


To be creative with the idea of Sun Wukong, Toriyama designed Goku as a human boy with a monkey's tail, rather than a complete simian, because the tail would give the character a distinguishing feature.

The character Goku is based on Sun Wukong (Son Goku in Japanese), the central character of the Chinese novel Journey to the West. As a result, Toriyama was angered when the anime adaptations of Dragon Ball started portraying Goku as more heroic than his manga counterpart. According to Toriyama, Goku is more of a selfish person than a hero as his main interest in the story is to fight strong opponents rather than protecting the innocent. With the conclusion of the Cell arc, Gohan was intended to replace his father as the protagonist, but Toriyama later decided that Gohan was unsuitable for the role. I suppose Goku and Bulma are representative of that." He further added that "as a child, Goku doesn't know anything, so without Bulma, he'd be a character who didn't say anything." Toriyama mentioned Torishima wanted Goku to form a relationship with Bulma, but this was never applied to the series. In my case, I feel that it isn't good to insert too much narration. īulma and Goku were the first pair of characters which were introduced in the manga and Toriyama stated that he subsequently introduced other characters in pairs because "that way, I'm able to explain the characters and their relationship to each other through their interactions. The original inspiration were Hong Kong martial arts films, including those by Bruce Lee such as Enter the Dragon (1973) and by Jackie Chan such as Drunken Master (1978) Toriyama said he had a young Chan in mind for a live-action Goku, stating that "nobody could play Goku but him." Goku uses a variety and hybrid of East Asian martial arts styles, including Karate and Wing Chun ( Kung fu). In this story, the protagonist looks similar to Goku, but has a pair of wings.
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Goku, and Dragon Ball in general, evolved from one of Akira Toriyama's earlier one-shot series called Dragon Boy. Goku's critical reception has been largely positive. Most Western audiences were introduced to the adult version of Goku appearing in the Dragon Ball Z anime, itself an adaptation of Dragon Ball manga volumes 17–42, as opposed to his initial child form, due to the limited success of the first series overseas. Outside the Dragon Ball franchise, Goku has made cameo appearances in Toriyama's self-parody series Neko Majin Z, has been the subject of other parodies, and has appeared in special events. Due to the series' international popularity, Goku became one of the most recognizable and iconic manga/anime characters worldwide. Grandpa Gohan's kindness and teachings help to further influence Goku, who later on names his first son Gohan in honor of him.Īs the protagonist of Dragon Ball, Goku appears in most of the episodes, films, television specials and OVAs of the manga's anime adaptations ( Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z) and sequels ( Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super), as well as many of the franchise's video games.
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The boy is initially full of violence and aggression due to his Saiyan nature, until an accidental head injury turns him into a cheerful, carefree person. 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. As Goku grows up, he becomes the Earth's mightiest warrior and battles a wide variety of villains with the help of his friends and family, while also gaining new allies in the process.īorn as a member of the Saiyan race on Planet Vegeta, under the name Kakarot, he is sent to Earth as an infant prior to his homeworld's destruction at the hands of Frieza (ordered by Beerus ).

Along the way, he finds new friends who follow him on his journey to become a stronger fighter. He meets Bulma and joins her on a journey to find the seven wish-granting Dragon Balls. Goku is introduced as an eccentric, monkey-tailed boy who practices martial arts and possesses superhuman strength. Goku made his debut in the first Dragon Ball chapter, Bulma and Son Goku, originally published in Japan's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on December 3, 1984. He is based on Sun Wukong (known as Son Goku in Japan and Monkey King in the West), a main character of the classic 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West, combined with influences from the Hong Kong martial arts films of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Son Goku is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama. Jeremiah Yurk (Blue Water adult and SSJ4 ).Nesty Ramirez (Creative Products Corp.).Apollo Abraham (Creative Products Corp.
