Krillin - Dragon Ball

Krillin is a supporting protagonist in the Dragon Ball franchise, making his debut in Episode 14 of the original series and is voiced by Mayumi Tanaka throughout. Though he was initially a rival of Son Goku under the tutelage of Master Roshi, they quickly became best friends. Krillin starts as a very selfish and uncaring character, but develops to become kind, loyal, and good-natured. He is also one of the strongest human fighters in the series.

Being a student of Master Roshi, Krillin shares the same orange gi as Goku. In most depictions, Krillin has a bald head with six dots on his forehead. This is due to his monastic beginnings. As the series progresses into Dragonball Z, he grows medium length black hair and wears more casual clothes. In Dragonball GT, he has a moustache and wears a suit.

Appearances in Dragon Ball

In Dragon Ball, Krillin first appears at Master Roshi’s island. There, he first meets Goku and they become rivals. During the course of their training, the two eventually end up becoming best friends. When their training is complete, Master Roshi has the pair enter the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai tournament. Krillin makes it to the semi-finals, but is deftly defeated by Jackie Chun, who is really Master Roshi in disguise. Krillin continues his training with Master Roshi and helps to collect the Dragon Balls with Goku. After fighting General Blue, Krillin and Goku enter Fortuneteller Baba’s tournament. Krillin is quickly defeated by Dracula Man and retires from the tournament. Three years later, Krillin enters the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai tournament. This time, he reaches the semi-finals, but loses to Goku. Soon after, Krillin is killed by Tambourine, one of Evil King Piccolo’s henchmen. After Goku defeats Evil King Piccolo, Krillin is brought back using the Dragon Balls. Krillin then enters the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai tournament. This time, he makes it to the quarter-finals before losing to Piccolo Jr.

Appearances in Dragon Ball Z

Several years later in Dragon Ball Z, Goku and Krillin are attacked by Raditz and are unable to save Son Gohan. One year later, Krillin confronts the Saiyans Vegeta and Nappa along with the other Z Fighters including Piccolo. After Yamcha is immediately killed in battle, he kills most of the Saibamen in a furious rage. When fighting against Nappa, Krillin tries to get involved after Tien’s arm is cut off by Nappa. Krillin works with Piccolo to fight against Nappa. They create multiple copies of themselves with the Tri-Form technique, but fail due to the technique’s high energy demand. Krillin then fights one on one with Nappa by throwing a Destructo Disc at him, which Nappa almost catches until Vegeta intervenes. Krillin asks the newly arrived Goku to change the location of the fight to protect his friend’s bodies. Afterwards, Gohan and Krillin go back to the battle to find a transformed Vegeta mercilessly pounding Goku. After attempting to cut off Vegeta’s tail and failing, Krillin receives a Spirit Bomb from Goku to throw at Vegeta. After Vegeta is defeated, Krillin tries to kill him with Yajirobe’s sword, but allows him to escape per Goku’s request.

Krillin then appears in the next saga of Dragon Ball Z as a main character along with Gohan. After the fight with Vegeta, Goku is hospitalized and Piccolo is dead. Due to Piccolo's death, the Earth’s Dragon Balls vanished, which led to Gohan and Krillin traveling to planet Namek to find the Namekian dragon balls. On Namek, Krillin and Gohan encounter Frieza and his henchmen. Krillin receives a power up from the guru and continues to search for the Dragon Balls with Gohan. They are then overpowered by the Ginyu Force until Goku arrives to save them. After they collect the Dragon Balls, they wish Piccolo back and start fighting against Frieza himself. Krillin is stabbed in the chest but manages to cut off some of Frieza's tail after being healed by Dende. When Frieza re-emerges after being hit with the Spirit Bomb, he kills Krillin with an internal energy blast. His death becomes the trigger for Goku to become the first ever Super Saiyan. Krillin is later revived on Earth with the Dragon Balls.

Krillin then trains for a few years before the arrival of the Androids. He works together with Trunks and Piccolo to find the location of the Androids’ base in an attempt to try to shut them down before they activate. Failing this, Krillin and Trunks discover the blueprints to a controller used to deactivate the androids. Bulma constructs the controller and gives it to Krillin. However, after meeting the helpless Android 18 Krillin destroys the controller. Due to this, Cell absorbs Android 18 and achieves his Perfect form. After the fight with Cell is over Android 17 and 18 have their bombs removed using a wish from the Dragon Balls.

Seven years later, Krillin has married android 18 and has a daughter named Marron. Krillin decides to compete in the 25th World Martial Arts tournament after hearing of Goku’s return and the prize money. Krillin wins his first fight easily, though he is then turned to stone by Dabura following the Z Fighters attack on Babidi’s hideout. When Dabura is defeated however, Krillin is turned back to normal and he saves Goten and Trunks from Vegeta’s self-destruction blast. Krillin later helps evacuate Earth, but is killed when Kid Buu attacks. He is again brought back to life with the Namekian Dragon Balls and, along with everyone else, gives his energy to Goku to finally defeat Kid Buu with a Spirit Bomb.

Appearances in Dragon Ball Super

In Dragon Ball Super, Krillin assists in gathering members for Universe 7’s tournament against Universe 6. He recruits Piccolo and Majin Buu. Krillin later agrees to train with Goku and travel to get Paradise Grass from a place called the Forest of Terror. In the forest, they encounter large versions of past enemies. Krillin is later asked by Goku to join the Tournament of Power, an invitation he accepts. Krillin eliminates Universe 4’s Sosa and Majora before being eliminated by Universe 6’s Frost. Krillin cheers for Android 18 to encourage her in her fight against Universe 2’s Ribrianne. He also gives Vegeta a senzu bean after he is eliminated by Universe 11’s Jiren.

Appearances in Dragon Ball GT

In Dragon Ball GT, Krillin is quickly killed by Android 17 and briefly appears again at the end of the series where he and Goku spar and share a final goodbye at Master Roshi’s island.

Powers and Abilities

For a human, Krillin is incredibly powerful. Some of his abilities include super strength, super speed, and super-sonic flight. His main techniques include:

Kamehameha - an energy beam attack learned from Master Roshi.
Scattering Bullet: an energy attack that shoots continuous ki blasts.
Solar Flare: an attack Krillin uses to temporarily blind opponents.
Destructo Disc: an attack that uses energy to create a whirling disc. The disc is capable of cutting through almost anything, as seen when cutting through a mountain when fighting Nappa.

Family

Android 18 - Wife.
Marron - Daughter.
Android 17 - Brother-in-law.