Back in my youth I really used to like watching Dragonball Z. In particularly I liked watching it for my favorite character, Yamcha. For those of you who don't know Ymacha is on of the earlier Dragonball characters. Originally a villain, he soon befriends the main protagonist Goku fights alongside him. Sadly the show never really seemed to give the character the chance to do anything cool or give him much screen time. And I find that to be a shame, he was an interesting character with some unused potential.
Yamcha, the guy I am talking about.
Rather than a long winded explanation of why I like him here is a list of the top 4 things I like about the character.
1. He's a normal guy in a super powered world: Most of Dragonball Z revolves around super powerful aliens, who's only motivations fighting, destruction and world domination. The whole series revolves around fighting and its rare to see anyone who has interests outside of it. While Yamcha certainly is a martial arts enthusiast, he also has other interests and motivations. He likes cars, is interest in dating and worked as a pro-baseball player. Its not much but certainly more than most of the cast.
2. He was pretty awesome in the first arc of Dragonball: Unlike later parts of the series, during the Pilaf Arc, Yamcha served a lot of roles in the story. He was the primary rival for the protagonist, a comedic relief villain and a major source of exposition regarding martial arts related info.
3. He is an underdog character: After the first arc, Yamcha kind of got shafted in the story, playing a smaller role and getting his ass kicked a lot, dies, eventually has his girlfriend marry the guy partially responsible for his death, and quits martial arts. Its fun to sympathize with the underdog, particularly when they go through a rough time.
4. The goofy personality: On one hand Yamcha is brash, arrogant and cocky, seemingly excited to get right into the action, though it usually bites him in the ass. On the other he used to be scared of girls, had his crazy plans backfire, and his first instinct is to run away from serious trouble. He is sort of a goofy load of hot air, who can kick ass if needs too. Sadly this characterization faded away in later appearances until he was a mere shadow of his former self.
Yes, both of these videos are about Yamcha.
The character really got shafted after the first arc, partially to make room for newer character and partially because the creator didn't bother to give the character interesting plot threads. I believe there are a lot of things that could have been done with the character, so here's another list of possible ideas:
Flesh out his back story: When we first encounter him as a character, he is a bandit living in the desert who know a lot of martial arts. He also lives magical shape changing cat friend, Puar. No explanation, is giving as to why he lives out in the desert, how he came to learn martial arts, why he became a bandit or how he befriended Puar.
Show some relationship drama: One of the noteworthy things about Yamcha is that he dated the lead female character, Bulma. It was sort of a hook-up of convenience, but they end up dating for over a decade. At no time is this relationship explored. No exploration of why they like each other, no exploration of the rough patches in their relationship as mentioned in the series. Even when the two break up and Bulma marries the former villain who killed him, little explanation is given. Dragonball may not be about romance, but they could have at least tried a little and explored the two character's relationship a little.
Play up his rivalry with Tien: Yamcha is hinted at being rivals with fellow martial artist and hero Tien. Not much is done with this since neither character gets much screen time, but the rivalry could have been played up in future tournament arcs. Both of them also were members of short lived all human team created to defend earth. There could have easily been some more side plots with that team, which would have given all the neglected human characters some time to shine.
Explain Yamcha's scars: At the beginning of one the the martial arts tournaments, Yamcha appears with some strange, nasty looking scars on his face, with no explanation about how he got them, it wouldn't be too hard to write an interesting story for how he got them.
Show his reactions to the difficult spots in his life: As I have mentioned some pretty bad stuff happens to the character all in a short time. Dying then having your girlfriend leave you to date the guy responsible for your death can be really rough. We aren't really shown how Yamcha feels about this, but he does seem to be pretty disheartened during the next arc. It could be interesting to see whats going on in his head. There is even some potential to show him overcome such setbacks and perhaps eventually find happiness.
It may seem a little strange that I have put some much effort into thinking about a fairly minor character, but Yamcha is on of my favorite childhood cartoon characters, and am big on nostalgia. Anyway that all I have to say for now, stay tuned for more posts whether they be nostalgic, character examinations, or something entirely different.
Do you feel like you have something to say on the subject? All comments are encouraged whether they be questions, praise, sharing your own thoughts, or scathing criticism.
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