Did Goku kickstart his Character Archetype?

[Gonstead]

We know for a fact that modern day manga authors such as Masashi Kishimoto and Eiichiro Oda have stated that they took inspiration from Akira Toriyama and Dragon Ball into their works, specifically Naruto and One Piece respectively. Both main characters of both series obviously use traits similar to that of Son Goku.

1. Naive or not necessarily smart
2. Lives a mostly carefree life
3. A certain aspect of the person that differentiates them from normal people (Naruto hosting the 9-Tailed Fox, Luffy's Gum Gum Fruit powers)
4. Holds specific morals in regards to killing or doing bad things in general
5. Loves a specific type or brand of food (Optional)
6. Has a friend who holds darker / opposite views of said character (Optional)

I thought it'd only be isolated to these two but after a recent rewatch of Trigun, I noticed most, if not all of these qualities also apply to it's main character 'Vash the Stampede' as well.

So this got me thinking: Did Goku help start his character archetype or are there examples I am unaware of who came before him? Also would be cool if anyone can list others who fall into this as well.

[ekrolo2]

Goku definitely popularized it although I can't say for sure if he's really the first of his breed.

[Chuquita]

Honestly I feel like Gokû took a good chunk from Arale (though he's not as outgoing as her). If you read Dr. Slump and then the start of DB, Bulma and Gokû play off each other similarly to Senbei and Arale.

[voltlunok]

Eh kinda sorta. The Naive, carefree, kind hearted fighter has been around before Goku but they were usually secondary characters or such. I think Goku helped popularize the idea of having this kind of character be the main hero rather then the hero's friend though. Specially in an age where a lot of the main characters of shows were stuff like Kenshiro or Ryoma Nagare, the 'super badass' as one would say. I think Goku inspired a lot of characters in different ways, I can definately see a little bit of Goku in the likes of Yoh Asakura from Shaman King, the naive attitude and the care free lifestyle sure but I think when you get beyond that they split off completely. Yoh's lazy and dislikes training (Only doing it out of fear of Anna.) while Goku is always active and training it seems.

[FortuneSSJ]

Yes, he's the one.

[Naughty Kinto Un]

You know, a bit hazy, but I remember having read about a Japanese folklore archetype which fit the first four — maybe even five — in your list. Empty headed, stubborn, very strong, and usually a peasant, if I remember correctly. Somebody here who actually knows about this kind of stuff could correct me on this, and perhaps give a more thorough description. It could just be my memory playing tricks on me. Did a little searching, and only Golden Boy Kintaro (not from that hilarious anime) comes closest to what I'm thinking of, but I'm pretty sure it's not him.

Otherwise, I think Benta from Tezuka's Phoenix "Turbulent Times/Civil War" volumes might be an early manga example of the archetype you're describing.

[Lord Beerus]

Yeah, in my opinion Goku was the trendsetter of character archetype common of the protagonist for a shonen anime. And it wasn't just in how he acted, it was also in how he was designed. Goku's funky looking hair and the orange/blue colour scheme of his outfit inspired an entire generation of shonen protagonists in their choice of wardrobe and hairstyle (Toriko, Naruto, Yugi Motou etc.)

[Xeztin]

Goku's characteristics and personality definitely lives on in other characters, One Piece and Naruto are the main streams, but I've noticed Magi and Black Clover among many other's have adopted these traits and archetype. There may have been characters before Goku like this, but I think Goku is the first character to capitalize on this and really stand out. He is very believable as a hero and for many it's refreshing when put up against characters like Batman. In my opinion Dragon Ball as a whole is the fore-father of most manga today, and without it or Goku, Naruto and One Piece more than likely wouldn't exist. Like Lord Beerus above said, not only was Goku's archetype very inspirational to modern manga, but the Goofy hair, and appearance is too. Yu-Gi-Oh! probably has some of the craziest hair styles of all time, but I think Yugi's is closest to Goku, as it was the original series after all.

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

We had this same question a month or two ago. Everyone came to the conclusion that Goku did indeed start his character type.

/thread?

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

I know for sure Goku's Z character started the Shounen Protagonist cliche's on a lead being:
- The over-eater.
- Headstrong but Unsophisticated.
- Perpetually Hapy-go-Lucky & Never Gives up or looks back on past mistakes.
- Oblivious and unsocially too casual.
- Carefree & Unnaturally optimistic when losing.
- Cockiness & Urge to fight stronger opponents to push limits.
- Making friends with old enemies.
- Rubs Index-Finger under nose when excited with gaping smile.
- Strongest character on team, most of the time.

It's literally now the Shounen protagonist checklist.

[precita]

Both Goku and Vegeta kickstarted the shonen archetype re-used by every show ever.

[Kamiccolo9]

Didn't Kunzait's Wuxia thread pretty much show us that these archetypes have existed for hundreds of years? I'm no expert in Eastern literature, but even without that huge megapost I can think of quite a few characters that Goku draws influences from, rather than him beginning his own archetype.

[Kunzait_83]

Didn't Kunzait's Wuxia thread pretty much show us that these archetypes have existed for hundreds of years?

Hundreds, if not thousands of years depending on the archetype in question.

As noted in said-megapost, the (glares in Herms' and Kei's direction) martial arts/fantasy genre that would MANY centuries later be retroactively known and labeled more broadly as Wuxia has its earliest known origins in roughly 200/300 BC. The character archetype that Goku very clearly stems from/embodies, the Youxia (a martial artist Knight Errant, or wandering challenge-seeking warrior), is actually THE earliest ever known major Wuxia archetype which traces its roots back to the earliest known Wuxia poetry from its medieval origins (back when the genre in general was more simply known as Youxia, named for the character type that it largely centered on then).

The thing is, Goku is very obviously predicated on a much later and very distinctively reinterpreted incarnation of the archetype from the earliest known form of it. In the earliest medieval Youxia poetry, Youxia tended to often be extremely regal, stoic, cultured/worldly, and embodying a hugely romanticized sense of nobility and chivalry. It was more in somewhat LATER Wuxia tales (I'd have to actually research more to pin down an exact or rough factual date to when exactly this started, but I can't imagine it'd have been any later than mid-10th century-ish if I had to take a wild stab in the dark: don't quote me on that though obviously) where the Youxia archetype expanded to also encompass a distinctly different, opposing type of the character with all the same core fundamentals (highly dedicated, wandering martial artist who constantly seeks new/stronger opponents and longs to test and improve their skills, while even sometimes helping innocents in need along the way) but who come instead from a much more rural, less cultured background, are far less serious-minded and more brightly spirited and energetic, are naive and uncultured to the ways of larger civilization, etc. making them more relatable and down to earth to an audience of typical Chinese peasants and farmers instead of appealing more stringently to scholarly academics and better educated upper class citizenry.

There have been un-fucking-godly COUNTLESS characters written in this exact, specific mold throughout an incalculable number of works in martial arts/wuxia fiction all throughout the past several hundred years now at the very least, with more modern-media (i.e. film and television) examples pre-dating Goku by more than 40/50 years. Dragon Ball has its share of characters who also more or less embody the older, more "serious" and traditional type of Youxia as well: Tenshinhan, post-assassin period, is a very good example.

Vegeta would at a glance seemingly ALMOST qualify if he didn't have so many thugish, dishonorable, and downright mercenary traits, among other things: for the VAST majority of his time in the series, Vegeta is MUCH more akin to certain kinds of Soldier-ish archetypes in Wuxia, only even starting to sorta resemble a more old-school "regal/serious" Youxia towards the very tail-most end of the series and in some later DB material after he's had his big Boo arc "epiphany" and finally gets his ego in check. Though one could make an argument for Cell arc Vegeta I suppose if one wanted to really stretch it and come at the definition of a Youxia from a certain skewed angle. I would certainly contest that angle as Vegeta at that point still lacks any sense of martial chivalry or honor which is so centrally crucial to the Youxia character archetype... but all that's an ENTIRELY separate, and fairly interesting, discussion/debate in and of itself. In either case, it definitely does NOT apply at all to Saiya-jin or even Freeza arc Vegeta even remotely without question: he's a soldier/thug there through and through, albeit a renegade/disloyal one out to grab power for himself (the character is so singularly defined by his self-centered vanity no matter which part of the series up till near the very end you come at him).

Bleh. I digress. Point is, no Goku's character type is the FURTHEST thing in the fucking universe from having been initially unique or original to him. It'd be like thinking that Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars "invented" and is responsible for the existence of the "wise old mentor who sacrifices himself for the hero/his student" character cliche, its that far off base. This shit goes WAAAAAAAAAY back.

I know the images/gifs make loading it a pain for some people's hardware, but folks seriously: for those who haven't I would strongly, strongly implore you to take at least a CURSORY peak at that Wuxia thread (which I now have linked in my sig for the sake of conveniance). Not to be ego-centric, not to toot my own horn or any of that shit, but simply because a LOT of fucking work went into it and SO much of it is SO fucking relevant to SO many routinely stated opinions and assumptions about DB that are infuriatingly and demonstrably incorrect; don't prove my initial instincts that kept me from doing it for so long to have been correct in that I would go to all that time and effort for basically absolutely nothing at all.

And for god's sake... Shonen is a target demographic, not a fucking genre with fucking tropes. Shonen is manga and anime aimed and marketed at middle school-aged boys: The End. Violence Jack of all fucking things was considered Shonen at one point in time, and that manga was from its very beginnings a pitch dark descent into total post-apocalyptic societal nihilism filled with more graphic rape, genital mutilation, and child murder than a 70's Ruggero Deodato grindhouse movie. Lets not even delve into the utterly bonkers oeuvre of Kazuo Umezu, a sizable chunk of which was also Shonen.

Or for that matter Wild 7, or Space Adventure Cobra, or Area 88, or Venus Wars, or City Hunter, or Silent Mobius, or Guyver, or Rokudenashi Blues, or Fist of the North Star, or COUNTLESS other examples of Shonen that couldn't be further far the hell removed from anything even vaguely to do with insipid, saccharine, regurgitated dogshit like Hunter x Hunter, One Piece, Naruto, Shaman King, Bleach, Soul Eater, the various 'Mon franchises, what have you.

Whatever surface-level plot/character similarities later Shonen mega-franchises seem to share with Dragon Ball can be in large part boiled down to one thing and one thing primarily:



Or in One Piece's/Oda's warped case, lots and lots and LOTS of anti-depressants and Hallmark commercials.

Modern Shonen fandom of the last 15 years has lived and subsisted in a VERY insulated, tiny little bubble that nowhere NEAR enough people have attempted to burst over those years. And that's a WHOLE other can of worms unto itself.

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

Goku's characteristics and personality definitely lives on in other characters, One Piece and Naruto are the main streams, but I've noticed Magi and Black Clover among many other's have adopted these traits and archetype. There may have been characters before Goku like this, but I think Goku is the first character to capitalize on this and really stand out. He is very believable as a hero and for many it's refreshing when put up against characters like Batman. In my opinion Dragon Ball as a whole is the fore-father of most manga today, and without it or Goku, Naruto and One Piece more than likely wouldn't exist. Like Lord Beerus above said, not only was Goku's archetype very inspirational to modern manga, but the Goofy hair, and appearance is too. Yu-Gi-Oh! probably has some of the craziest hair styles of all time, but I think Yugi's is closest to Goku, as it was the original series after all.

I think you're exaggerating a bit. It really isn't anything that revolutionary of a characterization itself but it's just that Goku popularized the attitude as the model for people. On how successful of an icon for the traits in a well received way. Goku's personality became more of a blueprint for emulation rather than it being unique particularly. Call it inspiration to a degree but I think it's more of people wanting to adopt them for their own envisioned characters looking for that success as a protagonist and other authors want to adopt it for their intended audience being shown that it's easy to work with.

[SaiyanZ]

Kunzait's response is on point as always. I think with respect to shonen manga, he did, in a way. The characters most similar to him are Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho and Luffy though, in terms of being undereducated people who love to fight. In fact, Yusuke learns and goes through some of the stuff Goku did in terms of accepting their non-human heritage and learning how to take a life (Goku after blasting Freeza and Yusuke with Doctor; in both respects, neither dies which I think is always funny). Luffy has also been called soft as of late by Doflamingo which I think was an ode to Resurrection 'F' when Oda saw the movie. I think Goku's selfishness though was not something established by him but by Joe Yabuki from Ashita no Joe instead, as far as that trait being in shonen protagonists. Gintoki I feel is similar to Goku too, in terms of being a manchild who slacks when it comes to everyday life, yet is strong. They share a common event in their pasts too.

I honestly don't get why people compare Naruto to Goku. They aren't really alike aside from wearing orange imo, though I guess the killing thing is something they share when Naruto "kills" Pain. Even as series, One Piece and Naruto aren't really that similar to Dragon Ball, something like Yu Yu Hakusho or Hunter x Hunter is more similar imo with their story structure and characters.