Gi-ne

Origin

Gi-ne is the wife of the Saiyan warrior-scientist, Burdock. She ran a butcher store on Planet Vegeta, the Saiyan home world; and they had two sons together, Raditz and Kakarrot.

Creation

Gi-ne (??, Gine) is a supporting character of the Dragon Ball series that was created by Akira Toriyama. It first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump on December 3, 1984. She wouldn’t have any appearance in the series for nearly thirty years after it began in a special one-shot chapter.

Her first appearance is in Weekly Shonen Jump No. 19 2014 #???? for a special chapter titled “Dragon Ball – Minus: Departure of the Fated Child”, which was published in April 7, 2014.

As with many of the Dragon Ball series characters, Toriyama based her name after a fruit of vegetable. Gi-ne’s name written backward is Negi, which in Japanese means “onion”.

Character Evolution

Gi-ne’s appearance in Dragon Ball is extremely brief, as she doesn’t even appear in any way until nearly thirty years after the series began and nine-teen years after the series ended. In 2013, Toriyama first told a prequel story of Goku’s arrival on Earth in Ginga Patrol Jaco, then an additional chapter was published in April of 2013 that explained how Goku was sent off. It was labeled as a story that even the creator didn’t know about until recently.

This one-shot chapter was advertised ahead of its publication in magazines, such as Weekly Shonen Jump; and the identity of Goku’s mother being revealed played a part in those promotions. Through her short appearance, Toriyama hints that Gi-ne was a kind hearted woman who cared for the well being of her children.

Major Story Arcs

Gi-ne was working at the shop when Burdock arrived, asking to see Kakarrot. He was suspicious of Frieza’s recall of all Saiyan warriors, and they had a plan to save their youngest son, should the worst happen. They placed little Kakarrot into a transport ship later that same night and sent him to the small planet with little resource value called Earth. If Burdock’s suspicions proved wrong, they planned to go there and find him.

Unfortunately, Gi-ne, Burdock, much of the Saiyan race, and their home planet were all destroyed by Frieza not long after.

Powers & Abilities

All Saiyans are born with an inherit strength that is known to evolve through combat. They’re among many of the most fierce warriors in the universe. It’s unknown what sort of combat abilities Gi-ne possessed.

Weapons & Equipment

Though seemingly not a full-time warrior, Gi-ne is shown wearing Saiyan armor.

Other Media