Dragon Ball Z is one of the most famous and successful manga and anime series, and it spawned other offshoot series like Dragon Ball GT. You might not know that Dragon Ball Z is the sequel to the Dragon Ball franchise. You may be the greatest fan of the show and the Dragon Ball Z characters, but there are still some unknown or lesser-known facts about these DBZ characters.
1. The famous Dragon Ball Z line “over 9000!” was supposed to be “over 8000!”
In both the Japanese version of the Dragon Ball Z anime and the English and Japanese manga, the line was “It’s over 8,000”. The “Over 9,000” line we all know and love is only from the English anime dub.
The way Vegeta’s mouth moved in the cartoon looked more like 9,000, so they decided to change it.
2. Shenlong/Shenron was named after Jackie Chan’s nickname, Sing Lung.
3. The fight between Goku and Frieza took up a total of three and a half hours of screen time, making it the longest fight in anime history.
4. Unlike humans, in Dragon Ball Z, Saiyan forms hairstyles always remain the same.
5. Goku’s home address given in the series is 439 East District.
6. Majin Buu is five million years old.
7. Piccolo, the master of Gohan, is only four years older than Gohan. He looks so mature and grown because Namekians grow and age much faster than Humans or Saiyan. Piccolo was fully grown at the age of three.
8. Dragon Ball Z‘s Planet Vegeta used to be called Planet Plant.
9. Did you know that Cell’s incubation period in a tank is 24 years? It takes four years for his larval state to absorb enough nutrients to reach its first stage. This means that the Cell Gohan kills is only 28 years old.
10. The Journey to the West inspired Dragon Ball Z. Goku and Wukong share similarities. Both have monkey tails. Goku transforms into a giant ape from time to time.
11. Dragon Ball first started as a gag comic, and Akira used some of its gags in Dragon Ball Z. Kakarot, Raditz, and Vegeta got their names after vegetables.
12. Bardock was cursed to be able to see the future. While he is dying, he sees Goku fighting Frieza.
13. Bulma’s name roughly translates to “panties” and goes through 17 different hairstyles throughout the Dragon Ball Z series.
14. Goku has a fear of needles and hospital food.
15. Krillen is a year older than Goku.
16. Here is an interesting Dragon Ball Z fact. Did you know that in the TV series only [non-canon], Krillin had a girlfriend before No. 18? Her name was Maron, just like his daughter. Except her name didn’t have two R’s.
17. Here’s a fact that many fans argue about: Dragon Ball Z character Goku resembles Superman. Both are aliens. Both are the only survivors of their race. Both are among the strongest in their universes. Both are fighting for a good cause.
18. Android 17’s real name is Lapis. Android 18’s real name is Lazuli. Because Android 17 and 18 are technically twins, and Krillin married Android 18, this would mean that Android 17 is Krillin’s brother-in-law, and Dr Gero is his father-in-law.
19. Goten was originally brought in with the intention of replacing Goku as the main character. However, fans widely disapproved.
20. There are no female Namekians since they reproduce asexually by giving birth to eggs through their mouth.
21. For a time, Piccolo was the strongest of all the Z Warriors, including Goku and Vegeta, after he fused with Kami, making him stronger than any Super Saiyan.
22. Goku has only won the World Martial Arts Tournament once.
23. Everyone knows that Goku is Burdock’s son, but few know about his mother, Gine.
24. Kamesennin is immortal. If you’ve ever wondered how Kamesennin never seems to get any older, it’s because he can’t die of old age.
25. Dragon Ball Z characters Goku and Chi-Chi don’t work or make money. They live off of the money that Goku won in the Tournaments he was in.
26. Vegeta always addresses Goku by his Saiyan birth name, Kakarot, and has rarely addressed him as Goku. In the whole series, Vegeta uses the word Goku only eight times.
27. Tien Shinhan has fought every major Dragon Ball Z villain except Frieza because he was dead at the time.
28. Launch, who appeared throughout the first Dragon Ball series, never appears in Dragon Ball Z because Akira Toriyama “forgot” she existed.
29. Here’s a cool Dragon Ball Z fact: The word Orin-ji means “Many Tree”. So, Kuririn comes from the Many Tree Temple.
30. In Dragon Ball Z, the moon blew up twice. Fans are well aware of how Piccolo sought an “unconventional” way to ensure the Saiyan-Jins couldn’t transform: moon-go-boom and resulting tsunamis be damned. Unfortunately, he was beaten to it long ago. Kamesennin figured that rather than kill Oozaru Goku with a Shin-Kamehameha, he would rather eliminate the only way he could transform by blowing the moon up entirely.
31. Goku has a weakness. Goku’s voracious and seemingly bottomless appetite needs to be filled constantly, or he’d be dead in the water, both too weak to fight as well as having a reduced threshold for pain and damage.
32. In the manga, Trunks was able to transform into Super Saiya-jin before Gohan died. But in the TV Special, Gohan’s death caused Trunks to transform into the Super Saiya-jin.
33. In an alternate and more depressing Dragon Ball Z timeline, “Perfect” Cell kills off Future Trunks after he goes back to the future. Since Future Trunks was the last remaining Saiyan, this means that his death officially marks the extinction of the Saiyan race. It also means that Earth is left to rot as a wasteland.
34. The six dots on Krillin’s forehead are from incense burns he received while training to be a monk at Orin Temple.
35. Nappa used to have hair.
36. Baby is the only main villain whom Goku has defeated as a Super Saiyan 4. The rest of the main villains, Super 17 and Omega Shenron, Goku, are defeated in their child form. Goku did defeat Eis Shenron as a Super Saiyan 4, although Eis was a supporting villain.
37. According to police records, Bulma’s ID number is SSC 41453.
38. Did you know there were 187 fights from Dragon Ball to the end of Dragon Ball Z?
39. Dragon Ball Z‘s Goku is close to 50 years old.
40. The origin of Goku’s heart disease is when he went to Planet Yardrat. That’s where he got it from.
41. Broly’s power level was 10,000 at the time he was born. This would mean that his power level as a baby was stronger than Piccolo (322), Goku (334), and Raditz (1,500) combined.
42. Yamcha has always lost in the quarter-finals of every World Martial Arts Tournament. He is either killed, severely injured, or already dead in every saga.
43. Masako Nozawa is the original Japanese voice of Goku and has voiced him for the entire run of the show.
44. King Cold is the father of Cooler and Frieza and is known as the king of the Universe.
45. Beerus, the god of destruction from Universe 7, was created to bring balance to the Kais, the gods of creation.
46. Planet Namek, home of Kami, King Piccolo and Piccolo Jr, only had about 100 inhabitants.
47. Goku’s full name is Son Goku
48. Kid Buu was one of the only characters strong enough to hold and push back a Spirit Bomb.
49. You might not find this too interesting, but it is little known that King Kai was born from a tree and is based on Hindu mythology.
50. Master Roshi is one of the best Dragon Ball Z characters when it comes to keeping his mystery. He has no canon name, his true power is unknown, and it is estimated that he is going to outlive everyone.
51. Captain Ginyu is now permanently a frog after accidentally body-swapping with a Namekian frog and becoming their leader.
52. Super Buu is the strongest incarnation of Majin Buu. He is so strong that he can rip through the walls of dimensions. He was intended to be the main antagonist. The transformation happened when Evil Buu ate Good Buu, and now he is pure evil. He is one of the most powerful characters in the series.
53. Gokyu’s Super Saiyan transformation was almost spoiled in Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug the movie, but it was decided that his Super Saiyan form should be saved for a later time when it was more epic than a side plot.
Can you name any other cool facts (not listed here) about the Dragon Ball Z characters? Let us know in the comments. Also, if you enjoyed this list, check out our top 10 best Dragon Ball Z characters list.
