List of Dragon Ball characters

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The franchise features an ensemble cast of characters and takes place in the same fictional universe as Toriyama's other work, Dr. Slump. While many of the characters are humans with superhuman strengths or supernatural abilities, the cast also includes anthropomorphic animals, extraterrestrial lifeforms, and deities who govern the world and the universe.

During the course of the story, protagonist Son Goku is adopted by Grandpa Son Gohan and encounters allies like Bulma, Master Roshi, and Trunks; rivals such as Tien Shinhan, Piccolo, and Vegeta; and villains such as Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu. Goku's group of associates, known as the "Dragon Team" (ドラゴンチーム, Doragon Chīmu),^[ch. 165] bolsters its ranks throughout the series with the addition of former enemies and new heroes. The group is also known in Japanese as the "Z Fighters" (Z戦士, Zetto Senshi) or Team "Z" in other media, and the Earth's Special Forces in the English dub of Dragon Ball Z. Dragon Ball characters have names inspired by Japanese (or not) words for certain foods (Gohan, based on cooked rice; Oolong and Poal, based on oolong and puerh teas); objects (Trunks); musical instruments (Piccolo, Tambourine); and even references to Disney films (such as the characters Bibidi, Babidi and Boo, notoriously in that same order a part of the song sung by the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella).

The Dragon Ball franchise begins in Goku's boyhood years as he trains in martial arts and explores a fantastical version of Earth (地球, Chikyū). The plot revolves around his search for the seven Dragon Balls used to summon a wish-granting dragon. The tone of the series becomes more action-oriented and less comedic as Goku reaches adulthood. He and his allies defend Earth against various threats, overcoming seemingly insurmountable opponents, and eventually emerging victorious against progressively more powerful foes.

The series also includes depictions of the afterlife and time travel as a means of creating historical divergences. Dragon Ball Super in particular expands the setting of the series to include parallel universes; the vast majority of the Dragon Ball series takes place in Universe 7, or the Seventh Universe in the English dub.

Akira Toriyama initially based most of the characters on those from Journey to the West: Goku from the Monkey King, Bulma from Tang Sanzang, Oolong from Zhu Bajie, and Yamcha from Sha Wujing. He also incorporated ideas from one of his earlier one-shot manga series, Dragon Boy. Toriyama explained that the reason there are many anthropomorphic characters is that he found it easier to visually differentiate them compared to human characters. For the female characters, Toriyama created women he deemed "beautiful and sexy", but also "strong". He claimed that he has trouble drawing females, which is why there are relatively few female characters in the Dragon Ball series. To advance the story quickly, he introduced Goku's signature flying nimbus cloud, later gave most fighting characters the ability to fly, and eventually granted Goku teleportation.

Many Dragon Ball characters have names that are puns, which are associated with related characters. For example, Bulma and her family are named after undergarments, members of the human-like alien race known as the Saiyans are named after vegetables, and because Frieza is a pun on freezer, the Ginyu Force are named after products that are kept in a refrigerator. A study on sound symbolism and its effect on character names conducted by researchers at Tsuda University, Tokyo discover that out of a sample size of 118 villainous characters from Dragon Ball, the consonants /g/ and /b/ were frequently used in their names and that there was a strong tendency to link "bad & male" characters with /ɡ/, which supports the notion that "a sound-meaning association can be attested in at least some phonemes" in the Japanese language. Toriyama explained that he does not like giving names to techniques and special abilities, but did so at his editor's suggestion. His wife was the one who named the series' signature Kamehameha (かめはめ波; lit. "Kamehame Wave"), but he named all the others, even selecting them specifically for each character; saying someone like Vegeta would use names in English, and using kanji for the more sophisticated Piccolo.

The franchise's anime and film adaptations feature some original characters not created by Toriyama but by Toei Animation staff: Dragon Ball GT and the vast majority of the film adaptations and OVAs exist in their own unique continuities which branch off from the anime television series at various points, so original characters introduced in the films are usually unknown to the characters in either or both of the official anime and manga series continuities. Toriyama personally designed certain characters which made their debut appearances in animated films, as well as licensed video games such as Android 21.

The Dragon Ball series features an ensemble cast of main characters. The most prominent protagonist of the Dragon Ball series is Goku, who along with Bulma forms the Dragon Team to search for the Dragon Balls at the beginning of the series. After the truth of Goku's heritage is revealed, Saiyan characters play a central narrative role from Dragon Ball Z onwards: Bardock and Trunks from an alternate future timeline serve as the protagonists of their respective side stories, while Goku's son Gohan briefly assumes the role of series protagonist following the conclusion of the Cell Games Saga. Vegeta is featured as the co-protagonist for Dragon Ball Super.