History NightmareFuel / DragonBallZ

** Vegeta, who was absolutely terrified of Frieza's previous forms decides he has to put himself near-death and get Dende to heal him just to even stand up to the bastard. Vegeta becomes so confident of his new power that the convinces himself he's reached Super Saiyan-status, but his confidence quickly evaporates even he realises that the power boost ''still wasn't enough'' and that Frieza had been toying with him throughout the fight. Even his DesperationAttack was casually deflected by Frieza. The realisation that 1) he's not a Super Saiyan and 2) He will be mercilessly killed by his former master actually makes the proud Vegeta [[TearsofFear shed tears]] and resign himself to his fate. That's how terrifying Frieza was.

* Nappa. For those used to how he is in [[TheFool the abridged series]], you'll be in a return of shock when you realize that he is every bit as sadistic and serious as Vegeta in canon. None of the scenes that were played for laughs in the abridged series are done so here. (BewaretheSillyOnes, though)

** Doesn't help that he [[WouldHurtAChild hits Gohan]] in the most painful way possible soon after, then makes the threat that one he's done, he plans to destory Earth.

* Nappa. For those used to how he is in [[TheFool the abridged series]], you'll be in a return of shock when you realize that he is every bit as sadistic and serious as Vegeta in canon. None of the scenes that were played for laughs in the abridged series are done so here.

!!Tree of Might

* This [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzYBD6sZuko creepy, pedophile-like]] look that [[{{Jerkass}} Veg]][[WarriorPrince eta]] gave to Gohan back on Namek.
** Doesn't help that he [[WouldHurtAChild hits Gohan]] in the most painful way possible.

* The reveal that Goku was actually an alien is quite the shocker [[ItWasHisSled at the time]], but what's really horrifying is how strong Raditz, Goku's older brother is. He has no problem dealing with both him and Piccolo. Goku was knowing for the first time to feel utterly hopeless.

** How about when he tore Tien's left arm off '''CLEAN'''? Scream thrown in great pain was more than adequate.

* Vegeta himself, for that matter. When he becomes Oozaru to stomp Goku, he does a damn good job of it. Made worse that unlike Goku and Gohan when they became Oozaru, he retained his con

** After being ineffectually beaten up by Gohan, he gets up, very effectively beats up Gohan, and then begins to ''slowly crush his skull.'' Judging by Gohan's [[HellIsThatNoise screams of agony]], it's excruciatingly painful, and Frieza is '''laughing.''' Gohan is ''5''.

** Cell's absorption of Android 18 is even worse. 17's reaction to the final attack was a look of shock and then a bit of swearing, and Cell swallowed him pretty quickly. With 18, there's something [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything perversely sexual]] about it. It takes a ''long'' time to swallow her, and it's not a smooth process either; there's lots of creepy sucking motions, accompanied by 18's frightened cries, not to mention that when the tail first sweeps down over her, [[HellIsThatNoise she]] '''''[[HellIsThatNoise screams]]'''''.

** That's nothing. Vegeta, who was absolutely terrified of Frieza's previous forms decides he has to put himself near-death and get Dende to heal him just to even stand up to the bastard. Vegeta becomes so confident of his new power that the convinces himself he's reached Super Saiyan-status, but his confidence quickly evaporates even he realises that the power boost ''still wasn't enough'' and that Frieza had been toying with him throughout the fight. Even his DesperationAttack was casually deflected by Frieza. The realisation that 1) he's not a Super Saiyan and 2) He will be mercilessly killed by his former master actually makes the proud Vegeta [[TearsofFear shed tears]] and resign himself to his fate. That's how terrifying Frieza was.

Anime/DragonBallZ isn't the DarkerAndEdgier version of Manga/DragonBall for nothing. It has some of the vilest villains in the anime, and that's not even getting into the traumatic past of Trunks, the excessive violence or even some traits of the good guys. This may be a series where DeathIsCheap, but that doesn't diminish how scary it can get.

** Moments before he actually decides to smack around Vegeta during their fight in the anime, and just before the latter's DesperationAttack: Frieza makes it a point to demonstrate how he outclasses Vegeta, when the latter goes ballistic, and starts firing a cluster of huge KiAttacks at him. Frieza simply dodges them before they detonate, and at one point, moved so fast he appeared in front of Piccolo, Gohan and Krillin watching on the sidelines, and deviously smirked at them. He only did it out of pure intimidation and amusement, and the fact Vegeta's attacks were covering the air with smoke, and darkening the sky made the whole thing creepier. Needless to say, Piccolo was scared shitless, and either out of the risk of being blown to bits by Vegeta or whatever Frieza he thought had in store, quickly grabbed Gohan and Krillin and high-tailed it way out of the expanding battlefield.

** Moments before he actually decides to smack around Vegeta during their fight in the anime, and just before the latter's DesperationAttack: Frieza makes it a point to demonstrate how he outclasses Vegeta, when the latter goes ballistic, and starts firing a cluster of huge KiAttacks at him. Frieza simply dodges them before they detonate, and one point, moved so fast he appeared in front of Piccolo and the others watching on the sidelines. He only did it out of pure intimidation and amusement, and the fact Vegeta's attacks were darkening the sky made the whole thing creepier. Needless to say, Piccolo was scared shitless, and either out of the risk of being blown to bits by either Vegeta or Frieza, quickly grabbed Gohan and Krillin and high-tailed it way out of the expanding battlefield.

* Major league AdultFear territory: Everything that happens to Gohan through the Saiyan saga - ''especially'' if you're Chi-Chi. First kidnapped by a stranger, then rescued only to be kidnapped ''again'' by someone Chi-Chi would have known for a fact was Goku's mortal enemy. He then disappears for ''an entire year'', only to return just in time for him to be thrown into a fight with two more guys that are even worse. Chi-Chi gets mocked on occasion for her coddling ways, but after a year like that, who could blame her for being a bit rattled?

!! Chi-Chi
* Major league AdultFear territory: Everything that happens to Gohan through the Saiyan saga - ''especially'' if you're Chi-Chi. First kidnapped by a stranger, then rescued only to be kidnapped ''again'' by someone Chi-Chi would have known for a fact was Goku's mortal enemy. He then disappears for ''an entire year'', only to return just in time for him to be thrown into a fight with two more guys that are even worse. Chi-Chi gets mocked on occasion for her coddling ways, but after a year like that, who could blame her for being a bit rattled?

* Some moments when Chi-Chi gets ''really'' [[HairTriggerTemper angry.]]
** Chi-Chi in general most of the time... it's no wonder people are ''terrified'' of her.
** This, just ''[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/97689678_modified_2638.jpg this]]''. Her expression is ''TERRIFYING.''

** It also invites the ultimate FridgeHorror of the SortingAlgorithmofEvil in the Dragon Ball universe, Beers, [[GodOfEvil the God of Destruction]] which [[TheDreaded all the gods fear]]. This would normally be [[InformedAbility be not as dangerous]] [[UnderestimatingBadassery considering how the gods normally rank things]], until he curb stomps Super Saiyan 3 Goku '''with a finger'''. Since this is the canonical universe, where Super Saiyan 3 is the strongest state aside from Mystic and Fusions, this is a big deal. Then [[spoiler: [[EleventhHourSuperpower the Super Saiyan God state, which is the strongest state in the series' canon]]]] is activated by Goku to defeat this guy, normally you'd expect a CurbStompBattle to ensue and deal with the BigBad. [[spoiler: [[TheBadGuyWins Nope, Goku still loses, only managing to force Beers to go 70% of his power]] [[KarmaHoudini and suffers no punishment]]]]. The real scary part comes after this [[spoiler: turns out [[AllThereInTheManual despite being the strongest character in the series according to V-jump]], it turns out that his advisor, Whis, is much stronger than he is, and given that we never see the full extent of Beer's power, Whis' power must be beyond comprehension.]] We also get this bit of information; [[spoiler: turns that he's the designated God of Destruction for the universe that Dragon Ball is based in which is No.7 out of 12]].

* When Son Gohan achieves the Messianic powers of a Super Saiyan 2, he turns from a [[NiceGuy sensitive and kind-hearted little boy]] into a [[SuperpoweredEvilSide cold blooded and sadistic murderer]] that would make Frieza or Broly proud. Watching the once kind-hearted boy coldly sneer ''"Kill him now? Hmph, not yet Dad. He deserves to suffer much longer!!'' is really uncommon in his personality. This is the same Cell that is ''fueled'' on the lives of thousands, if not millions of people and laughed with glee as he absorbed the two teenagers his creator turned into cyborgs as they screamed for their lives. He also stated he loves seeing the twisted faces of terror in people, and said to Goku that if it wasn't for the tournament he created, [[EarthShatteringKaboom he'd wipe out the earth in one shot]] without batting an eye. Cell even called him "a ''monster''". When Goku called out to Gohan that he should end the fight since Cell, while cornered could become more unpredictable than before, Gohan's response was to glare at him and give his most [[PsychoticSmirk sadistic smirk]] he's ever shown, before giving the line that he'd like to carry on what was effectively '''torture'''. That kid was clearly NotHimself.

-->'''Frieza:''' *After blasting a (at most) [[spoiler:''ten-year-old child'']] [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath into a smoldering corpse]]* "[[IGaveMyWord I promised]], didn't I? To show you a terror greater than Hell? But that [[spoiler:[[InfantImmortality Namekian child there]]]] [[SubvertedTrope won't get to experience this.]] It's a shame, isn't it? I'll just have to let you guys take his share."

*** Cue Frieza torturing Vegeta in the most horrific manner possible.

!! Violence
* Most of the {{Family Unfriendly Death}}s[=/=]{{Cruel And Unusual Death}}s in general, [[NightmareFuel/HunterXHunter while]] [[NightmareFuel/JoJosBizarreAdventure not]] [[NightmareFuel/{{BarefootGen}} as]] [[NightmareFuel/{{Berserk}} bad]] [[NightmareFuel/{{Hellsing}} as]] [[NightmareFuel/FullMetalAlchemist these]] [[NightmareFuel/{{Bleach}} kinds]], are pretty uncomforting, such as the picture above, of Dr.Gero killing an ordinary human [[DisproportionateRetribution just because he bothered him.]]
* The unusual amount of focus given to Android 18 shattering Vegeta's arm with a single kick. Never mind that broken limbs are often RealLife NightmareFuel in and of themselves. It was the fact that Trunks and everyone up on the hill realizes how screwed Vegeta is right on impact. Or the ''scream'' Vegeta lets out right as his arm goes limp. By this point, Vegeta's pretty much established himself as a guy that can not only take a pounding, but talk crap the entire way. To hear Vegeta scream out in pain to that degree is hair-raising (no pun intended) because it's something Vegeta ''just doesn't do''.
** For the lulz, 18 dislocates Vegeta's other arm a few minutes later.
* This [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzYBD6sZuko creepy, pedophile-like]] look that [[{{Jerkass}} Veg]][[WarriorPrince eta]] gave to Gohan back on Namek.
** Doesn't help that he [[WouldHurtAChild hits Gohan]] in the most painful way possible.
** Just... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhbYY62Kvpo&feature=related this]]...
* The horrendous torture that Vegeta receives from Freeza after the former dived into the DespairEventHorizon, still losing.

** And, perhaps, in response to this fact, Toriyama/the creators reserved '''one of the most horrid, gruesome deaths in the series''' for this human bit character. [[note]]Buu turned into a liquid and force-fed ''himself'' to the guy, expanding inside Van Zant until he exploded into several hundred meaty chunks.[[/note]] And, in a series where the main characters routinely get holes blown through them, lose limbs, and get bones snapped, that's saying a LOT.
** This doesn't mention the [[http://i.imgur.com/e1kKuYo.jpg look]] that Majin Buu gives him just as he's starting to explode. This may be one of four times in the entire series that we see Majin Buu with his eyes open.

*** To sum up [[spoiler: Beers, the most powerful character in the series, has several shades of BiggerBad algorithms above him. There's his mentor who's stronger than he is, and then there's the '''other Eleven Universes' Gods of Destruction that are all probably stronger than he is''']] Talk about a dark deconstruction of AlwaysSomeoneBetter

Anime/DragonBallZ isn't the DarkerAndEdgier version of Manga/DragonBall for nothing. It has some of the vilest villains in the anime, and that's not even getting into the traumatic past of Trunks, the excessive violence or even some traits of the good guys. Death may be cheap, but that doesn't diminish how scary it can get.