Dragon Ball braves to be bold and answers a question once pondered by the philosopher Joan Osborne, “What if God was one of us?” Introduced at the very end of the Piccolo Daimao arc, God, otherwise known as Kami, enters the picture as Goku’s next martial arts master. Interestingly, the story keeps a blind eye towards Kami for quite a while, building a mystery around him.
It makes sense, he’s one half of Piccolo, but it results in a character who’s difficult to not only follow in terms of motivation, but to actually care for. Kami’s kind of a bore, especially in comparison to the infinitely more compelling Piccolo. Still, Kami’s tied up in some very interesting lore– even if it doesn’t all track under heavy scrutiny.
10 Namekians Don’t Need To Eat Or Drink
Earlier in the series, Kami makes an offhand comment suggesting he’s eaten. If nothing else, both he and Piccolo Daimao confirm that they can eat. Kami even erroneously seemed to believe he had to eat. In truth, the introduction of Namekians comes with the revelation that Piccolo and Kami really only ever needed to sustain themselves with water.
This isn’t really an issue so much it is a consequence of a story retconning itself. Nothing important was contradicted– and you could surely argue there’s nothing to contradict with this new information– but it puts into question the value of Kami’s early backstory in the context of later Dragon Ball.
9 Is Mr. Popo Stronger?
Kami only gets to fight twice in the manga, and both fights aren’t really all out battles. The first is more of a gag fight than anything, whereas the latter is more focused on moving the plot along. It’s hard to get a real feel for how strong Kami is, especially taking into consideration the fact that Mr. Popo handles all of Goku’s on-screen training.
The anime adaptation of the Boo arc even seems to suggest that Mr. Popo’s strength rivals that of Goten and Trunks, which would put Mr. Popo far above Kami in terms of strength. If Kami really was stronger all along, he certainly doesn’t show it and it’s something we just need to take at face value based off their dynamic. (But even in this case, how Toriyama pairs characters would suggest Popo were stronger.)
8 Kami Didn’t Intervene With Piccolo Daimao
As God, Kami needs to serve as an impartial judge. When it suits him. For whatever reason, Kami is more than fine letting Piccolo Daimao systematically murder all of Earth’s martial artists without batting an eye. But when Piccolo Junior decides to enter a tournament? Well, now this is cause for concern!
There’s really no justifiable reason why Kami would intervene with Majunior, but not Piccolo Daimao. It’s really our first sign that God isn’t that great at his job. He seems to make all his moves randomly, letting the world collapse around him before deciding to make an effort. Even then, it’s Goku who’s left to clean up God’s mess.
7 Kami’s More Than Happy Giving Up Being God
For how much of a stink Kami puts up about the rules surrounding Godhood, he’s more than comfortable giving it up at the drop of a hate. Goku– who has no divine qualities aside from being super duper strong– is offered the title of God after defeating Majunior. A sane man, he rejects Kami’s offer and flies off to live his life.
Maybe that’s why Kami’s so eager to stop being God. It’s a thankless, almost worthless, job. Kami doesn’t really contribute much. If anything, he just made things more difficult during the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. The Peter Principle is a truly tragic thing.
6 Can Gods Sense Their Own Death?
The Saiyan arc seems to kind of just run with the idea that Gods can sense their own death. Kami knows for a fact that he will die in a year, specifically when the Saiyans arrive. Not just that, Piccolo can feel it too, though perhaps only subconsciously. It’s an interesting premonition that makes for some good storytelling, but why does it never come back?
How come Kami doesn’t have these premonitions in the early Cell arc? Surely, Future Kami would have felt Piccolo’s death before the Artificial Humans arrive– though this in itself is a whole can of worms we’ll get into later.
5 Why Didn’t He Let The Earthlings Train In The RoSaT?
The answer to this one is simple: because Toriyama wouldn’t come up with the Room of Spirit and Time (RoSaT) for another two story arcs. Mentioning the Room of Spirit and Time in the context of Goku’s training was a clever way of creating some continuity on Toriyama’s part, but it puts Kami’s incompetence back into question.
With the Saiyans a year away, it seems foolish not to let the Earthlings at least try going into the Room of Spirit and Time. A young Goku was able to handle at least a month in there before pulling out. His much older and more experienced compatriots surely would have gotten some benefit out of training in there.
4 The Only Time He Has A Personality Is During The 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai
For all of his faults, Kami’s a pretty compelling character during the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai (and even in the Saiyan arc.) Sure, he’s God, but he’s God as written by Akira Toriyama. He’s silly, a little bit incompetent, but genuinely cool. He’s got the skill to back up his talk, but the story unfortunately doesn’t favor him so he’s got to go.
As the series progresses, Kami slowly starts losing his more interesting bits, drying up to the point where Piccolo assimilating him in the Cell arc is a mercy more than anything else. It’s a shame. Kami’s character showed a lot of promise.
3 Good Gods Don’t Lie
Goku ends up calling out Kami for lying about the Dragon Balls during the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, but it really is strange Kami would even think to lie. Not just because he’s a God, but because Goku trained and lived with him and Mr. Popo for three years. Logically, Kami must have understood that Goku would have found out the truth about his connection to the Dragon Balls.
It’s also just very rude of Kami not to mention that fact. There’s no benefit to keeping that a secret. Hell, if Goku had known, he could have comfortably planned around this fact earlier. Kami really doesn’t know what he’s doing half the time.
2 Kami Doesn’t Even Bother Finding A Successor
Kami alludes to the fact there was a God before him which all but confirms that Kami was trained by someone as their successor. So, uh, where’s Kami’s successor? Kami knew he was going to die when the Saiyans arrived, so why didn’t he bother trying to find someone to inherit the title of God?
Worse yet, Kami realizes that he and Piccolo will need to merge together sooner or later in the Cell arc and, again, does not bother trying to set up a successor. It’s a bit more forgivable in this case, but it’s really no surprise that Goku is left to pick up the pieces and find a new God in the wake of Kami’s assimilation.
1 Felt An Evil Presence For Years And Kept His Mouth Shut
We’ll cut Kami a little bit of a break with this one, but just the littlest bit. As God, Kami should be impartial, so it makes sense he’d want to bide his time as he assesses a situation, even if it lasts years. Unfortunately, this doesn’t track with his actions anywhere else in the series except his very introduction. In the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, Saiyan arc, and Namek arc, Kami is a team player.
Come the Cell arc, however, he suddenly acts like he’s never helped the gang before and sits on an evil presence for years. A presence that eventually results in the complete and utter destruction of Trunks’ timeline by the way. Good job, God! You saved everyone!