Characters.
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Son Gohan is Son Gokou's first son, named after the man that raised Son Gook 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 Gook died in the series, Son Gohan became the primary character, until Son Gook 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 Gook to Son Gohan, until Son Gook was wished back and they were both pretty much the main character.
Son Goten
Son Goten is Son Gokou's second son, and a dead ringer for Gokou when he was a little kid. At the end of the series, Son Goten was 17 and looked nothing like Son Gokou 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 Gook is the other).
Piccolo is Son Gokou's old rival. Piccolo Daimoah was killed by Son Gook, as a kid, just before Piccolo Daimoah died he spat out an egg that was to grow into an exact copy, including memories, of the original Piccolo Daimoah. The egg grew into the Piccolo we know today. Piccolo then went on to fight Son Gook 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 Piccolos, 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 Gook, 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 Gook 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 sacrificed himself to dave Son Gohan.
Vejiita is the "bad guy among the good guys." He first made his appearance back when Gohan was 4. Although he fights long side 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 Gook, 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 Gook proves to be a fairly large weakness as well. Despite 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 Gook with a passion in reality he respects his power and maybe even likes him a bit.
Trunks is Vejiita and Bulma's son. In his future, all of the Z fighters were killed by the Artificial Humans, except for Son Gook, who died of heart disease later. Trunks travels 20 years back in time to give medicine to Son Gook 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 Gook, 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 Gook. 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.
Androids #16, #17 y #18
This artificial Humans were Made by Dr. Gero, a member of the Red
Ribbon Army, to destroy Son Gook and then take revenge for his organization.
They appear after Mirai Trunks first appear. Dr. Gero made himself as an
artificial human too but #17 destroy him. The #16 is completely an android
but #17 and #18 were humans transformed in robots. The # 16 is so sensible
with the life, he is programed to destroy Son Gook but he is not as bad
as he first looks, he is bigger than the Z fighters, his hair is red and
wears green clothes. The #17 and #18 enjoy destroying everything, the first
is a teenager with black long hair that uses a red handkerchief around
his neck, and the last is a beauty young woman with long blonde hair that
dresses like Trunks does. All of them appears before Cell does. #16 and
#18 join the good guys to fight Cell. #16 is destroyed in the Cell Game
Saga and is because of this that Son Gohan reaches Super Saiyajin 2 power
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 o Ulong
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. Yamucha 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 Gook 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 Gook, 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 a lot. 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.
Kuririn a.k.a. 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. Krillin trained with Son Gook 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 Son Gook 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 Artificial 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 Gook but would not do bad things. Son Gook saved his life and became his friend, and AH #8 ("Hatchan") helped Son Gokou defeat White of the Red Ribbon Army.
Bora y 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 Gokou 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 Gook 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 Gook abandoned in his Saiyajin space capsule and took him in. Son Gook 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 Gook.
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 Chaotsu, and his master Tsurusennin. Originally he trained to be an assassin, but eventually realized that being one was not what he wanted. He beat Gokou to win the 2nd Tenkaichi-budokai, and was fairly powerful during the first series, second only to Gokou. 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 Gook 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 Gook 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.