Dragon Ball has always hesitated to give its resident Earthlings any kind of spotlight past the Namek Saga, and characters like Tien, Chiaotzu, and even Master Roshi have constantly fallen to the wayside. This pattern has been slowly changing, however, and in a unique turn of events, Super Dragon Ball Heroes is finally giving Yamcha of all people his chance to shine.
Yamcha is a character famous for his mishaps and mistakes more than anything. The peak of this came in the Saiyan Saga where he first struck his iconic ‘defeat’ pose after being blown up by a Saibaman. Shortly after, he also suffered at the hands of what is, perhaps, the greatest character assassination in all of Dragon Ball. In a complete turnaround from the character he was prior, Yamcha is made out to be some kind of womanizer who cheated on Bulma just so he can finally be moved out of the main plot for good. Since then, Yamcha has remained an unimportant Dragon Ball character, never taking the spotlight again, until now in Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission.
In chapter 6 of Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission, Yamcha proves just why he may now be the most important Z-Fighter of all. Yamcha has already demonstrated his importance to the main cast ever since he was the one fighter who got ahold of a Time Fairy, allowing his timeline to advance to the second phase of Dragon Ball's Super Space-Time Tournament. In the battle with one of Aeos’ henchmen, a Warrior in Black, Yamcha returns to his roots as a character and is the first person to stop everyone from destroying their opponent. Even when the much more powerful Cooler moves to disintegrate the defeated Warrior in Black, Yamcha jumps in front of the blast, despite knowing he’s weaker and buys enough time to save her life in the end.
Yamcha Finally Becomes a True Hero in Dragon Ball
In an arc of Dragon Ball that seems to be heavily centered around the themes of compassion and love, Yamcha is looking more and more like he may be the most pivotal character in this entire saga. Though it seemed as though he was brought on as some kind of a gag at first, Yamcha was in fact the “Self-Declared Strongest Earthling.” With every chapter of Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission, this statement seems to be proving itself more and more. Not only is Yamcha now powerful enough to momentarily hold back attacks from universal-level fighters like Cooler, but he has once again taken his previous role as the heart of the team.
Yamcha’s determination to save Dragon Ball's Warrior in Black just because he thought it was the right thing to do is extremely admirable and there will surely be readers excited to see this long-forgotten character take steps at returning to his old self once more. Dragon Ball as a whole has seemed a lot more intent on giving the Earthlings some ability to shine in recent times, and Yamcha’s newfound power, compassion, and importance all feed into this perfectly.