The many tumultuous battles throughout Dragon Ball, DBZ and Super have sometimes included main characters among the casualties. For this reason, the Z Fighters and their allies have had to collect the titular orange orbs and summon dragons Shenron or Porunga to resurrect their friends. Resurrection as a whole has several caveats to it, and it’s not the only way for people to come back to life in the Dragon Ball universe.
Reincarnation is another way in which individuals can get a second lease on life, albeit one that’s far different. Despite how important it sounds, it’s rarely been explained in Dragon Ball to the same extent as dragon-derived resurrections. Regardless, the concept was instrumental in two of the series’ biggest villains being reborn as potential heroes, proving that it’s almost always for the better.
The Dragon Balls Have Limits on Resurrecting People from the Dead
The most common way to resurrect someone in Dragon Ball is through making a wish to do so via Shenron or his Namekian counterpart Porunga. Shenron, however, can’t grant the same wish or resurrect the same person twice, which sometimes requires the aid of Porunga. The latter dragon can restore life an unlimited number of times, but with a catch — they must have died an unnatural death.
Fortuneteller Baba can also bring people back from the Other World for one day due to her contracts with King Yemma, though they aren’t exactly the same person. These individuals’ resurrected bodies have the same physical attributes as the ones in the Other World, and using techniques such as the Super Saiyan transformations will expedite their 24-hour limit.
Other, more individual examples of resurrections include Kami bringing the dragon Shenron back to life by restoring a statue of him and blasting it with energy, thus restoring the Dragon Balls as well. Some fighters have abilities that bring back the dead as loyal warriors, such as Hatchiyack and his Ghost Warriors in Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans. Corpses of normal humans have been used as the basis for Androids such as the hulking Android 8, though he’s now effectively a new person from who he was before. Dragon Ball Super‘s Whis can also bring people back via his angelic powers, though these will have no effect on those killed by demons. With all the defined rules about resurrections in Dragon Ball, it’s strange that reincarnation is such a glossed-over topic.
Dragon Ball‘s Greatest Villains Were Reborn and Redeemed Through Reincarnation
King Yemma can choose to reward fallen souls with Heaven or damn them to Hell, though there’s also a third path. One option he sometimes takes is allowing them to be reincarnated, especially if they wish to redeem themselves for previous sins. When Kid Buu is killed, Goku asks for him to possibly be reborn as a good person so the two can fight once again. This results in Uub, a human who was once the evil half of Majin Buu. The haughty and once-villainous Vegeta could’ve had a similar fate, though the circumstances required by the threat of Super Buu changed things after his sacrificial death.
One exception to this version of reincarnation is the Namekian Piccolo, who was once the evil King Piccolo. This demonic alien could produce mutant Namekian spawn, though upon his death he also spit out an egg containing his “son”. Piccolo, Jr. was in fact the reincarnation of the original, continuing his rivalry with Goku anew. Despite this dark start, the new Piccolo would later become a beloved ally, particularly bonding with Goku’s untrained, scholarly son Gohan. Thus, even though he wasn’t cleansed of evil and hatred at the time, the reincarnation that his progenitor provided allowed him to get a second chance, which is quite different from the more immediate continuation of a normal resurrection.