A boy’s wish is to revive his father in Dragon ball made a series of conflicting points that show that the eternal dragon Shenron exaggerated his abilities, did not expect wishes to become as complicated as later, or to be disenfranchised to an absurd degree.
In Dragon Ball chapter 111 of manga artist Akira Toriyama, Shenron tells a native boy named Upa that there is no wish he cannot grant. The Eternal Dragon makes this incredible confession after hearing Upa’s wish to resurrect his father Bora and then proceeds to fulfill the boy’s request. While this may seem innocuous, it actually creates a huge hole when it comes to Z.
Shenron says he can grant any wish, but Z proves it’s a lie
Shenron’s words certainly don’t correspond to his actions later in the series when looking at every wish ever granted in Dragon Ball. The first time Shenron was unable to grant a wish was after the Cell Game in Dragon Ball Z. The Eternal Dragon stated that he was unable to revive Goku because he was resurrected by the Dragon Balls. before. During that same prayer session, Shenron was also unable to turn Androids 17 and 18 into normal humans, as their sheer strength far exceeded his own. Later, much later in Dragon Ball Super, Shenron was unable to summon the Super Saiyan God to fight Beerus because he didn’t exist at the time. More recently, Dende had to upgrade the Dragon Balls in order for Shenron to grant Piccolo’s potential unlocking wish just like the Grand Elder Guru did for Gohan and Krillin in the movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
There are also limitations of other eternal dragons to consider. Namek’s Porunga was unable to bring Goku’s soul to Earth’s Check-in Station because Goku wasn’t dead at the time. Meanwhile, it was Goku who prevented Porunga from granting his wish to teleport him to Earth because he didn’t want to. The limitation of Toronbo Cereal from Dragon Ball Super lies in his inability to protect the wisher from the negative side effects of wishes beyond the user’s latent ability to handle.
It’s a good thing Shenron lied in Dragon Ball
If Shenron is telling Upa the truth, then the eternal dragon is only making excuses for not granting certain wishes, possibly because that would require him to do more work. This makes sense since Shenron has never offered any other alternatives or involved any downsides to certain wishes like Toronbo did with Granolah in Dragon Ball Super. He is usually quite impatient when summoned, so when told that he cannot grant a wish, he may just be trying to speed up the wish process even though he can completely ability.
That, or Toriyama deciding to tweak the eternal dragon to further complicate the plot, as every time Shenron or another eternal dragon fails to grant a wish, a more creative wish is granted. or other drastic measures have been taken. For example, Shenron’s inability to revive Goku after the Cell game forced Goku to stay on Earth for only 24 hours, during which time he failed to defeat Majin Buu. This then resulted in Gotenks, Good Buu, and Ultimate Gohan being defeated by Super Buu, who also killed nearly all of humanity with the Human Extinction Attack. It wasn’t until much later, when Old Kai sacrificed himself, that Goku was able to return to save the day. This wouldn’t be possible if Shenron could grant this wish even if he said he could in Dragon ball.
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