Majin Buu is the magical demon who closes out the original manga: a creature able to destroy planets who, in his best-known form, behaves like a spoiled child. He appears in chapter 460, in early 1994, and goes through more forms and personalities than any other Dragon Ball villain, ending up as an ally.
Who he is
Millions of years before the story, Buu rampages across the universe in the service of the wizard Bibidi. He reaches the realm of the Supreme Kais, kills two of them and absorbs two more, including the Grand Supreme Kai. It is that Kai's gentle nature that softens Buu and gives him the round, pink look everyone knows. Bibidi seals him in a ball, is then killed by the last surviving Supreme Kai, and the seal lies buried on Earth.
Dragon Ball Daima added a new piece to the puzzle: Buu was actually created by Marba, a witch from the Demon Realm, on Bibidi's commission.
His story across the series
- Dragon Ball Z: Babidi, Bibidi's son, revives him by harvesting energy around the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, helped along by the clash between Goku and Majin Vegeta. Buu turns on his master and kills him, then befriends Mr. Satan and a puppy named Bee. When two gunmen shoot his new friends, his rage splits him in two: the evil half becomes a thin Buu who absorbs the good one and turns into Super Buu. He also absorbs Gotenks, Piccolo and Gohan, until Vegito frees the captives and Buu reverts to his pure form, the most dangerous of all. He is destroyed by Goku's Spirit Bomb, while the good Buu, rescued, stays on to live with Mr. Satan. At Goku's wish, the evil Buu is reborn as a kind-hearted boy, Uub.
- Dragon Ball Super: he lives a quiet life with Mr. Satan and sleeps a lot. A long hibernation makes him miss the Tournament of Power, and Goku recruits Frieza in his place.
- Dragon Ball Daima: he appears in shrunken form, while two new Majin, Kuu and Duu, are created from the residue of his body.
- Dragon Ball GT: he plays a supporting role alongside Mr. Satan and Uub.
Powers, techniques and transformations
| Form | Traits |
|---|---|
| Majin Buu (fat) | Childish and unpredictable; later good |
| Evil Buu | The wicked half split off by rage |
| Super Buu | Born from absorbing the good Buu |
| Super Buu with absorptions | Gains the powers and wits of Gotenks, Piccolo and Gohan |
| Kid Buu (pure form) | The original form, small and uncontrollable |
His rubbery body regenerates from almost nothing, stretches and splits into pieces. With the antenna on his head he turns people into sweets and eats them, he copies the techniques he sees, the Kamehameha included, and he can absorb opponents to take their power.
Relationships
- Mr. Satan (Hercule) is his best friend: the fake world champion who succeeds where the warriors fail, by persuading him to stop killing.
- Goku is the opponent who defeats him and wishes for him to come back as a better person.
- Vegeta sacrifices himself trying to stop him.
- Gohan and Gotenks both end up absorbed inside him.
Why he is iconic: our take
Majin Buu is the strangest villain in Dragon Ball, and that is a compliment. Toriyama takes the ultimate threat, one capable of erasing Earth, and gives it the face of a greedy toddler. The result is unsettling and funny at once, and his redemption comes through an unlikely friendship rather than a fight.
He is also a meditation on good and evil: Buu's two halves exist separately, and the saga lets the good one survive. In 2004 Japanese fans voted him the eighth most popular character in the series, and Wizard magazine ranked him among the greatest villains of all time.
Did you know? Buu, Bibidi and Babidi take their names from the magic words of Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, the song from Disney's Cinderella (1950). Babidi's henchmen are named after magic words too.
Trivia
- Kōzō Shioya, his Japanese voice in every form, said he approached the character as a self-centred three-year-old.
- In Super, Buu refuses to share his pudding with Beerus at Bulma's party, which sends the God of Destruction into a fury.
- In Funimation's English dub, Josh Martin voices the fat and pure forms, while Justin Cook voices Evil Buu and Super Buu.