History AdaptationInducedPlotHole / DragonBall

* In Cell's penultimate episode, there is a rather inexcusable example since all of the information it contradicts has already been given even in the show itself: a flashback to Cell's timeline where Dr. Gero is Android 20 (which he never was until this present timeline), is working on Cell's creation (he never did, he left that entirely up to his supercomputer), and is killed by Androids 17 and 18, who have apparently been around him for a while, because they take offense to him creating something that is meant to absorb them (beforehand, it was said Android 17 and 18 killed him immediately upon being activated for the first time, and they didn't need an extra motive to do so. They also never knew about Cell, which was a plot point earlier). To top it off, the androids then destroy Dr. Gero's lab from the outside in order to destroy Cell in its infancy [[BondVillainStupidity rather than just blast the infant Cell when they were standing in front of it, then don't bother to check whether it was even destroyed or not.]]

* In the Manga, the only ones who can give Cell Jrs a fight are Vegeta and Trunks, but in the anime Piccolo not only gives a fight to a Cell Jr. but actually seems to be winning. This wouldn't be a problem if Cell didn't still say that the only ones putting up a fight are Vegeta and Trunks, as he does in the manga.

* In Cell's penultimate episode, there is a rather inexcusable example since all of the information it contradicts has already been given even in the show itself: a flashback to Cell's timeline where Dr. Gero is Android 20 (which he never was until this present timeline) is working on Cell's creation (he never did, he left that entirely up to his supercomputer), and is killed by Androids 17 and 18, who have apparently been around him for a while, because they take offense to him creating something that is meant to absorb them (beforehand, it was said Android 17 and 18 killed him immediately upon being activated for the first time, and they didn't need an extra motive to do so. They also never knew about Cell, which was a plot point earlier). To top it off, the androids then destroy Dr. Gero's lab from the outside in order to destroy Cell in its infancy [[BondVillainStupidity rather than just blast the infant Cell when they were standing in front of it, then don't bother to check whether it was even destroyed or not.]]

* In Cell's penultimate episode, there is a rather inexcusable example since all of the information it contradicts has already been given even in the show itself: a flashback to Cell's timeline where Dr. Gero is Android 20 (which he never was until this present timeline) is working on Cell's creation (he never did, he left that entirely up to his supercomputer), and is killed by Androids 17 and 18, who have apparently been around him for a while, because they take offense to him creating something that is meant to absorb them (beforehand, it was said Android 17 and 18 killed him immediately upon being activated for the first time, and they didn't need an extra motive to do so). To top it off, the androids then destroy Dr. Gero's lab from the outside in order to destroy Cell in its infancy [[BondVillainStupidity rather than just blast the infant Cell when they were standing in front of it, then don't bother to check whether it was even destroyed or not.]]

* When Vegeta is about to self-destruct himself to destroy Majin Buu, he asks Piccolo where he would be in the afterlife. Piccolo responds that since Vegeta has been a ruthless Saiyan for most of his life, he would be sent to Hell where he would not only lose his body, but his soul would also be purified until he is reborn without any memories. While it makes sense in the manga as we never saw what Hell looks like at the time, it doesn't explain why many villains such as Frieza, Cell, and others in filler, movies and ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' keep their bodies and no one even lifts a finger in an attempt to purify them. In filler scenes, "Hell" just looks like a mildly unpleasant place, with no torture. Then in ''Super'', we see that they actually are tortured, with Frieza rendered immobile as sickeningly sweet creatures cavort around him. It's possible that this is a process that happens ''before'' purification, but if so it's never clarified.

* The anime adds scenes of Frieza killing his henchmen Orlen and Namole, as well as Captain Ginyu killing Frieza's men who fail to pose properly. This raises the question of why they aren't brought back to life when Mr. Popo wishes on Earth's newly-restored Dragon Balls to revive everyone killed by Frieza and his army in the past year. The reason Frieza killed Orlen is another example: Orlen killed the only Namekian who survived Vegeta's attack (and could have told them where the Dragon Ball is), yet none of the Namekians from the village Vegeta slaughtered were revived.

* The anime adds scenes of Frieza killing his henchmen Orlen and Namole, as well as Captain Ginyu killing Frieza's men who fail to pose properly. This raises the question of why they aren't brought back to life when Mr. Popo wishes on Earth's newly-restored Dragon Balls to revive everyone killed by Frieza and his army in the past year.

** And speaking of which, after Vegeta resurrects on Namek, he sees Goku and Frieza fighting, and becomes ecstatic when Goku became a Super Saiyan. In the manga, he was sent to Earth immediately after Dende made the wish to take everyone except Goku and Frieza to Earth. The former contradicts what happens right after Porunga teleports nearly everyone to Namek, and Vegeta reacts in shock when Gohan proudly tells Piccolo that Goku became a Super Saiyan. Taken a step further in the Android Saga once Goku returns to Earth, he and Trunks transforms in front of everyone, and Vegeta angrily shakes his fist seeing it as if it's the first time he saw it.

* In the manga, most characters to achieve Super Saiyan attained the form offscreen, with the exception of Goku, and it's not treated as an especially big deal, as if it's just something that a Saiyan automatically unlocks once they reach a certain threshold of power and training. The anime, apparently realizing that [[UniquenessDecay this would deflate the impact of the form]], added in the idea that the form also requires some kind of intense emotional catharsis, with Trunks, Vegeta, and Gohan all having big scenes where they "earn" the transformation in a moment of sorrow or anger. Then the manga introduced Goten and Trunks, who can use Super Saiyan. In the manga, this is still clearly a joke, but within what we've seen of Super Saiyan as being based strictly on power; Goten and Trunks are just prodigious enoug to start with a level of strength on par with the Cell Saga cast, and being able to use Super Saiyan is included in that package. In the anime, where it seems like Super Saiyan ''isn't'' something you can get just by training a lot, Goten and Trunks stand out horribly, because they haven't had any kind of big emotional moments to spur the transformation.

* An episode of ''Z'' has King Kai tell the story of how the Saiyans were wiped out, and attributes it to the "Kami-sama" (or God) of their galaxy summoning a meteor to strike Planet Vegeta in order to rid the galaxy of the Saiyans and their evil ways. As it turns out, this is far from the truth, as Frieza was the one who destroyed the planet, and for less than noble reasons (and planet Vegeta's God has never been seen or mentioned). Of course, one could excuse it as King Kai lying to Goku since he later told him not to fight Frieza in the early half of the Namek arc. Less excusable is that King Kai tells Goku that Saiyans transform into Great Apes when they look at the full moon, which contradicts the future manga event where Goku doesn't learn this until he sees Great Ape Vegeta (which makes him realize ''he'' was the one who killed Grandpa Gohan, which doesn't happen at King Kai's).

* In the English dubs of both ''Z'' and ''Kai'', when Krillin and Future Trunks arrive at Goku's house, Yamcha recognizes Future Trunks and calls him by name, even though Yamcha left the fight with Androids 19 and 20 to take Goku home before Piccolo revealed his identity to everyone else.

* When Tao Pai-Pai gets killed trying to take the Dragon Balls off of Goku, in the anime he learns about this immediately because of a tracker he put on Tao. This isn't corrected later in the script, so when Red spots some Dragon Balls approaching Red Ribbon HQ via their radar, he doesn't realize it's Goku and not Tao until he gets a visual. Accurate to the manga, but contradicts the earlier episode.

* In the original Funimation English dub, Goku’s visit to King Kai’s planet to find New Namek has King Kai recognize the Instant Transmission technique and claim that he could have taught it to Goku. This is a contradicts the Saiyan Arc where a big deal is made of King Kai forgetting Goku has to travel all the way back down Snake Way after being wished back to life: if King Kai knew the technique, he could have easily zipped Goku to the check-in station for Kami to pick him up.