Son Goku

Son Goku
孫悟空 (Son Gokū)
Manga Anime
Manga Debut	Dragon Ball Chapter 1
Anime Debut	Dragon Ball Episode 1
Japanese VA	Masako Nozawa
Canadian VA	Saffron Henderson Ian Corlett Peter Kelamis Kirby Morrow
Funimation VA	Stephanie Nadolny (Child) Colleen Clinkenbeard (DB M1) Ceyli Delgadillo (DB M2, M3) Sean Schemmel (Adult)
Personal Data
Birth	Age 737
Death	12 October, Age 761 26 May, Age 767
Height	175 cm
Weight	62 kg
Aliases	Kakarrot
Classification	Saiyan
Pronouns	Ora (オラ) (typical) Ore (オレ) (early Super Saiyan)
Universe	Universe 7
Occupation	Farmer
Notable Skills	Kamehameha Kaiō-Ken Genki-Dama
Relationship Data
Family	Bardock (Father) Gine (Mother) Raditz (Brother)
Spouse	Chi-Chi
Children	Son Gohan Son Goten

Son Goku is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball manga series by Akira Toriyama. Goku makes his debut in chapter 1, published in the 1984 #51 issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Biography

Childhood

Son Goku is born under the name Kakarrot on Planet Vegeta, in circa Age 736 in Jaco the Galactic Patrolman's series of events and in Age 737 in the anime's series of events. He is sent to Earth as an infant and adopted by a man named Son Gohan, who gives him the name Son Goku. Gohan raises Goku as his grandson and trains him in the martial arts. Goku and Gohan live a peaceful life together, until an accident involving Goku's Great Ape form results in Gohan's death.

On 01 September, Age 749, Goku meets Bulma, a teenage girl in search of the Dragon Balls. One of these, the Four-Star Ball, belonged to Gohan before he died. Bulma tells Goku that when all seven balls are gathered, a dragon emerges to grant the summoner a single wish. On the journey to collect the Dragon Balls, Goku and Bulma are joined by Oolong, Yamcha and Pu'er. They also meet the Turtle Hermit along the way, from whom Goku copies the Kamehameha technique. On 09 September, the group is taken hostage by Pilaf, who steals the Dragon Balls and summons Shenlong. However, Oolong manages get a wish in before Pilaf, and the Dragon Balls scatter in seven directions. The full moon causes Goku to transform into his Great Ape form and wreak havoc upon Pilaf's castle, until Yamcha finds an opportunity to remove Goku's tail and return him to his normal state.

Goku goes his separate ways from the others on 10 September to train under the Turtle Hermit, Gohan's former master. Alongside the Turtle Hermit's other apprentice, Kuririn, Goku trains for the 21st Tenka'ichi Budōkai that takes place on 07 May, Age 750. Goku makes it all the way to the final round, where he is defeated by Jackie Chun. Afterwards, Goku sets out on a quest to retrieve Gohan's Four-Star Ball. Also searching for the Dragon Balls are the Red Ribbon Army, entire squadrons of which get single-handedly destroyed by Goku. The desperate army hires the assassin Tao Pai-pai, who kills Goku's new friend Bora and severely wounds Goku. After receiving training from Karin atop Karin Tower, Goku defeats Tao Pai-pai in a revenge match, storms the Red Ribbon Army's main base and destroys what little remains of them. In order to revive Bora, Goku needs the final Dragon Ball's location to be divined by the Fortuneteller Crone. After reuniting with and fighting Gohan, who was allowed to return to the living world for a day, Goku gets his wish and completes his quest by grabbing the Four-Star Ball before it can fly off again.

After three years of solitary training, Goku attends the 22nd Tenka'ichi Budōkai on 07 May, Age 753. Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu, apprentices of the Crane Hermit, enter the tournament alongside Goku and his friends. The Crane Hermit, being not only the Turtle Hermit's rival but also Tao Pai-pai's brother, insists his students exact revenge on Goku. Tenshinhan grows conflicted, however, and rebels against his master during the final match against Goku. Shortly after the tournament's conclusion, which Goku narrowly loses, the demon Tambourine murders Kuririn and takes the Four-Star Ball. The furious Goku chases after him and ends up facing the Demon King Piccolo. After being defeated thoroughly, Goku returns to Karin for more training and risks drinking the life-threatening Super God Water. Goku survives, however, gaining an increase in power that allows him to destroy Piccolo. Earlier, Piccolo managed to summon and kill Shenlong. In order to restore the dragon, Goku goes to meet God, the creator of the Dragon Balls and the Demon King's benevolent half. At God's palace, Goku is told that Piccolo survived in the form of a reincarnated offspring. God asks Goku to train at the palace for three years, and resurrects Shenlong in exchange for this so that Piccolo's victims may be revived.

Adult Life

The 23rd Tenka'ichi Budōkai takes place on 07 May, Age 756. Goku faces Chi-Chi in the first round, who insists Goku keep the promise of marriage he made to her as a child. Goku had misinterpreted that promise has having something to do with food, but keeps his word and agrees to marry Chi-Chi after the tournament. The final match pits him against the offspring of Piccolo, who threatens to kill everyone and take over the world. Despite this, Goku refuses help from his friends, not wanting to risk being disqualified from the championship match. Persevering, Goku finally wins the Tenka'ichi Budōkai. He spares Piccolo's life, not only because killing him would also kill God, but also because Goku enjoys having a rival around to keep him on his toes. A year later, in May of Age 757, Goku and Chi-Chi have their first child, Son Gohan.

During a reunion with his friends on 12 October, Age 761, Goku is visited by his alien brother Raditz, who reveals that they are both members of the Saiyan race. When Goku refuses to cooperate with Raditz, who expects Goku to embrace the bloodthirsty nature of his species, Raditz kidnaps Gohan. Teaming up with Piccolo, Goku sacrifices his life to take Raditz down with him. Before dying, however, Raditz transmits information about the Dragon Balls to his fellow Saiyans out in space. Faced with the impending arrival of two more bloodthirsty Saiyans, Goku travels the Serpent Road and trains with the North Kaiō in the afterlife before being revived with the Dragon Balls on 02 November, Age 762. Due to a miscalculation, however, Goku cannot return in time to prevent several of his comrades, including Piccolo, from dying at the hands of the Saiyans. Using his newly acquired Kaiō-Ken and Genki-Dama techniques, Goku puts up a fierce fight and gets severely injured in the process. The remaining Saiyan, Vegeta, is also down for the count, but Goku spares his life and lets him escape. With Piccolo's death rendering the Earth's Dragon Balls unusable, Gohan, Kuririn and Bulma depart for Planet Namek hoping to use the Namekian Dragon Balls to revive the Saiyans' victims. Goku stays behind in the hospital, but by the time he recovers he learns that the situation on Namek is dire. Launching into space himself, Goku arrives on Namek on 24 December and has a showdown with the galactic warlord Freeza and his men. When Freeza mercilessly murders Kuririn, Goku undergoes a rage-fueled transformation into a Super Saiyan. The battle against Freeza leads to the destruction of Planet Namek, which Goku narrowly escapes by using a space pod that was pre-programmed to go to Planet Yardrat. He learns the teleportation skill there and does not return to Earth until August, Age 764.

Upon returning, Goku meets the time traveling son of Bulma and Vegeta named Trunks, who gives him medicine for the fatal heart disease he will soon contract and warns him of an impending attack by Artificial Humans created by former Red Ribbon scientist Dr. Gero. Three years later, on 12 May, Age 767, Goku falls ill as predicted and is out of commission for the battle against the Artificial Humans. By the time Goku recovers, another creation of Dr. Gero's known as Cell is going after the Artificial Humans to absorb them. In order to become stronger than Cell, Goku and Gohan enter the Room of Spirit and Time on 16 May, where they can spend a year's worth of training within a single day. On 26 May, they attend the Cell Games, a contest organized by Cell. Putting his faith in Gohan's hidden power, Goku forfeits his own match against Cell. When Cell decides to self-destruct out of desperation, Goku teleports him to Kaiō's Planet to save the Earth from the explosion. Goku dies in the process and declines being resurrected, arguing that the Earth would be safer without him attracting enemies towards it.

After seven years of training in the afterlife, Goku receives permission to return to the living world for one day on 07 May, Age 774. He reunites with his friends and family, including his second son Son Goten, at the 25th Tenka'ichi Budōkai, but the tournament gets disrupted by the sorcerer Bobbidi's plot to revive the magical being Majin Boo. As Goku and friends assist the East Kaiōshin in trying to prevent this, Vegeta grows impatient and lets Bobbidi manipulate the evil in his heart in order to force a rematch against Goku while there is still time. Upon Boo's revival, Goku and Vegeta realize he poses a legitimate threat and Vegeta knocks Goku out before sacrificing his life trying to stop Boo. With Goku's time in the living world running out, he teaches Goten and Trunks the Fusion technique so that they might overpower Boo. After a brief return to the afterlife, Goku's life is restored by the Elder Kaiōshin when Boo continues to remain a threat. He fuses with Vegeta to become Vegetto and tries to free those absorbed by Boo, including Gohan and Goten. The attempt to rescue them is nullified when Boo destroys the Earth along with them, but Goku and Vegeta are able to escape to the Kaiōshin Realm where they have a final showdown with Boo. The Earth and its inhabitants are restored by the Dragon Balls during the battle, allowing Goku to borrow everyone's energy for a Genki-Dama and destroy Boo once and for all. Goku expresses a hope that Boo might be reincarnated into a good guy and give him a rematch someday, which comes to fruition at the 28th Tenka'ichi Budōkai ten years later on 07 May, Age 784. Attending the tournament with his granddaughter Pan, Goku meets Oob and takes him on as his apprentice.

Events of Dragon Ball Super

TBD

Name and Pronouns

Son Gokū (孫悟空) is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese name Sūn Wùkōng (孫悟空), better known as the Monkey King from the Chinese fantasy novel Journey to the West.

This name was taken completely from that of the protagonist of Journey to the West. This was because I originally planned on him being an actual monkey.
— Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball Forever

The word 悟 (go) means roughly to understand or to perceive, and it is used to write the verb satoru (悟る), from which the name of the Buddhist concept of satori derives. 空 (kū) can mean sky, empty, or void. It's the kanji for sora, the Japanese word for sky. When read as kara, it means "empty". The two characters together can imply meanings like "Perceiving the Void" or "Aware of Vacuity". In the story of Journey to the West, the monkey king is given this name by a Buddhist sage who is Wùkōng's master for a time. For a family name, the sage gives him 孫 (Son), meaning "grandchild".

Goku typically uses the first-person pronoun ora (オラ), a more gender-neutral, hick version of the masculine first-person pronoun ore (オレ). However, Goku uses ore whenever he becomes a Super Saiyan until his training with Gohan in the Room of Spirit and Time, where they both mastered the volatile nature of the form. Afterward, he uses ora even as a Super Saiyan.

Goku also uses ore in the Next Episode Preview (NEP) of Dragon Ball Episode 3; it is written as 俺 (ore) in the official closed captions, and Masako Nozawa's pronunciation is unmistakably ore. The typical opening line—Ossu! Ora Gokū. (おっす！オラ悟空。)—is first used in the Episode 2 NEP. Following the one-time usage of ore in Episode 3, it is always ora thereafter.

Production

When appropriate, a description of the character's production, including who initially designed the character (if an anime original character), notes about their design or conception, etc.

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.