Majin Buu absorption explained: how it differs from Cell's

Majin Buu's absorption in Dragon Ball Z (1989), the anime adapted from Akira Toriyama's manga, works nothing like Cell's. It has "very different properties and very unique circumstances" behind it. Cell's absorption is far more biomechanical and works only through his tail. Majin Buu's is rooted in magic, and when you break it down, what happens is interesting.

This piece covers how the absorption works rather than each of Buu's transformations in detail. It also covers some of the limits on his power, and my own theories about Fat Buu's personality and Buu's return to his kid form.

Any piece of Majin Buu's gummy body can absorb a victim

Cell can only absorb through his tail. Majin Buu can absorb through any part of his body. That includes a severed limb or a piece of what you might call his goo, which he can use to engulf you. His body is essentially a giant gummy substance that can move and mutate.

Because of that, Buu can manipulate pieces of himself with telekinesis from anywhere within a reasonable range and use them to absorb you. Super Buu used this against Gotenks and Piccolo, absorbing them to take on a new form that resembled Gotenks.

Once a victim touches Majin Buu's main body, escape is pretty much impossible no matter how powerful you are. That comes down to Buu's magical properties. Only a character like Super Vegito could find ways to put up barriers and escape. Gotenks and Piccolo couldn't get out, and once you make contact, you become a part of Majin Buu.

Inside Majin Buu is a pocket dimension

We didn't learn how this worked until later in the same arc. Majin Buu's body is structured so that there's a pocket dimension inside it. You could say something similar about Cell, but his seems far more technology based. With Buu, when you're inside him, "it's almost like an alternate world."

The Dragon Ball Z anime expanded on this with filler episodes, because Buu's insides are vast. The manga didn't show much of that. Either way, Buu takes you inside him, and you become a victim held in a cocoon you can't get out of.

It's a suspended animation, "like being frozen in carbonite," and it takes somebody else going inside to free the person. That's what Goku and Vegeta did in Dragon Ball Z.

Majin Buu takes his victims' looks, techniques and memories

Once someone is assimilated, Buu physically changes to resemble them, or at least takes on some of their features. Examples include Gotenks' vest, later Gohan's gi, and Piccolo's cape for a very short time.

Buu doesn't only take appearance and power. He takes his victims' minds as well. This is discussed in Daizenshuu 4, though not many details come out about it. Essentially, when Buu absorbs you, he can gain your techniques and your knowledge of combat.

That's why the Buu who had absorbed Gotenks was a much more skilled fighter against Gohan than Super Buu had been. He had the brain and memories of Piccolo and the powerful attacks of Gotenks.

Majin Buu's magic can't break a fusion

If a fused character is absorbed and merges with Buu's body, the fusion magic doesn't break. The fusion stays fused inside Majin Buu. Once the time limit runs out, the characters split as normal.

That applies to Metamoran fusion. Potara fusion was supposed to be permanent until Dragon Ball Super retconned it with a one hour time limit. My point is that however powerful Buu's magic is, and it certainly is powerful, it still isn't strong enough to break a fusion. That means there are limits to what he can do with absorption.

Majin Buu resembles the strongest fighter inside him

Buu looks like whoever is the most powerful person inside him at that moment. With Gotenks absorbed, we got Buutenks. When the fusion ended, Buu looked like Piccolo, a form that only has a fan made name. That's because Piccolo on his own is more powerful than Goten and Trunks individually.

When Buu absorbed Gohan, Gohan took over the primary physical appearance. Buu always takes the look of the strongest person inside him.

Chocolate is the exception that may show Buu has more control than we thought

Buu's gummy body is his primary method. He'll rip off a piece of himself, hide it somewhere and use it to his advantage. There are a couple of exceptions, though. When the good Fat Buu fought the evil skinny Buu, Fat Buu tried to turn the skinny one into chocolate. The beam was reversed, Fat Buu became chocolate, and Evil Buu ate him to become Super Buu.

Normally, when Buu turns you into candy and eats you, it's not absorption. When one Buu eats another, it does seem to become one. Buu might control this, because later in Dragon Ball GT, the good Buu turned Mr. Satan and Pan into chocolate and absorbed them. To me, that suggests Buu has more control over his body than we thought.

My theory on the Grand Supreme Kai and Fat Buu's personality

In certain situations, though not all, Buu may take on the personality traits and qualities of a benevolent being he absorbs. Kid Buu, the original Majin Buu who started all this mess, absorbed the Grand Supreme Kai and became Fat Buu. He took the Grand Supreme Kai's rotund appearance and his benevolent, playful, childlike personality. That isn't explored much.

This part is only a theory. I think that because the Grand Supreme Kai was a god, he had a more powerful impact on Buu's body. I think that had Buu absorbed a bunch of good people, it probably wouldn't have turned out like this. Because it was the Grand Supreme Kai, I think there was an exception.

The guidebook Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu, a TV anime guide, in a way confirms this. It doesn't say the deity is what made the difference; it only seems that, being a divine deity, he would have more of an impact. The Moro arc of Dragon Ball Super, then recent, also elaborated on this by revealing the Grand Supreme Kai was far stronger than Dragon Ball Z alone suggested.

Why Majin Buu went back to Kid Buu: my reset theory

A question I'm asked often is why Buu returned to his kid form, rather than the skinny form that fought Fat Buu, after Goku and Vegeta pulled everyone out and escaped. The only explanation that makes sense to me is that extracting all those bodies from Buu's essence was like hitting a reset button.

His body reverted to its most familiar form, his first one. We see Buu briefly regress into the buff Buu before becoming Kid Buu. It looks like his body became unstable and reverted to what it found most familiar.

That isn't stated outright in the series. It's an implication I picked up from following Dragon Ball for so many years, and it makes the most sense to me that so much activity inside him sent his body back to its original form. Toriyama hadn't explained this in detail when I wrote this, so it's my own perception.

Budokai 2's what-if absorptions

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 had what-if absorptions, where Buu absorbs other characters and takes on their characteristics. That only exists in the game and never happened in the anime or manga, but it's something I've always loved about it. Budokai 2 is an underrated, great Dragon Ball game, and I wish more people would play it, because it's a fun and cool game.