List of Dragon Ball characters
Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The franchise features an ensemble cast of characters and takes place in the same fictional universe as Toriyama's other work, Dr. Slump. While many of the characters are humans with superhuman strengths or supernatural abilities, the cast also includes anthropomorphic animals, extraterrestrial lifeforms, and deities who govern the world and the universe.
During the course of the story, protagonist Son Goku is adopted by Grandpa Son Gohan and encounters allies like Bulma, Master Roshi, and Trunks; rivals such as Tien Shinhan, Piccolo, and Vegeta; and villains such as Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu. Goku's group of associates, known as the, bolsters its ranks throughout the series with the addition of former enemies and new heroes. The group is also known in Japanese as the or Team "Z" in other media, and the Earth's Special Forces in the English dub of Dragon Ball Z.
Background
Overview
The Dragon Ball franchise begins in Goku's boyhood years as he trains in martial arts and explores a fantastical version of Earth. The plot revolves around his search for the seven Dragon Balls used to summon a wish-granting dragon. The tone of the series becomes more action-oriented and less comedic as Goku reaches adulthood. He and his allies defend Earth against various threats, overcoming seemingly insurmountable opponents, and eventually emerging victorious against progressively more powerful foes.The series also includes depictions of the afterlife and time travel as a means of creating historical divergences. Dragon Ball Super in particular expands the setting of the series to include parallel universes; the vast majority of the Dragon Ball series takes place in Universe 7, or the Seventh Universe in the English dub.
Concept and design
initially based most of the characters on those from Journey to the West: Goku from the Monkey King, Bulma from Tang Sanzang, [|Oolong] from Zhu Bajie, and Yamcha from Sha Wujing. He also incorporated ideas from one of his earlier one-shot manga series, Dragon Boy. Toriyama explained that the reason there are many anthropomorphic characters is that he found it easier to visually differentiate them compared to human characters. For the female characters, Toriyama created women he deemed "beautiful and sexy", but also "strong". He claimed that he has trouble drawing females, which is why there are relatively few female characters in the Dragon Ball series. To advance the story quickly, he introduced Goku's signature flying nimbus cloud, later gave most fighting characters the ability to fly, and eventually granted Goku teleportation.Many Dragon Ball characters have names that are puns, which are associated with related characters. For example, Bulma and her family are named after undergarments, members of the human-like alien race known as the Saiyans are named after vegetables, and because Frieza is a pun on freezer, the Ginyu Force are named after products that are kept in a refrigerator. A study on sound symbolism and its effect on character names conducted by researchers at Tsuda University, Tokyo discover that out of a sample size of 118 villainous characters from Dragon Ball, the consonants /g/ and /b/ were frequently used in their names and that there was a strong tendency to link "bad & male" characters with /ɡ/, which supports the notion that "a sound-meaning association can be attested in at least some phonemes" in the Japanese language. Toriyama explained that he does not like giving names to techniques and special abilities, but did so at his editor's suggestion. His wife was the one who named the series' signature, but he named all the others, even selecting them specifically for each character; saying someone like Vegeta would use names in English, and using kanji for the more sophisticated Piccolo.
The franchise's anime and film adaptations feature some original characters not created by Toriyama but by Toei Animation staff: Dragon Ball GT and the vast majority of the film adaptations and OVAs exist in their own unique continuities which branch off from the anime television series at various points, so original characters introduced in the films are usually unknown to the characters in either or both of the official anime and manga series continuities. Toriyama personally designed certain characters which made their debut appearances in animated films, as well as licensed video games such as Android 21.
Main characters
The Dragon Ball series features an ensemble cast of main characters. The most prominent protagonist of the Dragon Ball series is Goku, who along with Bulma forms the Dragon Team to search for the Dragon Balls at the beginning of the series. After the truth of Goku's heritage is revealed, Saiyan characters play a central narrative role from Dragon Ball Z onwards: Bardock and Trunks from an alternate future timeline serve as the protagonists of their respective side stories, while Goku's son Gohan briefly assumes the role of series protagonist following the conclusion of the Cell Games Saga. Vegeta is featured as the co-protagonist for Dragon Ball Super.Son Goku
First introduced as a young boy, Son Goku is depicted as immensely strong, pure of heart, and extremely competitive, but dedicated to defending his adopted home Earth from internal or external threats. Although he appears human, it is later revealed that Goku is a Saiyan, and that his original name is Kakarot.Bulma
first appears as a teenager using the Dragon Radar, a device she created to detect the energy signal emitted by Dragon Balls. She is led to Goku's location by the signal emitted by the four-star ball in his possession and recruits him as a bodyguard while hoping to get his four-star ball to grant her wish for a boyfriend. She gives up on the wish after meeting Yamcha, and much later in the series, she marries Vegeta. Bulma has also assumed the role of inventor and has consistently provided critical tech support to Goku and his friends with their battles against various enemies and threats throughout the series. Some of her notable innovations include a microband that could make her shrink, and a time machine that brought her son from an alternate future timeline, Trunks, to the past on multiple occasions.Krillin
Krillin is Goku's best friend and one of the most talented martial artists on Earth. A monk who shaves his head for the sake of his training, he and Goku are under the tutelage of Master Roshi; initially his rival but later a friend, and a loyal companion in adventures thereafter. He is killed by King Piccolo's spawn Tambourine, but is later revived by Shenron. After the fight with the Saiyans, he travels to Planet Namek, where he is killed by Frieza. After being brought back to life again by the [|Namekian Dragon Balls], he helps out during the Android and Cell arcs. He is married to Android 18 and has a daughter,.Piccolo
is the spawn of King Piccolo, created to get revenge on Goku in the wake of his death, and subsequently assumes the role as the "evil half" of [|Kami]. However, after being narrowly defeated by Goku, he must team up with him and his friends when opposing the invading Saiyans, including training Goku's son Gohan. He is later revealed to be a Namekian—a demonic, green-skinned, four-fingered, hairless humanoid species who created the series' titular Dragon Balls. He dies sacrificing himself to protect Gohan during the fight against the Saiyan [|Nappa], and trains in the afterlife under King Kai before being wished back to life by the Namekian Dragon Balls. While he temporarily maintains the partnership during the fights with Frieza and the Androids, by the time of the Cell and Majin Buu arcs he accepts the fact they are allies.Son Gohan
is Goku's eldest son with [|Chi-Chi], who first appears at the age of four. He is kidnapped by Goku's brother, Raditz, and locked up in a space pod. However, his temper flares and he bursts out of the space pod, dealing a blow to Raditz and knocking himself out. After the battle, Piccolo takes and trains him for a year as he realizes Gohan's potential. Gohan slowly becomes one of the strongest characters in the series, at one point holding his own against Frieza and eventually defeats Cell. After the Majin Buu arc, he marries [|Videl], with whom he later has a daughter named [|Pan].Vegeta
is the last prince of the Saiyan warrior people, and the fourth generation of the Saiyan royal bloodline to bear his namesake. He is first shown conquering a planet with his partner Nappa by listening to Raditz's fight on Earth using their scouters. The two of them travel to Earth in search of the Dragon Balls, and he ends up fighting a newly revived Goku, but retreats after persistent attacks by Yajirobe, Krillin, and Gohan. He flees to recuperate before heading off to Planet Namek to collect its Dragon Balls before Frieza can. While on Namek, Vegeta proceeds to battle and kill many of Frieza's underlings. He is later forced to team up with Gohan, Goku, Piccolo, and Krillin so they can fight off Frieza. After Frieza's defeat, Vegeta lives on Earth and forms a relationship with Bulma. When the Androids arrive, it is revealed he has fathered a son with Bulma, Trunks. Later in the series, he and Bulma have a younger child daughter named, known as Bulla in the English dub; unlike her father and brother, and despite being half-Saiyan, she does not show any interest in fighting.Trunks
first appears as a mysterious young man who easily defeats Frieza and his father King Cold prior to Goku's return to Earth from Planet Namek. It is revealed that he is Vegeta and Bulma's future child who has traveled back in time to inform Goku of the arrival of the Red Ribbon Androids that, in his time, have killed everyone else in the Dragon Team besides Goku, who died of heart disease. Trunks' backstory is detailed in The History of Trunks television special. He helps fight against the Androids and Cell before returning to his timeline. The character reappears in Dragon Ball Super to request assistance from the main timeline's heroes, and also appears in Super Dragon Ball Heroes.Just as the Androids arrived, the Trunks from the series' main timeline was born. Seven years later as a child, Trunks, already able to turn Super Saiyan at his age, fights against Majin Buu by using the fusion technique with his best friend Goten to form the composite being.