[fa:vxxx -- First Appears in Volume xxx.]
Son Gokuu: The naive, super-powerful young boy. Carries an
expanding
staff he received from his grandfather, and rides a
hyper-fast cloud (Kintoen) that Kamesennin gave him in book 1.
Kamesennin got Kintoen from Kami-sama (god.) [fa:v1]
Buruma: The spunky young girl that first shows up looking for the
7 Dragon Balls. She's very high-tech, and later shown to
work for Capsule Corp. (the company that makes the Hoi Poi
capsules. These capsules can be carried in a case or
pocket, and expand to provide the user with cars, campsites,
and weapons.) Wants the Dragon Balls to wish for a
boyfriend. [fa:v1]
Yamcha: The longhaired male teenager who wants the Dragon Balls
to
wish for a girlfriend. Strong and fast, with a wolf-style
martial arts attack, but is very shy around women. Starts
out as one of Gokuu's enemies. [fa:v1]
Puuaru (Pool ?): Yamcha's floating, shape-changing cat friend.
Not
very bright, but loyal. [fa:v1]
Oolong: Shape-changing sukebe pig. First appears as a giant, who
has
been terrorizing villagers. Quickly gets enlisted to
assist Buruma in finding the Dragon Balls. [fa:v1]
Kamesennin Muten Roshi: The dirty old man with the turtle shell
on his
back. Wise, powerful, and subject to severe nose bleeds.
[fa:v1]
Gyuu Maou: Magical Cow King. Massive man with extended goggles
over
his eyes. Well-known leader in this land, and highly
respected. [fa:v1]
Chi Chi: Gyuu Maou's young daughter. An attractive airhead with a
throwing fin attached to her helmet. Appears frequently
in later volumes. [fa:v1]
Oyabun: Large gangster bunny with the ability to turn people into
carrots. Controls the town Usagi-dan, but is just a
one-shot bad guy. [fa:v2]
Pilaf-sama: A blue-skinned dwarf with plans on ruling the world
when
he gets control of the other six Dragon Balls. Has two
side-kicks: An anthropomorphic dog, and a tall attractive
woman/bodyguard. These three appear in later stories.
[fa:v1, but fully introduced in v2.]
Book one introduced most of the main characters, their
personalities,
and motivations. Volume two starts out with the Magical Cow King
(Gyuu Maou) needing help in putting out the fires of Mt. Frypan.
Gokuu
rushes out to get Kamesennin, who will only do the job if Buruma
will
show him her breasts. Kamesennin then bulks up (putting Sylvester
Stalone to shame,) and uses Kamehame-ha (a power blast) to not
only put
out the fires, but to accidentally destroy the mountain at the
same time.
Buruma coerces Oolong into changing into her double to fulfill
her part
of the bargain in her place. Gyuu Maou offers his daughter to
Gokuu,
and Yamcha hurriedly rushes back to administer to the girl that
he'd
beaten up in the first volume. Chi Chi doesn't understand why two
men
(boys, really,) appear, knowing her name within an hour of each
other,
but is flattered at finding out that she has a boyfriend (she
just
doesn't know who the boyfriend is.)
Kamesennin states that it took him 50 years to master
Kamehame-ha,
but Gokuu picks it up right away, then understands everything
when Gyuu
Maou calls Gokuu by name. [Note: Kamesennin travels to Mt. Frypan
via
Baby Gamera, and gets so dizzy that he throws up.] The rubble of
the
mountain contains a Dragon Ball, bringing Buruma's total up to 6.
Buruma, Gokuu, and Oolong continue on to find the last ball
(Buruma uses
her Dragon Radar to locate it,) with Yamcha and Pool following
closely
behind. They arrive in Usagi-dan (Usagi == Rabbit) for a silly
side-story. Oyabun needs to touch someone to turn them into a
carrot,
and has his goons beat up Gokuu. Yamcha is forced to help Gokuu,
so
that Buruma can be restored and can find the last Dragon Ball for
him.
At the end, Gokuu uses his staff to take Oyabun and goons to the
moon
(the joke is the Japanese equivalent of the western "man in
the moon":
"The rabbit pounding mochi on the moon.")
As the gang continues on, not knowing that Pilaf has the last
Ball,
they are ambushed. Pilaf's sidekick takes the Balls that Buruma
had
found, and all her capsules, but misses the Ball that Gokuu
claims
contains the soul of his grandfather. Pilaf allows the group to
enter
his castle, so that he can entrap them. His plan to use an
"etchie
attack" against Buruma backfires: the attack is simply to
blow kisses at
her, and Buruma is expecting a whole lot worse. Pilaf uses
sleeping gas
on his prisoners (and himself.) But, his sidekicks do manage to
find
the Ball Gokuu is carrying, and they go outside to summon the
Great
Dragon God to let Pilaf make his wish for world domination.
Gokuu uses Kamehame-ha to make a small hole in the prison wall,
which
allows Pool and Oolong to change into bats and escape. Oolong,
the coward
that he is, wants to run away, when he realizes that the first
person to
make a demand of the Dragon God wins. So, as Pilaf is stuttering
away,
Oolong yells out that he wants a pair of panties. He gets his
wish, the
Dragon disappears, and the Balls fly off in separate directions.
Everyone is disappointed to find out that the wish can only be
made once a year. Pilaf imprisons the group in a cell with metal
walls
and a skylight. By noon the next day, the heat will be so great
that the
group will die. This is when Gokuu tells his friends about
were-monkeys. As a joke, he looks at the full moon. Everyone else
is
relieved when nothing happens. Right away. Gokuu turns into a
monster
monkey, trashes Pilaf's castle, and nearly kills people on both
sides.
Yamcha remembers that grabbing Gokuu's tail had caused the boy to
go
limp, so he tries this on the monster, and Pool cuts the tail
off.
Gokuu immediately reverts and falls asleep. When he comes to, he
takes
the loss of his tail calmly, but has also lost his sense of
balance.
Afterwards, he runs to the rubble of Pilaf's castle to recover
his
staff. During which, Buruma and Yamcha bemoan the foiling of
their
plans to find lovers -- before realizing that each was made for
the
other.
Buruma and Yamcha plan on getting to know each other better,
but drag
Pool and Oolong along for the ride. Gokuu wants to get the Dragon
Balls
back, so that he can bring his grandfather back to life. Gokuu
flies
off to Kamesennin's island, because the old man apparently knows
something about Gokuu's past. But, the old pervert is busy
watching
an aerobics show. Gokuu learns about Giri giri girls (they're
very
"healthy") and he runs off to get a very
"healthy" girl for the old man.
End of volume.
Highly recommended to people with "discriminating tastes"...