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Goku was named Kakarot at birth by his father Bardock. In the manga, Kakarot was born on Planet Vegeta three years before its destruction, while in the anime he was born shortly before the destruction of the planet. When Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, Kakarot survived as he was being sent to...
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By Broly, Goku has embraced his Saiyan heritage enough that...
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Son Goku (孫そん悟ご空くう, Son Gokū), born Kakarot (カカロット, Kakarotto), is a Saiyan raised on Earth and the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball series. He is the second born, as well as youngest son and child of Bardock and Gine, the husband of Chi-Chi, and the father of Gohan and Goten. Originally sent to Earth by his parents as an infant, Kakarot was ado...
The original incarnation of Goku in the Dragon Ball prototype Dragon Boy was Tangtong. The original inspirations for that story were Hong Kong martial arts films, including Bruce Lee films such as Enter the Dragon (1973) and Jackie Chan films such as Drunken Master (1978); Toriyama later said he had a young Jackie Chan in mind for a live-action Goku, stating that "nobody could play Goku but him."
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.
When Toriyama started his first draft of Dragon Ball, he originally planned on making Goku a 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 adoptive full name is also based on the traditional Mandarin Chinese full name 孫悟空 (Sūn Wùkōng). The name 孫そん悟ご空くう (Son Gokū) is simply the Japanese on'yomi rendering of 孫悟空 (Sūn Wùkōng), as Chinese and Japanese share the same characters but with different pronunciations. 孫 (Sūn)/孫そん (Son) is a common Chinese/Japanese surname that normally means "grandchild", while 悟空 (Wùkōng)/悟ご空くう (Gokū) is a common Buddhist name that means "perceiving air/awakened to emptiness". Reading "孫悟空" ("Sūn Wùkōng") 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.
Goku's first appearance was on the last page of "Grand Finale", the last chapter of the Dr. Slump manga, advertising Dragon Ball's upcoming debut.
Goku looks almost exactly like his father, possessing the same spiky 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. 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, other than 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 some 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 about 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 Frieza Saga, Goku wore his own kanji on both sides of his gi shirt. During the Cell and Buu Sagas, Goku wore a plainer 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, while also regaining 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). His shoes were also rounder at the bottom and had gray soles. 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. In the Granolah the Survivor Saga, Goku regains Whis' kanji on his standard gi when the angel trains him in honing Ultra Instinct.
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 a blue t-shirt underneath his 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.
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, savage, and aggressive, wanting nothing to do with the elder. However, after the head injury that caused him to lose his instinctual aggression, Goku became well-known for the energetic, kindhearted, pure heart and caring personality traits he inherited from his mother Gine. He was taught to be compassionate and 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 immense power, 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. In the Dragon Ball Super manga, 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. 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 and is extremely protective of them as a result. He loves them very much that he is 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; two prime examples being the resurrection of Bora and 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 7th's 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 mindful generosity and helpfulness earned Broly's trust, as Goku knows that the latter was forced to become his enemy, which Broly genuinely accepted as not only as a fellow Saiyan, but also his mentor for controlling his power. His passion to help people even inspired Merus, a Guide Angel, to willingly violate Angel Law and 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, can lead to Goku being rather blunt 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.
1.“未来”トランクス編 歴史年表公開！ (Japanese). toei-anim.co.jp.
2.J-Stars Victory Vs, 2013
3.Dragon Ball: Super Exciting Guide, 2009
5.Daizenshuu 7, 1996
6.Dragon Ball chapter 204, "The Needs of the Many"
8.Dragon Ball chapter 412, "The End of the Cell Game"
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Upon his arrival on Earth, the infant is discovered by Son Gohan, who becomes the adoptive grandfather of the boy and gives him the name Goku.
Son Goku - Japanese on'yomi name reading for Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, whom Goku is based on via Chinese and Japanese character parallels; in the Korean dub, Goku is renamed "Son Ogong", the Korean name reading for Sun Wukong. "Wukong," "Goku," and "Ogong" all mean "Awakening to Emptiness" in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean ...
Oct 21, 2023 · Goku’s legacy as a martial artist and hero all stems from Dragon Ball’s origins as a Journey to the West parody, something that has no doubt shaped even the current Dragon Ball landscape. In fact, Goku’s secret name is intrinsically connected to these origins born from the great Chinese novel.
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.
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The "Gokû" part of Son Gokû's name [悟空] can refer to the idea of enlightened 'emptiness' (a Buddhist state of heightened consciousness). The "Goku'i" part of Ultra Instinct [極意] can refer to the idea of a high level of understanding or awareness. Or aka achieving a 'secret'.
