Who Can Name These Dragon Ball Z Characters?
- by Edward Cambro
- – on
- in Movies and TV
When the anime wave hit, it hit hard. That was because of the Kamehameha blast to the senses that was the ever-growing but deceptively simple Dragon Ball franchise. Full of color and bizarre characters, big emotion, dynamic action scenes, along with a great sense for high-concept, overdramatic fantasy, Dragon Ball has been a hit virtually everywhere it’s been introduced and has changed popular art and storytelling in animation and comic books. Even now, just over 20 years since it was introduced in America, a new generation of fans are discovering it thanks to Dragan Ball Super, while the fans who grew up with it are returning to the fold. And, to be fair, many of them never left in the first place.
That said, the franchise has been chugging along for decades and boasted a cast that may even dwarf The Simpsons. To ask our audience to, in the end, name every single character would be a nigh-impossible. It would take too long to write and too long to play. For this quiz, we’ve selected a diverse group of characters from the most famous era of the franchise (Dragon Ball Z) and its current iteration (Dragon Ball Super). It’s as fair as it gets, except for a wild card or two. Good luck.
Name this character:
We might as well start off strong. This is the central figure of the Dragon Ball Z franchise and usually the first person to discover a new transformational form, scaling his power-level to unseen heights. Remember his brother Raditz at the beginning of Z? Raditz had a power level of 1,500 while this character had a power level of 416. These days, Raditz is dead and his little brother currently as a power level around 150,000,000. Isn’t it just the worst when one sibling totally outshines the other?
Name this character:
She’s the only character on the show who thinks logically and has any common sense. She’s a brilliant scientist and voice of reason. While she isn’t a fighter, her inventions and gadgets have aided the Z-fighters for decades in-universe time. She’s fixed Scouters, created dragon ball locators and built rockets capable of sending people from Earth to Namek. Sure, she could be vain and shrill, but nobody’s perfect. And when it comes to a character who provides this much to the overall story, it’s easily overlooked. Also, she fought a giant alien crab underwater once.
Name this character:
Ahh, Dragon Ball’s answer to Kenny McCormick. Along with Bulma and Goku, he is the franchise’s longest running character. They all met and played together as children. There’s even an adorable episode of Dragon Ball where kid Goku and him were dressed in proto-pimp suits. Sadly, over the years, he’s frequently been killed. It’s a long, suffering-filled life. Then he became a beat-cop and still managed to make a fool of himself. In the end, things worked out in his favor. He came back to life for the umpteenth time, used a dragon ball wish for some hair rather than a cure for cancer, and has a hot wife.
Name this character:
The famed and (ahem) flamboyant Ginyu force was Frieza in-case-of-emergency-break-glass soldiers. Their power levels and special abilities were far and away superior to Zarbon and Dodoria. Originally introduced in ominous shadows, the Ginyu Force turned out to be very…eccentric. Powerful. But eccentric. This is the leader of the Ginyu Force, known for his sense of spectacle and theatricality. He’s also able to body-swap. He did it to Goku to save his own life. He then jumped into the body of a frog to escape. It didn’t work out so well.
Name this character:
For a guy who has devoted himself so strictly to martial arts, he probably should be more powerful. Then again, with all the Saiyans running around, plus that cat-god guy, it’s pretty easy to get lost in the shuffle. And that’s a real shame for this character. A man so devoid of humor he’s actually funny. A character who is immediately interesting due to his extra eye (in case anyone didn’t notice it) and the fact that he can grow back limbs. He’s apparently the only human who can do that!
Name this character:
This character begs so many questions be answered. Like several other characters on the show, he’s an anthropomorphized animal. How did he come to be? We’ve seen characters eat meat—including pork—before, so there are pigs and not all of them are sentient like this character. How does he navigate the world then? What is it like going shopping and to see his cousins packaged and ready to cook? How do other people treat him? Do they want to eat him? Capture and study him?
Name this character:
Krillin is often made fun of for being weak and getting killed off a lot. This character, however, is simply made fun of. Going from a reasonably powerful character to being, well, not often even called up when the planet/galaxy/universe is in turmoil. He simply just couldn’t keep up and basically retired. The fact that the Dragon Ball FighterZ game made him an incredibly powerful character just goes to show how many in-jokes the devs made and how much affection they clearly have for the series.
Name this character:
She’s the Adrian to Goku’s Rocky. Yes, she’s his brunette wife who always tells him he can’t win, shouldn’t do something, or generally kill whatever fun and joy she can possibly find. But I can see where she’s coming from. It’s not exactly like Goku has been the most stable, present or competently adult husband and father. He routinely does disappear off to fight and has taught his kids to do the same. I get where this character’s lack of humor comes from. Also, Jamie Chung is a cutie.
Name this character:
Well, this is rather confusing. Despite being an old man for, well, the entire length of the franchise, it turns out the old perv was never actually reading girly magazines. He simply switched the covers out with martial arts books and was devoting himself to practice off-screen and nobody noticed until he debuted his Max Power transformation (unrelated to the Simpsons character or superhero of the same name), which turned him into an elderly Schwarzenegger. We could complain about the sloppiness of this retcon all day, but really, this isn’t the type of show to think too hard about.
Name this character:
This Super Namekian was the main antagonist of one of the many DBZ movies. He was born with the “evil gene” (cue Doctor Hibbert: Well, only one in two million people has what we call the evil gene. Hitler had it. Walt Disney had it. And Freddy Quimby has it.”). To drive the point home, he wears a black hood and has a scar over his eye. His plan was just to cause a tsuris on Earth, but after learning about the dragon balls, wanted to collect them so he could wish for eternal youth.
Name this character:
Most people wouldn’t expect that round, out of shape, huffing and puffing mess to be a member of the svelte, manicured and elite Ginyu Force, but here we are. The guy isn’t even all that powerful, but he does have an incredibly valuable power: when he holds his breath, he can stop time. Add a little bit of telekinesis and he could simply throw a knife in the skull of a frozen enemy leagues more powerful than him and they wouldn’t be able to do a thing to stop him.
Name this character:
This is one of the many versions of Buu. No, this isn’t giving the answer away because, well, they’re kinda like Frieza's forms: there’s a lot of them and there’s little chance to remember them all. Clearly, this version isn’t the one who looks like a combination of Kirby and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. This diminutive Buu is powerful, smart and completely unhinged. However, he doesn’t do this out of any specific malintent. He’s just trying to have fun, which means causing destruction, but doesn’t understand how that destruction negatively effects people.
Name this character:
He’s both John Conner and Kyle Reese! In a now-averted future, Doctor Gero’s androids murdered virtually everyone. Bulma—again, the only character with common sense—built a time machine and sent her son—this gentleman with the cool jacket—and sent him back to warn the Z-team of the Gero, the creation of the androids, and to give Goku a cure for his heart problem that would have killed him before the android battle. This character eventually, I don’t know, evaporated into time. Eventually Bulma and Vegeta rocked the casbah and we met this character again. Only he’s a kid now.
Name this character:
Not to spread the stereotype, but all Saiyans look the same. This character was the lead antagonist in the DBZ movie “The Tree of Might.” He does mention to Gohan that he indeed “resembles” Goku; rather, they’re identical, except this character has a tan. It has been widely speculated but never confirmed that he is Goku’s uncle, clearly on his father’s side. Of course, Goku killed this character with a Spirit Bomb before ever getting a definitive answer, and though he has cameoed in Hell from time to time, his connection to Goku, if any, has never been revealed.
Name this character:
Goku’s first born son followed, at least for a while, the great Saiyan tradition that finds the next generation is always more powerful than the last. The sky was the limit on his potential, having even given Vegeta and Frieza a hard time when the kid was only 10. He even played a key role in the death of Cell and was likely to become the new lead character of the series following one of Goku’s deaths. Fans complained and Goku’s death was reversed (an “Optimus Prime-ing”) and this character has mostly led a normal life since.
Name this character:
As revealed in the manga, this character—the largest member of the Ginyu Force—practiced ballet (or whatever alien equivalent) as a child; pink tutu and all, for some reason. It’s made him nimble in battle despite his size. It also makes him the most flamboyant of the Ginyu Force, which is really saying something. By the end of his fight with Goku, Gohan and to a lesser extent, Krillin, this Ginyu force member’s uniform and armor were torn to shreds. He died with his face in the dirt and his bare-behind exposed and up in the air; also known as the American taxpayer position.
Name this character:
Sometimes the monster someone builds destroys them. This was the case with Dr. Gero and his androids. Specifically this one. He killed Dr. Gero when the old man wouldn’t allow for things like curiosity. He and his twin sister began quite a reign of terror, though they did both switch sides eventually. He was brainwashed into becoming evil again, briefly, but it worked out. He’s now a park ranger, is married and has kids. I’m not really sure how an android can have biologically created children, but hey, whatever.
Name this character:
Remember when I mentioned that Krillin got himself an attractive wife? Yeah. This is her. Somehow that schlub got her. Sure, I’m not certain she had a lot of interest in the dating world considering she was one of Gero’s androids who wanted to torture humanity until the end of time. Then again, we all come with baggage, so it’s best to keep an open mind when on a date with someone. Anyway, she’s a good guy now, with a family. That isn’t to say she hasn’t gotten into some scraps since then—she still packs quite a wallop—but she’s calmed down since her days of genocidal ideation.
Name this character:
After all these years, I still don’t know what to make of this creature. Is he human? Is he a child? He was drawn to resemble Chinese vampires, but I’m not sure what, if anything, that has to do with the character himself. Though he is a member of the Z-Fighters, he doesn’t have much to do and doesn’t receive that much development, despite debuting in the small and simpler original Dragon Ball series. I don’t know what else to say. In the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, Krillin defeated him. It was partially an accident.
Name this character:
Going by his large, pinned eyes, I’d say that Lord Slug’s henchman here is fond of the Ritalin. Perhaps if he found all the dragon balls himself he might have wished for a large stash (literally asking a dragon to allow him to chase another kind of dragon). Anyway, like most lackies in fiction, he’s not particularly smart and strong, save for his absorption and cloning abilities. Of course, it didn’t work on Goku, who killed him with a punch to the spine.
Name this character:
He is, without a doubt, the single best villain in the Dragon Ball franchise. He has more forms than anyone can shake a stick at, he’s an alien despot and has committed acts of genocide that would boggle the mind and destroyed planet Saiyan with a finger. His androgynous voice, sadism and nearly infinite supply of calm made him very, very scary. It’s no surprise that the character has been repeatedly returned to life. Fans are mixed when it comes to this decision, but there is no doubt that his original Saga was the best in the franchise.
Name this character:
Hey, second best isn’t a bad thing. Created (mostly) by Dr. Gero, this android calls himself the Perfect Warrior, because, well, he is. He came from the future to the past in order to absorb the best warriors alive. He’s something of a tragic character too—in his future-earth there is no place for him—but this really doesn’t excuse the string of murders. That said, the fact that he played psychological games with his enemies was certainly a unique trait among DBZ villains and is something that should be done more.
Name this character:
Frieza’s family all have names pertaining to ice and cold. Just like how most characters in the franchise are named for food, or in Gundam Wing, their characters are named for numbers. This character is one of Frieza’s ancestors, who, accidentally met Goku’s time-displaced father. The two fought, with the latter hoping that by killing Frieza’s antecedent, he could undo all the evil Frieza has done. It turns out, in the end, all he did was alert Frieza’s people of the existence of and danger the Saiyans represented. Oops.
Name this character:
See what I mean? All Saiyans look the same. Anyway, this one does have a confirmed connection to Goku: this is his father. The old man was one of Frieza’s soldiers, sent to planets to eradicate all life who wouldn’t bow to him. One alien, as punishment, gave Goku’s dad the ability to see the future; he learned of Frieza’s eventual betrayal and the destruction of his world. The old man confronted Frieza in space (despite physics) where he was taken down along with his planet. (Until the spinoff prequel a few years back with Chill.)
Name this character:
Sometimes, it’s good to have friends. Of late, Goku has been palling around with this anthropomorphic bipedal cat-god who loves sugary treats. Have I mentioned how much I love this show? Anyway, the cat-god does indeed live up to his title. He has godly powers, which include the ability to reverse time by a few moments. That’s right: he’s a living, breathing, furniture-scratching deus ex machina (as if the dragon balls weren’t enough). He came to rescue the Z-Fighters and Earth in the Resurrection ‘F’ movie when Frieza outsmarted and killed everybody.
Name this character:
Vegeta’s friend and fellow Saiyan, this brute came to Earth with the diminutive prince to finish the job Raditz started. Brutal, but strangely polite and earnest, this Saiyan warrior looked like he’d be the real problem of the Saga, had Vegeta—it’s always the quiet ones—not taken center stage. Of course, this character’s coarse brutality could only go so far. Though eventually killed, he escaped hell many years later, only to find Vegeta has been living on planet Earth, has stolen his moustache and has a bad haircut. Vegeta then executes his former lackey yet again.
Name this character:
The Saiyans were not a popular species in the galactic theater. It’s not exactly a surprise. They were ornery and violent savages who could turn into giant monkeys on full moons. Their power levels have no upper limit and I’ve long suspected only members of noble families bathe often. One of the species that hated them was the Tuffle, who shared their homeworld with them for some bizarre evolutionary plot convenience. Well, the Saiyans wiped them out. However, the last vestiges of the species created this mutant/machine T-1000/hipster mashup to kill off the remaining Saiyans.
Name this character:
Despite his similar design, this character is not a member of Frieza’s species. He’s from a different universe and doesn’t have a name that’s a synonym for cold. He has a Piccolo-like stoicism, and despite being a bought and sold assassin, he does seem to have a code of honor. He still will fulfill any contract, which likely includes children too, and he has all the warmth and kindness of a hornet, so while he’s not an anti-hero, he’s at least a villain that can be spoken to.
Name this character:
For an extinct species, there sure are a lot of Saiyans still running around. Them and the Kryptonians. Anyway, this villain is not related to Goku despite their near-identical super-Saiyan designs. He’s one of the Legendary Super Saiyans and is incredibly powerful. He had dual personalities; one very docile and kind, the other extremely, well, Saiyan. Unfortunately, the more powerful he became, the more emotionally unstable as well. There’s also another version of this character currently running around in Dragan Ball Super, giving Vegeta a hard time.
Name this character:
This character is a bit like Ultra Magnus from the Transformers. He doesn’t have a sense of humor—or see the importance of humor—and is dedicated entirely to justice. No word (yet) on if this character also dislikes sentences that end in prepositions. Anyway, this character has a very strict code of honor. He will not kill others in order to bring them to justice, and though he’s representing Universe 11 in the Tournament of Power, he won’t destroy another universe to save his own. That said, if I were in Universe 11, I’d be a tad worried.
Name this character:
Trunks can’t catch a break, can he? Like Bishop and Cable from the X-Men, no matter how many times their dystopian future is averted, a new one crops up to take its place. Despite defeating/making love to the androids to save Earth’s future, the new timeline has spit out an evil Goku (or, Goku Black). In reality, though, it’s another character who has possessed Goku’s body and is making him do evil things. The possessing entity hated all mortal life and sought to snuff it all out; doing so in Goku’s body is just common sense.
Name this character:
For the last time, no, he’s not the guy from Scientology. However, in the DBZ universe, he’s one of two all-powerful entities who oversee the multiverse. The other? His future-self. That has to be all levels of uncomfortable. Anyway, his childlike demeanor is adorable at first until we’re reminded that children can also be very dumb and cruel. As the creator of the Tournament of Power, he is an arbiter of which universe lives and dies; then, there’s also that time that he had a tantrum and destroyed six of the 18 known universes.
Name this character:
While primarily known for his corny sense of humor, this character is very important for another reason: he was Wikipedia before there ever was one. Throughout the Z Saga (and even into GT), he has delivered crucial exposition and plot data whenever it was necessary to put over the power of a villain, illuminate his backstory, or allow Goku to realize that this seemingly invulnerable villain does indeed have a single, crucial weakness. It’s good to have friends in high places, it seems.
Name this character:
Our final two characters are the most complex ones in the series; not only are they the only ones to have character arcs, they’re the only ones to change slowly and carefully over time. The first is, well, this walking Napoleon Complex. Descended from Saiyan royalty, he has never forgiven Frieza for the destruction of his people (but really it was because he was stripped of his noble birthright). While initially introduced as a villain, his popularity with fans allowed him to keep showing up. Over time, he’s become more of anti-hero, eventually working alongside Goku. The two have gone from enemies to rivals with begrudging respect.
Name this character:
The other character is this one. On a similar track, he was original introduced as a second-generation villain who hated Goku and humanity with a singular, burning passion. However, after realizing the profound threat Raditz and the other Saiyans posed, and with Goku (momentarily) dead, he decided to train young and powerful Gohan. The two eventually formed a friendship and close bond. He clearly cares about the boy and eventually he even became allied with Goku. To many fans, however, this character is Goku’s true father.