Fortuneteller Baba

Directory: Characters → Z Fighters support

Fortuneteller Baba
占いババ Uranai Baba
Anime name	Fortuneteller Baba
Manga name	Uranai Baba
Alternate names	Bobo Grandma Uranai (Brazil) Irene Baba Urani Baba
Debut	Manga: DB Volume 9, Chapter 2 (Issue 98) Anime: Cameo: "Korin Tower" Full Appearance: "Who is Fortuneteller Baba?"
Appears in
Race	Human/Witch
Gender	Female
Date of birth	before Age 250
Address	FS 199644 CC.
Occupation	Fortuneteller
Family	Master Roshi (brother) Ghost Usher (servant)

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

Fortuneteller Baba (占いババ, Uranai Baba; lit. "All-seeing Crone") is an old witch who appears for the first time in the Commander Red Saga in a vision, as Goku was seeing the past, present, and future on Korin Tower. She appeared full-time in the Fortuneteller Baba Saga in Dragon Ball, and after that she shows up in anime fillers and rarely from time to time.

Her seiyū is Junpei Takiguchi in the Japanese version of the anime series, Ellen Kennedy in Dragon Ball and in the first season of Dragon Ball Z, and is then voiced by Linda Young during the Majin Buu Saga and the Fortuneteller Baba Saga of Dragon Ball.

Personality

Fortuneteller Baba in her palace

Baba is shown to be very rude towards people, even her own brother. Baba also likes to underestimate people who fight her five warriors, as she thought that Goku, Yamcha and Krillin stood no chance of beating any of them. She seems to have her limits on just how far she will let the fighters do to their opponents, urgently ordering Spike the Devil Man not to attack Goku with the Devilmite Beam, assuming everyone else it has killed, it would kill him too. Another example of her arrogance is evident when she informs to Grand Kai that she will take Goku to the living world without the Kai's previous consent, and even dared to say in his face that she did not need it to do such thing, much to the deity's displeasure (though he is forced to consent anyway cause, as noticed by Baba, he would have to train Goku himself if he refused).

Biography

Baba in front of her palace

Baba had been fortune-telling for more than 500 years, and is none other than Master Roshi's older sister, whom he bickers with constantly. With her unique clairvoyant capabilities, she is able to see into the future using her Crystal Ball. She is more than happy to tell anyone what their future holds for them, although, the price is very costly at a payment up front of Ƶ10,000,000.

However, the alternative way of gaining one's fortune is to defeat her five "other-worldly" martial arts experts, Fangs the Vampire, See-Through the Invisible Man, Bandages the Mummy, Spike the Devil Man, and Grandpa Gohan at her palace. Goku, Krillin and Yamcha take her challenge when they cannot find the last Dragon Ball to resurrect Bora, a man killed when helping Goku. Baba herself assisted See Through when Yamcha could hear his movements, by singing loudly, so Yamcha had no idea where he was. Eventually, they beat all five warriors, with the last one giving up. She has a knack for divination skills with her Crystal Ball, allowing her to see any place on Earth, or even look deep into the future. She can also travel to the Other World and back.

Baba meets the Guide

In Dragon Ball Z, Baba meets the Guide who took Goku to the start of the Snake Way in a café in the Other World. The Guide gives her Goku's message for Master Roshi (which reaches him via Kami and Yajirobe). In one anime filler of the Vegeta Saga, the television coverage of the Saiyan fight is interrupted while Fortuneteller Baba arrives there (upon her arrival she is greeted by a wave of stray bullets having been fired by an impulsive Chi-Chi, who was being restrained from going to the battlefield to take her son home).

The group watching the battle against the Saiyans on Baba's crystal ball

Master Roshi, Bulma, Chi-Chi, Ox-King, Oolong, and Puar gather around her crystal ball to see how their friends and loved ones are faring, but her magical ball eventually phases out due to the large concentrations of energy. In another anime filler scene, she went to Goku's house to show Chi-Chi and the Ox-King the conclusion of the Cell Games on her crystal ball. During the fights with her martial experts in Dragon Ball, it is made known that she has the ability to grant special leave for the dead to return for approximately one day, which she uses to let Goku fight his own dead adoptive Grandpa Gohan.

Baba brings Goku back on Earth

Later on, she allows Goku to return to Earth for one day to participate in the World Martial Arts Tournament and to meet his young son Goten. Later, from King Yemma's orders she has to lead Vegeta to the Earth to help in the fight against Super Buu. As she was in King Yemma's office when Kid Buu blew up the Earth, she is one of the few characters not to die in Dragon Ball Z. She does not appear at all during Dragon Ball GT except at the end of the series when the dramatic flashback of the three Dragon Ball series is shown as Goku is leaving the tournament 100 years later.

Special abilities

Baba using Fortune Telling

• Divination – The art of fortune-telling and divination. Fortuneteller Baba continually chants the phrase "Oh hoi, hoi, hoi, poi..." to see a vision or image in her magical crystal ball.
• One-Day Revival – Through an unknown teleporting method, Fortuneteller Baba is allowed to make contracted deals with King Yemma and is therefore capable of bringing a deceased resident of the Other World back to the Living World, granting one full-day's worth of life-energy to the recipient. The first time it was apparent that she can do this was demonstrated in the Fortuneteller Baba Saga, wherein Grandpa Gohan is mysteriously "brought back to life" fighting Goku in the old witch's 5-man tournament. Following the Grandfather/Grandson battle and Grandpa Gohan's revelation to Goku, Fortuneteller Baba explains to everyone the notions about the Other World and that she can bring people back from the dead. This technique of Fortuneteller Baba's is brought back into the series much later, it is in the Majin Buu Saga where Goku relays a message that he has been granted permission to go back to Earth for Fortuneteller Baba's allowed full day; with all intents to compete in the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament and spend as much time with his family as he could. With the battle against Majin Buu 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 Buu; 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, King Yemma persuaded Fortuneteller Baba to bring Vegeta back in a last resort ditch effort to stop Super Buu; Fortuneteller Baba loyally complied.

Baba sings to disturb Yamcha in his fight with See-Through

• Magic Materialization – The ability to bring out an object basically out of nowhere. Fortuneteller Baba is first seen doing 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 uses this ability to pull out a mallet out of nowhere to hit the Ox-King on the head for being silly. (Anime Only)
• Hypnosis Technique – A technique that was used by Fortuneteller Baba in an anime filler to easily convince a cop by staring at his eyes making him let Konkichi speak with Goku about his bank-robbery innocence. (Anime Only)
• Telepathy – The ability to channel one's thoughts to another being. Fortuneteller Baba uses in an anime filler to read through Konkichi's mind to see why someone like him ended up being Goku's brother. (Anime Only)
• Telekinesis – The ability to move objects with the mind. (Anime Only)

Video game appearances

• Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu
• Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden
• Dragon Ball Z: Kyōshū! Saiyan
• Dragon Ball Z: Legend of the Super Saiyan
• Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Shin Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku - Chikyū-Hen

Baba in Dragon Ball Online

• Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen
• Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure
• Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 (Ending credits)
• Super Dragon Ball Z (appears in the Other World)
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (a full 3D model of her appears in this video game)
• Dragon Ball Z: Bakuretsu Impact
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
• Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu
• Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans
• Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo
• Dragon Ball: Origins 2
• Dragon Ball Online

Voice actors and actresses

• Japanese Dub: Junpei Takiguchi (DB, DBZ); Mayumi Tanaka (DBZ, Dragon Ball Z Kai)
• Ocean Dub: Ellen Kennedy (DBZ, Episodes 1-53); Brian Drummond (DBZ, rest of series)
• FUNimation Dub: Laurie Steele, Linda Chambers-Young (Anime), and Christopher Sabat (Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo)
• Blue Water Dub: Corby Proctor
• Latin American Dub: Ángela Villanueva (DB, DBZ) and Magda Giner (DBZ Kai)
• Portuguese Dub: Cristina Cavalinhos
• Brazilian Dub: Zaíra Zordan, Helena Samara
• Hungarian Dub: Fodor Zsóka

Trivia

• The Daizenshuu states that Uranai Baba (or Fortuneteller Baba in English) is only a nickname, and that her real name is unknown.
  • Baba is an insulting word used in Japanese phrase which usually means things like "Old Hag" or "Old Witch" and which are used on old women.
  • Baba's name is might derived from "Baba Yaga", a witch who appears in Slavic folklore who bears a resemblance to Baba as a character.
• Baba correctly predicted during the Fortuneteller Baba Saga that Goku would become a great hero of his time.
• During the Vegeta Saga, when Master Roshi asks Baba about the future of planet Earth, she replies that the planet has no future. It is possible she only sees what is most likely to happen.
• Baba is the last character seen in the Dragon Ball anime.
• Baba and Mr. Satan (Hercule) are the only known Earthlings that have not died or been killed in the entire Dragon Ball series (including Dragon Ball Z and GT).
• She may share a blood relationship with Goku's family. Ox-King calls her "mother" in an episode of Dragon Ball Z. However it may have also been a dub issue 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 Ox-King is killed during the flaming castle dilemma in Dragon Ball may support this. Other reasons would be her helping Goku return to Earth for a day, which she also did for Grandpa Gohan. Also, Pan lives to be over one-hundred, appearing to out live both Trunks and Bulla who have more Saiyan-blood than she does, which could be from Baba and Roshi's long age expectancy (as Baba even reveals in an episode of Dragon Ball that their mother is still alive at that time, yelling at Roshi for missing her birthday). Though this family relationship is never fully explained.