Dragon Ball Z always seemed strict with the alignments of their characters. Always black and white, good guy versus bad guys, or simply The Z Fighters versus those looking to destroy the world. If you’re a part of the team you immediately adjust to be a good guy and follow Goku’s lead.
However, it’s not always that simple, when character personalities aren’t getting nixed for the greater good you can find gray areas of alignments in Dragon Ball Z. So here are 10 alignments of characters from Dragon Ball Z.
Lawful Good: Gohan/Trunks
Gohan has always been forced into battle from a young age. When he does fight he does it to uphold the good and order of the world. So much so, he runs around in a Superhero costume in the later part of Dragon Ball Z. Future Gohan is even a shining example of Lawful Good in the Android arc where he tries to protect the world from Android 17 and 18 to even the point of losing his arm, then his life, fighting for good. Trunks (being his apprentice) caught onto these ideals, and even though he was young and vengeful, he still goes to the past with the weight of his world on his shoulders to destroy the Androids. It’s not only his own interests he may be serving, but Trunks is also serving the good of all.
Neutral Good: Goku
Goku is not the ideal of good and justice. If the world is on the line, his friends go up first to get killed while he trains to be over-leveled. Then when he gets there late he lets the bad guy go to full power and destroy the world anyway, just so he can “test” his new power. He could have effectively handled the issue and killed the bad guy when they’re weak but prefers the selfish route by standing there while they power up for 5 minutes. Goku does fight on the side of good, but he doesn’t uphold the ideas of good, he fights whoever is the strongest. It could be a simple accident that all the strongest foes happen to be bad guys.
Chaotic Good: The Androids
The androids, 17 and 18, wanted one simple thing in Dragon Ball Z, to be free. This holds up with the alignment because their wish for freedom could and did go either way. One future where freedom meant destroying the planet and burning the world to the ground. One where they were face to face with the one thing that could kill them and the entire planet with it, Cell.
In that Future, they chose good because of a greater evil the directly involved them. They, in turn, chose to follow a normal life and occasionally fighting with the Z Fighters to protect the planet, which to them was their freedom.
Lawful Neutral: Chi-Chi
Chi-Chi doesn’t care if the world is wrecked, or how hurt Goku is, she cares about her son and his ability to live a normal successful life. While it does eventually work out like this, Chi-Chi had many rules for Gohan to follow much like a lawful neutral who will uphold rules even if it means punishing the good guy. Whether the world was ending or not it was unimportant to her. Both Goku and Gohan would get an earful if they were disobedient in making sure Gohan also got done with his school books.
True Neutral: Vegeta
“Vegeta” might as well have been its own side. He worked in his own self-interest throughout most of the series whether working for Frieza, on his own, while being married, or even after saving the world. His pursuit was always to best Goku in their power level competition. While he does work for the side of good, it comes down to him finally settling down with Bulma made him softer. He does switch sides back to villain in the later part of Dragon Ball Z when it means getting a new form with higher strength to finally defeat Goku, at least until Buu shows up.
Chaotic Neutral: Mr. Satan
Hercule is Satan and Mr. Satan is Hercule. Now that we cleared that up, while Mr. Satan does fight evil he does discredit the Z fighter for mass control over the public. His morals are always low for the sake of fame and money. He may fight the bad guy but it’s all for the sake of his own vanity.
He’ll appear to be the hero only for the public and the camera but his presence usually puts more in danger than needed. His inability to stand up to the stronger earth threatening villains makes him a useless asset in fights.
Lawful Evil: Frieza
Frieza owns and controls planets like a used car dealer who goes and murders the old owners to sell their vehicle. Under his tyrannical rule, everyone operates cruelly under him, anyone being disobedient under his galactic empire gets the finger laser to either blow them up or impale them through the heart. As a ruler, his nature is to be commander of his evil world-killing empire. His rule finally comes to an end when someone finally stronger than him comes along like he’s always feared.
Neutral Evil: Cell
All Cell wants is to test his strength and gain strength. His pursuit of strength even leads to him to threaten the whole planet to find the strongest warrior to defend, all so he can prove his perfection. His perfect-ness is his number one goal, and showing off his might through slaughtering thousands is how he proves it. He doesn’t have to destroy the world or use violence to prove perfection, but he prefers it because of his Saiyan blood taken from Goku and Vegeta. Perhaps without the blood of Saiyans, he would be a lot more docile and less apocalyptic.
Chaotic Evil: Super Buu/Kid Buu
Super Buu/Kid Buu’s only concentration is pure destruction. Buu is the embodiment of chaotic evil because his being is pure destruction. Everywhere Buu appears, he kills and maims populations through chi blasts or by taking the strong ones, turning them into chocolate, and eating them so he can gain their forms and abilities. The good side of Buu completely purged all that left is the evil monstrous side who only gains joy from death. Don’t let the bright colors of him fool you, if there is pure evil like chaotic evil is, it’s Super Buu.
