Piccolo is one of those rare characters that died a villain, and then lived long enough to become a hero. Easily one of the best characters in the dbz universe.
7:06 this music really explains piccolo's personality very well, it is telling that piccolo is an a badass but deep inside he is truly an a good person
the moment he sacrificed himself to protect Gohan, showed how much he had changed, from badass into softer person within who saw value of life. Though even Goku's death truly had impact on him
@@scarlessytnah piccolo jr was never as bad as king piccolo because before he even met gohan he killed goku but goku went to the afterlife which showed that piccolo jr was not as bad as king piccolo
I love it when a characters theme never changes to a completely different song but does so with different pitches to express the growth and change they’ve undergone. They’re the very same person from before but at the same time different
It really is incredible how Kikuchi can have this one melody have so many variations thus represent all of Piccolo's character throughout the story. We have sinister evil themes, the mischievous battle themes, the tension filled themes that build up Piccolo more than words ever could, and even a sympathetic somber version of his theme. I can just imagine the story of Piccolo simply by listening to all these tunes from when he was the great demon king all the way to the grumpy yet calm and forward thinking champion of Namek we know him as today. Shunsuke Kikuchi is the John Williams of Dragon Ball tbh.
@@piotrmalewski8178 Deleted? They just made new music, as much as I like his music it was quite repetitive conseidering the low ammount of tracks for a 300 episode series.
@@novkorova2774 I'd argue the new music is often worse, plus several hours of music is not exactly that little. Yes, they had to repeat it a lot, but it was good music and many pieces were definite for a character.
Can we appreciate all of Piccolo's themes? Japanese and American? Very rarely do I hear people say they like both of these types of themes in these comments sections.
Having started the series with dragonball, 4:50 is such an awesome theme! like you can really feel that old piccolo is gone and now there's this new more skilled, faster, more agile piccolo posing a real threat during the tournament, the first time you hear this theme in the anime is pure banger
I'm always fascinated by the work of composers. They don't create these stories, but time and time again they demonstrate that they understand them each time they can flawlessly put music to a character.
It’s the most consistent, especially having about 10 years or so of development. Just not sure about necessarily being the greatest, but it’s up high for sure.
There’s something to be said about the talent of these composers that they can make the same few notes sound menacing and villainous in one rendition and like a triumphant, heroic march in another.
I love the tracks, but to be honest it's not something that rare, a lot of movies and games have this type of stuff...it's called motif (yes I'm being kinda annoying)
@@ghostofdeath7388 yeah second half of Z the squandered his potential, to be fair Tori hadn't even planned on going further than Frieza arc, so yuh, I guess that's what happens when you don't plan, everything falls to pieces
Agreed. Like from seeing Piccolo go from being a diabolical adversary to one of Earth's protectors. like from kidnapping Gohan to both train him for the Saiyan's arrival but also for his own gain, to protecting Gohan against one of Nappa's attacks. Piccolo had really good character growth, it was monumental to see him protecting someone and actually care about them.
I do prefer Piccolo, but in Vegeta's defense his growth was longer and concluded with DBZ itself. Piccolo Jr. goes from being the primary antagonist of the arc he was introduced in, to being a secondary protagonist in the very next arc, and his growth was essentially complete with him tanking the hit for Gohan. Again, I prefer Piccolo, but I can get why people would've preferred Vegeta's development being a bit more deliberately paced.
@@grimkaizer8417 Yeah it took Vegeta much longer to turn over to the side of good, piccolo became an ally during Saiyan arc and a friend when he merged with Kami. The issue is Toriyama really isn't the greatest writer ever and he totally left a whole bunch of characters in the mud. Wheres Tien? oh he's still training huh(with all this relentless training you'd think he'd actually get stronger lol), wheres piccolo? oh he's still the trainer/papa to gohan huh, its even worse now in super where even more characters have become irrelevant. I really think if Tori wasn't pressured by his writers to keep pushing and pushing Z forward, he would have either ended it early with a good character arc for all, or he would've taken breaks in writing it and therefore think more critically about where he is going to take his characters and story
This theme is so freaking awesome! At the first (when Piccolo called himself "Demon Junior" for the fighting competition), you can hear the mind features of the character: dynamic, insolent, provocative, consciousless, immature... You can hear Piccolo laugh through the music! And then his evolution with Gohan. The music is sweet, calm, even sad, quite moving and the composer took out all the chromatic notes. Whatever. Piccolo is probably the more mature character at the end of the serie. And the work on the music is very faithful to the character himself and THIS is fuc***g AMAZING
The best thing about this theme is that through the series it evolved from the theme of a world-destroying villain to the theme of one of its coolest heroic characters, and yet it still works. The melody is so strong that it is instantly recognisable as the same theme as King Piccolo's even when it's playing alongside Piccolo kicking Frieza's ass
I like how the ones from 2:08 and 4:50 give off that malicious and menacing feeling from when he was still King Piccolo and Junior , while from 7:05 and onward the themes sound more heroic if not a bit somber to show his changing from the feared Demon King to the fearsome guardian of the Earth Piccolo, the ones from 11:40 and 13:40 truly sounds like the music that plays when the hero has arrived to save the day and the one from 11:53 is just one of the best fight themes in the series.
Fuck those overrated Goku and Vegeta. Growing up, I wanted to be Piccolo because he was the baddest and coolest motherfucker in the entire series. Takes shit from no one, even if an opponent is x10 times stronger. Also, his transition from evil to good when he met Gohan gave the most feels... T.T
covefiel daimaku Really?? I haven't seen the movie yet, but that would really bring joy to my heart. Piccolo was so awesome and able to keep up for a long while, was often the most bad ass in movies, plus he's my favorite character. I would be so glad if him and Gohan started training together again to protect Earth, since Vegeta and Goku are away, training with Whis.
Here's something funny I noticed about both Piccolo and Vegeta; They both smiled often when they were evil, then when they turned good they're both usually frowning. I guess turning good made them lose their smile. lol.
I love his character and his fighting style ( I think the original music is better then the english(in the german version they use the japanese music to))
R.I.P. Shunsuke Kikuchi I only recently started to appreciate your work but without you dragon ball would have never been as memorable thank you for your musical talent.
...*Dust in the wind. From behind, footsteps crunch in the sand... Standing there is a tall man, skin green as envy, eyes burning with spite. A fist clenched with a message...* "Let that child alone."
8:37 will always forever be my favorite Piccolo theme. Always brings me back to his fight with Frieza when he was in second form. Thank you Shunsuke Kikuchi for your music and may you rest eternally in peace.
You know it’s interesting because Dr. Willow’s theme is attached to Freeza, and it also makes a brief appearance in that variation of Piccolo’s theme from when Dr. Willow is controlling him. So it weirdly fits with the fact that he’s battling 2nd form Freeza.
Just going back and listening to some of my favorite Kikuchi tracks in his memory. No other composer really gave the same feeling of adventure to Dragon Ball like he did.
This is why I love Piccolo, through sheer circumstance, he goes from the evil Demon King, to one of the world's greatest protectors. And I never even knew that these themes had existed and had so much variation in them throughout the years to reflect the Growth Piccolo had gone through and man... That brings tears to my eyes. He kidnapped Gohan to train for his own evil deeds, and yet, It awoke a side in him he never thought he had, Piccolo never had friends or somebody who cared about him, until Gohan, came along and warmed his heart, and after that, Piccolo went from being an ally, to a friend, to straight up family, DBS Piccolo is easily my favorite version of him because of how soft and squishy he is compared to his past counterpart. The scene where he has to explain babysitting is what truly made me cry.
They made a whole set of good pieces, that you had to hire an entire orchestra to perform them, just for one character. Nowadays, even high budget movies don't do it for a whole movie. These pieces are good, and together they make a good suite, that is genuinely interesting and pleasant to listen to.
Even as a villain he was awesome, as a proper villain should be. Powerful, fearful and great in appearence. When he first appeared in the original series you knew he was something different than Pilaf, the Red Ribbon army, Tao and Tien. He took dragon ball to another level.
7:05 through 8:02 is my moment of silence for Akira Toriyama May he rest in peace knowing that piccolo was his favorite character with the composers passing as well this hits a little different now knowing they’re both gone. Thank you for making Dragonball 🐉
Piccolo is in my opinion the best character out of Dragonball. And it is a shame that everyone who isn't an antagonist, a God or a Sayan is litterally useless now. Piccolo has so much potential bo make him relevant again. Especially after the Super Dragonballs were introduced.
@@mooganify They were created by the Dragon God Zarama. So basically there is a god with similar abilities as Namekians. It would have been the perfect chance to give Piccolo his own set of god forms to make him relevant again.
@@She-Devil94 My thoughts would have been: Why not reveal that millions of years ago, before the Gods of Destruction, there were a couple of gods ruling the universe. One of them was a Namekian God who also created the Super Dragon Balls. That god then split up into the whole Namekian race (maybe after killing all the other gods... or something else). This Namekian god is then recreated in Dragon Ball Super by Piccolo fusing with the whole Namekian race to become "whole" again. It's the ultimate Piccolo who can then dab into god-ki and is somewhere around the level of Goku and Vegeta. I'm a huge Piccolo fan... so that would have been my dream come true.
This soundtracks come from the second Movie of Dbz The world's strongest and I remember perfectly this Soundtrack since I was 5 Years! IT'S FANTASTIC!!!
These all sound marvelous and I do like how it is a progressing theme but personally my fav is 4:51. I view it as his real theme. It can work for his first appearance, his Namek appearance, really any appearance imo. Regardless of his alignment at any point in time, he's a force to be reckoned with and he isn't afraid to show it off. God I love Piccolo.
2:07 this theme was badass when he got his wish from Shenron before ultimately destroying him, I remember as a child straight up gasping at this, he essentially had the world in the palm of his hand at that point, had he just made sure Goku actually was, y'know dead the first time he beat his ass, his plan would have been flawless...at least until Frieza woulda showed up.
7:05 This song perfectly describes that crucial moment in my life where after going through the biggest and most heartbreaking pain I've ever had I decided to move on, my heart seemed like ashes and my mind was tired, but something in me allowed me to continue above all else. Against all odds, although I believed that my pain and that of my father had no cure, I tried it once more, over and over and over and over again, I continued here, one day at a time, one more step, I tried over and over again. over and over and over again until little by little I rebuilt myself along the way, I got my breath back and when I realized it I felt alive again, I revived from the ashes and was me again, not like before but I came back better and stronger and indestructible than ever, 2 years after this harsh experience, I am now living a very different present, what is certain is that it is much better than that year 2021, here I am again laughing, discovering new things and learning more every day, completely rebuilt, sometimes I will have low moments like everyone but when it seems that I am about to hit rock bottom, in reality it is all about a bad dream, just an anxiety attack, remembering something that no longer exists, now my present and my life have color again, I am here and now, fighting for my dreams like every human being, looking for happiness. ♾
It's awesome and I love the fact of how the theme sounded kind of evil and terrifying during Dragon Ball; but in Dragon Ball Z sounds heroic, and people actually loved whenever it was played announcing Piccolo's arrival to the scene.
11:04-11:24 (big green dub) Turles:Answer me who are you! Gohan:AHHHHHH It's Big Green! Piccolo:Let that child alone. Turles:I never take orders from anyone. Piccolo:Now you will LEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYHAAAA!
Speedy dub Turles: Who are you? Gohan: Pi... Piccoro! Piccolo: Take your hand off from Gohan! Turles: Wat will you do if I going to refuse? Piccolo: I'm not kidding! HuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAaaaagh!!!
13:23 is my favorite Piccolo theme. It reminds me of the mysterious stranger in a spaghetti western flick who turns out to be a badass. Just like Piccolo. 👍
No bull. Ifukube and Sato’s Godzilla and other tokustatsu scores are all over dragonball. They’re my favorite Japanese movies and shows respectively so it’s no wonder I get lost in their soundtracks. Ifukube learned a lot from listening to the Ainu people growing up and I think his music influenced many later artists
From the demon king to one of the saviors of the north galaxy. Such a character arc! Piccolo and Gohan were my favorites in DBZ, with Vegeta a close second.
brunobf NOH! La battuta è questa: "E così, è questa la famosa assimilazione delle forze di due combattenti riunite in un unico corpo, è SHTRABILIANTEH"
In realtà questa canzone si sente quando Junior arriva alla Kame House per aiutare Goku contro Radish :D Ovviamente viene usata anche durante l'assimilazione ;)
Even without the context of Dragon Ball, you can understand the general story of what's going on just from the music alone. I've always loved that a lot. It reminds me of being in a music class and having to analyze stories from the tracks given. This video is a remarkable and lovely example of a motif being used and changed over the course of many pieces to represent character growth. From the dark and disturbing M501, to the hopeless and just downright EVIL M503, to the intense and hectic (and not to mention ICONIC) M505, to the mysterious and brooding M711 (the Bell theme), to the soft and gentle M712 that shows a softer side to this previously evil, calculating, and violent character, to the agressive but hopeful M920, painting our once-villain as someone who now has something, someONE to protect, to the now-unambiguously heroic M1417, cementing this character's progression from a cold and sinister evildoer, to a protector of all. Kikuchi was a genius unlike no other. He will be missed.
It's poetic how the last of the Demon Clan, Piccolo Jr., is now part of the Earth's greatest fighters and defenders. Even good and redemption can come from the most unlikeliest of places. Funnily enough, this includes Gohan, since he was kidnapped and forced to be a member. That original intention was forgotten early on, but Gohan still sometimes represents his fighting lineage by wearing purple.
