Many face Goku as the representation of all that is clean and pure, with some characters even calling him the “pure-hearted” boy. However, I think this perception of the character is incorrect, somewhat. His purity originates primarily in his innocence. But this doesn’t eliminate his flaws, because Goku, along with every other character ever, isn’t perfect and he can many times arrogant and selfish. But I’ll start from the beginning and I’ll cover every phase of development the character went through.
In the first chapter of the manga, we’re introduced to this character that reveals his innocence in this and the upcoming chapters. A “country bumpkin”, as other characters frequently call him, who didn’t even know what a girl or a car were. He meets Bulma and agrees to travel with her, someone he just met and tried to kill him mind you, to try to find the seven Dragon Balls which grant any wish.
Fast forward a bit until the end of the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai. Son decides to travel around the world to get back the 4 star Dragon Ball that belonged to him before they used it to summon Shenlong. Along his way, he encounters various members of a powerful criminal organization, the Red Ribbon Army. From the kindness of his heart, our hero ventures forth the RRA base to stop them from causing any more terror on the planet by... killing most if not every member there. Despite being a kid, he didn’t care much about saving lives. At least his opponents' lives.
And this is because Goku had never been taught a concept of the morality of death. The only occasions where he had faced death in some way before were when his grandfather died, where he thought he had reincarnated in the 4-star ball, and when Upa’s father, Bora, had been killed by Tao. In both occasions, he never stopped to think about the importance of death. That’s because he had no reason to. In the first one because of his innocence and ingenuity. And in the second occasion because he didn’t knew Upa that well so that his father’s death could have been important to him. That’s why he defeated Tao and the Red Ribbon Army from the kindness of his heart, despite they having nothing to do with him.
But this changed at the end of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai with the death of his best friend Kuririn. Until that point in the manga, Kuririn had been the person who Goku lived with the most amount of time. And seeing him die that way awake inside him a feeling of revenge. And this time, not revenge for others, personal revenge. Goku swore to kill Piccolo Daimao at any cost, he was blinded by his rage. And Kame Sennin’s death only made things worse. This is where the first big piece of development arises: Goku finally understood what death meant, its importance. He wasn’t an innocent kid anymore. He didn’t believe Kuririn would just reincarnate in a Dragon Ball or another inanimate object. He cared. But, at the end, his rage took over his body and he managed to fulfill his objective by killing his worst enemy.
In the 23rd TB, Goku meets a childhood acquaintance: Chi-Chi. Revealing now another part of his kindness, he marries Chi-Chi without feeling any type of love for her, yet at least. This will be important, not now, but later.
At the end of the tournament, Goku wins against Piccolo Jr. but refuses to kill him, even knowing what kind of evil he could do to the world. This could have been, perhaps, because Kami would have died too, or because Son discovered anyone could change and become good. If he wasn’t sure of it when Tenshinhan became his friend, then he became sure of it a few years later when Piccolo sacrificed himself to save his son, Gohan. Part of his no killing policy originated with Tenshinhan’s and Piccolo’s change of heart.
At the start of the part 2 of the manga, or more commonly referred to as “Dragon Ball Z”, we’re told that Goku is a member of an alien race called the Saiyans. At this point in time, judging himself as an Earthling and because he spent a great chunk of his life on Earth, he refuses to even acknowledge himself as a Saiyan.
There wasn’t that much development for Goku until the Freeza arc. Earth gets attacked by the Saiyans, and after an epic battle, he refuses to kill Vegeta, yet again showing part of his no kill policy because he thought me may change for the better, and letting him go, showing the selfishness I talked about in the beginning, because he wanted to save Vegeta to have a good fight against him in the future.
I think that it was on Namek where Goku developed the most. After he recovers from the fight against Ginyu and his crew, our protagonist is faced with Freeza about to kill Vegeta. While dying, the proud Saiyan prince lets go a releases some tears and begs the lower class warrior to kill Freeza in the name of every Saiyan that died by his hand. With the death of Vegeta, Goku gets one of the biggest and most important piece of development in the entire manga. He accepts his past, his Saiyan heritage, and fights, for the first time, not as an Earthling, but as a Saiyan.
And finally, the long awaited fight between Son Goku and Freeza takes place. To avenge the entire Saiyan and Namekian races, Goku gives everything he has to defeat the tyrant, managing to use the forbidden Kaioken x20 and, later, the Genkidama. Still, everything seems futile because Freeza continued alive after every blow. And then it was with the second death of his best friend, Kuririn, that Goku is once again fueled by rage.
A parallel with the Piccolo Daimao arc in part 1 of the manga is established. But while Goku there couldn’t control his rage, in this arc possibly the biggest development of the character is seen. Despite saying constantly after turning Super Saiyan that he would kill Freeza, showing off his arrogance I talked about in the beginning (despite that this could be attributed to the SSJ state, but, nevertheless, irrelevant to the main point), the Saiyan is able to calm himself down and give him two chances of survival.
The “old” Goku that massacred hundreds of Red Ribbon Army soldiers and killed Piccolo as revenge would never, ever, have this attitude. And this is because, deep down, Goku still thought Freeza could change, even after everything he had done, just like Tenshinhan, Piccolo, and even Vegeta, had done until that point. But it was ultimately when Freeza attacked him and showed that he was corrupted to the core that he knew he didn’t have a chance of redemption.
The Freeza arc is beautiful for many reasons. But this page here might be the biggest one of all. When Goku destroys Freeza’s attack and thinks he kills him, he doesn’t stand there gloating about his victory, or happy that he avenged everyone. He just stands there, motionless, shaking without end, with a miserable look on his face. He managed to stop the near unstoppable rage that the Super Saiyan state grants him and never lost much of who he was inside. But still after everything the tyrant had done, Goku still wished he could have saved his life, and still hoped he could have changed for the better. Goku didn’t think Freeza was the monster. In his eyes, he was the monster... Chapter 327 is still one of my favourite chapters in all of manga.
With the coming of the Cell arc, Goku didn’t develop much at the beginning. We’re shown that during the 10 days of wait for the Cell Games, he had developed feelings for both his son and wife, by spending the last 10 days with them, instead of training. It shows he truly loves them, and that he isn’t just staying with them not to upset them and leave them sad. Not too important, but it’s still development.
And then the Cell Games arrive. This is where many people like to point their finger and claim Goku is a bad father. I don’t see it that way. He knew the strength of his own child, that he was stronger than him, and knowing everyone would probably die anyways, he chose to let his son fight and be hurt by Cell and having a chance of winning, then not letting Gohan fight and let Cell kill everyone. He didn’t have any other choice. And still, he left his plan as a last resort, fighting against Cell first.
Still, a few moments later after Gohan starts fighting, Goku is invaded by an inner conflict. He starts to think whether or not what he’s doing is the right thing or not and when his plan starts to fail, he is invaded by a feeling of guilt.
Despite Gohan’s transformation a few chapters prior, Cell fights back with a suicide attack. With his sacrifice and decision to stay dead, Goku establishes that he feels guilty for everything that happened, and that the world would be a better place If he stayed dead. The guilt takes over him and he thinks that his decision is, indeed, for the best.
Forward to the Boo arc and you’ll see Goku didn’t get much development. This is because his character was already established and he didn’t have the need to. Instead of this, we get to see other character’s perception of Goku. In special, of Vegeta’s, who finally admits to himself that Goku is a better fighter and he admires him.
Still, Goku is looking for a successor, knowing that he can’t stay on Earth forever to protect it. This is evident when he teaches Goten and Trunks fusion, and is even more evident when he leaves to train with Uub. And before anyone starts saying he abandoned his family, he didn’t. The Neko Majin chapter shows Goku visiting his family every day.
Finally, BoG. Goku’s pride is brought up in BoG, when it rarely is. To summarize this part, I’ll pick a post from Kanzenshuu, otherwise I would be here all day.
BlazingFiddlesticks said:
Goku’s pride is only rarely mentioned because its almost entirely internal, it does not involve the death or subjugation of anyone else to be realized, nor is it threatened by anyone else. Goku let Freeza power up to 100% because he was in an unheard of (for him) state of mind where he thought his opponent’s humiliation would not be a morally incorrect choice of action. He was not bummed when Cell outmatched him because it was his own fault for how he chose to spend the 10 days. His advocacy for fusion borders on pathetic, if it were not so necessary.
Goku’s greatest fault becomes that what he fights for and what the Z-era villains make him fight for- his own satisfaction versus the lives of his loved ones and world- are at odds, to the point where Goku puts seeing his personal milestones for his sons over defeating villains as efficiently as possible, and is repeatedly punished for it. Beerus calling him out on it, as a total outsider, is both an acknowledgement of how ridiculous the battle powers became, since Goku has experienced a “I would never naturally hit this in my lifetime even with my training methods” level of power, and a brilliant way for Goku to get grilled on it in a way that he would understand and that could not be simply laughed off as “Oh Goku”- its most certainly not fight filler.
TL;DR: As a child, Goku didn’t have a problem killing his enemies. As the manga progressed and he grew up, he became to understand the significance of death. There’s the fact that, as a child, he lived most of his live alone in the woods, thinking that when he accidently killing his grandfather, he had reincarnated in the 4 star ball. His no kill policy originated when both Piccolo and Tenshinan became his loyal friends. It was when he realized villains like Freeza and Cell had their heart filled with pure evil that he realized there wasn’t a way to make them turn for the better.
Keep in mind that I am, in no way, trying to portray Goku as a complexly written or deep character. Nor am I saying he has received more development than the others in this thread. What I am saying, though, is that he isn’t a simple character with no development that everyone assumes he is. That’s false, and I’m tired of hearing it. Especially from people who just go by what is being said instead of actually reading the manga and taking their own conclusions. He got his fair share of development, enough to make him the respectable character he is today.
All Comments (449) Comments
interesting choice in women, but I won't judge
put that bottle down, Mike. you're slurring again
no mercy for baki as i see
be understanding and nice pls