Dragon Ball Super: How the Moro Arc Did Something the Manga's Others Arcs Never Could

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Dragon Ball Super has often failed to utilize some of its legacy characters, leaving them to be forgotten as the story moves on to ever-greater heights. There is one arc of Super, however, which has averted this problem big time, and it's actually the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga, often referred to simply as the Moro arc.

A common fan complaint about modern Dragon Ball is that the focus is too heavily on Goku and Vegeta, and that many of the other beloved characters who had major roles in earlier Dragon Ball installments are all but forgotten. The Tournament of Power did some work to mitigate this, offering the likes of Krillin and Master Roshi a chance to be helpful once again, but they were still hardly used, especially in the manga version of the arc. The arrival of Moro's forces on Earth, however, finally managed to turn this around, and create a true reunion of the Z Fighters of old.

Moro's Assault on Earth Calls Together the Z Fighters for the First Time in Ages

The Moro Arc's Approach Made Everyone Important

Jaco, Roshi, Krillin, Piccolo, Gohan, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha step up to protect Earth in Goku's absence.

In the Galactic Patrol Prisoner saga, Goku and Vegeta spend a considerable amount of time away from Earth, working with the Galactic Patrol (the organization of which Jaco is a member). Seeing the power that Moro wields, they both realize that they need some training in order to win, and so Goku trains with the Galactic Patrol's top member, Merus, while Vegeta seeks out Planet Yardrat to learn new techniques. Word gets out about Moro's next target, Earth, forcing the Galactic Patrol to focus their efforts there to stop Moro once and for all.

However, Goku and Vegeta are still far away. The Galactic Patrol rounds up the remainder of the Z Fighters to defend the Earth one more time. This includes not only Piccolo and Gohan, but also characters like Chiaotzu and Yamcha, who haven't fought at all in the entirety of Dragon Ball Super. While this might seem like a set-up for the group to become Moro's cannon fodder, the old gang actually get to put in some real work battling against Moro's minions prior to his arrival, proving that they're not quite as obsolete as fans like to treat them.

In reuniting the classic characters to face off with Moro's army, Dragon Ball Super is finally willing to share the spotlight with characters besides Goku and Vegeta. Goku and Vegeta do, of course, arrive in time to battle against Moro himself, who would likely have been too much for the other Z Fighters to handle. That doesn't cheapen what the others have accomplished, however; Moro's army could easily have wrecked Earth while Goku and Vegeta were busy with Moro himself, if the others weren't around to help out.

Dragon Ball Super Proves Its Surpassed Heroes Can Still Contribute

While Power Creep May Have Left Some Heroes in the Dust, They Can Be Useful

One of the problems that Dragon Ball in general, and Super in particular, has is that the power scaling has reached such absurd heights that human characters like Krillin and Yamcha can't meaningfully harm the major villains anymore. But what the Moro arc does differently is have Moro acting with the support of others. While villains like Goku Black in Super or Buu and Cell in Z acted primarily alone, Moro rounds up supporters who are willing to fight alongside him, giving him underlings that no other villain but Frieza has really utilized in the series.

This decision to include weaker villains on the main enemy's side gives these characters who've been all but power crept out of existence a chance to actually do something useful again. After all, Yamcha may not be particularly strong compared to Goku, but he's still exponentially more powerful than the average human. Even a villain at Yamcha's level could do tremendous damage if allowed to run around unchecked, and there were dozens of them at Moro's disposal.

While giving a major bad guy underlings is hardly a novel idea, it's one that Dragon Ball has been reluctant to use, for whatever reason. It's arguably a big part of why the Frieza saga is so well regarded, with villains like the Ginyu Force, so borrowing that idea for a new villain helps to bulk up the arc and make it more substantial. Giving these old fan-favorite characters a chance to show their stuff once again is all the reason one needs to employ minions, so hopefully Dragon Ball Super keeps this in mind when it returns.