for viewers to "just turn your brain off and enjoy it straight". The individual members and associates of the Red Ribbon Army have received varied receptions. Uonuma Usui from Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin manga is modeled after Mercenary Tao; Watsuki stated that Tao made "a strong impression" on him as he was the first villain in the series to defeat Goku. Craig Elvy from Screen Rant said Android 8 is a minor but important influence in Goku's overall character development throughout the series, and drew a link between their interactions early in the series to Goku's consistently merciful attitude towards his enemies as an adult. Android 16 is considered to be the franchise's best villain by Brandon Zachary, who described the character in an article for Comic Book Resources (CBR) as a tragic figure who brings a somber side to the Dragon Ball universe. In a 2004 poll, Japanese fans voted Androids 17 and 18 as the 18th and 10th most popular character in the series respectively. Sheldon Pearce from Complex found both 17 and 18 to be interesting in their own right and gave them high rankings in his list of Dragon Ball Z characters. The fight between 17 and Piccolo is considered to be one of the greatest fights in Dragon Ball Z by David Dennis Jr. from Uproxx. Conversely, Todd Douglass Jr. felt that collectively, the Red Ribbon Army characters were "hit or miss" for him. Aimee Hart, writing for Anime Feminist, was disturbed by an in-joke conveyed in the anime, which depicts Bulma breaking the fourth wall in an episode to imply that a scene of her being raped by a group of Red Ribbon Army soldiers is censored from publication in the original manga. Both Anthony Gramuglia, writing for CBR, and Aimee Hart considered the homophobic characterization of General Blue to be deeply problematic. Gramuglia is particularly critical of Blue's uniform being styled after that of an organization which persecuted homosexual individuals, as well as the anime adaptation's depiction of Blue as a pedophile, which evokes an offensive stereotype of gay men being sexual predators. References Dragon Ball manga Entire series Toriyama, Akira. ドラゴンボール [Dragon Ball] (in Japanese). 42 vols. Tokyo: Shueisha, 1985–1995. Toriyama, Akira. Dragon Ball. 16 vols. San Francisco: Viz Media, 2003–2004. Toriyama, Akira. Dragon Ball Z''. 26 vols. San Francisco: Viz Media, 2003–2006. Individual volumes Sources Anime and manga supervillains Villains in