40 Facts About Goku

Son Goku is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama.

Goku first made his debut in the first Dragon Ball chapter, Bulma and Son Goku, originally published in Japan's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on December 3,1984.

Goku is introduced as an eccentric, monkey-tailed boy who practices martial arts and possesses superhuman strength.

Outside the Dragon Ball franchise, Goku has made cameo appearances in Toriyama's self-parody series Neko Majin Z, has been the subject of other parodies, and has appeared in special events.

Character Goku is based on Sun Wukong, the central character of the Chinese novel Journey to the West.

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Goku was given the ability to teleport to any planet in seconds, so that Toriyama could increase the pace of the story.

Toriyama's editor was initially against having Goku grow up, saying it was uncommon to have the protagonist drastically change in manga he gave in when Toriyama threatened that he would not be able to continue the series if the character did not.

Goku first appears in Dragon Ball as a monkey-tailed child adopted by the hermit martial artist Gohan.

However, Goku loses the ability when his friends cut off his tail.

Goku is later trained by the martial artist Master Roshi, alongside a monk named Krillin, who later becomes his best friend.

Roshi spent about 50 years developing and perfecting the technique, but, as a child, Goku is able to understand and copy the technique immediately after only one demonstration.

Five years later, Goku meets his evil older brother Raditz and learns about his heritage.

Goku comes from a race of now nearly extinct extraterrestrials called Saiyans, himself having been sent from their home planet to prepare Earth for sale on the intergalactic market by destroying all its life.

Goku is temporarily resurrected on Earth seven years later and meets his second son Goten.

Ten years later, during another World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku meets Uub, Buu's human reincarnation, and leaves with him, intending to train him as the new protector of Earth.

Goku helps his friends take out Moro's forces before he comes face-to-face with Moro again.

Goku achieves the full power of Ultra Instinct, which he uses to debilitate Moro to near-death.

Goku has appeared in various other media including an unofficial Taiwanese live-action film and an unofficial Korean live-action film.

In December 2007, Goku made a guest appearance in avatar form in the MMORPG Second Life for a Jump Festa promotion titled Jumpland@Second Life.

Goku appears in the Dr Slump and Arale-chan video game for the Nintendo DS.

Goku has been the subject of, and is mentioned in, various songs.

Goku has been used in Japanese public service announcements aimed at children.

The first, in which Goku is taught the importance of obeying traffic safety by others, is entitled Goku's Traffic Safety.

The second is called Goku's Fire Fighting Regiment, in which he teaches two children the importance of fire safety.

Goku has made guest appearances in various Japanese television shows and manga.

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In 2005, Goku appeared in the Toriyama parody manga Neko Majin Z where he is the sensei of the main character Z On September 15,2006, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Koen-mae Hashutsujo, the special manga Super Kochikame was released.

Goku appears in a parody of the film Moneyball on an episode of Mad entitled Money Ball Z, in which Billy Beane drafts Goku and a couple of other Dragon Ball characters into the Oakland A's.

In 2010, a fiberglass statue of Goku was created by Canadian-born Hong Kong artist Edison Chen, with Chen's facial features instead of Goku's, as part of Chen's collection that was displayed at the "Treacherous Treis" exhibition in Singapore's Museum of Art and Design.

One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda and Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto said that Goku inspired their protagonists as well as series structure, with Tekken Lars Alexandersson showing traits of a hero through his design inspired by Goku alongside Marvel Comic's Thor.

Goku is the first manga character to have a balloon at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, with his first appearance at the 2018 parade.

Several pieces of merchandising based on Goku have been released, including action figures, plushes, and keychains.

Goku ranked consistently high in the Anime Grand Prix poll in the category of "best male character" in the late 1980s and early 1990s, appearing seventeenth in the 1987 poll, fifteenth in the 1988 poll, second in the 1989 poll, fourth in the 1990 poll, third in the 1991 poll, fourth in the 1992 poll, thirteenth in 1993 poll, and twelfth in 1994 poll.

In 2000, Goku placed third in an Animax poll of favorite anime characters.

Game designer Hiroshi Matsuyama from CyberConnect2 said that while Goku is an appealing character readers could root for during the manga, he was hard to relate and, thus, instead preferred other characters like Krillin or Bulma.

However, during the manga's final story arc, Matsuyama recalls being overjoyed when Goku says that Mr Satan, a comic relief character with no superextraordinary skills, was the real hero of mankind as the Earthlings found him as the saviour of mankind when Buu was about win the final fight.

Goku's characterization has been well received by publications for manga, anime and other media.

Tim Jones from THEM Anime Reviews noted that Goku is not an omnipotent character in the first anime series, unlike Dragon Ball Z, and does not disappear for long periods of time between sagas.

In January 2017, Nozawa won two Guinness World Records for her longevity as Goku; she has been the sole voice actor for the role for over 23 years.

Sam Leach from Anime News Network agreed that fans of the series tend to joke about Piccolo being a better paternal figure to Gohan than his actual father, Goku, and felt that Dragon Ball Super emphasized this more when Piccolo started training him again.

IGN noted that Goku has a tendency to show enemies mercy, including Vegeta, Piccolo, Cell and Moro.