What is a god in current DB and does it hold any meaning at all?

[Jord]

We first had Kami, who was literally named "god". We got Enma, who presided over the afterlife.
Sort of a bureaucratic version of Heaven. Comparable with what multiple religions see as God.

But then we got people who are higher in the rankings, like Kaioshin.
And now with Super we got Gods and angels and god ki.

But what are these gods and angels actually? Just strong men and women? They seem so far removed from what we know as gods and angels that these titles feel completely arbitrary, just chosen to sound cool.
Yeah, Beerus can blow up planets. Well, so could Freeza and basically everyone after that. That's not really impressive anymore, especially after Kid Buu's rampage.

[VegettoEX]

Maybe it doesn't fit if you're coming at it from the angle of "Judeo-Christian God"... but it totally fits in context with the Buddhist pantheon, which is where it's largely pulling references and inspiration from.

You've got regular strong guys, but you've also got ascended enlightened guys. You've got seemingly other-worldly beings, and you've got bureaucrats within them. You've got guys that have fallen and lost their way along the way to enlightenment, and others that never miss a step along the way. You've got vengeful beings, and you've got aloof beings. You've got hyper-local gods (say, for a specific province or even mountain), and you've got beings that preside over actual elements and state-of-beings.

Nothing is especially novel about it, really (unless you perhaps have no familiarity with it whatsoever!). I would recommend reading up and learning about it from a real-world perspective, and as always, I can't recommend Journey to the West enough -- and for a million reasons other than what many people assume is the basic-ass "DB is a JttW parody" take!

[MasenkoHA]

Like VegettoEX said most of it is from Buddhism.

Enma/Yama is straight out of.Buddhism. It's not like he's someone Toriyama made up on his own https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yama_(Buddhism)

The Kaio are ,for all intents and purposes, the Four Heavenly Kings:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Heavenly_Kings
only instead of watching over a cardinal direction of the earth they watch over a cardinal direction of the universe

The series gives us a pretty clear cut idea of what the various Gods do. Kaioshin create worlds, Hakaioshin destroy worlds, Kaio watch over their jurisdiction, planetary Gods (like Kami and Dende) watch over their specific planet.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

There are different types of Gods in Dragon Ball, as VegettoEX and MasenkoHA have pointed out. Its also clearly not a status one is born with, but its something that can be attained through training as we saw with Goku and Vegeta, or conferred, as was the case with Dende.

Whether or not the use of the term "God" is appropriate or overused is of course subjective, but Toriyama was evidently not looking at using it in Dragon Ball from a monotheistic perspective. I would say it's more in his nature to have constant levels of escalation as we've seen with the different levels of hierarchy. It's probably not out of the question had Toriyama lived he would have created a God above Zeno. There always being someone stronger or something else has been a motif in this franchise from day one.

Hell theres still unexplored territory in other areas of this multiverse, as we haven't even seen the Makaioshin that was teased. Maybe with Daima exploring the demon realm this will change.

[Jord]

Wow, this is super interesting stuff I never knew. Thanks.
Makes me wonder though if some, more strict religious countries "censored" DB's depictions and mentions of god-related stuff due to not being okay with mentioning god/gods in such a context.

[MasenkoHA]

Wow, this is super interesting stuff I never knew. Thanks.
Makes me wonder though if some, more strict religious countries "censored" DB's depictions and mentions of god-related stuff due to not being okay with mentioning god/gods in such a context.

The Funimation dub did exactly that. Kami is treated as his actual name by birth (which creates its own issues in the story) and Guardian of Earth as his vague title. The fact that he's earth's God is done away with. The idea that Kaio is supposed to be a God amongst the Gods is removed and he's just some martial arts master in the Other World that Goku needs to train with. It's not until Supreme Kai shows up in the Buu saga that the Funimation dub even vaguely hints at "Oh yeah these Kais are supposed to be deities btw"

Other references to gods in Dragon Ball are also secularized. Princess Snake being the Goddess of Serpentine Road? Removed. The God of the Mountain in the Magma 2 parter in Original Dragon Ball is just called the spirit of the mountain. Kaio mentioning the Tree of Might's fruit was only supposed to be for the Gods was changed to only supposed to be for the Eternal Dragon (which creates at least two plot holes!)

[Cure Dragon 255]

I have to say that the confusion for Kami being assumed to be monoteistic at first IS NOT unintended or a wrong assumption to make until Enma appeared. Early in Dragon Ball it was said God lived on top of Karin tower and this was kept when Kami appeared, characters ALL assumed he was THE BIG GUY himself, when Kami appeared Toei went into high censorship hyperdrive, but it was not a mistake. I know people loathe TV Tropes around here but this is Early Installment Weirdness aka natural contradictions and mischaracterizations that are born out of the series just starting out and not keeping everything consistent from the get go.

[SupremeKai25]

They're not just "strong men and women". They are beings with specific tasks and corresponding techniques: the Kaioshin create life, the Hakaishin destroy. Furthermore, Kaioshin and Hakaishin are bound, so that one cannot exist without the other.

As for the Angels, I don't see them as "Gods" or "Deities", not like the rest anyway. They seem to be just neutral overseers who train the Hakaishin and serve as their butlers.

The Kaios and Guardians are basically just middle managers who oversee specific quadrants of a universe or one specific planet for the Kaioshin.

But Gods ARE special. As a matter of fact, the Potara fusion is limitless when used by Gods, while it has a time limit when used by mortals. This proves that the Gods do have some differences compared to mortals, that they are not just people with a very high power level, but have some actual fundamental differences in how they operate.

I wonder, do any of the alien species worship the Gods? Beerus is literally millions and millions of years old, and alien species clearly know him by reputation, but are there actual temples where they worship the feared Lord Beerus? Has any species ever established a religion and temples around Beerus?

It's interesting how the Gods themselves don't seem to want to be worshipped by mortals, they just want to do their job. The only deity who explicitly wanted to be worshipped was Zamasu and... well... he's Zamasu.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Wow, this is super interesting stuff I never knew. Thanks.
Makes me wonder though if some, more strict religious countries "censored" DB's depictions and mentions of god-related stuff due to not being okay with mentioning god/gods in such a context.

Not Gods, but it is probably related to what some perceive as a conflict between science and religion. In the Arabic dub scenes of a saiyan transforming into an Oozaru are rewritten and edited to imply an Oozaru was summoned, reportedly because Darwin's theory of evolution is frowned upon by Muslims. I imagine those scenes were dubbed the way they were to downplay them because it was thought they promoted what they saw as undermining the creationist narrative in the Qur'an.

[Jord]

To be fair, the idea of Oozarus being summons sounds cool.

[Grimlock]

I now summon Oozaru, in attack position! Go my beast, destroy this castle!

Anyway, we have always to remind that we are talking about Eastern culture, and so they may have a different view. Gods for them is different than the gods that westerns see (much like dragon is just a fire-breathing lizard in western culture but generally a deity in the eastern culture).

I do would like to know where Zeno fits here. Does he also come from Buddhism or does he merely represent that idea that "there's always someone stronger"? Although Zeno isn't strong, he just has the ability to erase Universe.

[TechExpert2021]

Wow, this is super interesting stuff I never knew. Thanks.
Makes me wonder though if some, more strict religious countries "censored" DB's depictions and mentions of god-related stuff due to not being okay with mentioning god/gods in such a context.

The Funimation dub did exactly that. Kami is treated as his actual name by birth (which creates its own issues in the story) and Guardian of Earth as his vague title. The fact that he's earth's God is done away with. The idea that Kaio is supposed to be a God amongst the Gods is removed and he's just some martial arts master in the Other World that Goku needs to train with. It's not until Supreme Kai shows up in the Buu saga that the Funimation dub even vaguely hints at "Oh yeah these Kais are supposed to be deities btw"

Other references to gods in Dragon Ball are also secularized. Princess Snake being the Goddess of Serpentine Road? Removed. The God of the Mountain in the Magma 2 parter in Original Dragon Ball is just called the spirit of the mountain. Kaio mentioning the Tree of Might's fruit was only supposed to be for the Gods was changed to only supposed to be for the Eternal Dragon (which creates at least two plot holes!)

I would like for future English dubs of future Dragon Ball anime to use:

- "God" instead of "Kami" (they might give an explanation that Earth's God in Dragon Ball is a nameless Namekian),
- "Lord Kaio" instead of "King Kai",
- "God of Kaio" instead of "Supreme Kai",
- "King Yama" or "King Enma" instead of "King Yemma"

Funimation/Crunchyroll should stop censoring references to religion and gods in their dubs of Dragon Ball anime, regardless of their dubs' target audience and mediums of distribution.

[MasenkoHA]

I have to say that the confusion for Kami being assumed to be monoteistic at first IS NOT unintended or a wrong assumption to make until Enma appeared. Early in Dragon Ball it was said God lived on top of Karin tower and this was kept when Kami appeared, characters ALL assumed he was THE BIG GUY himself, when Kami appeared Toei went into high censorship hyperdrive, but it was not a mistake. I know people loathe TV Tropes around here but this is Early Installment Weirdness aka natural contradictions and mischaracterizations that are born out of the series just starting out and not keeping everything consistent from the get go.

This is still imposing a western perspective on an eastern story. In a country where the major religions are Shintoism and Buddhism it's pretty natural for the story to include the idea of polytheism. Just because Kami is introduced as God over the earth doesn't mean he has to be only God. Toriyama may have drawn off some Judeo-Christian iconography for Kami-sama (old guy who lives above the clouds, the ultimate evil is the other side of the coin) but that doesn't mean the story is saying "This is the One True God" even when we meet Kami we're told he's both mortal and just the current one in a long line of Kami, even offering Goku his job.

Goku meeting King Yama in the afterlife isn't "Wait there's more than one God?" to the Japanese audience the story is intended for but a "Well yeah makes sense if he died he would meet King Yama"

[Cure Dragon 255]

I have to say that the confusion for Kami being assumed to be monoteistic at first IS NOT unintended or a wrong assumption to make until Enma appeared. Early in Dragon Ball it was said God lived on top of Karin tower and this was kept when Kami appeared, characters ALL assumed he was THE BIG GUY himself, when Kami appeared Toei went into high censorship hyperdrive, but it was not a mistake. I know people loathe TV Tropes around here but this is Early Installment Weirdness aka natural contradictions and mischaracterizations that are born out of the series just starting out and not keeping everything consistent from the get go.

This is still imposing a western perspective on an eastern story. In a country where the major religions are Shintoism and Buddhism it's pretty natural for the story to include the idea of polytheism. Just because Kami is introduced as God over the earth doesn't mean he has to be only God. Toriyama may have drawn off some Judeo-Christian iconography for Kami-sama (old guy who lives above the clouds, the ultimate evil is the other side of the coin) but that doesn't mean the story is saying "This is the One True God" even when we meet Kami we're told he's both mortal and just the current one in a long line of Kami, even offering Goku his job.

Goku meeting King Yama in the afterlife isn't "Wait there's more than one God?" to the Japanese audience the story is intended for but a "Well yeah makes sense if he died he would meet King Yama"

That's why I said "Early Installment Weirdness" and NOT "Its a plot hole" or "Its a retcon", it was a natural development, very organic, very well done.