Goku

Son Goku ( Son Gokū), born Kakarot (Kakarotto), is a male Saiyan and the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball metaseries created by Akira Toriyama. He is the adoptive grandson of Grandpa Gohan, the son of Bardock and Gine, the younger brother of Raditz, the husband of Chi-Chi, the father of Gohan and Goten, the grandfather of Pan, and later the ancestor of Goku Jr. Cheerful, tenacious and also a bit naive, Goku is a Saiyan originally sent to Earth as an infant with the mission to destroy it. However, an accident alters his memory, causing him to grow up pure-hearted and later become Earth's greatest defender, as well as the informal leader of the Z Fighters. Throughout his life, he trains hard and constantly strives to be the greatest warrior possible and to fight stronger opponents, which has kept the Earth and the Universe as a whole safe from destruction many times. Goku has spiky black hair that never changes throughout the franchise (except when in his various Super Saiyan forms). He is most commonly seen wearing his trademark orange/red/golden gi over a dark blue short-sleeved undershirt. This gi has featured either Master Roshi's, King Kai's, or Goku's own kanji on its back, as well as Roshi's or Goku's kanji on the front-left side (around the stomach-area). After the Frieza Saga and until the Battle of Gods Saga, Goku doesn't wear any kanji on his gi, but he retains the dark blue undershirt. He also wears dark blue wristbands, along with dark blue boots with a yellow border (later red) that are outfitted with red laces (later tan). He originally wore a blue obi tied in a knot over his waist, although after the Frieza Saga this was changed to a blue sash. Several of Goku's battles end with both of his shirts completely destroyed. While this only happens to Goku a few times in the actual series (mainly during his first battle with Vegeta and his epic battle with Frieza on Namek), the movies made it a running gag of sorts (between The World's Strongest and Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan). His pants often suffer minor damage in battle too, while his boots and wristbands usually remain perfectly intact somehow. In the beginning of Dragon Ball, Goku is introduced wearing a blue gi with red wristbands, a white obi tied in a bow over his waist and dark blue kung fu shoes. As a kid, he also wields the Power Pole and has a tail due to his Saiyan heritage. Beginning with the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament and for the majority of Dragon Ball, Goku wears the basic Turtle School gi as his main outfit until after his training with Kami and Mr. Popo. At the 23rd World Tournament and for the remainder of Dragon Ball, Goku has his tail permanently removed by Kami (to prevent him from transforming into a giant monkey if kami were to bring back the moon) and wears an updated Turtle School gi that features the same short-sleeved undershirt and boots that become part of his signature outfit throughout Dragon Ball Z. At the very end of Dragon Ball Z, Goku wears a turquoise gi with a white obi, orange wristbands, dark green pants, and black kung fu shoes with orange stockings. At times, Goku has been seen wearing different clothing, such as a gray business suit and tie. Most notably, after training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and in the nine days before the Cell Games, he wears casual Earth clothing consisting of an orange-and-black long-sleeved jacket, a white tank top, lime green pants, and brown shoes. At the party for the defeat of Kid Buu, Goku wears a lilac suit as part of his formal wear. Despite being a Saiyan, Goku has never preferred wearing the same Battle Armor that his fellow Saiyans typically wore while serving under the Galactic Frieza Army, due to his devotion to Earth. The only notable time he did wear Battle Armor was during his training with Gohan inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. This armor set was identical to the one Vegeta wore at the time; consisting of a blue long-sleeved jumpsuit, white gloves, white boots with yellow tips, and a white battle jacket with yellow shoulder straps and a yellow stomach and lower back. As soon as he completed his training in the Time Chamber, Goku changed back into his regular gi, claiming that he wanted to fight as an Earthling. In Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Goku wears a blue and white tracksuit (which features King Kai's "Kaio" kanji on the back) while he trains on King Kai's planet, but wears a red-orange and blue gi identical to the one he wore in the Androids Saga and Majin Buu Saga (with Goku's "Go" kanji on the front-left and back) for the majority of the film. In Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’, Goku wears a new orange gi that lacks a blue undershirt and features blue wristbands longer than previous, a blue obi tied in a knot at his side, and new blue boots (as well as Whis' kanji on the front-left of his shirt). In Dragon Ball Super, while farming radishes, Goku wears the same farmer attire from Heya! Son Goku and Friends Return!! After arriving on King Kai's planet, King Kai wants Goku to have proper apparel while on his planet so he puts on a the same blue and white track suit with red shoes from Battle of Gods. Goku is later given a new gi Whis has designed for him, the same gi from Resurrection ‘F’. In Dragon Ball GT. Goku's skin tone changes from a pale tone to a darker and almost tan tone. His outfit in the GT series consists of a blue gi with a white obi, pink wristbands, ochre pants, and black kung fu shoes with white stockings, which resembles his first gi that he wore at the beginning of Dragon Ball. Later, with the aid of Old Kai, Goku regrows his tail so he could have additional power, but the tail is never seen again when Goku is an adult again at the end of Dragon Ball GT.Xeno Goku During the time where Goku aids the Time Patrol, as seen in Dragon Ball Heroes, Goku wears a black outfit with a red top and a blue sash.

He also uses his Power Pole again, and carries a bag for Senzu Beans. While wearing these clothes, Goku is referred to as Xeno Goku. As Dragon Ball was initially based on Journey to the West, the character of Goku was based on the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. Goku's design was based on Tanton, of Akira Toriyama's prototype manga Dragon Boy and Tongpoo, from his other manga The Adventures of Tongpoo. When Toriyama started his first draft of Dragon Ball, he originally planned on making Goku full monkey to make the series more faithful to Journey to the West. During Toriyama's second draft, he wanted to make Goku a full human dressed in sailor clothes that rode a flight mecha instead of the Flying Nimbus. Toriyama's third and final draft of Goku was to have him human looking with a monkey tail. Goku is known for his cheerful, energetic personality and his love for competition and eating. He will eat anything. Goku's love for food can be comical at times. In the Tournament Saga, when put to sleep by "Jackie Chun", Bulma was able to save his match by screaming to him that dinner was ready, to which Goku immediately woke up to break the count. He has remarkable intuition to see the good in others in spite of their actions, though his capacity for forgiving has occasionally been criticized as excessive even to a fault and has lead to harm and death to those he cares about in extreme occasions; though Goku mostly fights to win, he often spares his enemies even if they in turn attack him. His staggering power is simultaneously reined in and enhanced by his fierce loyalty and morality. Goku can be very blunt and not afraid to express his opinion in a discussion. While generally kind and not intentionally rude, Goku tends to not show proper respect to people of high authority. Despite his kind-hearted nature, Goku can feel incredible anger in extreme situations such as the death of a friend/relative or innocents murdered, showing he can be vengeful. He has a simple, practical view of the world that often comes off as naïve, which often makes many incorrectly assume him to be somewhat stupid. While often taking things to face-value, he comprehends the situation quickly and learns the basics of anything presented to him rather quickly. To which, he is repeatedly proven a very effective tactician, quickly see through his opponent's strength and battle tactics to formulate an effective countermeasure. Even more, he can determine his own flaws as he realized the limits of Super Saiyan Second Grade and chose to instead refine his normal Super Saiyan form, showing noteworthy craftiness and innovation. His most remarkable ability is his will and tenacity to succeed, always determined to push himself beyond his limits and never give up even in such overwhelming adversity. Goku is pure of heart, possessing no negative feelings or thoughts. He is also shown to be very innocent since childhood, because of growing up in Mount Paozu and not having met anyone other than his grandpa until he meets Bulma. During his childhood, he had difficulty telling the difference between a male and a female without physically touching them, which often gets him into trouble, until he eventually outgrew this once old enough to understand the difference. Goku is shown to be scared of overbearing women like Bulma and Chi-Chi. During the Frieza Saga, when Goku refused to come back to Earth, Master Roshi jokingly (and rather loudly) declared that Goku was scared to face Chi Chi, stating "The man's terrified of his wife! For all his power as a Super Saiyan, the one thing he can't stand up to is her!". In Battle of Gods, Goku panicked when he realized he forgot to go to Bulma's birthday party. Over the years, Goku has shown little modesty, not at all concerned about being nude in public (though he was less concerned with this as a child than he later is as an adult). Despite his purity, it has grown to more of a morality driven emotion, as Goku shows animosity towards those he believes have earned it from him, such as when Frieza killed Krillin. Despite his compassion for others, Goku might not have a sense of family, but rather views family simply as companions. However, Goku has a strong desire to protect his family and friends, shown from his visions of them during his battle against Frieza. Even more, when learning that Goku Black killed the future version of his family, Goku became so enraged that he quickly overwhelmed Black and Zamasu in retribution. Also, Goku was very happy to learn he was going to be a grandpa in Battle of Gods, to which he later (in the anime) enjoyed taking care of his baby granddaughter Pan and grew very concerned when she disappeared. Also, while he is rarely seen being romantic or intimate with Chi-Chi and mainly married Chi-Chi because he promised to, he has cited her feistiness and passion as traits he finds especially endearing (as well as her cooking skills). Notably, he mentioned in the Future Trunks Saga that he has never kissed Chi-Chi, although he did kiss her once in the anime version of the Androids Saga. Along with this, Goku tends to prioritize his training over all else, often choosing to train rather than meet with his friends (although many of the other Z Fighters tend to do this too). He will often leave his family for long periods, and though normally for noble reasons such as maintaining his strength for the protection of the world, Goku doesn't realize how this negatively affects his family. While he is an overall good person, it has been noted by Akira Toriyama that the anime tends to go overboard in making Goku look heroic, and that his original depiction of Goku in the manga has certain "poisonous" traits. Goku seems to think very little of his Saiyan family, having never learned the good traits of his parents. Even more, when he first learned of his Saiyan heritage, he rejected it out of horror and disgust at being from a race of vicious killers, though he ultimately embraced his heritage after hearing Vegeta's last words during the battle with Frieza on Namek, fighting him to avenge the loss of his race as well as all of the other innocents whom Frieza had killed.

While Goku is unquestionably kindhearted, forgiving, and loyal to the side of good, his Saiyan bloodline and its traits for combat have played a moderate role in his judgment, such as staying on the self-destructing Namek to finish his fight with Frieza. He can also be reckless in his gambles; when realizing that Gohan's dormant capacities could defeat Cell, he chose to focus all his efforts on training his son instead of himself, forgetting that Gohan was even gentler than him to the point of being a pacifist. Goku also desires for his children to follow in his footsteps as a fighter, but he is generally accepting of their choices in lifestyle so long as they are happy and healthy. The only time he is shown to become angry is when Gohan chose to attend a conference over the tournament with Universe 6. During the Buu Saga, Goku has also expressed his concerns to Piccolo that his friends are sometimes too dependent on his strength in a crisis as he rationalizes that he will not always be around to help. He believes that the younger generation needs to become stronger in order to protect the Earth from future threats. Like Vegeta, Goku loves fighting, and loves to challenge strong opponents, as such Goku rarely shows nervousness or fear when fighting - even against stronger foes, the only two exceptions being when he was faced with Golden Frieza's might, and in the anime during his no holds barred bout with the assassin Hit on Earth. While not overly arrogant in his abilities (especially compared to Vegeta), Goku has a tendency to be too relaxed and recklessly challenge anyone he views as strong to a fight. At the same time, no unlike his son Gohan, Goku takes no joy in hurting people, often trying to end disputes with words and avoid killing if at all possible. These trait can lead to him letting his guard down as seen in Resurrection ‘F’, where - believing he has defeated Frieza - failed to notice Sorbet and as a result being critically injured by the minion's laser. It took both this and the destruction of Earth once again to drop his pacifist views and make the hard choice in putting Frieza down. Goku has also been noted several times to have a special effect on people, being capable of inspiring them to be kinder and even causing several of his enemies to become his allies. He notably managed to aid in the redemption of Yamcha, Tien Shinhan and Vegeta (as well as Piccolo to a lesser degree), convince the God of Destruction Beerus that Earth was worth keeping around, and even cause the ruthless assassin Hit to smile in genuine happiness. Even Goku's best friend Krillin, who was a rather mischievous delinquent in the beginning, became a better person through Goku's influence.