Dragon Ball brought fans countless memorable characters throughout its decades-long serialization.

Whenever you get enough Dragon Ball fans together, the topic of favorite characters is bound to come up.
It goes without saying that Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo and other major characters top the list.

But that got me thinking—to truly understand the ins and outs of Dragon Ball means knowing the characters beyond the major players. In other words, the background characters. As someone who grew up with the series, I have a strong emotional attachment to all these incidental characters. Particularly the farmer with a Power Level of 5 who's killed almost instantly by an invading Raditz. I had seen all the fight scenes the series had to offer up to that point, so it was unexpectedly easy to accept the fact that we average Earthlings only have a Power Level of 5.

However, I dare say that this poor farmer with a single-digit Power Level is one of the most "famous" background characters in the entire series. On the other hand, Dragon Ball is filled to the brim with nameless, speechless characters who stand off to the side and do little else.

And so I thought, "Why don't we see how many background characters serious Dragon Ball fans can remember?"

To that end, I give you...

The Dragon Ball Background Character Quiz

This time we'll be joined by the following two participants, who most people—including myself—would say are some of the biggest fans of the series out there: blogger Keita Ueda and "illustwriter" (illustrator & writer) Yoshida Pro!

Keita Ueda
Writer. Author of many Dragon Ball investigative columns. The first manga he bought as a child was Dragon Ball Volume 33. He often re-enacted the beginning of Trunks and Cell's fight with his older brother, who always used his elder-sibling status to reserve the right to be Trunks.

Yoshida Pro
Office worker by day and a secret illustwriter for various media outlets such as Daily Portal Z by night. A devoted Weekly Shonen Jump reader for many years, he began reading Dragon Ball from the very beginning when the manga's first tale was published in issue 51.

Yuki Yamadai
Quizmaster of today's quiz. He started managing a text site as a hobby in the 2000s, which ended up becoming his job as a "text-site writer". As an elementary-schooler, he drew his own manga which was essentially an extremely watered-down version of Dragon Ball.

Yoshida, Ueno, thank you for agreeing to join me for today's ridiculous quiz. I'd like to start by explaining how it'll all work.

Next, I'm going to show you all the background characters we prepared as candidates for the quiz, seven of which I'll be using for the actual questions! We had a hard time pouring over the entirety of the manga to find these characters...

Not at all! You're both basically graduates of Dragon Ball U. You'll be fine.

If we're undergrads, then these questions look like they're gonna be grad school level...

Since I explained how the quiz will work to you both beforehand, I'm sure you both made sure to practice in preparation for today and that you're chomping at the bit to get going. So without any further ado, let's get started!

Question 1

...Huh?

She's way too minor of a character to start out on!

Okay, this is good. You both look totally lost...is what I was about to say, but you're wasting no time writing your answers down!

When I first saw her, I thought, "I got it," but now I'm not so sure... I feel like she might have been in a different scene than the one I'm thinking of now...

She or another character who looks like her may well have been in other scenes. That's what makes her a background character.

....Okay, I got it.

All right, that's enough. I'll go with this answer.

Looks like you've both finished writing! Please show me your answers!

Are we thinking of the same character?

I think so. My first thought was that she's from Volume 1... That woman who was just miraculously carrying the Dragon Ball around like it was normal. I think she used some kind of dialect.

Ah, so we are thinking of the same character! She was in the village that Oolong was scamming and said things like, "Ya mean this thingamajig here?" or "Wassat now?" She definitely had a unique way of speaking.

Wow... I can't believe you can both remember all that. You two are amazing. The correct answer is: the old woman from Mount Paozu! She was in Volume 1 as you said, Yoshida! (All volume numbers herein are based on the original black and white publications.)

Nice!

I'm so glad I got that one!

I'm glad I joined this quiz. You can stop now, though.

You both already looked like you had given up before we got started, but you've clearly got this. To be honest, I was totally lost.

That's cause you're a normal person.

Ueda and I are Z Fighters.

Well, I don't think I've quite got what it takes to be one of those...

Question 2

Ahh...

This should be a piece of cake.

This is a softball question.

No kidding.

Oh...really? What gave it away?

It's the mic. When it comes to characters who carry a mic with them...

Yeah, his Power Level must be low.

Now that's the kind of thinking you'd expect in the world of Dragon Ball! Okay, let's take a look at those answers.

I like the way you put that, Yoshida (laughs).

I always remember how passionately he hyped up Mr. Satan when he popped out at the end of the Cell Games.

Looks like you both have the same answer again. Keita Ueda also added "Volume 33" to his answer.

I thought he was from the Cell Saga. I was actually stuck between him and the Tenkaichi Budokai MC, but that guy appears a little too regularly to be counted as a minor character.

You both never cease to amaze. The answer is, "The TV reporter reporting live from the Cell Games." And he is indeed from Volume 33.

Thank goodness. During the Cell Games, when Goku said, "You're up...Gohan!!" this guy misunderstood and said, "Astounding... They're taking a lunch break!" (Gohan in Japanese means food) It was such an obvious joke that I've never forgotten it.

How can you remember such a throwaway gag?!

I got this one right, but these have been super hard so far!

Scoreboard

Question 3

Whoa, an animal!

(Already writing)

Yoshida, were you reading the manga this morning before you came here or something? You just started like your pen has a mind of its own!

Uh-oh, I don't know about this... Can I skip the volume number this time?

There was never any obligation to write the volume number! Now, please show us those answers!

Is it fair to say these are the same answer?

I think he's either someone who came to get his fortune read by Uranai Baba or a participant in one of the Tenkaichi Budokais. His face looks like he's ready to fight. But compared to the last two questions, I'm really worried. I'm embarrassed to be so unsure.

You're definitely thinking like a Z Fighter.

There were about 4 or 5 background characters lined up at Uranai Baba's Palace, and I feel like he was one of them. I think this happened in Volume 9 or thereabouts.

I feel better knowing that we came to the same conclusion.

This is unbelievable. Both of your knowledge and memory is unreal... The correct answer is, "The beastman who was waiting for his turn at Uranai Baba's Palace," meaning both of you are right! And he appeared in Volume 9 to boot!

Yes!

Even though I got it, that was a really hard question! If you did a quiz on this part of the story, I'd struggle to even remember Akkuman!

This isn't a sudden death quiz, is it?

Question 4

Huh?!

Are you crazy?

We're finally hearing some trepidation in Ueda's voice!

Uh-oh, I seriously have no clue. That giraffe looks like it's surprised by something...? Most of the animal characters appear in the first half, I think? But that doesn't look like Toriyama's art style from back then... Is this even a giraffe?

This finally feels like a real quiz now that Ueda's having to actually think seriously about the questions.

(Writing away)

Hold on, Yoshida's writing way too fast! Hearing his magic marker is making me even more nervous.

All right, gentlemen, let's see those answers!

This is your first time having different answers!

Yeah... I'm sure I'm wrong. I didn't even want to show my answer...

I want to point out the speed lines in the background. Looking at the way it's drawn, I don't think he's the only background character in the panel. In fact, I'm thinking it's cropped from a panel of multiple background characters standing to the side. And if I'm gonna guess where kind of scene he would be, it would be the Tenkaichi Budokai.

That's amazingly perceptive. Why does he look so surprised?

Hmmm... Maybe because Majunior revealed that he's actually Piccolo?

Oh!

Yoshida's powers of deduction are godlike... The correct answer is, "A spectator in the crowd of surprised on-lookers when Majunior revealed his true identity at the Tenkaichi Budokai."

No way... That was amazing. I'm starting to think all of those books behind you are Dragon Ball encyclopedias or something!

No, not at all!

You're literally a Dragon Ball professor! I'm so ashamed that I wrote "Red Ribbon Army"...

This is a pretty high level of self-reflection.

Scoreboard

On to the Second Half!

I do apologize, but we'd like to quickly switch out the next question.

Eh?

Why?

We actually expected both of you to make more mistakes with the first four questions, so we made the fifth question an easy one. But seeing how things have been going so far, it's obvious that it's too easy.

Now that you said that, I'm really interested in who it was!

Let's go ahead and show you who we had planned for the fifth question.

Yeah. That one's way too easy (laughs). That's the famous old farmer with a Power Level of 5!

(laughs)

Question 5

Would you knock it off with the animals?

It's clear that the animal characters are causing the both of you the most trouble.

Hmm... (writing away)

Looks like the close match we were having at the onset was too good to be true. I feel like a character in Dragon Ball saying, "Yoshida's movements are so fast I can't even see them!" Right now I'm like Trunks when he fought Cell and realized he had no chance of winning.

Not at all! But just by looking at the art style, I'm pretty sure this character appeared somewhere in the first half.

Now that Ueda's finished writing, please show me your answers!

...Huh?

???

How was I supposed to know that?!

Are you going to flip your book over and reveal the correct answer or something?

Maybe he's about to draw some kind of ultimate card at the last second?

Both sides are blank...

Well, that happens sometimes. It's hard not to feel helpless when they spring a random animal character on you. I'm not too confident in my answer either...

Now things are getting interesting! The correct answer is, "One of the participants who was shocked to see Goku stop King Chappa's attack." If we were being super strict, Ueda's answer would be wrong, but you got the right scene, so we'll accept it!

All right! But I'm almost embarrassed to get a point this way. He's not a spectator and I didn't even mention King Chappa. Goku or Vegeta would never let this slide.

You're too serious!

Scoreboard

Question 6

Finally! Feels good to see a human face!

(Writing away)

Compared to the questions with animals, you both wrote your guesses without any hesitation. Let's see those answers, please!

Oh! Different answers again this time!

I was wondering if she appeared in a Tenkaichi Budokai scene too! She looks a little like a monk that Toriyama drew from Dragon Quest, and she's definitely in the medical field. So I figured she's the nurse who helped treat Goku after he was completely broken during the fight against Vegeta.

Both of you have different answers, but I'm surprised how thoroughly you thought them through! The correct answer is, "The nurse in the hospital Goku was admitted to!" Excellent work as always, Ueda.

Yes!

Ahh, that's who she was.

I was also wondering if she was in the scene when Videl was healed by the Senzu Bean.

Both of your Dragon Ball knowledge has left me speechless... Now I'm the one who feels like a background character at the Tenkaichi Budokai saying, "They're too fast to see."

Scoreboard

Question 7

...Right. (Writing away)

I feel pretty good about this one!

You both wrote your answers just as smoothly as you did for the first two questions. Let's see what you've written down.

Same answers! Something about that teacher makes him so memorable...

Looks like we're finishing this quiz off the way it started. The correct answer is, "Gohan's gym teacher at Orange Star High School," meaning you're both correct!

Ahhh, but I wish I had written down the name of the school.

Don't worry, this isn't a wine tasting test. You don't have to be quite that specific.

It must have appeared so I think he appeared at the beginning of the Majin Buu saga, which would be Volume 36.
on after the Majin Buu edition started, so it's 36 volumes, isn't it?

Yes. This is how drew muscles toward the end of the series.

The back of his neck of quite distinctive.

With the way Yoshida has answered the questions so far, you can tell his background in illustrwriting really factors into his responses.

Toriyama's art has gone through a lot of changes over the years, and I copied his art from the last part of Dragon Ball's run the most. I used to think that's the way most human beings are built.

A lot of people from the Dragon Ball generation tend to draw that way (laughs).

***

We've finished the last question and the results are in! Ueda has 6 correct answers while Yoshida got 5 correct. Meaning, the winner this time is Ueda!

Final Standings

Thank you very much! But I feel like my intuition is nothing compared to Yoshida's.

Yoshida, the way you drew upon your vast knowledge to make your conclusions with such insight was second to none.

Not at all.

I'm afraid to say that I can't grant the winner any wishes like Shenron, but I'd like to whole-heartedly thank both of you for participating today!

After the Epic Quiz Battle, There Was Only One Question Remaining: Who's Your Favorite Character??

While I've still got you both here, could you tell me who your favorite character is? Oh, and it doesn't have to be a background character (laughs).

Personally, I like underdog characters who put up a great fight even if they have no hope of winning. For characters like that who have been around for a while, there's Yamcha, but there are tons of characters like that who tend to only be around for a short time. King Chappa is one, along with Panpoot or the Shishigaryu-Ken (Lion-Fang Fist) master.

The Shishigaryu master...?

He fought Goku in the first Tenkaichi Budokai.

W...Was there really a character like that...?

Maybe that's why I was able to remember some of the background characters. I love how Dragon Ball has all these charming characters who do their best in a losing battle.

I like those kinds of characters too. In that vein, I'm a Vegeta fan. He's the epitome of a "charming underdog who's destined to lose", right? His lines like "I am Super Vegeta" are the best! I think he's great, even his annoying jealousy of Goku (laughs).

Thank you both very much. Before we leave, I'd like to have each of your final thoughts on today's quiz.

The questions were even worse than I imagined... But this was an incredibly satisfying experience. Now that I've encountered someone even stronger than me, I feel like I'm Goku getting all pumped up (laughs).

I feel like I want to say once more, "Are you crazy?!" to the folks at the Official Site who came up with this quiz and made me join it. But it was a lot of fun! I had to make full use of my brain, and just like Goku after a fight, I'm absolutely starving (laugh).

This was way more intense than I was expecting, so I enjoyed myself too. I hope all our readers try this sort of quiz with their friends!

No way, no one will get it! You definitely shouldn't make this sort of quiz for your friends!

Exactly. Keep your conversations focused on characters like Goku and Vegeta!

***

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