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Son Goku
Dragon Ball character
Son Goku by Akira Toriyama
First appearance	Manga chapter 1 Dragon Ball episode 1
Last appearance	Manga Vol. 42 Dragon Ball GT episode 64
Created by	Akira Toriyama
Profile
Date of birth	737 A.D.[1]
Known relatives	Burdock (father) Raditz (brother) "Grandpa" Son Gohan (Adoptive grandfather) Chichi (wife) Gyumao (father-in-law) Son Gohan (son) Son Goten (son) Videl (daughter-in-law) Mr. Satan (daughter-in-law's father) Pan (granddaughter) Son Goku Jr. (great-great grandson)

Son Goku (孫 悟空, Son Gokū^?) is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball anime and manga series created by Akira Toriyama and the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise. Goku is originally introduced as an odd, monkey-tailed boy who possessed enhanced strength and a practitioner of the martial arts in the first chapter of Dragon Ball.^[2] In Dragon Ball Z, he is revealed to be from a fictional race of extraterrestrials called Saiyan, said to be the strongest warriors in the universe.^[3] Goku also made appearances throughout Toei Doga's Dragon Ball GT and a cameo in Toriyama's self-parody Neko Majin Z.

In most English dubs of the anime, the character is simply known by his name Goku^[4].

Contents 1 Creation and conception 2 Character overview 3 Appearance 4 Abilities 5 Family tree 6 Reception 7 Other media 8 Voice actors 9 References 10 External links

Akira Toriyama's Goku finds his origins in one of Toriyama's earlier characters named Tanton, a fictional protagonist who appears in a one-shot series called Dragon Boy. In the series, Tanton's odd physical characteristic was bat wings. When Toriyama decided to create Dragon Ball, he used author Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West as inspiration for his own series.^[5] Toriyama's main character had the same name of the monkey king, Sun Wukong, a central character in Journey to the West; the only alteration being that it was changed to the Japanese variant of the name, Son Goku.

To be creative with the character, Toriyama stated that he designed Goku not as a monkey like Sun Wukong, but as a human-looking boy with a monkey tail.^[6] Toriyama later developed the story to where Goku was an extraterrestrial called a Saiya-jin (an anagram of yasai; meaning "vegetable") from a planet named Bejita ("Vegeta" in English translations).

Born Kakarotto (カカロット, Kakarotto^?), a member of the Saiyan race, Goku was sent to Earth from his home planet to prepare it for sale on the galactic market. Due to an odd incident that caused him severe amnesia, Goku forgets his purpose and grows up to become one of the Earth's greatest defenders. As the series continues, several of Goku's later enemies are characters in which have indirect connections to his past. One of these enemies is his race's prince, named Vegeta; and later the galactic over lord Freeza, who had exterminated Goku's race in fear of their growing power.^[7]

As the series continues, the focus on Goku's past is shifted as new enemies are introduced simply as threats to the universe. After his encounter with Freeza, Goku trains his son Gohan to be his sucessor, and accepts his fate during his battle with the "perfect warrior" named Cell. Goku returns several years later from the afterlife to battle an alien genie named Majin Buu who threatens to destroy the universe. After Goku realizes that Gohan's focuses are on education, Goku defeats Majin Buu and trains Majin Buu's human reincarnate to succeed him as the Earth's greatest defender.

Goku is usually recognized by his uniquely styled hair, which never changes its length throughout the series except when in his Super Saiyan forms. This is explained by Vegeta to be a common characteristic of full-blooded Saiyans. ^[8] Due to his devotion to Earth, Goku prefers dressing in a gi, and has refused offers to adorn the Saiyan battle armor, being that he considers himself an Earthling.^[9] In Dragon Ball, Goku is first seen wearing a full-body outfit with a belt, wristbands, and shoes.^[10] In Dragon Ball Z, his most common uniform consists of a full-body outfit with a short-sleeved undershirt, a belt, wristbands, and striped boots. Goku is often seen to adorn the kanji of his training masters; the first kanji being Muten Roshi's, "kame" (meaning "turtle"),^[11] the second kanji being North Kaio's,^[12] and the third being his own kanji.^[13] Eventually he stops wearing a kanji.^[14] In Dragon Ball GT his uniform changes to a sleeveless shirt, a belt, wristbands, pants, and shoes.^[15]

Through constant training, Goku has achieved many abilities, such as super strength, super speed and the ability to fly using one's chi energy. Goku's signature technique is a chi energy blast called the Kamehameha, which he learned from Muten Roshi.^[16] Another signature technique of his is an attack that multiplies the user's chi for an instant, called the Kaio-ken, taught to him by North Kaio.^[17] Goku's most powerful attack is the Genki Dama, a sphere created by gathering chi energy, which he also learned from North Kaio.^[18] Goku also learns a teleportation skill called Shunkan Ido, which he learned from the inhabitants of a fictional planet called Yardrat.^[19]

Goku is also the only Saiyan in the entire series to achieve all the Saiyan transformations seen in the manga. In the Dragon Ball manga and anime series, he was able to transform into a gigantic ape called an Oozaru, albeit after his Saiyan tail was permanently removed by Kami, he no longer could achieve this form.^[20]

In Dragon Ball Z, Goku is the first Saiyan to achieve the fabled Super Saiyan state in over a millennium.^[21] He ascended to Super Saiyan after being overcome with rage by the murder of Krillin by the hand of Frieza.^[22] After several years of training with his Super Saiyan form, Goku completely overcomes the negative characteristics of the transformation in order to combat Cell. After his death against Cell, Goku continues his training in the Other world for seven years, and achieves both Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3.^[23]

In Dragon Ball GT, he achieves the final Saiyan transformation, Super Saiyan 4.

Gyumao

Grandpa Son Gohan

Burdock

adoptive grandfather ->

Chichi

Son Goku

Raditz

Mr. Satan

Son Goten

Son Gohan

Videl

Pan

Son Goku Jr.

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Goku is one of the most well-known fictional characters in Japanese culture. Other manga artists such as Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto has stated that Goku inspired his series' main protagonist Naruto Uzumaki. Other artists have stated that their inspiration was drawn from Goku, such as the character Monkey D. Luffy from the One Piece series.^{[citation needed]}.

• Goku has made several appearances in other media including, but not limited to, an unofficial live-action film based on Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies. The movie was produced by Tai Seng video entertainment. The film's protagonist, Monkey Boy, is inspired by Goku.

• Goku is a recurring character in other works by Akira Toriyama, such as frequenting in Toriyama's metaseries Dr. Slump, as well featuring in the self-parody manga Neko Majin Z.

• He has also been depicted in Wizard magazine where he was matched up in a hypothetical battle against Superman; Goku defeated Superman by transforming into a Super Saiyan and overpowering him with the Kamehameha.^[24]

• Goku was a featured character in a single episode crossover of Dragon Ball Z and two other anime, One Piece and Astro Boy.

• Goku and the cast had yet another crossover with One Piece in a jointed one shot manga called Cross Epoch, in which both Akira Toriyama and Eiichiro Oda did the art for their respected characters.

• His latest appearance was as an animated commentator for the Nippon Ijin Taisho made in 2007 ("Japan Great People Awards").

• Goku has appeared in all Dragon Ball video games, as well as Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars.

• Goku made a spoof appearance in Seth Green's Emmy Award winning stop motion series called Robot Chicken. In the episode, Goku and his son fight an evil Mrs. Claus along side Santa's reindeer, in an attempt to save Christmas.

• An official live-action Dragon Ball film is in production and will be released in 2008. Actor Justin Chatwin has been slated to play Goku in the film.

• Goku also appeared in a Japanese showa note commercial, along with Son Gohan and Son Goten, where they advertise school supplies.

In the English dubs of the anime, the voice acting for Goku and many other characters of the series have changed as a result of the series changing dubbing studios and requiring recasting.

Toei Animation

• Masako Nozawa

FUNimation (Ocean Group actors):

• Saffron Henderson (Child Goku in The Saga of Goku)
• Ian James Corlett (Adult Goku in the Saiyan Saga)
• Peter Kelamis (Adult Goku in the Namek Saga)

FUNimation (in-house actors):

• Stephanie Nadolny (Child Goku)
• Sean Schemmel (Adult Goku)

Blue Water (Ocean Group actors):

• Kirby Morrow (Adult Goku)

• Profile at http://www.absoluteanime.com/
• Biography on DBZ Fan

v • d • e Dragon Ball characters
Saiyans	Son Goku · Son Gohan · Vegeta · Future Trunks · Son Goten · Trunks · Pan
Humans	Bulma · Muten Roshi · Yamucha · Kuririn · Tenshinhan
Aliens	Piccolo · Freeza · Majin Buu · Baby
Gero's Experiments	No. 17 · No. 18 · Cell
Character lists	Saiyans · Earthlings · Extraterrestrials · Supernatural beings