Dragon Ball 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Oolong

Long before there were Super Saiyans and Namekians running amok, Dragon Ball’s main cast was rounded out by none other than Oolong.

Ask any Dragon Ball to list off random characters from the franchise, and chances are they’ll immediately fire off shades of Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan, & Trunks. It makes sense, they’re far and away the most popular characters in the series, along with being five of the most narratively prominent throughout Dragon Ball Z, but there’s more to this franchise than the Z-era.

Long before there were Super Saiyans and Namekians running amok, Dragon Ball’s main cast was rounded out by none other than Oolong. The third character completing the DB holy trinity alongside Goku and Bulma, Oolong was once one of the most important characters in the franchise.

10 Oolong Rounds Out The Original Trio

Start reading or watching Dragon Ball at any point other than the very beginning, and it's virtually impossible to come away with the conclusion that Oolong was ever more than a minor character, let alone critically important to the main plot. Akira Toriyama stops using him as soona s the first arc is over, but that shouldn't invalidate the role Oolong originally played.

Alongside Goku and Bulma, it was Oolong who rounded out the main cast. He wasn't a bit player or a member of the supporting cast, he was the third main character in Dragon Ball. Even when Yamcha joined the group, Oolong remained important and played a key role in resolving the arc's main conflict.

9 Oolong Is The First Arc’s Real Hero

Trapped by Pilaf and his cohorts, the main cast are forced to watch as he gathers all seven Dragon Balls to summon Shenlong and wish for world domination. Goku's Kamehameha is unfortunately only strong enough to create a small window, but it's enough for Oolong and Puar to fly through while transformed.

What's notable about this moment is not only how quickly Oolong springs to action alongside Puar, but the fact that he's the one actively trying to stop Pilaf. Puar seems to be going with the motions, but Oolong swiftly wishes for a pair of panties, preventing Pilaf's prospective reign of terror on the spot.

8 Oolong’s Character Arc

On that note, it should be discussed why Oolong saving the day it meaningful in the first place. All arc, Oolong has basically been a nuisance. He even enters the series a clear antagonist, only joining Goku and Bulma after having been defeated. Oolong shows very little loyalty to Goku & Bulma, and even tries to pull one over on them in the desert (more on that later.)

Oolong seizes multiple opportunities on their adventure to try to flee, but after collecting all seven Dragon Balls together, nearly dying together, and being imprisoned together, Oolong's first instinct is not to run away like it has been, but to save the world and his friends.

7 Oolong Is Less Present In The Manga

This applies to quite a few characters in Dragon Ball. Akira Toriyama's MO as a writer seems to be developing characters and allowing them to exit the story naturally. This allows for Dragon Ball to have a reasonably developed and memorable main cast, but it in turn does result in several characters losing relevance, making what development they got their claim to the series.

This does ultimately apply to Oolong, and notably, but the anime at least features some filler Oolong gets to be a part of. Not filler for Oolong, but filler with him. Of course, it doesn't take much longer for the anime to push Oolong aside as well.

6 Oolong Survives In Trunks’ Future

At least in regards to the Trunks TV Special's depiction of Trunks' future, Oolong does manage to survive. Hiding in a submarine alongside Muten Roshi, Puar, and Umigame, Oolong lives under the sea by Kame House. While the Artificial Humans rampage the Earth, these four simply wait for some semblance of hope. For something to end this all.

Future Oolong isn't shown in any other medium. While Future Umigame gets to appear in Dragon Ball Super's anime, Oolong doesn't accompany him. Even if Future Oolong had survived long enough to see the Goku Black arc, though, he would have been killed either by Zamasu or Zeno.

5 Oolong Is One Of The Only Animals Still In The Series

Animals had quite an important presence in Dragon Ball while it was starting out. They are as natural to the world as humans like Bulma, and tailed martial artists like Goku. Oolong was just another oddity in a sea of many, but that's lost by the time one gets to the Z-era.

As soon as Dragon Ball comes back from outer space, the animals basically stop showing their face on Earth. Of course, it's really the Saiyan arc where animals more or less lose all their relevance, but Oolong gets to have a presence at least until the very end of the series.

4 Oolong Is Worse At Transforming Than Puar

One interesting way the first story arc gets around Oolong and Puar having the exact same skill set is by making clear that Oolong is much worse at transforming than Puar. Not only did Oolong not finish his education, having been expelled in preschool, his transformations don't last nearly as long as Puar's.

More importantly, the quality of Oolong's transformations are much lower than Puar's. While Oolong's initial, monstrous transformations are visually intimidating, there's little Oolong can actually do. It's worth pointing out that when Oolong transforms into Bulma and Puar transforms into Goku, the latter's is far more true to form than the former's.

3 Oolong Is Just A Kid

Considering how Oolong sounds in the English dub, and how he acts across all mediums, it's easy to overlook the fact that Oolong is just a child. In fact, Oolong is only around nine years old at the start of Dragon Ball, considerably younger than both Goku and Bulma. This is particularly notable when taking into consideration the sexual side of Oolong's character.

At the same time, one has to wonder how far Toriyama ended to go with the animal aspect of the series. In pig years, Oolong would be 45, which doesn't exactly make his character or behavior any better– especially since he kidnaps young girls. In hindsight, it's probably for the best he's 9.

2 Oolong And Pingyao

Dragon Boy predates Dragon Ball and serves as a prototype for the manga. Along with characters resembling who would eventually become Son Goku and Bulma, there's one Pingyao who would eventually become Oolong. Or, in truth, would become both Oolong and Puar.

At first glance, the character seems to be a rounder Puar, Pingyao's personality is more in-line with Oolong's– at least superficially. Pingyao transforms into an attractive man much like Oolong, plays the role of a trickster like Oolong initially does, and ends up joining the group after crossing paths with Goku.

1 The Uncomfortable Sexual Elements Of Oolong’s Character

9 or 45, there's no really getting around the extremely uncomfortable sexual elements of Oolong's character. Early Dragon Ball has a sexuality that hasn't aged particularly well, but is mostly harmless– in large part due to Roshi often being on the receiving end of his harassment, punished for acting out. While this does apply to Oolong, he's far more malicious of a character than Roshi ever was.

When stranded in the desert, Oolong roofies Goku and Bulma with the intention of feeling up the latter while she's asleep. Puar and Yamcha ultimately prevent him from doing so (along with keeping him up all night,) but it's a detail which severely hurts Oolong's character.