Dragon Ball Z
In the original Japanese manga release, the Dragon Ball manga includes the story of Dragon Ball Z. For the anime, the story picks up after the events of the manga which detailed a young monkey-tailed boy named Goku befriending a teenage girl named Bulma. Together they go on a quest to find the seven Dragon Balls (ドラゴンボール Doragon Bōru?), which summons the dragon Shenlong to grant the user one wish. The journey lead to a confrontation with the desert bandit Yamcha, who later becomes an ally; Chi-Chi, whom Goku marries. Goku then undergoes rigorous training regimes under the martial arts master Kame-Sen'nin in order to fight in the Tenkaichi Budōkai (天下一武道会?, "Strongest Under the Heavens Martial Arts Tournament") and befriends a monk named Kuririn. After the tournament, Goku recovers the Dragon Ball his Grandfather left him and encounters and defeats the Red Ribbon Army and defeats the hired assassin Taopaipai. Goku reunites with his friends to defeat the fortuneteller Baba Uranai's fighters and have her locate the last Dragon Ball in order to revive a friend killed by Taopaipai. During the Tenkaichi Budōkai three years later and meet Kame-Sen'nin's rival and Taopaipai's brother, Tsuru-Sen'nin, and his students Tenshinhan and Chaozu, who vow to exact revenge. Kuririn is killed after the tournament and Goku tracks and defeats his killer, Piccolo Daimao. Goku fights Piccolo Daimao, who, just before dying, spawns his son/reincarnation Piccolo. Goku trains under Kami (God), the original creator of the Dragon Balls, and after Kami restores Shenlong, Goku wishes his friends back to life. Reuniting with his friends three years later at the Tenkaichi Budōkai, Goku defeats Piccolo Jr. and marries Chi Chi.
Dragon Ball Z continues the story with Goku as a young adult and father to his son Gohan. Raditz arrives on Earth in a spacecraft, finds his younger brother Goku and reveals to him that they are members of a nearly extinct extraterrestrial race called the Saiyans (サイヤ人 Saiya-jin?). The Saiyans had sent Goku to Earth as an infant to conquer the planet for them, but he suffered a severe head injurysoon after his arrival and lost all memory of his mission, as well as his blood-thirsty Saiyan nature. Goku refuses to help Raditz continue the mission and has to team up with Piccolo, and sacrifice his life, in order to defeat him. In the afterlife Goku trains under theNorth Kaiō until he is revived by the Dragon Balls in order to save the Earth from Nappa and the Saiyan prince Vegeta. In the battle Yamcha, Chaozu, Tenshinhan and Piccolo are killed, and the Dragon Balls cease to exist. Kuririn and the galactic tyrant Freeza learn of another set of Dragon Balls by overhearing Vegeta and Nappa talk about the Dragon Balls on planet Namek (ナメック星 Namekku-sei?). Bulma, Gohan, and Kuririn depart for Namek in order to use them to revive their friends. However, Freeza is already there doing the same, to ask from the dragon for eternal life, leading to several battles with his minions and Vegeta, the latter of which teams up with the heroes to fight the Ginyu Force, a team of mercenaries thought to be some of the strongest in the universe. After Goku arrives, the final long battle with Freeza himself comes to a close when Goku transforms into a legendary Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人 Sūpā Saiya-jin?) and defeats him. A group of Androids (人造人間 Jinzōningen?, "Artificial Humans") created by a member of the former Red Ribbon Army, Doctor Gero, appear three years later, seeking revenge against Goku. During this time, an evil life form called Cell also emerges and, after absorbing two of the Androids to achieve his "perfect form," holds his own fighting tournament to decide the fate of the Earth. After Goku sacrifices his own life to no avail, Gohan avenges his father by defeating Cell, with the help of his friends and, by ascending to the second level of the legendary Super Saiyan . Seven years later, Goku, briefly revived for one day, and his allies are drawn into a fight against a magical being named Majin Boo, which have been created by the evil wizard Bibidi and revived from the son of the evil wizard, called Babidi. After numerous battles, destruction and recreation of the Earth, Goku destroys Boo with a Genki-Dama attack containing the energy of everyone on Earth. Goku makes a wish for Majin Boo to be reincarnated as a good person and ten years later, at another Tenkaichi Budōkai, Goku meets Boo's human reincarnation, Oob. Leaving the match between them unfinished, Goku departs with Oob to train him to be Earth's new guardian. |
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