Early in Dragon Ball, Master Roshi destroys the moon, setting the stage for many more absolutely wild feats to come in the various Dragon Ball anime and manga series. Planets get blown up left and right, perhaps none more consequential than Frieza destroying Namek — which, of course, took longer to blow than the five minutes he threatened.
It’s a dramatic climax to perhaps the best saga in the entire franchise, and when it was done, both viewers and in-universe characters were left thinking the series’ biggest threat to date was done for. Frieza, already sliced in half by his own Destructo Disc-like attack, was blasted — and seemingly killed — by Goku (“You fool!”) and was unable to escape Namek before it went kablooey. And yet, somehow, Frieza survived in a remarkable display of resiliency.
In reality, he didn’t die because he needed to be fodder for the series’ next new and mysterious character: Trunks. Because the next time we see Frieza, he gets owned by the teenager’s sword.
This is a series where its protagonist flung himself straight through a Demon King as a kid, Buu’s screaming ripped a hole through dimensions, and multiple planets were destroyed throughout. So how in the world can such an intimidating foe get done in by a sword? Easy: rule of cool.
When Trunks arrives on the scene, he automatically becomes one of Dragon Ball’s coolest characters. The purple hair, Capsule Corp. jacket, mystery around his identity, and, of course, his sword all make him one cool dude. He’s also the first Super Saiyan we meet after Goku achieved the form (and before the series had a Super Saiyan bargain sale). And to display just how powerful Trunks was, Frieza had to go out like a chump.
Frieza’s body survived a lot of damage on Namek, even before he was sliced in half (and once again, Frieza’s final fight took much longer than five minutes). This dude ate a Spirit Bomb to the face and came out of it with, what, a swollen eye? And then a freakin’ sword does him in?
Trunks slicing Frieza in half produces quite the sick-ass shot in the anime. We’re treated to a POV look at Trunks sliding in half before the camera cuts to showing Frieza cleanly coming apart. The two halves then float in the air for a moment, giving us a gory peek at Frieza’s insides, before Trunks decides he isn’t done and puts his sword to further use. He chops Frieza up into chunky fleshy and mechanical bits and then decides to finish him off with a ki blast to the chunks, leaving nothing left of the once-frightening antagonist.
We get our first glimpse of who Trunks is here. His time battling the Androids made him all business; he wouldn’t be letting Frieza power up just to test himself. Instead, Trunks cuts down the threat before the threat can harm anyone. This is a sharp contrast to his father, who, of course, later on commits one of the Cell Saga’s worst sins in letting Cell become Perfect.
This isn’t the last time we see Trunks use his sword either. He brandishes it in Dragon Ball Super’s Future Trunks Saga against Goku Black, which is perhaps even more ridiculous, as Goku Black has the strength and resiliency of, well, Goku. Who has the God ki by that point. My word, what a wonderful series.
Trunks’ sword hits peak cool in that arc as he morphs it into something of a Spirit Bomb to use against Zamasu. Infused with the hope and ki of what’s left of humanity, I buy that his sword can not only hold up in a fight and not shatter, but slice cleanly through Zamasu in what’s kinda become Trunks’ signature move — slicing baddies to bits.
When a pervy old man can blow up a moon with his energy, maybe weapons like swords don’t make a lot of sense in the Dragon Ball universe. But because Trunks using his sword to slice bad guys in half is that cool, who’re we to say no?