The Dragon ball cartoon made vegetarianHis plot is a lot more interesting by adding details about his life as a young Saiyan under Frieza’s ruthless tutelage. This has added more layers for Vegeta to be even better, making one of the most famous redemption stories in manga and anime history even more diverse.
Vegeta begins his story as an evil Saiyan who eventually, albeit reluctantly, joins Goku and even fully accepts life on Earth by marrying the human Bulma. Vegeta’s turn is fairly slow, starting from when Goku first ordered Krillin to show mercy to him on Earth before the Saiyan Prince had no choice but to fight alongside the Z Warriors to stop Frieza on Namek. The Dragon Ball Z anime really made Vegeta’s transformation even more apparent as Prince Saiyan detailed why he became what he is right before his death on Namek.
Anime Dragon Ball has turned Vegeta into a more nuanced character
In chapter #307 of Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga, the dying Vegeta only tells Goku that Frieza destroyed their planet and that he killed both their father in order to convince Goku to kill Frieza because he must be destroyed by the hands of the Saiyans. In episode #86 of the anime, Vegeta goes further by informing Goku that he was separated from his father as a young boy and that Frieza forced him to destroy planets by threatening him that if he didn’t, his father would die, but the galactic tyrant still murdered him, along with all the other Saiyans. Vegeta even blames Frieza for turning him into the monster he eventually became, which is a pretty cool addition to the character.
Most fans assume that Vegeta has always been evil and only had a big change of heart when Goku entered his life. Instead, the anime’s “sub-movie” sees Vegeta falling into Frieza’s hands as a child, becoming the cold and cruel Saiyan that first appeared on Earth. Vegeta then changed again when he finally realized that he had let his worst enemy manipulate him, before gradually reverting to how he would have been if Frieza hadn’t dug his claws into him. In addition to having to recalculate the terrible actions he did, Vegeta may now have to realize that he became a monster because of Frieza. Instead, in the manga, Vegeta is simply mad at Frieza for taking advantage of him and he’s sick of having to work for him.
This Vegeta Retcon reduces his redemption
The problem with the Dragon Ball anime retcon is that it reduces Vegeta as an evil character and his ensuing redemption. Yes, fans may feel more sorry for Vegeta now, but his eventual change of heart isn’t as great because he was actually manipulated to be evil. So it’s not a big deal vegetarian marry Bulma, join Goku and Z Fighters, or cry with Goku before he dies because he’s not a horrible person like he was introduced in Dragon ball story.