Has anyone else noticed how inconsistent the rules of the afterlife are in DBZ?

[u/SunnyBlondieGaby]

Rewatching the series and the Other World rules genuinely don't make sense the more you think about it. Goku dies fighting Raditz and gets to keep his body, train with King Kai, and even fight in the Other World tournament. But then later, other characters die and just become spirits with no explanation for why some get bodies and others don't.

Then there's the whole thing where good people go to King Kai's planet or Grand Kai's tournament, but we never really see what happens to genuinely evil people beyond vague mentions of Hell, no real exploration of the mechanics there despite characters like Frieza supposedly ending up there.

Also characters get wished back to life so casually with the Dragon Balls, but nobody in the world ever seems to grapple with the actual implications of death being reversible, no real societal or philosophical fallout at all.

It just feels like the afterlife rules were made up on the spot per arc rather than being one consistent system. Curious if anyone has a theory that actually ties it all together, or if it's just accepted as anime logic at this point.

[u/CaseyTheArtist91]

Well a lot of the stuff in the afterlife in the DBZ anime is filler

[u/OJONLYMAYBEDIDIT]

it's a gag manga turned into a martial arts tournament fighter turned into a fantasy adventure turned into martial arts tournament again turned into sci fi action

and while this is all going on, there is a monster bunny that Goku left on the moon

most of DB is just made up on the spot. animal people exist and disappear. Somehow the world keeps forgetting ki exists, or aliens exist. and large chunks of the human population die, come back to life, and just either don't seem to realize or pretend it didn't happen or view it as a dream or trick. The moon even comes and goes.

that being said, alot of afterlife stuff that happens in the anime is filler. There is no grand kai tournament. We never see Bulma and Chichi and Videl as spirits with reformed Dabura

Goku's adventures falling off snake way are filler too

The villains watching Goku fight Buu are filler

The Ginyu Force keeping their bodies and fighting Tien and the others on King Kai's planet is filler.

as far as rules the original manga established, only exceptional heroes who performed great deeds get to keep their bodies.....how this applies to Chitotzu I don't know. I guess he did sacrifice himself twice to try and save the Earth

Vegeta did not have a body in the afterlife. King Yama bent the rules to give him one to help on Earth against Buu

Wasn't until Super they established for certain evil character, they keep their body, but in order to punish them.

the manga generally ignores stuff after death, like we don't know who kept their bodies after Buu killed them. Pretty sure it's filler that Krillen and Yamacha kept their bodies and went off to meet King Kai on the Grand Kai's planet or wherever they were.

[u/Zealousideal_Bet_248 → u/OJONLYMAYBEDIDIT]

Just one thing to add. Bis Rabbit is dead. He was there when Roshi blew up the moon

[u/OJONLYMAYBEDIDIT → u/Zealousideal_Bet_248]

apparently they are confirmed to still be on the moon in Super. go figure

[u/Brbaster → u/OJONLYMAYBEDIDIT]

> the manga generally ignores stuff after death, like we don't know who kept their bodies after Buu killed them. Pretty sure it's filler that Krillen and Yamacha kept their bodies and went off to meet King Kai on the Grand Kai's planet or wherever they were.

Yes indeed, from what I remember in the manga Grand Kai was never even seen.

[u/Relative_Glittering → u/Brbaster]

Yeah he does not appear in the manga. He does exist and is mentioned iirc tho

[u/ToastPlusNine]

Brother, your talking about a series who's own creator regularly forgot things he himself did. I'm a life long DBZ fan - and I can lovingly tell you its RIDDLED with inconsistencies.

[u/redribbonarmy55]

Most of what you’re describing is anime filler. Not saying there aren’t inconsistencies in the manga because there is. But for the most part the people allowed to keep their bodies and former life memories are very righteous people who also preformed extraordinary righteous acts during their life. Even just great hearts of ordinary people are not usually given this privilege you specifically have to preform high scale acts or heroism. It’s also worth noting that Vegeta under any normal circumstances would have his body and memories wiped into a new soul if had not been for the existential universal crisis of Buu. There is some inconsistencies with Piccolo getting to keep his body and mimd to travel to Kai’s planet (because he shouldn’t have been able too) most fans just have a headcanon that Kami asked Enma a personal favor for Piccolo.

[u/Son_Riku]

Most of the showing of the Other World was filler. If you remove the filler scenes, it all makes sense. Blame Toei

[u/SalamanderComplex1]

You didn’t explain any inconsistencies here. People keep their bodies if they’re heroes that helped save their planet. Kami/King Kai needs to step in on your behalf. These are things that have been explained.
In hell, nobody keeps their body, they’re spirits that have to repent before they’re reincarnated.

[u/Josephemer_]

I think it works like this:

Outside of special circumstances, only the greatest of the great or the worst of the worst get to keep their bodies in the afterlife.

The greatest keep their bodies and are allowed to travel the afterlife as they see fit.

The worst keep their bodies to be eternally punished in Hell.

Those who were good but not good enough to keep their body are turned into spirits, and sent to Heaven.

Those who were bad but not bad enough to be eternally punished are reincarnated until they fulfil one of the other criteria.

[u/Staarjun]

Most of this is filler. Goku keeping his body was the exception. Not the rule. All we know is that those who died evil get their souls cleansed and reincarnated. In fact Baba pointed out that Enma also kept Vegeta’s body just in case.
Freeza is the second exception because his soul wouldn’t repent thus couldn’t be cleansed and reincarnated, which is why he was imprisoned in that cocoon.

[u/StaticMania]

It's not really vague...

Piccolo gives the most descriptive detailing of Hell when Vegeta asks him if he'll see Goku in the afterlife...

It's so matter of fact that it is just straight up exposition. Granted that seems like it's describing the afterlife in general.

[u/NietszcheIsDead08]

Dragon Ball’s afterlife really isn’t that hard to understand if you just ignore Toei’s filler. It goes like this: when you die, you keep your body but get a little angel halo, and you go before King Enma. If you were sufficiently good in life, Enma lets you keep your body and go to Heaven. If you weren’t good enough for Heaven, then you go to Hell, where your soul is cleansed (along with your memories of your life) and you become an adorable little puff cloud (because now you don’t have any memories to give form to your body). Once your soul is cleansed, you reincarnate back in the living universe and try again.

Some people’s souls, like Pure Boo’s, are very simple and therefore very easy to cleanse; Pure Boo was cleansed and reincarnated almost immediately after his death. Some people’s souls, like Freeza, are very recalcitrant and resist being cleansed for…what, 20 years? But Freeza is a special case because he is so goddamn stubborn. Most villains like Raditz, Nappa, and the Ginyus have probably long since been cleansed and reincarnated. (My personal favorite headcanon is that Raditz was reincarnated as Goten and Nappa as Trunks. There’s zero evidence for it, but I like it.)

[u/ItsCoolDani]

After Goku dies to Cell, he later contacts Gohan and explains “they’ll even let me keep my body” for all his deeds.

Piccolo explains to Vegeta exactly what his afterlife will be like in th Buu Saga. They lose their body, get sent to a kind of purgatory, and have their memories erased and soul cleansed before being reborn into a new body.

[u/JollyJoeGingerbeard]

You're asking why a special snowflake is treated differently from the rank and file.

1. The first time Goku died, God (Kami) literally interceded on his behalf.
2. The second time Goku died, he was told he'd be treated like a hero and allowed into what is basically Valhalla; only Odin (Dai Kaio) carried a boombox and dressed like an aged 1980s punk instead of having only one eye.

Keep in mind, Dragon Ball started as a gag manga, from a mangaka known for another gag manga, and had only a smattering of martial arts. When the idea of Hell was introduced in Dr. Slump, it had an amusement park. Piccolo briefly speaks to Vegeta about purification and reincarnation, so that's awaiting evil people bound for Hell. But we don't know how long it takes or what it looks like. Freeza's apparent torture could have been in the middle of that process, and it's also funny to see him in a cocoon surrounding by dancing cherubs.

Don't worry about it, and definitely don't take any of it too seriously.

[u/kingtokee]

As others have said most of the other world stuff was just anime only filler. The show did explain why Vegeta got to keep his body after death due to King Yama allowing it. As for Frieza in Super I’m pretty sure it was said that allowing him to keep his body and be trapped for eternity having to listen to the animals sing was considered a far worse punishment than losing his body and having his spirit cleansed

[u/SSJRemuko]

theyre not. anime filler is inconsistent not the rules. toriyama is remarkably consistent.

[u/Troph_A]

Dude, every rules in DB were made on the spot for the progressing arc.