Grandpa Gohan by blood?

[eledoremassis02]

I was just think about how Toriyama played with Goku and Piccolo being an alien near the end of Dragon Ball. Clearly, it wasn't the case for early Dragon Ball since its main focus was playing on Journey into the West.

So, at some point, It's easy to assume Grandpa Gohan was Goku's biological Grandfather? Or was Goku still found in the woods? Is there any early interviews with Toriyama discussing this or any back story to Goku pre-Z? I know Toriyama wasn't a very organized thinker in terms of cannon but I wonder if any questions were ever brought up early on.

[GokuHater]

Nope. He never was a biological grandfather. As soon as the second chapter of the manga I think Goku tells Bulma he was found in the woods as a baby by Gohan which prompts Bulma to wonder if he was abandoned.

So you cannot get more official with this

[nineko]

As soon as the second chapter of the manga I think Goku tells Bulma he was found in the woods as a baby by Gohan which prompts Bulma to wonder if he was abandoned.

True, though Goku doesn't imply that his grandfather isn't his actual one, at least not in that scene you rightfully remembered from Chapter 2:


Unless some nuance has been lost in translation, Goku still seems to think his actual grandfather found him.

I'll admit I don't remember the first instance of Goku mentioning that they're not actually related by blood, I think it might have been said by Muten Roshi just a few chapters later? I think he said something like "Gohan found a baby and decided to adopt him", though I can't check that, because only the first three chapters are free to read in the app.

(and as usual, I apologise for the crudely cropped screenshot, I'm always using the aforementioned Shōnen Jump app from my phone)

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

In the Blue Water dub there's a line from the narrator saying "Can Goku knowingly fight his own flesh and blood" when Goku meets grandpa Gohan. This may be in the French dub too, but I don't think any such error was ever made in the Japanese version or manga.

Toriyama has retconned a lot over the years but he was always very consistent with how he wrote Gohan's connection to Goku. From day one Goku was found in the woods, Gohan was never his biological grandfather.

[MasenkoHA]

As soon as the second chapter of the manga I think Goku tells Bulma he was found in the woods as a baby by Gohan which prompts Bulma to wonder if he was abandoned.

True, though Goku doesn't imply that his grandfather isn't his actual one, at least not in that scene you rightfully remembered from Chapter 2:


Unless some nuance has been lost in translation, Goku still seems to think his actual grandfather found him.

I'll admit I don't remember the first instance of Goku mentioning that they're not actually related by blood, I think it might have been said by Muten Roshi just a few chapters later? I think he said something like "Gohan found a baby and decided to adopt him", though I can't check that, because only the first three chapters are free to read in the app.

(and as usual, I apologise for the crudely cropped screenshot, I'm always using the aforementioned Shōnen Jump app from my phone)

That doesn't really suggest he thinks Gohan is his blood relative. Just that the man he calls Grampa found him when his parents abandoned him and decided to keep him.

[GokuHater]

As soon as the second chapter of the manga I think Goku tells Bulma he was found in the woods as a baby by Gohan which prompts Bulma to wonder if he was abandoned.

True, though Goku doesn't imply that his grandfather isn't his actual one, at least not in that scene you rightfully remembered from Chapter 2:


Unless some nuance has been lost in translation, Goku still seems to think his actual grandfather found him.

I'll admit I don't remember the first instance of Goku mentioning that they're not actually related by blood, I think it might have been said by Muten Roshi just a few chapters later? I think he said something like "Gohan found a baby and decided to adopt him", though I can't check that, because only the first three chapters are free to read in the app.

(and as usual, I apologise for the crudely cropped screenshot, I'm always using the aforementioned Shōnen Jump app from my phone)

Yeah... He said that. I think it MAY HAVE been when they visited Gyumao because then I think Rishi learned Goku is Gohan's grandson. Not 100% sure on that though...

As for the line "grandpa found me", I always treated it like Goku saying "this man I grown to love as my grandpa found me" instead of "the actual father of my parents found me".
I don't know how it was in Japanese but I'm from Poland and polish line was also literally "grandpa found me" so I guess this is a fatefull translation

[Hellspawn28]

Grandpa Gohan could have some family memebers that we never seen before. Something that was never brought up.

[jjgp1112]

I mean, the "He found me abandoned in the woods" story should clear that right up, and isn't it fairly common in Japan to refer to close elder figures familially even when unrelated (IE "big brother")?

For people who actually know Japanese, what specific word does Goku use for Gohan? Because I've seen some fan translations even use "Grandpa" for Roshi even though other sources use "Old Timer"

[Dr. Casey]

For people who actually know Japanese, what specific word does Goku use for Gohan? Because I've seen some fan translations even use "Grandpa" for Roshi even though other sources use "Old Timer"

Looking at the Goku/Gohan reunion, he refers to him as Jii-chan, which is also what he calls Roshi. There's probably slightly different context between the two though since he sees Roshi as a father figure but Gohan as actual literal family.

[jjgp1112]

For people who actually know Japanese, what specific word does Goku use for Gohan? Because I've seen some fan translations even use "Grandpa" for Roshi even though other sources use "Old Timer"

Looking at the Goku/Gohan reunion, he refers to him as Jii-chan, which is also what he calls Roshi. There's probably slightly different context between the two though since he sees Roshi as a father figure but Gohan as actual literal family.

Gotcha. So I'd say at best, it's ambiguous until Roshi clarifies. Still, I think the abandoned in the woods backstory makes the situation fairly obvious.