The world of Dragon Ball has been expansive and has developed over 40 years. As a result, many characters have had to be created to accommodate new figures in Akira Toriyama’s narrative, even if they do not die in battle or from natural causes. In fact, there is a character whose name was completely forgotten by the creator, leading Toei Animation to resolve this issue by giving him a different identity.
What’s particularly noteworthy is that this character continues to appear sporadically in Dragon Ball Super, despite the fact that he was once one of the main names in the early series when Goku was still a child living in the forest.
We are talking about one of the members of the “evil group” Pilaf, specifically Shu, who is one of the trio consisting of Pilaf and Mai. In fact, Shu was not initially named like this; Toei Animation decided to name him this way because when Akira Toriyama was asked what this character was called, his response was vague.
However, many years later, when revisiting the original manuscripts of Dragon Ball, it was discovered that this character’s real name is Soba.
Various media outlets have reported that the name Shu originates from Akira Toriyama’s logic for naming characters based on food, drinks, or ingredients.
In Dragon Ball, Shu is Mai’s partner, and when combining the name with the character’s name (shu-mai), we get a type of dumpling in Japan. Pilaf, on the other hand, is a type of dish that completes this culinary item.
King Pilaf is one of the first antagonists that Goku encounters in Dragon Ball. He resembles a mix between Pinky and the Brain, always seeking ways to conquer the world and the persistence of his character has led to numerous failed plans.
