The Most Heart Wrenching Moments In Dragon Ball History

Dragon Ball Z might be a Shonen series where its characters are matching their power levels against one another, but it certainly has created some of the most well known characters in the history of anime, creating a number of tear jerking moments along the way of Akira Toriyama’s franchise as a whole. We’ve narrowed down the most heart wrenching moments across the series of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super to compile a list of some of the heaviest scenes that helped make the story an emotionally impactful one!

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The Death of Future Bulma

Dragon Ball Super might not have the same emotionally hard hitting beats that its predecessor did in Z, but the sequel series still found ways to tug some heart strings, especially with the death of Future Trunks’ mother, Bulma. With the start of the Goku Black arc, the decidedly different of Son appeared time and again to ravage the futuristic landscape that had been saved from the androids, and killed Future Bulma in the process, right as Trunks traveled into the past to find some much needed assistance. Bulma’s death hit that much harder thanks in part to the Dragon Balls being unable to bring her back, and she remains dead when the arc reaches its end. 

Majin Vegeta’s Sacrifice

One of the pinnacle moments in Vegeta’s life during Dragon Ball Z was definitely when he had gained a boost in power thanks to his “Majin” transformation, prompted by the evil sorcerer Babidi. With the prince of the Saiyans rejecting his new life on earth in order to finally settle the score against his rival Goku, Vegeta eventually realized just how serious Majin Buu truly was and thus decided to sacrifice himself in a bid to put an end to the pink powerhouse. While he was ultimately unable to kill Buu, his connection with his son Trunks and his final moments were easily some of the most iconic for the Saiyan Prince. 

The Collection of the Dead In The Saiyan Saga

The majority of the Z Fighters died as a result of the invasion of the Saiyans, with Vegeta and Nappa wrecking havoc across the earth. While the deaths of the likes of Piccolo, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaotzu were all tragic, the morbid scene that took place during the “clean up” was a heart wrenching scene. With Bulma, Roshi, and a number of the supporting characters of Dragon Ball needing to scoop up the bodies of those who were killed, it truly showed just how much the characters had lost from this arc.

Goku’s Death Against Cell

During the Cell Saga, Gohan was able to achieve the level of Super Saiyan 2 following the tragic death of Android 16 at the hands of the biological nightmare known as Cell. With Gohan unloading on Cell, having become far stronger than the antagonist, he was able to take the monster down a peg but unfortunately wasn’t able to stop him from killing his father. As Goku sacrificed himself to save the world, Gohan let out a tragic cry for allowing it all to happen. 

Vegeta’s Death During The Freeza Saga

This moment in time marked a big character change for Vegeta, recognizing his pride, swallowing it, and pleading for Goku to take revenge against Freeza for the loss of the Saiyan race. Though the prince of the Saiyans would return soon enough thanks to the Planet Namek’s Dragon Balls, the impact of his death was one that got Son on the right foot in his battle against the alien despot and had us misty eyed from losing Vegeta.