Though Dragon Ball’s Galactic Emperor Frieza is known for his abhorrent acts of cruelty, the same cannot be said about his son, Kuriza. Introduced in Akira Toriyama’s spinoff manga, Neko Majin, Kuriza is just as egotistical as his father, but without the disturbing level of violence that seems to run in the family. What makes Kuriza unique, however, is that he seems to know he resides inside the pages of a manga. This causes him to act with even more vanity than Frieza could ever muster.
In chapter 2 of Neko Majin, Kuriza is brought to Earth by the traitorous Saiyan, Onio, who had previously lost a fight to Neko Majin Z despite going Super Saiyan. Onio believes that Kuriza is truly the strongest fighter in the universe. Upon arriving, Kuriza accidentally crashes his spaceship on a human martial artist’s car, interrupting a match between Neko Majin Z and another fighter. Furious at being interrupted, Neko Majin Z kicks Kuriza into an underground oil well. Kuriza is quickly fed up with being drenched and removes his armor, revealing a true form similar to his father Frieza's. Neko Majin Z follows suit and transforms into a gag form, giving him nothing but doubled eyelids and a penchant for passing gas.
Before they can do battle, both characters realize that the manga they’re in is running out of pages. Because of this, both Neko Majin Z and Kuriza decide to call it a draw. Kuriza and Onio simply decide to stay with Neko Majin Z until they can finally overcome his power. Unfortunately they never fight on panel again. That being said, it’s still noteworthy that Kuriza and his minion Onio both seem to know they’re in a manga. Kuriza is even annoyed that the Dragon Ball spinoff manga ends before he has a chance to really show off, implying he had even more power to demonstrate. There's no doubt the original Frieza would never have let this ending slide.
Though it’s certainly strange for Kuriza to know he’s in a manga, there is some precedent set for these kinds of fourth wall breaks in Toriyama’s manga. Both Krillin and Goku were known to break the fourth wall early in Dragon Ball’s serialization, though this habit eventually died out as Dragon Ball became a more serious manga. Kuriza is really the first character to be related to an extremely serious character like Frieza, and still be used in a gag manner.
Kuriza’s hilarious gag of knowing how many pages are left in a manga is a bit of a shame since readers will never get to see his full power. That is, unless Toriyama or Toyotaro decide to bring Kuriza into the main Dragon Ball canon. This may be a bit of a stretch but crazier things have happened before. After all, no one would have guessed that an entire arc based on “Evil Goku” could ever exist. Like his father before him, Kuriza represents an iconic element of what made Dragon Ball work. The Dragon Ball series is both parts gag and shonen battle manga, and Kuriza does an excellent job representing the former.
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