Goten's Age

[bone1994]

At the 25th Tenkaichi Budoukai, Goten is said to be 7 years old. However, looking at the Daizenshuu 7 Timeline, that's impossible because the tournament takes place on May 7th, Age 774, & Goten was born sometime after May of Age 767. Therefore, he should be 6, not 7. Has anyone else noticed this?

[Pokewhiz7]

Well, it could be late May.

[Gaffer Tape]

So how long are you suggesting his gestation was? Less than a month?

[Pokewhiz7]

Oh crap, I misread that, sorry. I read it as the tournament taking place sometime in May and he was born May 7.

[Herms]

There've been a few threads about this. The manga establishes that the Boo arc is 7 years after the Cell Games, and Goten is 7 years old by then. This would naturally seem to mean he was born shortly after the Cell Games, but of course this is hard to reconcile with what we actually see in the series (Chi Chi's not visibly pregnant during the Cell Games or anything). So maybe the tournament announcer is rounding Goten's age up, or Saiyan/Earthling hybrids have unusually short gestation periods, or something.

[Gaffer Tape]

I just thought of something. I have a friend who teaches children in South Korea. She has told me that the age of children is counted differently there than in America. As in a child is considered 1 year old following the conclusion of the year in which they are born, and then become considered 2 years old on their actual first birthday. Does anything like this happen in Japan? It would explain away this possible inconsistency...

[TheDevilsCorpse]

Don't forget it could just be a Toriyama goof. The whole "everyone gets a year older on New Years instead of your birthday" thing in Japanese culture thing, even though DB doesn't take place there...

[Silver Sinspawn]

Thanks to Cipher for the image

[DanielGClapp]

I almost died laughing at that picture!

[TripleRach]

I just thought of something. I have a friend who teaches children in South Korea. She has told me that the age of children is counted differently there than in America. As in a child is considered 1 year old following the conclusion of the year in which they are born, and then become considered 2 years old on their actual first birthday. Does anything like this happen in Japan? It would explain away this possible inconsistency...

I'm not sure about Japan, but I have heard about that age system being used in China, so it's at least not unique to Korea.

But the problem is, Gohan's age doesn't seem to match that type of age system. The way he moves and talks when Raditz appears is a little more consistent with a western 4 year old than a rounded up 4 year old (who would be closer to western 2 or 3 in that system), and the Daizenshuu year for his birth also matches western aging. If we follow that, the only way Goten's age can really make sense is if he was already born before the Cyborgs arrived, but that's obviously a huge retcon.

I think Toriyama just went "Oh, it's 7 years later, so he should be 7 years old."

[Gaffer Tape]

Yeah. As I wrote that I thought it probably would not match up with Gohan. Oh, well. I tried.

[bone1994]

Keep in mind Goku was born in Age 737, but was said to be only 12 years old on May 7, Age 750, the day of the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai & was said to be only 15 years old on May 7, Age 753, the day of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai. Same scenario with the 23rd

[TheDevilsCorpse]

Keep in mind Goku was born in Age 737, but was said to be only 12 years old on May 7, Age 750, the day of the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai & was said to be only 15 years old on May 7, Age 753, the day of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai. Same scenario with the 23rd

What's wrong with that? For all Goku knows, he is twelve. After all, Gohan couldn't tell the boy how old he really is, because he doesn't know. Once you factor in that we have no idea what month he was born in, the amount of time it took his pod to travel to Earth, or how long before Gohan found him, you can easily explain the missing year.

[jda95]

I just thought of something. I have a friend who teaches children in South Korea. She has told me that the age of children is counted differently there than in America. As in a child is considered 1 year old following the conclusion of the year in which they are born, and then become considered 2 years old on their actual first birthday. Does anything like this happen in Japan? It would explain away this possible inconsistency...

I'm pretty sure it's only Korea that does that. Japanese is now very western with its numbers (such as having Japanese New Year on January 1).

The only logical explanation is that its a Toriyama goof: he didn't know Goku would have another kid when he was writing that arc and as such figured that readers wouldn't notice the slight time discrepancy.

By the way, during this time, assuming Goten's birth shortly after the Cell Games, how pregnant would Chi-Chi be? Pregnancy tends to not be really obvious until about 4-6 months in.

[caejones]

Perhaps, everyone was so busy training that they didn't realize ChiChi was pregnant, and she kept Goten hidden in the ruins of Mt. Frypan until Cell's defeat.
Or she just hides pregnancy unnaturally well...