Dragon Ball Live-action Universe/Tropes

The Dragon Ball Live-action Universe would be a shared universe and film franchise produced by Universal Pictures and Toei Company, and based on Akira Toriyama's manga Dragon Ball and its related series.

Tropes

 * Actor Allusion: One of Bulma's gadgets are gauntlets that allow her to manipulate vibrations around her, calling back to her actress' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. role as Quake. The electronic gauntlets she developed also are similar to how Lincoln Campbell's powers manifest.
 * Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The films delve further into overlooked and tragic aspects of each character's backstory, such as Goku grievimg his grandfather's death, and Krillin being a victim of bullying.
 * Adaptational Badass:
 * Bulma, while not to the level of the Dragonball Evolution version, would know more about fighting than the manga version.
 * Puar would be more of a fighter than in the manga.
 * While unable to fight himself llike in the manga, Pilaf would have a lot more weapons at his disposal than in the manga. He is also more threatening than in the manga, at times feeling like a geniune danger.
 * Unlike the anime, where he was afraid at the mere mention of Goku, Tao Pai Pai would actually become more and more powerful and ruthless with each appearance.
 * Adaptation Expansion:
 * The first film explores Pilaf's backstory, which was never shown in any media: He was the Spoiled Rotten heir to an empire that fell and eeteriorated into the criminal empire he now leads. Still grieving for the loss of his future empire, Pilaf plans to use the Dragon Balls to bring it back.
 * The Launch films delve deeper into the relationship between both of her alters, whereas in the manga her Split Personality was played for comedy.
 * Adaptational Nice Guy: Launch's blonde alter is depicted here as more of a pragmatic cynical thrill-lover, contrasting with the more violent version from the manga. She even explicitly states she never killed anybody.
 * Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: The relationship between the Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump casts is much stronger than in canon.
 * Adaptational Sapience: In the anime, Watagashi had no actual personality or characteristics other tgan feeding of negative feelings and giving power. The DBLU version in turn potrays Watagashi as a Faux Affably Evil power hungry con-artist.
 * Adapted Out: All of Bulma's family would be killed off as part of her new backstory, leaving them out of storylines where they appear. Also, Bulma wouldn't have a sister at all.
 * Ascended Extra: A few promenient characters are loosely inspired by extras from the mangas and anime, most notably Teeths and Yūjō.
 * Author's Saving Throw:
 * Many fans who criticized Dragonball Evolution for being the epitome of In Name Only manga adaptations were beyond overjoyed to hear this version would stay closer to the source material and that Akira Toriyama would be involved in it.
 * Fans also were unhappy to see that Krillin was Adapted Out of Evolution. The first film had Krillin appear in a post-credits scene, and his absence from most of the movie in this case is justifued due to being based primarly on the Emperor Pilaf Saga, which was released before his debut. The second film further fixes this by making him the lead character.
 * The changes made to Goku's backstory and Bardock in Dragon Ball Minus were criticized for essentially turning Goku into a Superman copy. Dragon Ball Z: Bardock reincorporates many elements from The Father of Goku special, which were better received by fans.
 * For those who disliked Launch's dissappearance after Dragon Ball wouod be pleased to hear this version would lead a movie all on her own.
 * Awesome Music:
 * The franchise's entire score would consist of this, mainly due to being created by composers like Hans Zimmer, Henry Jackman, Mark Manicna, Pinar Toprak, and Danny Elfman.
 * The songs written for the films would also be part of this, especially in the films that feature most of them, such as Dragon Ball (with an entire soundtrack written and performed by Phil Collins), Dr. Slump: Arale's First Live-action Adventure (with songs written by modern musicians Pharrell Williams and "Weird Al" Yankovic), and Dr. Slump 2: OH NO! WE GOT TO THE SEQUEL! (predictable given that the songwriters are Disney Legend composer Alan Menken and Academy Award-nominated lyricist Stephen Schwartz).
 * The end credits for Dragon Ball feature a cover of Baltimore's "Tarzan Boy". And boy, does it rock!!!!!
 * Darker and Edgier:
 * Downplayed with Krillin's Adventure. It may not be precisely dark, but it does feature a more tense plot by having the characters try to find a Dragon Ball in what's essentially a military-occupied territory. It also features a profound and rralistic depiction of the pschylogical effects of bullying (to the point that Krillin at one point tries to commit suicide) and features the franchise's first main antagonist to be killed.
 * From The Story of Tien onwards, the franchise's Dragon Ball films became increasingly darker in nature, simioar to the manga.
 * The Launch films, which potray he dissociative identity disorder more realisticly than in the manga.
 * Denser and Wackier: Akin to the original manga's tone, the Dr. Slump films would be the most comedic entries on the franchise, althrougth still providing worldbuilding for the overrall franchise.
 * Descended Creator:
 * Througth the franchise, Akira Toriyama would make vocal cameos as a Dalmatian actor.
 * In the first film, producer Steven Spielberg would appear in a minor voice role.
 * The first film's voice director, Laura Bailey, would make a vocal cameo as a woman. watching the Dragon Team's battle against Pilaf.
 * Stella Maghie, who would direct the Dr. Slump films, would make cameos througth the franchise as a dog newswoman.
 * Dirty Coward:
 * Most of the examples from the source material are retained here, incluiding Frieza and Cell.
 * In The Legend of Yamoshi, Chilled reveals himself to be as much of a coward as Frieza. Once Super Saiyan Yamoshi overcomes every single one of his forces, Chilled begins to pathetically beg for his life. Yamoshi even describes him as "a cowardly scumbag without a spine".
 * Disney Villain Death:
 * Dragon Ball: Played straight when a dinasour-transformed Puar throws Pilaf's majordomo, Sabanto, from the top of the castle to his death during the climax.
 * Subverted in Dr. Slump: Arale's First Live-action Movie, where it first seems that Dr. Mashrito fell to his death, only for a mid-credits scene to reveal he survived.
 * In Dragon Ball: Krillin's Adventure, Blue is thrown to his demise by Android 8.
 * Dragon Ball: Tao:
 * Played straight with Commander Red, who would be forced by General Tao to jump off the Red Ribbon Army's headquarters to his death, so Tao could take over the Red Ribbon Army.
 * Subverted with Tao, as it would appear that Tao falls to his death in a canyon after Goku throws him a granade that ends up exploding. However, in a mid-credits scene, it would be revealed that Tao barely survived his fall.
 * Parodied in Dr. Slump 2: OH NO! WE GOT TO THE SEQUEL!, where it would appear that Dr. Mashirito is falling to his death. However, he uses a potion to turn himself into a dragon and survive. Lampshaded when Obotchawoman would say that she believed Mashirito died due to the fall.
 * In Dragon Ball: The Story of Tien, a gravely injured Master Shen ends up falling of his temple (which would be in a very tall mountain), as the place would be crumbling due to the film's final battle taking place there. Notably, instead of screaming while falling, he would be LAUGHING, assuming his enemies will suffer the same fate, while his dorpse would also be seen smiling shortly after hitting the ground.
 * King Piccolo's first defeat at the end of Roshi would serve as this in a way, as he would "fall" to his prision.
 * In Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiyan, Frieza would accidentally cut himself in a half while trying to kill Super Saiyan Goku with his Destructo Disc. Goku offers his hand to save Frieza, but he in turn would use whatever power he has left to attack his enemy. Just after that, the part of the soon-to-explode Planet Namek in which Frieza would have fallen would explode, almost as if the universe would be sentencing him to die for his crimes somewhat in the same way he killed thousands of people... By causing a planet to explode. Frieza would then scream in horror, and what would follow would be a shot of Frieza falling to the planet's unstable core.
 * In Gohan: The Great Saiyaman, Mr. Masuka would end up falling from a tower to his circus in flames. However, he would use a parachute to save himself from the fall, only to find the animals he tortured and abused in his circus waiting for him. After some taunting and hints from one of the animals, they would proceed to maul him and eat him alive. The audience would even see things from his point of view.
 * In Chi-Chi, after Watagash and Otōsan are split up in the sky by Gohan, the two would fall off Furui's spaceship's window to their deaths, in spite of their futile attempt to re-bond and survive.
 * Dr. Gero would have a slightly curious story with this trope throught the franchise. First it would seem that he died after the rebelling Android 17 cutted off his head (which would still function due to Gero having been turned into an Android himself) and later dropped him to a river feets below Gero's lab. However, in 17 2, it would be revealed that Gero's head actually survived and managed to use an AI computer in a secret lab to recreate his body. However, he would be undoubtly killed in the latter film, as he would end up falling from the hightest point of his (very tall) burning secret lab in an attempt to kill Android 17. The following scene would show Dr. Gero barely alive, througth with his new body (including his head, which would hold his brain) heavily damaged from the fall. Then, the part of his head holding his brain would break, releasing his brain, which would be strongly implied to have been burned by the fire. And even if it didn't, the lack of any sustance that could keep Gero's brain alive would cause his brain to malfunction and die neverthless.
 * In Goku and Gohan, Tao would finally die when one of his few hyena minions left finally rebells against him and atacks Tao, causing both of them to fall off his base's command center, which is in the very same canyon he nearly died at years ago. While Gohan manages to catch the hyena in time, Tao falls to his death in the canyon.
 * In The Legend of Yamoshi, a heavily injured Chilled ends up climbing to the top of a mountain in Planet Namek, which crumbles, causing Chilled to fall to his death, but not before telling his soldiers to warn his family about the threat of Super Saiyans.
 * Faux Affably Evil: Watagashi has a vibe of affability to trick his victims into becoming pawns of his universe-conquering plans.
 * Foreshadowing: At the start of Dr. Slump 3, Arale is shown playing a piccolo. In the film's post-credits scene, it is reveaked that the MacGuffin in the film was the electric rice cooker containing King Piccolo.
 * Fridge Brilliance: In Dragon Ball, the filmmakers managed to sneak a little indication of Goku's Saiyan nature in the form of a Shout-Out. In Goku's house, a series of plates can be seen stacked up in a similar manner to the books in the library scene from Ghostbusters. Now, what did Peter said about those books? That no human being would stack books up that way.
 * Hilarious In Hindsight: When Dragonball Evolution came out, many compared Piccolo with a Lord Sith due to his attires. And then comes in this franchise, where Piccolo is both physically potrayed and voiced by Ray Park and Sam Whither, respectively, both of whom are know for playing the same duties for former Sith Lord Darth Maul in the Star Wars franchise.
 * In Spite of a Nail: The films firmly establishes that Android 16 is the reason the Androids did fell off the deep end in the main timeline. It was his sense of morality what allowed the Androids to develop their own and avoid their original fate.
 * Mythology Gag:
 * In Dragon Ball:
 * The trailer feature the Four-Star Ball taking the place of the "O" in the title, just like in Dragon Ball Z.
 * Upon meeting Bulma, Goku mispronounces her name as "Bloomers", like Krillin did in the Dragon Ball anime.
 * At one point, Goku asks if Bulma is some sort of princess. Her prototype from the one-shot manga Dragon Boy was a princess.
 * Bulma refers to the Power Pole as a "magic stick", which was how it was named in the Harmony Gold dub.
 * The electromagnetic pulse emitted by the Four-Star Ball is shown to be of 9000 levels, a nod to the famous "It's over 9000" meme. The Dragon Radar also shows the distance between Bulma and Goku's house to be of 1982 km; 1982 was the year the manga was first published.
 * The Pilaf agent that finds Goku's Dragon Vall is a pterodactyl; Goku and Bulma fought one at the end of the first issue in the original manga.
 * Goku at first refers to Turtle as a Tortoise. In the Harmony Gold dub, the character was renamed Tortoise.
 * In Master Roshi's house, Goku initially mistakes Pilaf's plane for a bird, as he did with a plane in Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubbies.
 * At one point, Goku muses if he can ride Shenron, which he did in the final episode of Dragon Ball GT.
 * Bulma is shown to have hair dye with purple colors. Her son, Trunks, is shown with purple hair. Additionally, in The Path to Power, she was depicted with purple hair.
 * Pilaf at one point calls Shu "Soba", the name Akira Toriyama gave him before accidentally changing it to Shu.
 * This is the second time Yamcha is hired by Pilaf and his gang; in Dragon Ball SD was to attack the Dragon Team, while here is to steal a Dragon Ball from a nearby village.
 * The village itself is a nod to how Goku and Bulma met Oolong in the manga, when they fought him to liberate a village in exchange of a Dragon Ball.
 * The heist sequence was inspired by an episode of the original anime where Yamcha tries to steal the Dragon Balls Goku, Bulma, and Oolong had.
 * Bulma's bike is the same one from the anime's second ending credits.
 * While telling Goku to try to do a Kamehameha for tye first time wothout training, Roshi defends his request by saying "Martial arts isn't about logic. Learning it in practice is the best way". This is one of Yamcha's lines in a DLC for Dragon Ball Xenoverse.
 * During the climax, Bulma quips that Pilaf should use the Dragon Balls to make himself younger, which he did before the events of Dragon Ball Super, and backfired by turning him and his gang to children.
 * One of the toys Bulma gives to Goku resembles Dr. Willow from Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest.
 * At their first dinner together, Bulma gives Goku some ramen, as a nod to its appearances througth Dragon Ball Super.
 * Goku fails at catching Roshi's Dragon Ball during the attack on the latter's house, similar to how Gohan failed to catch the Potara earimg his father throw him during the Majin Buu arc.
 * One of the objects in Yamacha's hideout is a baseball bat, alluding to him playing baseball in filler moments in the anime.
 * The tactic Yamcha employs to steal the Dragon Balls is that Oolong creates a distraction while he and Puar steal the Dragon Balls. This is a nod to how Oolong attacked Bulma and Goku right before Yamcha tried to rob them in The Path to Power.
 * After Yamacha defeats Goku, the latter says "You're pretty strong", a line from one of his victory poses in Dragon Ball FighterZ.
 * During Goku and Roshi's training, they recreate one of the commercial cards from the anime.
 * At one point, Goku and his friends would play as firefighters. This is a reference to the public service video Goku's Fire Brigade.
 * Near the end of the film, Goku asks what meditating is, as he did in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
 * Goku at what pointing is seeing riding a mechanic creature identical to the one he and Bulma were seen riding during the second ending credits for the anime.
 * One of the signs in the city says "Grand Turism", which vaguely resembles the logo for Dragon Ball GT. Another sign promotes "Dream Land", an amusement park featured in a three-part filler episode.
 * Goku and his friends eat st a restaurant called "Shonen Foods", a nod to the "Shonen Jump" magazine, where the manga was published. Additionally, the cook at the restaurant resembkes Boss Rabbit, a character from the Pilaf saga.
 * After being told to stop orderimg food, Goku agrees and says "I do have to leave room for dessert". He said a similar thing after eating 100 million zemis' worth of food at the end of the Tournament Saga.
 * In the restaurant scene, a shot of the plates with the food Goku ordered is a nod to one of the loading screen for Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tekaichi 3.
 * The giant octopusi owned by Pilaf are all cyborgs, homaging the one featured in Dragon Ball Online. Also, Roshi kills the first giant octopus with a Kamehameha, which is how Goku killed tge original giantboctopus in the anime.
 * During his transformation as a Great Ape, Goku begins beating the ground, similar to his transformation in Dragonball Evolution.
 * The film's climax recreares the scene from the anime's original opening where Goku emerges from Pilaf's castle as a Great Ape while Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong run.
 * At one point while fighting the Pilaf Gang's mecha suit, Great Ape Goku recreates his "meteor attack" from Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22.
 * Goku briefly meeting his adoptive grandfather and asking if he wants to be revived previously happened in the manga during the Uranai Baba Saga.
 * At the end of the film, Bulma invites Goku to a birthday party at her house where they will play bingo.
 * The final shot of the film is a recreation of the final panel of the manga version of the Pilaf Saga.
 * In Dr. Slump: Arale's First Live-action Adventure:
 * At one point, Mashirito distracts Arale by claiming he saw a spaceship, like Vegeta did in Dragon Ball Super.
 * One of Arale's clothes is her outfit from the 1990s anime.
 * Characters are often seen reading Suppaman comics. In the manga, Suppaman was an actual character.
 * Among the characters in a movie Arale watcges is the monster whoworked with Tien and Chao as con-artists in the anime version of Dragon Ball.
 * In Dragon Ball: Krillin's Adventure:
 * General Blue is the leader of Muscle Tower. He was previously depicted in that position in Dragon Ball 3: Gokudēn.
 * Bulma mentions she tried to use gel on Goku's hair, but "that didn't worked", a nod to an scene from Dragonball Evolution.
 * Upon seeing Bulma with lipstick, Goku assumes she is bkeeding, like in the Piccolo Jr. Saga.
 * Krillin finds a Dragon Ball in a bird's nest, much like Goku in the anime version of the Red Ribbon Saga.
 * The Red Ribbon Army taking down Goku and his friends by using a bazooka cakls back to hiw Goku first lost the Flying Nimbus in the manga.
 * Krillin and Goku deflect Red Ribbon missiles by kicking them, similar to the videogame Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure.
 * Krillin is still a bad singer.
 * Bulma wears a red jacket with the words "Bad girl", calling back to Vegeta's "Badman" shirt,
 * A part of Goku and Krillin's training have them destroyimg rocks and boulders in a limited time, a nod to the "Rock Crusher" mini-game from Advanced Adventure.
 * Goku and Krillin decide who will attack the Red Ribbon's camp first via a game if rock-paper-scissors, which brings to mind when Vegeta, Goku, and Gohan did in the Majin Buu Saga to decide who will fight Babidi's first soldier.
 * Goku asks what "inhospitable" means, like in Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
 * After walking while carrying rocks on their backs, a shocked Krillin groans over the fact that he and Goku did it only for 5 minutes by excaliming "5 minutes?! That felt like nearly 3 hours". This references Frieza's infamous claim that his duel on Namek with Goku would last 5 minutes, only to consume 3.5 hours of screentime in the anime.
 * Two of the Red Ribbon's squads are named "Gamma 1" and "Gamma 2", the name of two Red Ribbon androids in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
 * As a diversion, Goku disguises himself as a girl near the climax, a nod to how he disguised himself as a girl to attract Oolong in the original Dragon Ball.
 * The scene where Krillin saves Goku resembles when Goku saved Gohan in Broly — Second Coming.
 * During the climax, Goku, Bulma, and Oolong recreate a shot from the anime's credits,
 * Android 8 kills Generak Blue ny punching him off Muscle Tpwer, bringing to mind how he killed General White in the manga.
 * After almost dying, Yamcha would claim that he saw the afterlife, revealing he always thougth that he would reincarnate as an excelent high school boy after he dies. This is a reference to the non-canon manga Dragon Ball: That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha!, where the opposite happens.
 * As in the anime's version of the saga, Goku uses a Kamehameha to cause an avalanche and stop the enemy from escaping. In the anime, it was Ninja Murakami. In the film, it was every villain on Muscle Tower.
 * Dragon Ball: Tao
 * Tao is once again depicted as a General.
 * Roshi's training session at the beginning has Goku and Krillin racing to see who can take lettuce faster. This is how Goku and Piccolo were training near the beginning of the Future Trunks Saga in Dragon Ball Super.
 * Goku at one points eats a cabbage, a subtle nod to Dragon Ball Super character Cabba, who is naned after the aforementioned vegetable.
 * Tao's Dodon Ray cancelling Goku's Kamehame causes him to be damaged by both attacks, which was how energy clashes affects the loser in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tekaichi 3 and Tekaichi Tag Team.
 * At one point, Dr. Gero suggests giving Tao cybernetic implants, which he declines, a reference to his Cyborg appearance from later in the manga.
 * Goku and Tao's energy beam clash in the climax is reminiscent of his fight with Jackie Chan in the manga.
 * As Dr. Gero escapes the Red Ribbon Heardquarters, plans saying "Androids 13, 14, & 15" can be seen.
 * The film shows the Red Ribbon's public front, Red Pharmaceutics, from Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
 * The pose Goku makes before fighting Tao is the same one from the Dragon Ball Super intro.
 * During their final duel, Tao Pai Pai uses a hidden knife against Goku. He did the same against Tien in the Piccolo Jr. Saga. Additionslly, the way Goku blocks it is similar to when he blocked Future Trunks' sword in thr original story.
 * Goku and Tao's final beam clash is remarkably similar to Goku and Lord Piccolo's final fight in Dragonball Evolution. Additionalñy, Tao being gravely injured by a Ki explosion before a building falls over him ca.ls-back to how Goku defeated him with an exploding granade in the manga.
 * Dragon Ball: The History of Tien:
 * Chiaotzu's doll from Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure can be seen among his childhood toys.
 * Shen tries to execute Chaoz with a Dodonoa that Tien blocks with a Kiai, calling back to Tao's attempt to murder Tien in the anime.
 * Tien tries to force both him ajd Shen to fall to their dooms, while clqimijg that if he falls Shen will too. The scenes homages Tien's fight with Hermilla in Dragon Ball Super 's Universe Survival Saga.
 * Tien and Chaoz are visited by Goku and his fruends whike training under a waterfall, an homage to the final episode of Dragon Ball GT.
 * Jaco;
 * At one point, Jaco is mocked for his supposed lack of skills by being told that "you are so talented you could be sent to... Earth". Jaco's debut manga actually had him being sent to Earth as his primary mission.
 * Jaco at the start of the film plans to travel to Planet Kanassa for another heist. That was the same planet Bardock and his friends attack and conquered in Bardock: The Father of Goku.
 * In his introduction, Cui kills a member of his crew in a similar mwnner to how Frieza killed Tagoma in Ressurrection 'F.
 * Space Lemurs from Dragon Ball GT can be seen during several crowd shots during the movie.
 * The initial observation Jaco and Furui make of the Vampa Beatles before the Beast shows up is lifted straight from Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
 * Jaco almost touches the King's genitalia, mistaking it for a hand. This is what Goku did after fighting Hit in Dragon Ball Super.
 * The swords used by the King's guard resemble the one Xeno Trunks used as the Great Saiyaman 3 in Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission.
 * Jaco and Furui distract the enemy by using decoys to pretend being on a ship that suddenly explodes to make them assume they were dead; in Jaco's debut manga, a celebrity singer was presumed to be going to an space trip, with Bulma's sister, Tights, secretly taking her place in case of an accident.
 * Anong the prisioners in the Galactic Patrol's prision is one strikingly similar to Garlic Jr.
 * Dragon Ball: Revenge of the King:
 * The title is very similar to the videogame Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo.
 * Krillin is killed at Kame House, as he did in the game Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu.
 * King Piccolo finds out about the Dragon Balls by reading Pilaf's mind, which was inspired by Lord Slug discovering them by reading Bulma's mind in his film.
 * Amomg the objects King Piccolo uses while attacking King Furry's soldiers are a piano and a cymbal, calling back to his minioms from the manga with those names.
 * King Piccolo, during his first attack, utters the line "human power has failed before and it will again!". This was Piccolo's final line in Dragonball Evolution.
 * At one point, Tambourine sabotages the fight between Roshi and Piccolo, only for the latter to threaten to kill him if he does it again. This is exactly what happened during the fight between Ginyu and Goku during the Namek Saga.
 * One of the globes in King Furry's parade resembles Lord Konpei from Daimaō Fukkatsu.
 * During his battle against Tien, King Piccolo says "Is that the extent of your power? Enough of your nonsense!", a line from Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tekaichi 3. He also cuts Tien's arm off, referencing the events of the Saiyan Saga.
 * Goku's reaction to Roshi's dead is, ironically enough, similar to the one Gohan had when Piccolo died during the Saiyan saga.
 * During his first confrontation with Goku, King Piccolo taunts him by commenting how he wants to "leave a giant hole in [his] body and let [him] die", which is exactly how he died in the manga.
 * At the end of their first fight, King Piccolo severely beats up Goku and assumes him dead after dropping him to the ground, much like Takbourine in the original version.
 * Yamcha kills Tambourine with a Kamehameha, as Goku did in the manga. Him tricking Tambourine into lowering his guard by pretending to be dead before killing him also alludes to Ressurrection 'F, where Goku is heavily wounded after lowering his guard upon defeating Frieza.
 * The way Tien uses his Tri Beam to kill Drumm is similar to when he used it against Cell.
 * King Piccolo briefly distracts himself from his fight with Goku to threaten his friends, only for Goku defeat him by taking him by surprise. This issimilar to when Goku and Piccolo fought im the World Tournament. And, as with his original death in the manga, Goku would defeat King Piccolo by using a Jamehameha as propulsor.
 * King Piccolo's failed Death Saucer results in him and one of his arm getting cut in a half, like what happened to Frieza.
 * Dragon Ball Z: Rise of the Saiyans: Goku angrily tells Raditz to "stop call him carrot or whatever", a nod to the origin of Goku's Saiyan name.
 * Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans:
 * The film shares the same title with a Dragon Ball videogame.
 * Vegeta uses Ki-generated weaponry, much like Zamasu.
 * The film sees Vegeta and Nappa in the middle of a worldwide rampage, similar to the one Nappa caused in a filler moment from the anime.
 * Vegeta and Nappa attack Tien and Chaoz in a mountain full of snow, which is where they were located when Super Buu attacked humanity.
 * During his fight with Tien, Vegeta cslls him an insect. In the Latin American dub of the anime, this is his favorite insult.
 * Near the climax, Piccolo shows up to save Gohan, a recurring moment from the Non-Serial Movies.
 * At one point, Vegeta threatens to kill Nappa if he fails to kill Piccolo, which is what he did in the original version after Nappa was defeated by Goku.
 * Dragon Ball Z: Namek:
 * Bulma and Jaco meet in Part I due to both being stranded on Namek, with Jaco going to the planet for a mission. This is parallels how they met on the manga, albeit only Jaco was stranded due to the manga beimg set on Earth. Then things go full-circle in Part III, where Jaco does end up stranded on Earth alongside the Nameks.
 * During Goku and Frieza's fight in Part III, Goku repeatedly grabs Frieza's head, as Broly did in Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
 * Launch:
 * The opening is a near exact recreation of Launch's first scene in the anime. Both start with Blue Launch entering a bar, only for Blonde Launch to emerge and start a fight that ends with the police chasing her.
 * Blue Launch, througth a video, accuses Blonde Launch that she would enjoy a world where crime is legal. Which she did when King Piccolo legalized crime in the anime.
 * Dragon Ball: Bardock:
 * Frieza briefly coments "If only Saiyans could see the future, they would be scared of me rounding them up". In The Father of Goku, Bardock learned of Frieza's genocidal plans after gaining the ability to see the future from a survivor of a planet his squad attacked.
 * The baby capsules shown in the film are modeled after their appearance in Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
 * Goku is introduced crying in his capsule. Hopefully Broly didn't heard him.
 * During his attack to Frieza's ship, Bardock uses his "Rebellion Trigger" attack.
 * Gine at one point talks about a Saiyan named Shallot, a character from the 2018 videogame Dragon Ball Legends.
 * The ending for The Father of Goku ended with Bardock having a vision of Gpku fighting Frieza; this film ends with Bardock having a foashback to the one father-son momemt he had with him.
 * Tien:
 * Episodes 1 and 2 see Tien being trapped in a manner reminiscent of when Majin Vegeta trapped Goku dyring their dight in the manga.
 * Episode 6 sees Tien traveling to a dark forest where his pain takes the form of enemies as part of his training. This is strikingly similar to a Dragon Ball Super filler arc where Goku and Krillin face illusions of their last enemies as part of Roshi's new training. The enemies also share a striking resemble to Spike the Devil Man.
 * The first season ends with Tien training his students in their new temple, which is how the Dragon Ball Super episode the series' concept was based on first introduced the dojo.
 * Narm Charm:
 * Blue being killed by a single punch causing him to fall off Muscle Tower can come off as lame after all the build-up, but considering the entire climax showed how he is as weak and pathetic as he accused Krillin of being, this is quite a fitting end.
 * King Piccolo usimg a cymbal and a piano to kill in a fight scene sounds ridiculous. But him using the piano's keys as ninja stars and the cymbal to cutoff somrbody's head, it instead comes off as brutal, as well as some mice Mythology Gags.
 * Nightmare Fuel:
 * In Dragon Ball:
 * While still laughably evil, this version of Pilaf has moment where he establishes himself as a geniune threat. An example of this is when one of minions bad mouths him, and Pilaf threatens, with venom in his voice, to torture him to death if he does that again.
 * Goku's transformation into a Great Ape is ripped straight out of a horror film. First, his eyes go red and he grows fangs as he begins to go feral. Later, we see his shadow changing in an obviously painful way into something more monstrous as the entire room begins to fall apart thanks to his mindless punches and ever-groeimg size. And then, it dawns you that our leads are in a small room with what is turning imto a giant. Had they not found a way to escape, they would have been smashed to death. And the music playing durimg the sequence does not help.
 * In Jaco, the titular character and Furui are trapped inside the belly of a Vampa Beast by Cui and Magatta. What they find there is a bunch of skeletons inside ships, making clear the fate that awaits for them and the the villanous duo has been sneding many others to. Hell, the first time they find an skeleton makes for one food Jump Scare.
 * In Dr. Slump 3, Pilaf picks up the object Mashirito had been looking for, which is revealed to be King Piccolo's prision.
 * Dragon Ball: Return of the King
 * King Piccolo's ancient appearance, composed of him wearing his old caoe as a hood and gaving qn old, almost whisper-like voice, brings to mind the Grim Reaper, indicating from the get-go he's weaker, but still very much a threat.
 * Tambourine was unhinged in the manha, but he's absoluteky nuts here. He has an unnerving psychotic wish of killing that you'd expect from the Joker or Carnage. And then there's the fucking ROAR.
 * King Piccolo shows an alarming level of brutality. First is how he uses iano keys and a cymbal as effective killing weapons, the keys using them to cut out King Furry's troops' throats, and the cymbsl to decapitate somebody onscreen. Then is how he killed Roshi by strangling him. And there's also his brutal beat up of Goku.
 * Goku himself becomes this in his first fight with Piccolo. Gone is the young and naive jungle boy. Now, he's a livimg killing machine who wants to make sure King Piccolo dies slowly and painfully.
 * Near the climax, after King Piccolo gets the upper hand on Goku, the evil king tells the young boy how he will not only kill his friends, but force him to watch. Christopher Sabat's venomous performance makes this specially unnerving.
 * The Galactic Patrol series would show just what would happen were a group of Gatchans be released unrestrained into a poblated area, such as a city: Wide destruction and massive chaos not too out of place in a disaster movie.
 * Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks: #17 and #18 are definetly what earned this film an R-rating. Aside from the usual bloody beat-ups, we also see them use their energy in disturbingly creative ways. The worst part? No one can stop them. If they find you, you can only pray either for Gohan to show up, or for the Androids to get bored of you.
 * While we still got Majin Buu and Super Buu, the films did a little tweak on the source material. We didn't got Kid Buu... but we got Prime Buu. Instead of the more humanoid appearances of its predescesors, Prime Buu looks like an unholy combo between previous Buus and a Predator. No more fitting lookalike, since a predator is what this Buu is. A feral beast determined to find its prey. The moment it sets its sights on you, run like hell. You may, may, live a few minutes more than if you stayed still. It won't cease. It won't rest. Not until it kills you. And with the power it helds, it will kill you and everything in its path. As Goku, Vegeta, and their friends can attest, not even dissappearing is enough for it to give up in its enough. Nor even blowing up the Earth is enough, as long as it senses you live.


 * Reimagining the Artifact:
 * In the anime, Watagashi feeded off negative feelings while giving his hosts more power. The film version reinterprets this as him mwking deals with his hosts to let him use their bodues for his plans in exchange for domething they want by manipulating their more negative aspects and feelings.
 * Launch's dissociative identity disorder is played with more realism than in the manga. As such, Blonde Launch's violent outbursts are recontextualized as her acting out of defense against threats, real or perceived. She is also less "evil" and more pragmatic and cynical, albeit thrill-seeking and still somewhat violent (througth less so than in the manga). The change of hair color is also changed to both Launches wearing a wig depending on who is in control.
 * Remake Cameo:
 * In the first film, Bulma's curent Funimation dub's voice actress, Monica Rial, would make a cameo as the voice of a caterpillar waitress, while Kid Goku and Chi-Chi's voice actors, Laura Bailey and Stephanie Nadolny, would voice two minor characters in the film.
 * Randall Duk Kim, who previously played Grandpa Gohan in Dragonball Evolution, would provide the voice of Korin in this franchise.
 * In addition to reprising his role from the anime as Shenron, Christopher Sabat would voice Watagash througth the franchise.
 * Role Reprisal:
 * Christopher Sabat would reprise his role from the Funimation dub of the anime as Shenron.
 * Chris Cason would also reprise his role from the Funimation dub of the anime as Shu.
 * In the Japanese dub, most of the voice cast from the anime would reprise their roles in the film.
 * Self-Disposing Villain: Pilaf ultimately does himself in by overworking his robot, resulting in an explosion that sends him and his gang to a river.
 * Shout-Out:
 * In Dragon Ball:
 * A brief shot of the plates whose food Goku eat near the start if the film resembles the book stacking from the library scene in Ghostbusters (1984).
 * The pterodactyl fails to outrun Goku the same way Kawaki failed to outrun Naruto.
 * While at Bulma's house, Goku plays with a cuckoo clock and a rolling chair in a similar manner to Pinocchio in Guillermo del Toro's film.
 * The first scene with Yamcha and Puar has them having a regular talk in a restaurant before commiting a heist, which is an homage to Pulp Fiction.
 * One of the signs in the city is for a restaurant called Bob's Burgers.
 * Goku's transformation was inspired by Hulk's transformations in the 1977 Incredible Hulk series and The Avengers (2012).
 * In Dr. Slump: Arale's First Live-action Adventure, Dr. Norimaki's car resembkes the DeLorean. Fittingly, the ending recreates the final scene of Back to the Future.
 * Dragon Ball: Krilin's Adventure
 * Bulma's "badgirl" jacket resembles Harley Quinn's outfit from The Suicide Squad (2021).
 * The scene where Blue tries to kill Krillin at the climax in his plane is a reversal of when the Joker shoot down the Batwing in Batman (1989).
 * Bulma's car is revealed to have a gunner seat that slides out of it, similar to the Ecto-1 in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
 * In Jaco, the scene where Jaco and Furui are trapped in the belly of a Vampa Beast was inspired by both the animated and-live action versions of Disney's Pinocchio, and the asteroid field sequence in The Empire Strikes Back.
 * In Dragon Ball: Return of the King, King Oiccolo tries to use a Death Saucer to kill Goku, but Goku evades the attack and King Piccolo is hit instead, calling back to how the Green Goblin tried and failed to kill Spider-Man with his glider.
 * In Dragon Bwll Z: The History of Trunks:
 * The film opens witb Android 17 stomping over a human skull, recreating the opening shot of Terminator II: Rise of the Machines.
 * Yajirobe refers to the Blue No. 15 Electro-Fluid as the "Flux Fluid", a reference to the Flux Capacitor from Back to the Future.
 * In Dragon Ball Z: Cell, during his first scene, Hercule shouts "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!".
 * Truer to the Text: The first film is far more faithful to the manga than the In Name Only adaptation that was Dragonball Evolution. The sets and designs hew closer to the manga, the film includes the animal and non-human characters via puppetry and CGI, the plot itself is a straight adaptation of the Pilaf Saga, and the characterizations are far more in-line with Akira Toriyama's work, to not to mention the number of Mythology Gags to other parts of the franchuse It helps that Toriyama and many members of the anime's crew had producing roles in this project.
 * The Stinger: In Dr. Slump 3, Emperor Pilaf finds the mysterious box Mashirito tried to find, which is revealed to be holding an electric rice cooker. Any Dragon Ball fan will realize what this means...
 * Visual Effects of Awesome: All the CGI characters in the franchise would truly feel real.