Son Gokou
Son Goku is the generally the primary hero of all the Dragon Ball series. The original Dragon Ball series started out with Son Goku as a child of age 12. He quickly met Bulma, whom told Son Gokou of the dragon balls and the dragon god, Shenlong. After Bulma and Son GOkou set out to find the dragon balls we were quickly intrduced to the rest of the characters, Kamesennin, Krillin, Oolong, Pool, Yamucha, Tienshihan, and Chaotsu in the next ten manga books. After the original Dragon Ball series, Son Gokou grows up and his son, Son Gohan, who was the main character during the Cell game, was born. The series name then changed from Dragonball to Dragonball Z. Z, or zetto being the most powerful letter in the alphabet, the last. At the end of the Dragon Ball Z series, Son Gokou was roughly 45 years old. Son Gokou is a Saiyajin whose native world is the planet Vejiita. He was sent to Earth in a space capsule right after he was born so he could conquer the planet when he grew up. However, he hit his head and lost his Saiyajin "programming," thus becoming the kinder, gentler Son Gokou we see in the series. Son Goku was raised as a human on Earth, by a man named Son Gohan, who was later crushed and killed by Son Gokou in his "transformed" phase. And we did not learn of his true Saiyajin nature until his brother Raditz came to Earth. Later, when Son Gokou's rage was awakened by witnessing the death of his friend Krillin, his Super Saiyajin (which is a longer lasting Kaio-ken technique) power was awakened. When he goes Super Saiyajin his eyes turn green and his hair gold. Currently, Son Gokou can go to the 5th stage of Super-Saiyajin power, which he achieved much later in the Dragon Ball GT series. Son Gokou is the last remaining full-blooded Saiyajin, besides Vejiita, the rest had been destroyed by Freeza, who also destroyed the planet Vejiita, which none of the other Saiyajins seemed to care about.
Son Gohan
Son Gohan is Son Gokou's first son, named after the man that raised Son Gokou as a foster child. At the end of the Dragon Ball Z series he was 26 years old. For a short while after the second time Son Gokou died in the series, Son Gohan became the primary character, until Son Gokou was wished back again. Son Gohan is the most powerful non-fused character in the DBZ world, but lacks the love of fighting his father has and thus rarely uses his full strength. Son Gohan is a very good-natured boy like his father, hates fighting, although for a while he was more powerful. He is very polite towards just about everyone except to his enemies. Son Gohan is very bright and studies very hard, although this is somewhat due to the wishes of his very strict mother, Chichi. Son Gohan is the first character in the series to have gone Super Saiyajin 2, which is quite extraordinary considering that he is only half Saiyajin, during the Cell Game. His anger was kindled by watching his friends get beaten up by the Cell Juniors, and then the death of Artificial Human #16 sent him over the edge. It was roughly at this time that the series switched main characters from Son Gokou to Son Gohan, until Son Gokou was wished back and they were both pretty much the main character.
Son Goten
Son Goten is Son Goku's second son, and a dead ringer for Goku when he was a little kid. At the end of the series, Son Goten was 17 and looked nothing like Son Goku though. Son Goten is very powerful for someone his age, although he is a little bit naive like his father. He can fuse with Trunks to become Gotenks, one of the most powerful characters in the series. He can fuse with Trunks to become Gotenks (one of only two characters in Dragon Ball Z that can turn Super Saiyajin 3, Son Gokou is the other).
Piccolo
Piccolo is Son Gokou's old rival. Piccolo Daimoah was killed by Son Gokou, as a kid, just before Piccolo Daimoah died he spat out an egg that was to grow into an exact copt, icluding memories, of the original Piccolo Daimoah. The egg grew into the Piccolo we know today. Piccolo then went on to fight Son Gokou in the final round of the Tenka Ichi Budokai, which he subsequently lost by a very close margin. Piccolo is a native of the planet Namek, although he doesn't learn this for quite some time after his first appearance. As a Namekseijin, he can regenerate any damaged part of his body, provided his head stays intact. He can also extend the range of his arms till they're really long, and split himself into several other Picollos, although I've seen Krilin use this technique once, it is mainly a trait of Piccolo. Later, he goes to Namek to help Krillin, Son Gokou, Son Gohan, and Vejiita fight Freezer. After the Tenka Ichi Budokai, Piccolo becomes more and more of a "good guy." Eventually he becomes Son Gokou's "friend." Fairly recently he got pissed off at Trunks and Son Goten for calling Son Gokou weak. Once one of the most powerful characters in the series, he has sort of reached a "middle ground," neither weak nor strong among the Z fighters. Early in the series, right before Nappa and Vejiita cam to Earth for the dragon balls, Piccolo trained Son Gohan. Though Piccolo tried to deny it to himself, he developed a sort of big brother "love" for Son Gohan, and later sacraficed himself to dave Son Gohan.
Vejiita
Vejiita is the "bad guy among the good guys." He first made his appearance back when Gohan was 4. Although he fights longside the other Z fighters, he is still decidedly evil. As the prince of the Saiyajins, who no longer exist, he is very proud, has a huge ego, and is constantly trying to prove that he is the best fighter in the universe. Vejiita has a continuing rivalry with Son Gokou, or Kakarotto, Son Gokou's Saiyajin name, and is obsessed with beating him in combat just to show that he the stronger. This obsession with trying to be stronger than Son Gokou proves to be a fairly large weakness as well. Despites his efforts to show otherwise, Vejiita has changed and has developed a conscience, and deep down cares about his friends. Furthermore, he is also somewhat emotional at heart. He demonstrates this when dealing with his son Trunks, most notably just before he died trying to kill Majin-Buu. Although he pretends to hate Son Gokou with a passion in reality he respects his power and maybe even likes him a bit.
Trunks
Trunks is Vejiita and Bulma's son. In his future, all of the Z fighters were killed by the Artificial Humans, except for Son Gokou, who died of heart disease later. Trunks travels 20 years back in time to give medicine to Son Gokou so he can survive the disease and defeat the Artificial Humans. Trunks' returning in time alters the past in other ways which can be seen later. After giving the medicine to Son Gokou, Trunks goes back to his own time, but returns again three years later to help the Z fighters battle the Artificial Humans. During this time, he becomes extremely powerful and surpasses every other one of the Z fighters except for Son Gohan and, maybe, Son Gokou. The Trunks here, Future Trunks, whom ceased to exist after the Z fighters destroyed the Artificial Humans and Perfect Cell, and the current Trunks are radically different characters. Future Trunks is very polite like Son Gohan and has very strong values, but the current Trunks has a bad attitude and is somewhat like his father. Trunks never truly reaches the power level of his future counterpart; possibly because he lived through mostly peaceful times, whereas Future Trunks did not. Trunks eventually grew up a little. before the Dragon Ball GT series, when he gets older and starts to look exactly like Future Trunks.
Bulma
Bulma is the second character to appear in the series, and has been a major character in both DB and DBZ. She created the dragon radar which can find the location of the dragon balls by the radiation they emit, and was the one who first started the search for the dragon balls. She is also Trunks' and Bra's mother. She is a major influence on almost all of the major characters and is most notably the only character who was able to "tame" Vejiita. Mutenroshi a.k.a. Kamesennin a.k.a Jackie Chun a.k.a. MAster Roshi Mutenroshi was Son Gokou's first martial arts trainer and was once the strongest person on earth. He created the Kamehameha technique which was used the most out of any other technique in any of the Dragon Ball series. He's also incredibly perverted. He has a panty fetish and is always trying to find ways to get peeks or feels of young, beautiful women. However, he has a companion, Umigame, a sea turtle, who tries to curb his urges. Despite his perverted wishes, Mutenroshi is very old and wise, and has an excellent battle sense. Like many other characters in Dragon Ball world, Mutenroshi played his prime role in the first series.
Oolong
Oolong was one of the earliest characters to appear in the DB series. He is a small pig with the ability to change his shape to whatever he wants for 5 minutes. Then he has to rest for 1 minute before he can shape-change again. Like Mutenroshi, he is also a pervert with a panty fetish, but he is not nearly as lecherous. Yet another character whose prime importance was in the earlier series.
Pool
Pool is a floating blue cat that has the same shape changing power as Oolong. He/She has somewhat of a rivalry with Oolong left over from kindergarten. Oolong had bullied him before getting kicked out for stealing the teacher's panties. Unlike Oolong, Pooalu can do a true change, and does not need to rest every 5 minutes. Pooalu is also a friend of Yamucha's. He has always served as somewhat of a minor character in both series, although he has had his high points.
Yamucha
One of the first characters to appear in the series, Yamucha was originally Son Gokou's enemy, but soon became friends with him. Yamcha is characterized by a constantly changing hairstyle and an intense fear of women (at least at the beginning). He was somewhat of an important character during the first series but less so in the second, being the weakest of all the Z fighters.
Gyumao a.k.a Ox King
Gyumao was Kamesennin's second best student, next to Son Gohan, Son Gokou's grandfather. Son Gokou named his son after his grandfather, so don't get confused. He is a very large man who is always characterized by wearing a horned helmet. He appeared early in the series, during the first search for the dragon balls. He is also the father of Chichi.
Chichi
Chichi is Gyumao's daughter, who also first appeared about the same time as he did. After the first time we see Gyumao and Chichi they don't reappear for a long time (in the manga). The next time we see Chichi, she gets married to Son Gokou, he promised that he would marry her when they were both young. Therefore, she is also Son Gohan and Son Goten's mother. Her distinguishing trait is her temper, she gets mad alot. She is a very overprotective mother, which is probably justified in that her son is constantly drawn into fights against some of the toughest people in the universe.
Krillin
Krillin is Son Gokou's best friend, and has been around since the first manga book of the first series. He is a fighting monk who leaves his temple to find and train with Mutenroshi. He is kind of short, has no nose and throughout most of the series, has no hair either. Kulilin trained with Son Gokou under Mutenroshi and afterwards shared many adventures with him. Krillin has died more times than anyone else in the series. He is one of the weaker fighters, but this is partially due to his low self-confidence. Nevertheless, he has gotten fairly powerful due to all his fights with the really powerful enemies, and I think is the next strongest Z fighter after Piccolo.
Lunch
A young, naive girl that Don Gokou and Krillin saved to bring to Kamesennin. She stayed at the Kame House during the first series, acting as somewhat of a housekeeper. Normally she is a polite, good-natured girl with dark hair, but whenever she sneezes, her hair turns blond and she becomes a psychotic criminal, until later in the series. When Lunch sneezes again, she changes back to herself.
Artificial Human #8
The first Artifical Human in the Dragon Ball series, Artificial Human #8 first appeared during the first series, and bears a resemblance to the Frankenstein Monster. Made by Dr Gero of the Red Ribbon Army, he was supposed to kill Son Gokou but would not do bad things. Son Gokou saved his life and became his friend, and AH #8 ("Hatchan") helped Son Goku defeat White of the Red Ribbon Army.
Bora and Upa
Bora is a big man that guards Karin's tower, and Upa is his son. They have Son Gokou's 4-star Dragon Ball, and appear during the Red Ribbon saga. Bora is killed by Taopaipai, sparking a quest where Upa joins Son Goku to find the dragon balls to revive him. After the first series, we don't see Bora and Upa again until the very end of Dragon Ball Z during the fight with Original Buu.
Karin-sama
A very old, wise cat which lives high on the top of Karin Tower. It is there that he grows the Senzu seeds, magic beans that heal and energize whoever ate them, plus each seed is worth 10 days of food when eaten. Karin-sama also has the Choushinsui, a magical but very poisonous tea that grants a large power-up to whoever drinks it and survives.
Uranai-no-Baba
Uranai-no-Baba is Mutenroshi's older sister, who runs a fortune telling business. For 10,000,000 zeni (the Dragon Ball world's currency) you can have your fortune told, or else you have to beat 5 of her fighters to have the future told. She also has the power to allow someone to come back from the dead for one day. She does this for Son Gohan (Gokou's "grandfather") and Son Gokou later on.
Son Gohan
Sorry if this confuses you, there are 2 Son Gohans in the series. This one is Son Gokou's "grandfather" who found Son Gokou abandoned in his Saiyajin space capsule and took him in. Son Gokou squashed Son Gohan flat when he turned into a giant monkey, when the moon was full (Mutenroshi destroyed the moon later on). Son Gohan comes back from the dead in the series as one of Uranai no Baba's 5 fighters to talk to Son Gokou.
Tenshinhan
Tenshinhan is a 3-eyed man who was a student of Mutenroshi's rival Tsurusennin, from whom he learned a lot of interesting techniques. He can communicate telepathically with his best friend Chaozu, and his master Tsurusennin. Originally he trained to be an assassin, but eventually realized that being one was not what he wanted. He beat Goku to win the 2nd Tenkaichi-budokai, and was fairly powerful during the first series, second only to Goku. Recently, though, he has taken a subordinate role in the series like Yamucha. Next to Yamucha, he is probably the weakest Z fighter.
Chaotsu
A small, pastel-white floating child, and friend of Tenshinhan. Like Tenshinhan, Chaotsu is a student of Tsurusennin, and competed in the second Tenka Ichi Budokai in the series. Chaotsu is a fairly good fighter, but is not very good at math; this proves to be his weakness. He is tied with Krillin for the most number of deaths in the series. And he has exactly one more hair than Krillin, until Krillin grows his hair out.
Yajirobe
A friend of Son Gokou's and a minor character in the series who carried Son Gokou up Karin tower during the time when the old Piccolo Daimoah was around. For some reason he decided to stay there. He occasionally comes down to supply Senzu seeds. Normally a coward, he occasionally does something brave, like attacking Vejiita and cutting off his tail. He is a fairly good fighter in his own right but not up to the standards of Son Gokou and the others.
Mister Popo
Mister Popo is a short, jet-black humanoid with a turban who lives up in the Tenkai and is a servant to whoever is the current Kami of earth. He's been there since even before Kami-sama was there, and is fairly strong, though nowhere near as powerful as any of the other Z fighters.
Kami-Sama
Kami-sama, the god of Earth, created Shenlong and the Earth dragon balls. He is a Namek-seijin like Piccolo. Actually, he is Piccolo. He cast away all his evil into the old Piccolo Daimoah. Therefore, if Piccolo dies, so does he. Kami-sama lives in the Tenkai, a floating palace high above Karin's tower, where he can look down and see what is happening on earth. He no longer exists, having fused with Piccolo to give him a large power-up so he could fight Cell.
Enma-sama
Enma-sama is a huge man that guards the entrance to the afterworld. He sits at a desk and sends all the spirits that come there to either Tenkoku (heaven) or Jigoku. (hell) He plays a fairly minor role in the series but often deals with what happens to dead main characters, allowing them to return to Earth, etc. Note that Enma is actually a figure from Shinto religion, the King of the Afterworld.
Kaio-sama a.k.a. King Kai
Kaio-sama (King Kai) One of four Kaios, beings from each corner of the galaxy who monitor activity in their sector of the galaxy. He lives on a ridiculously small planet at the end of a long road in heaven (Snake Way). He has a pet monkey Bubbles and in the TV series, a pet insect of some sort, Gregory. The first time Son Gokou died, he trained with Kaio-sama and learned the Kaio-ken and Genki-dama. Kaio's planet was destroyed when Cell blew up on it.
Dende
Dende is Kami-sama's successor as the god of Earth. Like Piccolo and Kami-sama, he is also a Namek-seijin, and is even younger than Son Gohan. Son Gohan and Krillin first met Dende on their trip to Namek-sei to gather the Namek Dragon Balls. He has the power to heal injuries by laying his hands on the injured, and created more powerful Dragon Balls on Earth that can grant three wishes.
Nail
A minor character during the Namek-sei episodes, Nail is the bodyguard of Saichoryo, the planet's elder and source of life for the Dragon Balls. He fused with Piccolo to give him a power-up to fight Freezer. Artificial Humans #17 and #18 These two Artifical Humans were also created by Dr. Gero to kill Son Gokou. They are twin brother and sister, #17 being a man with long black hair, and #18 being a girl with blond hair. In Trunks' future, they are both very much "bad guys," having wiped out most of the population of Earth. However during the altered timeline they are less destructive, focusing just on killing just Son Gokou. They end up joining the Z fighters to fight Cell, as Cell wanted to absorb both of them. Cell absorbed both, which was the last time we ever see or hear of #17 until the very end of the manga series, but Cell eventually spits out #18. Later on after Cell is killed, then #18 marries Krillin and they have a child, Maron.
Artificial Human #16
Artificial Human #16 is a very large robotic man with a red mohawk and green armor. He was made by Dr. Gero to kill Son Gokou as revenge for destroying the Red Ribbon Army, but joined the Z fighters to fight Cell. He is normally very quiet and introverted, and possesses a strong love and respect for nature and life. His death at the hands of Cell was what triggered Son Gohan to go Super Saiyajin 2 for the first time.
Mr. Satan
Mr. Satan Used mostly as comic relief, Mr. Satan is the "hero of earth," taking credit for having killed Cell and saving the planet. Among "normal" Earthlings, he is fairly strong, but in reality he is a weakling and a coward. However, he performs the occasional heroic action, and occasionally manages to save the rest of the Z fighters by some minor action. He is also one of the only characters in the Dragon Ball series who has never died.
Videl
Videl is Mr. Satan's daughter, and is the same age as Son Gohan. While not nearly as strong as any of the other Z fighters, she is a lot better than her father. She is in Son Gohan's high school class and uncovers his identity of "Great Saiyaman." Eventually she and Son Gohan get married. Note, look at her name= Videl= deVil
Maron
Maron is Kulilin and #18's daughter with a very round head and pigtails. She plays a very minor role in the series. (in fact, we don't even learn her name until long after she is first introduced) There's not too much more I can think of to say about her.
(East) Kaio-shin
Kaio-shin is one of four gods of the Kaios. Most of the other Kaio-shins were killed off by Majin-Buu, and one was imprisoned within the Z Sword. (we actually get to see this one) Kaio-shin then traveled to Earth to stop Babidi from reviving Buu, and enlists the help of the Z fighters. However, his plan to stop the revival backfires...
Kibito
Kibito is Kaio-shin's assistant. He has the power to heal wounds with his hands much like Dende. He plays a fairly minor role in the Dragon Ball Z series. Eventually using 15-dai-mae Kaio-shin's earrings, he fuses with Kaio-shin permanently.
Majin-Buu
Majin-Buu was one of the strongest villians in the Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z universe, but he eventually became a good guy. He has gone through more different forms than Freezer and Cell combined. The first Buu is fat Buu, a fat, round pink man with a cape and the mind of a baby, but is very strong. When he got really angry, the smoke that came out of his head changed into Skinny Buu. Fat Buu (who became a good guy around this point) tried to change him into a chocolate, but Skinny Buu blew the blast back at him. Fat Buu turned into a chocolate, Skinny Buu ate him, and turned into Super Buu. 15 Dai-mae Kaio-shin (lit. Kaio-shin from 15 generations ago) 15 Dai-mae Kaio-shin was the Kaio-shin trapped in the Z Sword. When it broke, he was released. Like Mutenroshi, he is a real pervert, but he has an interesting skill he can give a huge power-up to anyone who can sit through a 25-hour power-up. He uses this skill to make Son Gohan the most powerful non-fused character in the series.
Gotenks
Gotenks Using the Fusion, Goten and Trunks can fuse into Gotenks. Gotenks is very powerful, second only to Gohan and Vegitt, and also is the only character other than Goku that can change to Super Saiyajin 3. However, he has a huge ego which gets him in trouble. Gotenks is often used as comic relief as well.
Vegito
When Goku and Vejiita fuse with the Potara earings, they become Vegito (Vejiita+Son Gokou=Vegito), the most powerful character in the DBZ world. Like Gotenks, Vegito has a huge ego.
Gojita
Just a different form of a fusion between Vejiita and Son Gokou. He wears white pants and a vest.
Pan
Pan is Son Gohan and Videl's daughter. She first appears in the last two installments of the manga before it ended. Needless to say, we never get to learn a lot about her before the series ends. She looks just like Videl did at 16, just a lot smaller. She's pretty tough in a fight for her age and size, and certainly has the potential to become fairly strong. She is one of the main characters later in the Dragon Ball GT series.
Bra
Bra is Trunks' little sister. She looks like a carbon copy of Bulma when we first see her way back in Dragon Ball manga book #1, only much smaller. Like Pan, she only appears in the last two installments of the manga and only speaks a single line in those installments so it's tough to say much about her.
Uub
Uub is a polite little kid with a mohawk, another character who doesn't appear until the very end of the series. Actually, he is the reincarnation of Original Buu. (Uub=Buu backwards) He is very powerful for a human his age. At the end of the series, Uub goes back to his home town with Son Gokou, who is going to train him.
The "Bad Guys"
Pilaf, Shuu, and Mai
These are the first set of villains presented in the DB world (on TV, that is; in the manga the Usagi-dan came first) Pilaf is a small blue imp determined to rule the world. Shuu and Mai are his underlings. Shuu is an anthropomorphic animal in a ninja costume who looks like a fox, and Mai is a woman with long black hair. None of them pose any direct physical danger to the good guys, (although they once imprisoned them in a death trap and later released the old Piccolo). There are very comic characters in general. In the beggining od the Dragon Ball GT series Pilaf uses the Dragon Balls to turn Son Gokou back into a kid, it is unknown why he did this. That sparked the Dragon Ball GT series where chibi Son Gokou, Pan, and Trunks look for the black dragon balls, which are scattered around the galxay.
The Usagi-Dan
The Usagi-Dan is a group of people who run around in rabbit ears and terrorize the peace loving populace. Their oyabun is a large rabbit with sunglasses named Toninjinka, whose touch can turn you into a carrot. (Oyabun is a leader of the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia) In one episode of the series (2 manga installments) they stood in Son Gokou's way, turning Bulma into a carrot, but were eventually stopped with Yamucha's help. Son Gokou then took them to the moon using his Nyoibo, so I guess they technically died when Mutenroshi blew up the moon.
The Red Ribbon Army
The Red Ribbon Army is another populace-terrorizing organization, set on finding the dragon balls so that the leader can make himself taller. They played a major part in the first series, as Son Gokou singlehandedly opposed them. The important members of the Red Ribbon are: Red Sosui; The leader of the Red Ribbon army, Red Sosui is a very short man who is very hung up on his height. He secretly wants the dragon balls to become taller. He despises failure and executes any of his soldiers who fails on the spot. Black Hosa; While Red is the leader of the Army, the true coordinator of everything is Black. Black is Red's top advisor and the trainer of the army forces. He is really idealistic and wants to see the Red Ribbon Army conquer the world. Silver Taisa; Silver Taisa is one of the officers of the Red Ribbon in charge of searching for the dragon balls. He is fairly strong, but is no match for Son Gokou. White Shogun; The head of Muscle Tower, White Shogun terrorizes the north section of the world, focusing his efforts on Jingle Village, a nearby town. Metallic Gunso; A robotic man who mans one of the floors of Muscle tower. He is quite tough and can take a lot of punishment. Murasaki Socho; A ninja who is very fast and has lots of tricks up his sleeve. He serves as one of the top commandants of Muscle Tower, second only to White. Buyon; Well, not a real member of the Red Ribbon Army, Buyon is a rubber-like monster who lives in Muscle tower. Blue Shogun; One of the strongest members of the Red Ribbon Army, Blue Shogun can fight and has psychic ability to back it up. Of all the officers of the Red Ribbon army, he was a threat for the longest period of time. Violet Taisa; We never get to see much of this character. She's a woman with short hair. She appears in one panel, so there's not much to say about her. Yellow Taisa; Yellow is an anthropomorphic tiger. He attempted an assault on Seichi Karin but was foiled by Son Gokou and Bora. Copper Shogun; We never get to see this character, he's only mentioned, but since he's a Shogun, he has to be important in some way to the Army. Son Gokou almost singlehandedly defeats the Red Ribbon Army. One of the scientists of the Army, Doctor Gero, survived, however and caused lots of problems for Son Goku and company during Dragon Ball Z.
Taopaipai
Taopaipai is a hired killer for the Red Ribbon Army, and the only one of them who could ever beat Son Gokou in a one-on-one fight. Son Gokou seemingly killed Taopaipai, but he returned six years later as a half-cyborg to compete in the Tenka Ichi Budokai. After his subsequent defeat at the hands of Tenshinhan, he was never seen again in the manga, although he returned for an episode in the TV series right before the Cell Game.
Tsurusennin
Tsurusennin is an old man who trained together with Mutenroshi under Mutaito when they both were younger. He is also the older brother of Taopaipai. He and Taopaipai created their own school of martial arts, and together they trained Tenshinhan and Chaotsu. He is very angry at Son Gokou for killing Taopaipai and wants to get revenge against all of the Kamesennin school. Later he also gets a grudge against Tenshinhan and Chaotsu for defecting to Kamesennin's side.
Piccolo Daimoah
Piccolo-Daimao and his henchman Piccolo-Daimao (Kami-sama's evil side) was released by Pilaf during the second Tenka Ichi Budokai in the series, and attempted to conquer the world with his henchman, Tamborine, Cymbal, Piano, and Drum. He used the dragon balls to restore his youth and strength, and afterwards held the entire world prisoner until he was killed by Son Gokou. In the last moments before he died, he spat out an egg that hatched into the "new" Piccolo, the one that became a "good guy" in the second TV series.
Raditz
Raditz is the first villain to appear in the second series. He is Son Gokou's older brother, and traveled to Earth to see whether or not his brother Kakaroto had conquered the planet. Upon learning of Son Gokou's "deprogramming," Raditz demanded that Son Goku kill 100 Earthlings and show the bodies to him, or else he would kill Son Gohan, who was only 4 at the time. Son Goku and Piccolo chased after him, and after a battle, managed to kill him. However, Son Gokou sacrificed himself by holding Raditz in place while Piccolo could attack, and was killed in the same blow.
Nappa and the Saibamen
Nappa is a large, bald Saiyajin who was Vegita's caretaker as a child, and the general of the Saiyajin Army, which also no longer exists, and came to Earth the same time he did. The Saibaimen were seeds that Nappa brought with him to earth that could hatch into small fighting humanoids when planted in the ground. The Saibaimen killed Yamucha, but were then all the rest except for one were destroyed by Krillin. Piccolo picked up the last one. However, Nappa then managed to kill Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Piccolo before Son Gokou could come back from Kaio-sama's to help. Son Gokou almost defeated Nappa, who was promptly killed by Vejiita for his failure.
Kyui
Kyui is a henchman of Freezer, the evil mastermind of the Namek-sei storyline, and an old rival of Vejiita. (Vegita, Nappa, and Raditz were also henchmen of Freezer as well.) He informed Vejiita that Freezer was going to Namek-sei to find the dragon balls and make himself immortal. Vejiita then went to Namek-sei himself to use the dragon balls himself. Kyui followed in an attempt to stop him, but Vejiita killed him.
Zabon and Dodoria
Zabon and Dodoria are Freezer's two top henchman. Dodoria is a large, bloated alien with a spiky head, and Zabon is an alien that looks like a human but has the ability to transform into a powerful reptilian-like creature. They had traveled to Namek-sei to assist Freezer in his search for the dragon balls. While chasing Son Gohan, Dodoria ran into Vejiita and was killed by him. Zarbon likewise ran into Vejiita in a search for a dragon ball, but when Vejiita attacked him, transformed into his reptilian form and won. However, at their second confrontation, Vejiita killed Zabon.
The Ginyu-tokusentai
When Vejiita, Son Gohan, and Krillin started causing trouble on Namek-sei, Freezer called the Ginyu-tokusentai, a five-man elite fighting force. They are fairly famous throughout the galaxy and often show off in (ridiculous) battle formations. The members of the Ginyu-tokusentai are: Guld; a small, four-eyed creature with the ability to stop time, Jiisu; a human-like being with long hair, Baata; a reptilian humanoid, Rikuumu, a very large humanoid who can take alot of punishment, and the leader Ginyu; who has the power to change bodies with his target. Guld and Jiisu were killed by Vejiita, Rikuumu and Baata were beaten by Son Gokou, and then immediately killed by Vejiita, and Ginyu was effectively stopped when Son Gokou threw a frog into his body-changing beam, thus turning him into a frog.
Freezer Freezer is probably one of the three most important villains during all of the Dragon Ball Z series; he was the major bad guy for nearly eight manga volumes and roughly 40 TV episodes, and the actual fight against Freezer was the longest, most drawn-out battle in the entire series. Freezer is an alien bent on controlling the entire universe, and wanted to make himself immortal using the Namek dragon balls. He is also the leader of a large fighting squadron. Freezer has the ability to transform himself three times with each form more powerful than the last. After his final transformation, he killed Dende and Vejiita before Son Gokou could come and fight him. Son Gokou apparently killed him with a Genki-Dama, but he survived and killed Krillin, upon which Son Gokou went Super Saiyajin for the first time. Again, Son Gokou apparently killed Freezer, but he managed to survive to come back to Earth as a half-cyborg one year later. However, when Freezer came to Earth, Trunks made his first appearance and finished him off for good.
Cold Cold is Freezer's father, who played a minimal role in the series. He came to Earth with Freezer, but was killed by Trunks very quickly. We don't learn very much about him.
Artificial humans #19 and #20 As revenge for destroying the Red Ribbon Army, Dr. Gelo constructed #19 and #20 for the sole purpose of killing Son Gokou. #19 is a fat robot with holes in the palms of his hands with which he can absorb energy, either by absorbing energy blasts, or by grabbing someone and sucking out their life energy directly. #20 is actually Dr. Gero's brain in a robot body, with powers similar to those of #19. Neither of them had the power to stand up to a Super Saiyajin, though. #19 was killed by Vejiita. After being beaten badly by Piccolo, #20 (Dr. Gero) retreated to his lab where he activated #17 and #18, who killed him almost as soon as they were awake.
Cell Cell is Dr. Gero's "Ultimate Artificial Human, made up of the cells of Son Gokou, Vejiita, Piccolo, and Freezer, all collected during their various battles on Earth by a spy robot. He has a long tail with which he can absorb humans and take their energy. If he absorbs #17 or #18, then he changes his shape and gets a huge power up. If he manages to absorb both, then he goes "Kanzentai," his perfect form. He manages to do this and becomes complete organic from obsorbing so many human and so powerful that none of the Z fighters can come even close. Cell is in many ways very similar to Son Gokou, in that he lives to fight strong opponents. Hoping to have a fun battle, he holds the Cell Game, a tournament like the Tenka IchiBudokai. He says that if nobody can beat him in a one-on-one fight, he will destroy the Earth. Son Gokou tries to beat Cell but could not, so he makes Son Gohan fight him instead. Son Gohan manages to kill Cell, but not before Cell kills Son Goku.
Cell Juniors During the Cell Game, in an attempt to make Son Gohan angry enough to show his true power, Cell creates the Cell Juniors to beat up Son Gohan's friends. Although the Z fighters fight well to start with, the Cell Juniors have incredible constitutions and start beating badly. Eventually Cell's plan works and Son Gohan gets so angry that he goes Super Saiyajin 2, and kills every one of the Cell Juniors without so much as a scratch.
Madoshi Babidi and his henchmen
Madoshi Babidi is an old wizard, son of Bibidi who created Majin-Buu. He intends to revive Buu and sends two of his henchman, Supopobitchi and Yamu to the Tenkaichi-budokai to get energy to help, and they take Son Gohan's. Babidi also has two other minor henchmen, Puipui and Yakon. Puipui and Yakon are killed by Vejiita and Son Gokou respectively, and Babidi and Puipui kill Supopobitchi and Yamu when their usefulness runs out. Eventually Babidi revives Buu and controls him for a while, but Buu eventually tires of taking orders and kills him.
Dabura
Dabura is the King of the Demon World, who is Babidi's right-hand man. Babidi has the power to control those with evil hearts so he controlled Dabura, the most powerful evil being, except for Vejiita. Dabura is fairly powerful, his spit can turn people to stone and he did turn Piccolo and Krillin to stone. However, once Buu was revived Dabura made the mistake of insulting him. He was promptly beaten to a pulp, and then changed into a cookie and eaten.
Super Buu
Super Buu is the most powerful bad guy in all of Dragon Ball Z. He looks like Fat Buu without the cape and the fat, and he stops using kid's Japanese. He also is very evil. He kills every person on the planet except for Trunks, Son Goten, Piccolo, Dende, Satan, Tenshinhan, and Chaotsu. He can change his form by absorbing people and can adopt their powers. He absorbes Gotenks, Piccolo, and Son Gohan this way. Eventually he gets all the people he ever absorbed pulled out of him and turns into Original Buu, who looks like a child version of Super Buu.
Original Buu
Original Buu is the final form of Majin-Buu we get to see. The first form of Majin-Buu without anybody absorbed, he possesses merely animal intelligence being unable to speak outside of growls, but is still extremely dangerous. Original Buu is slightly weaker than default-unfused Super Buu, which allowed Son Gokou, Vejiita, and Fat Buu to stand a chance against him, Gotenks and Son Gohan being "incapacitated" at the moment. With some help from Satan, everybody on Earth, and the dragon balls, Son Goku was able to make a Genki-dama strong enough to defeat him.
Other Characters and Neutral or Minor Characters
Shenlong
Shen-Long is the dragon god. When all 7 Dragon Balls are brought together and the words "Ide yo, Doragon!" (Come out Dragon) are said, he comes out and grants the first wish asked of him. Shenlong can never grant the same wish twice; this became a big deal in the second series, as hero deaths were fairly common and nobody could be revived twice. For the most part, bringing back dead people is the usual wish, too. After Dende becomes the Earth's Kami, he powers up the dragon Balls so they can grant more wishes.
Porunga
This is the Namek-sei equivalent of Shenlong. He looks much different than Shenlong. He is much bigger and is sort of like the upper torso of a dragon-like humanoid, rather than a long Eastern Dragon. Porunga's powers differ slightly than Shenlong's; he cannot bring large numbers of people back from the dead at once, but he can grant three wishes and can grant the same wish more than once. Later Porunga gains a power-up so that he can bring large numbers of people back to life in one wish.
The Announcer/Judge at the Tenka Ichi Budokai
The Announcer of the Tenka Ichi Budokai has been the same for all five in the entire series. He's a man with blond hair and sunglasses. After the second Budokai he grew a moustache. He considers the Tenkaichi-Budokai "his" he gets really distraught at having it destroyed (very common when Son Gokou and his friends fight) and at having nothing but boring fights held there. That's why he's so happy at having Son Gohan and the others compete there after 17 years of "boring" Budokais
The people of Jingle village
When Son Gokou's plane crashed in the snowy regions and knocked him unconscious, a girl from Jingle village, Snow saved him from freezing to death. She told him about the imprisoned elder in Muscle tower, thus starting Son Gokou's first major encounter with the Red Ribbon Army. While most of the people from the village remain unnamed they were an important part of the story line for a while. We get to see them all again at the very end of the second series. We don't actually get to learn Snow's name until then either.
Brief and Bulma's mother
Brief is Bulma's father, but we never learn Bulma's mother's name. Brief is the head of the Capsule Corporation, the company that makes the Hoipoi capsules that turn into big things like cars and houses. Both Brief and Bulma's mother make appearances every once in a while throughout both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, but aren't really major characters. Occasionally Brief will make some important invention, though.
Uranai-no-baba's champions
If you can't pay Uranai-no-baba's fee for seeing the future, you have to fight her champions. They are: Draculaman; a vampire with boxing gloves who can turn into a bat and hates garlic and crosses (of course), Suke; an invisible man, Miira; a mummy that can use his bandages as a tool, and Akkuman; a devil-man who can fly and can use the evil in people's hearts to make them explode. We never learn who her fifth champion was usually but when Son Gokou came it was Son Gohan, his adopted grandfather.
The Kokuoo (King)
An anthropomorphic animal of some sort, he rules the land and lives in King Castle. When Piccolo Daimao revived, the Kokuoo became a primary target. Piccolo Daimao forced the Kokuoo to give the country to him, and thus took over the world until he could be defeated.
The Saichoryo of Nameck-sei
The Saichoryo of Nameck-sei is like Kami-sama; he created the Namek Dragon Balls, and they are bound to his life force. Therefore, if he dies, the dragon balls disappear. The first Saichoryo had the power to power-up people just through touch, he powered-up Krillin, Son Gohan, and Dende this way. After he died, the elder of what was Dende's village, Muri, became the Saichoryo of the new Nameck-sei.