Porunga

Porunga
ポルンガ
Porunga
Anime name	Porunga
Manga name	Polunga Shenlong (viz translation)
Alias	Namekian Dragon Eternal Dragon of Namek Polunga Maker of Dreams Popporunga
Debuts
Debut	Manga: "The True Dragon God" Anime: "Password is Porunga"
Appears in
Characteristics
Race	Dragon (Namekian)
Death Date(s)	Age 762 (Revived)
Professional Status
Personal Status
Relatives	Guru (creator) Moori (second creator) Shenron (Earth counterpart) Ultimate Shenron (galactic counterpart)

Directory: Characters → Deities → Dragons Porunga (ポルンガ, Porunga) is a magical Namekian dragon from the anime Dragon Ball Z and the Dragon Ball manga. His name in the Namekian language translates to "Dragon of Dreams" or 'Dragon of Law'. In the in Dragon Ball Z Kai anime, Dende refers to Porunga as the "Dragon of Love," "God of Dreams", or "Granter of Dreams".

Description

The buffed up Porunga

Porunga is the eternal dragon of Namek summoned when all the Namekian Dragon Balls are gathered. Compared to the Dragon Balls on Earth, the Namekian Dragon Balls are quite large, being more towards the size of a basketball rather than the size of a tennis ball. Also, since a year on Namek is only 130 days (as opposed to a year more than twice as long as that on Earth), the Namekian Dragon Balls can be gathered more often than the ones on Earth, and thus, Porunga can be called on more often than Shenron can .

As far as physical characteristics go, Porunga is much more brutal-looking than the dragon of Earth, Shenron, with a heavily muscled upper body (large pectoral muscles, shoulders, arms, and a well defined six pack). Instead of looking snake-like in appearance, like Shenron does, Porunga appears to be more alligator-like, bearing great resemblance to the Naga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. He has a long green slithery tail instead of legs. He also has a large fin down the center of his back, and large spikes on his shoulders and head, as well as two antennae on his forehead similar to the Namekian people.

Porunga granting a wish

Like Shenron, Porunga is good and kind-hearted, but being that he is a dragon, he has a temper and sometimes comes off as impatient (rather than threatening the summoner he simply states that if the person cannot think of a wish he should "wish for nothing three times so I can go"). However, he has demonstrated a greater eagerness to grant wishes (he was even shown to be happy for everyone after Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu were brought back to life after the battle against Frieza), and also is more friendly and patient than Shenron, who tends to be grumpy and even more impatient when a summoner takes an inordinate amount of time to make a wish. He has also shown to be able to show embarrassment when Bulma says he is "kinda cute".

Granting wishes

Grantable wishes

Porunga prepares to grant a wish

Besides being more friendly than Shenron and being able to be summoned more often, Porunga is also stronger than Shenron in that he can grant three wishes instead of one or two (technically, in the Buu Saga, Shenron was capable of giving three wishes, but the attempt at reviving a mass amount of people that were killed by Majin Vegeta drained his energy to the extent that he was only capable of granting one more wish).

Though he does not actually appear or get mentioned by name, it is stated that Lord Slug and other Namekians were exiled with the help of the Dragon Balls. It is not actually originally explained what they did, but the FUNimation dub seems to indicate it was for misusing their powers.

Initially, Porunga had ability to bring only one person back to life at a time (though he could bring people back multiple times), as compared to Shenron who can bring back an unspecified number of people but can only do so once. Later, Porunga's power is strengthened to bring back as many lives as needed. The Elder Kai criticized this as "a blasphemous act that disrupts the order of nature" (the meaning of this would later be explained in Dragon Ball GT) but did not seem to mind after that.

Like Shenron, Porunga's wish-granting powers are limited by the power of his creator, Guru (and later on, Elder Moori). Any wish that is encompassed within his creator's power is able to be granted.

Non-grantable wishes

It could be argued that Porunga is morally opposed to killing anyone who is good. When everyone had thought Goku had died when Namek exploded after his fight with Frieza, they asked Porunga to bring him to the Check-In Station in Other World, from where Goku could be wished back to life and would end up on Earth. However, Porunga refused, as he not only informed them that Goku was alive, but that if he moved Goku to the Check-In Station, Goku would die. This is another potential contrast between Porunga and Shenron, the latter of whom had been known to be more threatening (even threatening to kill a good character in one instance if a wish was not given, something that Porunga has never done).

Porunga

While Shenron also has this limitation, it has been shown that Porunga will not revive or relocate someone against their will. For example, when Bulma and Dende asked Porunga to bring Goku back to Earth after Namek exploded, Goku requested to not be brought back to Earth. Porunga honored Goku's request and did not carry out the wish.

File:PorungaNamek03.png

Porunga

Also, wishes must be given in the Namekian language. This limitation prevented Frieza's wish for immortality from being granted, so it is possible that this may be some sort of safeguard against off-worlders misusing the Dragon Balls. Porunga is still able to respond to inquiries regarding his wish-granting abilities that are not made in the Namekian tongue, such as when Dende made a wish during the end of the Kid Buu Saga in the common language, and Porunga responded with "Such a wish is well within my power to grant. Okay." However, Dende still had to deliver the wish in Namekian before Porunga would grant the wish. The one exception to the language rule was during that same summoning, when Dende wanted all the inhabitants of Earth, except the most evil ones, to be restored to life. Porunga did not understand the Namekian translation, and so, he allowed Dende to make the wish in the common language.

Granted wishes

Dragon Ball Z

• Asked by Dende during Frieza Saga on Namek:

Porunga could not bring all the Z Fighters killed by the Saiyans on Earth back to life in one wish

• Revive Piccolo.
• Transport Piccolo to Namek.
• Transport everyone except Goku and Frieza to Earth.

• Asked by Dende on Earth:

• Bring Krillin's and Goku's souls to Earth's Check-In Station to the spirit well.

Porunga could not bring Goku to Earth's Check-In Station, as Goku was not dead.

• Revive Krillin.

Porunga also could not bring Goku back to Earth, because Goku did not want to return.

• Revive Yamcha.

• Asked by Dende on Earth, 130 days later:

• Revive Tien Shinhan.
• Revive Chiaotzu.
• Transport all Namekians, with the exception of Piccolo and Kami, to the new planet Namek.

• Asked by Dende during Kid Buu Saga on planet New Namek:

• Re-construct Earth.
• Revive all the good people of the Earth (actually, it was to revive all the people who died since the day of the 26th Martial Arts Tournament, except the very evil ones).
• Restore Goku's energy.

Dragon Ball GT

• Asked by the Namekian Elder Moori on New Planet Namek:
  • Re-construct Earth after it being destroyed by the Black Star Dragon Ball's side-effect.
  • While not stated what the other two wishes were, it is possible that they were used to move the Earth's population back to Earth and to either destroy Planet Tuffle or to move it out of Earth's orbit as Planet Tuffle is not seen again afterwards.

Video game appearances

Porunga in Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku

In Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu, Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors, Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu, Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World, Porunga grants the same wished as in the manga/anime. He appears in the background of the dying Namek battle stage in Dragon Ball Z Arcade, and also appears in Dragon Ball Z: The Legend.

In Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury, Porunga grants the same three wishes he granted in the Kid Buu Saga. In Dragon Ball GT: Transformation, he appears at the end of the game, granting the same wish he granted in the Baby Saga.

Porunga in Budokai Tenkaichi 2

In Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors, in Piccolo What-If story, Piccolo wishes for King Piccolo be brought back to life so he can fuse with him and become whole as a Namekian. The Dragon Balls are used several times in What-If stories in Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2, notably by villains to resurrect the Ginyu Force. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, in "The True Ruler", after defeating Super Saiyan Goku, Porunga appears and grants Frieza wish for eternal life (despite the fact it was not spoken in Namekian). In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, Zarbon collects the Namekian Dragon Balls in his story mode entitled "Beautiful Treachery" and wishes for eternal youth and eternal beauty.

In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2, Porunga can be summoned ince the Dragon Balls are collected. He will allow three wishes for items. The wishes he can grant in Budokai Tenkaichi 3 are: 5000 zeni, Broly's Ring (item), Aura Charge Ultimate (item), Aura Charge Ultimate 3 (item), and Aura Charge Ultimate 4 (item).

Voice actors

• Japanese version: Daisuke Gōri (Dragon Ball Z, Early Dragon Ball Kai) Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Dragon Ball Kai onwards)
• Ocean Group Dub: Richard Newman (Buu Saga)
• FUNimation Dub: Christopher R. Sabat
• Brazilian Dub: Jonas Mello
• Italian Dub: Giovanni Battezzato
• Latin American Dub: Carlos Magaña

Trivia

• The Namekian password required to summon Porunga is, according to the manga, "takkaraputo popurunga pupirittoparo".
• Though Porunga cannot accept wishes made in the common language, he is a fluent speaker of it, and even responds to Namekian wishes using it.
• King Kai said that, when Porunga restores a person to life, he returns them to the place that they died. However, this contradicts an earlier event, when Piccolo was wished back to life, yet, as he lost his Halo, he was still on King Kai's planet until the Z Fighters used their second wish to wish him to Namek, even though he died on Earth.
  • However Piccolo had been reunited with his body so he came back to life where he was. The same happened with Goku before the Saiyan fight. Those who are just spirits will come back where they died.
• During the episode 92 "Goku's Alive!!" (edited), the Police Officer who saw Porunga yells out "What! It's Godzilla!"
• In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, Porunga grants Frieza's wish even though it is not in Namekian language.
• In the credits of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Porunga's name is spelt Polunga.
• Porunga makes an appearance in the Japan-only video game Jump! Ultimate Stars in the background of the "Namek" stage.
• In the 2008 NIS America video game Soul Nomad and the World Eaters, when changing rooms there is a chance of randomly encountering a dragon named Parunga, who declares "I am Parunga. I shall grant you one wish,"

Gallery

Porunga summoned on Namek

Porunga

Frieza and Goku in front of Porunga

Porunga summoned in West City

Art of Porunga by Akira Toriyama

Porunga in Ressen Jinzōningen

Porunga in the pinball mode of Plug It In & Play TV Games: DBZ