Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

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Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by worldmonsters » Fri Jun 23, 2017 6:49 am

My question is because I'm doing a boardgame with my brother and working out the details for races (check it out here if you want, we're pretty well into making all the artwork and I'm very proud of it: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=38176). We have six races, Earthling, Namekian, Saiyan, Changeling (that's a whole 'nother can of worms, but Freeza Clan or Freeza's Race is not good enough), Android and Buu. We basically always called the race Buu's, but someone asked us "Hey, why aren't they called Majin's?" and we... didn't really have an answer except for that it stuck with us for so long from the beginning, we never really questioned it. But... seeing as we're about to go get our facecards officially printed (like the final version on nice paper) we kind of need to have this correct.

So... why we thought Majin wasn't the race is things as Majin Vegeta, but that's a fan term. We never hear him referred to as that, besides perhaps in video games? And also because there were other Majin characters in the show (while Neko Majin is part of our facecards, we relegated him to Earthling in the end, so let's forget about him and stick to... canon), right? Wasn't Piccolo called a Majin at one point or some other bad guys?

Why Majin COULD be the name of the race is because it is in Dragon Ball Heroes/Online/Xenoverse.

In the situation that you would be making a boardgame or videogame and you need to name a race for whatever Majin Buu is, what would you go for? Buu or Majin?

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by Slangh » Fri Jun 23, 2017 8:24 am

Buu is more like a personal name, and every 'Buu' in the series is just a variant of the same entity, not a different member of his race. Majin basically means demonic person, right? Since Babidi possesses other races with his demonic magic, it makes more sense to call his puppets 'Demonized' or 'Majinized' but of course they would never be purely Majin like Buu.

So I'd go with a Majin as a race. Your boardgame looks really nice btw.

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by TheZFighter » Fri Jun 23, 2017 8:34 am

Yeah your boardgame looks excellent, wow. I'm very impressed.

I have always assumed Majin was both the name of Buu's race and yet another prefix used by fans "out of universe".

By the prefix thing, I mean how "in-universe" a character is simply referred to as "Goku", "Gohan" or "Buu", but the majority of people "out of universe" (apart from me it seems) use terms such "Kid Goku", "Goku (Kaio-Ken x2)", "SSJ Goku", "Kid Gohan", "Ultimate Gohan", "Kid Buu", "Super Buu (Gotenks Absorbed)", etc.
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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by worldmonsters » Fri Jun 23, 2017 8:45 am

Thanks guys :D We've been working on the board game for years, so I'm glad we're at this stage where we can finally actually make it look like a professional board game :D

And thanks for the answers. I think Slangh has a definite point in that all the guys who had the name Buu are just basically the same person. Though TheZFighter, they definitely call him Majin Buu in the anime, so the term "Majin Buu" isn't really a fanterm, unless you refer to it being used for Majin Vegeta and such. Then you're right, cause I don't think, outside video games, he's ever called that, just like Mystic Gohan (On the other hand we have adopted "Mystic" in our board game as a thing).

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by nickzambuto » Fri Jun 23, 2017 1:01 pm

In Japanese, the term "Ma" means demon, and the suffix "jin" is used to denote a race or type of person, like Saiya-jin. So translated literally, his full title would be "The Demon Boo."

Boo seems more like his personal name rather than race, but Majin doesn't really work either because Piccolo Daimao was a demon but he and Boo aren't part of the same race. Ultimately, Majin Boo doesn't have a race. He is the only being in existence who is like himself. There are hundreds of Namekians and billions of humans, and at one point there were thousands of saiyans, but there is only one Boo. In the original series he was said to have been created by Bibidi, meaning he's not even a natural life form. In a Toriyama interview, it was revised that Boo was actually a being in existence since the dawn of the universe, so either way, he does not have a race.

In the Korean MMO Dragon Ball Online, which is of debatable canon, but was written by Toriyama IIRC, Boo formed a wife from pieces of himself, then they formed a child, then through continued offspring the whole Earth eventually had a race of Boo-like beings. The game refers to this race as the Majins, which doesn't really make any sense because that just means Demons and would include Piccolo and Dabra, but for simplicities sake, that's what they went with, and Xenoverse followed suit. If you went with Majins, I think that would be best.

Although on a side note, I always preferred Frost Demons as a name for Freeza's race.

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by worldmonsters » Fri Jun 23, 2017 1:11 pm

nickzambuto wrote:In Japanese, the term "Ma" means demon, and the suffix "jin" is used to denote a race or type of person, like Saiya-jin. So translated literally, his full title would be "The Demon Boo."

Boo seems more like his personal name rather than race, but Majin doesn't really work either because Piccolo Daimao was a demon but he and Boo aren't part of the same race. Ultimately, Majin Boo doesn't have a race. He is the only being in existence who is like himself. There are hundreds of Namekians and billions of humans, and at one point there were thousands of saiyans, but there is only one Boo. In the original series he was said to have been created by Bibidi, meaning he's not even a natural life form. In a Toriyama interview, it was revised that Boo was actually a being in existence since the dawn of the universe, so either way, he does not have a race.

In the Korean MMO Dragon Ball Online, which is of debatable canon, but was written by Toriyama IIRC, Boo formed a wife from pieces of himself, then they formed a child, then through continued offspring the whole Earth eventually had a race of Boo-like beings. The game refers to this race as the Majins, which doesn't really make any sense because that just means Demons and would include Piccolo and Dabra, but for simplicities sake, that's what they went with, and Xenoverse followed suit. If you went with Majins, I think that would be best.
Yeah, all of that makes sense, in the way that I agree with you. Maybe Majins is the way to go.
nickzambuto wrote:Although on a side note, I always preferred Frost Demons as a name for Freeza's race.
Hmm, since it's basically the same validity (as in that its super duper uncanon) we'll probably stick with what we've had all this time :) No offence ofcourse :)

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by dbgtFO » Fri Jun 23, 2017 1:22 pm

nickzambuto wrote:Boo seems more like his personal name rather than race, but Majin doesn't really work either because Piccolo Daimao was a demon but he and Boo aren't part of the same race.
Piccolo was not a Majin, the term used for him and his demonic underlings was Mazoku, from which we get Demon clan.

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by TheZFighter » Fri Jun 23, 2017 2:11 pm

worldmonsters wrote:Thanks guys :D We've been working on the board game for years, so I'm glad we're at this stage where we can finally actually make it look like a professional board game :D

And thanks for the answers. I think Slangh has a definite point in that all the guys who had the name Buu are just basically the same person. Though TheZFighter, they definitely call him Majin Buu in the anime, so the term "Majin Buu" isn't really a fanterm, unless you refer to it being used for Majin Vegeta and such. Then you're right, cause I don't think, outside video games, he's ever called that, just like Mystic Gohan (On the other hand we have adopted "Mystic" in our board game as a thing).
Yeah sorry I wasn't completely clear. I know Buu is referred to as "Majin Buu" in-universe. I just meant how "Vegeta under Babidi's control" is referred to as "Majin Vegeta", and I believe that there is a "Majin Piccolo", "Majin Frieza" and "Majin Cell" in some of the video games.
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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by worldmonsters » Fri Jun 23, 2017 5:48 pm

TheZFighter wrote:and I believe that there is a "Majin Piccolo", "Majin Frieza" and "Majin Cell" in some of the video games.
Hehe, videogames, am i rite? :b Though technically in our board game you can basically control other characters with Babidi's Crystal Ball and the technique Paparapapa, so you know... we're just as bad I guess?

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by nickzambuto » Fri Jun 23, 2017 9:15 pm

dbgtFO wrote:
nickzambuto wrote:Boo seems more like his personal name rather than race, but Majin doesn't really work either because Piccolo Daimao was a demon but he and Boo aren't part of the same race.
Piccolo was not a Majin, the term used for him and his demonic underlings was Mazoku, from which we get Demon clan.
I'm aware of that but translated they effectively mean the same thing. Majin just means a demon. Majin and Mazoku mean the same thing in the way a white person and a Caucasian are the same thing.

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by Gog » Fri Jun 23, 2017 11:13 pm

Majin Boo isn't a Majin or a Boo. From what I can remember he consistently refers to himself as a Djinn, and is refereed to as a Djinn (I could be wrong here). However, his children are known as the Majins, but they're named after him.

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by worldmonsters » Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:23 am

Gog wrote:Majin Boo isn't a Majin or a Boo. From what I can remember he consistently refers to himself as a Djinn, and is refereed to as a Djinn (I could be wrong here). However, his children are known as the Majins, but they're named after him.
Isn't that exclusively a Viz thing?? I really don't like that translation if I'm honest. In any case he doesn't refer to himself as Djinn in the japanese or american version ever.

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by Gog » Sat Jun 24, 2017 5:26 pm

worldmonsters wrote:
Gog wrote:Majin Boo isn't a Majin or a Boo. From what I can remember he consistently refers to himself as a Djinn, and is refereed to as a Djinn (I could be wrong here). However, his children are known as the Majins, but they're named after him.
Isn't that exclusively a Viz thing?? I really don't like that translation if I'm honest. In any case he doesn't refer to himself as Djinn in the japanese or american version ever.
Well, personally I don't know. But, I would trust the Viz translation more so than the American translation. However, upon looking it up the Viz Translation referring to Majin Boo as a Djinn is in fact incorrect. Majin Boo's name translates directly into Demon Man Boo. So I guess you could classify him as a Demon?

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by cheddarsword » Sun Jun 25, 2017 12:55 am

Gog wrote:
worldmonsters wrote:
Gog wrote:Majin Boo isn't a Majin or a Boo. From what I can remember he consistently refers to himself as a Djinn, and is refereed to as a Djinn (I could be wrong here). However, his children are known as the Majins, but they're named after him.
Isn't that exclusively a Viz thing?? I really don't like that translation if I'm honest. In any case he doesn't refer to himself as Djinn in the japanese or american version ever.
Well, personally I don't know. But, I would trust the Viz translation more so than the American translation. However, upon looking it up the Viz Translation referring to Majin Boo as a Djinn is in fact incorrect. Majin Boo's name translates directly into Demon Man Boo. So I guess you could classify him as a Demon?
I can understand where they got confused there with calling him a Djinn (I know what Djinn are, i'm not going based on just the jin part).

But what interest me is this. As the king of the demon realm, would that not make Dabura a "majin" as well?

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by GodKaio-Ken » Sun Jun 25, 2017 12:53 pm

Seeing as there is only one Buu I'm not sure he has a "Race" or "Species" in the strictest terms.

I've always felt a Majin was someone under the control of Bibbidy or babidy. Buu is just what he is...there are none others like him other than those he creates. Id personally call them Buus. Think about it....it wasnt any of the below:

Kid Majin Buu
Super Majin
Majin Buutenks

This is because Majin denotes a specific form of Buu controlled by magic.
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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by Darkprince410 » Sun Jun 25, 2017 3:22 pm

Ma-jin can mean both "Magical Person" and "Demon Person", with "Ma-jin" being used extensively in fiction when referring to genies (the Genie in Aladdin is referred to as a Ma-jin, for example). It is because of this other meaning as well as its use in referring to genies that Viz went with "Djinn" rather than "Ma-jin" for their localization of the manga, as djinn is another name/spelling of genie.

Additionally, within the context of all the other main villains of the arc, it's arguably safer to say that Toriyama went with the "Magical Person" definition of "Ma-jin" for the Buu arc, as every other main villain (Babi-di, Dabra, etc), all derive their names from magical spells and incantations.

In terms of race though, for the sake of your board game, Ma-jin would be the appropriate term there, as Buu is his given name. It'd be fundamentally no different than "Sayan Vegeta" or "Namekian Piccolo".

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by worldmonsters » Sun Jun 25, 2017 3:38 pm

Darkprince410 wrote:Ma-jin can mean both "Magical Person" and "Demon Person", with "Ma-jin" being used extensively in fiction when referring to genies (the Genie in Aladdin is referred to as a Ma-jin, for example). It is because of this other meaning as well as its use in referring to genies that Viz went with "Djinn" rather than "Ma-jin" for their localization of the manga, as djinn is another name/spelling of genie.

Additionally, within the context of all the other main villains of the arc, it's arguably safer to say that Toriyama went with the "Magical Person" definition of "Ma-jin" for the Buu arc, as every other main villain (Babi-di, Dabra, etc), all derive their names from magical spells and incantations.

In terms of race though, for the sake of your board game, Ma-jin would be the appropriate term there, as Buu is his given name. It'd be fundamentally no different than "Sayan Vegeta" or "Namekian Piccolo".
Hmmm compelling argument :o We're probably going to go for this :o
GodKaio-Ken wrote:Think about it....it wasnt any of the below:

Kid Majin Buu
Super Majin
Majin Buutenks

This is because Majin denotes a specific form of Buu controlled by magic.
Except Buu is consistently called Majin Buu. Kid Buu and Buutenks are fanterms. Super Buu is canon tho, but I think Super Majin Buu just sounds overly long but is basically true :o

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Re: Is Majin Buu a Majin or a Buu?

Post by dbgtFO » Sun Jun 25, 2017 3:54 pm

worldmonsters wrote:
GodKaio-Ken wrote:Think about it....it wasnt any of the below:

Kid Majin Buu
Super Majin
Majin Buutenks

This is because Majin denotes a specific form of Buu controlled by magic.
Except Buu is consistently called Majin Buu. Kid Buu and Buutenks are fanterms. Super Buu is canon tho, but I think Super Majin Buu just sounds overly long but is basically true :o
Kid Buu and Super Buu are dub terms and Buutenks is a fanterm.
The english versions of the games tend to just call the fat one Majin Buu, while not using Majin for the other forms, though as you say they are all Majin Buu in the manga and anime.

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