Uranai Baba

"It's the unpredictable nature of this game that attracts me. That... and of course the money."
— Uranai Baba in "The Mysterious Fifth Man"

Uranai Baba (占 い ババ, Uranai Baba; FUNimation "Fortuneteller Baba", Viz "Uranai Baba"; Literally meaning "Fortunetelling Witch") is Turtle Hermit's sister.

Biography

Uranai Baba was an old witch who had been fortune-telling for more than 500 years. With her unique clairvoyant capabilities, she was able to see into the future using her Crystal Ball. She was more than happy to tell anyone what their future held for them, although the price was very costly at a payment up front of 10,000,000 Zeni, however, the alternative way of gaining one's fortune was to defeat her five "other-worldly" martial arts experts at her palace. She had a knack for divination skills with her Crystal Ball that allowed her to see any location on Planet Earth or even to look deep into the future.

Dragon Ball

Uranai Baba appeared for the first time in a vision Son Goku had of the past, present, and future while on Karin Tower during the Commander Red Saga. She fully appeared during the Fortuneteller Baba Saga. Afterwards, she showed up in anime filler and from time to time.

She could travel to the Next World and back. In one anime filler during the Vegeta Saga, the television coverage of the Saiyan fight was interrupted when Uranai Baba arrived (upon her arrival she was greeted by a wave of stray bullets having been fired by an impulsive Son Chichi, who was being restrained from going to the battlefield to take her son home). Turtle Hermit, Bulma Brief, Chichi, Gyumao, Oolong, and Puar gathered around her Crystal Ball to see how their friends and loved ones were faring, but her Crystal Ball eventually phased out due to the large concentration of energy. In another anime filler scene, she went to Son Goku's House to show Chichi and Gyumao the conclusion of the Cell Games using her Crystal Ball. During the fights with her martial experts in Dragon Ball, it was made known that she had the ability to grant special leave for the dead to return for approximately one day, which she used to let Goku fight against Grandpa Son Gohan.

Dragon Ball Z

Uranai Baba convinced Great King Yama to allow Goku to return to Earth for one day to participate in the Tenkaichi Tournament and to meet his young son, Son Goten. By Yama's orders, she later led Vegeta to Earth to help in the fight against Super Boo. As she was in the Check-In Station when Kid Boo blew up Earth, she was one of the few characters not to die in Dragon Ball Z. She did not appear at all in Dragon Ball GT except at the end of the series when the dramatic flashback of the three Dragon Ball series was shown as Goku was leaving the tournament 100 years later. This could possibly mean that there was a limit to her life expectancy or that possibly she was still alive, but just was not important enough to appear.

It should be noted that she may share a blood relationship with Goku's family. Gyumao calls her "mother" in an episode of DBZ. It may have been a dub issue, however, as in Japan it is considered respectable to refer to your elders as "grandfather" or "grandmother" regardless of whether they are related to you or not. Exactly how the two are related is questionable, however, her reaction when she believes that Gyumao is killed during the flaming castle dilemma in Dragon Ball may support this. Other reasons would be her helping Goku return to Planet Earth for a day, which she also did for Grandpa Son Gohan. Also, Pan lived to be over one hundred years old, appearing to outlive both Trunks and Bra, who both had more Saiyan blood than she did, which could be from the long age expectancy of Uranai Baba and Turtle Hermit (as Uranai Baba even revealed in an episode of Dragon Ball that their mother was still alive at the time and yelled at her brother for missing her birthday). This family relationship was never fully explained.

Video games

Uranai Baba appeared in Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure and Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury.

Techniques

Uranai Baba using the Uranai technique.

• Hypnosis – Hypnosis (催眠, Saimin) is a technique that Uranai Baba uses in anime filler. She easily convinces a cop by staring into his eyes to let Konkichi speak with Goku about his bank robbery innocence. It can be used to hypnotize and control the mind of the target.
• Magic Materialization – The ability to bring an object out of basically thin air. Uranai Baba was first did this when she mysteriously pulled out a T-bone steak from her sleeves and dropped it into the Devil's Toilet, proving the cauldron's own ferocity. In the anime, she later used this ability to pull out a mallet out of thin air to hit the Ox-King on the head for being silly.
• One-Day Revival – Through an unknown teleportation method, Uranai Baba is allowed to make contracted deals with Yama and is therefore capable of bringing a deceased resident of the Next World back to the Living World, granting One-Day Revival (1日だけ戻れる日). The first time it is apparent that she can do this is demonstrated during the Fortuneteller Baba Saga when Grandpa Son Gohan us mysteriously "brought back to life" fighting Goku in the old witch's 5-man tournament. Following the grandfather/grandson battle and Grandpa Son Gohan's revelation to Goku, Uranai Baba explains to everyone the notions about the Next World and that she can bring people back from the dead. This technique of Uranai Baba's is brought back into the series much later, it is during the Majin Buu Saga where Goku relays a message that he's been granted permission to go back to Earth for Uranai Baba's allowed full day; with all intents to compete in the 25th Tenkaichi Tournament and spend as much time with his family as he could. With the battle against Majin Boo beginning shortly after Goku's return, his time was sadly derived in battles with Babidi's monsters, Vegeta in his Majin form, and eventually a stalling match with Majin Boo; where Goku was forced to utilize his Super Saiyan 3 transformation, severely shortening his life-energy and time on Earth. Some time later, following Super Buu's absorption of Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks and Piccolo, Yama persuaded Uranai Baba to bring Vegeta back in a last resort ditch effort to stop Super Boo. Uranai Baba loyally complied.
• Telekinesis – The ability to move objects with the mind.
• Telepathy – The ability to channel one's thoughts to another being. Uranai Baba used this in an anime filler to read Konkichi's mind to see why someone like him ended up being Goku's brother.
• Uranai – The art of fortune-telling. Uranai Baba continually chants the phrase "Oh hoi, hoi, hoi, poi..." to see a vision or image in her Crystal Ball. She uses the ability mainly to help Goku if he happens to be in great need, such as finding a sealed Dragon Ball or the lost Basho Fan (as well as project Son Gohan's fight against Cell and the Z Warriors' fight against the Saiyans).

Voice actresses

• Japanese dub: Junpei Takiguchi (DB); Mayumi Tanaka (DBZ, DBZK)
• Ocean Group dub: Ellen Kennedy (Episode 1-53), Brian Drummond (Onwards)
• FUNimation dub: Linda Chambers-Young (Anime); Christopher Sabat (Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo)
• Portuguese dub: Cristina Cavalinhos

Trivia

• When Turtle Hermit asks Uranai Baba about the future of Earth during the Vegeta Saga, she replies that the planet has no future.
• There is a large inconsistency in the strength of Uranai Baba's Crystal Ball. During the Vegeta Saga, her Crystal Ball exploded because it was overwhelmed by the incredible powers of Goku and Vegeta. However, during the Cell Games Saga, it had no such problem, despite most (if not all) of the Z Warriors, as well as Cell, being many times stronger than they were during the Vegeta Saga.
• Uranai Baba correctly predicts that Goku will become a great hero in his time.
• Part of Uranai Baba's name is most likely derived from Baba Yaga, a witch who appears in Slavic folklore and bears a resemblance to Baba as a character.
• The Daizenshū states that Uranai Baba is only a nickname, her real name being unknown.
• Uranai Baba is the last character seen in the Dragon Ball anime.
• A full 3D model of Uranai Baba appears in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2.