Videl is Mr. Satan's daughter, the girl who patrols her city hunting down criminals and ends up marrying Gohan. She first appears in chapter 421 of the manga, released in May 1993, the chapter that brings Gohan to high school in Satan City. She is the co-lead of the first half of the Majin Buu saga and the mother of Pan.
Who she is
Videl is stubborn, blunt and far braver than her father. She learned martial arts to follow in his footsteps and uses her skills to help the police of the city named after the champion. Unlike Mr. Satan, a vain comic-relief figure, Videl is genuinely heroic, even if at first she knows nothing about the real warriors who saved the world.
Her name is an anagram of "devil", to match her father's. Her mother never appears in the series: Toriyama suggested she was a beautiful singer named Miguel, playing on the idea of an unlikely marriage between an "archangel" and a "devil". Fittingly, the registration number on Videl's vehicle is 666.
Her story across the series
- Dragon Ball Z: suspicious of her new classmate, she discovers that Gohan is the mysterious Great Saiyaman and blackmails him into teaching her to fly using ki. On his innocent suggestion, she cuts off her long pigtails. At the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament she is brutally beaten by Spopovich, empowered by Babidi's magic, and Gohan's fury sets off the chain of events that leads to Majin Buu's revival. She is devastated when she believes Gohan is dead, is later killed by Buu at Kami's Lookout and is revived by the Namekian Dragon Balls. Ten years later she is married to Gohan and has a daughter, Pan.
- Dragon Ball GT: she plays a minor role, often alongside Chi-Chi; Baby possesses her and Gohan and they attack their daughter until Uub steps in.
- Dragon Ball Super: at Bulma's party she reveals she is pregnant and, on behalf of her unborn child, joins the ritual that turns Goku into a Super Saiyan God. Pan is born later in the series.
In the classic films she joins Gohan in Broly – Second Coming and, in 1995's Wrath of the Dragon, fights crime in costume as the "Great Saiyawoman".
Abilities
Videl is a human with no supernatural powers, but an excellent fighter by human standards. Her big leap forward comes with Gohan, who teaches her to control her ki and to fly. She never becomes a front-line warrior, but across her arc the progress is plain to see.
| Moment | What happens |
|---|---|
| Debut | Gohan arrives at her school |
| Training | Learns to fly using ki |
| 25th tournament | Brutally beaten by Spopovich |
| Majin Buu saga | Killed by Buu and revived |
| Epilogue | Marries Gohan; Pan is born |
Relationships
- Gohan is first the mysterious classmate, then the boy who teaches her to fly, and finally her husband.
- Mr. Satan is the father she adores, even though she is much sharper than he is.
- Pan is her daughter, who inherits her father's Saiyan blood.
- Chi-Chi is her mother-in-law, who warms to her after some initial suspicion.
Why she matters: our take
Videl is one of Dragon Ball's best-loved female characters, and it is easy to see why: she enters the story as a crime-fighter, not a damsel in distress. Her relationship with Gohan is the sweetest in the whole series, built on small moments like the flying lessons and the haircut.
The trouble is what comes after. Like Chi-Chi and Bulma, she quickly moves from fighter to wife and mother, and some critics have lamented exactly that waste. Still, she is the heart of the first half of the Buu saga, and the person who makes Gohan feel like a normal teenager.
Did you know? Her hairstyle went through several drafts before the twin pigtails were chosen in 1992. The rejected looks did not go to waste: they were reused for other characters, including Bulma.
Trivia
- In Japanese she is voiced by Yūko Minaguchi, replaced by Shino Kakinuma only in Dragon Ball Kai.
- In Funimation's English dub she is voiced by Kara Edwards, who also voices young Goten.
- In Dragon Ball FighterZ she is the only character with a selectable alternate look: short hair or her original pigtails.