Mr. Popo

Mr. Popo (Japanese: ミスター・ポポ, Hepburn: Misutā Popo) is a fictional character from the Dragon Ball series created by Akira Toriyama, a genie who serves as the assistant to Earth's guardian deity and the caretaker of their residence, which is located high above the sky. He first appears in the one hundred sixty-third chapter of the Dragon Ball manga, published in 1988. In the Japanese anime adaptations, his voice actor was Toku Nishio, before Yasuhiko Kawazu took over the role for Dragon Ball Kai. For English language media, he was voiced by Christopher Cason in 1999 and from 2010 on. The character was also voiced by Chris Sabat from 2000 up until 2005. Mr. Popo's design and humanoid appearance has been criticized as an offensive racist stereotype by some commentators, such as children's book author and activist Carole Boston Weatherford. As a result of the controversy, Mr. Popo's appearance had been modified in some media depictions of the character: his lips are downsized digitally in the American release of the Dragon Ball manga by Viz Media, and his skin is recoloured blue from his original black colour in the CW4Kids TV broadcast of Dragon Ball Kai.