There are few things anime fans love more than debating which of two powerful characters would win in a fight. Since the earliest days of the online anime fandom, the “who would win” discussion has always been guaranteed to spark dialogue and fiery debate.
Traditionally, Dragon Ball‘s Goku has been the standard benchmark for aspiring power-based characters to reach due to his fighting prowess, constant new forms and continually increasing power level. Social media has recently been arguing that a certain Kumagawa, an older and often-overlooked anime character, could definitely defeat Goku. Here’s who Kumagawa is, where they come from, and how their powers would help them compete against the mighty Saiyan.
Kumagawa Comes From Nisio Isin’s Medaka Box
Misogi Kumagawa is part of the Medaka Box franchise, which began as a manga written by Monogatari creator Nisio Isin and illustrated by 706z87″ title=”akira”>Akira Akatsuki. The series quickly became a hit and ended up running for 22 volumes, later receiving a light novel spin-off and eventually an anime adaption. The latter was done by legendary studio Gainax and arrived on screens in 2012.
Medaka Box is set at the prestigious Hakoniwa Academy and stars Medaka Kurokami, a girl who wants to make others happy and decides to run for Student Council President. After winning by a massive margin, Medaka announces her first act as president and introduces the Medaka Box, a suggestion box that any student can use to make a request. Medaka tasks herself with making these requests come true.
However, this venture quickly turns out to be trickier than she imagined, especially when she uncovers a sinister plot hiding beneath the surface of Hakoniwa Academy. This includes the fact that many students have mysterious special powers and are keen to take control of the school.
Could Medaka Box‘s Kumagawa Really Defeat Dragon Ball‘s Goku?
Introduced in Volume 3 of the manga and Episode 11 of the anime, Kumagawa is one of Medaka Box‘s most fascinating antagonists. He is a combat expert who can exploit many human weaknesses, allowing him to take down foes much more powerful than him. He also has high physical endurance and is thus able to withstand blows that would leave regular people in the hospital. Kumagawa can also manifest objects into reality — frequently creating a sword out of thin air — making him a unique and deadly fighter.
However, Kumagawa’s most dangerous ability is called All Fiction. This allows him to deny any aspect of reality he wishes, turning it into fiction instead. He can remove things from reality on a whim, including wounds he or others have received, and even stop himself or others from dying by removing their death from existence. This power is so terrifying that Kumagawa once deleted colors from reality, turning the whole world black and white to torture someone he was battling with. At one point the antagonist says he has to be careful with this power, as he could accidentally erase the world and all of reality.
This ability would cause many problems for the Dragon Ball hero. Kumagawa could easily ignore any attacks Goku lands, no matter how strong the latter is. In theory, Kumagawa’s power could also erase the Saiyan’s forms and abilities from existence, rendering them null and void while forcing Goku to fight as a regular person. This is a gray area, however, as the Dragon Ball multiverse has several god-like beings who can move between realities and timelines and reshape the world as they do. It is unknown if Kumagawa’s abilities shown in Medaka Box would affect these beings or override their powers.
Fans will never know the outcome of a Kumagawa vs. Goku fight unless 706z87″ title=”akira”>Akira Akatsuki and 706z87″ title=”akira”>Akira Toriyama get together and write a crossover story, but it’s still fun to imagine. It’s easy to see why the idea of this showdown has caught the anime fandom’s imagination, and it even made a new audience keen to learn more about the fascinating if often overlooked Kumagawa.