These two situations are exactly the same yet Krillin gets more flack for his decision than Goku. Ultimately, Krillin makes the same choice to save an incredibly dangerous, world ending threat for the potential of personal gain. My brother argued that it's different because Goku has saiyan blood/biology. So fighting Vegeta was him reconnecting with his lost heritage and, because of their biological programming to fight/prove one's strength, could not make any other decision or override that programing/urge.
But to me it's an active choice. Goku chooses to indulge in what his blood/biology is telling him at the cost of the entire world including his own family (that's why he says it's not the smart choice because ultimately it was a choice.) Of course Krillin's choice to spare Android 18 lacks the same stakes but when you look at his DB character arc, his history of bullying where he was made to feel like his life was worthless, and his desperation for romantic connection as a way to reaffirm his self worth, it makes sense that he would cling to the affection Android 18 gives him as a way to rationalize himself. (It's just like the "thrill" or personal satisfaction Goku experienced and cherished while fighting Vegeta.)
Moreover, Krillin makes this decision not just out of his own want of romantic love but because Android 18's affection towards him actively humanizes her and makes her out to be more than just a destructive killing machine. Like Goku says with Vegeta, "it would be a waste," to kill her. I'm not saying it was a good choice, but a selfish one on par with Goku's choice with Vegeta.
Overall, my argument was that during the Android Saga everyone involved kept making selfish decisions to reaffirm themselves. Vegeta chooses to let Cell absorb 17, even going so far to hurt Trunks to do so. Trunks chooses to let his desperation to connect with his father override his responsibility to destroy the androids/Cell when he had his chance. Krillin chooses to save Android 18 after witnessing her humanity (her care for him) and is unable to kill her. Gohan later makes the active choice to toy with Cell when he had the chance to kill him. And Goku, alongside Vegeta, decided against Bulma (who wanted to kill the androids before they became a threat) and let the Android emerge so that they could fight them for a challenge. In terms of the Saiyans, none of them were forced into doing what they did because of their biology/urge to fight as these were active choices. The only times where they are unable to choose for themselves is when they are in the Oozaru state and destroy things at random.
Ultimately all the characters listed above are equally to blame for Cell getting to full strength and I understand why people hate Krillin for this, but it gets on my nerves when people get angry at Krillin's choice but let Goku's choice slide.
(Tho from a narrative perspective most of the entire arc revolves around father and son relationships and the way fathers fail their sons.
By putting his desires over Trunks, Vegeta fails his son as Trunks puts getting his father's approval over stopping Cell immediately. Goku then fails Gohan similarly by forcing him into a battle he does not want to fight but that's another topic for another day.
Because Krillin's portion of the arc has no bearing on this major theme of the saga, he is ultimately irrelevant to its narrative. Meanwhile, Vegeta and his rationalization of what happened is integral to the audience's understanding of his character and the arc to the point he even takes responsibility for letting things get this bad.
So, considering the arc really revolves around Vegeta, Trunks, Goku, and Gohan and the main instigator of the events revolving these four characters is Vegeta, from narrative perspective, most of the blame on who truly dropped the ball during the Android/Cell Saga is on Vegeta. Not saying other characters didn't contribute of course but I feel Toriyama makes it quite clear it's Vegeta ultimately.)
@gokusclit ur like the DBZ/Vegeta/Goku expert so I trust your opinion am I right in thinking this???
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