Bulma and Beerus the Destroy God (The Purple Cat)

I’m sure this is more of an anime thing and people who aren’t into the genre won’t really get or like this character type.  It’s definitely done for comedy, but I always sense there’s an odd level of respect between those involved.  I don’t know what to call them, especially since it’s usually not their entire personality.  It’s just that they tend to be the only character who can smack, lecture, and talk back to a god that is known for having a short temper.

The example on my mind is Bulma Briefs from Dragon Ball.  The blue-haired woman above who has been in the series since the first episode.  She isn’t a fighter, but a scientific genius with enough money to buy out Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark.  Bulma has stood up to other villains and tamed one of the earliest ones of DBZ to the point where they’re married and he’d fight a Destroyer God for hitting her.  That brings us to Beerus the Destroyer God who is shown to blow up planets simply because he didn’t like the food they served him.  His unbeatable, but thankfully fairly lazy and easily placated with food like instant ramen.  Still, everyone is afraid of him . . . Except Bulma at most points who will even smack him upside the head.  She doesn’t get killed for this.

Now, I think this is an interesting character type because it’s done with one that isn’t a fighter.  Those types are still scared of the god and on their best behavior.  This one is treated with odd respect and given more leeway than any other character.  Yes, it’s for comedy, but I think it does show a few things:

1. It shows that the god is able to respect mortals, which makes them relatable to the audience.  Beerus doesn’t kill Bulma for her antics and will even listen to her under threat of not being given new foods.  You do need a god that has a vice, which is taken advantage of.  This adds to the relatability.
2. The non-combat character can still contribute to storylines.  These characters always get shunted to the background and beyond when action begins.  By having them be the only ones who can confidently communicate with this god, they can ask for help or at least get information for victory.  They become a stronger support character.
3. The braver characters get to be taken down a few pegs and show that there are things that even they are scared of.  This gets enhanced by the non-fighting character not being afraid of the god.

Now, this is something that has to be developed.  The mortal can’t walk over and smack the god upside the head in their first meeting.  They should and will start off either scared or oblivious to the danger of the god.  In contrast, the god should be pompous, confident, or not pay any attention to this mortal.  Events should occur that causes them to have respect for each other on some level.  It can be anything depending on the story, so I won’t go into specifics.  The point is that you need to properly nurture this connection and have it make sense within context.

You also need to make sure it doesn’t go too far.  Having this mortal pummel the god all the time changes the dynamic to make the god too weak.  There isn’t a threat to the mortal if you do it too much or too little, so you need to think about how the actions are affecting the deity.  So, this really becomes a one-sided dynamic, which I think makes it easier to handle.

I know this character type or relationship is fairly niche.  So, what would other people think of someone like this?