Frieza

Frieza (Japanese: フリーザ, Hepburn: Furīza) is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama. Frieza makes his debut in Chapter #247: Dark Clouds Swirl Over Planet Namek (暗雲うずまくナメック星, An'un Uzumaku Namekkusei), first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on November 6, 1989,^[1] as a galactic tyrant feared as the most powerful being in the universe.

Despite not appearing until the manga's second half, Frieza is widely considered to be the most iconic antagonist from the Dragon Ball franchise due to effectively serving as the catalyst of many of the events depicted in the story, such as Goku's arrival on Earth, the Saiyans landing on Earth, and subsequently the main characters going to planet Namek. He is also directly responsible for the murder of Burdock, the genocide of the Saiyan race, and the second death of Kuririn, arguably making him Goku's most personal and significant enemy.

Creation and conception

Frieza, a broker who forcibly takes over planets to resell them, was created around the time of the Japanese economic bubble and was inspired by real estate speculators, whom Toriyama called the "worst kind of people."^[2] Toriyama purposely does not draw bad guys so unscrupulous that it affects one psychologically, although he admits Frieza is close. Therefore he paid special attention to how Frieza spoke; because villans typically speak rudely, he gave him polite speech making for an unsettling contrast with his cruelty.^[3] The character's name is a pun on freezer, and because of this the members of the Ginyu Force are named after items one would normally put in a refrigerator.^[4] The Shenlong Times issue #2, a bonus pamphlet given to some buyers of the Daizenshuu 2: Story Guide guidebook, says that Frieza was modeled after Toriyama's editor at the time, Yū Kondō.^[5]

Frieza possesses four transformation forms, each one being quite different and more powerful from the previous. It is implied that Frieza's fourth form is actually his basic one, with the other three being transformations that suppress his power in order to conserve it.^[6] Toriyama revealed that he did not think to have Frieza transform until about midway through. He said he has a habit of making characters gradually more tough and complex-looking, until finally making them very sleek, as it is a pain to draw them if their appearance is too complex. The author confirmed this is why Frieza's third and most intricate form is only shown for a short time, and joked that three transformations might be one too many.^[3]

Appearances

Dragon Ball

Before the start of the series, Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta out of both fear of a potential uprising by the Saiyans due to their increasing power and the prophecy of the coming of the legendary Super Saiyan. Frieza spares only Vegeta, Nappa and Raditz, offering them wealth for their loyalty. However, when Raditz's father made a final stand when Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, he did not notice the Saiyan's second son being sent to Earth where he became known as Goku.

Frieza makes his official appearance in the story after Vegeta's defeat on Earth at Goku's hands, having traveled to Planet Namek to find the seven Namekian Dragon Balls to wish for immortality. He and his men massacre Namekian villages one after another, until Gohan, Kuririn and Vegeta begin to hamper his efforts in their own way. Though Frieza manages to gain the Dragon Balls with the Ginyu Force dealing with the interlopers, his inability to speak Namekian forces him to find the Great Elder of Namek. Frieza ends up fighting Namekian warrior Nail whom he beats repeatedly until Nail reveals that their fight was only to buy time for Dende to give the words needed to activate the Namekian Dragon Balls to the warriors from Earth. With his entire army killed by Vegeta and the Ginyu Force defeated by Goku, Frieza intercepts Vegeta and the others personally.

Frieza briefly battles Vegeta, with the Saiyan Prince goading him into transforming and revealing his true power. Frieza transforms into his second form and during the battle he finally reveals to be the one who had destroyed the planet were the Saiyans were settled, at this point Vegeta still believed the planet was destroyed by an asteroid. After defeating Vegeta, Frieza takes on Piccolo, who has at this point fused with Nail. Although Piccolo appears to be even with him, he transforms into his third form and dominates the powerful Namekian.^[7] Following a brief tussle with Gohan, Frieza decides to transform into his final form.^[8] He kills Dende to stop him from healing the others^[9] and mortally wounds Vegeta just as Goku arrives, who just recovered following his fight with the Ginyu Force.^[10] Frieza fights Goku and brutally beats him,^[11] however Goku manages to seriously wound him with a Genki-Dama.^[12] Frieza then critically injures Piccolo and murders Kuririn, which sends Goku over the edge to assume Super Saiyan form for the first time.^[13]

Frieza starts to realize that he is outmatched and damages the core of Namek in an act of desperation.^[14] He then uses 100% of his power (he had been using 50% up until that point), and regains the advantage, however he cannot sustain this form and is intimately defeated. Frieza then tries to fire 2 Kienzan at Goku, but this backfires and leads to Frieza being cut in half. Though Goku spares the crippled Frieza while leaving for his ship to escape the planet's destruction, he ends up seemingly killing Frieza when he makes a final attempt on Goku's life.^[15] But in reality, Frieza survives both the attack and Namek's explosion, drifting through space until he is found by his father King Cold (コルド大王, Korudo Daiō) and rebuilt with cybernetic prosthetics. A year later, Frieza and King Cold travel to Earth in order to exact revenge on Goku and his friends, but they are confronted by Trunks, Vegeta and Bulma's son from the future.^[16] After a brief battle, Frieza is sliced to pieces by Trunks and blasted into oblivion, with his father following shortly afterwards. Despite finally being dead, his cells are used as a catalyst for the future villain Cell.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' / Dragon Ball Super

After Frieza's death, his spirit was kept imprisoned in Earth's Hell, where he was tortured by being forced to endure an overly saccharine cadre of angels and relive the memories of his defeats at the hands of Goku and Trunks. However, over fourteen years after Frieza's demise, two of Frieza's men, Sorbet and Tagoma, collect all of the Dragon Balls with the aid of the Pilaf Gang and resurrect him. The two return him to his ship and use their advanced medical technology to restore him to his original form. Frieza immediately swears revenge against the Super Saiyans, and murders Tagoma when he suggests simply returning to ruling his empire. After four months of intensive training, Frieza achieves a new form which he dubs "Golden Frieza" and sets off for Earth with his army. On Earth, the Z Fighters battle Frieza's minions to stall for time so that Goku and Vegeta, off on a training session with the gods Whis and Beerus, can return. After the army is defeated, Frieza executes them all for their incompetence just as Goku, Vegeta, Beerus, and Whis arrive. Goku and Vegeta reveal their new Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan forms, and battle Frieza, killing Sorbet in the crossfire. Although Frieza's Golden form is stronger than Goku's strongest form, Frieza's stamina can not endure a prolonged fight with this form, and he is eventually cornered by Vegeta. Frieza destroys the Earth in retaliation for his defeat, killing Vegeta while he survives, but Whis rewinds time and allows Goku to kill Frieza once more. Frieza returns to Hell, where he once again encounters the angels, much to his dismay.^[17]

In the later story arc featuring the tournament between the 6th and 7th Universes, Frieza himself does not appear, however his 6th Universe counterpart Frost (Japanese: フロスト, Hepburn: Furosuto) makes an appearance as the second fighter on Team 6th Universe. Frost's character varies between the manga and anime adaptions of Dragon Ball Super, being a villain just as bad as Frieza in the anime, while simply being unsportsmanlike in the manga. Frost faces off against Goku, Piccolo and Vegeta in successive rounds in the tournament and defeats Goku and Piccolo by cheating and using his secret poison, however after this is revealed Goku is allowed to return to the tournament and Frost is defeated by Vegeta.

In the Universal Tournament Arc, Frieza becomes the 10th member of Universe 7, taking the place of Majin Buu once he is ineligible to fight. Goku visits Frieza in Hell and asks him to join the rest of Universe 7 in the tournament. Frieza agrees after Goku promises to revive him with the dragon balls after the tournament. Meanwhile, Universe 4 finds out about the resurrection of Frieza and hire assassins to kill him. Frieza is then resurrected for 24 hours by Fortuneteller Babba. Goku meets up with Frieza, but before they can meet up with the others they are stopped by a group of assassins that are claiming their heads. Frieza kills most of the assassins, before trapping Goku in an energy attack. Frieza takes a communicator one of the assassins had and speaks to the leaders of Universe 9. He attempts to bargain a deal to fight on Universe 9's behalf but is interrupted when Beerus and Whis appear, and Frieza quickly destroys the communicator. Beerus believes Frieza is plotting something, but Goku vouches for him and the two return to meet with the rest of their team. During the tournament, Frieza's targeting of Universe 9's Roselle prompts the latter to forfeit.^[18]

Abilities

Frieza is capable of moving at superhuman speeds, flying, and has quick reflexes.^[19] Like most characters in the series, he can harness a supernatural energy known as Ki and manipulate it into powerful and devastating concussive beams of said energy, with which he is able to destroy planets with relative ease. Some of Frieza's signature ki techniques include the Death Beam (デスビーム, Desu Bīmu), a sharp piercing beam from his finger, and the Death Ball (デスボール, Desu Bōru), a large energy sphere he used to destroy planet Namek. He is capable of surviving in the vacuum of space, and also seems to possess some form of telekinesis, being able to lift opponents without touching them and cause them to explode.

Frieza's power is so great over time, that his body could not comfortably contain it and a series of physical transformations were developed that limit his actual strength.^[20] While changing shape from his "first-form", each alteration builds on the previous. In all, Frieza has three transformed states, each with increasing power, some larger than others and each resulting in different physical attributes, although the two transformed states (along with his first form) were merely to suppress Frieza's power, and that his third transformed state is actually his true form, while a fourth further transformation that he discovered after his four months of training actually increases his power drastically and lets out most his latent strength .

First form

Frieza's first three forms, from right to left.

In his weakest form, Frieza is a relatively short humanoid with a large chestnut-shaped skull and two horns. He also has a tail with a spiked end, as well as having three talon-like toes.^[21] Frieza wears the same upper-body armor and shorts that many of his subordinates are shown to wear, and while traveling, often gives the appearance of weakness by exclusively using his hoverchair for transportation, leaving his henchmen to do his "dirty work". Though frail in comparison with his succeeding forms, Frieza still boasts sufficient force to destroy planets.^[22] While shifting to his next stage, Frieza breaks his battle-jacket, revealing a natural white armor covering his chest and shoulders.

Frieza's 6th Universe counterpart Frost also initially appears in this form.

Second form

His second form is much larger, both in height and muscle mass. He grows longer horns, which now instead of protruding sideways from his head curve sharply upwards into near right angles.^[23] In this form, Frieza does not have any trouble taking out Vegeta, Kuririn and Gohan. However, Frieza notices that Piccolo's power level is about equal to his own level, leaving Frieza with no choice but to transform again. This form largely resembles his father, King Cold.

Frieza's 6th Universe counterpart Frost also takes on a second form, however it bears a greater resemblance to Frieza's third form and is said to be the equivalent of it by Piccolo.

Third form

Frieza's third form is again more brutish, with an extremely elongated skull (like an Alien). His facial features contort and change, with his nose melding into his mouth to form a crude beak. His original horns recede and are now white in color, erupting in pairs along the length of his head. His tail tip, which had been cut off by Kuririn, did not regenerate and he now has a slight hunch. Although his tail was surprisingly not regenerated, the rest of his wounds disappeared as if nothing ever touched him.^[24]

Fourth form

Drastically differing from his previous transformations, in his final, true form, Frieza's third form (being more like a shell for this final form) cracks and shatters open, revealing a shorter and less bulky appearance. His horns and spikes disappear with his physique becoming entirely streamlined and his skin is now a pure, solid white with purple sections on his head, shoulders, forearms, chest and shins. All injuries taken in other forms are healed. This is the form that allows him to release his full potential. Frieza is also able to attain 100% power of this form, his muscle mass becoming engorged compared to his previously sleek frame.^[25] This is the peak of Frieza's natural potential, and the maximum amount of power his body can output. However, to obtain this power, his body is subjected to a muscle strain, which slowly lowers his energy, and slowing him down until he cannot compete with Super Saiyan Goku anymore. This transformation is therefore not suitable for prolonged combat, with Frieza trying to finish the fight as quickly as possible by destroying the planet Namek.^[26]

Frieza's 6th Universe counterpart, Frost, also takes on this form when he decides to use his full power against Goku.

Mecha Frieza

After being cut in half by his own attack and being caught in Namek's huge explosion, what remains of the still-living Frieza is salvaged and rebuilt with cybernetic enhancements by scientists under the order of King Cold, this form is referred to as Mecha Frieza (メカフリーザ) in video games. The whole of the lower half of his body and right side of his face are replaced, as is his left arm from the shoulder down, with scarring and metal accoutrements covering what little was left of his organic self. It is stated that these enhancements have made him even more powerful. However, his full power is never shown, since he is easily destroyed by Trunks.^[27]

Golden Frieza

Frieza obtains another transformation in the 2015 film Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' and Dragon Ball Super. According to Frieza, his fifth transformation is achieved after undergoing intensive training for four months, enabling him to gain the strength to progress even further beyond his previous transformations by drawing out all of his latent power (as he had never trained a day in his life beforehand).^[28] In this form, Frieza's physique is similar to his previous fourth form except his skin is now a golden color as opposed to white, with purple sections on his head, chest, forearms and shins, thus he is known as "Golden Frieza" (ゴールデンフリーザ, Gōruden Furīza) in this form. In this form at peak power, Frieza is able to overpower Goku in his Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form with relative ease. This form however, drains his energy much like when he used 100% of his power in his fourth form due to him not training himself further to become accustomed to the form, and thus is also unsuitable for prolonged combat, as he soon finds himself unable to compete with Goku and Vegeta in their Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan forms. After his second revival, Frieza reveals he mastered his Golden form due to intenste meditation while in hell. This "True Golden Frieza" can be used indefinetly without any drain on Frieza's stamina or even while he is barely conscious.^[29] Frieza's voice actor, Ryusei Nakao, jokingly placed Golden Frieza's power level at “hundred quintillion” (or 1.2 billion times stronger than Fourth form).^[30]

Appearances in other media

In numerous filler episodes of the anime and Dragon Ball GT, Frieza makes numerous cameo appearances, usually as comic relief, causing trouble in Hell, having somehow been permitted to keep his body despite his wrongdoings. In Hell, he is defeated and sent to prison by Goku and Pikkon along with Cell, his father and the Ginyu Force, and he is later seen watching Goku's final battle with Majin Boo in a crystal ball, comically hoping for Goku to lose. In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, Frieza briefly escapes from Hell with an army of villains to attack Earth, but he is swiftly defeated by Gohan. In Dragon Ball GT, when Goku is sent to Hell by accident, Frieza and Cell confront him, their bodies having been rendered temporarily immortal due to the unbalance between the two worlds. Using a joint attack, Frieza and Cell send Goku to a lower level where he is frozen by a witch, but the two villains end up frozen themselves when they foolishly venture downwards to gloat at Goku. Goku accidentally breaks the ice holding Frieza and Cell and it shatters to pieces, implying that Frieza and Cell have been erased from existence. However, in a future scene, Frieza and Cell are seen being taken away in a jail cell with tape over their mouths. He appeared in a TV ad for Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, as he makes a non-speaking appearance in the film.^[31]

He also appears in a chapter of Toriyama's Neko Majin manga, published in August 2003, which also introduces Frieza's son, Kuriza (クリーザ). He briefly appears in the 2006 Dragon Ball crossover chapter, "This is the Police Station in front of Dragon Park on Planet Namek" (こちらナメック星ドラゴン公園前派出所, Kochira Namekku-sei Dragon Kōen-mae Hashutsujo), of Osamu Akimoto's manga Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo.^[32] Frieza appears in Naho Ōishi's 2011 Dragon Ball spin-off manga Episode of Bardock, but it predominately features his ancestor Chilled (チルド). He also appears in Toriyama's 2014 Dragon Ball Minus: The Departure of the Fated Child special.^[33]

Frieza has made numerous appearances in other media. The Japanese nu metal/hardcore punk band Maximum the Hormone released the song "F" as part of a double A-side single on July 9, 2008.^[34] The entirety of the song references Frieza, with the single itself rising as high as number two on the Oricon music chart.^[35] The song was the source of reference used by Toriyama for the title of the film Fukkatsu no F and is featured in the movie.^[36] Seikima-II frontman Demon Kakka wrote and performed the song "Tada Kogoeru Elegy ~The Theme of Frieza~" (ただ凍える挽歌(Elegy)〜The Theme Of FREEZER〜) that appeared in two episodes of Dragon Ball Kai and on the 2009 Dragon Ball Kai Song Collection album.^[37]

In the manga Black Cat, the character Sven Vollfied is often seen using his cell phone with a wrist strap of a miniature-sized badge of Frieza's head.^[38] A caricature of Frieza mixed with a grey alien was parodied as a mech pilot in an episode of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.^[39] The anime Yakitate!! Japan featured a spoof re-enactment of the fight between Goku and Frieza, with a character clad in a refrigerator representing the latter.^[40] The Cartoon Network show Codename: Kids Next Door had a parody of their own of the climactic fight and the Frieza character, with the Delightful Children From Down the Lane portraying him as a multi-headed monstrosity.^[41]

Video games

Frieza has been featured in many of the video games based on the series. Often, he's both a playable character and boss, though more frequently the latter. He is also usually able to transform into his many different forms.

Frieza appears in the Famicom game (and later Playdia remake) Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku. Frieza seems to be somehow resurrected, and he and other past villains start attacking Goku and his friends. Once it's revealed these are merely ghost-warriors meant to distract the heroes, however, the false Frieza and his allies are easily dealt with. Other games highlight Frieza in alternate story paths; including those where he successfully attains immortality and goes on to threaten Earth such as Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 where Frieza and Cell are resurrected and controlled by Bobbidi as a distraction for the player.

Frieza also appears as a playable character in the crossover fighting games Jump Ultimate Stars, Battle Stadium D.O.N, and J-Stars Victory Vs.

Voice actors

Chris Ayres has been Frieza's voice actor since Dragon Ball Kai.

In the original Japanese version, Frieza is voiced by Ryūsei Nakao in all media.^[42]

In English, Frieza has been voiced by Christopher Ayres in Dragon Ball Z Kai (after episode 1) and all subsequent media.^[43]

Reception

Yū Kondō, Toriyama's second editor from the Saiyan arc until the appearance of Perfect Cell, and Fuyuto Takeda, his third editor from Perfect Cell until the end of the series, said that Dragon Ball hit its peak in popularity during the Frieza arc. In a one-thousand ballot popularity poll held in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Dragon Ball received 815 of them.^[44] In 2004, fans of the series voted Frieza the ninth most popular character for a poll in the book Dragon Ball Forever.^[45]

Frieza was mentioned as one of the "most beloved characters" in an article by GamePro.^[46] The casting and direction of his English voices has often been criticized over the years, with IGN's Ramsey Isler writing that, coupled with the ambiguous physical features, the "old lady" voice lead to some gender confusion with fans.^[47] The Ledger's December 8, 1999 paper, names him as one of the reasons that Dragon Ball Z was listed as a violent show for children stating, "In one recent episode, beads of sweat form on the brow of a character named Vegeta, as he is nearly strangled to death by an evil foe named Frieza. In another, Frieza uses the horns on his head to impale a good guy named Kuririn through the chest." ^[48] As well as opinions on his appearance: "Little Gohan is abruptly in the icy metallic grip of one of his arch-nemeses [sic], Frieza, a silvery androgynous giant who looks like a cross between the monster in Alien and Batman's Mr. Freeze." ^[49]

Bibliography

• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 5 — ISBN 1-56931-934-0
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 6 — ISBN 1-56931-935-9
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 7 — ISBN 1-56931-936-7
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 8 — ISBN 1-56931-937-5
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 9 — ISBN 1-56931-938-3
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 10 — ISBN 1-56931-939-1
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 11 — ISBN 1-56931-807-7
• Dragon Ball Z manga, Volume 12 — ISBN 1-56931-985-5

References