Summary
- The Ginyu Force in the Dragon Ball franchise combines comedy and action, making them entertaining and strong enemies.
- Despite their ridiculous and over-the-top presentation, the Ginyu Force proves to be effective villains and even Frieza considers them his best minions.
- The Ginyu Force's strength and role in the plot help establish the hierarchy of power levels and showcase Goku's growth. They are among the best characters in Akira Toriyama's writing.
The Dragon Ball franchise has always had comedic undertones. It's demonstrably true that the early arcs of the original Dragon Ball were more straightforwardly comedic than later stories would be as the franchise's stakes got higher. Regardless, Akira Toriyama has never completely abandoned the series' signature blend of legitimately funny comedic moments with jaw-dropping action and fight scenes.
The Ginyu Force is the Dragon Ball franchise's best example of Akira Toriyama's signature style of blending comedy and action. Although fairly minor minion characters in the grand scheme of things, the Ginyu Force are some of the most entertaining characters Toriyama has ever written. The five of the Ginyu Force are completely ridiculous and off-the-wall characters, but they're also solidly established as the strongest enemies in the Namek arc other than Frieza himself.
Beneath The Dancing And Posing, The Ginyu Force Are Serious Threats
Produced by Toei Animation, based on the original manga by Akira Toriyama
The presentation of the Ginyu Force sets them up as a walking parody of the Sentai-genre archetypes that are so common within Japanese pop culture. Like the typical superhero team in Japanese pop culture, the Ginyu Force wear matching uniforms, participate in elaborately choreographed poses and dances for the sake of teambuilding. In the original Japanese version of Dragon Ball Z, the Ginyu Force even sings its own bombastic, self-aggrandizing theme song about how awesome each of the is. Unfortunately, this wasn't included in the original English dub and even the later Funimation just translated it as a simple declaration of "Ginyu Force rules". It's so ridiculous and over-the-top that even Frieza, the ruthless, unflappable galactic conqueror, is left speechless.
Despite this patently ridiculous and uproariously hilarious presentation, the Ginyu Force are still among the most effective villains in the series. Their arrival is enough to drive Vegeta to ally with Gohan and Krillin in the face of such overwhelming odds, and Recoome beats down even Gohan without hesitation. Superficially, the Ginyu Force seem like a team of complete fools, but they quickly demonstrate just why a ruthless tyrant like Frieza considers them his best minions. Once the facade of bombastic and self-absorbed humor drops, the of the Ginyu Force prove that they're just as cruel and ruthless as Frieza himself.
Much like Yamcha, the of the Ginyu Force serve the crucial narrative purpose of being exactly as strong as they need to be to drive the events of the plot along. Recoome handily beating down Vegeta, Krillin and Gohan, demonstrating that although Vegeta has gotten stronger, he's still outclassed. Ultimately, this also helps to clearly established how much stronger Goku has become by the time he arrives in Namek. This is a brilliantly executed piece of writing that demonstrates the hierarchy of the characters' relative power levels as quickly and succinctly as possible. The Ginyu Force are superficially goofy, but actually dangerous villains, and they serve a major role in the narrative of the Namek arc. The Ginyu Force are among the best characters Akira Toriyama has ever written. Specifically, they are the best demonstration of Toriyama's ability to weave genuinely hilarious comic moments with legitimately impressive action. The Ginyu Force are Toriyama at his best and demonstrate the unique tone and style that has made Dragon Ball so popular for so many years.
