The Story Of Goku

Son Goku (孫そん悟ご空くう Son Gokū), born Kakarot (カカロット Kakarotto), is the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball metaseries. Goku is a Saiyan originally sent to destroy Earth as an infant. However, a head injury at an early age alters his memory, ridding him of his initial destructive nature and allowing him to grow up to become one of Earth’s greatest defenders. He constantly strives and trains to be the greatest warrior possible, which has kept the Earth and the universe safe from destruction many times.

Concept and creation

The original incarnation of Goku in the Dragon Ball prototype Dragon Boy was Tangtong. The Dragon Ball universe began as a loose adaptation of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, with Goku himself as an alternate take on Sun Wukong. Similarities between the two include their mischievous nature and possession of the Power Pole and Flying Nimbus (which, in Japanese, have the same name as the source material).

When Toriyama started his first draft of Dragon Ball, he originally planned on making Goku full monkey to make the series more faithful to Journey to the West. During Toriyama’s second draft, Goku was instead a full human dressed in sailor clothes that rode a flight mecha instead of the Flying Nimbus. Toriyama’s third draft became the final design.

Goku’s full name is also based on Sun Wukong. The name “Son Goku” is simply the Japanese on’yomi rendering of Sun Wukong, as Chinese and Japanese share the same characters but with different pronunciations. “Sun/Son” is a common Chinese surname that normally means “grandchild”, while “Wukong/Goku” is a common Buddhist name that means “perceiving air/awakened to emptiness”. Reading “Sun Wukong” via the first and final characters only through the Japanese kun’yomi rendering system makes it read out as “Mago Gosora”, used at some point as a gag in the original manga’s run by the World Tournament Announcer. Goku was revealed a month before the Dragon Ball manga started, in postcards sent to members of the Akira Toriyama Preservation Society.[21] Goku’s first appearance was on the last page of “Grand Finale”, the last chapter of the Dr. Slump manga, advertising Dragon Balls upcoming debut. Goku’s Saiyan birth name, Kakarot, is a pun on “carrot”. Goku’s family are all named after root vegetables (burdock, negi, radish, and carrot). While Goku is an overall good person, Akira Toriyama designed him as one who fights mostly for personal joy of challenging strong opponents. To which, Toriyama notes that the anime tends to go overboard in making Goku look heroic, and that his original depiction of Goku in the manga has certain “poisonous” traits.

Appearance

Goku looks almost exactly like his father, Bardock, possessing the same spiky jet black hairstyle, dark-colored eyes, and facial features. However, he has softer eyes, a kind demeanor, and a lighter-pale skin complexion from his mother, Gine. Goku’s most distinguishing physical characteristic is his hair. He has three bangs hanging to the right of his forehead and two bangs hanging to the left. His hair also stands up in the front with four spikes and three bangs in the back (later in the anime he has five spikes in the front and four in the back). Goku was born with the signature tail of the Universe 7 Saiyans, which was long and prehensile with brown fur. It was removed and regrown multiple times in his early childhood, but in his late teens, Goku’s tail was permanently removed by Kami in order to prevent his Great Ape transformation. At age 12, Goku was rather short and appeared even younger than he was, being considered less than 10 years old (people were surprised when learning his actual age). His somewhat simple-minded personality also gave people the impression that he was as young as he looked. During the next few years, Goku did not go through any physical changes, beyond his muscles becoming more pronounced. By age 15, he began showing noticeable increases in height. By age 18, he had a considerable growth spurt, growing taller than most of his friends and developing a well-built physique. He is also considered very handsome, as noted by various women including Bulma and Heles. His physical changes made him almost indistinguishable from before and was only recognized by his signature naïve personality and “trademark” hairstyle. By age 25, Goku had another growth spurt, and became similar in height to his taller human allies and much more muscular. Due to his love of training, he is most commonly seen wearing a Gi. Originally, Goku wore an open blue gi secured with a white bow-tied obi over his waist, red wristbands, and dark blue kung fu shoes and also a tank top. After training under Master Roshi, Goku wore the basic Turtle School Uniform; consisting of a closed red gi (later orange) secured by a black knot-tied obi over his waist, blue wristbands, and blue kung fu shoes, with Roshi’s kanji on the back and front-left side of his shirt. After training with Kami and Mr. Popo, Goku wore a black short-sleeved undershirt (later dark blue) with this gi and replaced his shoes with dark blue boots with a yellow border and red laces. After training under King Kai, Goku wore King Kai’s kanji on the back of his gi shirt. During the Battle on Planet Namek, Goku wore his own kanji on both sides of his gi shirt. During the Android conflict and Majin Buu conflict, Goku wore a more plain version of this gi that lacked any kanji and featured a blue sash-style obi over his waist, as well as the same dark blue undershirt, same wristbands and the same boots from his previous gi, but with a red border and yellow/tan laces. He later retains this outfit throughout most of Dragon Ball Super as he regains his own kanji on both sides of his gi shirt. During his early training under Whis, Goku wore an orange traditional and loose gi, with Whis’ kanji on the front-left of his shirt, that was secured together with a blue obi tied in a knot at the left of his waist. He also wore blue wristbands that cover nearly his entire forearms and blue boots that clasp together on the front of his shins. In Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Goku returns to wearing a knot-style obi with his regular uniform and “Go” kanji (essentially regaining his Frieza Saga appearance). In addition, to compensate for the wintery climate he is on, he also wears a long blue snow jacket with a high turtleneck, white stripes down his shoulders and arms and bold purple letters of “SAB” over the front-left side of it. It also has black gloves. In the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga, Goku is given the emblem of the Galactic Patrol in place of his own on the front of his uniform and also switches back to wearing a sash-style obi.

When he appears in the Prison Planet Saga, Goku wears an outfit identical to the one Whis gave him, but instead with a Capsule Corp logo. He also wears his blue shirt underneath the gi. In the Universal Conflict Saga, he wears an outfit identical to the Grand Minister’s. The attire consists of a dark blue long-sleeved shirt with an orange circle over the chest, with baggy shoulder pads that runs beneath his red-colored belt with his kanji on the round belt-buckle. The shirt is complimented by a matching color pair of jodhpur-like pants, and white boots that run beneath his shins. By the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku wears a turquoise gi with a white knot-style obi, orange wristbands, dark green pants, and black kung fu shoes with orange stockings. In the cover of the Goodbye, Dragon World volume of the manga, this outfit’s color is different. The gi is lime green, his wristbands are purple, his pants are cyan, and he wears the boots from his previous outfit, albeit purple. Despite his fighting gi being his preferred look, Goku is not without other types of wardrobe, such as a suit and tie,[24] casual clothes like blue pants with a button-down red shirt, or an orange and black jacket with a white sleeveless undershirt, light green pants and brown shoes. When returning home to prepare for the androids, Goku wore a outfit similar to one from his youth; a white tank top with periwinkle Chinese pants with a white sash and purplish brown toe shoes and white socks. His farmer attire consists of light beige collared denim jacket with a white scarf around his neck and a charcoal gray short sleeved undershirt, light beige pants with a black belt around his waist and black boots. The sleeves on his jacket has been folded into white cuffs. In Dragon Ball GT. Goku’s skin tone got a noticeable tan. His general outfit is a blue gi with a white knot-style obi, pink wristbands, ochre pants, and black kung fu shoes with white stockings, which overall is very similar to his outfit at the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament. Due to the carelessness of Emperor Pilaf, Goku was wished back into a 12-year-old. While essentially looking the same as he did back then, Goku showed considerably more defined muscle. Later, with the aid of Old Kai, Goku regenerates his tail, which would poke out from his pants. 100 years later at the 64th World Martial Arts Tournament, despite growing back to his physical prime without transforming, he was not still seen with his tail. However, in one ending, he is seen with a tail in adult form. During which, he wears the outfit from the 28th Martial Arts Tournament. He also wears his Power Pole again. When re-grown up, GT Goku appears in the Adventure Mode of Extreme Butōden, he wears his classic outfit from Dragon Ball Super. In Dragon Ball Minus, an infant Goku was seen wearing a standard Battle Armor of the Frieza Army when being sent to Earth. It is a full body model with a dark-colored chest protection and light-colored outward-pointing pads on his shoulders and at the hips that hang over his upper legs. He also wore dark jumpsuit shorts and light boots with dark legging and also dark armguards.

Personality

Originally as an infant Saiyan, Goku was very timid, constantly crying for attention. Goku was then programmed with intense hostility to carry out his mission of eradicating all sentient life on Earth. When found by Grandpa Gohan, he was unruly and aggressive, wanting nothing to do with the elder, although this was seemingly only when worked up as when initially found by Gohan, he quickly took a liking to the old man. However, after the head injury that caused him to lose his instinctual aggression, Goku became well-known for the energetic and caring personality traits he inherited from his mother Gine. He was taught to be respectful to others by Grandpa Gohan. He takes most situations in stride, he rarely lets things get him worked up; he quickly got over losing his tail each time. He is however not without fear. Goku is shown to be submissive to overbearing women like Bulma and Chi-Chi, even to the point of Master Roshi jokingly declaring that for all his universal-class might, he is terrified of his wife. In the anime, he also has aichmophobia; a crippling fear of needles. He is not beyond feeling sorrow, most noticeably seen from the loss of his grandfather. He is not above feeling shame, as he regrets his lack of maturity as a person despite all the teachers who have helped him and likewise wants to make his loved-ones proud of him. He also shows genuine concern for the well-being of those close to him. When Master Roshi seemingly died against Ganos, Goku frantically rushed to his aid, desperate to save his mentor and shed tears of joy when he managed to revive him. He is well-noted for his love of any food, even by Saiyan standards, which can be comical at times. When hypnotized while facing “Jackie Chun”, Bulma told Goku dinner was ready, instantly waking him up. Like most Saiyans, Goku loves combat and to challenge strong opponents. As such Goku rarely shows nervousness or fear when fighting. While not arrogant in his abilities (especially compared to Vegeta), Goku has a tendency to be too relaxed and recklessly challenge anyone he views as strong to a fight. Despite his fighting spirit, he is at heart a pacifist as he often spares his enemies, trying to avoid hurting or even killing people if possible and never using more strength than necessary.[26][27] He also strongly believes that people can change for the better, as he spared Piccolo as well as Vegeta in their respective fights despite the former wanting to kill him and the latter killing most of Goku’s allies. This combined with his naturally gentle nature can lead to him letting his guard down. Goku is pure of heart, possessing no negative feelings or thoughts. He is highly loyal to his friends and family, even willing to sacrifice himself to save others as he did against Raditz and Cell. He strongly believes in repaying debts, as he gave the then-evil Vegeta a Senzu Bean for technically saving Gohan and Krillin from the Ginyu Force. He is a man of his word, committed to keeping his promise no matter what; a prime example being giving the Omni-King a friend even more fun than himself. He has a very practical and carefree view of life and his goals are very simple; he only seeks new adventures and challenges like testing his limits as a warrior. He has no interest in luxury or high-ranking positions as he rejected Kami’s offer to become Guardian of Earth and likewise Whis’ offer to become the next Universe 7 God of Destruction, though the latter was mainly due to his morality making him unsuitable for it. At the same time, he shows such unwavering will and tenacity to succeed, always determined to never give up against any adversity. Goku has been noted several times to have a special effect on people. His genuine compassion for others and love of life in its most simple nature is capable of inspiring them to change somewhat for the better, even causing several of his enemies to become his allies. He convinced the amoral and self-absorbed God of Destruction Beerus that Earth was worth keeping around. He made the reserved assassin Hit smile in genuine happiness, viewing Goku as an equal. He piqued the interest and became a friend of Grand Zeno, the most powerful being in the multiverse, due to his similar childlike, innocent personality. He made the immensely independent Jiren acknowledge Goku’s view of companionship and sought to learn from Goku’s example. He even made the spiteful and sadistically greedy Frieza come to truly respect Goku despite his long-standing hatred of the Saiyan after their brief alliance. His passion to help people even inspired Merus, a Guiding Angel, to willingly violet Angel Law an directly engage against evil with his true divine powers, knowing the penalty of it. He has shown such innocence since childhood, mainly because of spending most of his childhood on Mount Paozu in isolation, apart from the first few years of his life with his grandfather, and spending his adolescence traveling the world to sharpen his combat skills. This lack of social experience and proper education growing up (apart from the basic education from Master Roshi) left him rather ignorant in many things outside of battle and had little development in emotional maturity. During his childhood, he originally had difficulty telling the difference between a male and a female without physically touching them, which often got him in trouble.

His lack of emotional maturity has also left him somewhat naïve, which often makes many incorrectly assume him to be somewhat stupid. His direct and carefree approach, combined with often taking things to face-value. Acting very much on instinct most of the time, Goku can be very blunt from as he expresses himself. Despite this, Goku is remarkably effective at applying himself once properly motivated, able to quickly comprehend the situation and likewise learn the basics of anything presented to him, if not master it. When taking a firsthand experience, Goku is shown to be incredibly perceptive and intuitive, quickly able to analyze the situation and formulate an effective countermeasure. Very methodical and tactical in his approach, he immediately saw through the limits of higher grades of Super Saiyan even without having tested them in battle and chose to instead refine his normal Super Saiyan form, impressing even his rival Vegeta at the crafty and innovative idea. He has a remarkable intuition to see the good in others in spite of their actions, though his compassion and willingness to forgive can have often been criticized as excessive even to a fault and has led to harm and death to those he cares about in extreme occasions. At the same time, for all his morally driven nature, Goku can show animosity towards those he believes have earned it, such as Mercenary Tao and Frieza for killing Bora and Krillin respectively, a trait he seemed to inherit from his father Bardock. Overall, Goku only kills his enemies when he feels it is necessary or if they are beyond redemption. While viewed by many as a very honorable man of heroic nature, he openly never actually considers himself a savior, but rather simply refuses to let innocent people or animals get hurt, as his adoptive grandfather taught him. He openly prefers to reform enemies on the grounds that it will be more exciting to clash with them in the future that way. Ultimately, this is one of his greatest drives in life, constantly pushing him beyond his limits. Whenever his friends are threatened or harmed, Goku abandons nearly all mercy for the foe, as the mortal-wound to Piccolo and the loss of his best friend Krillin against Frieza allowed Goku to unleash Super Saiyan on the tyrant. This is also seen when Jiren tried to kill all of Goku’s friends, Goku fiercely attacked him with rage. Another problem stemming from his lack of proper education, Goku had little understanding of adult responsibilities. As a result, he spent most of his marriage without a job, instead of being supported by his prize-winnings from the World Martial Arts Tournaments and the Ox-King’s wealth. This limited education also was seen from his struggle in the written test for the Tournament of Destroyers. Overall, both his children have shown a better understanding of general matters as Chi-Chi ensured that Gohan and Goten had a well-educated background. While Chi-Chi later made Goku take up a job as a farmer, Goku is regularly shown with little interest in it, often looking for excuses to get out of work to train instead. This mostly stems from his Saiyan nature, instinctively desiring combative challenges. Goku has little modesty and is not at all concerned about public nudity (though later came to have a better appreciation for it). His simple nature rarely exhibits lustful feelings and thus little interest in women (with the exception of his wife). As a result, seduction tactics have no effect on him. While he is not normally reckless, he occasionally makes decisions without properly thinking them through, such as when he went to discuss the Tournament of Power with the Omni-Kings despite Beerus warning him of the potential consequences of meeting with the amoral supreme rulers. While technically considerate in nature and never intentionally rude, Goku tends to not show proper respect to people of high authority; the most notable example being his casual interactions with the Omni-Kings and the Grand Minister (even though they do not mind), much to the shock and disgust of numerous Gods and Kais. Goku can be insensitive at times, as shown by his willingness to promise Old Kai naked photos of Bulma, without consideration for either Bulma or her husband Vegeta (though he rationalized it as for the sake of Earth’s survival to enlist Old Kai’s aid).

He enjoys meeting new people and learning about/from them. Despite this and genuine compassion for others, Goku’s ignorance at times comes off as a lack feeling familial ties but rather views his family simply as companions. He is rarely seen romantic or intimate with Chi-Chi and mainly married her because he promised, although once learning marriage means living with someone forever, openly liked the idea with Chi-Chi. He even cited her feistiness and passion as traits endearing to him. He will often leave his family for long periods, and though normally for noble reasons, such as maintaining his strength for the protection of the world, Goku does not realize its negative affect on his family and friends. Despite this, he consistently expresses his appreciation for his family, as after completing his training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to face Cell, he chose to spend the remaining time with his family rather than training more. Goku desires for his children to follow in his footsteps as a fighter but he is generally accepting of their choices in lifestyle so long as they are happy and healthy. Overall, his love for his family has been a constant boost to his performance in battle. Also, Goku was very happy to learn he was going to be a grandfather, to which he later enjoyed taking care of his baby granddaughter Pan and grew very concerned when she disappeared. Against Goku Black, when learning that the rogue god murdered his family in spite of their initial encounter, despite it only happening in the original timeline, Goku’s righteous rage let him pummel Black and Future Zamasu simultaneously. Goku’s love for his adoptive grandfather has constantly been the most emotional and influential aspect of his life, even long after the old man’s death, and as shown by Goku’s reaction to each time they met again in Gohan’s afterlife. Even after learning, they were not blood-related or even the same race, Goku still considers the old man his family, as shown by his great sorrow and shame when realizing that he killed the kind man as a Great Ape, apologizing deeply to him and hoping for forgiveness when next they meet. Goku’s bond towards his grandfather made him cherish the Power Pole and the 4-Star Dragon Ball that he left his grandson behind as the only material objects of real worth to him. As a child, he even came to believe that the Dragon Ball housed the old man’s spirit as he would speak it often, possibly as a coping mechanism to deal with his loss of his only known family. Goku was happy to meet all who were close to his grandfather and even delighted when his firstborn son reacted positively to being named after the elder. While considering himself an Earthling more than Saiyan, in battle, he tends to think more like a typical Universe 7 Saiyan. Once a fight begins, he desires to see it through to the end to truly determine who is the winner. Even while battling Frieza on the self-destructing Planet Namek, he chose to finish his fight with Frieza even when offered the chance to escape through the Namekian Dragon Balls, believing that Frieza had to be defeated by his hand rather than random chance. He is also dissatisfied when foes do not use their full might. While valuing his friends’ loyalty and willingness to accept help when the need comes, he prefers to face his challenges solo, determined to prove his might against the given foe. He openly showed dislike at originally acquiring Super Saiyan God through the aid of others rather than by his own merit. At the same time, he admits that the true growth of his being came from the support and connection he gained from others. His warrior mentality can be reckless at times. Against Cell, Goku chose to focus the majority of his efforts training Gohan in the goal of unlocking his son’s dormant capacities to defeat Cell, forgetting that Gohan was even gentler than him. Likewise, for an unrestricted fight against Hit, Goku willingly risked his life by hiring Hit to kill him to fight him at his best. Goku is also willing to recruit help from his greatest of enemies like Frieza as he needed a strong tenth ally for the Tournament of Power though he himself acknowledged that it was a risky move and Vegeta noted that Goku wouldn’t have done it under normal circumstances as the universes were at stake. At the same time, however, this ambition for the new generations stems from his humble concern that his friends and family have become too dependent on his might. He rationalizes his willingness to put the children in the spotlight of battle due to the fact that he will not always be around to help. He believes that the new generation needs to become stronger in order to protect the Earth from future threats. However, he is not without a personal goal behind it. Realizing the potential might of people like Gohan and Uub, he is excited by the idea of facing such might once realized. At the same time, Goku tries to keep people away from the battlefield if he feels it will be too dangerous for them as he during the battle against the resurrected Frieza, Goku ordering Goten and Trunks to leave the battlefield to avoid the Tyrant’s brutality with Vegeta agreeing.

Goku seems to think very little of his Saiyan heritage since he was too young to remember his parents and have never learned the good traits of them. Furthermore, when Goku first discovered his Saiyan heritage, he rejected it out of horror and disgust at being from a race of vicious killers, though he ultimately embraced his heritage after Vegeta’s dying words against Frieza on Namek had inspired him to avenge the loss of all those killed by Frieza, including his Saiyan race. Despite this, Goku has preferred to go by his human name, although he has made Vegeta a sole exception because he knew that the latter will never change his mind on that. By Broly, Goku has embraced his Saiyan heritage enough that he was willing to tell Broly his Saiyan name and requested that Broly refer to him as it. In Xenoverse 2, despite his little love for his evil brother, he showed an interest in learning more about his parents. When learning that the Future Warrior is training under his father, Goku showed an interest in meeting him, even bringing his family. Goku’s most unique relationship is with fellow Saiyan Vegeta. Their rivalry is mostly one-sided as Goku is generally friendly towards Vegeta and recognizes his abilities as a fighter, although Goku does get competitive with Vegeta as seen from learning that Vegeta left without him to train under Whis. While Goku and Vegeta have trouble working together, due to their conflicting personalities and Vegeta’s continued desire to best Goku, they both respect and motivate each other to grow stronger, ultimately becoming close and loyal friends outside their competitive nature. Also, Goku is not above teasing him and tends to admonish Vegeta’s brutality towards enemies as shown when he criticizes Vegeta for killing the Ginyu Force, though this was mainly due to Vegeta killing incapacitated opponents.

Biography

Background Goku was named Kakarot at birth. In the manga, Kakarot was born on Planet Vegeta three years before its destruction, while in the anime Goku was born shortly before the destruction of the planet. When Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, Goku survived as he was being sent to Earth. After landing on Earth, the young Saiyan was found in the woods by an old man named Gohan and became his adopted grandson. Grandpa Gohan names him “Son Goku”. Kakarot had been inside his incubation chamber for three years since his birth when his father Bardock and his mother Gine decide to release him. Bardock makes the decision to send Kakarot away to Earth in an Attack Ball since he is worried about Frieza’s ambitions. Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta a month after Kakarot has been sent away. Days later after being sent to Earth, Kakarot lands in Mount Paozu. While there, he is found by an elderly man, Gohan. He takes him in and feeds the newly found alien. Kakarot is eating when he is given the name “Son Goku”. Between Jaco and Dragon Ball At first, Goku was extremely violent and ill-tempered, not obeying Gohan at all, but one day he fell down a deep ravine and hit his head, suffering severe head trauma that sent him into a coma and very nearly killed him and caused him to suffer long-term amnesia. After he woke up, he had lost all of his Saiyan aggression due to not remembering his mission, becoming a kind and mild-mannered young boy. His Grandpa Gohan taught him martial arts and told him about such things as the city and people, as they lived in a very remote place in Mount Paozu, with no communication with other people. Gohan one day discovered Goku’s full moon transformation, and thus told him to never look at the full moon. However, one night Goku did, and he transformed into a Great Ape, causing him to unknowingly kill Gohan. After his grandpa’s death, Goku stayed at his home, carrying out his daily life of survival. From a young age, Goku developed the impression that his birth parents abandoned him in the mountains as a baby, leaving him for Grandpa Gohan to discover.