>>8251125>>8251296Violence is and always has been popular due to the morbid fascination humans have for it. It is completely natural and seeing characters physically hurt raises the stakes considerably in life/death scenarios.
I still consider the Goku Vs Ma Junior battle at the end of the 23rd budokai to be one of the best fights of the series due to the gratuitous beatdown Goku takes, but still triumphs after.