King Yemma

Directory: Characters → Deities

King Yemma (閻えん魔ま大だい王おう, Enma Daiō, lit. "Great King Enma") is the king of all ogres who judge the dead. A line of souls leads to his office where he decides whether a soul goes to Heaven or Hell.

Appearance[]

Compared to the other ogres, King Yemma is of a different color, he has a beard, he has a helmet with two horns, and he is colossal in size; even his desk is at least three times taller than Goku, who is able to fit in one drawer.

Personality[]

King Yemma is strong enough to stay in control in any situation and can easily overpower Raditz. Later in the series, when the power of the villains increases, this becomes less impressive. Yemma is very impatient, and easily angered by the smallest of things (just like when screaming at Piccolo when he was ruining Heaven) but is willing to listen to people's problems if he needs to. He also dislikes it when people hold up the line at the Check-In Station yelling at Kami to leave when he held up the line while deep in thought and even jokingly threatened to send the pure hearted Guardian to Hell just to scare him when he overheard Kami revealing to Goku that King Kai was stronger than him, showing he is not above using his position to threaten people. Though he might not seem like it, he is highly intelligent as shown when he recovered Vegeta's body and sent Dabura to Heaven instead of Hell. He is also good natured as was shown by his kind treatment of Goku and his tolerance of Goku's lack of manners. He also fulfilled Goku's wish that Kid Buu be reincarnated as a good person, resulting in the latter's reincarnation into Uub.

Biography[]

Background[]

Before Goku came along, King Yemma was the only one who had ever beaten Goz,^[5] caught Mez in a footrace,^[5] completed the trip along Snake Way,^[6] and escaped from Princess Snake's palace.^[7]

Dragon Ball Z[]

Saiyan Saga[]

When Goku is killed and brought to the Other World by Kami to receive training from King Kai, King Yemma grants him permission to give it a try. He is apparently skilled to some degree in fighting, as he claims he to Goku how easily bested his brother Raditz when the latter attempted to fight him while passing through his realm using his Yemma Lock. Yet, according to Kami, King Kai is much stronger than he is. King Yemma heard Kami whisper this to Goku and threatened to send him to Hell when he dies, although in truth, he was just trying to scare him. When Kami thought to himself about all of the dangers that would come in one year, King Yemma finally lost his patience and ordered Kami to leave his office.^[6]

Yemma is later shocked when Goku returns from King Kai's Planet and watches as Kami and the latter return to Earth. He then realized Earth did have a chance against the Saiyans.^[8]

Majin Buu Saga[]

King Yemma sent Cell down to Hell after Gohan killed him.^[9]

When Dabura is killed by Innocent Buu, King Yemma admits him into Heaven on the basis that he would have enjoyed himself in Hell.^[10] Later, it is revealed that after Vegeta's death, King Yemma allowed him to keep his body and had Fortuneteller Baba bring him to Earth so he could help Goku fight Super Buu. He also got a satellite television so he could watch the fights between Vegito and Super Buu,^[11][12][13] and Goku, Vegeta, Mr. Satan, Good Buu, and Kid Buu.^[14]

Dragon Ball Super[]

Universe 6 Saga[]

Goku tells Vegeta that King Yemma heard his wish and brought Kid Buu back as Uub.^[15]

"Future" Trunks Saga[]

King Yemma saw Goku for a brief moment when he died against Hit before he would revive himself with a Ki Blast.^[16]

Universe Survival Saga[]

King Yemma is visited by Goku in order to reach Frieza in Hell and recruit him for the Tournament of Power, saying that he wants Frieza for 24 hours. Learning about the erasure of the Universe, King Yemma allows Goku to visit Frieza, and later grants him 24 hours' time in the living world with the help of Fortuneteller Baba. He also temporarily grants Goku the responsibility to keep Frieza under control outside of Earth.^[17]

Peaceful World Saga[]

Following the battle's climax with Kid Buu, King Yemma overhears Goku's hope that Kid Buu will return someday as a better person so that they can have a rematch and decides to grant Goku's wish by reincarnating Kid Buu as Uub.^[18]

Dragon Ball GT[]

Super 17 Saga[]

King Yemma sent Piccolo to Hell to help Goku.^[19]

Film appearances[]

Fusion Reborn[]

King Yemma is working until he gets trapped in his office by Janemba by a barrier that Pikkon slowly destroys while Goku and Vegeta fight the monster. One of his workers gets frozen by the strange yellow stuff that traps them inside. Pikkon realizes that insults could destroy the barrier, but it's very slow, and King Yemma gets impatient and waits for a long time (Pikkon goes down to hold off Janemba while Goku and Vegeta are fusing). Everything inside the strange yellow circle is funny, and King Yemma wants to send people to either Hell or Heaven immediately.

Other Manga appearances[]

Dr. Slump[]

The mythological figure King Yemma is closely based on (the two have the same name in the Japanese version of Dragon Ball, strengthening the connection), Enma, appears in Akira Toriyama's earlier manga series, Dr. Slump, where Trampire and her servant were hired by him as grim reapers to retrieve Senbei Norimaki when he died from being hit by a coconut. Arale Norimaki manages to go with them, throws a pile of poop on him, which angers him. Enma then sends them on the way to Hell, not knowing that Arale's friend Chivil is getting them back to the living world. During the incident, Enma fires Trampire and her servant.

The Brief Return of Dr. Slump[]

The Dragon Ball version of Enma later appears in the sequel manga The Brief Return of Dr. Slump, making a brief cameo in the chapter "Hoyoyo Sentai Araranger", which features the characters in a Super Sentai-inspired setting. After having his mech destroyed by Arale, Dr. Mashirito ends up in the Other World, upon which Enma judges him and sentences him to Hell. In response, Mashirito angrily insists that someone bring him back to life using the Dragon Balls.

Power[]

Manga & Anime

King Yemma is strong enough that after Raditz died and was sent to the Other World, King Yemma was able to handle Raditz with ease after he began to get rowdy. However, as Kami tells Goku he is still not as strong as King Kai.^[6]

Statements by authors and guidebooks

The movie pamphlet for Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might states that King Yemma has a power level of 1,300.

Video Games

In Dragon Ball Z: The Anime Adventure Game, his power level is 2,600.

Techniques and Special Abilities[]

• Yemma Lock - Little is known about how it is used, but King Yemma acts out putting someone in a headlock when he is talking about it.
• Reincarnation - King Yemma can offer certain souls the chance to start over either as a reward for doing something particularly heroic or if he sees that person as being a potential problem for the afterlife in the future.

Manga Appearances[]

Appearances in Other Media[]

Video Game Appearances[]

• Dragon Ball Z: Kyōshū! Saiyan
• Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
• Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury
• Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai
• Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road (Future counterpart)
• Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu
• Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai HD Collection
• Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle
• Dragon Ball Fusions
• Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

In Dokkan Battle, King Yemma appears as a Support Item that reduces damage received by 50% for 1 turn.

In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Yemma is referenced by the accessory King Yemma's Hat.

In Dragon Ball FighterZ Android 21 Arc, Goku states he plans to ask King Yemma to reincarnate Android 21 (like he did with Kid Buu) in honor of the noble sacrifice Android 21 (Good) made to destroy her evil counterpart and prevent herself from losing control over her cravings.

Voice Actors[]

• Japanese: Daisuke Gōri † (DBZ, DBGT (uncredited), Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (uncredited), DBZ Kai), Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (DBZ Kai TFC, DBS, Kakarot)^[20]
• English:
  • Ocean Group dubs: Ward Perry (Saiyan Saga), Dale Wilson † (Other World Saga onwards), Michael Dobson (DBZ Episode 266 [251 Edited])
  • Funimation dub: Chris Rager (DBZ Episode 6-26, 249-287 [5-20, 234-272 Edited], and most media), Dameon Clarke (DBZ Episode 195 [180 Edited])
  • Blue Water dub: Tommy James
• Hebrew dub: Ami Mandelman
• Spanish:
  • Castilian Spanish dub: Ángel Corpa (DBZ first voice), Juan Fernández Mejías (DBZ second voice), Mariano Peña (DBZ third voice), Idilio Cardoso (Fusion Reborn), Rafa Torres (DBZ Kai), Pepe Da Rosa Jr. (DBS)
  • Latin American Spanish dub: Abel Rocha (DBZ, DBGT, DBZ Kai, DBS), Eduardo Fonseca (DBZ Kai TFC)
• Portuguese:
  • European Portuguese dub: João Loy, António Semedo †
  • Brazilian Portuguese dub: Felipe Di Nardo (up to the Buu Saga), João Batista (Buu Saga), Válter Santos (DBGT), José Carlos Guerra (DBZ Kai), Ronaldo Artnic (DBZ Kai TFC), Paulo Porto (DBS)
• Italian dub: Vittorio Bestoso
• Polish dub: Tomasz Marzecki

Trivia[]

• King Yemma is named after and based on the East Asian and Buddhist deity Yama, known as Enma (閻えん魔ま, Enma) in Japan. Additionally, King Yemma's dislike for lying is a direct reference to a Buddhist fable where the king of hell will tear out a child's tongue if they lie.
• King Yemma shares similarities with King Enma from Yu Yu Hakusho in both appearance and occupation as well.
• King Yemma shares the same voice actors as Mr. Satan in both the Japanese version and Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z.
• King Yemma may be many millions of years old, as Old Kai knew of him prior to meeting him during the events of the series.

Gallery[]

King Yemma King Yemma angry King Yemma angry King Yemma angry King Yemma working King Yemma in Buu's Fury King Yemma in Kakarot

References[]

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