How many years did Yamcha and Bulma date for?

[precita]

Thinking about this, why didn't Yamcha and Bulma ever get married and start a family? Yamcha and Bulma started dating when Bulma was only 16 at the end of the Pilaf saga...and they continued to be a couple all the way till when Cyborg Freeza came to Earth literally decades later.

They obviously broke up some time during the 3 years everyone was training for the Androids. But think about this for a moment, Bulma started dating Yamcha when she was a 16 year old girl and this continued for over 15 years until she was somewhere in her early 30's. Goku became an adult in that time, Gohan was born, etc.

Why didn't they get married or have a kid before Bulma broke up with him?

[Lord Beerus]

I'm pretty sure that Bulma left Yamcha prior to the Saiyan arc beginning because, according to Bulma, Yamcha was a bit of a player and she got sick and tired of Yamcha's constant flirtatious attitude and left him.

[sayian_nation_]

Then she received some of that SSJ D and she never turned back. You know Vegeta was laying that pipe down.

[B]

it's barely over ten years between when they meet in the desert and when they allegedly break up/the relationship became shaky. It's not that uncommon. Of course, she marries Vegeta pretty damn quick, relatively speaking.

[Blackstripe]

it's barely over ten years between when they meet in the desert and when they allegedly break up/the relationship became shaky. It's not that uncommon. Of course, she marries Vegeta pretty damn quick, relatively speaking.

More like she became a couple with him pretty damn quickly.

I honestly can't see them being married until after the Majin Buu arc. I just don't see Vegeta going for that.

[precita]

I'm pretty sure that Bulma left Yamcha prior to the Saiyan arc beginning because, according to Bulma, Yamcha was a bit of a player and she got sick and tired of Yamcha's constant flirtatious attitude and left him.

They were still together for the most part. Look at Bulma's reaction when Yamcha dies in the Saiyan arc, she bursts into tears and cries in Roshi's arms. Since obviously Toriyama had no intention of pairing Bulma with anyone else until the Cell arc started, she seemed pretty obvious still into Yamcha till the end of the Freeza saga.

[irreality]

Well, I always thought they were more "on again/off again" than together for 15 years. There are likely at least 4 if not 5 years of the 15 they were either "long-distance" or not dating.

1. They were dating at age 16, but Bulma seems flighty/angry at him/sort of off him during the RRA saga and wants to leave him behind. They get back together before the next tournament.
2. By the time of the 23rd budoukai, Yamcha has been out training elsewhere. Even if they were dating, they weren't really in communication. Likely took a break from dating.
3. They seem to be "on a break" again when there is the party at Roshi's to meet Gohan since Bulma didn't invite Yamcha.
4. They may have gotten back together before the Saiyans, but Yamcha was off training anyway.
5. Yamcha is then dead for like a year before they wish him back.
6. They are together another year or less, by the time Freeza arrives. Bulma doesn't seem particularly invested compared to Yamcha, even though they are dating. Yamcha thinks Goku is telling Bulma to get married and have a baby with *him* when referring to Baby Trunks, but Bulma didn't jump to that conclusion.

My guess? is that they were each other's first romance, but were mostly on again/off again casually dating most of the time. Yamcha was either off training or dead by spurts, and Bulma has her own flights of fancy and moods herself. I don't think Bulma ever planned to be the "marrying type", but she got pregnant with Trunks, and after a while Vegeta was just not going anywhere so why not? sort of thing. But I don't think she ever seriously intended to marry Yamcha.

Yamcha is always the one who dreamed of marriage, but never seemed dedicated enough to make it work with Bulma. I'm sad the plot didn't find it necessary to give him an alternate wife since that was his dream. Bulma only ever wanted a boyfriend.

[rereboy]

They were still together for the most part. Look at Bulma's reaction when Yamcha dies in the Saiyan arc, she bursts into tears and cries in Roshi's arms. Since obviously Toriyama had no intention of pairing Bulma with anyone else until the Cell arc started, she seemed pretty obvious still into Yamcha till the end of the Freeza saga.

That's complete filler. Bulma never sees Yamcha die nor has any special reaction to his particular death in the manga.

It's pretty clear that Bulma and Yamcha's relationship was on and off. She had been depicted as mad at him before and it was pretty clear that they had broken up before the beginning of the saiyan arc. However, when Trunks comes from the future, and Goku lets slip something about her and a baby, Yamcha jokingly says that maybe that was Goku's idea of saying that they just get serious and get married, so it seems they had tied up after Yamcha came back to life.

But it's a misconception that Vegeta and Bulma actually got together before the end of the Cell arc. When Bulma is with her baby waiting for the androids, she specifically says, when asked where Vegeta is, "how should I know? You think that I'd live with that jerk?", which makes it clear that she doesn't think of them as a couple. It seems pretty obvious that she and Yamcha just broke up again and later she had a one-night stand or two with Vegeta and got pregnant. That fact probably terminated the on and off thing with Yamcha.

As for Vegeta, it wasn't until the end of the Cell saga, after Future Trunks was killed, that Vegeta showed some concern about them, which makes it seem like that was the trigger for him to become more interested in his son, and, by extension, in Bulma, eventually actually becoming a couple during those 7 years.

[irreality]

how should I know? You think that I'd live with that jerk?

That is a dub line, I think, She is much more placid about it in the original -- she just says she isn't living with him, but figures he'll be here soon, without an angry inflection or expression. I took it to mean although they weren't "together-together", they were also not at odds, he was just off training. (But I agree, I don't think they are in some sort of committed relationship, as such -- that would develop before the Buu arc).