Great Ape

This article is about the original transformation. For the character portrayed in live-action by Justin Chatwin, see Oozaru.

Great Ape (大猿, Ōzaru; lit. "Great Monkey"), or Oozaru, is a giant, monkey-like creature that Saiyans can transform into to increase their enormous strength. Originally in the series, the Great Ape was a transformation for Goku, being a parody of a monkey king character named Sun Wukong from the novel The Journey to the West. Later in the series, the Great Ape is discovered to be a transformation that is only accessible to characters who possess heritage from the Saiyans.

The original Japanese name literally translates to "great ape", "giant ape", "king ape", or "large monkey", though Toriyama appears to be the first to have applied it to primates of very gigantic proportions. Goku, Gohan, and other Great Ape forms in a flashback voice effects were done by Shane Ray.

Conditions for transformation

GokuLookingTransformingApe — Goku looking at the full moon and then transforming into a Great Ape

In order for the transformation to take place, the Saiyan needs to have a tail, as the glands responsible for initiating the transformation are located exclusively there. He also needs to absorb at least 17 million zeno units of Bruits ("Fruits") Rays (called "Blutz Waves" in the English dub and Green-spectrum Radiation in the English manga) through his eyes, to initiate a transformation. Bruits waves are found only in sunlight reflected by a moon. If there is no moon, a planetary body will reflect the same amount of rays. The easiest way to achieve this is to gaze at the full moon, making Saiyans similar to werewolves in this aspect. If any clouds covered the moon and/or a planetary body, it would block certain amounts of the radiation. Vegeta once made himself transform by firing a "fake moon" reflecting the requisite amount of Bruits Rays into the air, then staring at it. A device onboard the Saiyan Attack Pods also project a hologram of a moon that was realistic enough to allow Blutz Waves to be reflected in the event of their landing on a planet that lacks a moon, as evidenced by an incident where Gohan went Great Ape while training for fighting the Saiyans prior to their invasion due to Goku's attack pod reactivating.

MangaTailCut — Cutting off the tail results in the Great Ape returning to its original form

In the movie, Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, Turles did the same thing to provoke a transformation in Gohan as a joke, for he knew he was powerful enough to handle him. According to Turles in the same film, the Power Ball's residual effect would keep Gohan (and any other transformed Saiyan) in their Great Ape form for a limited amount of time even if the power ball is destroyed (which Turles does). It can be assumed that, since it is so close to the planet, weather conditions do not affect the Power Ball's radiation output.

If a natural source of Blutz waves (a full moon or planet) was destroyed or the tail is amputated, this would cause the Saiyan to instantly transform back to their humanoid form.

Characteristics of Saiyans in Great Ape form

SaiyansGreatApeVsKanasans — Bardock (middle) along with Tora (on the right) and Fasha (on the left) beginning their attack as Great Apes under Kanassa's moon

A Great Ape's power level is equal to the Saiyan's power level prior to the transformation multiplied by ten. The color for the Great Ape's fur is usually brown and eyes are red as well. A Saiyan loses the ability to reason in this form, and will typically display berserk and destructive characteristics, even in the cases of protagonists. To quote Yamcha, "When Goku transforms like that, he loses all sense of himself. He's just a big hairy ape with a sweet tooth for ripping people's limbs off." However, they still seem to retain some sense of friend and foe deep within their subconscious, which can be awoken, as has been demonstrated three times; once in the Vegeta Saga, when Goku was able to tell Great Ape Gohan to attack Vegeta, second in Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, with a similar situation against Turles, and finally in the Baby Saga). Despite the lack of self-awareness, as Saiyans mature, they are taught how to reign in their instincts and retain normal cognitive functions as Great Apes. This explains why Goku and Gohan lose control in Great Ape form, as they never received this training and are at first unaware of this transformation. Yet Vegeta, who did receive this training, transformed into a Great Ape to fight Goku, and was even able to talk to the Z Fighters. Saiyans in Great Ape form can also shoot an energy beam from their mouth, in a manner akin to (and possibly an intentional homage to) Godzilla's nuclear breath.

As the transformation causes the Saiyan to grow to several times their original size, the Saiyans wear special armor which can stretch to fit the Great Ape form and shrink back to fit their normal form, Goku and Gohan don't have this, since they live on Earth, so the transformation rips their clothes apart meaning they revert to their normal forms naked. The transformation is also quite exhausting, as Goku and Gohan both pass out after all of them. Yet with trained Saiyans such as Vegeta, they can go back to their original forms exhausted, but not to the point of losing consciousness.

Special abilities

Saiyan11 — A Great Ape firing a mouth blast

In Dragon Ball, Great Apes were just large and powerful, without any special abilities; they just rampaged about destroying anything in their way. They did, however, share the same weakness as a regular Saiyan in that they can be rendered powerless if their tail was squeezed tightly enough.

In Dragon Ball Z, however, Great Apes became much more destructive with the ability to fire overwhelmingly powerful Ki blasts from their mouths. Additionally, Vegeta has shown that certain Saiyans of "Elite" status can control their Great Ape forms, even being able to speak while transformed. Vegeta's speed was not affected by the transformation and he could still fly, despite his massive size. It is also said that a Saiyan's power is multiplied tenfold when transformed into the Great Ape.

In Dragon Ball GT, Great Apes gain the ability to breath fire, which is further shown when Baby Vegeta uses the ability as well as the same ki based attacks he could use while not transformed.

Size

A Great Ape's size remains mostly inconsistent throughout the Dragon Ball anime and manga. A generalization is that most average humanoid Saiyans can almost fit into the palm of a Great Ape's hand. Great Ape's apparent size varied from about 50 feet tall to almost 100. As far as Goku's first (shown) transformation goes, he is much larger in the anime than he is in the manga. In the Budokai Tenkaichi series, the Great Ape's size were significantly cut down to likely 25-30 feet tall but they are still the largest characters in the game.

Appearances

Dragon Ball

Oozaru Goku — Goku as a Great Ape in *Dragon Ball*

Goku first transforms when Emperor Pilaf seals him and his friends inside a chamber designed to amplify the sun's rays, effectively cooking them alive when the sun rose but the full moon rose first so Goku proceeded to go on a rampage destroying Pilaf's entire castle. While Yamcha and company decide it would be best to stay away from Goku until morning, Goku suddenly left the castle and attacked them. In the anime, Pilaf tries to fight Great Ape Goku before his plane crashes, machine gun fire only annoyed Goku, while a missile only knocked him out for a short time. Yamcha then decided to try and cut his tail, thinking the pain would cause him to faint. Fortunately, removing his tail causes him to change back to normal. Earlier, Goku also mentions before transforming that his Grandpa Gohan told him never to look at the full moon and that Gohan was killed by a monster that comes out at the full moon, impling that Goku had transformed at least two times.
Goku transforms again during the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament when his tail grows back, and once again the transformation saves him from being defeated. Although Yamcha is ready to try and cut his tail off again, Jackie Chun comes up with a more permanent solution and uses a Kamehameha to destroy the moon. Interestingly, Goku recovers from this de-transformation and is conscious again before the (delayed) 10 count finishes.
Although Goku never transforms again due to the lack of a moon, a Great Ape appears as a representation of his hidden power possibly symbolising that he has become as strong as if he really was in his Great Ape form, most evident when he kills King Piccolo. By the time Goku is introduced as a young adult during the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, his tail is absent. When asked about this, Goku claimed Kami once offered to restore the moon in exchange for his tail to be removed.

Dragon Ball Z

Oozaru Vegeta122123 — Vegeta in his Great Ape form

We see Gohan transform for the first time when he's out in the wild. Once again, the transformation proves to be useful in a way as it gets Gohan down from a high peak he was stuck on. Piccolo then destroys the moon, and just in case, removes Gohan's tail. The power Piccolo saw Gohan display in his transformed state caused him to become frightened by the idea of how strong Nappa and Vegeta would be in that state.
In the anime only, Gohan's tail grew back again, coincidentally during a time when Goku's space pod started projecting an image of the full moon in the night sky. Piccolo tries his best to stop him, but is unable to match the Great Ape Gohan. He eventually finds the source of the moonlight and destroys it, reverting Gohan back to normal. He then removes Gohan's tail once again. Several Homages to Goku's second transformation occur here, including Gohan transforming while being hit with an electrical attack.

Saiyan8 — A Saiyan transforming into a Great Ape

As King Kai tells Goku about the history of the Saiyans, a flashback shows that the Saiyans were able to completely destroy the Tuffles: By transforming into Great Apes due to a Full Moon that happens only once every seven years (eight in the dub versions), the Saiyan race was able to exterminate the Tuffles overnight.
After Goku's Kamehameha manages to overcome Vegeta's Galick Gun, Vegeta becomes furious and decides that he needs to transform to beat him. He soon takes note at the lack of a moon as he had planned the arrival to coincide with the full moon in case transformation was needed. Unfortunately, he reveals that he is able to create a Power Ball to simulate the full moon's light, though this drains his power significantly. He then promptly transforms, overwhelming Goku completely and nearly kills him. His transformation is halted by Yajirobe, by cutting off his tail.
During the same battle, Gohan's tail grows back and he uses the Power Ball still in the sky to transform. While Vegeta was able to initially get away from Gohan due to his unfocused rage, Goku was able to help Gohan focus on fighting Vegeta. Vegeta does surprisingly well against the beast, but is ultimately outmatched. He manages to cut Gohan's tail off with an energy disk, but then Gohan falls on him when transforming back, which (coupled with all of the other injuries) forced him to retreat.

DSaiyans8 — Great Apes seen in Dodoria's flashback

When Dodoria tells Vegeta about how Frieza got concerned about the Saiyans and destroyed them, a flashback is showing a group of Saiyans is shown transforming into Great Apes after one of them creates a Power Ball and destroying an entire planet.
When Goku confronts the Ginyu Force, Vegeta's explanation of the legend of the Super Saiyan is a lot more detailed in the anime as it shows the Original Super Saiyan as a Great Ape with yellowish colored fur instead of the standard brown.
While technically not an appearance of a Great Ape per se, Krillin once commented on Future Trunks's Ultra Super Saiyan form being similar to the Great Ape. Ironically, an actual Great Ape appeared in a montage told by Krillin mentioning his awe at the Saiyans' evolving powers.
After this point, there are no Saiyans with tails remaining and the Great Apes are mostly ignored for the rest of the series. It makes one final appearance during Goku's Super Saiyan 3 transformation once again representing his hidden powers.

Dragon Ball GT

Main article: Golden Great Ape

GokuGreatApeDBGT — Goku as a Golden Great Ape

When even Super Saiyan 3 Goku proves to be no match for Baby Vegeta, Elder Kai decides that the only way he'll stand a chance is to regrow Goku's tail. And while Goku is defeated once again, by looking at the Full Earth, Goku once again transforms into a Great Ape, but becomes Golden Great Ape this time. In this form, he seems to be able to overpower Baby Vegeta, but is too primitive to focus on fighting him. Eventually, Pan is able to get through to Goku and he undergoes the transformation into Super Saiyan 4.
No match for Super Saiyan 4 Goku, Bulma creates a Blutz Wave Generator to transform Baby Vegeta into a Great Ape too. The beam is proven successful when Baby Vegeta transforms into a Golden Great Ape instead, increasing his power dramatically. He reveals he is able to control his form, even able to use Ki based attacks. As the battle progresses, it becomes obvious that Baby Vegeta is slowly becoming more and more out of control. Eventually, Goku stops Baby by blasting his tail off.

Remembering what the Blutz wave machine did for Baby Vegeta, Bulma deduces that it can be used to help Vegeta reach Super Saiyan 4. The machine transforms Vegeta into a regular Great Ape and while he shows the classic rage expected from a Great Ape and promptly transforms into a Golden Great Ape; and then to Super Saiyan 4.

Movies and specials

Goku transforms into a Great Ape near the end of Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle. Interestingly, even though the movie is set after Goku's first transformation, the scene plays out almost exactly like Goku's first transformation. Goku's transformation frees Yamcha and co from a dire situation, though, instead of destroying everything around him, he immediately chases after his friends. Yamcha once again grabs onto Goku's tail and although Goku isn't completely immobilized like last time, Puar is still able to cut Goku's tail off by transforming into scissors. A complete transformation and reversion sequence is lacking from this movie.
In the Movie Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might, Gohan's tail grows in the middle of a battle with Turles. Deciding to have a little fun, Turles creates a power ball and makes Gohan look at it. Interestingly, he destroys the power ball while Gohan is transforming without having an effect on the transformation. Goku fights Gohan with little luck against the beast, but Icarus appears and is able to calm Gohan down. Turles, annoyed at what is happening, blasts away Icarus, causing Gohan to attack Turles. Turles is ready to take down Gohan with one attack, but Goku uses an energy disk to cut Gohan's tail off saving him from Turles' attack.

Great Ape Dr — Goku transformed into a Great Ape during a flashback in *Dr. Slump*

The TV Special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku starts off with Bardock and his team (Tora, Borgos, Panbukin and Fasha) destroying an entire civilization as Great Apes. The morning after, they have a conversation about how much they remember of the night prior and it is revealed that Bardock can apparently remember everything he does as a Great Ape, whether or not he has control of what he is doing is not said. Although technically they should be berserk, the entire team seem to be able to work together in Great Ape form, and refrain from attacking each other.
The film Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! features a Great Ape during the opening animation, as it is an updated version of the original intro sequence. Also Tarble has a tail but he does not transform in the special.
The remade Dr. Slump TV Show featured a crossover with Goku, during his time there, he transformed into a Great Ape and started destroying Penguin Village, although Arale Norimaki didn't find him threatening. Several attempts were made to bring him down, but it was only when Arale grabbed onto his tail and threw him into an open area is when Goku transformed back, presumably from exhaustion.

In video games

Although the Great Apes are extensively large and have only physically appeared in the manga series five times, Great Apes have appeared in video games many times - albeit mostly in cutscenes.

In the Famicom game Dragon Ball Z: Kyoushuu! Saiyajin, Vegeta's Great Ape form is the final boss. Earlier in the game, Onion is able to transform into a Great Ape, which is a palette swap of Vegeta's form. Also, using a combination of "Tail" and "Moon" cards will allow Son Gohan to transform into a Great Ape, which gives a massive boost of power.
In Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22, a special attack of Chibi Goku's allows him to temporarily transform into an Great Ape and thrash the opponent.
Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout features Baby Vegeta's Golden Great Ape as the final boss. He was taller than the screen, usually only visible from his waist down. His mouth blast, death ball, and other Ki attacks only hit if his opponent was in the air. This character was only playable with the use of an external cheat device.
Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku featured the Great Ape forms of Vegeta and Gohan in cutscenes.
The Game Boy Color game Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors featured Great Apes in cutscenes. After completing the game, it is possible to acquire a card called "Tail" that allows the character to transform into an Great Ape temporarily for a single attack.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai featured a Great Ape in the opening, as it is a 3-D revision of the anime's opening. Vegeta's Great Ape form also appears in a cutscene.
Great Apes are featured in the ultimate attacks of Bardock and Kid Goku in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3.
Players are given a very brief time to control Goku's Golden Great Ape form in Dragon Ball GT: Transformation. The final boss is Baby Vegeta's own Golden Great Ape form.

DBOGreatApeVsNameks — Namekians fighting a mind-controlled Great Ape

Great Apes mind controlled by Miira are enemies in Dragon Ball Online.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi is the first time that Great Apes appear as playable characters in a fighting game: the generic Great Ape (which is used as a form for both Son Goku and Son Gohan) and Vegeta's Great Ape. While scaled down considerably, they are still the largest characters in the game. Although Great Apes in the anime are depicted as being moderately fast despite their size, Budokai Tenkaichi depicts Great Apes as very slow (presumably to balance out the incredible level of damage the Great Ape characters can give).
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 features the generic Great Ape once more (serving as Gohan's transformation in Dragon Adventure mode although only Chibi Goku can transform into it in other modes) while other Great Ape forms included are Vegeta, Bardock, and Baby Vegeta (Golden Great Ape), as well as three Great Ape forms never seen in the anime or the manga: Raditz, Nappa, and Turles. Vegeta was not the only one in Budokai Tenkaichi 2 to speak normally and have control of the power when in Great Ape form as Nappa also has this ability as well being a Saiyan elite which proves that Saiyan elites have control of this form and Raditz retains his long hair while in his Great Ape form that can distinguish him from the others. Raditz, likewise, is unable to speak while in Great Ape form.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 features all the Great Apes from Budokai Tenkaichi 2 in addition to the Great Ape forms of King Vegeta and Fasha. King Vegeta retains his beard and (like Vegeta and Nappa) has the ability to talk in Great Ape form and Fasha's Great Ape form marks the first appearance of a female Great Ape in a video game.

OoV2(UT) — Great Ape Vegeta in *Ultimate Tenkaichi*

Great Ape Vegeta appears in Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu.
A Great Ape was seen at the end of the first trailer for the video game Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi. Great Apes, like other giant characters in this video game, are only included in boss fights and/or cinematics.
Giant Ape Vegeta is the final boss in the Nintendo DS game Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans. Gohan also appears in this form in the game.
Great Ape Vegeta is a boss in Dragon Ball Heroes.

In Dragonball Evolution

Oozaru2 T-Th — Goku, transformed into Oozaru in the video game *Dragonball the Movie*

The Great Ape transformation appears in the film Dragonball Evolution, where it is revised so that it is not a Saiyan transformation, but instead a god called Oozaru who works together with Piccolo to destroy the world before the latter is imprisoned. What happened to Oozaru after Piccolo's incarceration is never revealed. However he somehow bonds with Goku and after his eighteenth birthday during an eclipse Goku transforms into Oozaru. After transforming he sides with Piccolo once again by attempting to destroy Goku's friends, but it is not until he begins to fight Roshi that Goku then manages to stop himself. Afterward he transforms back to his regular form and accepts that Oozaru is within him and then proceeds to battle Piccolo. The transformation that causes Goku to morph into Oozaru is during a solar eclipse rather than staring into a full moon, and Goku does not need a Saiyan tail to transform. It should also be noted that he is smaller than the Great Ape being that Goku's clothes still fit on him.

Voice Actors

Japanese Dub: Yasuhiko Kawazu
FUNimation Dub: Shane Ray

Trivia

The first time he fights Goku, Vegeta's power level is 18,000. So when he transforms into a Great Ape, his strength multiplies by ten, to 180,000. This is twice Goku's power level when he defeated Recoome and Burter on Namek after training in 100 times gravity, and when he demonstrates the Kaio-Ken technique to Captain Ginyu, his power becomes equal to Vegeta's transformation.
In an episode of the Saiyan Saga, Vegeta suggests that the ability to make a Power Ball to evolve into a Great Ape was created by Goku's father, Bardock. However this line is a mistake as the line is only found in Ocean Group's dub.
As a Great Ape, Vegeta was the only one who was still fully conscious in a transformed state and he was still able to speak clearly to Goku and his friends, possibly due to being an elite Saiyan. However, in Dragon Ball GT, Vegeta does not exhibit these previously noted characteristics until he regains consciousness from grabbing hold of Goku to transform into a Golden Great Ape. Though it is possible he simply forgot how to control his great ape form since he hasn't use it in such a long time.
Although it is called the "Great Ape", it is more monkey-like because of its tail.
The transformation is similar to how werewolves transform at the full moon.
In the Arabic dub of the series, Saiyans "summon" their Great Apes instead of transforming into them.

Gallery

External links

Daizenshuu EX Page On Saiyan Transformations