Yamcha

Yamcha
ヤムチャ (Yamucha)
Manga Anime
English Name(s)	Yamcha (Ocean/FUNimation) Yamucha (Viz)
Name Pun	Yum cha
Manga Debut	Dragon Ball Chapter 7
Anime Debut	Dragon Ball Episode 5
Japanese VA	Tōru Furuya
Canadian VA	Ted Cole
Funimation VA	Christopher R. Sabat
Personal Data
Birth	20 March, Age 733
Death	03 November, Age 762 08 May, Age 774 Age 779 (Reversed)
Height	183 cm
Weight	68 kg
Classification	Human-type Earthling Martial Artist
Pronouns	Ore (オレ)
Occupation	Desert Bandit Baseball Player
Notable Skills	Rōga Fū-Fū Ken Sōkidan Kamehameha
Significant other(s)	Bulma (Formerly)

Yamcha is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball manga series by Akira Toriyama. Yamcha makes his debut in chapter 7, published in the 1985 #07 issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Biography

Information collected by Doctor Gero about Yamcha.

Yamcha was born on 20 March, Age 733. He became a desert bandit at a young age and met his partner in crime Pu'er in Age 747. On 06 September, Age 749, he first met with Son Goku and Oolong while targeting their possessions. However, he was initially unaware that they were also traveling with Bulma, who triggered his acute fear of girls forcing him to make a hasty retreat.

Name and Pronouns

Yamcha's name is based on the Japanese word for Yum Cha, a form of Chinese dining consisting of drinking tea while eating dim sum. The name is spelled in katakana (ヤムチャ) but is otherwise unaltered.

This was also taken from a form of Chinese cuisine. Originally the name was just "Yum Cha" (飲茶 yamucha) itself, but that didn't go over too well.
— Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball Forever

Yamcha uses the masculine first-person pronoun ore (オレ) to refer to himself.

Production

Origin in Journey to the West

Like several elements within early Dragon Ball, Yamcha finds his inspiration in Journey to the West, a classical Chinese folk novel published in the 16th century by Wu Cheng'en.

It has been at least half a millennium on Earth since Buddha subdued Sun Wukong and imprisoned him under a mountain. Buddha has three baskets of scriptures (15,144 scrolls) that he believes can "persuade man to do good"; in his assessment, people of the east are good, people of the north and south are too prone to violence and lechery, and while people of the west needs some prodding, they can indeed be virtuous. Buddha asks that someone go to the east to find a virtuous believer, who will then be tasked with making the trek to the west to obtain these scrolls. The Bodhisattva Kuan-Yin volunteers and departs with a few helpful items in tow from Buddha, along with a protector, Moska. Upon coming across a large body of "Weak Water" in the region of the Flowing Sand River, a splash is heard and a demon jumps out:

A green, though not too green,
And black, though not too black.
Face of gloomy complexion;
A long, though not too long,
And short, though not too short,
Sinewy body with naked feet.
His gleaming eyes
Shone like two lights beneath the stove.
His mouth, forked at the corners,
Was like a butcher's bloody bowl.
With teeth protruding like swords and knives,
And red hair all disheveled,
He bellowed once and it sounded like thunder,
While his legs sprinted like whirling wind.
— The Journey to the West Volume 1, Translated and Edited by Anthony C. Yu (page 188)

The monster, in possession of a priestly staff, fights against Moska. On learning that Kuan-Yin is right there, the monster profusely apologizes, and explains that he is actually the Curtain-Raising Marshal who once waited upon the phoenix chariot of the Jade Emperor at the Divine Mists Hall. During one of the Festivals of Immortal Peaches, he carelessly broke a crystal cup; the Jade Emperor subsequently lashes him eight hundred times, banished him down to Earth, and changed him into his present shape. Every seven days the Jade Emperor sends a sword flying down to stab his breast and side more than a hundred times. Due to the unbearable hunger and cold, he is driven every few days to come out of the waves and find a traveler for food. Kuan-Yin offers to let this monster join the forthcoming pilgrim's mission under a few certain conditions: from this point forward he must stop his attacks, the skulls of the nine pilgrims he had eaten whose heads would not sink must be worn as a necklace, and he must wait patiently for the scripture pilgrim Tripitaka. When he achieves his merit upon successful completion of the journey, his sin will be forgiven and his position reinstated. Agreeing to these terms, Kuan-Yin blesses him with a new surname ("Sha") and a new religious name ("Wujing").

Some time after a series of events at the Yellow Wind Mountain, the newly-formed group of Tripitaka, Sun Wukong, and Zhu Bajie come across a giant "Flowing Sand River," which Wukong estimates is about 800 miles wide. As they investigate, a monster jumps out at them:

A head full of wild and flamelike hair;
A pair of bright, round eyes which shone like lamps;
A bluish face which seemed neither black nor green;
An old dragon's voice like thunderclap or drum.
He wore a cape of light yellow goose down.
Two strands of white reeds tied around his waist.
Beneath his chin nine skulls were strung and hung;
His hands held an awesome priestly staff.

— The Journey to the West Volume 1, Translated and Edited by Anthony C. Yu (page 430)

Bajie fights him for some time, but Wukong gets restless and also jumps in, which makes the monster escape back down into the river. After arguing for a bit, Wukong convinces Bajie to go down into the river, battle the monster for a bit, then draw him out so Wukong can capture him; they will then force this monster to help Tripitaka cross the river. The plan appears to work at first, but Wukong gets too anxious to fight again and jumps in too early, allowing the monster to escape yet again. The disciples rest for the night and try their plan again, but the monster is on to them and will not come out of the river. Wukong decides to seek Kuan-yin's help again, and goes off to see her in person. Kuan-yin asks if they mentioned the scripture monk (they, of course, had not and instead jumped right into battle); she explains the monster is the incarnation of the Curtain-Raising Captain, who she recruited to the cause and has been waiting for them. Kuan-yin sends Moska back with Wukong and says to call out the monster by the name "Wujing", then have him string together his nine skulls with the provided gourd in the middle, which will create a vessel for them to pass. The monster, resting at the bottom of the river, hears Moska calling him by his religious name and promptly jumps back out. The group clarifies the whole situation, with Wukong even apologizing for never having actually introduced themselves properly.

"Your disciple was converted by the Bodhisattva," said Wu-ching. "Deriving my surname from the river, she gave me the religious name Sha Wu-ching. How could I be unwilling to take you as my master?" "In that case," said Tripitaka, "Wu-k'ung may bring over the sacred razor and shave off his hair." The Great Sage indeed took the razor and saved Wu-ching's head, after which he came again to do homage to Tripitaka, Pilgrim, and Pa-chieh, thus becoming the youngest disciple of the T'ang monk. When Tripitaka saw that he comported himself very much like a monk, he gave him the nickname of Sha Monk.

— The Journey to the West Volume 1, Translated and Edited by Anthony C. Yu (page 442-443)

Pre-Dragon Ball

Adapted Tripitaka, Sun Wukong, and Zhu Bajie characters by Akira Toriyama in his first draft along the road to developing Dragon Ball; other than Tripitaka being changed into a western-looking girl, the other two are still very much heavily inspired by their original Journey to the West versions at this point.

Near-final, recognizable Dragon Ball characters by Akira Toriyama in his third draft along the road to developing Dragon Ball.

Between the Dragon Boy and The Adventure of Tongpoo prototype publications in 1983 and Dragon Ball's first publication in November 1984, Akira Toriyama developed drafts of the Dragon Ball stories with his editor Kazuhiko Torishima. The early drafts elaborated on the original Dragon Boy concept, incorporating elements from Journey to the West. Having decided on a young female companion (no doubt shaped by both Dragon Boy and specifically The Adventure of Tongpoo), a western-style girl took the role of Tripitaka. Toriyama's design of Son Goku was literally that of the Monkey King himself, complete with the head decoration and staff. Zhu Bajie came over mostly intact as well, complete with his trademark rake. In these early stages, it was indeed still a somewhat-faithful adaptation of Journey to the West, and was in fact rejected for being so faithful. At this point, no Sha Wujing equivalent is included in Toriyama's cast of characters.

In Toriyama's third pass — which moved through both pilot and final manuscripts — story details began to take form, as well as the names for other supporting characters. At this point, Yamcha is named ヤム·チャ (Yamucha, which would perhaps be transliterated and spelled as "Yam Cha" interpreting the interpunct as a space); the interpunct here in Oolong's, Pu'er's, and Yamcha's names would be removed for the final version. In terms of designs in this manuscript, Yamcha and the others look very close to their final versions.

Dragon Ball

Yamcha was retained into the final version of the manga and made his first appearance in the series' seventh chapter. While Dragon Ball's Oolong is similar to the original Zhu Bajie in many ways, Yamcha's relation to Sha Wujing is much lighter.

• In Journey to the West, Tripitaka first recruits Wukong, then Bajie, then Wujing; this is the same order in which Bulma encounters Goku, then Oolong, then Yamcha.
• As opposed to Wujing's "priestly staff", Yamcha initially fights with a scimitar.
• The desert area where Yamcha is first encountered is likely a reference to the "Flowing Sand Region" in Journey to the West.

Notable Skills

A list or description of notable skills or techniques. Video game techniques should be separated from those used in the series proper.

Performance

A list or description of the various voice actors that portrayed the character.

Music

Shunsuke Kikuchi composed a new theme for Yamcha in Dragon Ball Movie 1.

Dragon Ball Movie 1 Yamcha theme
Kanzenshuu Catalogue	Release	Tonality
K-226	Unreleased	F Major
K-232
K-233
K-234

In Dragon Ball Movie 3, Kikuchi developed a Yamcha-Pu'er theme that had already been used in the TV series.

Dragon Ball Movie 3 Yamcha theme
Debut	Kanzenshuu Catalogue	Release	Tonality
Dragon Ball Episode 9	K-87	Unreleased	F Major
Dragon Ball Movie 3	K-629

There are other tracks associated with Yamcha in the film; K-225 and M229 in particular give Yamcha a Chinese-styled context, but those BGM do not contain his themes, which are featured in the tracks listed above.