Who are the "nakama" of Dragon Ball?

[GreggMays64]

Almost every Shonen fighting series almost has a main character and their buddies. Luffy has Zoro, Nami, Ussop, Sanji, Chopper, Nico Robin, Franky, and Brook. Naruto has Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten, Shikamaru, Choiji, and Ino. Who do you count as Goku's buddies?

I would say the Z-Fighters, and I mean the main ones. Not people like Yajirobe. I say Yamcha, Kuririn, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, Piccolo, Gohan, Vegeta, Trunks, and Goten. If you want to include Dragon Ball GT, Oob and Pan.

I wouldn't really throw Bulma as just a minor character, but rather she's what the human characters from Transformers are to the Transformers like Spike. She is more like Spike, since Spike is one of the main ones. She may not be a Z-Fighter, but she's one of the most important characters of Dragon Ball.

Master Roshi isn't one, but rather just a mentor. He's like Kakashi, or Shanks.

Now you could say the Trunks from the future, he is a Z-Fighter of his time. But as for the present day ones, he kind of is, not really. Once he left, the present Trunks just fills in that role. It's hard to explain.

While Kenshiro's buddies get killed off in Fist of the North Star most of the time, the ones here usually just retire and go on with their daily lives.

[Cipher]

I wouldn't really throw Bulma as just a minor character, but rather she's what the human characters from Transformers are to the Transformers like Spike. She is more like Spike, since Spike is one of the main ones.

... She eventually forms the head to one of the most powerful Z-warriors?

But seriously, is this just one of those threads about this strange fetishization of the word "nakama" I occasionally hear about? Is this something One Piece started?

I ... ug. Goku's friend's are pretty much what you see in the series. I suppose his main buddies would be the core set of what the narrator occasionally refers to as "Z-warriors": Goku, Kuririn, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, Piccolo, etc.

But honestly, Goku's kind of a dick and doesn't put much effort into his relationships. Bulma and Kuririn are probably the closest things he has to real best friends, although he doesn't see either particularly often and the former even seems a bit one-sided. Vegeta and Piccolo also have the distinction of, if not necessarily being great friends with Goku, maintaining his attention and respect throughout his life. And of course he continues to respect his various masters even after surpassing them (Kame-Sennin, Karin, Mr. Popo, Kami, Kaiou).

But who are his "nakama"? Well, um, anyone he works alongside or respects at any point of the series, if you aren't attaching undue value to the word. That's everyone from Upa to Mr. Satan to Si Xing-Long. Also, apostrophes don't pluralize. Apostrophes don't pluralize. Apostrophes do not ever pluralize in any situation.

[VegettoEX]

Goku's friend's are pretty much

Also, apostrophes don't pluralize. Apostrophes don't pluralize. Apostrophes do not ever pluralize in any situation.

Couldn't help myself ^_~.

Otherwise, everything you just said. Ditto.

[GreggMays64]

Came from the One Piece thing, but I put quotations marks around it. I don't think I even actually used "nakama" throughout the whole threat.

My bad with adding the "s" though.

[Cipher]

Couldn't help myself ^_~.

Otherwise, everything you just said. Ditto.

Haha, wow. I'm an asshole. Completely called for.

[Kid Buu]

I think if you just go with the Z portion of the series, the nakama is King Kai.

[TripleRach]

To put the "nakama" thing into perspective, the first volume of the manga has "Son Gokuu to Nakama-tachi" ("Son Gokuu and Friends/Allies/etc") as its title. In those particular chapters (1-11), the only major allies he has are Blooma and Oolong, plus Umigame as a temporary traveling companion, Kamesennin as a really helpful person, and Gyuumaou as a sort of ally.

Daizenshuu 7's character section starts off with a giant chart that categorizes characters by their relationship to Gokuu, and IIRC there's a "nakama" section that includes dozens of characters (everyone from Yamcha to Upa to one-off villager kids).

So the series and its supplemental material classifies "nakama" about the same way Cipher did. Everyone who's ever been on Gokuu's side. And I think that's pretty accurate, considering his social skills (or lack thereof) and the meaning of the word.

Personally, I agree with that kind of broad classification, because different people have different levels of relevance at different points in the series. You tried to write off Yajirobe, but he was a very important ally during the Piccolo arc, and fairly important in the Saiyan arc too. Meanwhile Chaozu rarely interacts with anyone besides Tenshinhan, and he isn't much more active as a fighter than Yajirobe is.

For a series like One Piece, it's easier to narrow it down because you have a specific set of crew members at any given time. But in Dragon Ball, the main cast is always changing with the plot. Old characters fall to the background, and new characters come to prominence.

[GreggMays64]

To put the "nakama" thing into perspective, the first volume of the manga has "Son Gokuu to Nakama-tachi" ("Son Gokuu and Friends/Allies/etc") as its title. In those particular chapters (1-11), the only major allies he has are Blooma and Oolong, plus Umigame as a temporary traveling companion, Kamesennin as a really helpful person, and Gyuumaou as a sort of ally.

Daizenshuu 7's character section starts off with a giant chart that categorizes characters by their relationship to Gokuu, and IIRC there's a "nakama" section that includes dozens of characters (everyone from Yamcha to Upa to one-off villager kids).

So the series and its supplemental material classifies "nakama" about the same way Cipher did. Everyone who's ever been on Gokuu's side. And I think that's pretty accurate, considering his social skills (or lack thereof) and the meaning of the word.

Personally, I agree with that kind of broad classification, because different people have different levels of relevance at different points in the series. You tried to write off Yajirobe, but he was a very important ally during the Piccolo arc, and fairly important in the Saiyan arc too. Meanwhile Chaozu rarely interacts with anyone besides Tenshinhan, and he isn't much more active as a fighter than Yajirobe is.

For a series like One Piece, it's easier to narrow it down because you have a specific set of crew members at any given time. But in Dragon Ball, the main cast is always changing with the plot. Old characters fall to the background, and new characters come to prominence.

Like I said, I view the Z-Fighters as being the main ones. I put Chaozu on there because he is a Z-Fighter. He's always in these group shots with everyone. There are the Z-Fighters, and there are the support characters like Bulma, Chi-Chi, and there are mentors like Master Roshi.

Main Fighters
-Goku
-Yamcha
-Kuririn
-Tenshinhan
-Chaozu
-Piccolo
-Gohan
-Trunks
-Goten

Support
-Bulma
-Oolong
-Puar

Mentors
-Master Roshi

That's obviously not all of them.

I see Yajirobe as being in a group of his own. He starts off as such, but then becomes Karin's guardian of some sorts. He also helped greatly in the Saiyan arc when he slashed off Vegeta's tail.

[Fox666]

Naruto has Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten, Shikamaru, Choiji, and Ino.

I don't think most of these counts (especially Tenten). The protagonists would be Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi. While Kakashi is their master, he had important participation in the adventures ever since the first story arc. Mid-way to the manga Sai could be included as a protagonist and perhaps Yamato too.

Dragon Ball is hard to tell, mostly because it change from arc to arc.

Pilaf saga:
- Goku
- Bulma
- Oolong
- Yamcha
- Puar

21st Budokai saga:
- Goku
- Kuririn
- Yamcha
- Kame-sennin / Jackie Shun

Red Ribbon saga:
- Goku
- Bulma
- Kuririn

Uranai Baba saga:
- Goku
- Kuririn
- Yamcha
- Puar
- Upa

22nd Budokai saga:
- Goku
- Kuririn
- Yamcha
- Kame-sennin / Jackie Shun

Piccolo Daimao saga:
- Goku
- Kuririn
- Tenshinhan
- Chaozu
- Yajirobe
- Kame-sennin

23rd Budokai saga:
- Goku
- Kuririn
- Yamcha
- Tenshinhan
- Chaozu
- Yajirobe
- Chi-chi
- Kami-sama

Saiyan saga:
- Goku
- Kuririn
- Piccolo
- Gohan
- Yamcha
- Tenshinhan
- Chaozu
- Yajirobe

Namek saga:
- Goku
- Bulma
- Kuririn
- Piccolo
- Gohan
- Vegeta
- Dende

Cell saga:
- Goku
- Kuririn
- Piccolo
- Gohan
- Vegeta
- Trunks

Majin Boo saga:
- Goku
- Piccolo
- Gohan
- Vegeta
- Trunks
- Goten
- Mr. Satan
- Good Majin Boo

[Piccolo Daimao]

I don't know why anyone needs to ask. It's pretty obvious. I don't know what there's any need to categorize it either.

[Kid Buu]

Seriously? No one else thinks King Kai?

Total bros, they even died together.

[Silver Sinspawn]

I'm sorry, I'm going to show a complete lack of knowledge here, what is a "Nakama"?

[VegettoEX]

I'm sorry, I'm going to show a complete lack of knowledge here, what is a "Nakama"?

It's just a word (仲間) that means "friend" (and all of its associated meanings, such as "comrade"). Someone with a deeper knowledge of the language can go a little bit further with how it differs from 友達 (tomodachi), but yeah: "friend".

The only reason it's even "a thing" is due to very specific One Piece anime fansubs. Kaizoku, for whatever reason (which I guess we can get into), left the term untranslated in their subtitles. Instead of a line coming on-screen as something like, "We are comrades!", it would be "We are nakama!"

If Kaizoku themselves ever put out an "official statement" on why they did it, I don't know. I can only comment on what OTHER folks have said. Apologists of the untranslated word in OP-specific subtitles have claimed that the word has a "deeper meaning" with regard to that show and that cast of characters, and simply translating it as "friend" (or some other variant) just doesn't bring out said deeper meaning.

(Personally, I think that's horse-shit, but whatever. The conversation gets really fun from there, when you start talking about "All according to keikaku!")

It goes beyond just the online, text-only apologists, too. The very next Otakon after FUNimation announced the license rescue of the show from 4Kids, a bratty chick walked up to the microphone during the Q&As at their panel and blurted, "So how are you going to handle 'nakama'?" I think it was just Lance Heiskell and/or some other marketing reps up there, so they didn't really know the intricacies of the translations and its baggage, so they gave a polite but noncommittal answer of "We'll check into that and get back to you folks." So what does the girl do? "Yeah, good luck with that!"... and walks away.

And that's why I'll never entertain a single conversation from another "nakama"-apologist -- 'cuz you're clearly rude, bat-shit crazy idiots in real-life, too.

[Michsi]

I think I have read somewhere (TVTropes?) that there really isn't a deeper meaning to the japanese word and that it's the western fans that perceive it as such.

[VegettoEX]

Well, there wouldn't be a separate word if it didn't have some kind of minute difference from a word that already existed -- just like we have "friend" and "buddy" and "pal" and "companion" and "comrade" and "ally" and "peer" and "colleague", which all have the same base meaning (somehow working in tandem with you, be it just emotionally or up through a professional level, in a helpful and mutually-beneficial way).

The thing is, there are words (many of which I just listed) which could be used to translate "nakama" depending on the context of the word's use (who's saying it, to whom they're saying it, with what conviction they're saying it, etc.). Kaizoku just chose not to.

[Michsi]

The thing is, there are words (many of which I just listed) which could be used to translate "nakama" depending on the context of the word's use (who's saying it, to whom they're saying it, with what conviction they're saying it, etc.).

It's basically what I meant to say. The term nakama doesn't automatically imply "a deep connection", since I'm pretty sure I have seen it being used when referring to work colleagues at some point.

But I think it's well on it's way to becomimg something of a loanword amoung the western fans since I've seen it being left untranslated in others works too.

[Fox666]

"Comrade" is probably what would suit One Piece the best.

[SHINOBI-03]

When they say "nakama", I go for "comrade" instead of "friend", since "friend" in Japanese is "tomodachi" (友達) (ともだち). Unless "nakama" means the same thing as well.

[Kiddo626]

I think I have read somewhere (TVTropes?) that there really isn't a deeper meaning to the japanese word and that it's the western fans that perceive it as such.

Yeah, I even remember TV Tropes actually changing the trope from "nakama" to "true companions" so it could better portray the definition without limiting it to just anime. I always thought it was just a way for creators to make deep character bonds without it necessarily getting romantic.

[Silver Sinspawn]

Well, in that case, it'd be apparent that the "Z-fighters" are Goku's nakama. Those being Gohan, Vegeta, Trunks, Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien. Not so much Chaozu or Roshi, nor Uub and Pan, simply because the others were with Goku for a much longer period of time, whereas Chaozu and Roshi pretty much gave up, along with Uub and Pan only doing things in GT.
EDIT: Also Bulma, if we count non-fighters