One of the few times that the Dragon Ball Z anime's excessive use of exclusive scenes and elongated moments from the manga actually worked to the benefit of a character was during the infamous death of Chiaotzu, an otherwise underrated Z fighter.
Chiaotzu is a peculiar Dragon Ball Z character based on Chinese vampires. Arguably, Chiaotzu's defining moment in all of Dragon Ball occurs when he sacrifices his life to take out the then-unstoppable Nappa. In chapter #217 of the manga, Chiaotzu's moment of glory only lasts two pages and a , when he latches onto Nappa's back as the Saiyan tries to grab him before the Earthling self-destructs, with no real effect on his opponent. Meanwhile, episode #24 of the Dragon Ball Z anime dedicates more than five minutes to Chiaotzu's valiant efforts. In addition to showcasing numerous flashbacks to make Chiaotzu's death more emotional, Nappa makes many more attempts to get the Earthling off his back. This includes smashing him into numerous land formations and almost completing his free-fall into a spiked surface.
Chiaotzu's Valiant Death Shows The Potential Of The Dragon Ball Z Anime
Although his overall deed is heroic in the manga, Chiatzu doesn't endure half as much as his anime counterpart does before he carries out his final attack. The anime has Chiaotzu withstand getting slammed into various hard surfaces, each of which made it seem less and less likely that he would be able to carry out his big move. Piccolo even uses Chiaotzu's pain and his unfortunate situation in a losing battle as a teachable moment for Gohan to help the young Saiyan understand what fighting truly is and to internalize everything he sees, no matter how gruesome it might be.
Of course, the vast majority of added scenes in this battle alone were more than enough to annoy even the most patient viewer. Since the anime incorporated Fortuneteller Baba's live stream of the battle, Master Roshi, Bulma, Puar and Oolong are all given time to react accordingly. Some of these moments are necessary, like the reaction to Yamcha's embarrassing death against the Saibamen, but most of them distract too much from the actual fight. This is applicable to Chiatzu's death too, since the beginning of episode 24 shows them all talking for an over-extended amount of time.
Chiaotzu Deserved The Anime's Extended Focus On His Sacrifice
Usually, the vast majority of fans use Yamcha as their main point of reference to prove how useless the humans became in Dragon Ball Z. But Chiaotzu was perpetually given the shorter end of the stick, even in the original series. Aside from the irony that most of the facts about Chiaotzu come from filler episodes and non-canon movies, the only major contributions he ever made in Dragon Ball involved leveraging his telekinetic abilities to illegally match up the contestants in the Tenkaichi tournaments. Chiaotzu doesn't even win a single fight in the series, including when Krillin ends up taking advantage of Chiaotzu's embarrassing inability to count without relying on his hands.
Therefore, Chiaotzu's heroic sacrifice against Nappa was meant to redeem at least a little a character that Toriyama knew would not find any more spotlight in his story. He thus deserved as much glory for that moment as he could get, and while the manga did give Chiaotzu a sacrifice scene that fans still discuss today, the Dragon Ball Z anime just made it a lot better.
Dragon Ball Z can be read on Viz.com and streamed on Crunchyroll.
