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Goku
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Edited by Earthmaster12
"I am the hope of the universe. I am the answer to all living things that cry out for peace. I am protector of the innocent. I am the light in the darkness. I am truth. Ally to good! Nightmare to you!" — as a Super Saiyan toward Frieza in "Explosion of Anger" |
| Goku | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 孫 悟空 カカロット Son Gokū Kakarotto | |||
| Anime name | Goku Kakarot | ||
| Manga name | Son Goku Kakarrot | ||
| Alternate names | Son Gokou Son Gokuh Son Gokuu Kakarotto Monkey Boy Zero (Harmony Gold dub) Cachalote Sangoku Son-Kuh Son-Kun Super Goku Mega Goku | ||
| Debut | Manga: "Bloomers and the Monkey King" Anime: "Secret of the Dragon Balls" (February 1986) | ||
| Appears in |     | ||
| Race | Saiyan | ||
| Gender | Male | ||
| Date of birth | Age 737[1] | ||
| Date of death | Age 761 (Revived)[2] Age 767 (Revived)[3] Age 766 (alternate timeline)[4] | ||
| Height | 175 cm or 5'9" (adult, later appears taller)[1] | ||
| Weight | 62 kg or 137 lbs. (adult, as ofPiccolo Jr. Saga)[1] | ||
| Address | 439 East District[5] | ||
| Occupation | Radish farmer (Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return! only)[6] | ||
| Allegiance | Planet Trade Organization (Low class soldier, suffered amnesia,Age 737)[7] Dragon Ball Gang (Age 749)[8] Turtle School (Student, Age 750 -753)[9] Z Fighters (de facto leader [10],Age 761 [11] - 790) [12] | ||
| Family | |||
- This article is about the original character. For the character portrayed in live-action by Justin Chatwin, see Goku (Justin Chatwin)
Goku (孫 悟空 Son Gokū) is the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball metaseries created by Akira Toriyama. He is the husband ofChi-Chi, the father of Gohan and Goten, the grandfather of Pan, and later great-great grandfather of Goku Jr. Goku is a defender of Earthand informally leads the Z Fighters.[13] Throughout his life, he trains hard and strives to be the greatest warrior possible, while at the same time using his amazing strength and skills to uphold peace.[14] These qualities make him the perfect example of a hero, though not necessarily the perfect role model, due to his lack of education.[15]
Contents[show] |
OverviewEdit
Creation and ConceptEdit
Added by Goku means aware of emptiness (The 'Go' syllable means enlightenment, and the 'Ku' syllable means Sky or Emptiness).[16] Goku's full name (Son Goku) is the Japanese name for Sun Wukong, main protagonist in the Chinese legend Journey to the West, off of whom Goku is loosely based.[17] Goku himself started off as more or less a parody of Sun Wukong, and as the manga continued its run he was able to develop differently, eventually turning out to have similar origins.[18]
Added by Goku's design was based off of Tanton, of Toriyama's prototype manga Dragon Boy and Tongpoo, from his other manga The Adventures of Tongpoo. When Akira Toriyama started his first draft of Dragon Ball he originally planned on making Goku full monkey to make it faithful to Journey to the West. During Toriyama's second draft he wanted to make Goku a full human dressed in sailor clothes that rode a flight mecha instead of the Flying Nimbus.[19]Toriyama's 3rd and final draft of Goku was to have him human looking with a monkey tail.
Appearance and PersonalityEdit
Added by Goku is the main character in the entire Dragon Ball series. With spiky black hair and his trademark orange/red/golden and blue clothes, Goku is known for his cheerful, energetic personality and his love of competition (specifically sport fighting and eating). He has remarkable intuition at seeing the good in others in spite of their actions, though his capacity for forgiving his enemies has occasionally been criticized as excessive; Goku, for the most part, only fights to win, and spares his enemies after defeating them only for them to attack him when his back is turned.[20] His staggering power is simultaneously reined in and enhanced by his fierce loyalty and morality. He has a simple, practical view of the world and is somewhat naive to the world around him. Because of this, many characters incorrectly assume him to be somewhat stupid, although once he has a basic understanding of things, he learns very quickly. His most remarkable ability is his will to succeed, pushing himself beyond his limitations, and never giving up even when the odds are stacked against him.[21]
Added by During his childhood, a recurring gag in the series was that Goku was incapable of telling the difference between a man and a woman without physically touching them, which often got him into trouble.[22] The most notable of these occurrences was when he first met Chi-Chi, where she pushed him off of the Flying Nimbusafter he patted her genitals with his foot;[23] and in the scene where he removed Bulma's panties while she slept and was horrified to discover that she had no testicles (which was also adapted in the movie Dragon Ball: The Path to Power).[24] He eventually outgrew this once old enough to understand the difference.
Goku is shown to suffer from severe trypanophobia, or the fear of medical needles, but this only occurs in the anime.[25] He showed his fear for them twice in Dragon Ball Z, and three times duringDragon Ball GT. The first time was after his battle with Vegeta, and when he was taken to the hospital. The second time he showed his fear of needles was after the fight with Captain Ginyu on Namek, while he was on his way to recover in a rejuvenation tank. In Dragon Ball GT, it was shown when Goku, Pan, and Trunks brought an injured boy to the Hospital Planet of the universe. The second time, during his first battle against Baby Vegeta, he was blasted into Sogorugo Space, where he witnessed a hologram of Chi-Chi that threw a gigantic needle at him. Lastly, Goku showed his fear after learning from Pan that the four-star Dragon Ball was coming out of his forehead, worrying that he would need a shot.
Even in combat, Goku is shown to not be invincible, as he has two major weaknesses. The first weakness is his tail; before he conditioned himself prior to the Tien Shinhan Saga, Goku lost all his power when someone grabbed his tail (a trait that all Saiyans share at birth).[26] The second is his ridiculous appetite;[27] not only does he eat at a rate that would be nearly impossible for a normalHuman, but if he does not get any food, he becomes too weak to do almost anything. This weakness was never overcome, and almost got him killed against Nuova Shenron.[28]On the flipside, however, Goku's love for food has gotten him out of trouble several times; for example, in the Tournament Saga, when put to sleep by Jackie Chun, Bulma was able to save his match by screaming to him that dinner was ready, to which Goku immediately woke up to break the count.[29]
Goku seems to think very little of his brother Raditz and late father, Bardock, believing them to be vicious, selfish beings like most other Saiyans; however, he never knew of his father's change of heart.
BiographyEdit
Early LifeEdit
"Just an average power level... and I thought you were special." — Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku - Bardock after reading his son's power level (FUNimation dub) |
Kakarot (カカロット, Kakarotto) (renamed Goku on Earth) was born sometime in Age 737 on Planet Vegeta, during a time of great turmoil.[30] Following a Saiyan custom, Goku was sent as a baby to planet Earth, in order to destroy its inhabitants and clear the planet for its future sale.[31] As Earth's inhabitants were thought to be weak, a baby Saiyan was seen as enough for the task, especially after transforming into a Great Ape by Earth's full moon. Goku's father, a low-class Saiyan warrior namedBardock, perished in his home planet's destruction shortly after Goku's departure, and his older brother Raditz was nowhere to be seen.[32] It is unknown what happened to Goku's mother.[33]
After crash-landing on Earth, Goku became the adopted grandson of an old man named Gohan, who found him in the woods and gave him his human name. 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. After he woke up, he had lost all of his Sayian aggression, becoming a kind and mild-mannered young boy.[34] 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.[35]
