Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z are without a doubt some of the most popular anime shows of all time. Many will just see it as a violent show and therefore categorise it as TV for teen boys. But every dedicated fan of the series knows that the Dragon Ball series (including Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball z and Dragon Ball GT) teaches many important life lessons.
Yes we want to see Goku power up and kick ass over and over. But what really made the show groundbreaking was the amount of life lessons it taught both children and adults.
Below are few of the life lessons I’ve taken from the show.
Push Yourself To Your Limits
You have to push yourself to your limits if you want to reach your full potential as an individual. Everyone on this planet is responsible for making it the world it is. So if we all work as hard as Goku to better ourselves, we’ll be better people collectively.
Throughout the course of the series we see Goku do nothing but train to improve himself. Not because he has an ego and wants to brag about being the strongest fighter in the universe, but because he wants to reach his full potential and continue to challenge himself.
We’re all afraid to be challenged sometimes, but if you work on being the best person you can be, you’ll have the confidence to face challenges head on.
Family Matters
Throughout the show we see that Goku’s dedication to self improvement and saving the world sometimes results in him leaving his family for periods of time. But he never once forgets how important they are; and it’s his faith in his son Gohan that allows for Gohan to realise his own potential. As a child we see Gohan doubt himself, until Goku comes back and realises the hidden strengths that Gohan possesses.
By believing in Gohan, Goku helps him unlock his hidden strengths and ultimately vanquish the evil that is Cell. All of the warriors on Earth weren’t enough to defeat Cell. But thanks to the faith Goku had in his son, he believed in himself enough to destroy one of the most ruthless villains on the entire show.
Having faith in your family is important. We must guide our children when they’re young, and then push them to reach their potential when they come of age. We must love our partners so the household can reflect this. Love is the foundation of a good family. Love your family and you will love life. Even Vegeta, one of the most stubborn Saiyans in existence grows to learn this lesson.
Competition Is Healthy
Most view competition as a bad thing. It’s likely that you’ll even be upset by your competitor’s successes. But there’s one fact that defines the value of competition. Competition improves quality.
Competition improves the desire to win, and in affect this improves the overall quality of what both competitors have to offer. It’s true for companies, employees and even social situations.
In the Dragon Ball series, the fighters compete to win the annual Martial Arts Tournament. Many of these competitors are friends, but still they train extremely hard so that when they meet each other in battle they’ll be victorious. Of course there can only be one winner in this case, but what matters more is that the competitors all work hard to give their best efforts.
Learn From Others
Sometimes your pride might get in the way of you learning from other people. We sometimes believe we know all we need to know and have nothing to learn from anybody, especially if they appear to be in a lower place than us.
In Dragon Ball Z Goku meets King Kai. On the surface King Kai is a fat alien with a monkey and a cricket for friends. Some may say he even has the worst sense of humour in the universe. But regardless of how King Kai is perceived, this man has important techniques to teach Goku and his friends.
We can go back even further and look at Master Roshi, who’s a perverted old man. But he taught Goku one of his most celebrated techniques, the Kamehameha.
The lesson here is that you can learn from literally anyone on the planet. Never look down on anybody as if they have nothing worth learning from. The poorest of men can teach you the values of life.
Teamwork Brings The Best Out of Us
It’s okay to enjoy working alone. As an introvert I’m guilty of preferring to be alone in my own space. It’s fine to be like this if that’s who you are, but it’s also important to remember that some of the best results are achieved through teamwork. Sometimes the scope of a challenge is too complex to approach alone.
I mentioned Gohan defeating Cell earlier, but could he have done this without the mental support from his father, and the assist from Vegeta? Speaking of Vegeta, how many times has he failed in combat because of his ego? He’s refused the help of others on many occasions, and it has led to his defeat. Just like Vegeta, we all need to realise when teamwork is important.
Pride Is A Strength And Weakness
Bouncing off of the point I just made about Vegeta, it’s his pride that also makes him one of the most honoured characters in the series. Pride is a weakness because it makes us feel like we can only depend on ourselves. It makes us unwilling to receive help when we need it, it can make us stubborn to those closest to us, and it can make us ignorant to the real issues that need to be addressed.
But, there’s also strength in pride. Knowing your own value is important because everyone must have a level of confidence to function in day-to-day life. If you don’t recognize your own accomplishments and self-worth, people will take advantage of that.
Today’s Enemy Can Be Tomorrows Friend
We all know that Goku never wants to destroy the super villains that threaten earth, and this certainly gets annoying. Believe it or not though, there’s logic behind not wanting to destroy the being responsible for thousands of deaths. By allowing them to live they’re forced to understand the error in their ways and repent for their mistakes. Over time they may even do a complete 180 and work towards bettering the world.
Piccolo is the best example of this scenario. He’s a spawn of the evil King Piccolo so he’s clearly not as evil as the original. However, he actively opposed Goku at the beginning of the Dragon Ball Z series. Then over time he grew to become one of Goku’s most valued companions. He even took on the responsibility of training a young Gohan while Goku was sent to the afterlife.
Of course, I’m not saying we should go out and show murderers remorse. But that person you may despise today, for whatever reason, may end up becoming a friend tomorrow.
Here’s something that most people forget… people can change. Those who can recognise their past mistakes and change themselves to be better in the future deserve much respect. So even if you dislike that guy in college, be nice to him, because he may have some value later on.
There’s so many lessons you can learn from this show that everybody will get something new from it. It’s not even possible to list all the lessons you learn in this show. So this list is personal to me. What life lessons have you learned from Dragon Ball? Or any anime series period for that matter. Be sure to list some below in the comments.
I also want to show some love to a similar article that was written by Roger Lawson II, it’s called Life and Training Lessons From Dragon Ball Z.
