Why doesn't Krillin have a nose?

[Tectorman]

Exactly that question (from an in-universe perspective, of course).

Does he have a distant alien ancestor? Is he a mutant? Was it hazing from his time at the Orin Temple (not sure of name; where he learned before he went to Master Roshi)?

What explanation do you tend to go with?

[Pantalones]

I figure it's just a freak mutation. The Dragonball world is a weird place; nobody freaked out over Goku's tail too much until he turned into a giant monkey, there's a school where you can learn how to shape-shift, the king of the world is a dog, werewolves enter martial arts tournaments, and so on. So humans being born with body parts they normally wouldn't have, or without parts they normally would have, probably isn't as unusual there as it is on our real-life Earth. And noselessness is possible on real-life Earth, too -- it just comes with more health complications than Krillin's form of noselessness which doesn't seem to hold him back a bit.

Alien ancestry could be a possibility I guess, but... considering that Tenshinhan's had his third eye and arm-growing power explained as things he inherited from alien ancestors for pretty much forever, while nothing has ever been said about Krillin's noselessness, I'm guessing he's intended to be 100% human.

(On a similar note, I figure Chiaotzu is one of the "monster-type" Earthlings rather than just a regular human, considering his apparent non-aging and the fact that he's designed to look pretty much exactly like one of those Chinese vampires that I can't remember the actual name of at the moment.)

[irreality]

I always figured it was a visual way of displaying anosmia, which is a real condition but otherwise invisible. Plus, stylistically interesting. Since Marron has no nose either, I figured it wasn't some sort of accident but supposed to be an inheritable trait of some sort.

[fadeddreams5]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... built.html

Same reason this little girl was born with no nose. Shit happens.

[Dbzfan94]

I think the simple answer is just that DB was still very much a gag manga, so the characters didnt have to follow normal human standards

[Cetra]

He lost it.

[Blackstripe]

Remember the other monks that used to bully Kuririn?

Well, one day, one of them reached for his face and was like, "I'VE GOT YOUR NOSE!!" and then he never gave it back. What an asshole.

[DBZAOTA482]

Toriyama-sensei probably just forgot to draw it.

[B]

Kuririn wasn't supposed to become a major character, so Toriyama didn't think he needed any serious detail. It's hilarious that what basically amounts to a Toriyama-fied stick figure is not only a main character, but still a relatively major player amongst all the Saiyans and Piccolo.

Out of universe... Geez, why can pigs talk?

[Lord Beerus]

It was a gag feature for what was originally meant to be a gag character.

[SylentEcho]

Yup. Toriyama does not think that far ahead with his characters unless he intends to. He probably figured Kuririn wouldn't even be around later on in the manga. Didn't he originally want to end it a little after the first couple of arcs or something?

[Cipher]

The same reason no one in the Coffee Pot in the opening chapter of Dr. Slump has nostrils.

[Soppa Saia People]

The monks ......... CHOMPED IT OFF!!! But being serious maybe a birth defect ?

The same reason no one in the Coffee Pot in the opening chapter of Dr. Slump has nostrils.

I got to read Dr. Slump.

[DanielSSJ]

werewolves enter martial arts tournaments,

Excuse me, but he is a manwolf, not a wolfman. Manwolf will thank you for using the correct terminology.

[Kuririn Fan]

Because he is last survivor of an extinct alien race called the "No Nose Klan". Toriyama confirmed this in one recent interview.

[TheUltimateVegito]

Someone took it.