Senzu Bean

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Senzu (仙豆, Holy Beans) are a kind of mystical bean in the Dragon Ball manga and anime series. When eaten, the consumer's health and energy are completely replenished. Their texture is said to be a cross between an uncooked (or under ripe) bean and a celery stalk. The beans are exceedingly powerful, however they are not capable of curing sicknesses or ailments such as the heart disease Goku contracted during the Androids Saga. Korin stated that one bean could keep a person full for ten days^[1], though some who have eaten the beans have become hungry sooner, usually after a period of heavy exertion, or were simply just Saiyans (As Saiyans always appear to be hungry) . It has been seen however, that eating too many Senzu beans at a time is dangerous, as when they are first introduced, Yajirobe is flabbergasted that the only thing Korin has to eat are "beans", and so he eats a few handfuls of Senzu beans, which resulted in him comically gaining about a pound for every handful he ate. They are often carried in small sacks during fights as a safety measure.

When the senzu beans are first introduced, their healing powers are not on full display. When Goku receives one, he is in good health, just very hungry. Therefore, the first thing the senzu bean does is fill the eater up.

Senzu are grown by Korin, and later Yajirobe as well, in Korin Tower. Usually Korin grows the beans and Yajirobe delivers them to the Z Fighters. Yajirobe also stated that they taste like fish.

The Senzu's healing capabilities have been able to perform such feats as healing Yamcha's impaled torso after an encounter with Dr. Gero and Android 19, and restoring fatally injured characters to perfect health on various occasions. However, in this alternate timeline, the Senzu plant has died. One significant example of the power of Senzu beans is demonstrated early in the Namek Saga, when after his face-off with Vegeta, Goku spends seven episodes at Kong Hospital, never traveling far from his bed (although this was mostly at the advisory of Chi-Chi and the orderlies), the only exception being his premature escape in "Hunt for a Dragonball" which rendered him powerless once again. When Goku takes a Senzu bean Yajirobe supplies him with, he is instantly revitalized in spite of these seven episodes spent naturally recovering with medical assistance. The best example, is when in the Namek saga, Goku gives a senzu bean to Gohan, who had a broken neck and was almost dead. However it appears that the beans can not heal scars (Eg. Tien's and Yamcha's respective scars, although those may be due to the fact that they were made permanent long before their next senzu bean, and senzu beans can only heal recent injuries)

Goku's good nature has led him to give Senzu Beans to battered enemies after fights, examples of this are Piccolo and Cell (though the latter was more to make the fight fair than an actual act of good-will, as Cell was about to face Gohan while he hadn't quite recovered to full strength).

In the Budokai series of games and Burst limit senzu beans can be used to heal a character. In the Budokai series they restored a character's health and ki fully while in Burst Limit they were a drama piece that would usually heal about one bar of health.

[edit] Trivia

• Senzu beans are based off of lima beans.

[edit] References