Porunga

Porunga
ポルンガ
Porunga
Anime name	Porunga
Manga name	Shenlong (Viz translation)
Alias	Namekian Dragon Eternal Dragon of Namek Polunga Shenron Maker of Dreams Popporunga Super Shenlong God of Love (Ocean dub)
Debuts
Debut	Manga: "The True Dragon God" Anime: "Password is Porunga"
Appears in
Characteristics
Race	Dragon
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 the wish-granting dragon from Planet Namek in the Dragon Ball manga and the anime Dragon Ball Z. His name in Namekian language translates to "Dragon of Dreams" or "Dragon of Law". In the anime, Dende refers to Porunga as the "Dragon of Love", "God of Dreams", or even "Granter of Dreams" in Dragon Ball Z Kai.

Description

The buffed up Porunga

Porunga is the Eternal Dragon of Namek, summoned when all the Namekian Dragon Balls are gathered. 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 the dragon of Earth Shenron can.

As far as physical characteristics go, Porunga is much more brutal-looking than Shenron, with a heavily muscled upper body (large pectoral muscles, shoulders, arms, and a well defined four 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-hearted but being that he is a dragon, he has a temper and sometimes comes off as impatient. He is shown to have a sense of humor, as when he was kept waiting by Krillin, Gohan, and Dende, who had summoned him on Namek, he told them if they couldn't think of what to wish for, "just wish for nothing three times so I can go". However, he is more friendly and patient than Shenron, and has demonstrated a greater eagerness to grant wishes; he restores Krillin's clothes as good as new as a special service, and is even shown to be happy for everyone after Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu are brought back to life. In the anime, he saves Yamcha, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu the trouble of having to traverse the Snake Way again and returns them directly to Earth when they are wished back to life. He also shows embarrassment, when Bulma tells him he is "kinda cute."

Granting wishes

Grant-able wishes

Porunga prepares to grant a wish

Beside being able to summoned sooner, Porunga is also more powerful than Shenron in that he can grant three wishes per summoning instead of one or two/three (while original only able grant a single wish, by the Cell Saga, Dende modified Shenron to perform up to three wishes but can only perform two if one is used for a mass-scale revival). While not seen or mentioned by name, it is stated that Lord Slug and other Namekians were exiled with the help of the Dragon Balls.

Like Shenron, Porunga's wish-granting powers are limited by the power of his creator; Guru originally, and Moori later on. Any wish that is encompassed within his creator's power is able to be granted. Unlike Shenron, Porunga is able to perform the same wish asked of it multiple times. While able to revive people the same, so long as they didn't die of natural causes, Porunga could only bring one person back from the dead per wish as compared to Shenron who can revive an unspecified number per wish. However, Porunga is not limited to the number of times the said person can be revived, nor is there any known time-limit for how long a person can remain dead before they are unable to be revived. Later, Porunga's power is strengthened by Moori to bring back as many lives as needed without any reduction in the remaining number of wishes. Old Kai criticized this as "a blasphemous act that disrupts the order of nature" (this would later be explained in Dragon Ball GT).

In Dragon Ball Super, it is shown that Porunga can grant a wish to undo godly energy such as Potara-based Fusions, which is normally a permanent Fusion. This is shown when Kibito Kai wishes to Porunga to separated himself back into Supreme Kai and Kibito.

Non-grantable wishes

It would seem Porunga is morally opposed to killing anyone good. When he was asked to bring Goku's soul to the Check-In Station in Other World as Goku was thought to have died from the explosion of Namek, Porunga refused to grant the wish as doing so would remove Goku's soul from his still-living body and thus kill him. Even more, he informed Goku's allies of his survival. This is another seeming contrast between Porunga and Shenron, the latter of whom has been more threatening (even threatening to kill a good person in one instance if a wish was not given, something Porunga has never done). It has been shown that Porunga will not relocate someone against their will as Goku asked to not be brought back to Earth when a wish was made for it, to which Porunga honored Goku's request.

Also, while understanding other languages, wishes must be given in the Namekian language. This limitation prevented Frieza's wish for immortality from being granted, possibly as safeguard against off-worlders misusing the Dragon Balls. Porunga is still able to respond to inquiries about his wish-granting abilities not made in the Namekian, such as when Dende asked Porunga in human language during the battle against Kid Buu to restore Goku's full strength. The one exception to the language rule is when Porunga fails to understand the wording of the wish, to which he will still grant the requested wish if translated in another language, as seen from Porunga initially not understanding Dende's wish to revive all but the evil inhabitants of Earth.

Granted wishes

Dragon Ball Z

• Asked by Dende during Frieza Saga on Namek:

• Revive Piccolo, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu

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.
• Give Vegeta eternal life.

Guru suddenly dies, causing Porunga to dissolve and the Dragon Balls to turn to stone so wish cannot be granted at all.

• 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.
• Transport Goku to Earth

Porunga 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 25th Martial Arts Tournament, except the very evil ones). Interestingly despite being evil, the Frog Ginyu was revived as well, as he appears in Dragon Ball Super.
• Restore Goku's energy.

Dragon Ball Super

• Asked by Goku on Snake Way:

• King Kai originally wanted his planet restored, but bigger, with a race track and less gravity, but before he is able to speak the wish, Goku appears and wishes to restore the planet as it was before, since the increased gravity is better for training.

• Asked by Kibito Kai on the Namek:

• Kibito Kai wishes himself to be separated into Supreme Kai and Kibito again.

• Asked by Goku:

• Revive Piccolo

Dragon Ball GT

• Asked by the Namekian Elder Moori on New Planet Namek:
  • Re-construct Earth after it was 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 either revive the people killed by Baby, move the Earth's population back to Earth, or 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. 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 Namekian Dragon Balls are used several times in What-If stories in Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2 as well, notably by villains to resurrect the Ginyu Force. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, in "The True Ruler", after Frieza defeats Super Saiyan Goku, Porunga appears and grants Frieza wish for eternal life (Porunga grants Frieza's wish even though it is not in Namekian language). In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, the What-If story "Beautiful Treachery", Zarbon collects the Namekian Dragon Balls in and wishes for eternal youth and eternal beauty.

Porunga in Dragon Ball Heroes

Porunga appears in the background of the dying Namek battle stage in Dragon Ball Z Arcade, in the background of the Namek battle stage in Jump Ultimate Stars, and he also appears in Dragon Ball Z: The Legend. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2, Porunga can be summoned once the seven Dragon Balls are collected and he allows 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). Since the seventh Galaxy Mission, Porunga can also be summoned once the Dragon Balls are gathered in Dragon Ball Heroes.

Voice actors

• Japanese: Daisuke Gōri (Dragon Ball Z, Early Dragon Ball Kai) Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Dragon Ball Kai onward)
• Ocean Group dub: Richard Newman
• FUNimation dub: Christopher R. Sabat
• Brazilian Portuguese dub: Jonas Mello and Renato Master
• 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. Ironically, because of this Porunga could not grant Frieza's wish for immortality, thus Frieza's actions to acquire the Dragon Balls during the Battle on Planet Namek was ultimately pointless due to Frieza's inability to speak Namekian.
  • It is possible that this is another safeguard to prevent evil beings like Frieza from misusing the Namekian Dragon Balls.
• King Kai says that when Porunga restores a person to life, he returns them to the place that they died. While Piccolo remained on King Kai's planet (but lost his Halo) after he was brought back to life (remaining there until the Z Fighters used their second wish to wish him to Namek), this was because Piccolo had been reunited with his body, like Goku before the Saiyan fight; only spirits come back where they died.
• In Dragon Ball Z episode 92, "Goku's Alive!!", a Police Officer who sees Porunga yells out "What! It's Godzilla!"
• In the 2008 PlayStation game Soul Nomad and the World Eaters, when changing rooms, there is a chance of randomly encountering a dragon who declares "I am Porunga. I shall grant you one wish."

Gallery

Porunga summoned on Namek Porunga Frieza and Goku in front of Porunga Porunga summoned in West City Porunga is summoned to revive Goku and Krillin (manga) Porunga summoned to help in the fight against Kid Buu Porunga summoned to bring back Earth in GT Art of Porunga by Akira Toriyama Porunga in Ressen Jinzōningen Porunga in the pinball mode of Plug It In & Play TV Games: DBZ Porunga in Budokai Tenkaichi 3

See also

• Porunga (Collectibles)