I know all of you are thinking “Wait, wha-?!”. I will explain. I couldn’t help but think about this. Everyone knows that the term “fan service” is used when a character (mostly female characters) is in a compromising situation with a male character. Even when a male character isn’t present, the “service” is available for the male viewer of the series. Example: a blog post about the fan service in a recently aired episode of Lupin the 3rd. (Warning: NSFW!)

Fan service often becomes the topic of a series when the creator is male. It seems that in recent years, series with female creators get the chance to have their male protagonist shed skin when the moment comes (i.e.: Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist; when Ed is older, of course). But how about the fan service from a series with a male writer… that happens to have a character aimed towards the female fans? My case in point: Dragonball Z.

There’s ton of female fan service in just about every series that Akira Toriyama has worked on. For example: Bulma in the bathtub in the first Dragonball, Senbei Norimaki’s attempt at using X-Ray glasses on unsuspecting women in Dr. Slump… Maybe there’s more. But in Dragonball Z, there’s Vegeta. Certainly not a female character, but from watching DBZ from beginning to end, Vegeta is always in an “odd” situation. He’s not like that by nature (you could say he’s… “polite”), but whenever he trains, he is always shirtless. What is up with that?

As a Female DBZ fan, I say “good for us!” seeing a male character in a rather unfortunate spotlight, but Vegeta is the only character in the series without a shirt 70% of the time, compared to Goku. Several episodes come to mind (Warning: Some of the video clips might include spoilers and are Not Safe For Work and are marked with “NSFW”):

Dragonball Z

1. Episodes 42 and 43: Vegeta is in the rejuvenation chamber.
2. Episode 92: Goku’s flashback fight Freezer (NSFW). [Video]
3. Episode 118: Shower scene after returning to Earth from search for Kakarotto (NSFW). [Video]
4. Episodes 124 and 125: A shirtless Vegeta trains for the Android battle.
5. Episode 167: Vegeta takes off his shirt in front of everybody after seeing Cell’s global threat on TV.
6. Episode 207: A shirtless Vegeta trains yet again (with (Kid) Trunks). [Video]

Dragonball GT

1. Episode 25: A shirtless Vegeta shaves. [Video]
2. Episode 55: The whole episodes centers around Vegeta with self explanatory points. (Mild NSFW-ness) [Video]

Not just the shirtless moments, but other moments that is very noticeable from the other characters:

Dragonball Z

1. Episode 70: Vegeta is changes out of his battle torn clothes from the fight on Earth. (No partial/nudity involved whatsoever, but it was still weird…)

Dragonball GT

1. Vegeta’s every appearance in Dragonball GT

I could go on. I’ve gotten just about every moment where he fumbles with his shirt. No wonder Vegeta is popular among [female] DBZ fans! Maybe it’s his “badass-ness” that requires him to do that, but either way, it’s just all so weird…

Popularity: 9% [?]

Written by: Sanjo-chan (507 Posts)

Posted on: May 15, 2009 13:14 (Otaku)
Tag(s): dragonball z, fan service, speculations, vegeta
Website: http://centakume.info/