The so-called "Evil Dragons" (Jaaku Ryû) in DBGT have quite different names than you may be used to. Traditionally among fans and on the internet, these Dragons were given names that correspond to the approximate Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters their names are written with (got all that?! ^^;;). The problem with this stems from the fact that the Dragons are named after the Dragon Balls, themselves, which are also named/spelled with Chinese characters that have approximate pronunciations (as per the furigana written above the Chinese characters). Not only are the Dragons named for the Dragon Balls, but also for each number of the Balls, as well. Confused yet? Well, not to worry; we'll start from the beginning, and lay it out step by step!

One of the biggest fan misconceptions about the names of these Dragons (which has unfortunately been aided and abetted by FUNimation's English dub), is that they are all named as "—Shenlong" or "—Shenron." As a matter of fact... they aren't. Whereas "Shen Long" (given the Japanese approximation of "Shenron") is Chinese for "Dragon God" or "Divine Dragon," the Evil Dragons are named after the Dragon Balls, and thus do not follow quite the same pattern. While they keep the "Long" ("Dragon") part of the name, they are actually named according to the number of stars in the Dragon Balls they sprang from. Remember, the Dragon Balls are named after the number of stars in each one, so that "Yi Xing Qiu" is (literally) the One-Star Ball. Thus, these Dragons are named in the pattern of "— Xing Long," or "— Star Dragon."

That only addresses part of the issue, though. Many fans also feel that the only correct way to write these names is with the Japanese pronunciation, rather than using the Chinese spellings as we just have. But this argument doesn't hold any water if you examine the names more closely. Here's an example, using the One-Star Dragon's name as it is written out:

As you can see, the name is written in Chinese characters with Japanese above the characters; this is furigana, and serves as a helper in pronouncing the word. This is usually included for children on more difficult or obscure kanji they may not have learned yet, but it is also handy when the kanji is shorthand for something longer, an aural pun, or a word from Chinese or Korean. While Chinese characters generally have the same or similar meanings in Japanese, they tend to have vastly different pronunciations, and thus a pronunciation guide is necessary for these Chinese words.

So, what's correct? Technically, the names are spoken aloud in the series using the Japanese pronunciations above the Chinese characters. At the same time, they were only pronounced that way because the Voice Actors themselves were unfamiliar with Chinese and may not have been able to produce the right sounds to pronounce the names correctly. So, since the names are written with Chinese characters to begin with, and are intended to be pronounced as though they are Chinese, they should probably be romanized as Chinese, rather than Japanese (which would be something like a secondhand translation). Here's a chart showing the different names and pronunciations:

*The Chinese word for "two" is actually "Er," which is carried through to the name of the Two-Star Ball, "Er Xing Qiu" (written in Japanese as "Arushinchuu"). "Liang" is closer in meaning to "pair" than "two," so the reason for this change remains a mystery.

[ return to Tidbits main ]