Dragon Ballis one of the most influential anime franchises in history, but unfortunately, this doesn’t make it a perfect series.Dragon Ball Zhas experienced many continuity issues and plot holes during its run, and while many of them are due to Toei Animation making creative narrative decisions in filler episodes andnon-canonDragon Ballfilms, others come directly from Toriyama himself.
Akira Toriyama made a few misstepsinDragon Ball Z’s manga that were later retconned in later installments of the franchise. Even though these errors aren’t outrageous or big enough to tarnish its legacy,there are a few things that don’t make a lot of sense inDragon Ball Zthat every fan should be aware of, with some becoming little trivia facts and being especially funny in retrospect.
8The Potara Earring’s Fusion
Old Kai Continues to Be Fused
When the Potara earrings were introduced inDragon Ball Z, it was said that their downside was that the fusion is permanent. Yet, it was later revealed inDragon Ball Superthat Potara fusions are only permanent for gods and last only an hour for mortal beings. However, inDragon Ball DAIMA,Kibito and Supreme Kai appear separated.
This was thanks to the inner atmosphere of Majin Buu, who absorbed them so they could be defused, which is a contradiction to Dragon Ball Super, where Kibito and Supreme Kai are still merged. While it is unknown if something forced them to become Kibito Kai again,the fact that Kai’s fusion isn’t permanent is inconsistent with why Elder Kai never defused the witch.
The Elder Kai said that his appearance was due to having fused with an Old Witch, and the fact that he remained the same could mean that the Supreme Kai never told him it could be reverted, that he didn’t want to use the Dragon Balls, didn’t want to lose the magical powers of the witch, didn’t care for being ugly, or Akira Toriyama didn’t want another young Kai.
7People Forgetting Piccolo
Piccolo Has a Masterful Disguise
One of the biggest mysteries inDragon Ballis how people do not notice that Piccolo Jr. is the reincarnation of King Piccolo. It has been reinforced that the audience inDragon Ballisn’t as good at remembering faces, given that nobody recalls Goku or the Z-Fighters after they saved Earth in the Cell Saga, but King Piccolo’s threat to King Furry was broadcast on TV, so his appearance should be well-known.
Only King Furry and Jimmy Firecracker,the announcer of the Cells Game, were shown recognizing Piccolo.
One explanation could be that Piccolo’s turban, akin toSuperman’s glasses, possessed a unique feature that prevented him from being recognized. This is seen when Goku destroys his turban; the crowd finally notices Piccolo’s resemblance to King Piccolo and starts running in panic inDragon Ballchapter 186.
Additionally, even during his first appearance, Master Roshi didn’t notice he was related to King Piccolo in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament until Goku told him, with only Tien noticing. A similar instance is how nobody remembered the Pilaf Gang inDragon Ball Super.
6The Destruction of the Moon
Monster Carrot Is Alive Thanks to The Power of Gag
The moon was blown up by Master Roshi as Jackie Chun during the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament when Goku transformed into the Great Ape. However,the moon appeared later again in the story and was blown up a second time by Piccoloduring the Saiyan Saga to stop Gohan’s transformation.
Though this was never formally addressed in the story,it would make sense if the Dragon Balls were usedto wish Shenronto fix the moonafter each incident, as it also reappears in later arcs and its destruction will lead to climate change and events like dangerous sea levels.
The funniest part of this is thatone of the first villains ofDragon Ball,the Rabbit Mob, was living on the moon.The Rabbit Mob were sent to the moon by Goku and were presumably dead after it was destroyed until Akira Toriyama confirmedlater that they survived and were stranded in space.
5Elder Kai Sealed In The Z-Sword
Beerus Vs Majin Buu
In the Majin Buu Arc, after Gohan breaks the Z-sword,the Old Kai appears from the blade and explains he was sealed inside 75 million years before by someone powerful and evil, though not as much as Majin Buu. It was later established in Dragon Ball Super that Beerus, the irascible God of Destruction, was the one who sealed the Old Kai.
Akira Toriyama later addressed it, saying that it was due to a discussion in one of the meetings they had once every thousand years. However,it doesn’t make sense that the Supreme Kai didn’t know what had happened to one of the previous Kaiif it was a great incident that involved the God of Destruction.
Furthermore,according to what the Old Kai said, Beerus was weaker than Majin Buuwhen he sealed him and did it because he was afraid of his power. This is incorrect, given Beerus’s strength in Dragon Ball Super, but it could be possible if he got stronger during the 75 million years that Old Kai was sealed, if the elder measured their powers incorrectly, or if he just lied to make himself look better.
4Earth Dragon Ball’s Cooldown Period.
The Dragon Balls' Rules Evolved Over time
Initially, it was established thatEarth Dragon Ballsneeded a one-year cooldown period to recharge after a wish, but this was never strictly followed during the story. This was first seen during the second hunt of the Dragon Balls after the first world tournament, which happened only eight months after summoning Shenron and contradicted the established recharge time.
Later, the fourth summoning of Shenron occurred just 24 hours apart from the third due toKami allowing an exception after King Piccolo had used the Dragon Balls. Another exception is when Kami agrees to King Kai’s plan for Mr. Popo to wish back everyone killed by Frieza since it was only a month after Shenron was summoned to wish for Goku’s resurrection.
This could be interpreted asKami’s death resetting the cooldown period of Earth’s Dragon Balls, but this wasn’t the case with Guru, as they only had 1 wish left with the Namek Dragon Balls. Because of this, the Dragon Balls have arbitrary rules that are applied at the discretion of the Guardian and the plot.
3Dragon Ball’s Other World
The Afterlife Has Changed Over time
The afterlife is a weird concept inDragon Ball, as it is first stated thatin the Other World, people become souls before being reincarnated,and the ones who can preserve their bodies are selfless people or those who fight for justice on Earth, like Goku and the Z Fighters, which even extended to former antagonists, like Vegeta or Piccolo.
However,the anime included in filler episodes a version of Heaven and Hell where villains like Frieza and Cell can keep their bodiesbut are sent to a prison and even showed the Ginyu Force traveling across the Snake Way. This gets even more muddled when,in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’Frieza is in a special kind of hell to be punished for eternity.
Likewise,in the Majin Buu saga, it’s mentioned that if a dead person died again, they would disappear completely from existence. However, this was later contradicted inDragon Ball GTwhen Frieza and Cell said that they are immortal while dead. Still, Frieza’s hell was a satisfactory punishment for him inDragon Ball Superdespite its lack of continuity.
2Krillin’s Height
Krillin Keeps Getting Shorter
Krillin always had a short stature, but he changed dramatically throughoutDragon Ball’s story. According to official information, Krillin is5 ft tall, which makes him not much shorter than Vegeta. However, Krillin appears to have shrunk in several arcs, even looking like an infant in the Saiyan Saga andDragon Ball Super. This is especially noticeable when comparing Krillin to Android 18.
InDragon Ball Z,Krillin’s height is around his wife’s shoulders, but inDragon BallSuper, he’s only up to her waist. While height inconsistencies are often a natural mistake in animation, such a significant height difference should really be evident for the anime production team.Krillin’s height inconsistencies are also appreciated inDragon Ball’s manga, hinting that they may be intended or just not as important.
1Dragon Ball’s Inconsistencies With Breathing In Space
Saiyans Have Been Shown in Space Several Times
During the Frieza Saga, Goku is shown having to repair the spaceship wearing a space suit. Later, Frieza also reaffirmed that Saiyans couldn’t survive in space before Namek’s destruction. However,Saiyans had been shown normally breathing in space, as Nappa and Vegeta are seen casually conversing outside their space pods, and Bardock and other Saiyans were also fighting Frieza in space without issues.
While this could be attributed to this being filler and not coming from Akira Toriyama’s manga in the movieBattle of the Gods,Goku fights Beerus outside Earth’s atmosphereas a Super Saiyan God and later inDragon Ball Super.
Even though some may argue that on those occasions they could have been in the exosphere, where there is still little oxygen, which may be enough for a Saiyan, this doesn’t explain howGoku went to the moon using his power pole inDragon Ballepisode 9or how the Monster Carrot’s henchmen can’t survive there as humans, though this probably relates to them being gag characters.
