Dragon Ball Z was stuck facing a difficult situation after the defeat of the dangerous Cell. It was challenging enough to top Frieza as a villain, but it’s also important for a series to not get repetitive, both in terms of its villain and who’s the one to defeat it.
Majin Buu is also a particularly important opponent in Dragon Ball history because he’s the final villain in Dragon Ball Z. In many ways he’ll be the last villain that viewers think about from the series and if he’s a failure, the ending of the show will also seem like a failure.
Even if Vegeta, Frieza, and Cell didn’t stick their landings, audiences knew that at least something else was coming after.
The final verdict on Buu is still up in the air and while the villain is truly terrifying and challenging in many ways, he still succumbs to many of the issues that plague previous Dragon Ball foes.
Whether Buu and his insane antics made for a strong final chapter for the series or not, there’s no denying that there were many aspects of the character that weren’t exactly the most logical.
Accordingly, here are the 16 Things About Dragon Ball’s Buu That Make Absolutely No Sense.
How Giving Away Majin Power Works
One of the more pivotal moments throughout Dragon Ball Z is when Vegeta decides to turn himself over to Babidi, so to speak, and embrace his dark roots with a healthy new power boost.
Dragon Ball doesn’t really shed much light on the mechanics behind how energy gets siphoned to and fro the Majin forces.
When people become Majin, just how much strength do they gain?
Is it something that’s random or is it proportionate to the recipient’s current strength? Or is the whole thing left to Buu or Babidi’s discretion?
Did Vegeta get the same boost that Yamu and Spopovich did, because if so then the procedure hardly seems worth it. Plus, did other Majin characters like Pui Pui, Dabura, or Yakon choose to become Majin and gain power boosts too, or were they just “always” part of the race?
The Rules Behind His Eating
One of the Buu’s most significant traits is his insatiable appetite. His infinite capacity to eat not only nearly gets the planet destroyed on a few occasions, but it also helps define a number of the more malicious attacks in Buu’s arsenal.
It’s just difficult to keep track of all of the different rules for everything that Buu consumes.
When Buu eats some characters, they become trapped inside of him, yet others are instantly destroyed, and others are sent to the afterlife, like Dabura and Krillin.
At other times Buu’s eating leads to transformations in himself, too, like when Good Buu gets eaten by Evil Buu.
In Dragon Ball GT, Buu even uses this ability to safely hide Pan and Mr. Satan inside him from the attacks of Baby. Then they’re just free to leave after.
Why Only Reincarnate Buu?
Goku seems pretty satisfied with himself when he comes up with the idea to reincarnate Kid Buu’s evil into a new, heroic fighter.
There’s a real poetic justice to the gesture and what’s a worse punishment than taking away a villain’s afterlife to make them one of the good guys?
It’s a strategy that certainly takes time, but it appears that Uub will definitely be a formidable warrior for the Z Fighters and part of the next generation of those that defend the planet.
However, if this is such a good strategy, then why not go back and use wishes to reincarnate Frieza and Cell into good, pure individuals on Earth rather than letting them plot away in the afterlife?
It’s only a matter of time until they’re somehow free and trying to kill anyone. Besides, wouldn’t a reincarnated Frieza be an interesting ally?
Kid Buu’s Existence After Dragon Ball Z
This might be nitpicking, but if Dragon Ball wants to throw something like reincarnation into the mix, then it better think about the full scope of that decision. After Buu’s defeat towards the end of Dragon Ball Z, Goku makes a wish with the Dragon Balls to reincarnate all of Buu’s evil into a pure, new child. Thus, Uub is born.
Looking past how Goku’s wish doesn’t really make sense in the first place, shouldn’t it mean that it eliminates Kid Buu in the afterlife?
Kid Buu is the evil that’s left within Buu, however the character still hangs around in Hell after the events of Dragon Ball Z. His existence even plays a major plot point in Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai when Janemba attempts to absorb Kid Buu in the afterlife to gain his powers.
None of this should be possible.
Why Mr. Satan?
Out of all of the characters in the Dragon Ball universe, Majin Buu and Hercule Satan are the biggest duo of the lot. Has anyone really taken the time to analyze this unusual friendship and figure out why these two are as thick as thieves?
Buu and Satan’s bond doesn’t come completely out of the blue. The two go through some traumatic events together, but after Buu meets Satan it feels like he decides that one friend is enough and stops looking.
Furthermore, Hercule has to consistently tell Buu to not be bad and to keep his anger in check.
It’s not so much that Mr. Satan has reformed Buu, but he’s merely able to talk him down from an explosion of rage. If Buu simply spent some time with Gohan, Videl, or even Piccolo, maybe he’d actually pick up some good habits and be better off.
His Mimicry Ability
Buu is a master chameleon in a way that Dragon Ball has never really properly put to use. Buu is able to mimic the attacks of his opponents and the people that he absorbs, but that is also well within Cell’s wheelhouse.
However, Buu goes one step further and is a sort of living silly putty and can apparently make his face look like whoever he wants.
In one peculiar situation that’s never again addressed, Buu adopts the facial characteristics of Barry Kahn, a handsome model from a magazine, in an attempt to appeal to a woman (spoiler alert: it does not go well).
Does this mean that Buu can take on the face of anyone? He could be a pivotal character in terms of stealth and camouflage if the series ever really explored this. Espionage missions aren’t exactly the show, or Buu’s, forte.
Why Didn’t Beerus Just Destroy Him Ages Ago?
One of the constant problems that Dragon Ball faces as it continues to grow bigger and adds stronger characters into the mix is that this can also inevitably lead to inconsistencies in the show’s history.
For example, if Buu is such a colossal threat, then why didn’t Beerus just eliminate him from the start so that he doesn’t eventually hatch and attempt to steal his thunder?
Obviously the answer is that Toriyama hadn’t created Gods of Destruction yet, but their presence brings into question how Buu could have had such a disastrous rule millions of years ago.
The existence of former villains like Frieza and Cell make sense in the context of Beerus, but Buu raises a lot of red flags as his goal steps on the big guy’s toes. If Whis rewinds time when Golden Frieza blows up the Earth, then why not when Kid Buu does the same thing?
His Varying Intelligence
It takes more than just strength to be an effective villain. It’s also fundamental to be an intelligent fighter that knows how to plan ahead and read the situation.
Dragon Ball has a history of featuring rather smart antagonists through its run, but when it comes to Majin Buu, his intelligence is wildly inconsistent and all over the map.
It probably doesn’t help that the character divides into different versions of himself, all of which seem to have different degrees of intelligence.
Super Buu doesn’t know what an “hour” is when Gotenks challenges him to battle, yet he’s able to count every individual on Earth as well as all of the sand in an hourglass.
In Dragon Ball Super, Good Buu also radically fails his Tournament of Power admissions test. These inconsistencies ultimately hurt the character. Just make Super Buu smart all around, or not smart at all.
How His Physiology Works
The idea of “destroying” a villain shouldn’t be that difficult to understand, but Dragon Ball is a series that really makes sure that its heroes are thorough in how they dispose of their foes.
Frieza and Cell both avoid being destroyed and get second chances due to “loopholes” in their annihilations, but Buu pushes this concept beyond its limits.
Buu’s malleable form pretty much allows him to do anything with his body. He can split himself into multiple versions without losing mass, but can also turn into a liquid, which serves both tactical and deadly purposes.
Buu’s body can regenerate any lost mass, heal itself from attacks, and even heal others, too.
It feels like the show goes a little over the top with what Buu’s body can do, especially when things like steam shoot from out of the holes in his head. Is water boiling in him or something?
Why Is Buu’s Egg Buried In Earth?
The glimpses that Dragon Ball Z shows of Buu’s former reign of terror when he’s in the “control” of Bibidi raise some complications towards his second coming on Earth.
Before their infamous return on Earth, Bibidi and Buu are last seen on the Sacred World of the Kais and their home planet.
They meet their ends there, so then why does Babidi all of a sudden show up on Earth to unseal Buu from his egg?
It’s possible to explain why Babidi would go to Earth now because there are currently so many strong fighters on the planet, but there’s no reason for why Buu’s egg would also be there.
The fact that it’s supposedly been buried on Earth for “millions” of years long before any of these characters existed is very problematic.
His OTHER Form And The South Supreme Kai
Majin Buu has so many different forms that it’s easy to overlook this one, not because it’s appearance is so brief, but because the show itself appears to forget about it!
In the thrilling battle between Kid Buu and the collective efforts of the Supreme Kais, when Buu succeeds in absorbing the South Supreme Kai, he suddenly takes on this new, jacked up appearance.
It basically looks like Buu’s equivalent to the bulky Ultra Super Saiyan form.
It’s even colloquially referred to as “Ultra Buu.” Ultra Buu is only seen during this flashback fight with the Supreme Kais, but is it possible for it to appear in any other circumstances?
Also if not, then why is South Supreme Kai so important? Would absorbing Beerus give Buu the same effect, or take him even further? Is it possible that he might just explode from the influx of strength?
The Origins Behind The Whole Majin “Race” Doesn’t Make Any Sense
Dragon Ball Online deserves a lot of credit for making a MMO game out of the Dragon Ball universe. Something like this isn’t an easy feat and it requires the title to fill in a lot of blanks and provide expanded histories for the lesser-developed or forgotten characters from the franchise.
Dragon Ball Online opens a can of worms with how it turns the Majin into a playable, customizable race. It makes sense, but their backstory is pretty flimsy.
Basically, Buu divides himself into male and female versions of himself.
These versions then get married (we’d like to see that wedding) and then have a child, which springs forth the race.
That’s a lot of work for two people to achieve. Sure, the Majin can regenerate and replicate at an alarming rate, but this suspends disbelief to a crazy level.
Blowing Up The Planet Isn’t Enough To Stop Him
In one of Kid Buu’s more desperate moments, he decides to blow up the planet, knowing that he’ll still be able to regenerate and survive the ordeal.
This definitely feels like overkill and is beyond even Cell’s regeneration abilities. That being said, a mammoth Spirit Bomb is enough to totally disintegrate the guy.
It seems like the destruction of Earth would be more drastic than an energy attack, even one that connects head-on, but at least he’s eventually dead.
Furthermore, Android 21 in Dragon Ball FighterZ is supposed to use Buu’s DNA, but it seems problematic how any of his genetic material could be pulled away and taken from him. Plus, how is his DNA supposed to be studied by modern science since it seems to be based in magic?
His Recent Buff Form
An important story arc in Dragon Ball Super requires Goku to recruit nine warriors to fight alongside him in the ultra important Tournament of Power.
It’s a lot of fun to see Goku try to figure out who should make the cut, as well as the return of some old familiar faces, but it also provides an interesting spotlight for Buu.
It shouldn’t be surprising that Buu makes the cut, but Mr. Satan is sure that Buu takes this opportunity seriously and makes him go beyond his usual training limits.
The results of Buu’s rigorous routine results in the character becoming super ripped and losing all of his flab.
This is a solid gag, but does this mean that Buu was always out of shape before this point? Is he less strong if he’s fat? And what happens to this new athletic physique after he attains it?
The Creatures That Live Inside Buu
Pretty much everything takes place inside of Majin Buu is a giant headache to make sense of, but there are certain elements that just have to be addressed here.
When Vegito goes into Majin Buu and breaks apart into Goku and Vegeta (which also receives no explanation), they encounter a whole bunch of Fantastic Voyage-esque creatures inside Buu that don’t really make sense.
Buu’s insides are full of monsters like giant worms, enzymes, and other attempts at twisted versions of the inside of the human body, but shouldn’t Buu’s interior play by its own rules?
There are people in cocoons inside of him and the like so it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t have the typical circulatory system. Is Buu able to expel those worms and make them fight on the outside world too, because that could be a solid battle strategy.
How His Transformations Work
Dragon Ball is a series that loves its transformations. It’s a show that’s always excited to figure out a new villain that can turn into something different a seemingly endless amount of times.
In theory, the idea of multiple transformations for a villain isn’t flawed and the series has even put it to great effect on number of occasions. The reason that the concept feels especially clunky with Majin Buu is that the character’s transformations become so numerous and cumbersome that they lose their impact.
Fat Buu creates Evil Buu. Evil Buu becomes Super Buu when it eats Fat Buu. Then Super Buu turns into Kid Buu when Fat Buu exits the equation…
Why are there so many transformations here? Furthermore, aren’t Evil Buu and Kid Buu essentially the same character and shouldn’t that erase one of these forms? They’re both the evil version of Majin Buu.
Are there any other facts about Dragon Ball’s Buu that don’t make sense? Sound off in the comments and let your Buu knowledge be known!
