Bulma (ブルマ, Buruma) is a character appearing early in the series in the first chapter Bulma and Son Goku (ブルマと孫悟空, Buruma to Son Gokū) first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on December 3, 1984. She was originally portrayed as a secondary main character, next to Goku. Her role is quickly downplayed as the series continues, though she does continue her role as a supporting character for the remainder of the series. Bulma is the daughter of Dr. Briefs; the founder of Capsule Corp., a fictional corporation that creates special capsules that are often used to store objects of various sizes. Being the daughter of a brilliant scientist, Bulma is also an intelligent scientist, as well as an inventor and engineer. She is most credited for inventing the Dragon Radar, a fictional device that is specifically designed to detect the energy signal emitted by a Dragon Ball, being able to find the Dragon Balls faster than anyone else. Bulma's role as an inventor becomes important at several points in the series. Several of her creations were major contributions to various plotlines, including a microband that could make her shrink, the time machine that brought her son Trunks to the past during Dragon Ball Z and the generator that allowed her husband Vegeta to achieve Super Saiyan 4 in Dragon Ball GT.
Bulma is a direct parody of the character Xuanzang from the Chinese novel Journey to the West. Even though Bulma's character parodies a monk, her Japanese name "Buruma" is a direct take on the word bloomers, which was a popular type of women's underwear in the early 20th century. As with most characters in the Dragon Ball series, Bulma's name is consistent with those of the rest of her family. All of Bulma's family members are named after underclothing of some sort. Her father's name is "Dr. Briefs", while her son and daughter are named "Trunks" and "Bra" ("Bulla" in the anime adaptation, which is "bra" in Japanese) respectively. She married the Saiyan Prince Vegeta, who is the only family member (other than King Vegeta) to not be named after clothes.
Bulma is voiced by Hiromi Tsuru in all of the Japanese media. In Funimation's dub, she would be voiced by Maggie Blue O'Hara in the first Dragon Ball film; Lalainia Lindbjerg in the first 13 episodes of Dragon Ball and the 64 episodes and first three movies of Dragon Ball Z; Leslie Alexander in the film Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle; Tiffany Vollmer in all other Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT dubs including re-dubs of previously dubbed works; and Monica Rial in Dragon Ball Z Kai. In Westwood Media's dub, Maggie Blue O'Hara returned to voice Bulma in Dragon Ball Z; Leda Davies was cast for Dragon Ball; and Kristin Nowosad in Dragon Ball GT. In the Japanese dub of the live-action Dragonball Evolution, she is voiced by Aya Hirano.
Bulma has a cameo in the Dragon Ball/One Piece crossover Cross Epoch. In this segment, she is partnered up with the character Nami. The two act as a pair of space pirates. Bulma has been portrayed by Jeannie Tse in the unofficial live-action Dragon Ball movie The Magic Begins. She was also featured in the 1990 unofficial Korean adaptation where she was played by Lee Ju Hee. Bulma appeared in the live-action film Dragonball Evolution, portrayed by Emmy Rossum.[10] Rossum describes her portrayal of Bulma as "She’s pretty bad-ass, but still quirky and fun, and kind of ridiculous in the way she is in the anime."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dragon_Ball_characters
http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Bulma
