Giru

Giru
ギル (Giru)
Giru has a keen sense of style.
English Name(s)	Giru (Funi dub) Gill (Funi subs)
Anime Debut	Dragon Ball GT Episode 3
Created by	Akira Toriyama
Japanese VA	Shinobu Sato'uchi
Canadian VA	Matthew Erickson
Funimation VA	Sonny Strait
Personal Data
Aliases	DB4649T2006RS Meddling Robot
Classification	Robot

Giru is a fictional character in the Japanese animated series Dragon Ball GT. Giru makes his debut in episode 3, which debuted on Fuji TV on 21 February 1996.

Overview

Giru is a machine mutant who consumes other machines for energy. His serial number is DB4649T2006RS. He is a robot and has no gender, but his voice actors are male, and the English subtitles and dubs use male pronouns. In Dragon Ball GT, Giru refers to himself in the third person (as "Giru"), but in Dragon Ball Heroes, the copy of Giru called the Hero Robot (colloquially known as "Poru") uses the personal pronoun おいら (oira), a variation on 俺 (ore), a first-person pronoun typically used by men.

Biography

Dark Dragon Ball arc

Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru's anime designs.

Trunks, Pan, and Goku make an emergency landing on Planet Imegga. As they return to their spaceship after a failed attempt at buying replacement parts in the city, they decide to check to see if there is a Dragon Ball on this planet. When Trunks takes out the Dragon Radar, however, he is startled by a voice saying "Giru-giru-giru-giru!" He drops the radar, and it comes to rest on Giru, who is partially buried in the sand. Giru says the word "energy" (エネルギー enerugii), opening up to eat the Dragon Radar! Trunks panics, but Giru only says "replenishing energy..." Then Giru shoots up into the air, announcing that the replenishment is complete. He lands and does a few stretches, while Trunks demands that he return the radar. Giru explains that it has been converted to energy. Trunks does not want to accept this; they cannot find the Dragon Balls without the radar! Giru repeats "replenishment complete" to explain that it cannot be undone, and Trunks angrily grabs Giru by the arms, but then Pan points off in the distance, shouting. Their spaceship is being towed away! Trunks is so shocked, he loses his grip on Giru, who is now running away; Trunks chases after him, enlisting Pan in the effort, and then Goku pins him down with a foot. Trunks pounces, and then holds Giru up by the legs again.

Giru's radar detects police approaching.

As the spaceship is towed away, Trunks loses his grip on Giru again; he tries to sneak away, but Pan catches him with her foot and ties him up in a handkerchief while he protests. She places Giru in her satchel and asks Trunks to hang onto it. Goku tries to teleport them to the tow trailer. This experience frightens Giru, but the attempt is unsuccessful; Goku only manages to teleport them a few feet away. After another failed attempt, Trunks realizes Goku simply cannot do it anymore now that he is in a child's body, so they go into the city on foot and sneak into the palace. When they get close to the spaceship, a rock falls on Trunks's head, causing him to fall over and alarming Giru. The commotion draws the attention of Don Kia's soldiers, so they stop sneaking around and steal the spaceship openly. They take it to a safe location to figure out what parts they need and then return to the city, but now they are wanted by the police. As they walk through the rain in the deserted city, hiding from the police, Giru alerts them; Trunks takes Giru out of the satchel and sees several red dots approaching on a radar, so he warns Goku and Pan to hide.

As they discuss what to do next, Giru raises the alarm again. Pan tells him to be quiet, banging on him through the satchel, but then a woman emerges from a nearby house. She screams, alerting the police. They escape again, eventually falling through the roof of another house. The inhabitants of the house feed the Earth trio and inspire Pan to infiltrate Kia Palace again. They turn themselves in and, once inside, defeat the guards and confront Don Kia himself. His bodyguard Redict steps in to fight the intruders. Goku and Trunks both recognize Redict as a serious opponent; Giru is afraid and warns of danger. Trunks is quickly defeated, but Goku fights evenly with Redict who eventually forces him to take it to the next level. At that point, Giru informs whoever might be listening that Goku's energy is rising, and then Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan.

Giru becomes the Dragon Radar.

After Redict is defeated and Don Kia agrees to free the people of Imegga from their rental contracts, the Earth trio returns to their spaceship. They wonder how to search for the Dragon Balls without the Dragon Radar, and then Pan notices that Giru has escaped. Pan chases after him, reminding him that they are going to take him apart to get their radar back; pinning him underfoot, Pan tells him that if he does not want to get disassembled, he should spit it out. Giru protests that he is breaking; Trunks rushes to the scene, rescuing Giru from Pan's foot. Trunks explains that he feels sorry for Giru; Pan points out that he is just a machine, but Trunks tells her that machines with artificial intelligence are the same as humans. They may be made of metal, but on the inside, they still have warm hearts. Trunks asks Giru if he is okay, dusting him off; Pan asks Trunks what he plans to use as a Dragon Radar. Trunks does not know what to say, but then a panel opens on Giru's back, displaying the Dragon Radar! Trunks asks Giru if he can replicate the function of the Dragon Radar, too, and Giru confirms that he can. Just then, a Dragon Ball appears on the radar, along with precise coordinates, just to the north of Imegga!

Pan abuses Giru for no reason.

As the spaceship approaches Planet Monmath, Goku asks Giru what his name is, and Giru gives his serial number: DB4649T2006RS. Goku complains that this is too long to remember, and Trunks says they will have to come up with a name for him. Just then, Giru lights up and announces that he has located the Dragon Ball ahead at four-point-five-hundred. Pan threatens to turn him into scrap if there is no Dragon Ball on this planet, hitting him on the head. Trunks tells them to take their seats; they are about to enter the planet's atmosphere. After they make it through, Giru announces that the air pressure is normal and there are no hazardous substances.

After Trunks safely lands the spaceship, Giru rides on his shoulder; Trunks and Goku begin to search for the Dragon Ball while Pan flies off with giant butterflies. As they fly through a forest, Giru tells Trunks that the Dragon Ball is ahead at two-point-five. While Goku eats a giant apple, Trunks comes to a halt, and Giru helpfully points at the Dragon Ball on the ground, but then Goku's apple falls on top of it and a bird steals the apple along with the Dragon Ball. When Goku and Trunks realize the Dragon Ball is gone, Giru points at the apple, and they can see that the Dragon Ball has become embedded in its side. They hear Pan screaming and take a side trip to help her, but they only find the queen bee, trapped in a spiderweb.

Pan abuses Giru when his Dragon Radar stops working.

Giru flies on his own while Trunks carries the weakened queen bee. They encounter Pan who has escaped from the beehive where the worker bees had taken her, mistaking her for their missing queen bee. The worker bees are pursuing her, so when they catch up, Pan takes off her bee costume and the worker bees take their real queen bee. Goku dances with Giru as Trunks and Pan catch up; Trunks explains that the Dragon Ball was taken by a giant, and then Pan remembers having seen it on her way there. Just then, Goku notices that the Dragon Ball disappeared on Giru's radar; Pan grabs Giru, telling Goku that you have to hit these things to get them working again. She proceeds to smack Giru repeatedly on the head while he protests that his energy is insufficient to make the radar function. They fly towards the location where Pan spotted the giant; Trunks does not think that there is anything on this planet that could replenish Giru's energy. Pan complains that he is good for nothing at such a critical time. Goku smells fish cooking, though; his stomach growls, and says his energy is insufficient too.

Giru tags along on Trunks's shoulder while they find the giant and the Four-Star Dragon Ball. Back on the spaceship, Pan admires the Dragon Ball, and Trunks realizes she has never seen one before. Pan rubs Giru's head, conceding that he was really useful after all; they will be counting on him to find the others. Giru responds "giru-giru", and Goku suggests that they name him "Giru". Trunks laughs, and agrees that it does seem appropriate; Pan likes it too, and rubs Giru on the head again, telling him, "It's nice to meet you, Giru".

Name

When asked for his name, Giru gives his serial number: DB4649T2006RS; the first part, at least, is a number pun: DBよろしく (DB yoroshiku), roughly meaning "Dragon Ball best regards". The number four can be pronounced as よん (yon) or し (shi). (It is pronounced yon both times when Giru gives the number; it would have been strange for him to pronounce it two different ways.) The number six is ろく (roku) and the number nine is きゅう (kyū). The word yoroshiku can be used and translated several ways; after Giru is so named by Goku, Pan tells him "It's nice to meet you, Giru" (よろしくね、ギル Yoroshiku ne, Giru).

Goku decides they should call him "Giru" because he says giru-giru all the time. The utterance is probably meant to sound robotic; however, giru (ぎる) is a somewhat obscure Japanese word meaning "to swipe; to nick; to pilfer; to steal", and it is worth noting that the first thing Giru did after his introduction was to steal the Dragon Radar. He continues to pilfer things to eat throughout the series.

Production

Akira Toriyama's Giru designs.

Giru was one of few Dragon Ball GT characters to be designed by Akira Toriyama. His design for Giru was originally printed in Weekly Shōnen Jump, with the following note:

WHO AM I?
One more companion traveling together with Goku, Pan and Trunks. It looks to be a robot, but apparently it only likes Trunks. Its abilities and role are as-yet unknown, but according to rumor, it apparently has the power of a Dragon Radar. That means...?!
— Weekly Shōnen Jump, 1995 #52

The design was reprinted in Daizenshuu 7, Chōzenshū 3, and the Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files, though the Perfect Files reprint lacks Toriyama's notes. It does however reveal Toriyama's tentative "name" for Giru.

An illustration drawn for a telephone card prior to the series' first airing. At the time, Giru's name had not yet been decided, so it seems Toriyama-sensei gave him the tentative name "Meddlesome Robot" (オジャマロボ Ojama Robo).
— Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files, Vol. 1

Notable Skills

Giru can convert machinery into energy, and he is sometimes able to subsume the functionality of the machines he converts, such as the Dragon Radar.

Performance

Giru is voiced by Shinobu Sato'uchi, who voiced a number of minor roles in Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, and Dragon Ball Kai. In the Funimation English dub, Giru is voiced by Sonny Strait, best known as the voice of Kuririn.

External Links

• Kanzenshuu - Anime Production Guide: Toriyama's Contributions to the Anime