Krillin

Krillin (Kuririn) is a supporting protagonist in the Dragon Ball manga, and the anime series Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super. Krillin had a brief rivalry with Goku when they first met and trained under Master Roshi, but they quickly became lifelong best friends. One of the most powerful and talented Human martial artists on Earth, Krillin is courageous, a faithful ally and good-natured. He is a prominent Z Fighter, despite usually being overpowered by the major enemies. His short stature and baldness (with the exception of when he grows out his hair in the Majin Buu Saga onwards) aid him in his ability to provide comic relief during tense moments. During the latter half of Dragon Ball Z, he largely retires from fighting, opting to settle down with his family instead, becoming the husband of Android 18 and the father of Marron. However, he will fight on occasion when necessary. Krillin does not have a visible nose, however, he seems to be able to smell until someone mentions it (like Goku during the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament): he smells the diamond Bulma took from the Pirate Cave, and he smells the enticing trap meal in the Mirror spaceship. In the Dragon Ball: Bouken Special, when asked why Krillin does not have a nose, Akira Toriyama responded "Krillin has a physical idiosyncrasy that allows him to breathe through his skin." Earlier on in the series, Krillin had white eyes.

However, later on, they seem to have disappeared completely, making the inside of his eyes the same color as his skin. Krillin is not naturally bald, due to his original monastic training, he merely shaves his head. During his training with Goku under Master Roshi, Krillin comments that "All who aspire to master the martial arts shave their heads in order to unfetter their ki" 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 smooth crowned look is the most familiar to fans. The six dots on his forehead are scars from moxibustion burns, similar to the pattern that appear on the forehead of a Shaolin monk. By the time of Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’, Krillin has taken up the job of a police officer, he wears a uniform with a yellow shirt and blue trousers, a badge, and a helmet. When getting prepared to battle Frieza, Krillin asks Android 18 to shave his head for "old times sake". Originally a jealous and selfish person, Krillin did not respect rules when confronted with Roshi's training. After a short arch-rivalry between the two (years later, Krillin even admits that he hated Goku at first), he becomes Goku's best friend and his selfish and jealous personality becomes more kind-hearted and generous (although he still has slight selfish and jealous traits after his reform). Krillin is often used as comic relief or cannon fodder by the author, and has been killed the most amount of times in the Dragon Ball series. As the most prominent full-blooded human character in the Dragon Ball series, Krillin also represents a sense of normalcy to Goku and Gohan, as well as often being the most identifiable. Often when things in the Dragon World turn bizarre, it is left to Krillin to shake his head in disbelief and crack a joke. Despite his reputation as being a weakling compared to his Saiyan comrades, he is considered to be one of the stronger pure-blooded humans in the Dragon Ball series, being thousands of times stronger than the average person (although this is largely due to the fact that he was afforded much greater opportunities to increase his strength, such as gaining the ability to use ki, training under the Guardian of the Earth, and having his potential unlocked by Grand Elder Guru, things that no other human, such as Mr. Satan, ever had). Although he is not as strong as Goku or Gohan, his determination in helping his friends is a key asset. Furthermore, Krillin's ingenuity and talent for ki-manipulation is far superior than that of most warriors, even those stronger than himself, and he has an ability to sense hidden powers. Krillin had his dormant ki awakened by the Namek Elder, Guru, during the events of the Namek Saga (although it is possible that not all of his power was freed, due to the fact that Gohan still had more hidden power and that they both grew to be much stronger), and this helped keep him among the same level as his more naturally powerful friends, at least for a little while. Krillin has trained hard most of his life, becoming extremely powerful and proving it in combat with many foes. Unfortunately, he is quickly outclassed by many of the other characters in the series, such as Piccolo and the Saiyans; though among all the full-blooded humans he faces in combat he is one of the strongest. On one occasion, during the course of the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, Yamcha says to Krillin's daughter that Krillin is "the strongest human being in the world." Some fans feel that the manga, Akira Toriyama, uses Yamcha to state a fact on this scene, as he also says that Krillin is the "strongest Earthling male" in an interview.

As it is spoken in the context of Krillin being married to 18, it implies that Krillin is the strongest Earthling at least by that point in the series (this claim gets support in the video game Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors in which the final part of Krillin's story, which focus on the Majin Buu Saga, is titled as "The Strongest Earthling"). Many fans immediately will connect Krillin with his signature move, Destructo Disc, a spinning razor-sharp disk of energy that has the power to cut through just about anything. Despite its immense power, it is extremely unwieldy and hard to control. At any rate, Krillin is brave and resourceful, and the audience identifies him as a good-natured underdog. Along with Yamcha, Krillin has also, arguably, adjusted to a relatively normal life better than many of his friends by seeking women in his life. He is among the more "normal" human of his friends, as he can be seen wearing normal clothes on days where he's not fighting, other than his typical martial arts dōgi, as well as engaging in other normal every-day activities such as watching TV, going to the beach, etc. In his role as Goku's best friend, Krillin was among the only humans to remain a main character for the majority of the series, even as Master Roshi, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Yajirobe, Chi-Chi and others faded into the background. Overall, Krillin is a highly valued character in the Dragon Ball series: powerful, loyal, and brave. He is second only to Goku in the most appearances in the manga. In some more recent movies however, Krillin has been since demoted to a comic relief character. This is most prominent in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!, when he was beaten up by Chi-Chi, clonked his head twice, had hot coffee spilled on his head, had his face fried by a stray energy bolt, had a large pile of snow dumped on him, had Vegeta sent flying into him, slipped and skidded past the main villain when he was about to attack him, and was humiliated in the hospital (he even remarks during the Vegeta incident that "Why do these things always happen to me?"). Consistent with the theme of redemption in the series, he spares Android 18's life when presented with the chance to activate her self-destruct sequence because he finds her to be redeemable. In a bit of ironic fortune, he later marries the beautiful android and later has a daughter named Marron with her.