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Old 2006-08-01, 11:15   Link #1
Ronin Aquila
Sky Warrior
 
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Jedi Temple, Coruscant
Age: 42
How would you handle the Moral Dilenmmas DBZ heroes faced?

To the average western Dragonball Z fan, this may sound ludicrous.

But as a person who grew up on the original language version, it is not the fights, but the painful moral dilenmmas that the heroes frequently must grapple with that are my favourite parts of this franchise.

Now, just for a second assume you have the amazing powers that the Z warriors possessed; would you let your head or your heart govern how you use them:

To kick it off:

1) This is a dilenma also faced by the hatefully selfish Shuji of Saikano. Put your self in Kurilin's shoes: if you do not kill the woman (namely Number 18 ) you love, the monster (Perfect Cell) that will result from her survival will murder humanity. In your hands and yours alone lies the fate of your race. Would you pick love... or duty?

2) Kakaroto always shows mercy towards defeated enemies that do not regenerate, believing that slaying a helpless foe is murder, not matter how evil they may be. Would you still find this view relevant in the Post September-11 World?

3) One may see Vegeta as selfish when he allowed Cell to absorb 18. But let us remember that as the Prince of a Warrior Race he has the duty to keep its good face by not relenting in the face of a superior enemy. And having being defeated by a woman (18 ), in his eyes it is doubly important to vindicate the tarnished honor of the Royal House Of Vegeta. As it is everyone's right to feel duty towards and therefore protect their culture, can what Vegeta did be REALLY considered that evil?

4) Kakaroto explicitly stated that he had more than enough strength to anihilate the Evil Genie Buu, and yet felt that as one who is dead, it is no longer his repsonsibility, but that of those who will inherit the world, IE. the children, to vanquish the monster. Though as a parent, this act certainly strengthened the character of his son, would this still be considered an irrepsonsible act?

5) Kakaroto had fought Cell to such an extent that the Bioroid Warrior is sufficiently exhausted most of its power. Had Son Gohan fought him there and then, even at full power Cell would not be his match. Yet Kakaroto elected to heal Cell to his full strength, on the terms that it was the only honorable thing a warrior can do. Would you consider this a wrongful notion?

6) Freeza, destroyer of worlds and murderer of children lies bisected and helpless, begging Kakaroto for the mercy he never gave to thousands of worlds. Notwithstanding the fact that the tyrant had murdered his dearest friend and brother Kuruirin, Kakaroto could not bear to watch any life suffer in such a humiliating manner, and elected to help the monster live, believing that it would help him to learn to cherish life's preciousness. A friend once said that if he did not help Freeza, HE would be the monster's murderer. How would you think and act in such a situation?

Yet Another Update
Here's Another, Painful One.

7) This dilenma is one of priorities, in which both choices have just ends.

Son Gohan and Kurilin have just landed on Planet Namek, seeking the Dragonballs there to ressurect their murdered friends. Demon King Piccolo, and therefore God, are deceased at this point in time, and therefore this is the only way they will ever see the people they love again.

The begining of this quest is complicated when they stumble upon Emperor Freeza and his cronies terrorizing a village, murdering helpless elderly men and even children to obtain Everlasting Life through the same Dragonballs. And from the sheer level of their chi alone Kurilin and Son Gohan knew that even challenging them, let alone fighting them, is tantamount to suicide.

Much as it pained Kurilin to stand by and watch an old man's neck broken protecting a toddler who was soon thereafter vaporized by the brute Dodoria, as the responsible adult of the duo he reasoned that to save their friends, they must stay alive to do so, and prioritized the life of the people he loved over innocent strangers.

Son Gohan, with his just and innocent heart, elected to intercede, striking Dodoria away from the remaining toddler Dende, even if it meant that the people they love will never live again so that a stranger can live.

What would your priorities be when you can only chose one? The life of an innocent stranger or the people you love?


I already came to conclusions with four of them. Will post them later after observing some reactions first.

More Moral Dilenmmas To Come Later. Feel Free To Add Your Own.

Let The Debates Begin!!

Last edited by Ronin Aquila; 2006-08-04 at 08:51.
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