Android 18

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Android #18

Japanese	人造人間18号
Romaji	Jinzō'ningen Jūhachigō
Anime Name	Android #18
Manga Name	Android #18
Alternate Name(s)	Jinzō'ningen #18 #18 Cyborg #18 Artificial Human #18
First Appearance	Volume 29 (DBZ Volume 13)
Appears in
Race	Human / Jinzō-ningen
Family Android-17 (twin brother) Kuririn (husband) Marron (daughter)
DB Character Listing - Category

Android-18 (Jinzō-ningen-jūhachi-gō "Artificial Human Number-18", or simply Jūhachi-gō "Number-18"; also known as Cyborg-18 or C-18 in the Spanish dub to everyone after the Cell Games Saga.) is a fictional character in the manga Dragon Ball (US only: Dragon Ball Z) and the anime Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT.^[1] Her seiyū is Miki Itō. In the FUNimation dub she is voiced by Meredith McCoy.

1 History
2 Beauty and the Monk
3 Alternate Timeline
4 Android-18 in the Buu Saga
5 Dragon Ball GT
6 Dragon Ball Movies
7 Techniques and special abilities
8 Video games
9 References

[edit] History

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Android-18 is a cybernetic human, modified by the scientist named Dr. Gero. She is often referred to in the original Japanese as a jinzō-ningen, which literally translates as "artificial human" (jinzō-ningen), thus "android, robot". However, she is not entirely an android because, in a conversation with Android-16, she refers to both herself and her "twin brother" Android-17 as having been "constructed from a human base". It is implied in the manga that they were originally runaways heavily fitted with cybernetics. Whether or not this "fitting" was consensual is unknown, but it is implied that it wasn't considering that they both show a disdainful disrespect toward Gero. (In fact, both of their Dragon Library pages in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 says for a fact Gero took them against their will.) In the anime it's mildly implied that they may actually be Gero's children when, at the 25th Tenka-ichi Budōkai, she was asked about her name (given as "Jūhachi-gō", "Number-18") she says "[her] father was pretty dull," although this is likely metaphorical. However, she is able to biologically function as a human does, given the fact that she produces a child right before the Buu Saga. Android 18's original human name is never revealed. Even her husband, Kuririn, doesn't refer to her with her original name, so it's likely it was completely lost in the process of making her an android.

It is never explained why Androids 17 and 18 were created, but it has been suggested that they were tools to be used by Gero's ultimate creation, Cell. Cell was supposed to absorb them into his fully biological body and become the "perfect" warrior. He achieved this, absorbing 18 shortly after doing the same to 17. 17 and 18 were actually just made to kill Son Gokū and the Z-warriors; if they failed, Cell was to absorb them and finish the job.

[edit] Beauty and the Monk

When Kuririn first meets Android-18 he is very attracted to her, even though at the time he believes that she is heartless and wants to kill Goku.

On the highway, after she and her brother nearly kill the Z-warriors, she kisses the terrified Kuririn on the cheek after he tries to persuade them not to go after Gokū. This is when Kuririn starts to fall in love with her. After Cell arrives, Kuririn refuses to use a back up destruction remote on her, which would have destroyed her, cutting short Cell's relentless quest for ultimate power. Because of this, Cell eventually absorbs her and reaches his ultimate power, but Cell becomes overpowered by Son Gohan, and regurgitates 18. When Cell is defeated, Kuririn uses the Dragon Balls to wish for 17 and 18 to be turned into full humans. Shenlong is unable to do this because of the unfathomable differences in power between him and the duo, so he wishes instead for their self destruct devices to be removed. Kuririn pursues 18 and they eventually have a child together, a daughter named Marron.

To clear up the heavily espoused misconception that Android-18 is a pure android and therefore could not have a child, Kuririn went on to explain to Gokū (and, in essence, to all confused fans) during the Tenka-ichi Budōkai in the Buu Saga that she was originally human but that Gero just "remodeled her a little bit." 18's destructive personality fades quite a bit after the Cell Saga and is accepted as a member of the core group of characters -- particularly after she and Kuririn marry and have a daughter. But even though, by observing her, you can tell that she is a loving mother and wife, she sometimes displays that frightening unpredictable nature towards others, particularly towards Muten-rōshi.

#18 with her twin brother #17 and #16 to her left.

[edit] Alternate Timeline

Androids 17 and 18's counterparts in Future Trunks' alternate timeline are murderous sociopaths who are responsible for the deaths of billions of innocents along with all of the Z fighters. Trunks destroys them with his new power when he returns to his own timeline after the battle with Cell. Even when the main-timeline versions of 17 and 18 were first introduced as antagonists, they were never as malicious as their alternate reality selves. For unknown reasons, the main versions are also stronger than the ones Future Trunks knows. However, Piccolo suggests that it is because Trunks has changed the present by traveling back in time and that this has caused many things to change. It should be noted that in this alternate reality , No. 17 and No. 18 are named as No. 19 and No. 20, respectively. It is not known if Android 20 and Android 19 from the main-timeline had existed in this alternate timeline.

[edit] Android-18 in the Buu Saga

Later in the series, Android-18 is paired with Mr. Satan in the Tenka-ichi Budōkai. She does not care about the fame and attention of winning, so she allows Mr. Satan to beat her and retain his somewhat misappropriated title of a great fighter, provided he pays her double the prize money. However two or so days later 18 gets killed, along with her family, by Majin Buu, who turns her into chocolate and eats her (this is the second time that she has been ingested by one of the DBZ villains). She is brought back to life with the Dragon Balls, and gives energy to Son Gokū to fuel his Genki Dama to defeat Buu. Though peace has returned, 18 still maintains a cool and distant attitude toward Gokū, as she was originally created to kill him, but she still can't resist smiling when Gokū returns and has a tearful reunion with his family, showing a softer side to her personality.

[edit] Dragon Ball GT

#18 in Dragon Ball GT

Android-18 gets possessed by Bebi, but she doesn't play an important role as any type of servant, so life simply carries on. She is cured with the Sacred Water, and later on she and Goku teamed up to defeat Super Hell Fighter #17, because Android-17 killed Kuririn, someone who both Gokū and 18 loved and cared for.

[edit] Dragon Ball Movies

(#18 appears in the following Dragon Ball Movies and TV Specials:)

TV Special 2: Resistance to Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors, Gohan and Trunks (FUNimation's dub: The History of Trunks)
Movie 11: Super-Warrior Defeat!! I'm the One who'll Win (FUNimation's dub: Bio-Broly)

[edit] Techniques and special abilities

Hikou: This is the ability to fly in the case of the androids, without ki. As the androids have no ki of their own, they are unable to use bukūjutsu.

Kienzan: The kienzan (a.k.a. the Destructo-Disc) is a razor sharp disk of energy that can slice through nearly any opponent. This is her husband's (Kuririn's) signature technique.