1 year resurrection limit

[ABED]

In another thread the discussion went off topic, but I'd like some feedback. There's a disagreement about the rules regarding resurrections. I've been under the impression for years that the dead can only come back to life if they've died within a year. I've been told that's not the case. Disregard Freeza's resurrection in the latest movie because that was another set of DB's. I was told by another member that the year stipulation only applies to mass resurrections. The scene they cite is the conversation between Kami and Kaio-sama during the Freeza fight. Here's the dialog:

{Kaio:} [telepathically] Can we make a wish on another planet?

{Kami:} [telepathically] Yes...Probably...Why? Do you want to bring back
everyone who was killed by Vegeta? Yes, we can do that if those individuals
died within the last twelve months.

I can see why someone reading this would see that as meaning it only applies to mass resurrections but I've always interpreted this to mean Kami was telling Kaio that based on the wording of the wish everyone killed by Freeza would return, but only up to a certain amount of time. It has nothing to do with a limit being placed on the wish due to the number of people being brought back. To put it another way, if only one person who was killed by Vegeta was wished back, they could still only be brought back if they were killed within 12 months of the wish.

So, any thoughts?

[dbgtFO]

The original japanese dialouge words it in a way, that is consistent with what is argued in that other thread, at least that's what I recall from whenever this debate comes up.
Also I will have to say that the argument that Kaio would basically be dooming Yamcha and co. because they weren't going to be revived for another year overlooks the fact that they are there on Kaio's planet with their bodies as given to them by Kami. It's easy to imagine different rules may apply, when they don't have to be subject to the reincarnation process like normal people.

[ABED]

The original japanese dialouge words it in a way, that is consistent with what is argued in that other thread, at least that's what I recall from whenever this debate comes up.
Also I will have to say that the argument that Kaio would basically be dooming Yamcha and co. because they weren't going to be revived for another year overlooks the fact that they are there on Kaio's planet with their bodies as given to them by Kami. It's easy to imagine different rules may apply, when they don't have to be subject to the reincarnation process like normal people.

I don't quite understand where you stand on the issue. And regarding them keeping their bodies, Kami allowed them to keep their bodies before this plan was ever devised.

[dbgtFO]

The original japanese dialouge words it in a way, that is consistent with what is argued in that other thread, at least that's what I recall from whenever this debate comes up.
Also I will have to say that the argument that Kaio would basically be dooming Yamcha and co. because they weren't going to be revived for another year overlooks the fact that they are there on Kaio's planet with their bodies as given to them by Kami. It's easy to imagine different rules may apply, when they don't have to be subject to the reincarnation process like normal people.

I don't quite understand where you stand on the issue. And regarding them keeping their bodies, Kami allowed them to keep their bodies before this plan was ever devised.

Okay, let me try again.

This issue has been discussed many times in the past. What we usually got around to is that the original japanese wording mentions that the 1 year limit applies to a large amount of people, thus you can revive people, even if they've been dead for several years, but not large amounts of people, because then the 1 year limit applies.

A corroborating argument to that argument is that if the 1 year limit applies to every dead person ever, then Kaio and Kami would effectively be telling Yamcha and co. to stay dead forever, but my counter-argument to that claim is the aforementioned fact, that they are in bodies given to them by Kami and so are not subject to the reincarnation process.
The reincarnation process is likely the reason why large amounts of people can't be revived after 1 year, as it's assumed they have all been reincarnated at that point, thus the 1-year limit wouldn't apply to Yamcha and co. as they were not subject to that process.

[Kamiccolo9]

There is also them raising the possibility of bringing Grandpa Gohan back to life in the RRA arc, and he's been dead for way longer than a year.

[ABED]

Then Kaio and Kami would effectively be telling Yamcha and co. to stay dead forever

And? I don't see how that corroborates anything. It's not like they are choosing to say "screw you." The whole point is to bring back The Grand Elder and save Goku and his friends on Namek.

I still think I'm correct as it's a far more simple reading of the text than the whole body and reincarnation angle. You know, Occam's Razor.

[Herms]

Then Kaio and Kami would effectively be telling Yamcha and co. to stay dead forever

And? I don't see how that corroborates anything. It's not like they are choosing to say "screw you." The whole point is to bring back The Grand Elder and save Goku and his friends on Namek.

After Kaio proposes his plan, he turns to Yamcha and co. and apologizes that their resurrection will be "delayed". Yamcha responds by saying "no problem, it's only for a year", while Chiaotzu glumly notes that he "stays dead either way". All of these statements are based on the assumption that being resurrected after more than a year is perfectly possible; Yamcha and Tenshinhan will have to wait a year but will at that point be revived, while only Chiaotzu will be stuck dead due to his having been resurrected once before. This conversation takes place immediately after the God of Earth states that if they wished for everyone killed by Vegeta and Nappa to be resurrected, they would be limited to those who died within the last year. The simplest explanation is that the 1 year limit only applies to the large group. If the 1 year limit applied to everyone, then nothing else said in that scene makes any sense.

Combine this with the fact that a 1 year limit is never mentioned anywhere else before or after, plus the various times reviving someone already dead longer than a year has been proposed, and Freeza himself being revived in RF, and it all seems pretty clear.

[ABED]

I think the assumption is they are using the Namekian Dragon Balls which I think they don't yet know brings people back an unlimited number of times. The plan was to use the Earth's DBs to bring back the Namekians and then use the Namekian DB's to wish back Goku's friends. It would seem odd that despite never having resurrected that many people before over that distance he would know that there was a year limit. How would he know that? And once again, Freeza was resurrected by a different set of Dragon Balls. Dende's were more powerful.

My reading is those within a year isn't some limit imposed by the number of people, just that it won't resurrect every single person ever killed by Nappa and Vegeta. I can certainly see why some read it as the number of resurrections limits the time.

[Gaffer Tape]

The plan was to use the Earth's DBs to bring back the Namekians and then use the Namekian DB's to wish back Goku's friends.

But they used earth's Dragon Balls to bring the Grand Elder back to life juuuuuust long enough to squeeze one more wish out of his. For all they knew, that was the end of the Namekian Dragon Balls.

[Herms]

I think the assumption is they are using the Namekian Dragon Balls which I think they don't yet know brings people back an unlimited number of times. The plan was to use the Earth's DBs to bring back the Namekians and then use the Namekian DB's to wish back Goku's friends. It would seem odd that despite never having resurrected that many people before over that distance he would know that there was a year limit. How would he know that? And once again, Freeza was resurrected by a different set of Dragon Balls. Dende's were more powerful.

But see, in order to treat the 1 year limit as applying outside of large groups, you have to propose differences between the original Earth DBs and Dende's set that are never specified in the series itself (despite them talking at length in the Cell and Boo arcs about what rules Dende's new DBs have). And we've still got Kaio saying "sorry, we'll have to delay your resurrection" and Yamcha cheerfully replying "no problem, it's only for a year!" It still seems to me far simpler to assume that the 1 year limit only applies within the very specific context in which it is mentioned, on that single occasion in which it is mentioned. I don't see the advantage in assuming it's a more general rule. Doing so doesn't explain any otherwise inexplicable mysteries, and actually creates plot holes within the very scene in which the rule is mentioned.

[Speedster]

For what is worth, in the Bouken Special which was released when Dragonball was still in chapter 146 Toriyama said in the interview this

Question: Why didn’t Goku think of using his wish to Shenlong to bring his grandpa Son Gohan back to life?
Toriyama: Well, I guess since he was able to meet his grandpa again, it was probably OK.

So Toriyama back then, with the first set of DBs, doesn't suggest that bringing grandpa Son Gohan (who died several years prior to that point) back to life was impossible due to an one year rule or anything. Quite the opposite. He rather implies that it was possible - just Goku didn't feel like doing it as he had seen his grandpa again. Of course you may argue that later on Toriyama pulled a limitation out of his ass for the sake of contrived drama but even that was the case (which is highly debatable) that rule wasn't his original intention to be there in the first place. So being dropped in the new material (see resurrection of Freeza after more than 12 years) is not a big deal anyway.