Afterlife Tournament

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In Commemoration of the North Kaiō's Death Afterlife Tournament
北の界王死んじゃった記念 あの世一武道会 (Kita no Kai-ō Shinjatta Kinen Ano-yo'ichi Budōkai)
English name	Other World Tournament (Funimation) Kaio of the North Dying Anoyoichi Tournament (Funimation subtitles)
Format	One-on-one matches
Prize	Training with Dai Kaiō
Location	Dai Kaiō's Planet
Date	Approximately Age 767 (after June)
Start	Dragon Ball Z Episode 196
End	Dragon Ball Z Episode 199
Participants
Competitors	Son Goku, Olivu, Chop Chai, Paikuhan, Jinkyo, Kidomo, Caterpi, Tolbee, Tabica, Arqua, Maraiko, other unnamed fighters.
Spectators	Dai Kaiō, North Kaiō, South Kaiō, East Kaiō, West Kaiō, Migoren, Sarte, many others

The Afterlife Tournament, or more formally the In Commemoration of the North Kaiō’s Death Afterlife Tournament, is a martial arts tournament for deceased fighters that took place on Dai Kaiō's Planet in Age 767. Initially proposed by East Kaiō in "honor" of the death of his peer the North Kaiō, it was accepted by the Dai Kaiō and held nearly immediately with training under the Dai Kaiō as a reward. This tournament ultimately ended without a winner as both finalists were disqualified for rule violations.

Elements of the tournament are not fully consistent between episodes, such as the identities and designs of the minor contestants, the total number of entrants, and other details. Ambiguities and informed conjecture will be marked.

A second Afterlife Tournament is briefly depicted in Dragon Ball Z Movie 12. That tournament would have taken place in Age 774.

Rules

The Dai Kaiō consults the tournament rulebook.

The tournament rules are complicated; Dai Kaiō at one point consults a rule book containing at 1351 articles. As explained by the tournament announcer, the key rules are simple:

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  You lose if you fall out of the ring.
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  You lose if you cry.
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  You lose if you announce that you give up.
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  Blinding strikes are not allowed; you will be disqualified.
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  Strikes to critical areas and dirty moves are not allowed; you will be disqualified.

Beyond that, there is no set time limit to the match. As combatants cannot be killed, no penalty is possible for killing your opponent.

Tournament Grounds

The tournament appears to take place in a pocket dimension in Dai Kaiō's palace, similar to the Room of Spirit and Time at God's Temple but without time dilation. Dai Kaiō leads the assembled four Kaiō, as well as many of the Afterlife's greatest martial artists, through his palace and to a door hidden deep within. When he first opens it, the space appears to be mostly empty space, with asteroids and similar debris scattered around. Over an unknown period of time, the four Kaiō work together to create the final tournament space.

The final tournament area looked similar to those seen in previous tournaments: the tournament stage is a raised square area in the middle of an expansive arena. Immediately outside the stage is an area where coaches and teams are permitted to stand and observe the matches. Dai Kaiō's raised platform sits off to one side. Although the space around the planetoid appears infinite, the area is bounded on all sides by a tile "floor".

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  Dai Kaiō leads the martial artists to a door deep within his palace.
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  The door opens to reveal nearly empty space.
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  The tournament grounds are complete and set up on a rocky planet in Dai Kaiō's space.
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  The tournament area consisted of a square battlefield with a surrounding area for coaches and teams. Dai Kaiō watched from a raised area on one side.
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  Despite appearing infinite, the tournament dimension has walls and a ceiling.

Matches

Goku's Race Against East Kaiō

When the competition was first discussed, Son Goku announced his intention to participate. East Kaiō took umbrage to this, stating that he had just arrived and that others had waited longer for the honor. She challenged Goku to a one-on-one race for the ability to participate in the event. Dai Kaiō agreed and Goku was given this special opportunity to win a spot in the competition.

Son Goku vs. East Kaiō (vs. Dai Kaiō) Winner:  Dai Kaiō Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 196 Goku and East Kaiō raced across a cosmic backdrop, him flying while she was permitted to use a flying racing scooter. Throughout most of the event, East Kaiō had the advantage as she appeared to be able to better dodge the asteroids that littered the course. The pair passed through the finish gate at nearly the same moment, only to discover that Dai Kaiō had decided to participate as well and moved so fast that neither of them saw him coming. Despite not winning the race, Goku was still granted the chance to participate in the tournament.

Pre-Preliminaries

The earliest portion of the tournament is not depicted in full, although details can be inferred from dialog. The tournament announcer initially presents a tournament bracket containing 136 contestants, with eight combatants given a bye in the first round. In this depiction, the tournament would last seven rounds. This is reinforced by crowd scenes depicting the East and South Kaiō delivering pre-tournament advice to large groups of fighters-- at least twelve were visible in each scene-- with the potential for others to be off-camera. Under this model, each of the Kaiō would be expected to bring 34 fighters to the tournament.

This is contradicted by the tournament announcer who, while standing in front of the 136-contestant bracket, reveals that there are only sixteen combatants. The implication is that the other fighters did not make it into the tournament itself, which is just beginning. None of these battles are described, although the announcer apologizes for the "incredibly long wait" which could have allowed for them to have happened off-screen.

In Goku's first round battle against Caterpi, it is suggested that this is the first time the South Galaxy fighter had fought against someone from outside his region of space. This may imply these matches, if they happened, would have been based on regions to ensure that 4 contestants from each region would enter into the tournament itself.

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  East Kaiō gives a pep talk to her combatants before the event.
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  South Kaiō gives a pep talk to his combatants before the event.
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  The tournament announcer stands in front of the 136-contestant bracket.

Preliminary Round

The first round (referred to as the "preliminaries" by the tournament announcer) consisted of eight rounds of one-on-one matches between the various galaxies. Of those, only five were depicted in the anime. An unknown event happened in two of the matches as the winner did not advance to the second round and new contestants were somehow selected to replace them. Although not all battles were shown, North Galaxy won two, West Galaxy three, South Galaxy two, and East Galaxy one.

Olivu (North Galaxy) vs. Chop Chai (East Galaxy) Winner:  Olivu Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 196 Olivu enters the match and discovers that his opponent is quite small, but Kaiō warns him that East Galaxy fighters are exceptionally fast. Chop Chai moves incredibly quickly, keeping Olivu on the back foot as both fighters fail to connect blows. Chop Chai uses what appears to be an afterimage technique to break through Olivu's defenses, but the North Galaxy fighter tricks Chop Chai into smashing into himself. Chop Chai is revealed to have used a cloning technique (rather than an afterimage), and Olivu's clever tactic won the match.

Paikuhan (West Galaxy) vs. Jinkyo (Unknown) Winner:  Paikuhan Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 196 Little of the match is depicted, but Paikuhan appears to dominate his opponent with an abdominal kick. Paikuhan emerges as the winner.

Kidomo (Unknown) vs. Unknown (Unknown) Winner:  Long-haired fighter Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 196 Kidomo faces off against an unnamed assailant. It is not known whether Kidomo is the muscular brute with wings or the long-haired fighter, but it appears as if the long-haired combatant is able to turn the tables on his counterpart and defeat him despite his larger size. For an unknown reason, neither of these combatants advanced to the second round. They were replaced by another fighter.

Unknown (Unknown) vs. Unknown (Unknown) Winner:  Green-haired fighter Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 196 Two unknown combatants face off, one a green-haired fighter resembling Broly and the other a black-haired fighter in a white gi. The green-haired fighter wins when the black-haired fighter leaps too high and crashes his head into one of the nearby floating asteroids. For an unknown reason, neither of these combatants advanced to the second round. They were replaced by another fighter.

Son Goku (North Galaxy) vs. Caterpi (South Galaxy) Winner:  Son Goku Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 196 Son Goku squares off against the larger Caterpi. Caterpi lunches at him and Goku dodges, only for him to be snatched up by one of the caterpillar's sets of arms. Goku is trapped and Caterpi begins to tickle him to force him to give up. Goku laughs but eventually fires up some ki which works better than expected: Caterpi is actually weak! He starts to cry and begins to transform into his final form. Goku stares at the new white cocoon on the battlefield for a moment. Dai Kaiō asks how long it will take Caterpi to transform; when it is revealed that it will take 1200 year, he declares Goku the winner.

Second Round

The second round consisted of four matches to reduce the total number of competitors down to four. Prior to the start of this round, an unknown event caused two of the previous round winners to be replaced with other fighters from their galaxy. No explanation is provided for this onscreen or in related media and the tournament proceeds as if no substitution was made.

Tolbee (South Galaxy) vs. Tabica (West Galaxy) Winner:  Tolbee Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 197 Tabica enters the ring confidently. He demonstrates his incredible speed to Tolbee and the audience; even Son Goku is impressed! As the match begins, Tabica charges at Tolbee... only to run out of energy mid-rush and collapse panting. He gives up. Tolbee wins!

Frog (South Galaxy) vs. Maraiko (West Galaxy) Winner:  Maraiko Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 197 Frog immediately leaps to attack Maraiko when the match begins, but discovers that he is unable to make a dent due to Maraiko's incredible size. With no other options, Frog uses a growth technique and swells like a balloon to many times his size. Maraiko seems unable to stop it and is rapidly pushed to the edge of the ring. Just when it appears as if he will be pushed out, he manages to get leverage over Frog and lift his humungous form. He tosses his gigantic opponent into a small moon nearby which forces him to deflate. Frog falls from the sky and out of the ring. Maraiko wins!

Son Goku (North Galaxy) vs. Arqua (East Galaxy) Winner:  Son Goku Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 197 Arqua enters the ring looking uncertain. Goku, not wanting to underestimate his opponent, charges in immediately and kicks him into the atmosphere. He looks sheepish that he may have overdone it, but East Kaiō yells out for Arqua to use his "technique". Arqua regains his composure and somehow creates a cube of water around the ring. Diving down into it, he has no problems delivering blow after blow to Goku who is neither able to move as quickly nor breathe underwater. Goku realizes that as long as he's in Arqua's aquarium, his opponent has the advantage. He blinds his opponent with a taiyo-ken and then shoots out of the water, firing a kamehameha back down. It wipes out the water and throws Arqua out of bounds. Goku wins!

Olivu (North Galaxy) vs. Paikuhan (West Galaxy) Winner:  Paikuhan Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 197 In contrast to their respective Kaiō who bicker and taunt each other, both combatants remain silent and motionless when the gong sounds. Paikuhan makes the first move and nearly knocks Olivu out with the power of his voice. Olivu recovers and the pair take flight, battling each other with ki blasts in the asteroids far above the ring. They both launch devastating blows against the other, but time and again each fools the other with a quick afterimage. Olivu gets the upper hand for a moment and smashes Paikuhan down to the ring. After a long and seemingly even fight, Paikuhan succeeds in knocking Olivu out of bounds. Paikuhan wins!

Third Round

The third round consisted of just two matches to select the finalists.

Son Goku (North Galaxy) vs. Maraiko (West Galaxy) Winner:  Son Goku Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 198 Goku charges forward but is surprised by the speed of his dinosaur-like opponent. Maraiko knocks Goku up into the sky and through a nearby moon, but in his overconfidence he prepares a killing blow. Goku bounces off of another moon to turn the tables. Maraiko lobs an entire moon at Goku, but the Saiyan demolishes it with a ki blast. Goku returns to the ring, but Maraiko is nowhere to be found. Goku quickly realizes that he turned invisible! Kicking him and then grabbing him by the tail, Goku is able to get all the leverage he needed to toss his larger opponent out of the ring. Goku wins!

Paikuhan (West Galaxy) vs. Tolbee (South Galaxy) Winner:  Paikuhan Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 198 Nothing is depicted of this battle except that Tolbee needed to leave the arena on a stretcher, although he was strong enough to watch the remainder of the event from the stands a few minutes later. Paikuhan wins!

Final

The final round was between Son Goku and Paikuhan.

Paikuhan (West Galaxy) vs. Son Goku (North Galaxy) Winner:  None Episode(s):  Dragon Ball Z Episode 198-199 Goku and Paikuhan spar, but neither takes the fight seriously. Paikuhan feigns being nearly pushed out of the ring to counterattack Goku, but they remain even. The match pauses as Paikuhan tosses off his weighted turban and clothes. Goku says that he too will take the battle seriously and transforms into a Super Saiyan. Goku lobs a fast kamehameha followed by ki blasts, but Paikuhan's incredible speed ensures that he dodges all of them easily. Paikuhan uses Hyper Tornado and captures Goku in a whirling vortex that cuts him and his clothes; with incredible effort, Goku is able to stabilize himself and send the tornado flying off into space. Goku counters by using a Super Kaiō-ken, but Paikuhan recovers quickly and nearly kicks Goku out of bounds. Paikuhan takes the offensive again with Thunder Flash, a horizontal column of fire that roasts Goku at the edge of the ring. Goku stands, but Paikuhan pummels him with the same attack again. He tries to finish off Goku with a ki barrage, but the Saiyan recovers and the two soar all the way to the ceiling (each touching it briefly) before returning to the ring. Paikuhan launches Thunder Flash again, but a third view was all Goku needed to find the attack's weakness: he teleports behind Paikuhan at just the right moment and knocks him out of the ring. Son Goku wins! However, Dai Kaiō consults the rule book and disqualifies both combatants for touching the ceiling. The Tournament ends without a winner.