Some characters from “Dragon Ball” were inspired by vegetables (a super original idea)

Dragon Ball Z is a manga-based animated series created by Akira Toriyama. Gokū, the protagonist of the story, sets out on an adventure to find the Dragon Balls and save the Planet from destruction. Along the way, he encounters many allies and foes with curious names.

According to one theory, it is no accident that the most powerful characters have names related to vegetables and their allies, fruits or other healthy foods. One clue is the fact that the mighty warriors are from Saiya, an anagram of the word yasai, which in Japanese means vegetables. Also, there are many word games between English and Japanese.

Sometimes, in the Portuguese translation, the origin of some names is not so obvious. That’s why we’ll explain them all in this post.

O awesome.club created a compilation of the names of the characters from this Japanese series, confirming the theory that they are not random, but inspired by food.

1. Vegeta = vegetables

2. Broly = broccoli

3. Nappa = turnip

4. Gohan = rice (in Japanese)

5. Milk = milk (in English)

6. Raditz (from the English “radish”) = radish

7. Kakaroto (from the English “carrot”) = carrot

8. Abo and Kado (from the English “avocado”) = avocado

9. Ghourd = yogurt

10. Selypar (from the English “parsley”) = parsley

11. Kwi = kiwi

12. Appule (from the English “apple”) = apple

13. Krillin (from the Japanese “kuri”) = chestnut

14. Toteppo (from the English “potato”) = potato

15. Paragus (from the English “asparagus”) = asparagus

Bonus: Beyond Fruits and Vegetables

Toriyama didn’t just turn to healthy foods to bring the characters in the story to life. He also used animals and even musical instruments to designate the rest of his characters.

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