Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball might feature some of the best-written male characters in the history of the anime and manga industry, but the series dropped the ball when it came to female characters. Although the female characters portray quite important roles in the series, they are not given much significance as individual characters.
This was most evident when Toriyama introduced the character of Videl in the story. Videl, the daughter of Mr. Satan, the wife of Gohan, and the mother of Pan was introduced as a decent fighter who was fierce and headstrong. She was appreciated by the fans, but as the story progressed, her character went downhill, and fans lost their love for her.
Recently, a video portraying Videl’s path from warrior to Gohan’s bride went viral, featuring clips from the classic Dragon Ball game “Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot,” and fans discovered the exact moment when Videl’s character began to be hated.
The Downfall of Videl in Dragon Ball
When Videl was first introduced in the story, she was intelligent, hardworking, and perceptive. She singlehandedly found out about Gohan’s identity and his role in defeating Cell. She was also highly motivated, as she wanted to become strong and fight some of the toughest contenders in the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament.
She even wanted to learn how to fly, which proved that she would have been one of the very few female characters who were interested in fighting and saving the world, just like Goku and the rest of the group. However, after the Majin Buu saga, Videl’s character is suddenly changed completely as she gets married to Gohan.
From her appearance to her attitude, everything has changed about Videl, and it is revealed that she has left fights and battles for good. Although this helped the narrative in a lot of ways, it proved to be the worst element for her character’s growth. She became less important to the story and lost her presence in Dragon Ball.
Dragon Ball Fans Could Not Forgive Akira Toriyama For Videl
A few months ago, a YouTube channel named SVO posted a gameplay video from Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, the popular action role-playing game by Bandai, which depicted Videl’s journey and how she fell in love with Gohan. While the video went viral, it also revealed the mistake that Akira Toriyama made as a creator.
As soon as fans saw this video, they went on X to discuss the downfall of Videl as an important Dragon Ball character.
While some fans blamed Toriyama’s inability to draw female characters, others explored her prominent moments from the Dragon Ball anime series.
Pictured: the exact moment Dragon Ball went to shit and never recovered. pic.twitter.com/Qg5YoLfgcY
— Ajay (@AnimeAjay) January 24, 2020
Toriyama has difficulties with female characters, sadly.
— SonicKeroEX (@BlatterShy) January 25, 2020
Nah, DB really went to shit in Super for Videl when they made her a docile housewife and completely changed her personality with absolutely no explanation why. She was legit one of (if not THE) strongest human fighter at the end of the Cell saga and then *fart noise*
— Chal (@Chalamander13) January 24, 2020
Is everyone forgetting the absolute asswhooping spopovich gave ger? She lost her will to fight right then and there, when she realised theres a level of power far beyond her ability to attain. And even then she still defends her family, as we saw in super, just not as a fighter
— Green Dragon Ranger (@tomsmithy666) January 25, 2020
It actually was around that time, not because of her hair though
— Alexander Leset (@Video_Two) January 25, 2020
Forget the haircut. She used to be a fun character then became a silent smiling housewife. So boring.
— Otacon #SAVEPALESTINE🇵🇸 (@danyelle_frost) January 25, 2020
Although Videl is not the first female character in the Dragon Ball universe to go through such drastic changes, her initial portrayal gave fans hope that she might be different and would live up to the expectations. And now she has been completely wiped from the narrative and only features as a supporting character for other characters like Gohan and Piccolo.
You can watch Dragon Ball on Crunchyroll.
