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Every now and then, there comes a villain in the anime or manga industry who initially feels like the beacon of evil, but after being defeated by the protagonist or becoming relevant to the story, he loses his foul intentions and redeems himself one way or another. However, none of the other redemption stories can ever be as good as the one that Akira Toriyama introduced inDragon Ball.
Toriyama’sDragon Ballfeatures one of the biggest redemption arcs in television history, and the character who redeemed himself was none other than the prince of the Saiyan race, Vegeta. Vegeta was introduced inDragon Ballduring the Return of the Saiyans Saga, and he was an embodiment of evil.
However, as the story progressed gradually, Vegeta atoned for his sins and became the perfect secondary protagonist of the entire franchise. So much so that other TV series likeAvatar: The Last Airbendertook inspiration from him and created a character that in some ways resembled Vegeta in terms of redeeming themselves.
Vegeta’s Redemption Arc Might Be the Best in Television History
According to a discussion thread posted byu/Harlequin_of_Hopeon Reddit, Vegeta might be the best-written character by Toriyama. When Vegeta first landed on Earth along with Nappa, his main goal was to achieve immortality by using Earth’s Dragon Balls. However, he was ultimately defeated by the protagonist Goku.
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While this would have been the end of Vegeta as a character,Akira Toriyamadecided to give Vegeta another chance and see how he would fit in the next phase ofDragon Ball.Although Vegeta didn’t suddenly become good from the start, he got into a rivalry with Goku in order to prove his worth as a Saiyan prince by surpassing the main character in terms of strength.
He gradually learned about Goku’s mindset and what made him so strong. Thus, Vegeta started to follow a similar path and slowly transformed from the destroyer of Earth to the savior of Earth. Still,he never lost his pride or his basic principles, making his story one of the best-written redemption arcs in history.
Avatar: The Last AirbenderOwes Akira Toriyama
As mentioned above, Vegeta’s reformation became an inspiration for many other characters. Character redemption became a theme, and almost every story started using it. One of them was Zuko fromAvatar: The Last Airbender. u/Harlequin_of_Hope, while talking about Vegeta’s story, pointed out the similarity between Zuko and Vegeta.
The user stated:
Vegeta wasn’t the first Shonen antihero but there’s no mistaking who everyone was emulating in his wake. He was Zuko before Zuko. Hell, I’m inclined to say Zuko is AtLAB’s Vegeta. And Vegeta is SO iconic because Toriyama absolutely crushed it out of the park with him.
Just like Vegeta, Zuko also wanted to redeem himself as the prince of the Fire Kingdom. He wanted to prove himself worthy of the title and make his father believe in him.
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While the end goals of both characters were different, they both landed on the path of redemption by themselves and did what was necessary to transform themselves without losing their original personalities.
You can watch theDragon Ballseries on Crunchyroll andAvatar: The Last Airbenderon Netflix.
Tarun Kohli
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2959
Tarun Kohli is the Senior Anime Writer at FandomWire, with over 2,900 published articles. He currently specializes in critiquing One Piece and other Shonen anime. A passionate fan of the genre, his love for thoughtful analysis reflects his genuine appreciation for the art of anime. His deep understanding of anime culture has earned recognition from industry figures such as Adi Shankar and the creators of Blood of Zeus.
