Summary
Dragon Ballhas always consistently had some evil, dastardly, and all-around not-so-good villains as the antagonists. From Freeza, to Cell, and all the way to Buu. However, it isn’t until recently in the manga that we started getting certain antagonists that either become evil, stay the same but improve, or even start off fighting the heroes but turn into good guys. These examples range from Zamasu, to Jiren, to Granolah; the Cerealian in particular being a popular example of this sort of trend. After all, Granolah is a picture-perfect antagonist that is so brilliant for the current arc and especially the grand world ofDragon Ball.
But why is that? What aspects of his character or story made Granolah an important character in relation to the audience but also to the main characters? That’s a question that isn’t difficult to answer, but it bears needing to be answered all the same.
Granolah’s Meaning In The Story
His Presence And Actions
As soon as Granolah made his introduction in the story, he took a lot of actions and shortcuts needed because he wanted to be able to defeat Vegeta, Freeza, and indirectly all the Saiyans remaining as well. His backstory, soon revealed to be the fact that he is the sole survivor of his species, is the basis of all his actions against Goku and Vegeta. Especiallyconsidering he has a vendettaagainst Vegeta, this leads Granolah to become a living consequence of the Saiyan’s conquest of the Galaxy, whether they did it under Freeza’s orders or not. This leads to Vegeta’s growth and doubts about his own actions and the actions of his kind in the past, leading to the eventual realization that Granolah is also a reflection of Vegeta in many ways.
In fact, a lot of Granolah can be chalked down to how Vegeta wanted to defeat Freeza back on Planet Namek for the pride of his people, but failed to do so. In the case of Granolah, despite his intentions being good, he also ends up causing a lot of damage to the planet of another species on his road to vengeance. Eventually, Granolah realizes that he is unintentionally, butfactually causing just as much terroragainst innocents via his reckless actions and lack of awareness. However, as an antagonist, it makes sense why he would be sympathetic as well as try to fight against Vegeta and Goku, despite the fact that they didn’t even do anything wrong in the current arc. After all, trauma can be a huge problem for individuals that don’t have the proper mechanism to cope.
Why Did Granolah Switch?
While Granolah does switch from the side of an antagonist to Goku and Vegeta’s side, especially during the final fight against Gas and the Heeters; Granolah does have legitimate reasons to switchfrom the role of Antagonist,and why this doesn’t necessarily ruin his previous role. However, there are multiple reasons as to why this does work in the long-run. Granolah had realized the necessity he needed to get stronger, but he also knew there was a greater threat in the form of Gas. This also leads to him slowly understanding Vegeta as a person, realizing that the two Saiyans aren’t the enemy. In fact, this key moment also solidifies the character of Granolah as a possible ally for the rest of the story.
While the antagonistic role fits Granolah like a glove, the reason why it didn’t stay long is thatDragon Ballhas the trend of giving characters like Granolah a chance to turn to the side of good. Tienshinhan, Piccolo, and especially Vegeta would know this; Granolah is no exception to the role of antagonist-turned-good. However, while Granolahremains as a bounty hunter,it is most likely he will continue to make appearances in the future. As an antagonist, Granolah challenged Goku and Vegeta as they needed to improve and get stronger to defeat Granolah; Granolah, in turned, had his viewpoint challenged by the heroes and ultimately changed as a result.Dragon Ballis no stranger to introducing great villains, but hopefully, Granolah’s example as an antagonist means we’ll get more characters like him instead of how Jiren was portrayed.
