Raditz

       

Raditz
ラディッツ Radisshu
Personal Data
Universe	7th Universe
Galaxy	Milky Way, North Galaxies
Race	Saiyan
Birthplace	Vegeta
Status	Deceased
Gender	Male
Voice Actors
English	Justin Cook
Japanese	Shigeru Chiba
Professional Status
Affiliation(s)	Freeza's Army
Occupation(s)	Combatant
Partner(s)	Vegeta Nappa
Headquarters	Saiyan Landing Area
First Appearance
Manga Debut	Volume #17, Chapter #195
Anime Debut	DBZ001 DBK001
Family
Bardock (Father) Gine (Mother) Son Gokū (Brother) Chi-Chi (Sister-in-law) Son Gohan (Nephew) Son Goten (Nephew) Pan (Niece)
Techniques
Air Dance Technique Double Kikōha Kikōha Tail Attack Zanzōken
Tools
Fighting Jacket Scouter Space Pod
Image Gallery
Character Image Gallery

Raditz (ラディッツ, Radisshu) was a pure-blooded Saiyan, who was one of the last surviving members of the Saiyan race. Raditz was a Combatant through entirety of his life and was the older brother of Son Gokū.

Background

Early Life as a Combatant

Raditz alerting Vegeta about an order received ordering them to return.

Raditz was a combatant that was born to a low-level Saiyan warrior Bardock and Gine on Vegeta. In his adolescence he was enlisted as a combatant, something casual for the Saiyan race. He was paired with heir of the Saiyan royal family, prince Vegeta—under the command of Freeza's Army.

Following their victory against their battle against extraterrestrial belligerents, on a undisclosed planet—Raditz receives an order to return to their home plant under Freeza's direct-orders. But in a act of defiance, Vegeta orders Raditz to ignore the order. The reason they both escaped the soon-to-be destruction of their planet. Raditz did not appear to have much exposure to his younger brother, Kakarrot, as his best memory of the latter was when he was an infant, but during some unidentified time he was notified by Gine of his younger brother's location, albeit misinformed of the reason he was sent away.

Adulthood

After the destruction of planet Vegeta, Raditz continues to work as a combatant for Freeza's Army annexing planet by exterminating them of their sentient lifeforms, to barter them for high, luxurious fortunes for potential clients. Raditz unlike his comrade Vegeta was convinced that his former home world was obliterated by a giant meteor, that took the lives of the Saiyan raceand sharing no suspicion or knowledge of the actual events that took place. Raditz was partnered with the remnants of the Saiyan race, including his partners; Vegeta and Nappa.

Before his arrival on Earth, Raditz along with his team members found a lucrative planet that was valuable with strong natives, that could potential overwhelmingly challenge the combat power of three Saiyan warriors. In his lapse of memory Raditz remembers about his brother and changes his designation towards Earth to recruit his younger brother that would tip the scales in their favor.

Personality

Much unlike his brother and parents, Raditz displays the traits one would typically expect of a Saiyan. He is cruel, and sadistic, showcasing these attributes in the torture of his younger brother and kidnap and later attempted murder of his nephew. He also displays a cunning side, knowing to take advantage of Gokū's innocence, playing the younger Saiyan's emotions against him in order to get him to drop his guard, and attacking him the moment the time was right.

He had immense pride in his Saiyan heritage, seeing his younger brother as besmirching their species with his innocence and for the fact that he not only failed to complete his 'mission', but had settled down among the Earthlings. He was also a very arrogant fighter, believing in his superior power over Gokū and Piccolo, constantly belittling both for their lack of strength in comparison to his own, especially when read by his Scouter. Rather uncharacteristically for a Saiyan, however, Raditz was shown to be a coward, and begged for his life in the face of death. He also was willing to kill Gohan purely because of the potential threat the boy could pose.

Upon his descend to his chagrin he discovers that his sibling failed to carry-out, the original mission to exterminate the sentient lifeforms on the planet. In spite of his negative attributes, Raditz did show a slight positive side during his battle with his younger brother, asking that Gokū surrender and join him several times before simply giving up, and lamenting the latter's death after they were both hit by the Makankōsappō, whilst showing genuine grief and remorse for the way his brother died.

Appearance

• Raditz's full appearance in the manga.
• Raditz's full appearance in the anime.

1/2

Raditz's appearance differs vastly from his family. Unlike his younger brother, who mostly resembled their father, and inherited his soft facial features from their mother, Raditz's appearance deviated exclusively to his own. Especially in terms of physical attributes, he shares some traits such as the hardened outlook expressions akin of his father's. Raditz possesses long, barbed, black hair with a rooted widow's peak that bares similarities to Vegeta, a trait not seen in the rest of his family. Notably, his hair remained uniform to his body height throughout his life, as a Saiyan's hair never changes from the moment they are born. As a child, he was roughly the same height as Vegeta and had a less hardened outlook. As an adult, he staunchly towered over his younger brother, and possessed a notably more muscular physique, than that of Gokū. Also arguably the most physically built of any male Saiyan seen besides Nappa. As with all combatants in Freeza's army, Raditz wore a variation of the earlier models of the Fighting Jacket. His consisted of is consisted of black breastplate with yellow shoulder guards, matching color wristbands, crotch guards, and boots, and white straps on his arms and legs. Additionally, he wore black bottoms to go with the Jacket. His tail was wrapped around his waist.

Abilities

Raditz is an incredibly powerful character upon his introduction, who possessed the power rating of 1200. With his might, he possessed the potential to easily overwhelm the forces of post-23rd Tenkaichi Budōkai Son Gokū and Piccolo with ease, overpowering them several times. He was also able to catch a Super Kamehameha launched at him from Gokū with one hand and only suffered minor wounds.

Dragon Ball

Saiyan Arc 

Main article: Saiyan Arc The arrival of the Saiyan warrior occurred approximately age 761, where Raditz concludes his search for a mysterious warrior named Kakarot, his journey led Raditz to the planet Earth by plunging on the northern portion of the planet. Raditz exits his Space Pod and has an encounter with an inhabitant, who also was surveilling the crash site. To his chagrin, Raditz is discontent with his discovery of all sentient life on Earth still existed. Just then, the farmer peaks the interest of Raditz. Raditz is questioned by the farmer, requesting his identity, whilst pointing his firearm nervously, directed towards Raditz. Raditz uses his Scouter to read a battle power of five from the belligerent. Concluding the threat level of the farmer is low, Raditz confronts him without worry. The farmer persists that Raditz halt to no avail. The farmer on impulse shoots his firearm at the extraterrestrial. Raditz with his overwhelming power stops the bullet in its tracks by simply catching it his hand.

Raditz then proceeds to placing the bullet on his thumb and flicks it with his thumb grazing the farmer in his shoulder dropping him to the ground. Raditz in disappointment berates the inhabitants of the planet, until receiving a power reading from his scouter. From an inestimable distance of four-thousand and eighty, Raditz senses a life form with a great power and assumes it's Kakarot. Raditz flies towards the direction leading him to a barren wasteland, where a sole individual was located.

Raditz descends onto the Mesa and encounters the wrong persons of choice. In his encounter Raditz becomes displeased that it was in fact the warrior, Piccolo. Piccolo asks on the purpose and reasoning behind their encounter and exactly what does Raditz inquire with himself. Raditz responses arrogantly noting their encounter is insignificant. The response angers Piccolo asking him if he came for the sole purpose of dying. Raditz intrigued by the persistance of Piccolo activates his scouter by pressing the input button to scan Piccolo's combat rating. After scanning the power of Piccolo, Raditz is unimpressed and tells Piccolo that he's no match for the likes of himself. The assertion creates a sense of tension, as Raditz unaffected by Piccolo's power continues to provoke him.

Just then, Piccolo instantly uses a Ki Manipulation Technique to attack Raditz, directly with no effect on the mysterious Saiyan warrior. Raditz unaffected by Piccolo's attack promptly tells him to prepare himself for his attack, putting the great Piccolo in fear. Raditz promises him to show him a real testament of power. Just as Raditz was going to attack Piccolo his scouter receives a powerful signal, with greater power. Raditz in a flash ascends to the sky to get a better direction on the high power reading. Raditz determines that the distance of signal is located at the inestimable distance of twelve-thousand. The power was so notable that Raditz considers it the greatest on the planet and concludes that it’s the man he’s searching for Kakarot. Raditz departs to conclude his search for the great power.

Raditz begins close in on the great power that is moving at a high velocity and concludes the end of his search. Raditz senses that the power has halted its movements and continues to race over to the spot of the power.

Trivia 

• Raditz's Japanese name is a pun on the word radisshu, or radish in English.
• Raditz is the only male member of Gokū's family not to be voiced by Masako Nozawa in the original Japanese dubs.
• In the early video games, Raditz's techniques are named after days of the week.
• Raditz's hair is roughly the same length as a Super Saiyan 3.
• In the Arabic dub of Dragon Ball Z, Raditz mentions that he and Gokū had a sister when explaining planet Vegeta's destruction.
• In the FUNimation dub, Raditz was erroneously stated to move "faster than the speed of light" (as the Makankōsappō was stated to move at the speed of light). In the original Japanese and the manga, it was merely remarked on that his speed was ridiculous to dodge the technique.