Character Ages...

[AleezaChocolat]

Uh... I think you need to do some re-reading.

He tells Bulma when she first meets him that he's 14. Then, at the 21st Budokai (which is only 8 months later) he announces that he didn't know how to count properly before and got it wrong, he's actually 12. After the tournament he then goes on to fight the RRA, while still 12. Then shows up at the 22nd at age 15, which is where you picked up at.

I was so convinced that I finally got it all figured out, too, haha. Anyway, thanks both to you and Adamant for correctin' me. =)

[TripleRach]

Wow, though . . . this means that Goku was even younger than I thought when he got married. Wouldn't that put him and Chi-Chi at age 15 by the end of Dragonball? And they wouldn't even have been legal adults by the time Gohan was born about a year later. WTF. o_O; Please tell me I'm just missing some info here again. . . . Grah, too young for babies! XD

No, he was 18. There was 3 years between the end of the Baba arc and the start of the 22nd Budoukai, and then another 3 years between the defeat of Piccolo Daimaou and the 23rd Budoukai. Two 3 year time skips before he got married.

[Anonymous Friend]

OK, this is getting really confusing. Does anyone have a timeline or something that shows what years things happened? Or something?

[Herms]

OK, this is getting really confusing. Does anyone have a timeline or something that shows what years things happened? Or something?

Desirecampbell posted a link to Greg Werner's (somewhat inaccurate) translation of Daizenshuu 7's timeline in the second post. TripleRach has also translated it as part of her Daizenshuu 7 translation project. The main thing to keep in mind with Greg Werner's translation is that he calls the year system in Dragon Ball "A.D." rather than the correct romanization, "Age" (as in 749 A.D. instead of "Age 749").

[Xyex]

The main thing to keep in mind with Greg Werner's translation is that he calls the year system in Dragon Ball "A.D." rather than the correct romanization, "Age" (as in 749 A.D. instead of "Age 749").

Wha? Since when does this really matter, though? They both amount to the exact same thing. A.D. and B.C. are just the more well known means of showing current and past eras.

Anyway, I feel like posting a quick highlight of important events in DB/Z so....

Over 100 million years B.C. Earliest Kai is thought to exist.

About 75 Million years B.C. The 15th generation Kaioshin, Elder Supreme Kai, is sealed in the Z Sword.

About 5 Million years B.C. The evil magician Bibidi is successful in creating Majin Buu.
Majin Buu destroys hundreds of planets in the following years.
Four of the five Kaioshins are killed by Majin Buu.
Dai Kaiou is absorbed by him, giving him a fat appearance.
West Kaioshin manages to kill Bibidi and leaves Majin Buu's sphere shell on Earth.

Approximately 238 B.C. The Legendary Super Saiyan appears and wreaks havoc across the Universe.

430 A.D. Master Roshi is born. Here comes trouble ladies.

431 A.D. Piccolo becomes the apprentice of Kami.

459 A.D. Tsurusennin's brother, Tao Pai Pai, is born.

461 A.D. Garlic assaults Kami for not choosing him as his successor.
He is defeated and trapped by Kami.
Piccolo is the chosen one and ascends to the throne of Kami.
The evil in Kami's heart leaves him and forms Piccolo Daimaou.
Daimaou leads a reign of terror across the Earth, but is sealed in the Denshi Jar by Mutaito's Mafuba technique.
Mutaito dies as a result of performing the move.

553 A.D. Master Roshi starts his world famous collection of dirty magazines.

Approximately 650 A.D. Master Roshi finds the 3-Star Dragon Ball washed up on his beach.

650 A.D. May 7th The first World Tournament takes place.

658 A.D. Gohan(Goku's Adoptive Grandpa) is born.

731 A.D. The Saiyan begin their partnership with Frieza and start conquering planets for sale.
King Vegeta marries his queen.

732 A.D. The birth of Prince Vegeta.

733 A.D. Bulma, Yamcha, and Tien are born.

736 A.D. Krillin is born

737 A.D. A Low Class Saiyan fighter is born to the Middle Class fighter Bardock.
He is rejected by his father as a failure.
In his first few days alive he's sent to the planet Earth to destroy it when he grows older.
His name is Kakkarotto.
Planet Vegeta gains control of the planets Meat and Kanassa.
King Vegeta's revolt against Frieza ends in failure with his death.
Frieza demands the death of all Saiyan.
Bardock dies trying to protect planet Vegeta and his future.
Kakkarotto lands on Earth.
Ox-King's daughter Chi-chi is born.
His wife dies shortly after the birth.
Sometime in between June and August Gohan(Goku's Adoptive Grandpa) finds a small baby in the woods.
He names him Son Goku.

738 A.D. Goku hits his head on a rock after falling down a cliff.
He stops being a wreckless evil child and becomes a happy loving boy.

740 A.D. Oolong is born.
Krillin begins his training at the Orinji Temple.

748 A.D. The Pheonix Master Roshi was raising dies of food poisoning.
Later, while gathering mushrooms, he discovers a baby sea turtle who got lost.

749 A.D. First ten days of April Bulma enters Senior High School in the Western City.

Sometime in 749 A.D. Bulma discovers the 2-Star Dragon Ball in her basement.

749 A.D. 22 August Bulma discovers the 5-Star Dragon Ball in a cave to the north.

749 A.D. September 1st Bulma is on her summer vacation searching for the Dragon Balls.
Bulma meets Goku later that day.
Bulma discovers that the sphere Goku owned, which he thought contained his grandfather's soul, was actually the 4-Star Dragon Ball.

749 A.D. September 10th Goku and Krillin become Master Roshi's students after finding a female... maid for the pervert.
Later, Master Roshi moves his house to an island and Goku and Krillin prepare for their tough training with the martial arts master.

750 A.D. May 7th The 21st World Tournament takes place.
Jackie Chun wins.
Goku takes second place.
Goku, The Red Ribbon Army, and Pilaf struggle for control of the Dragon Balls.
The Red Ribbon Army get the 6-Star Dragon Ball from Pilaf's base in the desert.
They also get the 5-Star Dragon Ball.
Goku and Chi-chi meet again in the Ox King's village.

750 A.D. May 12th After 3 days of training, Goku finally gets the Super Holy Water.
He's surprised when he finds that it was only plain tap water.
It was actually the fighting to get it that made him stronger.
Goku kills Tao Pai Pai at the base of Korin Tower and SINGLE-HANDEDLY destroys the ENTIRE Red Ribbon Army.
In Uranai Baba's battle arena, Goku is reunited with his dead grandpa Gohan.

753 A.D. May 7th The 22nd World Tournament takes place. Tien wins.
Goku comes in a close second.
Krillin is killed and Piccolo Daimaou appears.

753 A.D. May 9th Goku kills Piccolo Daimaou.
Piccolo AKA Ma Junior is born.
Goku reaches Kami's Palace and trains there for the next three years with Mr. Popo and Kami.

756 A.D. May 7th The 23rd World Tournament begins.
Goku becomes engaged to Chi-chi after their fight in the tournament.
Goku defeats "Ma Junior" and wins the World Tournament for the first time.

757 A.D. Sometime in May, Gohan is born.

761 A.D. October 12th Raditz arrives to retrieve his brother.
Goku and Raditz are killed by Piccolo's Beam Cannon.

762 A.D. November 3rd Vegeta and Nappa arrive on Earth.
Gohan, Piccolo, Tien, Krillin, Chiaotzu, and Krillin face off against the Saiyan.
Nappa, Yamcha, Piccolo, Tien, and Chiaotzu are all killed.
The battle between Goku and Vegeta ends in a draw.

762 A.D. December 18th Vegeta, Kiwi, Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan all land on Namek at about the same time.
Goku leaves for Nameck.
Dende takes Krillin to meet the Saichourou.
Piccolo, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha arrive at King Kai's planet and begin their training there.
Goku's spaceship gets trapped in the gravity of the star Alpha HZ.
By using the Kamehameha he is able to escape a fiery demise.

762 A.D. December 24th The Ginyu Force are destroyed.
Piccolo is revived. Krillin is killed.
Goku becomes the Legendary Super Saiyan and defeats Frieza.
The planet Namek blows up.

764 A.D. Some time in August. Trunks arrives. He kills Cyborg Frieza and King Cold.
Goku returns to Earth.

767 A.D. May 7th The 24th World Tournament takes place.
Mr. Satan is the winner.

767 A.D. May 12th All of the Androids appear.
Cell shows up later that day.
Piccolo and Kami fuse.
Piccolo is temporarily the strongest character.
Goku suffers from his viral heart disease.
The Cell of the present is destroyed along with Dr. Gero's underground lab by Krillin and Trunks.

767 A.D. May 26th At 12 noon the Cell Games begins.
Goku dies a second time by sacraficing himself to save the Earth.
Gohan completely destroys Cell.

770 A.D. Krillin and Android #18 get married.

771 A.D. Marron is born.

774 A.D. April 7th There's a sighting of the Golden Haired Warrior in Satan City.
Gohan begins the second grade level at Orange Star High School.
He meets Videl.
Gohan meets Bulma at 3 PM.
She works on a transformation suit for him so he can disguise himself when fighting crime.
She finishes at 5 PM.
The Great Saiyaman appears for the first time!

774 A.D. April 8th Videl discovers that Gohan is the Great Saiyaman.

774 A.D. May 7th The 25th World Tournament takes place.
Goku returns to Earth for a single day to compete in the tournament.
Majin Buu appears.
Vegeta sacrafices his life trying to defeat him.
Majin Buu kills Babidi.
Due to turning Super Saiyan 3, Goku is forced to return to the after-life early.
Gohan mistakenly frees Elder Supreme Kai from the Z Sword.
Elder Supreme Kai begins the ceremony to upgrade Gohan's power.

774 A.D. May 8th Piccolo, Gotenks, and Gohan are absorbed by Majin Buu.
Majin Buu kills almost every single person on Earth.
Elder Supreme Kai gives Goku his life allowing him to return to Earth.
Vegeta returns to Earth with the help of Uranai Baba.
Majin Buu destroys the Earth.
Porunga restores the Earth.
Vegeta's life is restored when all of the good people who died are wished back to life.
Goku destroys Majin Buu with the Super Spirit Bomb.

774 A.D. September 7th Shenron erases everyone's memories of Majin Buu.

779 A.D. Pan is born to Gohan and Videl.

780 A.D. Bra is born to Vegeta and Bulma.

784 A.D. May 7th The 28th World Tournament takes place.
Goku leaves with Uub to train him.

789 A.D. Dragonball GT begins

You know... I never noticed before. The longest single saga, day count wise, is the Androids. Even without counting the period of just training in it and the Saiya-jin saga. The early DB sagas are only a few days long, Raditz and Vegeta both only last a day or two total, Namek is only 6 days. The Androids are about 12 days, Saiyaman only lasts 3-4 days, and Buu occurs over 2 days.

[AleezaChocolat]

Wow, though . . . this means that Goku was even younger than I thought when he got married. Wouldn't that put him and Chi-Chi at age 15 by the end of Dragonball? And they wouldn't even have been legal adults by the time Gohan was born about a year later. WTF. o_O; Please tell me I'm just missing some info here again. . . . Grah, too young for babies! XD

No, he was 18. There was 3 years between the end of the Baba arc and the start of the 22nd Budoukai, and then another 3 years between the defeat of Piccolo Daimaou and the 23rd Budoukai. Two 3 year time skips before he got married.

Oh, okay. I thought that I was missing something (didn't remember there being two 3 year gaps). . . .

[Herms]

Wha? Since when does this really matter, though? They both amount to the exact same thing. A.D. and B.C. are just the more well known means of showing current and past eras.

I guess it depends on what you consider important, but it is wrong. The years they use for the timeline aren't meant to be "A.D.", and in fact the Western, B.C./A.D. calender does exist in the Dragon Ball world as a calendar system seperate from the Age calender. Also...oh bum, I went over all this back here. I'll just quote myself:

[Greg Werner] translates ‘エイジ’ as ‘A.D.’. ‘エイジ’ is actually just the English word ‘age’ written out in katakana (the Japanese name for the computer game Age of Empires, for instance, is “エイジ オブ エンパイア シリーズ”). The actual way that the years of the Western calendar are written out in Japanese is as 西暦○○年or 紀元○○年, or simply ○○年, with the year number replacing the circles...

...In the dictionary of terms there are entries for both the Age calendar and the Western, A.D. calendar...It says that most places use the Age calendar, but there are still some places that use the Western calendar, such as Penguin Village (this is in reference to the fact that Dr. Slump did occasionally refer to the actual year while it was running in Jump).

[TheGreatness25]

I don't see Bulla being younger than Pan by a year. When Pan was just a little gir running around, Bulla already looked more mature.

[Xyex]

I don't see Bulla being younger than Pan by a year. When Pan was just a little gir running around, Bulla already looked more mature.

Those are the officially given ages, and if you look at the end of Z Bra and Pan look about the same age. It's not until GT screws things up that that changes. The Perfect Files say that Bra is a year older than Pan, as opposed to younger. But even then the main reason Bra looks old is cause of how she dresses.

[TheGreatness25]

At the end of Z, Pan and Bulla do not look the same age. You mean to tell me that she's 3 years old here:



The official ages are bullcrap and nonsense. The series is full of plotholes, and so are the ages. According to the "Perfect Files", that would make Bulla 8 years old here:



In my opinion, we'd have better luck thinking up the ages ourselves than trusting those "official" ones. Where they say Bulla is a year younger than Pan, yet is like twice as big as her at the end of DBZ.

[Herms]

The fact that the Dragon Ball world has both the Western calendar and the Age calendar just gave me a perverse idea: if Arale was created in 1980 (the year Dr.Slump began in the real world; the Japanese Wikipedia for Dr. Slump gives her date of completion as Flying-Fish 13th, 1980), and assuming the manga kept referencing the real world year all the way through (which I think it did), then presumably Arale would have meet Goku in 1987, when Dragon Ball vol.7 was published (the chapters themselves would have first been published earlier that year in Jump). So 1987 in the Dragon Ball's worlds version of the Western calendar is equivalent to Age 750. Based on this, we can convert the dates in Daizenshuu 7's timeline to the Western calendar. So the main events of Dragon Ball/Z/GT would be like this (hopefully my math held up):

1980 (Age 743): Arale is created
1986 (Age 749): Goku and Bulma meet.
1987 (Age 750): Goku competes in the 21st Tenkaichi Budoukai, fights the Red Ribbon Army, meets Arale, and fights Grandpa Gohan at Uranai Baba’s palace
1990: Goku competes in the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai, then defeats Piccolo Daimao
1993: Goku defeats Ma Junior in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai
1994: Gohan is born
1998: Raditz comes to Earth and Goku dies
1999: The battle with Vegeta and Nappa in November, then the battle with Freeza on Planet Namek in late December
2001: Trunks kills Freeza and King Cold
2004: The battle with the Artificial Humans and Cell
2011: Majin Buu and all that jazz
2021: Goku leaves with Uub at the 25th Tenkaichi Budoukai
2026: Most of the events of GT. Goku goes off with Shenlong…somewhere
2126: Goku Jr. fights Vegeta Jr. at the Tenkaichi Budoukai

For the pre-series events, most of the really old stuff isn't affected much (Majin Buu was created 5 million years ago; adding or subtracting a couple thousand years won't alter that much, and they're just estimated dates anyway). The rest goes like this:

3,000 B.C.: Garlic Jr.’s ancestors come to Earth from Planet Makyo.
498 A.D.: Princess Snake starts living on the Serpent Road
999 A.D.: The legendary Super Saiyan does his thing
1487 A.D.: Uranai Baba starts up her divining business
1498: Planet Namek is devastated by a weather anomaly, and the future Kami-sama comes to Earth
1698: Mutaito seals Piccolo Daimao inside a rice cooker
1887: The first Tenkaichi Budoukai is held
1968: The Saiyans team up with Freeza
1969: Vegeta is born
1974: Planet Vegeta is destroyed by Freeza, and Goku lands on Earth

[TheGreatness25]

I don't think you can really translate it into our own time. I mean the environments and everything seem so different. The way I like to think of it is, it's so far in the future, that it's like after civilization restarted. I know it's a stupid way of thinking, but hey, you can never ever compare the Dragon Ball world to real life. Not only because of the characters, but because of the surroundings, technology, and all those talking creatures and animals, that people seem so used to.

[TripleRach]

Those are the officially given ages, and if you look at the end of Z Bra and Pan look about the same age. It's not until GT screws things up that that changes. The Perfect Files say that Bra is a year older than Pan, as opposed to younger. But even then the main reason Bra looks old is cause of how she dresses.

Actually, the Perfect Files give the same birthdates for them as Daizenshuu 7 does, with Pan being older.

And that picture of GT Bra just proves that she only dresses grown up, but doesn't have the figure to go with it. Her mother was stacked as a teenager, so if Bra were really meant to be 13 or more, she probably would be too, since she's a clone in pretty much every other way.

[TheGreatness25]

That's right, Bulla's 8 and dressing older. And I suppose the guys driving around that were hitting on her would go to prison? Do 8 and 9 year olds date in Japan?

And if you're looking at figures, Vegeta's a short guy, but he's not THAT short. I mean if he's only a head taller than an 8 year old, that's pretty damn bad.

[Xyex]

Actually, the Perfect Files give the same birthdates for them as Daizenshuu 7 does, with Pan being older.

Are you sure about that? Everyting I've seen has said that GT made Bra a year older.

At the end of Z, Pan and Bulla do not look the same age. You mean to tell me that she's 3 years old here:

Do you mean to tell me that Goku looks 15 at the 22nd Budokai?

The official ages are bullcrap and nonsense.

No, they're the given ages. They're right and that's all there is to it. Deal with it.

. The series is full of plotholes, and so are the ages

that would make Bulla 8 years old here:

Just because she dresses like a hooker doesn't mean she can't be 8~

In my opinion, we'd have better luck thinking up the ages ourselves than trusting those "official" ones. Where they say Bulla is a year younger than Pan, yet is like twice as big as her at the end of DBZ.

And Goku's as big as a 7 year old when he's 12, what's your point? Size means jack shit in Dragonworld. Deal with it.

Do 8 and 9 year olds date in Japan?

8 and 9 year olds date in America so I wouldn't be surprised if they date in Japan too. But Dragonworld isn't Japan so it doesn't matter.

[Snail]

The official ages are bullcrap and nonsense. The series is full of plotholes, and so are the ages. According to the "Perfect Files", that would make Bulla 8 years old here:

In my opinion, we'd have better luck thinking up the ages ourselves than trusting those "official" ones. Where they say Bulla is a year younger than Pan, yet is like twice as big as her at the end of DBZ.

They may seem like bullcrap and nonsense to you, but they are facts, and that's that. Just because Bra doesn't LOOK like her age, doesn't mean she isn't what the Perfect Files state. So, change your mind about what you think should be right for you, it has no affect on what the facts really are, and ranting about how this all seems like nonsense to you won't convince anybody to be in the same boat as you.

I mean check this guy out:



His name is Jason Earles. He's an actor that plays a young teen on a show called "Hannah Montana". The guy is 29. TWENTY NINE! He doesn't look like he's 30 years old in the show at all, and nor does he in this photo, so should I say " fuck the facts, it's ridiculous he looks like a 14 year old, let it be so! " ?

[Super Sonic]

With the ages thing, I'm rereading the manga and in the Ask Toriyama section of vol. 10, he is asked how old Puar, Oolong, Puar and Yamcha are (circa 22nd Budokai). He says to do the calculations for Krillin since his was stated at the 21st Budokai, Yamcha's about 20, and he's not sure about Puar and Oolong.

[Velasa]

According to the "Perfect Files", that would make Bulla 8 years old here
(insert prostitot Bra photo)

This kids, is why I have nothing to do with the normal Bra in anything I write or draw. I much prefer other renditions of her that aren't momma clones/running around on dates in skimpy red leather at age 8.

And yeah, how people look when they're young is a very bad indication of how old they are in all the series. People go from babies to pree-teens pretty much in one massive grown spurt without a lot of levels inbetween.

[TripleRach]

Actually, the Perfect Files give the same birthdates for them as Daizenshuu 7 does, with Pan being older.

Are you sure about that? Everyting I've seen has said that GT made Bra a year older.

Yes, positive. Both books say Pan is born in Age 779, and Bra is born in Age 780. But I only have the reprints of the Perfect Files and not the original 1997 versions, so it's possible that it's something they corrected.

Either that, or someone misread it and it just spread, like the "15 million" controversy.

[TheGreatness25]

Would anyone, by any chance, find the Perfect Files online or something? What else do they contain other than ages?