So I recently began watching the anime Dragon Ball Super in earnest a few months ago. The first couple of story arcs replicated the movies for a less than stellar performance. Of course the first unique story arc I got to was the tournament arc with universe 7 fighting universe 6. The stakes weren't about death, they were about what would happen if the battle was lost. So tensions were more about winning the fight then killing the opponent, something I think has a lot more emotional weight to it then merely dying in the Dragon Ball series.
What really impressed me though was the character Hit. Introduced as the guy who'd have to fight Goku he was quiet and mysterious at first, and then once he did begin fighting he was much more terrifying than I thought he could be. Terrifying and fun. What made him such a stand out villain in the series though? That's what I am to try and uncover today.
The first thing about Hit was that he appeared to be on a completely different level of power from even the main heroes. An opponent they couldn't even think about touching. I know this has been done to death before in the Dragon Ball series but Hit went above and beyond with the fact that they couldn't even touch him. It made you wonder what his power was, if he was just that much stronger or if it was a trick?
The next thing I noticed was how he fought. Unlike most bad guys throughout the Dragon Ball series he didn't just throw some punches and kicks that looked vaguely martial arts like. He actually had his own combat style which stood out as almost alien to what we were used to. To top it all off, unlike every villain since Dragon Ball Z, Hit didn't throw any magical looking Ki attacks at his opponents. He used pure martial arts, and his unique power in combination to defeat his opponents. This was kind of amazing considering it meant we would not see a giant Ki clash where two energy beams met and pushed against each other until someone won. We would see brutal and hard combat based on skill rather then power.
Another thing, his power itself. The way he seemed to attack people without touching them, and the way he seemed to be unable to be hit. These two things created a mystery for us the viewer to be confused by. Goku was also confused, but intrigued by it as well. Part of the battle wasn't just trying to defeat the enemy but understand him.
Finally a breath of fresh air for Dragon Ball villains. Hit actually loved the combat, the act of fighting made his blood run, just as much as it did Goku's. He wasn't a bad guy that needed to be killed, he was one that we wanted to see get powered up and excited to fight Goku. He continued to grow stronger in the fight making it to the point where he actually won the fight after Goku pushed himself past his limits. This cemented Hit as not just another bad guy, but a likable character who was perhaps morally corrupt, but one we would like to see time and time again.
So to round it all up the things I noticed about him that stood out were;
1. He was a far superior enemy to Goku or Vegeta. Who didn't hold his punches.
2. He had a unique fighting style and special ability, and did not use the same tactics everyone else did.
3. His power was played as a mystery to uncover, rather than a simple wall to overcome or break through.
4. His attitude and personality made him likable and less of a bad guy, but more of a an interesting and fun character that would make us want him to live, not die.
These are just some thoughts about Hit as a character and what make shim work so well. Do you have anything to add? Maybe I missed something, please let me know how you feel about Hit down in the comments below.
As always thanks for reading.
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