YMMV / Dragon Ball Z: PRIMAL

• Adorkable:
  • Gohan much like in canon is still the lovable and adorable goofball he is despite his Adaptational Angst Upgrade, and showing him being either oblivious to social queues and trying to feign ignorance with his powers is entertaining to read about.
  • Videl shows off this side of her a few times in the story, especially when trying to understand her feelings towards Gohan.
• Angst? What Angst?: Subverted with Gohan who unlike in canon does have guilt and self-loathing over allowing his Super Saiyan 2 form to prolong his fight with Cell, leading to Goku having to sacrifice himself when the bio-android attempts to blow himself up along with the Earth.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Hercule Satan much like in canon. Viewers either like that the story shows that Hercule is only human and has flaws and genuine love for his daughter, while some really want him to be exposed and disgraced for not only stealing the credit for defeating Cell but dishonouring the previous martial arts champions before him, such as Goku, by convincing the word that ki techniques were nothing but tricks.
  • Chi-Chi too falls under this trope. There are people who sympathize with her desire to have a normal family life where her son becomes a scholar and starts his own family rather than constantly going out to fight like her husband did. Meanwhile other viewers believe that she is just an emotional abusive mother can't grasp the fact that her son is going through an existential crisis over his mixed heritage, and refuses to change her attitude.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Erasa giving Sharpner a "The Reason You Suck" Speech after he not only accuses Gohan of being a fraud when they discover he's Saiyaman but also for insulting Goku's memory is quite satisfying for some viewers, as well as allowed Sharpner to go through some Character Development.
  • In a somewhat Black Comedy type of way, Cooler killing two police officers with a Death Beam after they dismissed his and Salza's techniques as tricks is this for fans of the series who hated how Hercule made the population of Earth ignorant to ki.
  • Gohan finally confronting Hercule about his lies and Videl losing all respect for her father though sad is also quite karmic on the world champion's part.
  • Vegeta calling Chi-Chi out for her treatment of Gohan and finally getting her to realise that her life will never be normal.
  • Sharpner finally killing Barry Khan for kidnapping Erasa and also murdering and eating innocent Beastmen.
  • Goten not only achieving Super Saiyan, but also standing up to Trunks and refusing to tolerate his condescending attitude toward reviving people with the Dragon Balls.
  • Gohan defeating and killing Wheelo, as well as Syn devouring his soul, is satisfying, especially given all of the people he had killed and was going to kill via destroying the planet.
  • Dende finally standing up for himself and refusing to allow Bulma's family to use the Dragon Balls anymore is definitely cathartic for those who disapproved of Dragon Ball Super portraying Bulma as vain enough to constantly use the Dragon Balls to make herself look younger.
• Cry for the Devil:
  • Cooler does have shades of this due to how abusive and cruel King Cold was to him, especially when he beat him within an inch of his life and disowned him for his less despotic methods. Granted Gohan, though he is horrified by Cold's treatment of his sons, still sees him as nothing more than a tyrant much to Cooler's denial.
  • Wheelo at first gives off these vibes, given that his Start of Darkness revolves around his career being ruined by Hercule and appears to genuinely want what's best for mankind. However as the story progresses, this trope becomes subverted as Wheelo sinks to newer levels of depravity and hatred.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Cooler, who is not only a fan favorite but receives an Adaptational Personality Change that turns him into a charismatic and brilliant conqueror who not only has enough power to be a genuine threat to the Earth but also admires and respects the strength of worthy fighters.
  • Dr. Yanagi/Wheelo, who parallels Cooler in that he is The Chessmaster who has been manipulating everyone around him in order to enact his plans of revolution and vengeance. He gets even better after injecting S-Cells into his body and becoming a Genius Bruiser.
• Magnificent Bastard: Cooler is the brutal but charismatic leader of the Cooler Empire. A gifted scientist and martial artist since his youth, Cooler rejected his father King Cold's tyrannical methods and sought to conquer planets through more honourable means, fighting and earning the respect of their world's strongest fighters, first doing so on planet Hera and even helping some of their people escape when his father found out. Upon being disowned and exiled to a desolate planet, Cooler allies with the natives to create the Big Gete Star program and relocates the surviving Herans to assemble an army to combat the Frieza Force, traveling the cosmos and welcoming strong planets into his empire while purging weak worlds so the universe was strong and knowledgeable enough to survive. Arriving on Earth upon learning of Frieza's defeat by Goku's hand, Cooler shows genuine care for his men and challenges Gohan all while offering him a place in his empire. After being defeated and fatally wounded, Cooler sincerely congratulates Gohan, proving himself more virtuous than the original film.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Tao not only tries to take the mayor and innocent people hostage, but also attempts to kill Videl and the mayor's daughter with an energy attack as a way of spiting Hercule for him and his master insulting him all those years ago. Later on in the Wheelo Saga, he goes even lower by murdering X.S. Cash and his family in cold blood, torturing Hercule and attempting to kill his daughter in front of him to make him suffer more, and then ultimately killing him.
  • If Cooler invading Earth and judging whether or not to spare the planet based on the strength of its fighters didn't invoke this, then him killing Sharpner and threatening the lives of Gohan's friends surely did.
  • Doore blowing up a school full of children, then mocking them for being too weak to survive his attack.
  • Barry Khan mocking Marker after he was murdered by a serial killer. And if that's not enough, the fact that he is actually the Beastman Killer himself, who has been slaughtering and devouring Beastmen and Beastwomen and keeps their remains in a Jeffrey Dahmer-esque fashion. Khan also threatens to eats Erasa, who he kidnaps during the tournament, if Sharpner refuses to play his game of cat and mouse.
  • Wheelo. Where to begin? Stealing Gohan's DNA to make himself a Saiyan Hybrid, hosting a tournament to gather everyone of his enemies all together to wipe them out in one fell swoop, destroying the capital and King Furry's castle with him inside and attempting to blow up the Earth just to kill Gohan. Hell, the fact that he's so evil that his hatred and negativity manifests as a corruptive malefic energy earns him not only a one-way ticket to the deepest pit of Hell, but also the honour of being devoured by the Ancient Dragon Syn, who eats souls that are too wicked for even Hell to imprison.
• The Scrappy: Kid Trunks as of recent chapters has garnered this reaction from some readers. He condescendingly undermines all of the death and destruction caused by villains, becomes upset over not becoming a Super Saiyan first when Goten saves his life and insensitively suggesting to Videl that she revive Hercule with the Dragon Balls only moments after he was killed by Tao.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Gohan's descent into self-loathing is quite sad, especially when Chi-Chi further feeds into his insecurities with her prejudice towards Saiyans.
  • Master Roshi using the Evil Containment Wave on Wheelo, sacrificing his life to do so as he appoints Krillin as his successor. What's even more tragic is how the technique doesn't work.
  • Goten and Trunks' friendship takes quite the plummet when Goten transforms into a Super Saiyan to save Trunks. Instead of being proud of his best friend for his accomplishment, Trunks chastises Goten for achieving the transformation before him despite being supposedly stronger, acting completely ungrateful to Goten despite him saving his life. Goten in turn becomes fed up with Trunks' indifferent attitude towards the life lost during each conflict due to the Dragon Balls' power, disgusted by how vain and arrogant Trunks had become through his upbringing under Bulma.
  • Hercule's death. For as much of a manipulative and lousy scumbag he was, Hercule at the end of the day was still a man, a very flawed man, but one who genuinely loved his daughter and only wanted what was best for her. In his last moments, Hercule understands that the possibility of him being brought back or surviving would only make Videl's situation worse and so instead asks his daughter to simply live her life as he passes away.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Chi-Chi has garnered sympathy from some viewers who believe that her wanting to have a life not filled with constant conflict, alien shenanigans and the threat of her children having to fight world destroying villains is valid. Word of God has stated that though Chi-Chi is not meant to be unsympathetic, it's rather her own prejudices and refusal to let go of them that is her main problem, and that the story is just as much about her Character Development as it is Gohan's.
• The Woobie:
  • Gohan spends much of the earlier story having Survivor Guilt over Goku's sacrifice during the Cell Games, blaming himself for what happened for seven years. He is pestered and manipulated by Videl into training her and revealing his secrets and suffers emotional abuse from his mother, whose prejudice towards Saiyans had caused Gohan to suffer an existential crisis where he sees himself as a freak and monster. He temporarily loses one of his new friends to the hands of Cooler, is manipulated into entering a tournament by Videl by using his mother's helicopter parenting against him despite his dislike of fighting in general, then finds out the man he looked up to, James Yanagi whose actually Jinpachi Wheelo, and his children, Barry and Cocoa, were deceiving him the whole time.
  • Videl has it just as rough as Gohan. Living under the pressure of being the daughter of the supposed saviour of Earth, Videl was placed on a pedestal which prevented her from making friends with most people as well as developing romantic relationships due to her father's overprotective nature. Videl truly believed her father was a hero, but has her eyes opened by Gohan and his friends, causing her to become disillusioned and heartbroken over Hercule's lies. She then becomes fed up with Gohan pulling his punches in training, wanting him to fight seriously, leading her to manipulate Gohan into entering the Elemental Tournament to force him to fight her seriously. And if that's not enough, not only does she learn that her honorary uncle, who she hadn't seen in years, was Evil All Along, he commits a heinous act that leads to the deaths of millions as well as exposing her father's deception to the entire world, making her a pariah to most of the public. And that's not even getting into how she watched her father die in front of her eyes, and wholeheartedly agrees to not revive him when given the chance due to how much suffering Hercule had caused to try and cover up his shady dealings.
  • Goten, poor Goten. He walks in on his mother supposedly calling him and his brother monsters, watches so much death and destruction take place as innocent blood is shed and when he finally achieves Super Saiyan to protect Trunks and expect him to be proud of him, his best friend instead reacts with jealousy and spite over him transforming before him.
  • Chi-Chi, despite her toxic traits, does warrant sympathy when you put it in the perspective of a mother who unlike the rest of her family, doesn't have the power or authority to stop her superhuman sons from disobeying her. Chi-Chi is essentially forced to watch as her children are made to fight in multiple wars and conflicts, all while she is helpless to do anything about it. And if that's not enough, Chi-Chi never got over Goku's death either, and misses him so much that it fed into her insecurities and fear over losing her sons.
  • Erasa also deserves a mention. She has unresolved feelings for Sharpner, but never acted on them because of his pursuit of Videl as well as being treated like a rebound girl whenever his pursuits never landed anywhere. She then finally gets a boyfriend whose supposedly the perfect man, until she is forced to realise that the guy in question is a serial killer and cannibal. Chapter 44 explains that she has trauma and other psychological issues from her experiences during the Dark Revolution.
  • Cocoa Yanagi, for being the only member of Wheelo's family other than her grandparents who is genuinely tragic. Created as a prototype for a race of Artificial Humans and a clone of Wheelo's mother, Cocoa was deemed a flawed specimen when Wheelo realised she couldn't replace his mother. Cocoa spends most of her life craving love from her creator/father, wanting his approval and affection, even if it meets assisting him in his plans. Kept in the dark about Wheelo's true intentions, Cocoa has a panic attack over the idea that she had betrayed Gohan, one of her only friends and crush, and is overcome with guilt and shame over her role in the Dark Revolution.

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