Character Guide: G

Garlic - “Gariku”*   Father of Garlic Jr., he competed with the original Piccolo for the throne of Kami.  The original Piccolo was chosen over Garlic because unlike Piccolo, Garlic held evil ambitions that soon became apparent to the previous Kami.  Garlic resented the decision, and created an army of evil demons that he led right to Kami’s tower in order to overthrow him.  However, Kami, who had by now split away from his evil half, defeated him and, according to Kami in DBZ Movie 1, Garlic was cast into the realm of darkness, a negative space from which he would never return.  However, in the Garlic Junior Saga, a flashback recaps the scene of Garlic forcefully trying to take the throne, revealing that Garlic was sealed in an orb similar to the type of bottle that Garlic used to capture and contain Kami and Mr. Popo with, except that the orb is in a 3-dimensional Star-of-David shape, and instead of clear, the orb is opaque and pitch black.  One may infer that Garlic was kept in that orb for the remainder of his life.   After taking over Kami’s Palace, Garlic appears to “pray” to the orb, assumed to contain his father’s remains, considering the orb was never broken from the time that Garlic was first sealed inside it several hundred years ago.  Because Garlic Junior makes no attempts to crack or break the orb and release his father, one may presume that his father, a mere mortal, is long dead inside the orb.  The strange part is, in the series, Garlic Junior verbalizes his desire to wish his father back to life.  One has to wonder at the logic in obtaining the dragonballs to wish someone back who has been dead far longer than the allotted year’s limit.  But then, how could Garlic Junior have known?  No big surprise, because after all, it is only a filler saga.

Garlic Junior - “Gariku Jyuniya”*   The son of Garlic, he desires revenge on the present Kami for taking the throne of Kami, or Guardian of Earth (basically God), from his father and then, according to DBZ Movie 1, sealing his father in a “Deadzone”.  As the main villain of the movie, Garlic Junior gathers all the dragonballs, including the four-star dragonball on Gohan’s hat.  His henchman decide to nab the kid too while they’re at it, hence the name of the movie, “Return My Gohan!”.  Goku goes to Garlic Junior’s castle to retrieve his son, only to find that Garlic Junior has already made the wish for eternal life, and is about to finish Kami when Goku interrupts him and takes him on instead.  Piccolo joins with Goku (just this once, according to Piccolo), but when Garlic Junior transforms, even the two combined aren’t strong enough to stop the immortal Garlic Junior.  Then to everyone’s surprise, the young Gohan, who is about 4, powers up in a terrible rage and with a tremendous burst of power, he blows Garlic Junior into the deadzone that he had stupidly created.  Garlic Junior returns in the anime after the Frieza Saga with a plot to take over the world using a magic potion called the Black-water Mist, which causes anyone who comes into contact with it to become a minion of darkness and do Garlic Junior’s evil bidding.  Gohan, Piccolo, and Krillin all take him on as Garlic opens up yet another Deadzone, but this time, he uses it to bring the Makyo Star, a small planet which gives off evil power, closer to Earth, an act which makes Garlic Junior and his minions even stronger.  Gohan appears to barely defeat him as he fires a great blast that hurls Garlic Junior into the Deadzone again.  (Does anyone see a pattern here?)

Gettoo*   In the GT movie starring Goku Jr., Gettoo is a great sword-wielding lizard monster that does the bidding of Panba, an evil witch.

Ghastel - “Gasuteru”*   A giant red demon in Dragonball Movie 2, “The Dreaming Princess in Devil’s Castle,” he rides a cloud and attacks ribbons. (o.O;)

Gill*   A robot that Trunks discovers during his travels with Goku and Pan in GT.  The robot’s true name is G2006, and he befriends the gang quickly.  At one point early on, he eats the Dragonball Radar that the three had brought along to absorb energy, and consequently, Gill acquires the ability to locate dragonballs.  The little robot watches out for the safety of the group, especially Pan, to whom his favorite phrases are “be careful” and “watch out!”.

Ginger - “Jinjya”*   Piccolo’s driving instructor, she is cutesy and somewhat flirtatious when Piccolo first meets her, but when he starts the car and gets on the road, she turns into a crazed, road-raging maniac.  She’s only satisfied when, after he is taunted by Goku, Piccolo drives like a maniac himself to catch up with Goku and pass him.  She even compliments Piccolo’s driving skills, until he steers off the road after Goku and crashes.

Ginger - “Jinjyaa”*   One of Garlic Junior’s minions in DBZ Movie 1, he is the leader of the Ginger Three.  His battle cry is “Gingerbread!”.  Ginger is killed by Goku with a large Kamehameha wave.

Ginyu   The leader of the Ginyu Force, the elite squad of fighters that serve directly under Frieza.  Ginyu is by far the strongest, with a power level of 120,000, but he is no match for Goku.  Ginyu realizes this early on, and plays his cards well, as he fools Goku into thinking he will give up soon.  Then as Goku watches in horror, Ginyu inflicts a terrible wound upon his own body, then uses his only special ability (besides interpretive dance, anyway) which is the power to switch bodies with anyone of his choosing, by calling out the words “Change now!”.  He successfully trades bodies with Goku and flies off in search of the dragonballs.  Ginyu’s trick fools Gohan and Kryllan at first, who do not realize what happened.  Vegeta is the first to figure it out, and watches as Gohan and Kryllan fight Ginyu in Goku’s body.  Later a weakened Goku arrives on the scene to announce that Ginyu has not mastered his fighting technique inside Goku’s body, and so he is still vulnerable.  The others gang up on him, until he is forced to attempt the body switch on Vegeta, though Goku jumps in the way right before the beam hits Vegeta, and Ginyu is stuck in his old body again.  Vegeta takes advantage of this and proceeds to beat Ginyu to a bloody pulp.  Ginyu tries the body switch on Vegeta one last time, but at the last second, a still-weakened Goku throws a frog right in the path of the beam, and Ginyu instead changes bodies with a Namekian frog.  For the remainder of the Frieza saga, Ginyu becomes more of a comedy-relief character.  He meets up with Bulma and changes bodies with her for a brief while, until Gohan figures out what happened and uses the same trick Goku used earlier with Bulma in the frog’s body, and Ginyu is a frog once more.  He somehow survives the entire ordeal because Dende’s wish for everyone to be transported to Earth counts him in as well, and he lives on to rule a nearby pond within the Capsule Corp. grounds.

Giran   A pteranodon monster that competes with Goku in the 21^st Tenkaichi Budoukai.  Giran is strong, with many techniques, all of which Goku eventually counters until Giran finally forfeits the match to Goku.  In the anime, there is an earlier scene before the tournament where Giran goes to a bar and orders milk.  When some drunks make fun of him, Giran beats them all up.  He was born in the year 717 AD.  He is 6’4” tall and weighs 466 lbs, and his address is XBC44735BB.

Gogeta - “Gojiita”*   One of the most powerful characters in all of Dragonball/Z/GT, Gogeta is the result of the fusion of Goku and Vegeta.  Gogeta appears only in DBZ Movie 12, “Rebirth of Fusion!  Goku and Vegeta!!”, and in GT.  Goku and Vegeta must perform the fusion dance, a technique taught to Goku by Kami, in order to become a warrior many times more powerful than either Goku or Vegeta alone.  Gogeta is a totally different person, and so his personality is completely different than either of the two Saiyajin that fused to become him.  Gogeta’s power is simply enormous as he takes out Janemba effortlessly in DBZ Movie 12 after reaching Super Saiyajin 2.  By GT, his power is almost beyond comprehension as Super Saiyajin 4 Goku and Vegeta fuse to create Super Saiyajin 4 Gogeta, probably the most powerful character in the entire history of the series.  His special attack is Big Bang Kamehameha.  The only reason that Gogeta does not completely obliterate Ii Shenlong (the one-star Shenlong) is because of his own cockiness.  Gogeta toys with the Dragon and wastes time until he defuses (after the set half-hour fusion limit) before he can finish One-star Shenlong.

Fat Gogeta*   The first attempt of Goku and Vegeta to fuse fails, as Vegeta uses his fists instead of pointing his fingers at the end.  This incident is really Goku’s fault, because when he teaches Vegeta the fusion dance, he tells him to concentrate on the position of his legs and feet, and forgets to tell Vegeta to point his fingers).  The result of the fusion dance when performed incorrectly is actually quite hilarious, though tragic for the two who fused.  He calls himself Gogeta, but his personality is different when the fusion is performed correctly.  He looks kind of like Gogeta, except that he is grossly obese, and his only sort of “techniques” are farting and running away (o.O;).  Goku and Vegeta are only stuck in this form for half an hour, after which Fat Gogeta defuses back into the two Saiyajin.

Gohan - “Son Gohan”   Goku and Chi Chi’s first son, named after Goku’s adoptive grandfather Gohan.  The name Gohan means rice, which is of course one of Goku’s favorite things (food).  Gohan was born in the year 757 AD, and at the start of DBZ, he is 4 years old (contrary to the dub version, which says he is 5).  Gohan is raised mainly by his mother during the first four years of his life, and she tutors him in hopes that he would be a great scholar one day.  In early DBZ, Gohan is put through events that would traumatize any little kid.  In one day, he’s kidnapped by his uncle Radditz, and watches as a furious battle ensues between Goku, Piccolo and Radditz.  When things look grim for Goku as Radditz proves his superiority in power, Gohan’s anger explodes and he manages to seriously injure Radditz, which neither Goku nor Piccolo had been able to do.  After Goku’s death, Piccolo leaves Gohan in the wilderness to survive on his own for six months to become stronger so that he can stand up to the approaching Saiyajin.  Gohan is forced to grow up quickly, and by the age of 5 he’s battling to save the Earth.  He becomes attached to Piccolo, his teacher, and idolizes him.  Gohan is different from all other characters in the first half of DBZ, because he is the only half-human, half-Saiyajin.  When his Saiyajin power becomes mixed with his human emotions, he is able to summon an unbelievable amount of power.  This power is released when Gohan becomes extremely angry, and he calls upon his Saiyajin rage when battling Radditz, Nappa, Vegeta, the Ginyu Force, Frieza, and Cell.  Gohan is the first Saiyajin to achieve Super Saiyajin 2, which he reaches because he is provoked by Cell repeatedly in order to tap into his power.  Finally, when Cell destroys Android 16 and steps on his head, the act becomes a trigger that releases Gohan’s immense Saiyajin rage and he goes Super Saiyajin 2.  With a broken arm, Gohan kills Cell using a one-handed Kamehameha.  In the early Buu Saga (Saiyaman Saga), Gohan becomes the main character and the story revolves around him as he goes through high school, and later fights crime and becomes a sort of superhero complete with costume and mask, known as The Great Saiyaman.  Gohan is the only Saiyajin to become Mystic, which is a special ability granted by Revered Kaioshin that allows Gohan access to his highest power level without having to go Super Saiyajin at all.  Gohan meets Videl in high school, who suspects that something is fishy about the Great Saiyaman.  They become good friends after she catches him in costume without the mask, and he teaches her how to fly.  They fall in love, and at the end of DBZ, they have a daughter named Pan.  Akira Toriyama originally wanted Gohan to become the main character, of the series, but the fans wanted Goku back, so Toriyama drifted away from Gohan to focus more on his father again.  After the Buu Saga, Gohan gives up fighting and finally achieves his mother’s dream for him to become a scholar.  Throughout GT, he fights from time to time, but he generally remains a glasses-wearing nerd.

Grandpa Gohan - “Son Gohan Ojisan"  Gohan is a martial arts master who lives the life of a hermit in the wilds of Mount Paozu.  Gohan was trained by Kamesennin at the same time as Ox-King.  The two became good friends while they were training together.  Gohan is the wielder of the legendary Nyoi Bo, or Power Pole, a powerful staff that can extend magically to a great length.  It is about the year 737 AD that Gohan stumbles upon a strange, naked baby with a tail in the middle of the wilderness.  Seeing no one else around, Gohan decides to adopt the baby, whom he names Goku (which, in short, means sky).  He raises Goku from infancy, and somehow tolerates the boy’s horrible behavior until baby Goku bonks his head on a rock and forgets his instinctive Saiyajin heritage.  Gohan teaches the young Goku martial arts, and how to use the Power Pole, and he gives Goku the four-star dragonball.  After Gohan’s death, Goku keeps the four-star dragonball close, as it reminds him of his Grandpa, whom he had cared for very much.  The four-star later becomes a symbol of Goku and Grandpa Gohan.  Gohan was born in the year 658 AD and is killed around 742 AD by a Great Giant Monkey on the night of a full moon.  The monster destroys Gohan’s house and then steps on him.  It is later discovered that the Giant Monkey was really Goku in Oozaru form, although Goku himself never figures it out, and even accuses Vegeta of killing his father when he sees him go Oozaru and recognizes the form from somewhere.

Goku - “Son Gokou”   Goku is the main character of Dragonball/Z/GT.  He is a member of the warrior race known as the Saiyajin.  Goku is born on the Planet Vegeta in 737 AD and is sent to Earth as an infant to destroy all life on the planet in order to prepare it for sale by Frieza.  He is the son of Bardock and the brother of Radditz, and his real name is Kakarotto (Kakarot in the dub).  A martial arts master, Gohan, finds baby Goku in the middle of the woods and decides to adopt the child, naming him Goku, which roughly means “sky”.  Being a Saiyajin, Goku is at first a disagreeable baby prone to throw tantrums frequently.  One day when Gohan takes a walk with baby Goku near the edge of a waterfall, Goku falls from the cliff and hits his head on the rocks below.  Any human infant would have been instantly killed, but Goku manages to survive with a serious head wound.  When Goku recovers, he is a completely different baby, as a serious head injury often causes a baby Saiyajin to forget their mission and forsake their Saiyajin heritage.  Goku learns the art of fighting from his grandfather, who later is killed by a Great giant Monkey (later discovered to be Goku in Oozaru form) when the monster steps on him.  Only 5 years old, Goku is left with no choice but to strike out on his own for a time, carrying the four-star dragonball which his Grandpa had given him along with him.  The four-star dragonball is Goku’s favorite because it reminds him of his grandfather.  Later the four-star dragonball becomes a symbol of Goku and is almost always associated with Goku or his Grandpa.  In the first episode of Dragonball, Goku meets an adventurous young girl named Bulma who is searching for the seven dragonballs.  She invites Goku to help her in her search, and the two travel about the countryside making many new friends and enemies such as Yamcha the desert bandit, Oolong the shape-shifting pig, Krillin the warrior monk, and Piccolo Daimaou, Goku’s greatest adversary yet.  Goku receives training from Master Roshi, Korin the cat deity, and even the guardian of Earth, Kami himself.  In 756 AD, Goku marries his childhood sweetheart Chi Chi at the age of 19, and in May of 757 AD, Chi Chi gives birth to their first child Gohan (named after Goku’s grandpa of course). 

Goku dies twice during the series.  The first time is by Piccolo’s Makankosappo (Special Beam Cannon in the dub) while Goku is restraining his brother Radditz.  During that year he travels Snake Way and trained under King Kai, who teaches him special moves such as Kaio Ken and the Genki Dama (Spirit Bomb).  The second time Goku dies is when he teleports himself and Cell to King Kai’s planet so that Cell (who is about to self-destruct) would detonate without destroying the Earth.  Of course, King Kai’s planet is destroyed, and Kaio-sama himself is killed along with Goku.  Not long after this, Goku and Chi Chi’s second child Goten is born in the year 767 AD.  About 7 or 8 years later, Revered Kaioshin gives his life to Goku, restoring Goku to his physical body permanently again.

Goku is the first to reach Super Saiyajin, which he does in the Frieza Saga after watching Krillin die by Frieza’s hand, and he eventually “kills” Frieza (who is later discovered to still be alive).  Goku is also the first character to reach Super Saiyajin 3, a level that has only been achieved by one other character, Gotenks.  In GT, Emperor Pilaf returns with all seven Black-star dragonballs, and accidentally wishes that Goku were a little kid again so he could beat him up.  Goku is transformed into a little boy again, and goes on a long journey throughout the universe along with Trunks and Goku’s teenage granddaughter Pan to find all the Black-star dragonballs.  Their ultimate goal is to wish Goku back to an adult, and to save the Earth from a curse brought by the Black-star dragonballs.  Goku is also the first Saiyajin to reach Super Saiyajin 4.  Goku trades in his life to the Shenlong to save the Earth and everyone he loves, and he leaves with the dragon.  Their destination remains a secret, and it is left to the viewer’s imagination to decide where they went and why.  In the very last episode of GT, Pan, who is a grandmother by this time, sees Goku in a crowd, and he waves to her and walks out of sight.   At the end of Dragonball Z, Goku is 48 years old.  As an adult he is 5’7” and weighs 137 lbs., and his home address on Mount Paozu is 439 East District.

Goku Junior - “Son Gokou Jyuniya”   The great great grandson of Goku.  In the GT movie, he resides with his grandmother Pan who tells him stories of the legend of Goku, but to Goku Jr., they are nothing but stories.  Goku Jr. is klutzy and a bit of a wuss.  He is constantly tormented at school, especially by the bully Pakku.  Goku Jr. looks almost exactly like Goku, but he doesn't have nearly the strength of his Saiyajin ancestor.  But like Goku, he has a heart of gold.  He goes on a journey to Paozu Mountain, where is great-great-grandfather Goku was raised and later made a home (and strangely enough, the same place Goku crash-landed on Earth when he was an infant).  Thus, this mountain has special meaning to Goku and his family, including his descendants.  Goku Jr. travels to Paozu Mountain along with the school bully Pakku who later befriends him, to track down the dragonballs so that he can wish his sick grandmother Pan to be well again.  The GT movie appears to totally disregard the final scene in the last episode of GT, where Pan, as an old grandmother, watches her grandson Goku Jr. fight in a World Tournament against Vegeta Jr. (whose direct ancestors are never specified, although he is a descendant of Vegeta).  Contrary to the movie, both of the boys appear to be fantastic fighters, and they both turn Super Saiyajin as they fight.  They look about 5-7 years old, which is the youngest age known for any character to turn Super Saiyajin.  The two represent the spirits of the greatest warriors of all, Goku and Vegeta, who continue to live on in their ancestors and in the hearts of the viewers (^_^).

Gokuya*   A member of Bojack’s team in Movie 9, he uses a combination of weapons, wielding both a sword and a machine gun.  He is killed by his own leader Bojack.

Goten - “Son Goten”   The second child of Goku and Chi Chi, Goten is born in 767 AD.  Goten resembles his father very much, and their facial features are almost identical.  By the time Goten is born, his father has already died in the Cell Saga, and so Goten never gets to know his father until about the age of 7 or 8 when Goku returns to Earth for a day, which is the day that the two first meet in a brief but touching scene.  Goten turns Super Saiyajin at a much younger age than his brother Gohan or his father.  Goten is famous for his mispronunciation of his father’s move, as “KameHAmeHA!”.  Aside from that, Goten has only one other attack which he calls “Totsugeki”, which translates literally to “Attack!”.

Gotenks   One of the most powerful characters in all of DBZ, Gotenks is the fusion result of Trunks and Goten.  Goku and Piccolo teach Goten and Trunks the fusion dance, a technique taught by Kami used to become a warrior many times more powerful than either Trunks or Goten alone.  Gotenks is a completely different person, and so his personality is totally different than either boy who fused to create him.  Gotenks’ power is fantastic, and he is one of only two characters that have ever achieved Super Saiyajin 3.  He fights Majin Buu twice.  The first time is after the boys figure out how to fuse correctly, but Gotenks loses the battle pitifully.  This fight is shown in the anime only.  The second time they face off is the famous battle which begins in the Room of Spirit and Time, then expands to Kami’s Palace (which is completely demolished) and finally ends on Earth.  Gotenks makes up the names of his attacks as he fights, such as “Miracle Super Punch”, and “Great Kick Special”, and “Galactic Donut”.  While some of his attacks seem a waste of time, others appear more successful, such as the Kamikaze Ghost attack.  When Gotenks reaches Super Saiyajin 3, he can easily defeat Buu, and he knows it.  But instead of taking him out, Gotenks’ cockiness gets the better of him and he toys with Buu.  Unfortunately, he defuses after the set half-hour time limit before he can destroy Buu.