Majin Buu was the most feared creature in the Dragon Ball Z universe, with his later forms being equal or greater in strength to whatever fusion or Super Saiyan transformation could be leveled at him.
It took a Spirit Bomb that was fueled by the combined might of energy from countless beings across the universe to finally defeat Kid Buu and bring peace to the universe.
The Buus became a lot less scary in the Dragon Ball Super series when beings like Beerus were introduced. The introduction of Gods to the series meant that being an ancient eldritch monster wasn’t so scary anymore.
Luckily for Buu, he was able to create an entire race of offspring that found a home on Earth. The former scourge of the universe was able to forge a new destiny and allow his people a chance at finding their place in the world.
The Majin race has become an important part of the Dragon Ball video game series, even if their importance in the anime has waned over time.
We are here today to learn the secrets of Majin race and their mysterious ancestors.
From Hercule’s role in the creation of the species to the mysterious Majin that haunted the arcades, here are the 15 Things You Didn’t Know About The Majin Of Dragon Ball!
Hercule Is Responsible For Creating The New Majin Race
The original Majin Buu (sometimes referred to as Innocent Buu or Good Buu) might be the most malleable lifeform in the world of Dragon Ball. Buu kept transforming into new lifeforms and reverting to forms that were believed to have been destroyed.
He was one of the few creatures that could survive being totally obliterated, which makes Buu one of the hardest beings to destroy in Dragon Ball Z.
Majin Buu was able to create the Majin race after splitting in two, which resulted in the creation of Miss Buu. Together, they used the Love-Love Beam to create a child, which led to the development of the entire Majin race.
We have Hercule to thank for the Majin race, as Buu first got the idea to procreate from one of Hercule’s dirty books, which was called Bob & Margaret. It was this book that caused Buu to seek companionship with another of his species.
The Legend of Mani Mani
The Majin race that was born from Buu and Miss Buu first appeared in Dragon Ball Online, which was an MMO that was exclusive to several countries in Asia. Dragon Ball Online was later canceled, but most of its story was reworked into the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games.
The original Majin children did not follow in Buu’s footsteps and chose not to become warriors, as they lived in peaceful times.
Everything changed in the year 820 when Hercule passed away. This caused the remnants of Frieza’s army to invade Earth, as they had been fooled into thinking that Hercule was the one who had defeated Frieza.
The Majin race was inspired to take up arms by one of their own, named Mani-Mani, who passed away while fighting Frieza’s army. This prompted the rest of the Majin race to learn martial arts.
Majin Buu Was Inspired By A Villain From Dr. Slump
Dr. Slump was a manga series that Akira Toriyama worked on before Dragon Ball. It followed an android girl, named Arale, who lived alongside the strange inhabitants of Penguin Village.
Toriyama has always been fond of Dr. Slump, which is why it has crossed over with Dragon Ball on several occasions and takes place in the same world.
One of the most powerful beings in the world of Dr. Slump is the Teapot Genie. This genie was one of the few creatures that were stronger than Arale, thanks to its powerful magic.
Majin Buu was inspired by the Teapot Genie. They both have very similar designs and origins, with both being trapped within items. Majin Buu/Teapot Genie were also some of the most powerful creatures in their respective settings. The Teapot Genie is also referred to as a Majin in Japanese.
A Majin Can Also Become A Supreme Kai
The hierarchy among the deities of Dragon Ball Z was always confusing, due to numerous retcons and confusing additions to the pantheon in the filler episodes. Dragon Ball Super managed to clear things up by adding more gods to the mix, who no one bothered to mention in Dragon Ball Z.
The Supreme Kai is the position held by the highest-ranking deity in each Universe, though they generally aren’t as powerful as Angels or the Gods of Destruction. Each Supreme Kai comes from a divine race, known as the Shinjin, which produces holy beings of great power.
Dragon Ball Fusions introduced a character named Ratopa, who was a Majin that had ascended to the rank of Supreme Kai. He had been granted divine powers in order to fulfill his duties. Ratopa’s presence confirms that non-Shinjin can rise to the rank of Supreme Kai.
The Cat Majin Race
The grueling workload of a weekly mangaka meant that Akira Toriyama pretty much retired from the manga industry when Dragon Ball ended.
He has since only worked on a few video games (like the Dragon Quest series) and a few short manga series. Toriyama also works on Dragon Ball Super in a supervisory role.
One of the manga series that Akira Toriyama worked on after Dragon Ball ended was Nekomajin. This series was a parody of Dragon Ball, which starred a cat-like creature, called Neko Majin Z.
The design of Neko Majin Z (and his entire race) was inspired by that of Majin Buu. Neko Majin was basically a feline version of Buu, who shared his facial features and rotund shape but was otherwise a cat.
The Majin Transformation
The future of the Dragon Ball world that has been presented in video games like Dragon Ball Online, Xenoverse, and Heroes has empowered humanity to fight alongside the alien races (like the Saiyans and the Namekians) on an even footing.
In the story of Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission, the protagonists are dragged into the video game world of Dragon Ball Heroes. One of the heroes is a boy named Kabra, who chooses to adopt the form of a Majin hero when inside the game, who greatly resembles Majin Buu.
Kabra’s Majin hero uses elements of classic RPG classes, with his “Class-up” abilities giving the Majin more ornate suits of armor to fight in. The final form wields a magical blade that wouldn’t look out of place in a Dragon Quest game.
The Cinderella Reference
One of Akira Toriyama’s most defining traits as a creator is his love for naming themes. Toriyama loves to have groups of characters that all have names that are associated with each other.
We can see this most clearly in Dragon Ball, where the Saiyans are named after vegetables, King Piccolo’s demons are named after instruments, and the Gods of Destruction are named after alcoholic beverages.
The most unusual choice for a naming theme in Dragon Ball Z involved the villains of the Majin Buu Saga. Bibidi was the creator of Babidi and they were both obsessed with controlling Buu. These three names are a reference to the song “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” from Disney’s Cinderella.
Akira Toriyama had young children at home while he was creating the Dragon Ball manga, so it’s not hard to imagine that he first heard the song through them, assuming he hadn’t seen Cinderella during his own childhood.
The Majin Theme Park
The change in Majin Buu’s personality is prompted when he learns that he can use his powers to heal, as well as destroy. Buu does this to a young blind boy who he encounters, as he uses his magic to restore the child’s sight.
The boy was named Tommy in the English dub (as a reference to the movie Tommy) but he had no name in the original Japanese version of the series.
It was revealed in Dragon Ball Online that Tommy changed his name to Mister Bii and opened a theme park that was dedicated to his hero, which he named “Boo World.”
Bii mostly picked Majins to work at the theme park, which offered them a gathering place in a world where they had yet to establish a homeland for themselves.
The Janemba Fusion
Kid Buu was likely the most powerful being in Dragon Ball Z. It took the combined might of Goku, Majin Buu, Vegeta, and a Spirit Bomb that was powered by hundreds of thousands of people to take Kid Buu down for good.
The gods also had to step in and reincarnate Kid Buu as a human, in order to prevent him from wreaking havoc in the afterlife. Kid Buu’s strength wasn’t surpassed until Dragon Ball Super.
Super Dragon Ball Heroes revealed that Kid Buu has an even more powerful form, though it requires the sacrifice of another villain to achieve. It is possible for Kid Buu to absorb Janemba, the demonic villain from Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn.
This devilish version of Kid Buu wields a giant sword in battle and has a Dark Dragon Ball embedded in his chest.
The Manga Buu That Invaded Reality
Dragon Ball Z and Dr. Slump take place in the same world, but they don’t totally gel with each other. This was played for comedy when Arale made an appearance in Dragon Ball Super, as even the Saiyans couldn’t overwhelm a comedy character.
There are other aspects of the two series that don’t mesh as well, such as Arale using time travel without consequences and the presence of two different Kamis.
The remake of Dr. Slump further confused matters when a copy of the final volume of the Dragon Ball manga was placed in the Reality Machine.
This created copies of Goku and Kid Buu that were black & white, like their manga counterparts. Kid Buu became one of the few Dragon Ball manga characters to cameo in Dr. Slump, which is also set in the same world as Dragon Ball.
The Yoshito-Kun Majin Outfit
Akira Toriyama may have retired from the manga industry, but that hasn’t stopped other Dragon Ball manga series from being produced.
Toriyama’s style was so influential that many mangakas first learned how to draw by copying his artwork. This means that there is an abundance of artists in Japan that can draw in Toriyama’s style and he has been more than happy to hand the reins of the series over to them.
One of the non-Toriyama Dragon Ball manga artists is Yoshitaka Nagayma, who is the creator of Dragon Ball Heroes: Charisma Mission. He also appears in the series as a commentator and a competitor.
Yoshito-kun uses a unique Majin Elite character. This Majin wears a wizard outfit into battle and always has a monocle over its left eye. If the player owns the right card, then they can make their Majin hero wear the Yoshito-kun outfit.
The Secret Chef Class
It’s far easier to include power-ups for the Saiyan characters in the Dragon Ball video games than it is for the other races, as their numbered transformations make it easy to layer the new upgrades for the character.
It’s trickier to do this for humans and Namekians, as they have far fewer transformations and upgrades in the series.
The Majin race is given the ability to transform into Kid Buu for short periods of time as their ultimate ability, but it’s trickier to come up with other classes and power-ups for them.
The Mighty Majin was one of the two starting classes in Dragon Ball Online. These were a buffing/healing support class. It was possible to transform a Mighty Majin into a Grand Chef Majin, who specialize in buffing as it relates to food.
This class represented the gluttony of the original Buu, which is why they possessed a unique variant of his Candy Beam.
The Majin Dispute
Majin is a word that crops up a lot in anime & manga and is often used as a name for demons. The word Majin actually has a much broader meaning and can be best described as referring to something of supernatural origin.
It is also a word that is commonly linked to djinn or genies, as was the case with the Teapot Genie in Dr. Slump. Majin Buu was actually called Djinn Buu in some of the early localizations of Dragon Ball Z.
There are several creatures in Dragon Ball Z which are referred to as Majins that have no relation to Buu or his descendants.
The most famous of these is Hirudegarn, the villain of Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon. Hirudegarn is referred to as a Phantom Majin, even though he has no connection to the other Majin in the series.
The Original Majin Homeworld
Dragon Ball Super has retconned the origin of Kid Buu and his descendants. It was stated in Dragon Ball Z that Kid Buu was created by Bibidi, who then unleashed him upon the universe.
Dragon Ball Super retconned this so that Bibidi simply had the power to control Buu. It was now stated that Buu was an ancient being that predated Bibidi.
The Dragon Ball Xenoverse games have offered more of an insight into Buu’s past. Lord Slug and some of the other random NPCs will talk about the history of Buu’s species.
According to their stories, there was once a homeworld for the Majin species that was destroyed by some unknown force. This means that were was once a different Majin race that predated Majin Buu and his descendants.
The First Majin Existed In The Arcades
Akira Toriyama was working as a character & monster designer for the Dragon Quest series while he was still creating the Dragon Ball manga. Toriyama has always been a big fan of video games, which is likely why he would occasionally create unique villain designs for the Dragon Ball video games.
There was an arcade game released in 1994 called Dragon Ball Z: V.R.V.S. which had a motion sensor that could read the player’s movements.
The villain of Dragon Ball Z: V.R.V.S was a unique character called Majin Ozotto, whose design combined elements of all of the major Dragon Ball villains. Dragon Ball Z: V.R.V.S. was released around the same time that Majin Buu debuted in the Dragon Ball manga.
This means that it is possible that Toriyama came up with the design for Majin Ozotto first and that his creation may have inspired the rest of the Majin antagonists of Dragon Ball Z.
Can you think of any other interesting facts about Dragon Ball Z’s Majin? Let us know in the comments!
