Pu'ar

Puar is a softspoken shapechanging blue creature and the constant companion of Yamcha. The name is revealed to be a pun on Puerh tea. Puar is neither a cat or a mouse albeit the series creator Akira Toriyama stated that he had drawn the character to look a little bit like a cat. Traveling alongside Yamcha the two worked as a team robbing anyone traveling through the desert area in which they lived. Puar has an innate ability of levitation or flight and is nearly always seen simply standing in thin air at about human head height. Puar has the unique ability to shapeshift into any form even inanimate objects and can hold that form for as long as desired his strength is not increased by the change however and as such he is unable to turn into something that can be used up like fuel or food. Puar graduated from the same shapeshifting academy as Oolong although unlike Oolong Puar had completed all of the academy training and does not have Oolongs difficulties with maintaining a transformed state. Puar shows up quite a bit in the beginning but becomes less of a presence as the series continues. As the driving theme of the series is mostly about fighting Puar can do little more than react to the horrors of the latest supervillains in the story. There is some debate regarding the characters gender. Despite being portrayed by several female voice actors the character has been referred to with both male and female pronouns during the anime. Though the issue of gender is never directly addressed Toriyama has referred to Puar as he while answering a fan question in the Ask Me Anything section in the back of the manga. Some fans believe that since shapeshifters can assume many different forms gender is a moot point.