Dragon Ball 10 Things You Need To Know About King Piccolo

Though ultimately losing to Goku, King Piccolo was more successful than the average Dragon Ball villain and is the only one to achieve all his goals.

No one can deny the impact Kami’s evil doppelgänger had on Dragon Ball. The sum of Kami’s exorcised malice, King Piccolo terrorized Earth for years before being sealed away by Master Mutaito. Hundreds of years later, he was freed by the Pilaf Gang & targeted the world’s greatest martial artists while simultaneously hunting down the Dragon Balls to restore his youth.

Though ultimately losing to Goku, King Piccolo was more successful than the average Dragon Ball villain, and is the only one to successfully conquer Earth. Yet some fans might be more familiar with his reincarnated self, Piccolo Jr. (or just “Piccolo”), and thus unaware of certain facts regarding the original Piccolo and his surprisingly influential legacy.

10 He Took Over The World On Goku Day

While changed to the 13th in the US dub, King Piccolo’s conquest of Earth was originally said to have happened on May 9. While the cruel king declared the date of his conquest to be “Piccolo Day,” May 9 has extra significance both in real life and in the Dragon Ball universe. In our world, May 9 is Goku Day, as “go” and “ku” resemble the pronunciations for the numbers “5” and “9,” respectively. In Dragon World (the universe where Dragon Ball is set), May 9 is also when the real ruler of Earth, King Furry, assumed the throne, 20 years before King Piccolo stole it from him.

9 He Is Akira Toriyama’s Favorite Villain

Favorites can sometimes be hard for creators to pick— Stan Lee was famous for saying his favorite character was the one he was writing at the moment, for example. Not so with Akira Toriyama, who said in the second Daizenshuu that King Piccolo was his preferred foe of the Dragon Ball franchise, explaining that the Demon King was the first “truly evil guy” he had drawn, as opposed to his earlier Dragon Ball villains and characters from Dr. Slump. Toriyama has also listed Piccolo Jr. as one of his favorite characters, stating that “it’s cool how Piccolo doesn’t talk much.”

8 His Throne Inspired An Entire Planet’s Architecture

Anybody who reads or watches the King Piccolo and Frieza arcs of Dragon Ball (Z) will notice that Saichoro and King Piccolo have something in common other than their species: their chairs are nearly identical. As Toriyama revealed in Daizenshuu 4 that this was a very deliberate choice, and King Piccolo’s throne influenced the aesthetic of virtually all things Namek-related (including the buildings they lived in and the ship Kami and Piccolo took to Earth before they split in two).

Naturally, Saichoro's chair lacks the skulls on King Piccolo’s as Saichoro is a benevolent character who has never been identified as a demonic figure.

7 Same Man, Different Voice Actor (In Japan)

While Christopher Sabat voices both King Piccolo and Piccolo Jr. (better known as simply “Piccolo”) in the U.S. dub, the two characters have always been voiced by different people in the original Japanese dub. King Piccolo was originally played by Takeshi Aono, who also voiced Kami and other notable Dragon Ball characters like Ninja Murasaki. Upon Aono’s passing, Bin Shimada (voice actor of Broly and Dyspo, among others) assumed the role.

Piccolo Jr., of course, is famously voiced by Toshio Furukawa. Though the two Piccolos are essentially the same person, it’s not odd that they’d have different voices as the second Piccolo has different vocal cords from his father.

6 He Didn't Fight "All Over The Universe"

Funimation didn’t take as many liberties with its Dragon Ball dub as it did with Dragon Ball Z, but it did still occasionally stray from the original Japanese dialogue. On one occasion, it resulted in a flat-out error, with King Piccolo purporting to have fought off world. Given how he had no memory of being from another planet and arrived on Earth when he was an extremely young child, it is highly unlikely King Piccolo ever fought anyone outside of Earth.

5 He And His Children Set A Deadly New Record

Killing and resurrecting characters has become fairly commonplace in the Dragon Ball franchise, so it may be surprising to learn that wasn’t always the case. Not only were King Piccolo and his spawn, specifically Tambourine, responsible for more main character deaths than any previous villain, they were also the first foes to kill anyone in the main cast—previously, only supporting characters had died in Dragon Ball. King Piccolo and Tambourine’s killing spree began with Krillin, then extended to Chiaotzu and even Shenlong, while Master Roshi died after failing to seal King Piccolo away with the Mafuba.

4 His Name (Retroactively) Hints At His Origins

When Kami’s evil half decided to name himself “Piccolo,” he likely did not have the wooden musical instrument in mind. In Namekian, "Piccolo" means “another world”: unsurprisingly, it is also the word that must be uttered to open the door of the spaceship Kami and King Piccolo took to Earth while still a single being.

The two had rediscovered the ship in their youth before they had split in two, but did not recall ever using it. However, seeing the craft must have stirred memories of the word “Piccolo” in their mind, likely vaguely reminding them that it described them in some way.

3 He’s The Source Of GT’s Biggest Plot Hole

When the Pilaf Gang first told King Piccolo about the Dragon Balls, it was clear the Demon King had no concept of what a Dragon Ball even was— indeed, he was quite shocked at seeing Shenlong for the first time. This was understandable as Kami had created the red-starred, wish-granting orbs after he and King Piccolo had separated. Therefore, it was quite bizarre that Dragon Ball GT would claim King Piccolo and Kami created the Black Star Dragon Balls before their split. Odder still was that Piccolo Jr., who inherited all of King Piccolo’s memories, did not recall creating the Black Star Balls either, despite having fused with Kami.

2 His Arc Introduced Dragon Ball’s First Permanent “Power Up”

Power ups aren't uncommon in Dragon Ball, from Saichoro's ability to awaken a fighter’s potential to the Rou Kaioshin's unlocking Dragon Ball Z. Before these methods, however, there was the Super God Water. Imbued with the power of gods, this special sacred liquid was located in a complex ice labyrinth in the northernmost reaches of Earth. However, the Super God Water was also poisonous and could kill anyone without the strength of mind & body to withstand it. Goku drank the water shortly before his rematch with King Piccolo, receiving an enormous strength increase.

1 He Might Have Influenced Cell

Since Cell’s personality is actually influenced by the DNA of the fighters used to create him, it should come as no surprise that King Piccolo’s cells have also left their mark on Cell’s psyche. Take for instance their shared theatricality: the Artificial Human invading a television screen to announce the Cell Games was quite similar to the televised proclamations King Piccolo would make after becoming Earth’s monarch. More notably, Piccolo’s stated motivation for deciding to destroy a sector of Earth every year— to see the fear on people’s faces— was the same reason why Cell made the Cell Games a public event.