Commander Ginyu
From Dragon Ball Encyclopedia
"The purpose of striking a pose is not to become like a wallpaper. That's why we chant loudly when we pose, to draw attention to our magnificence. I know. I'll just have to raise the stakes a little bit. The best poser gets a candy!"
— Commander Ginyu in "A Legend Revealed"
Commander Ginyu (ギニュー 隊長, Ginyū Taichō; FUNimation "Captain Ginyu", Viz "Captain Ginyu") leads the Ginyu Special Corps.
Commander Ginyu's Japanese name is a pun on the word Gyūnyū, or Milk in English.
Contents
Biography
Anime
Commissioned to Planet Namek
Ginyu and his comrades were commissioned after Freeza learned that Vegeta was searching for the seven Dragon Balls on Planet Namek and that the Saiyan's strength was growing rapidly, quickly surpassing Freeza's personal henchmen, Dodoria and Zarbon. The group spent five days traveling the stars en route to Planet Namek. Upon reaching the planet, Freeza dispatched the group to capture Vegeta, kill his two companions (Kuririn and Son Gohan) and recover the Dragon Balls which had since been stolen by Vegeta. Efficient as they were, the Ginyu Special Corps did not take long to track down their targets and locate all seven Dragon Balls. Initially, Ginyu intends to slay Vegeta himself, but when his subordinates complain that they haven't had the opportunity to fight, Ginyu concedes, allowing them to deal with Vegeta and the others while he returns the Dragon Balls to Freeza.
Ginyu transfered the Dragon Balls back to Freeza, but the two almost instantly discovered that they could not activate the artifacts to summon the Eternal Dragon. Remembering one of his previous Namekian victims whose last words told of how Freeza could never make a wish even with the seven Dragon Balls gathered, Freeza deduced that there must be a secret Namek language custom used to activate them. The tyrant used his Scouter to investigate the vicinity for surviving Namekians and found some in an area that his forces had left untouched. Ginyu volunteered to force the secret out of them, but Freeza declined in favor of handling the task himself. In the meantime, Ginyu was assigned to watch over the seven Dragon Balls.
"Body Change!"
While guarding the Dragon Balls, Ginyu is joined by one of his comrades, a delirious Jeice, who confirms that a powerful warrior has arrived on Namek, and their comrades, Recoome, Burter and Guldo, are dead. Ginyu advises against Jeice's proposal to warn Freeza, as he does not want this to compromise his reputation. Ginyu decides to confront this new fighter, Goku, himself leaving his subordinates in the care of the Dragon Balls (in the manga, Jeice is left to hide the balls, while in the anime, they are left to be buried by Freeza's low-class soldiers).
Upon convening with Goku, Ginyu determines that the Saiyan is capable of manipulating his battle power, speculating his true strength to be somewhere around 60,000 (in contrast to what has appeared on the Ginyu Force's scouters as a mere 5,000). The commander's first advance on Goku is only amplified when Vegeta escapes the scene in flight, in spite of the alliance he and Goku had formed specially for the encounter. This distraction leaves Goku open for an elbow bash to the face. Goku and Ginyu continue to do battle, with Ginyu eventually realizing his shortcomings against the Saiyan from Earth. Ginyu started to believe that Goku might even be a Super Saiyan, however he disproved this as no Saiyan he ever encountered or heard about was as sympathetic as Goku. Despite managing to capture Goku in a full nelson, Ginyu releases him upon deducing that he was only able to take hold of Goku as a result of Jeice's interference. For this, he admonishes Jeice, even threatening to kill him if he intrudes on the conflict once more.
Accepting that he is at odds with Goku, Ginyu's next action is a startling one. He spontaneously stabs his chest, before revealing his true plot: resorting to his ability to exchange bodies in an attempt to level with Goku. The body change is a success, but Ginyu fails to make the most of Goku's shell's battle power of 180,000, stopping short at just 23,000. With this, he is promptly forced into a losing battle against Gohan and Kuririn while Vegeta battles Jeice. However, midway through the battle he begins to learn how to draw out Goku's full power and begins to fight back and win against Gohan and Kuririn, even when Goku (having also learnt how to utilise Ginyu's body's power) tries to come to their assistance Ginyu easily defeats all three of them. It isn't until Vegeta, having finished off Jeice, appears and pummels Ginyu with his new maximum power. Beaten into the ground Ginyu attempts switching bodies with Vegeta twice. The first time, Goku, still rendered within Ginyu's shell, interferes with the attack. The second time, the further injured Goku successfully tosses a Namekian Frog within the trajectory of the Body Change's energy wave, thus rendering Ginyu's soul trapped within the shell of the frog. Unable to pronounce the technique, he is unable to transfer himself to a new body.
Ginyu is ultimately the only member of the Ginyu Force not to be killed by Vegeta. Though Vegeta has the opportunity to finish the captain off after Ginyu switches bodies with the frog, Vegeta opts not to kill him so as not to get "toad guts" all over his "nice clean boots" (in the manga and Kai, Vegeta lets him live after Goku mentions that he is no longer a threat, and states that the life he has ahead of him is torture enough).
Filler escapades
In the Dragon Ball Z manga, Ginyu is never seen or heard from again. In the anime, however, Ginyu continues making subsequent filler appearances as a Frog. Here, he is discovered by Bulma and kept as her companion. After realizing that the Frog understands the Human language, Bulma creates a device to translate his croaking into speech, which Ginyu in turn uses to betray Bulma with his regained ability to pronounce the Body Change technique. Seizing Bulma's body, Ginyu uses Bulma's airski to visit the site of the showdown between Freeza and Goku and is attended by Piccolo, Kuririn, and Gohan. Bulma takes hold of the airski and, despite Ginyu's attempt to lose the Frog, Bulma is able to reach her oblivious friends. Ginyu wages an attack on the trio before deciding to switch bodies with the most powerful of the three, Piccolo. Gohan comes to realize that the Frog is in actuality Bulma, which leads him to throw Bulma in the path of the wave and reverts Ginyu to the body of a Frog once again and restores Bulma to her Human body.
After a wish made to Polunga, the Eternal Dragon of Namek, Ginyu is later transported to Planet Earth with all of living beings on the planet except Goku and Freeza. Afterwards, Ginyu goes on to live among the Frogs surrounding Capsule Corporation. It is never revealed what becomes of the Frog whose soul is within Ginyu's body save for one scene where he hops around a forest on Planet Earth where Polunga evacuates the people of Planet Namek. Ginyu makes infrequent appearances in later episodes as a Frog, such as outside a window of Son Goku's House during Gohan's 11th birthday and when he is picked up by a Great Saiyaman-disguised Gohan after an attempt by Sharpner to unmask him.
Death
Ginyu is ultimately killed when Kid Boo destroys Planet Earth. He makes his final appearance in Dragon Ball Z in Hell, after having apparently been reunited with his body, where he watchs the fight between Goku and Kid Boo through a Crystal Ball along with Ogres and fellow Dragon Ball villains.
Ginyu appeared during the Super 17 Saga, but he was defeated again and sent back to Hell.
Video games
Ginyu appeared in Dragon Ball Z: Buyū Retsuden, Dragon Ball Z: The Legend, Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22, Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2.
Race
Ginyu is of the same race as Miruga and Rakuto.
Battle power
Ginyu's maximum battle power in the manga, anime, and Dragon Ball: Daizenshū is stated to be at 120,000. When Ginyu trades bodies with Goku in the anime, his battle power decreases to 23,000 according to Jheese. His battle power is stated to be 180,000 in Dragon Ball Z: Sagas.
Techniques
Voice actors
- Japanese dub: Hideyuki Hori; Katsuyuki Konishi (Dragon Ball Kai)
- Ocean Group dub: Richard Newman
- FUNimation dub: Dale Kelly (Originally); Brice Armstrong (All video games and remastered box sets); Robert Bruce Elliott (Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2)
- Latin American dub: César Soto
- Portuguese dub: Henrique Feist
- Italian dub: Marco Balzarotti
Trivia
- Ginyu's "Character Introduction" biography in the Budokai Tenkaichi video game series states that Ginyu has used the Body Change technique numerous times in his career and that his humanoid appearance in Dragon Ball Z is the result of a previous Body Change rather than Ginyu's original body. This is debatable, however, as after dying in the body of a Namekian Frog (the product of an awry Body Change), Ginyu assumes this form during his stay in Hell. It may be possible, however, that this body is simply his preferred one, the one he has stayed in for the most time (even longer than the Frog), or that the animators want to ensure he is easily recognizably to the viewers.
References
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