Yamcha

Yamcha (Yamucha) is a main protagonist in the Dragon Ball manga and in the anime Dragon Ball, and later a supporting protagonist in Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super, with a few appearances in Dragon Ball GT. He is a former boyfriend of Bulma and the lifelong best friend of Puar. A former desert bandit, Yamcha was once an enemy of Goku, but quickly reformed and became a friend and ally. Brave, boastful and dependable, Yamcha is a very talented martial artist and one of the most powerful Humans on Earth, possessing skills and traits that allow him to fight alongside his fellow Z Fighters when major threats loom. Although he retired by the latter half of Dragon Ball Z, due to being largely outclassed by both his allies (namely the Saiyans) and their enemies, he is always present whenever a new threat approaches, and will occasionally lend a helping hand, thus proving himself to be a powerful ally in his own right. Yamcha's appearance changes throughout the series, mainly his clothes and hairstyle. Yamcha started out the series with long hair and bangs. After settling down in the city, he cut his hair to fit in. Later on, he would grow his hair out again and eventually cut short to a spikier hairstyle and completely short before outgrowing his hair once again. Several of Yamcha's hairstyles are also used by Gohan at various points in his life. Another of Yamcha's most significant appearance changes were the mysterious scars he got sometime during his three years training for the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament.

According to Android 19's scanner, Yamcha is 183 centimeters tall and weighs 68 kilograms, during the Androids Saga. The first kanji Yamcha has on his clothes 楽 (raku) stands for "comfort" or "easy"; there is no real meaning behind it other than he just enjoys being comfortable. After training with Master Roshi, he takes the "turtle" or "Kame" kanji "亀" as a sign of respect. Later, after training with King Kai, he wears both "Kame and "Kai" kanji. He wears them the opposite way Goku did ("Kame" on the back and "Kai" on the chest), except in Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might where he wears the "Kai" kanji on the back and "Kame" on the chest. Yamcha sometimes wears a white martial arts outfit with black trousers that bears a striking resemblance to the outfit worn by Bruce Lee during his fight with O'Hara in the film Enter the Dragon, as shown during one of his brief appearances in the Red Ribbon Army Saga and in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (an outfit similar is also worn by Tsukutsun Tsun in the Dr. Slump remake). In the Majin Buu saga, Yamcha wears a yellow suit jacket along with a white long-sleeved shirt and wears yellow suit pants and black shoes. At the end of Dragon Ball Z and throughout Dragon Ball GT, Yamcha now has his hair long again and wears it in a ponytail and retains the same outfit that he wore in the Majin Buu Saga as his undershirt are now sleeveless. When Akira Toriyama decided to create Dragon Ball, he used Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West as a prototype for his own series. Yamcha is most likely based on Sha Wujing, also known as Sha Seng and Sha Heshang, from this novel. Both are powerful bandits who are associated with sand, (Yamcha from a sandy desert, Sha from a sand river), who reform and join the heroes on their quest. Yamcha is originally characterized as a deadly warrior, who fears nothing but talking to women. After befriending Goku and the others, his personality remains mostly the same, but becomes very caring and considerate of the people he protects.

He is showcased as a courageous warrior who strives to be the best, but is unable to reach this status, a fact that appears to plague him. He has a great network of information, recognizing Goku's Power Pole as Grandpa Gohan's during their first fight. Yamcha is a huge fan of the World Martial Arts Tournament and has always wanted to compete and someday win. It is likely this is why he has knowledge of famous fighters like Grandpa Gohan, Monster Carrot, Bacterian and King Chappa. Whenever the tournament date neared, Yamcha would always go through vigorous training and invent a new technique like the Blinding Wolf Fang Fist, Neo Wolf Fang Fist and the Spirit Ball. He is the second fighter to learn the Kamehameha since the beginning of Dragon Ball (after Goku). In early Dragon Ball Z, he shows great pride in defending Earth from the Saiyans, willing to put his life on the line to stop them; which he evidently does. Although he his killed, he dies a hero's death. After returning from the dead, he prepares to battle the Androids. During this time he and Bulma break up for good (though they remain friends) and she ends up with Vegeta, which frustrated him. After seeing Vegeta's emotional reaction to Future Trunks' death, Yamcha forgave him and is later seen being friendly with Vegeta. Yamcha is also on good terms with Trunks and tells Future Trunks that his father really loved him. After being nearly killed by Dr. Gero, he takes more of a comical approach and becomes largely outmatched in battle due to the ever growing power of the enemies the Z Fighters face. It appears whatever passion and resolve for fighting he had disappears with the emergence of the Super Saiyans, who severely outclass him in fighting ability and he eventually comes to accept this. After realizing that his enemies severely overpower him, unlike Tien, who wishes to fight despite the odds, Yamcha accepts that his contribution would be futile, and instead opts to stand aside and keep watch, instead of engaging in combat. Despite this fact, he remains a trusted ally and will fight on occasion when needed. During the latter half of Dragon Ball Z, he retires from fighting, but continues training and goes off on his own. In Dragon Ball Super, it is revealed Yamcha actually has grown stronger and has been training. However, he uses his strength for baseball rather than fighting at this time. Yamcha expressed a strong desire to get married, which was the reason why he wanted to cure his fear of women. He also expressed excitement at the thought of starting a family.[22] The Dragon Ball: Bouken Special book, released during the King Piccolo Saga, says he is nervous around women except for Bulma. Future Trunks states during the Trunks Saga, that Yamcha later fully got over his nervousness around women and that his promiscuity caused Bulma to break up with him in his timeline. Future Trunks states that after Bulma and Yamcha broke up, Yamcha found a new girlfriend. Although she never appeared in any Dragon Ball media, Yamcha's new girlfriend is mentioned at the end of the Cell Games Saga, when Shenron asks for a wish and Yamcha jokingly proposes he wish for a necklace for his girlfriend. Despite originally saying it was his dream to get married and Trunks saying that he found love again, Yamcha appears to be single in Dragon Ball GT.