Tapion

Directory: Characters

"I know death seems cruel, but I welcome this blade."
— "Wrath of the Dragon"

Tapion (タピオン, Tapion) was a character in Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon. He acted as the protagonist of this film and was described as a "Legendary Hero" from Planet Konats. The name of his race in the Japanese language is a pun on coconuts. He was roughly six feet tall and had light skin and a mohawk (similar style to that of the Kaioshin) of bright red hair. He wielded a sword and an ocarina which he said were gifts from god. His name is a pun on tapioca.

Biography

The Hirudegarn war

Main article: Hirudegarn war

Tapion and Minotia being told about the music boxes.

Thousands of years ago, Tapion and his brother Minotia were ordinary Konatsians living on the peaceful planet of Konats, very similar to Earth. However, one day, a group of black magicians known as the Kashvar performed an ancient ritual that revived a statue, a ruthless behemoth Hirudegarn. With no sense of reason, Hirudegarn would eventually use his incredible power to destroy the planet Konats.

During the battle between Hirudegarn and the Konatsians, Tapion and Minotia used their special ocarinas to hold Hirudegarn at bay. Given this opportunity, a wizard brandished an enchanted sword and used it to slice Hirudegarn in half. Tapion, Minotia and the wizard were then known as Great Heroes among the Konatsians.

To ensure Hirudegarn's eternal imprisonment, Tapion and Minotia agreed to have their bodies guard each spirit of Hirudegarn (his top half went to Tapion and his bottom half to Minotia). They were then enclosed in mystical music boxes, and dispatched to the distant places of the galaxy. Minotia was sent to an unknown planet, while Tapion was sent to Earth.

The Return of Hirudegarn

Unfortunately, a Kashvar named Hoi, would go off in search for Tapion and Minotia's music boxes in order to free them and unleash Hirudegarn once again.

With the help of the Z Warriors (Son Goku, Son Gohan , Videl, Kuririn, Son Goten,Bejiita and Trunks), Hoi managed to free Tapion from the music box (Hoi had not revealed his true intentions to the Z Warriors). But Tapion, furious, stormed off, determined to stay alone in order to ensure the imprisonment of Hirudegarn's top half. He was visited regularly by Trunks, who had taken a liking to him and brought him food, but Tapion refused to eat and always shunned Trunks away.

However, after seeing the bottom half of Hirudegarn invade the city, Tapion came to aid Son Gohan and Videl by playing the magical tune on his enchanted flute, which weakend and absorbed Hirudgarn's bottom half into his own body. Leaving the battlefield, Tapion came to believe that Hoi had already killed Minotia.

Tapion and Trunks battle Hirudegarn.

Later on, while Trunks was visiting Tapion, Hoi attempted to steal the flute from Tapion and tell Trunks that Tapion was the true monster, but Trunks didn't believe him, and instead gave the flute back to Tapion. Tapion then befriends Trunks, and asked him to dine with him.

Tapion and Trunks then formed a friendship, and Tapion was invited to stay at Capsule Corp, by Trunks. Tapion explained the whole story to Bulma, and she announced that she would try to re-create the broken music box so that Tapion could finally rest, much to Tapion's delight.

Tapion tried sleeping inside the new music box/chamber, but it was still no use, and Hirudegarn managed to get free from Tapion's body. Now whole, Hirudegarn had finally returned and Tapion's nightmare had come true. For a while, Tapion managed to use his flute to absorb Hirudegarn's spirit once again, but Hirudegarn would soon be free. Tapion begged Trunks to slay him with the sword (Tapion and Minotia were Konatsian Knights who always carried swords), but Trunks couldn't find it in his heart to kill his "big brother", and Hirudegarn was free once again. To Tapion's horror, the flute shattered.

Tapion playing his ocarina.

After killing Hoi, Hirudegarn went on a rampage throughout the city, battling the warriors Son Goku, Son Gohan , Son Goten, Trunks and Bejiita, but it was no use. Even Gotenks (the fusion of Son Goten and Trunks) wasn't enough to stop Hirudegarn (Gotenks managed to destroy Hirudegarn's first form, but he evolved into a more powerful, insect-like behemoth). Eventually, Hirudegarn was distracted while attacking the others, and he was destroyed for good when Son Goku (as a Super Saiyan 3) saw his chance and he pierced through Hirudegarn's chest with a Dragon Fist, obliterating the monster forever.

To go home, Tapion used a time machine (similar to the one that Future Trunks used) to travel back to Konats. As a gift, Tapion gives his sword to Trunks, and went 1000 years back in time to his home, and never to be seen or mentioned again.

Video game appearances

Tapion made his debut video game appearance in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and returned in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. In the video games, Tapion fights using both his sword and Ki attacks.

Techniques

• Brave Cannon - Tapion throws a large, powerful ball of ki.
• Brave Slash - Tapion slashes the opponent with sharp ki attacks created by his sword.
• Brave Sword Attack - Tapion slashes the opponent, then he slices them in half. This technique was originally used by his master, the Konatsian Wizard to cut Hirudegarn in half.
• Hero's Flute - Tapion plays a song on his Ocarina creating a barrier of mystical energy.
• Afterimage
• Ki Blast - The most basic form of energy wave.
• Flight - He can fly through manipulation of ki.

Voice actors

• Japanese dub: Hiro Yuuki
• FUNimation dub: Jason Liebrecht

Trivia

• Tapion makes a cameo appearance as a statue in an episode of Blue Dragon, an anime adaptation to which Akira Toriyama contributed.
• Link from the Legend of Zelda series shares several notable features with Tapion. Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time resembles Tapion the most. Both have a mystical blade and a mystical ocarina. They are also known as heroes, have pointy ears, lived in a (relatively) ancient time, and represent courage as well as time travel, however, the Japanese theatrical release of Wrath of the Dragon preceded the Japanese release of Ocarina of Time (The game in which Link prominently uses the Ocarina of Time) by a full three years.
• In terms of clothing and hairstyle, Tapion and his brother also bear some resemblance to Crono, the lead protagonist of Chrono Trigger, released by Square shortly before the theatrical release of Wrath of the Dragon in 1995. This may have to do with Akira Toriyama being one of three lead developers of Chrono Trigger along with Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yuuji Horii.
• Tapion and Future Trunks have special dialogue in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 where Trunks says "Long time no see." and Tapion responds saying "Lets see how strong you've become.". This dialogue suggests Tapion appeared in Future Trunks's timeline, meaning his sword could have been Tapion's sword as in the main timeline, but seeing as this is a game and the events of Wrath Of The Dragon contradict the known facts of Future Trunks' timeline, its canonicity is debatable.