Is Goku x Chi-Chi a total sham of a relationship?

[DBZAOTA482]

Nowadays, there's so much hatred towards the pairing Goku x Chi-Chi. Granted the haters have always existed but ever since Super came with shit like Goku not knowing what kissing is or that he was never there for Chi-Chi when she was pregnant, it's been an all-time high. Many even going as far as to call it the worst couple in all of Dragon Ball.

Problems start with the couple even as far as the beginning. It all started when Goku patted Chi-Chi's crotch where she felt she must become his bride and they agreed (with Gyumao's consent) that Goku will take her hand in the future even though Goku didn't truly understand what the agreement was for. It's only after Chi-Chi confronts him about the promise 7 years later that he learns the truth, but a promise is a promise, he still goes along with it.

Although that's where it begins, the problems don't root from there...

Goku

Even though Goku is the main character, he's not blameless either. Goku also gets a bad rep for being a neglectful father and husband as he tends to be gone for up to years on end but fans don't consider that he had no control over that. Most of the time he was either dead or gravely injured trying to protect them. The only time him being gone can arguably be held against him is when he stayed at Yadrat for a year (the time it took for him to learn one technique, which came quite in handy in the long-run) or when he flew off to train with Oob on a whim (even though he does promise he'll visit regularly). You can argue him not wanting to work is a bad thing but for someone who never grew up with money at all, it's more than likely he just doesn't understand the importance of financing. For all its flaws, Super does have him eventually get a job albeit at Chi-Chi's behest, which it at least shows he's willing to do something he doesn't necessarily enjoy for his family's well-being.

The most disappointing about this though is how people would take any statement that puts Goku's abilities as a family man into question at face value like the infamous interviews where Toriyama implies Goku doesn't love his family or care for anything really besides fighting, which is bull considering how he was to his family in early DBZ and while he was motivated by getting stronger, he always fought for the sake of others even people he barely knows like Upa (also I don't see how people can take what Toriyama says seriously anymore).

Chi-Chi

Chi-Chi gets a bad reputation for being an overbearing mother often getting labeled as a "Tiger mom", but considering her family situation it shouldn't be that hard to see why she would be like that- Her husband doesn't work, her father (from what little we see of him) is super lenient, she probably can't get a job of her own due to a lack of formal education (she was also raised in seclusion), and her children are regularly on the front-lines for life-or-death battles against planet-busting psychopaths even as early as the age of 4 (when they've barely grown out of diapers). She was a martial artist herself (and an incredibly talented one at that) but gave it all up so she can raise a family yet nothing in the story even implies that she's justified in being angry at Goku or her fate. In fact, she's portrayed as selfish and a nag, but what's so selfish about wanting your family to be safe and united... simple things that is promised and owed to her? She never made demands of being treated like royalty. Not to mention she does everything- the bills, child-rearing, housekeeping, cooking, etc. She even comes to accept her children will be a part of her husband's fighting business and never holds a grudge against Goku for leaving the family behind or even consider remarrying, but apparently it's not good enough for the story so we get these people who pair Goku with other women so they can enable him or just because they hate Chi-Chi.

The worst part about it is that these people get defending in all this and if you don't agree to "canon" such as "She trapped Goku into marriage", "She abuses her family", or "She's a gold-digger" or what she does is bad, you may be labeled as a fanboy or a white-knight. They would also bring up how Toriyama "hates" her as if he views her as the most despicable thing.

[RandomGuy96]

Relevant, from the the now-banned hleV's abridged manga:

[OhHiRenan]

Their relationship isn’t a sham in the slightest. The anime plays up Chichi’s negative qualities through filler and the fandom likes to push the idea that Goku doesn’t really care all that much about his family, but everything in the series implies that Goku and Chichi care about each other quite deeply.

Considering how excited she is to see Goku in the Boo arc, outright crying when he shows up at the 25th Budokai, I don’t think I have to say much else on how she feels.

As for Goku, he brings up Chichi in conversation a lot over the course of the series. While he never outright says he loves her or anything overt like that, it’s obvious he cares about her and keeps her in mind quite often. Super pushes this idea even further by giving him a moment of pure rage when he finds out that Goku Black killed Chichi and Goten in another timeline.

Their relationship isn’t conventional, and they’re both fairly independent from one another, but they nonetheless have a strong foundation and clearly love one another.

[ABED]

I think they care for each other but it's not nearly as deep as you claim. He doesn't seem to love her more than he loves his other friends even though he lives with her. Their courtship is non-existent. He marries her because only because he promised he would even though he thought it meant food. And Chichi's entire idea of romance came from society, magazines, movies, etc. I don't think she in love with Goku. She's in love with being in love.

I wouldn't call it a sham, but it's not romantic in the least. Out of all the fictional romantic relationships I've watched, this would rank towards the bottom of the list.

[jjgp1112]

ABED pretty much hit the nail on the head. Chi-Chi dove headfirst into marriage because she was obsessed with finding a husband and latched onto Goku to be that at an early age, and Goku was like "Yeah, sure fine." because that's just who he is.

Goku clearly loves Chi-Chi but he doesn't really have much of an understanding of what love is and the nature of familial relationships. To him, they're his close blood whom he lives with, and that's why he sees no fault in just randomly leaving for long periods of time to train. Like when he told Gohan, "You're a better hero than I am anyway; you don't need me around!"

[KBABZ]

Probably also worth noting that, since Toriyama doesn't really like writing any kind of romance, he never really covers it to begin with. Many loving relationships in Dragon Ball seem to suffer from a lack of decent exposure, not just Goku/Chi-Chi. Vegeta/Bulma for example happens almost entirely off-screen (both the pairing that results in Trunks and Vegeta settling down with her post-Cell), as do any developments between Bulma/Yamcha outside of the original arc (for a while it felt like any time skip was also the chance to invert their on again/off again status). Gohan and Videl gets a fair amount of coverage due to the high school angle, but once again things like their marriage aren't directly covered, much like Goku and Chi-Chi's.

My guess is that Toriyama wrote the story such that it allows the audience to assume it's a more "normal" relationship when it isn't on the page/screen (or at least as normal as it can be for these characters).

[Kataphrut]

I've always interpreted Goku and Chi-Chi's relationship as being the type of marriage you see in a lot of real-world rural couples. While there's almost always a bit of passion at the start, it's more a marriage of convenience than anything else, which is why they stay together even when there's no real connection. He just brings home the bacon, she's the one who cooks it. They have a few kids, then get on with their lives.

[TheZFighter]

Not sure what you can expect from a relationship between a human and a full-blooded alien really.

[VegettoEX]

Please check the responses in the countless prior threads you've made about this subject matter.