Nappa

Nappa is a male anime and manga character who features in Dragon Ball.

Biography

Nappa (Japanese: ナッパ, Hepburn: Nappa) was a male Saiyan who lived during a time when his people were ruled by King Vegeta and resided on Planet Vegeta. The planet was originally the homeworld of the Tuffles until it was conquered though the Saiyans themselves later fell under the control of King Cold. Later on, control of the Saiyans was passed to his son Frieza who had the warriors of Planet Vegeta being part of his Frieza Force. During these years, Nappa served as the commander-in-chief of the entire Saiyan army under King Vegeta. His ruler later had a son named Prince Vegeta who was the heir to the throne of their world where he was among the Saiyan elite. At some point, Nappa was assigned as the young prince's subordinate where they were off-world on an assignment. This allowed them to escape the destruction of Planet Vegeta that was destroyed by Frieza after he came to fear the growing power of the Saiyans though it was later claimed that an asteroid was responsible for the destruction of the word. Only a few scattered Saiyan survivors survived among which included Raditz when they were in deep space. Looking for more survivors, they came to learn that Raditz had gone to Planet Earth in an attempt to recruit his younger brother Kakarot to their cause though they learnt of his defeat. This though led to Prince Vegeta and Nappa travelling there after they learnt that the world was home to wish-granting Dragon Balls.

Upon arriving on Earth, Nappa promptly destroyed the entire city that he and Vegeta landed in, destroying all signs of life for a twenty mile radius. During the ensuing battle with the Z Warriors. Nappa read the power levels of the fighters where he came to mock them. However, Vegeta dropped his scouter, claiming that the fighters can hide their true power levels, making the readings useless. This led to Nappa planting six seeds into the earth's soil, causing a group of Saibamen to sprout to serve as the initial fighters against the Earth warriors. The first opponent was Tien Shinhan who went to take on a Saibaman where he defeated one of the creatures without much effort, shocking Nappa, as each of the creatures' power levels were equal to Raditz. Another Earth warrior was Yamcha who came to be killed by a Saibaman but his compatriots Krillin and Piccolo managed to destroy the rest of the cultivated life forms. With the Saibamen eliminated, Nappa decided to enter into the fight where he charged up as he demonstrated his sheer power that overwhelmed the Z Warriors. He would then cut off Tien's arm in one clean punch whilst then fighting Krillin and also destroying several news helicopters that ventured too close. In desperation, Chiaotzu decided to make it appear that he was killed in the blast only to sneak up on the mighty Saiyan warrior and latch onto his back. He then self-destructed in an attempt to take out Nappa with him as he blew himself up. Unfortunately, Nappa was practically untouchable with a power level of 4,000 and was unaffected with his Battle Armor not being damaged much. Angry over his best friend's death, Tien uses the last of his energy to attack Nappa with a Spirit Tri-Beam, which proves to be in vain as well since he falls to the ground and dies immediately afterwards, while Nappa survives again with no serious injuries. After the demise of Chiaotzu and Tien, Piccolo develops a plan to destroy Nappa with a team attack, but Gohan becomes too afraid to attack during the part where he was supposed to blast him. Before the fight can continue, Vegeta decides to pause it for three hours to allow Goku to show up, finding it amusing that Krillin, Piccolo and Gohan have so much faith on such a low level Saiyan warrior as Kakarot.

When Vegeta ordered Nappa to take a three-hour break to wait for Goku, Nappa decided to have a little fun and flew out to the coast to pick a fight with Earth's military forces. The Saiyan blasted his way through fighter jets and destroyed the entire fleet of battleships that attacked him. After three hours have passed with Goku not appearing, Nappa takes off his armor so there is nothing holding back his power and the fight resumes. Piccolo devises a plan that involves him grabbing Nappa's tail to weaken him, but Nappa had already become immune to this and does not suffer any pain, unlike Raditz did. When Piccolo attempts this plan, Nappa elbows Piccolo on the head, knocking him out. Once again, the Saiyan demonstrates his might, clearly injuring Piccolo, torturing Krillin, and bullying Gohan. In a gamble, Krillin decided to throw a Destructo Disc at Nappa, which he barely dodged after Vegeta urged him to, getting out with just a scar on his left cheek. This was enough to make Nappa stop making Krillin suffer, and just want to kill him. However, before Nappa can deliver the finishing blow, Piccolo launches a Ki Blast at him just in time, which makes Vegeta laugh at Nappa's incompetence on destroying these fighters. Nappa almost kills Piccolo, but decides to bully Gohan again, smacking him around, then deciding to take his time to relax by sitting on him while Gohan is laying face up. Nappa is eventually caught off guard for the first time during the fight when Gohan loses patience and kicks him in a rage, throwing him into a nearby rock formation. This only makes Nappa angrier. In the end, Nappa ultimately killed Piccolo when the Namekian uses his body to shield Gohan from a potentially fatal attack. Enraged by this, Gohan uses all his power to fire a Masenko that Nappa parries almost easily, though he admitted that it had made his arm go numb. Just as Nappa is about to finish off the exhausted Gohan by stepping on him, Goku arrives, with the Nimbus carrying Gohan. Nappa claims Goku would not have a chance of beating him, and even after Vegeta reads his power level, Nappa attacks Goku, but Goku easily dodges his punch. Their fight carries on, Goku obviously dominating the battle. At Vegeta's insistence, Nappa eventually calms down and begins to attack with much better technique, but he is still hopelessly outmatched. Desperate, he fires his ultimate attack, which Goku effortlessly counters, stunning Nappa. When Vegeta loses patience with Nappa and orders him to stand down, Nappa decides to take the humiliation out on Gohan and Krillin, charging at them with the intention of finishing them off with his Break Cannon mouth blast. Goku had to use his Kaio-ken to stop him and attacks Nappa with the Kaio-ken Finish to his back, breaking it.

As an elite Saiyan, Nappa had evolved a bit and was thus not subject to minor problems like Raditz was when his tail was grabbed. Not knowing this, Piccolo attempted to restrain him by seizing his tail, but Nappa only punched his lights out. Nappa then nearly killed Gohan with a huge ki blast, but Piccolo leapt in the path of the attack and took the hit himself, saving his student.

When the time finally came to face off against Goku, Nappa quickly began to lose his cool when it became apparent that the younger Saiyan was more powerful than he and Vegeta had anticipated. Having quite a potty mouth, Nappa cursed at Goku nonstop as the third-class Saiyan warrior made him look like a fool at every turn, much to the consternation of Vegeta, who ordered his colleague to stop fighting and settle down. Too angry to think straight, Nappa obeyed Vegeta, but only partially. Although he stopped fighting Goku, the hulking Saiyan mistakenly decided to release his rage by killing the wounded Gohan and Krillin. Goku, using the Kaio-Ken technique taught to him by King Kai, intercepted Nappa and finally took the other Saiyan out by breaking his back. Vegeta then surprised everyone by turning on his "partner," killing him in disgust over his humiliating defeat. The ruthless prince threw the helpless Nappa into the air and then blasted him into oblivion with a powerful ki blast.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, Nappa was a tall muscular male Saiyan who resembled a human except that he also had a tail that he tended to wrap around his waist. He was shown to have a moustache and in his younger years he had hair on his head but was later shown to had gone bald.

When his temper flared, he often lost control of himself, particularly when an opponent proved to be stronger than he in combat.

Powers and abilities

As a Saiyan elite warrior, Nappa was trained in the use of his ki allowing him to achieve a range of superhuman feats. This included the ability to fly, fire blasts of ki as an energy attack and even amplify himself through a power up. He could also shoot energy beams from both his eyes that were able to destroy multiple ordinary individuals. Such was his strength that he was capable of incinerating an entire city instantly.

Among the techniques known to him included:

• Volcano Explosion (クンッ Kun) : an exploding wave technique where he raised his right hand with his index and middle fingers up which released a powerful blast.
• Blazing Storm (ブレイジングストーム Bureijingu Sutōmu) : a signature exploding wave technique whereby Nappa raised his right hand with his index and middle fingers to unleash the powerful attack.
• Break Cannon (ブレイクキャノン Bureiku Kyanon) : a powerful energy wave technique whereby he was able to unleash a blast from his mouth.
• Bomber DX (デラックスボンバー Derakkusu Bonbā) :

As a Saiyan elite, Nappa was more evolved to the point that his tail was not a weakness for him. Thus, any attempt at grabbing it and pulling it was not as painful or debilitating as it was for a more low-ranking warrior.

Nappa tended to wear a Battle Armor (戦闘ジャケット Sentō Jaketto, lit. "Battle Jacket") that was mandatory use by the Saiyans by the time they served in the Frieza Force. In addition, he had seeds that could be used to grow Saibamen (栽培マン, Saibaiman, lit. "Cultivation Man") that were cultivated life forms used as grunts to root out weaker opponents or to assess an opponent's power and skill level.

Notes

• Nappa was created by Akira Toriyama where he featured in the setting of the Dragon Ball universe.
• In an interview with Toriyama, Nappa was born to a high ranking noble family where his high power level made him one of the elite Saiyan warriors and when he was young he participated in the Saiyan-Tuffle War where afterwards he was assigned to a group that included Raditz and later Prince Vegeta.

Alternate Versions

• In Dragon Ball GT, Nappa years later would return when Hell (HFIL) broke lose upon the Earth. Nappa wanted revenge on Vegeta for killing him, but his power level had not changed one bit during his years spent in the afterlife and Vegeta was still the more powerful of the two (especially considering that Vegeta himself had increased astronomically since killing Nappa). It is unclear whether or not he actually thought he had a chance against the prince. Either way, with a smile, Vegeta simply blew him away again.

In other media

Television

• In Dragon Ball Z, Nappa appeared in the setting of the anime television series adaptation where he was voiced by Japanese actor Shōzō Iizuka, English actor Michael Dobson voiced him in the Ocean dub, whilst English actors Christopher R. Sabat, Phil Parsons, Dylan Thompson, and Sean Schemmel in the Funanimation dub. A flashback showed him to be shocked when Vegeta claimed not to care about the death of his father and the rest of the Saiyan race, and his overall dialogue seems to imply that he does not kill when there is nothing in it for him, once even nearly attacking Frieza, Zarbon and Dodoria when they mocked them in how long it took to take out Planet Shikk instead of rewarding them for their task, with only Vegeta stopping him. Vegeta and Nappa stop by Arlia for a short time in February of Age 762 while they are traveling to Earth. While there, they make quick work of the planet's strongest warrior, Yetti, along with the planet's king, King Moai. After this, Vegeta destroys the whole planet.

Films

• In Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku, Nappa appeared in the setting of the anime film where he was voiced by Japanese actor Shōzō Iizuka and by English actor Christopher R. Sabat in the dub. He was shown to be watching a young Vegeta training and fighting against a few Saibamen that Vegeta effortlessly defeats. After Vegeta's training, a guard is astonished about Vegeta's level of strength and wonders how Vegeta will turn out to be when he gets older, but Nappa replies that it is unknown but advises the guard to stay on the prince's good side. As Vegeta exits out of the training room, Nappa gives Vegeta his armor and remarks the prince as the best, but Vegeta tells him to quit bootlicking. Later, Vegeta tells Nappa that someday he will put an end to Frieza and his reign over the Saiyans, and Nappa replies that he would love for that to happen.

Appearances

• Dragon Ball Z:

External Links

• Dragon Ball Wiki Entry
• Comicvine Entry