Android 17 is Jesus – A Dragon Ball Discussion
Trope of absurdly high stakes
There is a well known trope in anime (probably in many Western Cartoons as well) called the trope of absurdly high stakes. The author creates these seemingly insurmountable tasks with extremely dire consequences if the character fails. Characters have to face harder and harder challenges to come out on top, and although it may appear that character growth is taking place, in reality the audience always knew what was going to happen and the story becomes predictable. Of course our hero is going to save the day.
Of course Harry Potter was going to defeat Lord Voldemort in the end. The entire magical dimension would be plunged into darkness otherwise.
When it comes to a franchise like Dragon Ball and knowing Toryama’s writing style, with the absurdly high stakes of universal annihilation for each universe, one must ask, how is universe seven going to win this one?
Knowing the dragon ball franchise, there was no doubt in my mind that Universe seven was going to win and that everything would be fixed and live happily ever after, I guess the real mystery is just how. But really, almost 50 episodes to represent a 48 minute tournament was a slog on par with the Freeza Saga. OMG the planet is going to explode in 5 minutes, 10 episodes later. As a 10 year-old this was the most aggravating thing on the planet! In a world of 13 episode succinct Netflix seasons, the renaissance of Dragon Ball utterly baffles me.
So we knew that Toryama would not possibly kill off any of the universes for real. And we certainly knew that he would not kill off his pet universe the 7th. The biggest twist was that rather than Goku or one of the more prominent characters saving the day, we get Android 17.
Originally, he just wants to live a simple life away from being a hero or a villain and just provide for his family. But he agrees to participate in the Tournament, and says he wants to wish to take his family on a cruise and just spend more quality time with the people he loves. After many hard battles, he gives up his dream and sacrifices himself to save the rest of Universe 7.
Only to seemingly rise from the dead to save the day and save literally everyone. Sound familiar, yes that is right Android 17 is Jesus. He took on all the selfish desires from the citizens of not only his universe but all the others as well and made a selfless wish that ultimately saved everyone. After witnessing all the sacrifice and carnage, he was able to save everyone. He did not know that everyone was being set up, he just wanted something good to come out of all that blood shed. He never wanted to be a part of the tournament but he also did not want anyone else to die at his hands.
He was originally willing to let other people and ultimately other universes to wiped from existence so that he could have his cruise. Really, how selfish can you get. Everyone’s wish was selfish if you think about it that way.
The only thing that can save everyone is a selfless wish.
In fact, Android 17’s wish makes for a better story than the Jesus sacrifice because no one sent him to do it. Yes the Gods were dissatisfied with their creations, but it’s not as if they sent 17 to atone for the sins of everyone else, he made this decision, and he was far from pure himself. He has to atone for his own sins as much as he takes on the sins of everyone in the multiverse. He feels that the other universes had to be eliminated for some sick and twisted test. In the end he is rewarded and so is everyone else.
The image of the Omni-Kings in Dragon Ball Super is an interesting critique (although likely unintended) on the Christian God as written in the bible. Putting people through tests and killing people and condemning them to Hell when it in reality, there were probably less gruesome ways to deal with things.
The people of the DBZ multiverse were already doomed in their eyes. They set this whole thing up, not as a test, but as a Joke. At least these two are not made out to be all knowing. Seeing what is essentially two children simply play with entire planets and civilizations like they are toys is unnerving. These two, they are the real villains here, they are morally reprehensible. And Android 17 made a sacrifice to save everyone from some sick sadistic game, when in reality, none of this needed to happen.
Anyway, what can we expect from Dragon Ball super in the year 2020?
