We now live in a world where Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States. This is deeply concerning to me, and I have been spending the last few days agonising about the future of this planet. But that is not the only worry I have had on my mind.
I’ve been thinking about Goku’s sex life.
How does a guy like him have kids? Does he even know what sex is?? How on earth did Chichi convince him to get down and dirty with her???
So many mysteries…
My confusion only deepened when, in episode 60 of Dragon Ball Super, the following exchange happened:
This led to a whole lot of head-scratching in the fandom. Like, what the fuck? Goku has never kissed Chichi? Ever?
At first glance, not only does this make no sense, it also contradicts a scene in Dragon Ball Z where it’s implied that Goku kisses Chichi. (Outside the camera’s view, but whatever.)
The joke makes a bit more sense when you consider the context. Basically, this Reddit comment sums it up:
But still, the idea that GOKU HAS NEVER KISSED CHICHI EVER still persists, and the number one reason for that is because… it seems vaguely plausible…
Goku is completely socially inept. He didn’t know what “marriage” was when he got together with Chichi. How he went from “Marriage? What kind of food is that?” to having a son within a year is mind-boggling to think about.
(Seriously. Goku and Chichi got married straight after the end of the original Dragon Ball series. Dragon Ball Z is set five years after, and Gohan is already four years old.)
Toriyama is obviously aware that Goku having a kid doesn’t match his image at all. That’s why it’s played for laughs at first. Even Goku’s friends cannot believe it when they first see Gohan. The fact that Goku is so nonchalant about it is what makes the whole thing even funnier.
But this also means that the audience is left to figure out how Goku got from A to B. At this point, you just gotta assume he figured the whole sex thing out. Considering how he was initially so utterly clueless that he didn’t know how to tell men and women apart except by touching their genitals, that’s a lot of character development that happened off-screen.
The thing is, though, Goku doesn’t change in any other way. He’s still as pure-hearted and naive as ever. And despite becoming a father, Goku never acts particularly romantic towards his wife. He’s usually thinking about fighting, and even during peaceful times he’s just generally obtuse. So it’s no surprise that when Dragon Ball Super makes out that he and Chichi don’t kiss, it actually does throw the audience for a loop. I mean, can you imagine them kissing?
Yeah, I know, this is a shonen anime and all, but god damn it, the relationships in Dragon Ball deserved way more explanation than they actually got. It’s one thing to let the audience connect the dots for themselves, but what the series actually provided on-screen made no sense whatsoever. Don’t even get me started on Vegeta and Bulma…
Frog-kun's Blog 
Terrible writing control and lack of awareness of your own world is what lead to this bullshit. Are the movies and the manga even written by the same person?
thought for a moment you were talking about me, and i was like, “yeah my blog is bad, but… THAT BAD? gonna cry a little”
It is not strange for Shounen Jump manga to ignore the sex life of characters all together. For all the sex jokes, Naruto spent life most of his teenage time chasing after Sasuke. Ichigo from Bleach…he is obviously aware of sex, but he never seems to hit on anyone until the epilogue. Same with a lot of other manga, from HxH to Death Note. Every Jump manga greatly downplays the sexual awakening of its characters.
This is fascinating on a meta level. Those manga aims primary at teenager, so there are plenty of fanservice and sex jokes. Yet the characters themselves don’t seem to be aware of that fact. Even To Love-Ru never go to more “intimate” level, despite all the ecchi.
I think this element reflect the characteristic of their target audience: sexual curiosity, confusion, and a hesitation to go further with the opposite sex. It’s part the major story elements for Shounen: characters cling to the innocence of children, yet slowly realize that there is more to the world. The formula has worked well. Their popularity speaks the fact. Those manga are perfect escapism for every age: there is something relatable, something inspiring, something exciting, something innocent, and none of the weariness of adults. Most importantly, those Shounen characters managed to keep their innocence in a dark, violent work. Isn’t it something we all dream of? Especially right now.
Okay, I write too many nonsense for a comment of a joke article. Just insert jokes about “Super” animation quality here.
About HXH, the funny thing is that for all his ‘idiot hero’ appeal, there is a throwaway line during Chimera Ant that suggests that Gon, of all things, isn’t a virgin (and isn’t especially bothered by it).
Another thing: this is seemingly a modern thing. I was surprised when I saw Parasyte, a basically shounen-esque story, end with its protagonist having sex with the love interest before his final battle (when he thought he might die).
Parasyte is a seinen though. The storyline is shounen to the core, but it’s willing to show the real teenage puberty.
And which episode/chapter of HxH is that? Not that I’m doubting you, but I can’t remember. It’s been a long time time ago, thanks to Togashi’s hiatus.
I don’t remember the chapter. It’s when Gon is preparing for a date with Palm (heh XD. Not buying that that wasn’t a stealth pun by Togashi…) and Killua thinks he’s all naive and doesn’t understand what this is even about. And Gon goes “oh I do, some times women would stop by Whale Island, they would spend time with me and teach me things… I believe they’re called ‘cougars’…” and Killua’s jaw is on the floor as he realises he actually has LESS experience than his friend (and obviously has a small pang of jealousy) XD.
Frog, you REALLY need to watch DBZ Abridged. Their angle on the whole VegetaXBulma sex thing is hilarious (and surprisingly believable… basically they make it something in-between a one night stand and a hatefuck).
Yes. Actually the most recent episode (episode 55) pretty much explains this whole conundrum you are having Frog;)
Just watched the first four episodes of DBZ Abridged. It’s basically the DBZ story but with DB’s goofiness
The beginning is comparably weak (both technically and writing wise). Power through Season 1 and you’ll witness an amazing jump in quality once they get to Namek. From there on the great thing about it is how it manages to keep always its comedic edge while delivering some seriously heart-wrenching/epic/scary moments. LittleKuriboh’s interpretation of Frieza is chilling.
e.g. Gohan is actually pretty mad that Goku is never around
“I need an adult.”
“I am an adult.”
[…] Goku’s Sex Life– This post comes from Frog-kun from Fantastic Memes! When I saw the title of this post I just knew that this was going to be in this week’s Blogger Spotlight… I mean come on, who doesn’t want to know about Goku’s sex life? This is just a light hearted post that explores the romantic exploits of one of the most innocent and pure-hearted anime protagonists… ever! […]
I figure it’s something like Carrot from Discworld.
You should generally write more about the asexuality of anime characters.
Definitely. The juxtaposition of hot girls and fanservice and chaste or even oblivious heroes of shonen is ripe for commentary. Shokugeki no Soma is a good recent example: Soma is surrounded by hot girls who all are infatuated with him, but he has zero romantic or sexual and only cares about cooking. A pretty damn far cry from actual teenage boys.
Even in actual romance/harem shonen the protagonists rarely have any [i]sexual[/i] urges. Their feelings towards the girls are almost always purely romantic and naive, again completely different from reality.
He probably doesnt understand kissing mouth to mouth. He might just kiss on the forehead or cheek.
I haven’t watched all off GT or Super, but technically speaking, in the far past, kissing wasn’t much of a thing due to the lack of dental hygiene. As that evolved, there was closed mouth kissing before the gnarly open mouthed, tongue exploratory dubbed “French kissing” method was introduced. Goku was seen kissing Chichi off scene, multiple times. maybe that wasn’t the method to which he was referring, as he was, like we’ve established, not worldly, nor romantic. Chichi lived in a hut outside of technology and prob just stuck to the regular missionary position – or woman on top, knowing her. But french kissing may not have been something Goku knew, whereas Bulma introduced to Vegeta, and Trunks learned. They’re all around technology and advanced social and sexual awareness whereas Goku and Chichi were not.
Chi chi just told Goku it was “special training.” When two fighters train really really hard and are really in tune with each other, sometimes they fight without clothes on, laying down. And that’s how they have a kid. Chi chi taught Goku how to throw a kamehameha with his eternal dragon right into her dead zone.
Also… imagine how hard Bulma and Vegeta “train.” All that pent up aggression. Dear god.