will be able to counter the next big threat to Earth.

** HeroicSacrifice: Gohan knocks out Trunks to prevent him from taking on the Androids with himself and risk dying. But because he goes alone it makes it even ''easier'' for the Androids to kill Gohan, and he wasn't exactly putting up much of a fight prior to confronting the Androids alone. And because Gohan dies, it only makes the job of defeating the Androids an even ''more'' impossible task. And with no one to train Trunks anymore, it takes years before Trunks before he feels strong enough through his own self-training methods to take on the Androids again... [[ShootTheShaggyDog and he still loses and very badly.]]

** PowerOfFriendship: Goku obtains the Super Saiyan God form through the power of five other Saiyans, but privately admits to Beerus that he ''hates'' it -- one of Goku's defining traits is that there are certain things he wants to handle or accomplish on his own and Super Saiyan God was something that he could never do without the help of others, which frustrates him.

* Vegeta's '''entire {{character development}}''' is a deconstruction of DefeatMeansFriendship, CantCatchUp, AlwaysSomeoneBetter and AlwaysSecondBest. It was the fact that not only was he defeated by a 'low-class warrior' such as Kakarot (Goku), but the fact that in his eyes his life was spared as if he was a child that fueled his great resentment, anger, and bitterness towards Goku and his friends and his desire to become stronger than Goku. When Goku eventually came back for the first time in seven years in the Buu Arc, the realization that [[CantCatchUp Goku was still far ahead of him in terms of strength]] hit Vegeta ''very'' hard that it lead to him [[DealWithTheDevil willingly getting controlled by Babidi]] as the resentment, anger, and bitterness he felt towards Goku since their first battle many years ago officially boiled over. It was so bad that it drove him to the point where he pulled a FaceHeelTurn and then [[spoiler: killed over 200 people]] to prove that he didn't care about anything other than keeping up with Goku and was willing to go to great lengths for a rematch [[MotiveRant to reclaim the pride and honor he felt Goku had robbed him of by sparing his life in their first battle]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero The battle also led to the resurrection of a five million-year-old demon, who would later wreak absolute havoc throughout the universe.]] [[HonorBeforeReason Of course, both of them already knew that was a potential consequence of them fighting each other.]] Goku accuses Vegeta's reasoning of placing his one-sided rivalry with Goku over anything else, including his family, as nothing but lies. Vegeta initially denied Goku's accusations but later admitted Goku was right. However, he later revealed that he ''was'' genuinely [[RedemptionDemotion angry and frustrated about how mundane his life had become because of the influence of Goku and his friends]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold but had become fond of his family over time and eventually came to care and love them]] to the point where he thought that Earth may have actually become a nice place to live.

** HardWorkHardlyWorks[=/=]WorldsStrongestMan[=/=]SmugSuper[=/=]BrilliantButLazy: As revealed in ''Resurrection 'F''', Frieza was ''born'' as powerful as he is, didn't have to train a day in his life to become the most powerful being in the universe, and ''refused'' to train, believing he outclasses everyone else and always will. Because he doesn't train, Frieza never learned to control his full power, has no endurance for a prolonged fight with someone equal in power to him, and once simply crushing his foes with raw power proves ineffective, he has no response aside from simple {{Rage Quit}}ting. The moment he ''does'' train, he becomes on par with the gods of the series.
** He also provides a deconstruction of CruelMercy. On multiple occasions, Goku chooses to spare Frieza because he believes that he's NotWorthKilling and that letting him live with his [[BreakTheHaughty pride torn to shreds]] is a FateWorseThanDeath. And ''every single time'' Goku does so, Frieza just keeps trying to kill him or blow up the planet they're standing on; in ''Resurrection F'' and the subsequent ''[[Anime/DragonBallSuper Super]]'' adaptation, he successfully blows up the Earth and kills nearly everyone on the planet before Whis [[ResetButton rewinds time]] to prevent it. When it comes down to it, Frieza is too dangerous to be kept alive for ''any'' reason and is the type of foe who ''needs'' to be killed.

** His status as TheAce is deconstructed starting from the Android/Cell Saga. Because he is so good and so powerful his friends and family [[CrutchCharacter tend to depend on him too much to solve the current problem]]. They also become noticeably deflated and pessimistic when he isn't around and Gohan firmly believes that he can never surpass his father, despite Goku showing him otherwise. Goku's death in Trunks' timeline was one of the many reasons things got so bad and Bulma invented the Time Machine mostly to save him, firmly believing that he could something to stop the androids. Vegeta eventually [[OvershadowedByAwesome got so sick of being overshadowed by Goku]] that he sold his soul for power and unleashed Majin Buu upon the world. Goku himself has realized that his loved ones are far too dependent on him; he knows that one day, he will be dead for good, and if his loved ones don't stop relying on him so much, then no one will be able to counter the next big threat to Earth.

** DyingMomentOfAwesome: Gohan's attempts at invoking this trope did ''nothing'' to change the plot. Even when Trunks becomes a Super Saiyan as a result of his death, Trunks is still no match for the Androids. Gohan's death is even ''more'' meaningless in the manga version of the story as Trunks was already a Super Saiyan by the time Gohan died. And just to add insult to injury, in the manga version of the story it's strongly implied that only Android 17 had fought and [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped]] Gohan on his own as supposed him taking on both Android 17 and 18 at the same time and putting up a reasonable fight. So Trunks and humanity as a whole gained nothing from Gohan's supposedly epic and poignant final stand.

** AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Goku faces and battles Beerus, the God of Destruction. Despite gaining the powers of a Super Saiyan God, he can't beat Beerus. Even worse, Beerus is just one of ''twelve gods'' and his servant Whis is ''stronger than Beerus''. Goku is hit with the CantCatchUp trope that hits all of his friends with his own power.

** CantCatchUp: Because of how stupidly powerful Goku and Vegeta have become, many of the warriors have opted to slack off and take a mentality of "We'll just wait until Goku and/or Vegeta shows up and kicks their ass." This hurts them big time once Frieza returns for the ''Resurrection [='F'=]'' storyline, especially with Gohan, who has foregone training to take care of his family. When Piccolo is killed at the hands of a sadistic Frieza, it's because Gohan could barely reach Super Saiyan. Once Piccolo's revived, Gohan asks Piccolo to retrain him. In the Future Trunks Saga, when Trunks learns that Vegeta and Goku have obtained Super Saiyan Blue, he lets his guard down and decides that everything will be okay because they're there. However, Vegeta gives him a WhatTheHellHero over this, telling him that they're not always going to be there.

** HeroicSecondWind: Gohan tried to take on the Androids just after recently nearly dying ''and'' losing an arm?! [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome He's overwhelmed by the Androids and dies very horribly.]]

Despite being billed as your typical {{Shonen|Demographic}} series, ''Franchise/DragonBall'' plays around with and [[DecnstructedTrope deconstrcuts]] a ''lot'' of Shonen tropes before the genre itself went into a divergence.

Despite being billed as your typical {{Shonen|Demographic}} series, ''Franchise/DragonBall'' plays around with and {{deconstruct|edTrope}}s a ''lot'' of Shonen tropes before the genre itself went into a divergence.

Despite being billed as your typical {{Shonen|Demographic}} series, ''Franchise/DragonBall'' plays around with and deconstructs a ''lot'' of Shonen tropes before the genre itself went into a divergence.

* Master Roshi's Turtle School of martial arts is a deconstruction of FantasticFightingStyle. When we first see the Kamehameha in action, it's not much of a leap to assume that the Turtle School also teaches other similarly fantastical techniques that border on magic. When Goku and Krillin come under Roshi's tutelage, however, they learn that, the Kamehameha aside, the Turtle School is ''not'' about learning powerful fighting techniques: the Turtle School is more of a way of life through regular physical training (along with some mathematics for the otherwise uneducated Goku). While other mentors have come along, such as King Kai, who teach Goku unearthly abilities, the Turtle School continues to form the backbone of his entire fighting style.

* Vegeta's '''entire {{character development}}''' is a deconstruction of DefeatMeansFriendship, CantCatchUp, AlwaysSomeoneBetter and AlwaysSecondBest. It was the fact that not only was he defeated by a 'low-class warrior' such as Kakarot (Goku), but the fact that in his eyes his life was spared as if he was a child that fueled his great resentment, anger and bitterness towards Goku and his friends and his desire to become stronger than Goku. When Goku eventually came back for the first time in seven years in the Buu Arc, the realization that [[CantCatchUp Goku was still far ahead of him in terms of strength]] hit Vegeta ''very'' hard that it lead to him [[DealWithTheDevil willingly getting controlled by Babidi]] as the resentment, anger and bitterness he felt towards Goku since their first battle many years ago officially boiled over. It was so bad that it drove him to the point where he pulled a FaceHeelTurn and then [[spoiler: killed over 200 people]] to prove that he didn't care about anything other than keeping up with Goku and was willing to go to great lengths for a rematch [[MotiveRant to reclaim the pride and honor he felt Goku had robbed him of by sparing his life in their first battle]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero The battle also led to the resurrection of a five million year old demon, who would later wreak absolute havoc throughout the universe.]] [[HonorBeforeReason Of course, both of them already knew that was a potential consequence of them fighting each other.]] Goku accused Vegeta's reasoning for placing his one-sided rivalry with Goku over anything else, including his family, as nothing but lies. Vegeta initially denied Goku's accusations but later admitted Goku was right. However, he later revealed that he ''was'' genuinely [[RedemptionDemotion angry and frustrated about how mundane his life had become because of the influence of Goku and his friends]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold but had become fond of his family over time and eventually came to care and love them]] to the point where he thought that Earth may have actually become a nice place to live.
* Vegeta also deconstructs TrainingFromHell. After the Frieza Saga, he puts himself through torturous training sessions that sometimes end with him being hospitalized. Despite all his hard work, he can't surpass Goku, who doesn't train as hard as Vegeta. In ''[[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF Resurrection 'F']]'', Whis explains to Vegeta that the reason he can't reach his full potential is because he trains ''too'' hard and doesn't let himself properly rest.

** {{Determinator}}[=/=]VillainousValor: While his will to live and continue to fight Goku even after losing most of his limbs is quite admirable, it's also presented as his FatalFlaw, as his inability to swallow his pride and KnowWhenToFoldEm leads not only to his downfall on Namek, but also his death, both times.

** He also provides a deconstruction of CruelMercy. On multiple occasions, Goku chooses to spare Frieza because he believes that he's NotWorthKilling, and that letting him live with his [[BreakTheHaughty pride torn to shreds]] is a FateWorseThanDeath. And ''every single time'' Goku does so, Frieza just keeps trying to kill him or blow up the planet they're standing on; in ''Resurrection F'' and the subsequent ''[[Anime/DragonBallSuper Super]]'' adaptation, he successfully blows up the Earth and kills nearly everyone on the planet before Whis [[ResetButton rewinds time]] to prevent it. When it comes down to it, Frieza is too dangerous to be kept alive for ''any'' reason and is the type of foe who ''needs'' to be killed.

** A major part of ''Dragon Ball Z'' seems dedicated to deconstructing his, and by extension the Saiyan race's, BloodKnight tendencies. It starts with the moment when Goku convinces Krillin to spare Vegeta, pretty much just because he wants to fight Vegeta again someday. Then, when he's fighting Frieza, he lets the AxCrazy [[TheCaligula Space-Caligula]] power up to 100% of his full power, because he wants to defeat the WorldsStrongestMan at his best, and when King Kai fixes to have everyone on Namek relocated to Earth, he demands that he and Frieza be left on Namek, a planet that is minutes away from blowing up, because he wants to see the battle through to its end. Come the Android saga, Bulma suggest that they locate and kill Dr. Gero before he can unleash the Androids upon the world, only to be rebutted by everyone who feasibly ''could'' kill him wanting to fight his Androids, which a man from the future has already revealed will kill them all. The QED comes during Gohan's fight against Cell where Goku's inability to understand that Gohan ''isn't'' a BloodKnight, he's a MartialPacifist, results in him giving Cell a senzu bean, allowing a homicidal monster to beat the tar out of Goku's own terrified son. It's not until Piccolo screams [[WhatTheHellHero straight into Goku's face]] that, from Gohan's POV, his father just threw him to the wolves, ''after'' making sure that the wolves were at their deadliest, because he cared more about the struggle between his son and said wolves being good and fair than his own flesh and blood's well-being, that Goku finally realizes that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone his nature has led him to mess up big time.]]

** The end of the Kid Buu fight deconstructs HumbleHero. [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold Because Goku always saves the world from the shadows]]. no one, outside a few, know of his deeds. So when Goku begs the world for energy to power the Spirit Bomb that will kill Majin Buu, only the people who intimately know him listen. Everyone else blows him off like Vegeta. It takes Mr. Satan, the resident FakeUltimateHero, to yell at the people of Earth before they're willing to help since Mr. Satan, not Goku, is known as the world's savior.

** Trunks and Gohan's {{Determinator}} personality attributes are deconstructed six ways to Sunday. The many years of battling the Androids takes a physical and mental toll on both Trunks and Gohan. The fact they flat out ''refuse'' to stay in hiding for more than even a day and keep themselves safe and instead ''constantly'' fight the Androids creates no progress in actually defeating them. Hell, Gohan eventually loses an arm and becomes disadvantaged in battle and Trunks gets driven to near depression over the fact that they're constantly battling to save humanity and ''always'' losing.
** DyingMomentOfAwesome: Gohan's attempts at invoking this trope did ''nothing'' to change the plot. Even when Trunks becomes a Super Saiyan as a result of his death, Trunks is still no match for the Androids. Gohan's death is even ''more'' meaningless in the manga version of the story as Trunks was already a Super Saiyan by the time Gohan died. And just to add insult to injury, in the manga version of the story its strongly implied that only Android 17 had fought and [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped]] Gohan on his own as supposed him taking on both Android 17 and 18 at the same time and putting up a reasonable fight. So Trunks and humanity as a whole gained nothing from Gohan's supposedly epic and poignant final stand.
** HeroicSacrifice: Gohan knocks out Trunks to prevent him from taking on the the Androids with himself and risk dying. But because he goes alone it makes it even ''easier'' for the Androids to kill Gohan, and he wasn't exactly putting up much a fight prior to confronting the Androids alone. And because Gohan dies, it only make the job of defeating the Androids an even ''more'' impossible task. And with no one to train Trunks anymore, it take years before Trunks before he feels strong enough through his own self training methods to take on the Androids again... [[ShootTheShaggyDog and he still loses and very badly.]]

** LastStand: Gohan doesn't kill the either of the Androids before he dies and because he doesn't humanity is in an even ''more'' hopeless situation as the only one who is lest to defend Earth and humanity from extinction is Trunks. And he wasn't anywhere near as strong as Gohan was, let alone as strong as the Androids. So in a nutshell, Gohan's LastStand only made things ''worse''.

** AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Goku faces and battles Beerus, the God of Destruction. Despite gaining the powers of a Super Saiyan God, he can't beat Beerus. Even worse, Beerus is just one of ''twelve gods'' and his servant Whis is ''stronger than Beerus''. Goku is hit with the CantCatchUp trope that hit all of his friends with his own power.

** ThePowerOfLove: During the Universe Survival Arc, we're introduced to Universe 2, whose entire stick ''is'' this trope, especially with its big heroines, the Kamikaze Fireballs/Maiden Squadron and its leader Ribrianne. However, as the fight goes on, we learn that Ribrianne's views of love is terribly skewed and hypocritical as Ribrianne believes that [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Evil Cannot Comprehend Love]]. This is exemplified when Ribrianne is grossed out at the fact that Android 18 and Krillin start acting mushy around each other and can't comprehend why 18 would like someone like him. This is what ultimately defeats her.

* Vegeta's '''entire {{character development}}''' is a deconstruction of DefeatMeansFriendship, CantCatchUp, AlwaysSomeoneBetter and AlwaysSecondBest. It was the fact that not only was he defeated by a 'low-class warrior' such as Kakarot (Goku), but the fact that in his eyes his life was spared as if he was a child that fueled his great resentment, anger and bitterness towards Goku and his friends and his desire to become stronger than Goku. When Goku eventually came back for the first time in seven years in the Buu Arc, the realization that [[CantCatchUp Goku was still far ahead of him in terms of strength]] hit Vegeta ''very'' hard that it lead to him [[DealWithTheDevil willingly let Babidi control him]] as the resentment, anger and bitterness he felt towards Goku since their first battle many years ago officially boiled over. It was so bad that it drove him to the point where he pulled a FaceHeelTurn and then [[spoiler: killed over 200 people]] to prove that he didn't care about anything other than keeping up with Goku and was willing to go to great lengths for a rematch [[MotiveRant to reclaim the pride and honor he felt Goku had robbed him of by sparing his life in their first battle]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero The battle also led to the resurrection of a five million year old demon, who would later wreak absolute havoc throughout the universe.]] [[HonorBeforeReason Of course, both of them already knew that was a potential consequence of them fighting each other.]] Goku accused Vegeta's reasoning for placing his one-sided rivalry with Goku over anything else, including his family, as nothing but lies. Vegeta initially denied Goku's accusations but later admitted Goku was right. However, he later revealed that he ''was'' genuinely [[RedemptionDemotion angry and frustrated about how mundane his life had become because of the influence of Goku and his friends]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold but had become fond of his family over time and eventually came to care and love them]] to the point where he thought that Earth may have actually become a nice place to live.

* Vegeta's '''entire {{character development}}''' is a deconstruction of DefeatMeansFriendship, CantCatchUp, AlwaysSomeoneBetter and AlwaysSecondBest. It was the fact that not only was he defeated by a 'low-class warrior' such as Goku but the fact that in his eyes his life was spared as if he was a child that fueled his great resentment, anger and bitterness towards Goku and his friends and his desire to become stronger than Goku. When Goku eventually came back for the first time in seven years in the Buu Arc, the realization that [[CantCatchUp Goku was still far ahead of him in terms of strength]] hit Vegeta ''very'' hard and lead to him [[DealWithTheDevil willingly letting Babidi control him]] as the resentment, anger and bitterness he felt towards Goku since their first battle many years ago officially boiled over to point where he pulled a FaceHeelTurn and then [[spoiler: killed over 200 people]] to prove that he didn't care about anything other than keeping up with Goku and was willing to go to great lengths for a rematch [[MotiveRant to reclaim the pride and honor he felt Goku had robbed him of by sparing his life in their first battle]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero The battle also led to the resurrection of a five million year old demon, who would later wreak absolute havoc throughout the universe.]] [[HonorBeforeReason Of course, both of them already knew that was a potential consequence of them fighting each other.]] Goku accused Vegeta's reasoning for placing his one-sided rivalry with Goku over anything else, including his family, as nothing but lies, Vegeta initially denied Goku's accusations but later admitted Goku was right. However, he later revealed that he ''was'' genuinely [[RedemptionDemotion angry and frustrated about how mundane his life had become because of the influence of Goku and his friends]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold but had become fond of his family over time and eventually came to care and love them]] to the point where he thought that Earth may have actually become a nice place to live.

* Vegeta's '''entire character development''' is a deconstruction of DefeatMeansFriendship, CantCatchUp, AlwaysSomeoneBetter and AlwaysSecondBest. It was the fact that not only was he defeated by a 'low-class warrior' such as Goku but the fact that in his eyes his life was spared as if he was a child that fueled his great resentment, anger and bitterness towards Goku and his friends and his desire to become stronger than Goku. When Goku eventually came back for the first time in seven years in the Buu Arc, the realization that [[CantCatchUp Goku was still far ahead of him in terms of strength]] hit Vegeta ''very'' hard and lead to him [[DealWithTheDevil willingly letting Babidi control him]] as the resentment, anger and bitterness he felt towards Goku since their first battle many years ago officially boiled over to point where he pulled a FaceHeelTurn and then [[spoiler: killed over 200 people]] to prove that he didn't care about anything other than keeping up with Goku and was willing to go to great lengths for a rematch [[MotiveRant to reclaim the pride and honor he felt Goku had robbed him of by sparing his life in their first battle]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero The battle also led to the resurrection of a five million year old demon, who would later wreak absolute havoc throughout the universe.]] [[HonorBeforeReason Of course, both of them already knew that was a potential consequence of them fighting each other.]] Goku accused Vegeta's reasoning for placing his one-sided rivalry with Goku over anything else, including his family, as nothing but lies, Vegeta initially denied Goku's accusations but later admitted Goku was right. However, he later revealed that he ''was'' genuinely [[RedemptionDemotion angry and frustrated about how mundane his life had become because of the influence of Goku and his friends]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold but had become fond of his family over time and eventually came to care and love them]] to the point where he thought that Earth may have actually become a nice place to live.

Despite being billed as your typical Shonen series, ''Franchise/DragonBall'' plays around with and deconstructs a ''lot'' of Shonen tropes before the genre itself went into a divergence.

* The Buu Saga provides a deconstruction of FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse. Majin Buu kills because he has [[PsychopathicManchild the mind of a child]] and [[ObliviouslyEvil doesn't know any better]], and it's all he knows, which is why he continues his rampage even without [[EvilSorcerer Babidi]] to order him around. While Goku is [[SympathyForTheDevil somewhat sympathetic]], Piccolo rebukes it, declaring outright that one's background does ''not'' excuse acts of evil. He's soon proven wrong when ''[[FakeUltimateHero Hercule]]'', of all people, ultimately manages to end up befriending Buu because of Buu's child-like nature and very nearly manages to convince him to stop his killing ways. This means that if the Z-Fighters had taken the time to try and explain things to Buu instead of trying to deal with him the same way they did with every other enemy they fought beforehand, they very likely could have avoided a ''lot'' of bloodshed.

** Vegeta's '''entire character development''' is a deconstruction of DefeatMeansFriendship, CantCatchUp, AlwaysSomeoneBetter and AlwaysSecondBest. It was the fact that not only was he defeated by a 'low-class warrior' such as Goku but the fact that in his eyes his life was spared as if he was a child that fueled his great resentment, anger and bitterness towards Goku and his friends and his desire to become stronger than Goku. When Goku eventually came back for the first time in seven years in the Buu Arc, the realization that [[CantCatchUp Goku was still far ahead of him in terms of strength]] hit Vegeta ''very'' hard and lead to him [[DealWithTheDevil willingly letting Babidi control him]] as the resentment, anger and bitterness he felt towards Goku since their first battle many years ago officially boiled over to point where he pulled a FaceHeelTurn and then [[spoiler: killed over 200 people]] to prove that he didn't care about anything other than keeping up with Goku and was willing to go to great lengths for a rematch [[MotiveRant to reclaim the pride and honor he felt Goku had robbed him of by sparing his life in their first battle]]. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero The battle also led to the resurrection of a five million year old demon, who would later wreak absolute havoc throughout the universe.]] [[HonorBeforeReason Of course, both of them already knew that was a potential consequence of them fighting each other.]] Goku accused Vegeta's reasoning for placing his one-sided rivalry with Goku over anything else, including his family, as nothing but lies, Vegeta initially denied Goku's accusations but later admitted Goku was right. However, he later revealed that he ''was'' genuinely [[RedemptionDemotion angry and frustrated about how mundane his life had become because of the influence of Goku and his friends]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold but had become fond of his family over time and eventually came to care and love them]] to the point where he thought that Earth may have actually become a nice place to live.
** Vegeta also deconstructs TrainingFromHell. After the Frieza Saga, he puts himself through torturous training sessions that sometimes end with him being hospitalized. Despite all his hard work, he can't surpass Goku, who doesn't train as hard as Vegeta. In ''[[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF Resurrection 'F']]'', Whis explains to Vegeta that the reason he can't reach his full potential is because he trains ''too'' hard and doesn't let himself properly rest.
*** This was already explained by Goku himself to Gohan during the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in the Cell Saga. In a father-son bonding moment, Goku explains to Gohan the importance of resting and pacing oneself when training, and that simply abusing your body won't let you really reach the level you want.
** Frieza deconstructs more than one trope:
*** {{Determinator}}[=/=]VillainousValor: While his will to live and continue to fight Goku even after losing most of his limbs is quite admirable, it's also presented as his FatalFlaw, as his inability to swallow his pride and KnowWhenToFoldEm leads not only to his downfall on Namek, but also his death, both times.
*** HardWorkHardlyWorks[=/=]WorldsStrongestMan[=/=]SmugSuper: As revealed in ''Resurrection 'F''', Frieza was ''born'' as powerful as he is, didn't have to train a day in his life to become the most powerful being in the universe, and ''refused'' to train, believing he outclasses everyone else and always will. Because he doesn't train, Frieza never learned to control his full power, has no endurance for a prolonged fight with someone equal in power to him, and once simply crushing his foes with raw power proves ineffective, he has no response aside from simple {{Rage Quit}}ting.
*** He also provides a deconstruction of CruelMercy. On multiple occasions, Goku chooses to spare Frieza because he believes that he's NotWorthKilling, and that letting him live with his [[BreakTheHaughty pride torn to shreds]] is a FateWorseThanDeath. And ''every single time'' Goku does so, Frieza just keeps trying to kill him or blow up the planet they're standing on; in ''Resurrection F'' and the subsequent ''[[Anime/DragonBallSuper Super]]'' adaptation, he successfully blows up the Earth and kills nearly everyone on the planet before Whis [[ResetButton rewinds time]] to prevent it. When it comes down to it, Frieza is too dangerous to be kept alive for ''any'' reason and is the type of foe who ''needs'' to be killed.
** The Buu Saga provides a deconstruction of FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse. Majin Buu kills because he has [[PsychopathicManchild the mind of a child]] and [[ObliviouslyEvil doesn't know any better]], and it's all he knows, which is why he continues his rampage even without [[EvilSorcerer Babidi]] to order him around. While Goku is [[SympathyForTheDevil somewhat sympathetic]], Piccolo rebukes it, declaring outright that one's background does ''not'' excuse acts of evil. He's soon proven wrong when ''[[FakeUltimateHero Hercule]]'', of all people, ultimately manages to end up befriending Buu because of Buu's child-like nature and very nearly manages to convince him to stop his killing ways. This means that if the Z-Fighters had taken the time to try and explain things to Buu instead of trying to deal with him the same way they did with every other enemy they fought beforehand, they very likely could have avoided a ''lot'' of bloodshed.
** [[FusionDance Gotenks]] deconstructs TheChosenOne, IdiotHero, and SmugSuper. He was created specifically to defeat Majin Buu, and Piccolo outright declares him the warrior destined to do so... but sadly, Gotenks is an immature, egotistical fool who's far more concerned with showboating and looking cool and is virtually incapable of taking things seriously even when lives are at stake, which just keeps making the situation worse; in this order, he gets himself and Piccolo trapped in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, enables Buu to escape and eat all of his loved ones, and gets himself absorbed by Buu, allowing Buu to beat Gohan senseless. Come ''Super'', the rest of the Z-Fighters [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten have yet to forget this]], and unanimously agree that Gotenks can't be trusted or relied on for anything, especially not something as high-stakes as the [[DeadlyGame Tournament of Power]]. In the end, Gotenks' particular personality makes him very much ''not'' cut out for being a hero, and he shows that trying to forcibly create an all-powerful savior [[ThePoorlyChosenOne will not always be successful]].
** Goku has three deconstruction points:
*** A major part of ''Dragon Ball Z'' seems dedicated to deconstructing his, and by extension the Saiyan race's, BloodKnight tendencies. It starts with the moment when Goku convinces Krillin to spare Vegeta, pretty much just because he wants to fight Vegeta again someday. Then, when he's fighting Frieza, he lets the AxCrazy [[TheCaligula Space-Caligula]] power up to 100% of his full power, because he wants to defeat the WorldsStrongestMan at his best, and when King Kai fixes to have everyone on Namek relocated to Earth, he demands that he and Frieza be left on Namek, a planet that is minutes away from blowing up, because he wants to see the battle through to its end. Come the Android saga, Bulma suggest that they locate and kill Dr. Gero before he can unleash the Androids upon the world, only to be rebutted by everyone who feasibly ''could'' kill him wanting to fight his Androids, which a man from the future has already revealed will kill them all. The QED comes during Gohan's fight against Cell where Goku's inability to understand that Gohan ''isn't'' a BloodKnight, he's a MartialPacifist, results in him giving Cell a senzu bean, allowing a homicidal monster to beat the tar out of Goku's own terrified son. It's not until Piccolo screams [[WhatTheHellHero straight into Goku's face]] that, from Gohan's POV, his father just threw him to the wolves, ''after'' making sure that the wolves were at their deadliest, because he cared more about the struggle between his son and said wolves being good and fair than his own flesh and blood's well-being, that Goku finally realizes that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone his nature has led him to mess up big time.]]
*** His status as TheAce is deconstructed starting from the Android/Cell Saga. Because he is so good and so powerful his friends and family [[CrutchCharacter tend to depend on him too much to solve the current problem]]. They also become noticeably deflated and pessimistic when he isn't around and Gohan firmly believes that he can never surpass his father, despite Goku showing him otherwise. Goku's death in Trunks' timeline was one of the many reasons things got so bad and Bulma invented the Time Machine mostly to save him, firmly believing that he could something to stop the androids. Vegeta eventually [[OvershadowedByAwesome got so sick of being overshadowed by Goku]] that he sold his soul for power and unleashed Majin Buu upon the world. Goku himself has realized that his loved ones are far too dependent on him; he knows that one day, he will be dead for good, and if his loved ones don't stop relying on him so much, then no one will be able to counter the next big threat to Earth.
*** The end of the Kid Buu fight deconstructs HumbleHero. [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold Because Goku always saves the world from the shadows]]. no one, outside a few, know of his deeds. So when Goku begs the world for energy to power the Spirit Bomb that will kill Majin Buu, only the people who intimately know him listen. Everyone else blows him off like Vegeta. It takes Mr. Satan, the resident FakeUltimateHero, to yell at the people of Earth before they're willing to help since Mr. Satan, not Goku, is known as the world's savior.
** The TV special ''Anime/DragonBallZTheHistoryOfTrunks'' deconstructs ''[[DeconstructorFleet many]]'' tropes:
*** Trunks and Gohan's {{Determinator}} personality attributes are deconstructed six ways to Sunday. The many years of battling the Androids takes a physical and mental toll on both Trunks and Gohan. The fact they flat out ''refuse'' to stay in hiding for more than even a day and keep themselves safe and instead ''constantly'' fight the Androids creates no progress in actually defeating them. Hell, Gohan eventually loses an arm and becomes disadvantaged in battle and Trunks gets driven to near depression over the fact that they're constantly battling to save humanity and ''always'' losing.
*** DyingMomentOfAwesome: Gohan's attempts at invoking this trope did ''nothing'' to change the plot. Even when Trunks becomes a Super Saiyan as a result of his death, Trunks is still no match for the Androids. Gohan's death is even ''more'' meaningless in the manga version of the story as Trunks was already a Super Saiyan by the time Gohan died. And just to add insult to injury, in the manga version of the story its strongly implied that only Android 17 had fought and [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped]] Gohan on his own as supposed him taking on both Android 17 and 18 at the same time and putting up a reasonable fight. So Trunks and humanity as a whole gained nothing from Gohan's supposedly epic and poignant final stand.
*** HeroicSacrifice: Gohan knocks out Trunks to prevent him from taking on the the Androids with himself and risk dying. But because he goes alone it makes it even ''easier'' for the Androids to kill Gohan, and he wasn't exactly putting up much a fight prior to confronting the Androids alone. And because Gohan dies, it only make the job of defeating the Androids an even ''more'' impossible task. And with no one to train Trunks anymore, it take years before Trunks before he feels strong enough through his own self training methods to take on the Androids again... [[ShootTheShaggyDog and he still loses and very badly.]]
*** HeroicSecondWind: Gohan tried to take on the Androids just after recently nearly dying ''and'' losing an arm?! [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome He's overwhelmed by the Androids and dies very horribly.]]
*** HeroicResolve: Trunks and Gohan never learned how to stay down even with the odds stacked against him. This ultimately proves to be their greatest flaw and eventually leads to Gohan being murdered, leaving humanity even more defenseless and Trunks spending several days in the hospital in critical condition.
*** LastStand: Gohan doesn't kill the either of the Androids before he dies and because he doesn't humanity is in an even ''more'' hopeless situation as the only one who is lest to defend Earth and humanity from extinction is Trunks. And he wasn't anywhere near as strong as Gohan was, let alone as strong as the Androids. So in a nutshell, Gohan's LastStand only made things ''worse''.
** ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'' deconstructs two tropes of its own:
*** AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Goku faces and battles Beerus, the God of Destruction. Despite gaining the powers of a Super Saiyan God, he can't beat Beerus. Even worse, Beerus is just one of ''twelve gods'' and his servant Whis is ''stronger than Beerus''. Goku is hit with the CantCatchUp trope that hit all of his friends with his own power.
*** PowerOfFriendship: Goku obtains the Super Saiyan God form through the power of five other Saiyans, but privately admits to Beerus that he ''hates'' it -- one of Goku's defining traits is that there are certain things he wants to handle or accomplish on his own and Super Saiyan God was something that he could never do without the help of others, which frustrates him.
** ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' joins in on the fun:
*** CantCatchUp: Because of how stupidly powerful Goku and Vegeta have become, many of the warriors have opted to slack off and take a mentality of "We'll just wait until Goku and/or Vegeta shows up and kicks their ass." This hurts them big time once Frieza returns for the ''Resurrection [='F'=]'' storyline, especially with Gohan, who has foregone training to take care of his family. When Piccolo is killed at the hands of a sadistic Frieza, it's because Gohan could barely reach Super Saiyan. Once Piccolo's revived, Gohan asks Piccolo to retrain him. In the Future Trunks Saga, when Trunks learns that Vegeta and Goku have obtained Super Saiyan Blue, he lets his guard down and decides that everything will be okay because they're there. However, Vegeta gives him a WhatTheHellHero over this, telling him that they're not always going to be there.
*** ThePowerOfLove: During the Universe Survival Arc, we're introduced to Universe 2, whose entire stick ''is'' this trope, especially with its big heroines, the Kamikaze Fireballs/Maiden Squadron and its leader Ribrianne. However, as the fight goes on, we learn that Ribrianne's views of love is terribly skewed and hypocritical as Ribrianne believes that [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Evil Cannot Comprehend Love]]. This is exemplified when Ribrianne is grossed out at the fact that Android 18 and Krillin start acting mushy around each other and can't comprehend why 18 would like someone like him. This is what ultimately defeats her.