Son Goku

Goku, also called Sangoku or Son Goku is the one and only main character of Dragon Ball, created by the famous Mangaka Akira Toriyama. From the beginning of Dragon Ball to the end of Dragon Ball Super. Goku has been the only coherent entity to make the series progress. Even when he is not directly involved in the action, his presence actively drives the plot. It is his legacy and character that defines the dominant mythos of the entire Dragon Ball saga. There would simply be no Dragon Ball without Songoku.

All the human themes are directly linked to Goku’s arc. Just below, you will discover in more detail :

Goku’s Story
His appearances in the different arcs of the Dragon Ball saga
His true age finally revealed !
His most powerful techniques
Some interesting anecdotes about the character

Let’s not wait any longer to see how Goku was able to become the undisputed main character, the star of a story spanning several decades in and out of the universe. As a fighter, we had wanted to pay tribute to him in this article, so (re)discover his story in our Ultimate Guide to Songoku’s history! 💥

Goku’s Story

Goku, whose real name is Kakarot, was born while his father Bardock and his team of warriors were on a mission to conquer the planet Kanassa and kill all its inhabitants. He grew up alongside the famous warrior Broly. Goku was a very weak baby compared to the norm of the Saiyajin race, so he was sent to a planet with weak inhabitants (Earth) to exterminate all the life there, because the powerful Saiyan warriors are requisitioned for more difficult missions. So they usually send their saiyan children to more accessible planets to exterminate their unworthy opponents.

Kakarot was found by an old man named Gohan in a small spaceship. Gohan tried to raise the young boy, but Kakarot was extremely hostile and strong by human standards. One day, during a trip, the young saiyan Goku fell into a deep ravine and hit his head. The permanent damage from this fall prevented the young boy from completing his initial mission. He was then named Son Goku by Gohan.

Goku had incredible strength, speed and fighting ability, so Gohan quickly took him under his martial arts trained wing. The young fighter had a tail that looked like a monkey‘s tail. This tail would allow him to transform into a huge monkey at the sight of the full moon (the form of Oozaro but Goku had no memory of when he had already become a giant monkey and completely ignored it until he met Vegeta.

After the death of his adopted father Gohan, Goku travels the world with Bulma Brief (originally based at the Capsule Corporation) in search of the mystical crystal balls of the dragon Shenron. During his journey, he will meet Master Roshi (aka Turtle Genius), Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong, a shape-shifting pig.

After finding the Dragon Balls and losing their wish because of Oolong. Goku decided to train with the enigmatic old master Roshi. Turtle began training Goku and Krilin to teach them the legendary energy blast: the Kamehameha. Goku then entered the World Martial Arts Tournament (Tenkaichi Budokai) and was defeated only by Master Roshi’s alias, Jackie Chun.

After the World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku continued to travel the world to find the famous Dragon Balls, defeating the entire Red Ribbon Army in his quest, a feat that was considered impressive by all his friends. 👏

After defeating the Red Ribbon Army and finding the last Dragon Ball Shenron, Goku once again participated in the World Martial Arts Tournament. He lost to Ten Shin Han due to a stroke of luck. His other great achievement was defeating King Piccolo Daimao.

HOW OLD IS SANGOKU ?

In the manga, Goku was born on April 16th at the age of 736 and at 737 in the anime. Three years later, at year 739, just before the destruction of the planet Vegeta, he is sent on earth. If we don’t count his numerous deaths, Goku is about 38 years old in the last Dragon Ball Super series.

To summarize, he is 39 years old at the time of the Tournament of Power in the anime. To that we have to take away his 6 months of training with Beerus, his passages in the time chamber etc… So in the anime Goku is 39 years old, because the events with Broly take place in the same year! In the case of the manga, it’s a bit more complex because the temporality is approached differently, so Goku would be around 40 or 41 years old.

GOKU’S FAMILY

As an adult, he married a woman named Chi-Chi and together they had a son named Songohan. Goku led a relatively peaceful life until Raditz landed on planet Earth. Raditz turned out to be Goku’s brother and told him about his original mission on Earth. Goku refused to join Raditz in exterminating the citizens of Earth and so they fought. 🤼

Knowing that he couldn’t fight this super saiyan warrior alone, Goku asked his old enemy, Piccolo, to help him fight him. Goku and Piccolo fought side by side to defeat Raditz and he sacrificed himself by immobilizing him so that Piccolo could use his special beam cannon to defeat him.

Most of the dragon ball games (created by Toei Animation and Bandai Namco) allow you to relive the most intense moments of the series if you are a true dbz fan. Otherwise you can always watch dragon ball on TV as a dbz series, read dragon ball manga or watch dbz scans online. 📖

After his death, Goku trained with King Kai. The planet of Kaio sama had several times the gravity of the earth and helped Goku to become stronger. Goku left King Kai in time to defeat the saiya-jin warriors during Vegeta and Nappa‘s counterattack, who had landed on the planet in search of their comrade Raditz. By the time Goku arrived, Vegeta and Nappa had already killed Tenshinhan, Piccolo, Yamcha and Chiaotzu. 💀

Goku could not defeat Vegeta but they were both unable to fight and Vegeta retreated. Since Piccolo was defeated, the Dragon Balls disappeared from the earth and they needed them to wish their friends back, so Goku and the other survivors went to the planet Namek which contained 7 more Dragon balls. 🔮

GOKU IN THE FREEZA SAGA

Freeza was already on this planet looking for the dragon balls himself. Goku defeated Freeza’s special army, the Ginyu Commando. Goku was vastly inferior to Freeza but they fought and when Freeza decided to kill Krilin, Goku’s best friend, just for fun, he reached the limit and is transformed into a super saiyan goku in the Dragon Ball Z episodes. 🔥

That’s when Freeza released another ultimate form by increasing his muscle mass (quickly review the scene available online streaming dbz).He thought he would still be able to resume the fight, but Goku continued to outdo him with his clearly superior super saiyan power. Seeing no other alternative, he blew up the planet Namek.

After his enemy Freeza showed his true cowardice, he decided to leave him there for dead. He even asked him for some of his energy, with which he planned to kill Sangoku, and in the worst case, they would both die. Goku, being so kind by nature, gave it to him, just enough for Freeza to survive. He hoped that he could see the mistake he had made. But he was wrong. So he finished Freeza, the cry pushed by this one in the episode dbz vf is besides very emblematic of the saga dbz! ⚱️

After Freeza’s defeat, everyone thought that Goku had been killed on Namek. But, one day, the Z-Fighters and Vegeta felt Freeza’s power level approaching Earth. As the villains approached, the newly rebuilt Freeza and his father King Cold were planning to destroy the earth.Everyone was worried that the planet was doomed since Goku was no longer around to save them. 💫

But a mysterious young man arrived to confront them. Freeza and the King Cold were clearly outmatched by the young Super Saiyan and were defeated within seconds. The young man then went to the Z-Fighters and told them that Goku would soon be landing on Earth. Goku landed, with a new technique under his belt: instantaneous movement. The mysterious youngster was Trunks of the Future aka Mirai Trunks (son of Bulma and Vegeta) and he informed the team that the androids (cyborgs) will be here in three years.

He also gives heart medicine to Goku, saying that he died in another time line and that it would save his life. They all separate and start their training. Sangoku trains with his son Gohan in the spirit and time chamber. This is where Goku and Son Gohan learned to maintain their Super Saiyan limits, and where Gohan learned to manipulate his Saiyan strength. This is also how Goku and Gohan became able to maintain themselves in these forms for longer periods of time. ⏳

After Goku and Gohan left their training time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, a new event appeared, the Cell Games tournament, organized by the evil Cell.

GOKU IN THE CELL SAGA

Goku knew that he didn’t have enough power to defeat Cell in this state (Cell reached his final form because Vegeta had become too arrogant in his Super Saiyan 2 form). So he was defeated by Cell in his final form. After that, Cell decided that he would form his own tournament to fight all the most powerful warriors in the world, which seemed to be an excuse to beat Goku. 💥

Goku intended to wear Cell down enough for Gohan to finish him off. Cell began to self-destruct and he quickly used his instantaneous movement to teleport to King Kai’s planet. He sacrificed himself to keep the earth safe, but Cell was able to regenerate. It was up to Gohan to defeat him and he did so by deploying his SSJ2 form. Goku once again gathered the Dragon Balls to wish everyone life and thought the world would be safer if he stayed dead.

GOKU IN THE MAJIN BUU SAGA

And here we are now at the moment when Babidi arrived to resurrect Majin Boo. Earlier, Goku had been able to reunite with all his best friends, like Krilin and Vegeta, as well as his sons Gohan and Goten. During the World Martial Arts Tournament, two fighters with an M badge on their foreheads stole some of Gohan’s power and ran away.

Goku and the others followed them to Babidi’s ship. Goku, Vegeta and Supreme Kai entered this ship where they faced trials. 🚧

So Goku fought this creature that had the ability to absorb energy. Once he realized this, he powered up and let the demon absorb its power until it exploded. Vegeta on his side was transformed by Babidi into a Majin in an attempt to gain power. Goku then asked him to take them to a place away from people to fight his friend/enemy. Goku and Vegeta fought until they realized that Majin Boo had been released. 🔗

Goku tried to persuade Vegeta to join forces to defeat Majin Boo. Vegeta agreed but when Goku went to get some sensu beans, Vegeta knocked him out. Vegeta gave his life trying to defeat Majin Boo, but when he woke up, Goku had to return to the afterlife because his 24 hours on earth had passed. ⌚

Gohan would later be trained by the supreme Kai. Elder Kai would later trade his life for life after Goku’s death so that he could return to earth and find someone to use the fused earrings (the Potaras) to permanently bond with.

Goku merged with Vegeta after his resurrection, becoming Vegeto. In the end, Goku used his spirit bomb to defeat the original form of Majin Boo (Kid Buu). Before Kid Buu was defeated, Goku requested that he be resurrected later so that he would have the chance to fight him again. Years later, Boo was resurrected as a boy named Oob. During a martial arts tournament, Goku tried to thwart Oob to unleash his hidden power.

GOKU’S TECHNIQUES

Thanks to his perseverance and his advanced training, Goku masters more than twenty techniques. The most used in the series are Kamehameha, Kaio-Ken and Genkidama. He will also learn to master the Ultra Instinct in the Dragon Ball Super series.

A. KAMAHEHA

This is THE technique of the Dragon Ball saga. Taught by Kame Sennin (aka Master Roshi), this technique concise to concentrate all his energy in his hands to send a charge of ultra powerful energy. We will see Goku using this technique a lot of times.

B. GENKIDAMA

This technique generates a huge ball of energy above Goku’s head. Very dangerous because its power can literally destroy a planet, he will have the necessity of it during his fights against Freeza, Kid Boo or Vegeta.

C. KAIO-KEN

The famous Kaio-Ken gives Goku a reddish aura. This technique allows him to increase his strength tenfold but be careful because you mustn’t abuse it otherwise you’ll endanger your health!

D. ULTRA INSTINCT

Considered by some as a technique and by others more as a state, the Ultra Instinct has been so much in the news in the Super saga that we couldn’t avoid mentioning it. This “technique” allows its user to enter a relatively zen-like state of trance which gives him a dazzling power, speed and anticipation. To be continued!

GOKU’S TRIVIA

To find the name of the character, Akira Toriyama was inspired by the Chinese legend of the Monkey King. 🐒
Do you know where the name of the most famous technique of the Dragon Ball saga comes from? It comes from the name of a very famous Hawaiian king, named you guessed it “Kamehamaha“. 🏖
As you know, Sangoku is an outstanding warrior who proved his fighting skills throughout the saga. But now, try to count the total number of defeated enemies… And yes, it’s a problem! Come on, I’ll take away the suspense: Goku has only killed 2 enemies during his entire career as a Saiyan, Yakon (Babidi’s henchman) and Boo!
Like any good Saiyan who respects himself, the name Sangoku, also called Kakarot, comes from the word “carrot”, you will have understood it at the syllables. 🥕
Do you know Goku’s biggest fear? And it’s not Freeza! It’s the stings! He’s really afraid of it, the mere sight of a syringe freezes his blood as shown in two episodes in the DBZ saga.
One of the questions that manga fans ask themselves… Who wins between Son Goku and Saitama!

That’s it! You now know pretty much everything about the main character Son Goku and his adventure in the Dragonball and DBZ saga! We will soon talk about his appearances in the Dragon Ball Super Saga (with Beerus, Whis and Jiren), Dragon Ball Gt (SSJ4) and in the movies (against Broly, the legendary warrior), but for now, we let you digest and remember all his past adventure to better understand the next part of his young saiyan adventures! 🚀

In the meantime you can play as Goku in the dragon ball games (Dragon Ball Xenoverse 1 &2, Dragon Ball Z : Kakarot), but also wear his colors. In particular thanks to his famous training T-Shirt !