10 Dragon Ball Tattoos Only True Fans Will Understand

Tattoos are a commitment, and you have to really love what you are putting on your skin. No surprise, there are many Dragon Ball tattoos.

It is no surprise that people like Dragon Ball. The show has been intermittently on since 1984, and has come a long way. What was once a story about collecting magical wishing orbs turned into a series about combating against godlike adversaries. The story mainly follows Goku’s exploits as he trains to be the strongest person in the universe and beyond, but has plenty of other memorable characters like Trunks, Vegeta, and Piccolo.

The show is all around epic when it comes to fighting action, and there is just so much cool factor within the show that it is not surprising people would be willing to ink up their arms with iconic Dragon Ball moments. Tattoos are a symbol of dedication due to their relatively permanent nature, so these people have to have been true fans to brand these tats.

10 Emperor Pilaf

Before there was Cell, Frieza, or even Vegeta, there was Pilaf. The original villain of Dragon Ball, Pilaf was a stumpy goblin looking creature who sought after the Dragon Balls to grant his wish of becoming ruler of the world. There was nothing ever really serious about Pilaf. He was mostly just a scrawny and bossy runt with a napoleon complex, and mainly served as comedic relief rather than an actual threat to Goku and his friends.

This tattoo basically sums up Pilaf well. It is a more realistic take of the creature, and has his signature outfit that makes him look like a cross between a clown and a European noble. He has one of the seven Dragon Balls in his hands, so he is probably feeling a bit of a power high at the moment.

9 Goku’s Nimbus

Nimbus was one of Goku’s most loyal friends within the original Dragon Ball. It is basically yellow cloud which only the pure of heart were able to fly on. It had the capability of going at great speeds, but when Dragon Ball Z made flying a common practice for the Z Fighters, Nimbus became obsolete and was seldom shown.

Still, it was one of the best parts of Dragon Ball as there was something visually pleasing seeing Goku ride a tiny cloud. Obviously, this person tends to agree as they got a nice tattoo of Goku having the time of his life as he rides Nimbus.

8 Gogeta Super Saiyan 4

Everyone in the Dragon Ball fandom knows that GT was a terrible series. It was poorly written, shoved in boring characters while ignoring fan favorites, and had a pretty dumb plot. It is so bad that it is basically no longer canon. That being said, Super Saiyan 4 was actually pretty cool, and what made it cooler was when Goku and Vegeta used fusion to become a Super Saiyan 4 version of Gogeta. This form of Gogeta was basically the strongest character within GT, and was so powerful that his arrogance essentially kept him from finishing off Syn Shenron.

He may be cocky, but he has a right to be, and while GT may not mean much to Dragon Ball anymore, having a tattoo of Gogeta is still pretty cool.

7 Gotenks

Fusion is just cool in general. Combining the personalities and appearances of two characters is such a fun concept, and while Gogeta is cool Gotenks has a special place in our hearts. Gotenks had a cool design as well as some awesome attacks. His fight with Super Buu was both awesome and hilarious, and it was even better when Gotenks turned Super Saiyan 3.

This tattoo is clever and creative, as it shows the two halves of Gotenks, Trunks and Goten, performing fusion. Each is on a separate arm, and when then collide together its Fusion!

6 Bardock

While Bardock was not shown a whole lot within the Dragon Ball series, he is actually pretty significant within the story. He is a Saiyan and Goku’s father. When Frieza felt that the Saiyans were getting to powerful, he sent his army to wipe out Bardock's squad. After finding the members of his squad slaughtered, Bardock started a one man rebellion against Frieza.

Unfortunately, Frieza’s power was too overwhelming for Bardock, and resulted in his death as well as the destruction of Planet Vegeta. Regardless, he is legendary for willing to stand against Frieza. This tattoo shows the moment where Bardock begins his rebellion against Frieza, wearing the bandage of his fallen comrade around his head.

5 Porunga

While Earth has Shenron as their dragon who grants wishes, Namek has Porunga. He is seldom used within the series since it is easier for the Z Fighters to gather the Earth’s Dragon Balls rather than Nameks. He his pretty cool looking, as he is designed to look like a mix of a djinn and a dragon. He even has Namekian antennas, which is kind of hilarious. He is also able to grant three wishes, instead of Shenron's two. This tattoo showcases Porunga being summoned and ready to grant some wishes.

4 The Hair of Goku and Chi-Chi

Admittedly, Goku and Chi-Chi are not the most romantic couple ever. Goku is always blowing her off to train, and Chi-Chi basically yells at Goku whenever he is around. That being said they do seem like they genuinely love each other. They have been romantically involved with each other since childhood, and have stuck together since then raising two kids. Their family may seem dysfunctional to the viewer, but everyone seems to be happy, so maybe the dynamic works just well for them.

Either way, this tattoo is endearing. It is a couples tattoo showcasing the signature hairstyles of both Goku and Chi-Chi. It also stands out a bit in comparison to some of the other tattoos on this list.

3 Majin Symbol

The Majin symbol is the marking that Babidi uses to turn his followers evil. The mark is used on several of Babidi’s followers, but it is most notably used on Vegeta, who willingly chose to let Babidi make him evil so he could finally defeat Goku. The Majin symbol can make those subjected to it stronger, but its power comes at the cost of being evil.

Clearly this guy is not too worried about wickedness though, because he decided to get a tattoo of the Majin Symbol on his back.

2 Four Star Dragon Ball

While the Dragon Balls are powerful in unity, there is really nothing particularly special or different about each of them about from their number of stars. However, the most iconic Dragon Ball has to be the four star Dragon Ball. While it is no different than the others, this Dragon Ball has special significance to Goku because it is his grandfather’s Dragon Ball. Goku tends to make the effort to collect this Dragon Ball grandfather’s Dragonball for sentimental purposes, and even gifts it to his son, Gohan, as shown in the first episode of Dragon Ball Z.

Clearly this fan knows their Dragon Balls, as he decided to pick the four star over the other six.

1 Kame Kanji

While Goku far surpassed the teachings he obtained from Master Roshi, he still brands the symbol of kame on his clothing. Kame stands for turtle, which make sense since Roshi’s martial art is Turtle School. Aside from Goku, several character wear this symbol on their clothes, including Krillin, Yamcha, and occasionally Gohan. It seems to be a well loved symbol for Goku, as he has been wearing it on his clothes for almost as long as the series has been around.

The kame kanji works well as a tattoo. It is simple design, that does not rely on extreme intricacy or detail.