Krillin

Template:DB Character Kuririn (クリリン), Kulilin, or Krillin in the English anime is a fictional character in the manga Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z, and the anime Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. In the early Harmony Gold English Dragon Ball dub from the 1980's, he is known as Bongo. His seiyuu is Mayumi Tanaka. In the English dub he is voiced by Sonny Strait and Terry Klassen (as an adult) and by Lauri Steele (as a kid).

Name Pun

File:Youngkuririn.jpg

Young Kuririn

Like most Dragon Ball characters, Kuririn's name is a pun. In his case, it is made up of two parts. The first two syllables come from 栗 kuri, which means "chestnut" in reference to his shaved head (the "chestnut" pun is also carried over to his daughter, Marron). The second part of his name comes from 少林 Shōrin ("Shaolin" in Chinese), as his early character designs were closely modeled on Shaolin monks.

Character Information

He is the best friend of Son Goku, and is the student of Muten-Rôshi a.k.a. Kame-Sen'nin (Master Roshi) in his first appearance in the anime and manga. He is often used as comic relief or cannon fodder by the author, and has been killed several times in the series.

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Kuririn during the Freeza Saga, wearing a typical Saiyan outfit.

Despite this reputation, he's widely believed to be the most powerful full-blooded, non-mystically enhanced human in the series, easily a thousand times stronger than the average person, which is partly confirmed by Yamcha during a conversation with Marron during the Buu Saga. Unfortunately, he is quickly outclassed by many of the other characters in the series. Still, he is fairly brave and resourceful, and the audience identifies with him as a good-natured underdog. He has also arguably adjusted to a relatively normal life better than most of his friends.

A running joke in the anime is Kuririn's poor luck with women despite his enthusiasm. Consistent with the theme of redemption in the series, he spared Android 18's life when presented with the chance to activate her self-destruct sequence because he found her to be redeemable. In a bit of ironic fortune, he later married the beautiful cyborg and later had a relatively normal daughter named Marron.

Another running joke in the anime is Kuririn's high spirits when ready to fight. However, he is often taken out quickly, and does not get back up again.

History

Template:Spoiler He trains under Muten Rôshi alongside Goku in preparation for the 21st Tenka'ichi Budôkai (World Martial Arts Tournament). In it he fares very well, easily advancing as one of the eight warriors going on into the main event. He is defeated in the semi-finals, being defeated by Jackie Chun.

After the tournament, he trains under Muten Rôshi again, this time alongside Yamcha. He enters the 22nd Tenka'ichi Budôkai and again makes it to the semi-finals, this time defeated by Goku. After the Budôkai, he is killed by Tambourine, a servant of Piccolo Daimaō, who was out to kill all of the greatest martial artists so that Piccolo would go unchallenged. He is later revived by the Dragon Balls.

He plays a key role early in Dragonball Z, as he is one of the few fighters to survive the battle with Nappa. He accompanies Gohan and Bulma to Planet Namek where he gets his hidden powers unlocked and fights alongside Gohan against Frieza's forces. He often underestimates himself and his powers, however, so often it seems as though he could have done a lot more that what he had done, when instead he does nothing, doubting himself. At the same time, however, he accomplishes what may well be his impressive feat during the Frieza saga, managing to singlehandedly hold off through cunning and clever techniques Frieza in his second state while buying time for the others. Considering that Frieza was widely believed to be the strongest being in the universe at that time, it was quite an accomplishment.

In terms of deaths, Kuririn has been struck in the head by Tambourine, blown up by Freeza, and eaten by Buu. He is also killed by by the androids in Future Trunks' alternate timeline, as well as Cell's version of that future. In Dragon Ball GT he is again murdered by Android 17, though he is restored to life and survives the rest of the series. He has died more times than any other character. This is probably due to the fact that he is, among all other characters, the closest friend to Goku and his family, or characters in the situation where he died (he is Goku's best friend throughout all three series, he is also one of Gohan's best friends [the other being Piccolo] for the most part of DBZ, is married to 18, making it all the worse when 17 kills him, etc).

Dragon Ball Movies

Kuririn appears in the following Dragon Ball Movies, specials, and video game footage:

Trivia

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Krillin as he appears in the Buu Saga.

Despite popular fan belief, Kuririn is not naturally bald. Due to his original monastic training, he merely shaves his head. During his training with Goku under Master Roshi, Kuririn comments that 'All serious martial artists shave their head' and seemed surprised to find out Master Roshi was naturally bald. After settling down with his new family, his hair grows out, although his original smoothcrowned look is the most familiar to fans. The six dots on his forehead are probably scars from incense burns, based on the similar pattern that appears on the forehead of a Shaolin monk.

It is sort of a running joke in Dragon Ball Z that, whenever Kuririn decides to forget his self-underestimation and confront an enemy, his efforts have almost no effect (note his fights against Recoome and Cell (after 18 was absorbed), or, when Buu was turning them all into chocolate, his fight against Buu lasted less than 10 seconds, and then 18 and Marron, who he wanted to save the most, were the next to die). However, he often has better success as well, such as his confrontations with Nappa, the Saibamen, and Frieza (before Goku arrived he managed to chop off his tail tip with an attack that almost chopped him in half).

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Kuririn in Dragon Ball GT.

Kuririn is also often seen as being very tactical in times of danger between fights, and also has an adept ability of sensing and noticing subtle things before other characters. For example, he was the first person to sense Perfect Cell's and Trunks' true powers before they presented them, which no character, not even Goku, Piccolo (who was watching the fight with extreme interest), or Perfect Cell, was able to do (It is unknown if Vegeta, who was training with Trunks while he broke through, noticed this, though it is implied that he did not).

Kuririn once faces an opponent with a body-odor strong enough to knock out most of his opponents (Bacterian, his quarter-final match-up in the 21st Tenka'ichi Budôkai) with no apparent ill effects. This is a humorous reference to Kuririn being drawn without a nose (a similar joke appears in the Dr. Slump series).

Special Abilities

Double Tsuihikidan
Kuririn shoots a fairly weak ki blast out of each hand and guides them towards his opponent. He used this move in the 23rd Tenka'ichi Budôkai when fighting against Piccolo as a distraction.

Kakusandan
Kuririn fires two blasts, one from each hand, and merges them. He then directs the blast above his opponents where it breaks up and rains down on them. Kuririn used this technique to destroy the Saibamen when Vegeta and Nappa first arrived on Earth.

Kamehameha
A powerful energy wave, Kuririn is able to use it in its basic form.

Kienzan
Kuririn's most powerful attack, the Kienzan is a razor sharp disk of energy that can slice through nearly any opponent. Its main drawback is its lack of accuracy. Kuririn can create and launch several of these discs at once. This attack is called Destructo Disc in the English series. Some fighters use this kind of attack, like Freeza (or Frieza in the English Anime) and Cell (because Freeza's Cells are in him)

Taiyoken
Kuririn creates a brilliant flash of light that temporarily blinds and stuns those in close proximity. This is known as the Solar Flare in the English series.

Zanzo-ken
Kuririn moves very quickly over a short distance, so fast that it leaves an after-image of where he was. It's almost like a mini-teleport. Called the After-Image technique in the U.S. and just in video games in the UK

Transformations

Unlock Potential
When Kuririn and Son Gohan are on Namek they visit the Elder Namek (Guru in U.S. dub) to unlock their hidden powers within them, which increases their power dramatically. Yet when Kuririn tries it on stronger opponents he is still beaten but he can easily pummel other opponents such as Gurd(Guldo in English dub). The transformation never had an official name until the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai video game series came about, upon which the name was placed for the power-up both Krillin and Gohan received from Elder.

Videogames

Krillin has been a playable character in:

You could also fight Krillin in Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II