Dragon Ball (artifact)
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A Dragon Ball is a fictional artifact from the manga and anime Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z, as well as Dragon Ball GT. They also appear in the Akira Toriyama manga Dragon Boy (the proto-Dragon Ball one-shot series).
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Dragonballs in "Dragon Ball" series
Image:DragonBalls.jpgThe Dragon Balls are orange, softball-sized, crystalline spheres with the ability to call forth a colossal dragon, which has the ability to grant a wish. Dragon Balls come in sets of seven with each ball containing the number of stars that signifies its respective number in the set. Dragonballs are difficult to find because they are scattered all over the Earth or few other planets each with own set, and deactivated for a year after every wish, disguising themselves as sand boulders and rocks, so to have the opportunity to summon a dragon one must travel all over the globe to retrieve them. As technology progressed this became somewhat easier, especially with the help of an electronic detector invented by the character Bulma.
Restrictions on the Dragons powers are set by the relative capablities of the Dragonball set's creator, in Earth's case it was Kami-Sama. Earth's dragon, Shenron can grant a wish as long as it does not kill, create love or repeat a wish he previously granted. Legitimate wishes include eternal youth, bringing back a scorched forest or even an annihilated planet. Also, returning a person to life, although only if they meet certain criteria, like dying of unnatural causes within a year ago, and each individual can only be brought back once. One obstacle is that the Eternal Dragon will grant the first wish uttered, by whom ever present.
Unlike the Dragonballs of Earth, the approximately basketball-sized Dragon Balls of Planet Namek summon a different dragon, Porunga and can grant three wishes, due to their creation by Guru. Since the years on Namek are shorter (130 Earth days), they can also be used more frequently. However, Porunga is only capable of one individual's revival, whereas the eternal dragon of Earth can wish many, even an entire planet's population (if you can state your will in one wish). Additionly, the Namek Dragon Balls require the summoner to say a password before the dragon can be summoned (the password is Porunga).
When Dende became the Earth's guardian he modified the burnt out Dragonballs created by Kami (which transformed into seven ordinary stones when Kami fused with Piccolo), giving Shenron the power to grant 2 wishes. Near the very end of DGT when all the Dragon Balls were returned to normal, Shenron appeared and declared that no more wishes would be granted for a long time. Upon saying this he asked Goku to join him on a journey. Goku accepted the dragons offer and hitched a ride with Shenron as he flew away. The Dragon Balls were than absorbed into Goku's body.
In Dragon Ball GT, the concept of "Black Star Dragonballs" was introduced.This set of Dragonballs was created by Kami, in a time when the kindly Guardian of the Earth had still not expelled his darker side in the form of Demon King Piccolo. Presumeably because this Kami was not pure good and was much more powerful (since he had not dispelled his evil half) the Black Star Dragonballs can summon a much more powerful Red Shenron, a mighty dragon that is not restricted as much as the normal Shenron (eg. Red Shenron can kill a person if wished to). To counter this powerul improvement, the Black Star Dragonballs have two big downsides. First,when Red Shenron grants a wish the Black Star Dragonballs scatter across the galaxy, rather than the Earth. Secondly, the planet upon which Red Shenron grants a wish will be destroyed in one year unless the Black Star Dragonballs are returned to the aforesaid planet. Like many aspects of GT, most fans consider them non-canonical. Their existence does present a bit of a plot hole: If Piccolo created a whole different set of dragon balls while he was whole, why was he so suprised to learn about the dragonballs that Kami created when Pilaf told him about them? Furthermore, how did Emperor Pilaf find out about the Black Star Dragonballs, and how did he get up to the Sanctuary in a man made vehicle?
Negative Energy
Another concept introduced was the existence of negative energy in Dragonballs. According to the series, when ever a wish is made on the Dragonballs, an equal amount of negative enargy is created along side the benificial, wish granting energy. To prevent this energy from causing problems, the Dragonballs absorb this dark energy. As the dark energy stored in the Dragonballs disperse only after hundreds of years,and the Dragonballs can only store a limited amount of it, the Dragonballs scatter across the planet, giving them time to dispell the dark energy (since it would, in theory, take centuries for someone to find all the Dragonballs and summon Shenron again). Unfortunately, this counter measure was proved near usless when Bulma invented the Dragon Radar, allowing the characters of DBZ to easily find the Dragonballs and summon Shenron several times. Eventually (during Dragon Ball GT) all seven Dragonballs were filled to full capacity, causing them to crack. When these damaged Dragonballs were used to summon Shenron to restore the Earth after Goku's battle with Super Android #17, the Dragonballs summoned years worth of dark energy instead, which manifested into an evil Black Smoke Shenron, who in turn swallowed the Dragonballs and split into seven lesser evil Shenrons.
Wishes Granted
- Oolong wishes for a pair of panties.(Brought forth Oceanus Shenron)
- Goku wishes for Bora to be revived. (Brought Forth Haze Shenron)
- Piccolo Daimao wishes for his youth to be restored. (Brought forth Nova Shenron)
- Reviving everyone killed by Piccolo Daimao and his children.
DragonBall Z:
- Master Roshi wishes for Goku to be revived. (Brought forth Rage Shenron)
- Dende, Gohan and Kuririn wish for Piccolo's life to be restored. (granted by Porunga)
- Dende, Gohan and Kuririn wish for Piccolo to be transported to Planet Namek. (granted by Porunga)
- Mr. Popo wishes for all those killed by Freeza and his henchmen in Namek brought back to life. (granted by Shenlong)
- Dende wishes everyone on Namek to go to Earth except Goku and Freeza. (granted by Porunga)
- The Z-Fighter's lives to be restored. (Granted by Porunga)
- A wish to revive all people killed by Cell and the other androids.
- Kuririn wished for the self-destruct bombs in #17 and #18 to be removed.
- Bulma's wish for all the good people who got killed by Majin Vegeta to be revived. (Granted by Shenlong)(Brought forth Naturon Shenron)
- A wish that would bring the planet Earth back (Granted by Porunga)
- A wish that would bring all those killed by Majin Buu back to life. (Granted by Porunga)
- A wish to restore Goku's strength for the Genki-Dama.
- All memories of Majin Buu would be erased, save for Goku and the other Z Senshi's.
- Pilaf's wish for Goku to be turned into a child. (Granted by Blackstar Shenlong)
- Bebi-Vegeta's wish for a new Planet Plant to be created and located near Earth, complete with buildings and plants. (Granted by Blackstar Shenlong)
- A wish to restore the Earth after being destroyed by the side effects of using the Black Star Dragonballs. (Granted by Porunga)
- A wish to revive all the people who were killed during the Super 17 and Evil Shenlong Sagas.
DragonBall Movies:
Dragonball Movie 1: Curse of the Blood Rubies
- Pansy's wish for the end of the rubies
Dragonball Movie 3: Mystical Adventure
- Goku wishes for Bora to be revived.
Dragonball Tenth Anniversary Special:
- Goku wishes for Shenron rebuilt Android 8 and remove the bomb inside him.
Dragonball Z Movie 1: Dead Zone
- Garlic Jr.'s wish for immortality.
Dragonball Z Movie 2: The World's Strongest
- Dr. Koichin wishes for Dr. Wheelo to be released from his prison.
Dragonball Z Movie 3: Tree of Might
- Bulma, Gohan and Kuririn wish to restore the forest.
Dragonball Z Movie 4: Lord Slug
- Lord Slug wishes for his youth to be restored.
Dragonball Z Movie 10: Broli, Second Coming
- Goten wishes that his father were there, and an image of Goku appears; though this creates an interesting plot hole. At this point, Dende had powered up Shenlong to grant two wishes, though when Goten asks to see Goku, the Dragonballs still scatter at the end of the movie. It doesn't really matter though, as the movies are non-canon.
Dragonball Z Movie 12: Fusion Reborn
- Shenron appears, but no wish is made, leading to a somewhat comedic ending.
Dragonball Z Movie 13: Dragon Fist Explosion
- Goku's wishes to unlock a box Gohan and Videl found (Tapion was in it).
Dragon Balls in other media
In the manga Dragon Boy, Dragon Balls are small balls that appear very similar to the balls in the Dragon Ball series. However, instead of granting wishes, they can be opened using ki energy to release a small baby dragon that does not grant wishes.
In the video game series Worms there is an attack called "Dragon Ball", being very similar to the Kamehameha wave.fr:Dragon balls ja:ドラゴンボール (架空の道具)