Does Goku play up his innocence and ignorance?

[vilker]

He's not dumb, he's just ignorant to certain things because he grew up alone. DBS hit the nail on the thumb and made him straight dumb.

Chichi did such a nice job teaching him how to live decently. She was so patient, caring and loving. Goku was lucky to find her as a wife.

But seriously, try to look at this scientifically (I did go to exact sciences uni) whenever they state that Goku hit his head and that is how he got rid of the evil saiyan part of his brain, it is safe to assume that he suffered brain damage in an specific area, meaning that some neurons died and therefore he lost them... He is not dumb... but by not having his entire brain, he is more like Forest Gump, maybe a little smarter than that.

I completely disagree with the Forrest Gump comparison and the "incapacitating brain damage" diagnosis.

First of all, any theory based on Dragon Ball Super needs to be thrown out the window. DBS completely assassinated Goku's character, flanderizing him into a brainless, irresponsible clown for cheap laughs. That series is an insult to the mature, battle-hardened genius we saw at the end of the original manga, and using it as a baseline to analyze Goku's psyche is a massive mistake.

Looking strictly at the original work, the reality of Goku's mind is very different:

1. A biological reset, not a lobotomy
The head trauma didn't cause cognitive impairment or destroy his reasoning. It simply wiped out his innate, aggressive Saiyan programming. It was a biological "factory reset" of his violent instincts, leaving a blank slate to absorb Grandpa Gohan's teachings, not brain damage.

2. Tactical genius over formal education
Lacking academic studies does not equal an intellectual deficit. Goku grew up completely isolated in the mountains. He is an absolute prodigy in his field: martial arts and Ki manipulation. He reads opponents, builds strategies in milliseconds, and masters techniques in seconds that take masters decades to learn. He doesn't care about earthly societal norms or bureaucracy, so he simply doesn't waste mental energy on them. He isn't incapable of understanding them; he actively ignores what doesn't interest him.

3. Respect is earned, not imposed
His refusal to bow to kings or deities isn't due to a lack of social intelligence, but rather his strict value system. For Goku, hierarchical titles mean absolutely nothing. Respect is earned on the battlefield through actions and true power. Why should he show submission to the King of Earth when he regularly fights entities that threaten the entire universe? Those authority figures simply aren't in his league, and he sees no logical reason to fake a reverence he doesn't feel.

Goku is not a child in a man's body lacking half his brain; he is a tactical genius with an extremely specific compass of interests and a purely meritocratic value system.

[Yuli Ban]

I think you can make an argument either way, but I'm curious on what the forum thinks. Does Goku purposefully make himself look dumber at certain points to fool his friends or enemies for a laugh, or is he genuinely acting on ignorance/innocence at every point?

If so, which certain scenes can you point to?

To some extent, sure, but Son Goku is basically a godlike Wong Fei-Hung from Drunken Master
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdWkILRWGP8
Not exceptionally bright, always hungry, not a superhero, but just interested in doing the right thing while practicing his kung fu.
But the way media works, well, I don't want to link to TV Tropes, but we all know the one. The longer any work runs on and the more writers come on for it, or the less material writers can come up for it, the more likely we come across that wonderful ol' Flanderization effect.
(Funny as fuck, I myself did the same thing unconsciously with one of my own works, to myself no less since I've never shared it widely, so the "Flanderization doesn't exist" argument falls flat with me especially)

In Super they played up his idiocy to cartoon levels, which is just classic Flanderization but also something loads of hotblooded fighting/martial arts shōnen works do because "idiot boy lead" is seen as more relatable or funnier (which is certainly not unique to them, nor necessarily the default since being overly intelligent and perceptive is its own trope; take all the Columbos and Sherlocks and Lelouches)

But if he was written more consistently, I'd put him closer to "not booksmart in the slightest, uninterested in academic pursuits, more focused on martial arts and that world" which makes him seem dimwitted to people who actually care or are fully versed and immersed in normal human interaction. He keeps his mind pure and focused on martial arts, which makes it difficult to corrupt him, and that's what can throw off other characters who could, with other characters, appeal to more conventional desires. Him being less educated than others doesn't make him better than more educated fighters per se (Gohan literally matches and surpasses him regularly and the timeline where he did become a pure largely uneducated warrior is the one where he died face-down in a puddle not even reaching his father's level) but it does make him more single-mindedly focused on martial artistry which is what helps keep him going forward.

In theory, that sounds like great characterization. "Goku doesn't care about money or sex or saving the world really or else he'd capitalize on his superpowered martial artistry like Gohan or sentai-type warriors" and a lot of Goku's best moments showcase that he is, no matter his battle power or hair color, still a simple-minded (in the good sense) martial artist.
Often in practice, especially with late-stage Toriyama and a lot of Toei's less inspired writers, what that actually means is

Spoiler: