And if... (a matter of point of view... maybe?? Not sure, honestly).
To me is jarring seeing how Iizuka describle Shadow (he pratically has only negative traits, no positives, yet he has no weak spots, like an anti Mary-Sue because 'Ultimatehhh'), and how we perceive him from stories and games from the '00s and then from the '20s.
Perhaps, the Shadow that is the closest to Iizuka descriptions is IDW Shadow.
Verbalase youtube
However I remember years ago, when I was in the Dragon Ball fandom, I was reading a blog on Tumbls. It belonged to a Japanese, living in Japan who wrote in a perfect English. So he also liked to follow and read western blogs and forums on Dragon Ball.
What surprised him is how we perceive Vegeta. We describled him with a deep and rich analysis. He as Japanese would describle Vegeta as:
A stern, old fashioned Japanese householder.
Is not wrong, but is not the thing we notice most. We notice that he is proud, that he has inferiority complex, that he loves his family and that he enjoy fighting. And many other things. Perhaps Japaneses don't focus on those traits. They think they are not important.
Partly I considered that as a Japanese, Iizuka might focus on a different angle of the same thing. Or japanese might perceve the very same thing in a total different way than we do.
But I'm not to sure. Iizuka has always been quite inconsistent, he tends to change his mind very often. My issue with him is the fact that after he changed his mind, he totally denies he ever said differently in the past and I'm not blunt here. A lot of people have issues with him.
I prefer Toriyama. he was more intellectually honest. He messed up a lot, but he admitted he had a poor memory and forgot many thing. At the same time he though this flaw could be a source of cooler idea.
Like recently when he said that Shadow is based on Spawn when until last year we all know he was based on Vegeta - although softer and more open minded - there are also notes about that. (Never heard about Spawn associated with Shadow before 2024) .
However Shadow was describled very differently in early days, and the descriptions were provided by the Japaneses:
- Kind of a ninja (and it showed in Sa2, he acted smartly more than brutish, ninja are known to keep a low profile. In fact he actually won in SA2, mostly thanks to his brain, before changing his mind) - Thoughful (doesn't laugh) - it was very obvious. Actually, we don't know how his laugh sounds like. Except for ShtH 2005, but there it was a 'what if if Shadow goes full villain?' so... - Vegeta (post Bu)
Also (By Maekawa)
- Dainty
What David Humphrey was told by those from SoJ, when he gave his voice to Shadow in Sa2
- Menacing but with a heart
Sounds quite balanced and detailed enough. The traits are mostly neutral. Flexible enough to work both as villain and as hero without loosing his charm.
I agree with this description made by japaneses in the early days, although I'm a westerner. I coul see those traits.
So I don't really know about Iizuka's view. Maybe he really wants Shadow to be OP and barely with any reemeding qualities and that's unique with him?.
And maybe Vegeta as a typical old fashioned japanese dad is the unique interpretation of that person and not all Japanese think the same. In Dragon Ball Vegeta was describled differently and more in line to what most people think (I watched all the episodes where Vegeta was describled in Japanese, it matched the Italian script, nowhere I saw him describled as 'old fashioned Japanese dad')
Might be a matter of very personal experiences.