The main characters designed by Akira Toriyama in the suspense-filled comic series, Dragon Ball Z, is all we loved to watch from the late eighties till now.
Dragon Ball Z series has diverse, powerful characters poised to spring love or scorn from viewers, thanks to their heroic or antagonistic actions.
If you’re on the verge of watching the Dragon Ball Z series, and on the lookout for characters who made the Japanese anime television series our obsession, then you’re at the right place. Or, if you’ll simply like to identify the main characters merely to buttress your point in an argument, by all means, keep on reading.
Below, gathered by dragonballzfigures are the main superheroes and villains whose personalities and techniques of conquering their adversaries made Dragon Ball Z what we can’t help but drool over:
1. Son Goku
Protagonists are the joy of any story. Hence, it wasn’t that long before Son Goku became the delight of many who binged on the Dragon Ball Z series. The protagonist character had an incredible strength that helped him achieve his goal of protecting the earth. Son Goku was the character who defended his home base, the earth, without consideration for other matters.
At the onset of the series, Goku modified Sun Wukong, who played the protagonist role in the novel, “Journey to the West.” He went on to have a prehensile tail, which evidently distinguished him from all other known or similar characters.
Goku’s journey to victory began with him obtaining skills for martial arts. Master Roshi helped him with that; therefore, he could use his talent on a larger scale to overcome the seemingly invincible fighters on earth. Goku became a superhero in the anime when he conquered the bile King Piccolo and his child.
He inspired the viewers that irrespective of the many battles in our lives, we can still choose to be happy and lighthearted. All thanks to his irreplaceable character, transforming into Saiyan shot the series into mainstream success. Everything from his signatory hairstyle to his combat style, Kamehameha, made Goku the character after our hearts.
2. Bulma
Bulma the inventor and lover; she’s the friend for keeps. The character first stares as a teenager utilizing one of her inventions, the Dragon Radar, to discover the energy signal radiated by Dragon balls. Thankfully, that led her straight to Goku, who has a four-star ball. There, she enlisted Goku as her bodyguard with an intent to use the said possession to fulfill her quest for love.
She formed a relationship with Yamcha for a while. However, as time went on in the meta-series, Vegeta became her one and only.
The female character gets even more endearing when she turns over her striking techy side to the delight of viewers and fellow characters. She unfailingly dosed out valuable tech assistance to Goku and his friends to overpower the antics and threats of their adversaries. She created a microband which made her dwindle, and a time machine which fetched her son, Trunks, a half-Saiyan half-Human, from an alternate future timeline. She was also a mother to Bulla.
3. Krillin
It may have taken him 25 long chapters to make it into the series, but that doesn’t cost him his spot as one of the prominent personalities of the series. Krillin, an excellent comic relief, left viewers indecisive at first glance, but not too long; he proved to be supportive of the well-loved protagonist, Goku, and as a matter of fact, was his ally. He fought many enemies like Vegeta, Buu, Frieza – who killed him at a point – and Nappa.
Krillin brought depth to the series with his exceptional skills; speed, strength, and ability to fly using unique energy from his hand. His appearance was an interesting one, though it appeared unaltered for most parts of the series. He had a bald head, an invisible nose, some burns on his forehead, and wore a uniform of yellow and orange hues—features we loved to see.
His first encounter with death was courtesy of King Piccolo spawn’s Tambourine. However, he came back to life with the help of Shenron. Yet again, he died in the hands of Frieza upon journeying to Planet Namek but not without winning an array of battles. Not his time, however, so he was revived by the Dragon Balls of the Namekian.
He was of great help at the time of the Android and Cell arcs. His character melts heart the more when he fell in love with Android 18. Moreover, their relationship begat Marron, their daughter.
4. Piccolo
Want to see what a change of heart looks like? Watch out for Piccolo and his evolutions. The evil half of Kami was in search of retribution on Goku, whom he later became an ally of during the Saiyan attack. Regardless of how little their chances of winning a battle may be, Piccolo never minded being on the battlefield, a quality that earned him the privilege of killing the cruel Saiyan. More so, he equipped Goku’s son for battles and acted as his guardian after the demise of Gohan, whom he killed.
As his character unfolds, he was unveiled as a Namekian – a replica human with four fingers, and green and hairless skin. As his act of heroism, he sacrificed himself to safeguard Gohan. Moreover, fusing with Kami ultimately earned him a kind heart.
5. Son Gohan
Every story needs a pro-peace, and that’s Gohan, the offspring of Goku with Chi-Chi. His love for peace didn’t hinder his potentials in times of need. He was forcefully taken into custody in a space pod by Raditz. This action much angered him as he burst out of the vessel, immediately landing a paralyzing blow on Raditz, his captor, and uncle.
Seeing his potentials, he was taken in by Piccolo and was given intensive training. This development made him one of the most invincible characters in the anime, thereby becoming the first Super Saiyan 2 and defeating Frieza and Cell.
He soon bonded with Videl, whom he taught how to fly. Watch how hostility can transform into something so positive, as Gohan and Videl conquered every known enemy to become a married couple even after a series of separations and deaths.
6. Vegeta
Love him or hate him; Vegeta stole hearts at some point. However, it took a long time to do the same with his fellow characters, given his pronounced history of terrorism on them.
Vegeta was the last prince of Saiyans and a character whom the evil personified Frieza feasted on for quite some time. Viewers would first encounter Vegeta on his mission to overthrow a planet together with Nappa. They both traversed to earth just to have the precious Dragon Balls in their possession.
Goku would prevent him from destroying the earth, and he would later surrender after a long chain of attacks by Gohan, Yajirobe, and Krillin. Vegeta successfully killed Frieza’s underlings. However, out of compulsion, he became an ally to Gohan and his friends. Upon conquering Frieza, he established a relationship with Bulma, fathering a son, Trunks. Subsequently, he had another offspring, named Bulla.
His most heroic act would be sacrificing himself for his wife and son’s safety from the horrible beast, called Buu.
The series, no doubt, is packed with a lot of fascinating characters. However, we got you the ones who brought it all to the anime.