Android 21

Android 21 (人造人間２１号 Jinzōningen Nijūichi-Gō, lit. "Artificial Human No. 21") is an Android who appears as the main antagonist of Dragon Ball FighterZ when in her evil persona. Her intellect rivals that of Dr. Gero, though she may be even smarter than he was.

Android 21 was designed by Akira Toriyama.

Appearance

Android 21 is described as a tall, curvaceous scientist with glasses and long bushy auburn hair. She has a gold ring on her left middle finger, and black nails. She wears a pair of hoop earrings, a sleeveless, short blue and red checker pattern turtleneck dress with opaque black tights, black detached arm sleeves, and blue and red heel boots. Her eyes are similar to that of Dr. Gero's Androids, such as Android 18.

In her true form, Android 21 keeps her curvy body, her skin turns pink, her hair becomes a paler shade of pink, her ears become pointed, her eyes changing depending on if her evil half takes over, and she gains a tail. Her attire changes to a black tube top, keeping the black arm sleeves, and also gaining white baggy pants. It's noted that she most resembles a Majin in this form.

Her appearance in her true form is the result of her having all of the traits of the Z Fighters, Frieza, Cell and Majin Buu rolled into one.

Android 21 reveals in a private talk with the player that while she may have the appearance of an adult, she is actually less than ten years old, and regrets not having an adolescence, finding it awkward when small children call her "ma'am".

Personality

Due to her biology, Android 21 has a natural, compulsive instinct to feed (which grew out of control due to cells in her body going berserk). Like Majin Buu, she prefers sweets and confectioneries, her favorite being macaroons. However, she has no control over her hunger and constantly fights to keep herself from turning others into treats and devouring them.

Her hunger is so great and painful that it has led to Android 21's psyche being damaged and manifesting a split personality. The longer she goes without feeding, the more the evil side of her gains control. When her true persona is in control she acts like a kind and motherly woman who was concerned about Android 18 and agreed to help her. When her evil persona is in control, however, she becomes a sadistic and power-hungry sociopath, wanting to "devour" all the powerful fighters, drawing to the point of near insanity. Her gluttonous lust for "devouring" powerful fighters is similar to the traits of the Majins, inherited when Buu's cells were added to her. Her good side is friendly towards Good Buu presumably due to their shared biology and love of sweets.

Her personalities were later transferred to her two halves after her good self-managed to use fission as a result of the emotional turmoil caused by the death of her adoptive son, Android 16 who was killed by her evil side as a result of her losing control.

Though Android 21's good side is aware of the fact that her human template was the mother of Android 16's template which causes her to develop mother-like affection for him, she admits she has little to no memory of her former life as a human, though she enjoys thinking about what her template's name and life might have been like. She is also apparently unaware that Dr. Gero was the father of Android 16's template or of his relationship with her human template. During one of her conversations with the player, she notes that her creator while not a good person was a brilliant scientist and admits she would like to know the reason she was created, though admits that he might not answer her questions or that if he did she might not want to know the truth. Interestingly, she never mentions Dr. Gero's name directly though it is obvious he is the one she is referring to. Presumably, her knowledge of him either comes from what little memories she possesses and what she has been able to learn through research of herself and Android 16.

In contrast, her evil side cares nothing for Android 16 and believes that Androids have no use for things like family and loved ones as she orders Android 18 to attack her husband Krillin. Additionally, she only values Dr. Gero for his labs and research. Though she is focused primarily on feeding, the evil side of Android 21's personality does not dismiss the concept of seeking galactic conquest, although that goal remains secondary to satisfying her hunger. Unlike her good side, the evil 21 cares only about herself and possesses a selfish bratty personality. Like Cell, her power causes her to view other beings as beneath her; though additionally, she dismisses all other beings as little more than food to make her stronger. She is responsible for creating evil clones of the Z Fighters as well as Nappa, the Ginyu Force, Frieza, Cell (all of whom she resurrected with the Namekian Dragon Balls), and Kid Buu, they exist only as a source of food to sustain her and her hunger, despite finding their taste to be unsatisfactory. She only allows the Z Fighters, resurrected villains, and Androids to survive and grow stronger in order to further her goal of consuming them. However, she was angered when Z Fighters and the villains led by Frieza and Cell started hunting the clones to deny 21 of her food supply, causing her to seek them out in a blind rage driven by her hunger.

After separating from her good half, the evil 21 mocked her good half's refusal to feed on others to increase her power and was certain that she was a hypocrite who would eventually give into her hunger and feed on her allies. However, the good 21 was able to link with the human soul that had been linked to Android 18 which allowed her to maintain control over herself and oppose her evil half without succumbing to her hunger. Still, the good 21 feared she would one day lose control, and thus decided to sacrifice herself to stop her evil half as well as prevent herself from losing control and hurting her newfound friends. Whis and Beerus noted that in time the good 21 would have succumbed to the hunger, so her sacrifice was ultimately for the greater good. However, it is unclear if the good 21 could have overcome her hunger permanently, though she may not have wanted to take the risk of losing control of herself. The self-sacrificing aspect of the good 21's personality fittingly resembles that of her adoptive son, Android 16.

In Kakarot, the Female Researcher has a personality much like her original self and Android 21 (Good) though with no signs of mental instability or insatiable hunger. This allows her to maintain employment at the Capsule Corporation as a scientist researcher. While usually tasked with overseeing the Training Room and its holographic training, she can occasionally be found doing field work such as searching for materials at the small village in the Central Plains Area, and doing a field survey for Dr. Brief at Raditz's Landing Site in the East Ravine Area. She also visits Grandpa Gohan's House in the Southeast Mountains Area noting that it is unfortunate he no longer lives there, wishing she could have met the legendary martial artist, or investigating tales of the hermit living atop Korin Tower in the Sacred Land of Korin. She is also shown to be aware of the Z Fighters due to her role overseeing the Training Room. After the Cell Games, she can be found investigating the area where the Cell Games Arena once stood (which was presumably destroyed in the aftermath of the Energy Clash between Cell's Solar Kamehameha and Gohan's Father-Son Kamehameha, as Cell simply doesn't bother with destroying it himself, thus it is suggested the arena was destroyed in the climax of the Cell Games). Like most supporters of the Z Fighters, she is not fooled by Mr. Satan's claims of defeating Cell, suspecting that the Z Fighters were the one's truly responsible for Cell's defeat. Additionally given her presence at the Capsule Corporation during the period in which Android 16 was being repaired, she may have had the opportunity to meet him and it is possible that her visit to the site of the Cell Games Arena may have been influenced by the fact it was where Android 16 was destroyed, indicating she may have other motives for investigating the site such as coming to pay her respects or attempting to recover Android 16's remains out of a desire to reconstruct him. Additionally she also can be found investigating the remains of Dr. Gero's Lab in the Northern Mountains. Interestingly, she suspiciously won't explain why she is there if spoken to by any of the Z Fighters. Additionally she also visits one of the large islands near Kame House, where she claims she was doing some field research, though given its proximity to where the Androids confronted Cell, it is possible she was using it as an excuse to investigate the island for other reasons related to the Androids and Cell.

Android 21 (Good)

Android 21 (Good) (人造人間２１号 Jinzōningen Nijūichi-Gō) is the true persona of Android 21. She, along with Android 18, are the main protagonists in the Android 21 Arc.

Personality (Good)

The good Android 21 represents her original self's good side, similar to how Good Buu represents the good aspects of the Innocent Buu. Though she retains her hunger she is better able at controlling it due to the removal of her evil half and her link with the human soul that had been bonded with Android 18.

After splitting into two halves, she seems to be incredibly apologetic, even apologizing as she attacks mid-fight, and chooses to work with the heroes to fix her wrongdoings. Though she mourns the loss of Android 16, his death and her resulting fission have made her determined to stop her evil half as a way of honoring his memory. As such, her good self was willing to sacrifice herself in order to help stop her evil self, much to Android 18's reluctance, while also thanking the soul in her for everything it had done for her. In the same setting, Android 21 was shown to trust 18, passing on the soul to her. In spite of this, she is still ravaged by her hunger and has a natural desire to eat her allies, leading 21 to fear herself. This fell to reason why she chose to sacrifice herself, not only to protect the allies she grew to care for, but to prevent anyone else from getting hurt which is presumably born from her guilt over the death of Android 16. Interestingly, she shares this self-sacrificing aspect of her personality with her adoptive son, Android 16. Additionally like Android 16, she is a gentle soul who dislikes fighting in general, though will stand up to protect innocents, as well as her friends and loved ones. It is implied by Beerus and Whis that had she survived the destruction of her evil half, she would have ultimately succumbed to her hunger. Thus, her sacrifice was ultimately for the greater good, though it is possible she could have learned to suppress it completely, though simply chose to not risk even the slightest possibility of her losing control, for fear of destroying her allies as her original self-had with Android 16. She shares a strong bond with Android 17 and 18 due to their friendship with 16 and them sympathizing with her plight and her situation as being due to 21's human self-being converted into an Android which Android 17 and 18 understand all too well. She views Majin Buu as a kindred spirit due to their similar backgrounds and love of sweets (those not made from living people) though she is not as focused on eating as her evil counterpart as she suggests to Majin Buu to defeat the enemy clones before eating the candy he offered to share with her, showing she is able to focus on the task at hand even when normal food is involved. She also retains her intelligence and knowledge of Dr. Gero's research as she was aware of the location of the remote capable of turning off the power-suppressing wave machine, though her evil half managed to acquire and swallow it to prevent her from turning off the machine.

During one discussion with the soul, she reveals that she is technically "not even ten years old" and was built in the image of a human woman with the IQ of an adult, noting that she feels as though she missed out on her adolescence. She is also shown to be wary of Vegeta's temper as shown in a special dialog between her, Vegeta, and Gotenks when Vegeta admonished her along with Gotenks when they had become distracted, causing them both to fearfully do as he instructed and focus on the enemy.

Android 21 (Evil)

Android 21 (Evil) (人造人間21号 Jinzōningen Nijūichi-Gō) is the true main antagonist of Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Personality (Evil)

As noted, this side of Android 21 is pure evil, having nothing but a desire to eat and gain more power, having a strong wanting to devour all the Z Warriors to satisfy her needs, and can be seen as near insanity. However, this does not cloud her thinking, as she is capable of making rational thoughts, and assesses the situation at hand. Sadistic and sociopathic, 21 will go to extreme lengths to gain the power she desires.

Fitting with her evil nature, Android 21 was disgusted with her good self's way of thinking and views, who had no will or desire to consume others for their power (similar to Frieza, who is disgusted by Goku's good heart). Yet, she was pleased as well, believing no one could stand in her way to stop her from eating, very similar to Good Buu and Evil Buu. Her personality resembles Android 21's from the previous arcs as she is essentially under her evil persona's complete control in those arcs. Upon meeting Goku Evil 21 gushes in his presence while referring to him as her "sweetie Goku" and proclaiming her intentions to eat him licking her lips at the thought of consuming him. However she reconsiders confronting him as she decides to save the best for last presumably due to the influence of Cell's cells however she takes the opportunity to "snag" Instant Transmission which she uses to escape. Though ultimately she eventually starts losing control as she begins to run out of clones becoming more impulsive and focused on feeding her hunger.

Gallery

"Android 21 and Morrigan Aensland"

"Kirby and Android 21"

"Android 21 and Kazuma Kiryu"

"Android 21 and Fubuki (One Punch Man)"