Odd inconsistency I noticed this watch-through?

[Vernichter]

Hey all, been watching the series again, since I've been picking up the Dragon Boxes. I'm smack dab in the middle of Goku vs Freeza, around episode 97 or so. However, I just realized something and I found it odd. Maybe there's an answer out there that I overlooked or just forgot.

When Piccolo is revived and goes to Namek, we all know that Kami lives again on Earth as well, and the Dragon Balls are restored to working state again. Shenron is used to revive everybody that died because of Freeza, however.....had it been a year since Goku was revived to fight Nappa and Vegeta? I seem to recall the initial trip to Namek only taking a month or so, and Goku's trip being much shorter than that. A year definitely did not pass, so, what gives? Why were the Dragon Balls active again? Shouldn't they still have had time on them before they could summon Shenron again?

[CatouttaHell]

Maybe Kami-sama make an exception again. Or they started working again because Kami-sama died.

[SHINOBI-03]

Maybe there's a default rule that says the Dragon balls automatically works if Kami or Shenlong died and "somehow" came back to life even if it didn't pass a year since it's last usage.

[Fox666]

When Shenlong was killed by Piccolo Daimao and revived by Kami, they used the Dragonballs right away, don't?

However, when Dende replaced Kami, it seems he hadn't complete control of these things...

[Herms]

When Shenlong was killed by Piccolo Daimao and revived by Kami, they used the Dragonballs right away, don't?

Yeah, he even says that normally they'd be stones for a year, but he'd make an exception and have them grant a wish right away. So apparently he can break that rule under certain circumstances at least. I'd assume he couldn't do that constantly though.

[Kingdom Heartless]

Also, a year did not pass between the first Dragon Ball search and the second one, but anyway....

I guess because Kami had been doing it so long, he had learned to bend the rules a little. The Great Elder probably could have as well. Dende and Muri probably couldn't because they were basically amateurs.

[Kroni_Hunter]

You would think with that logic that when the Grand Elder was revived all 3 wishes should have been back.

[Gaffer Tape]

I think of it more as a reboot than something that God actively did, unlike when after Piccolo destroyed Shenlong. The creator died, rendering the balls inert, and when he came back to life, the balls just rebooted. Their hard drives had been wiped after recovering from massive system failure. That's just my theory, though.

[Vernichter]

With that logic, shouldn't the other wishes have been "wiped" from the memory, thereby reducing the amount of negative energy inside the Dragon Balls? .....just kidding. Not gonna bring GT into this.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

With that logic, shouldn't the other wishes have been "wiped" from the memory, thereby reducing the amount of negative energy inside the Dragon Balls? .....just kidding. Not gonna bring GT into this.

I brought that question up in my own thread(regarding Dende taking over). Regardless of the rules, those were the same Dragonballs and the amount of usage is the same. Think of the Dragonballs like a PC; if you soft reset the system your memory should still be there.

As for the topic question, Toriyama basically wrote as he went. You will find that he(along with the anime) break a lot of rules for plot convenience. Though in this case, like others have said, Kami's death could have reset the Dragonballs so that they weren't stone. That's my theory anyway.