Bulma and Goku: The start of a legend The beginning of Dragonball by Dan
The first of many DB essays
There was one anime that rocked the world that changed the landscape we saw it in. It was about a space alien that came to earth, was raised by a kindly old man in order to be a defender of mankind and fight against tyrannical space emperors, lab-engineered genetic monsters from the future, and even gods intent on destroying the world in their mad plots. However, the story did not start with that. Instead, it was inspired by the old chinese classic, “Journey to the West”, where a Buddhist monk goes west, alongside a sea spirit, a pig, and the Monkey King, Son Goku.
The story started simply as “Dragonball:, with the first season being about the evil emperor Pilaf searching for the Dragonballs in order to become the ruler of the Earth. Goku was a young near-feral child, surviving off the land, who went to fight against this evil individual alongside the young inventor Bulma, the perverted pig Oolong, the bandit Yamcha and his good friend, and the flying cat Puar. However the story starts in quite an interesting way, one that would jumpstart a lot of anime: a surprise, accidental run-in with the main character, often barbaric or rebellious in nature, only to have them fight in the stead of the individual that came across them.
This is what happened in the first episode of Dragonball, when Bulma first met Goku, nearly running him over, and Goku destroying her vehicle, thinking it was some form of monster that was holding her hostage. It was only upon her shouting at him that he realized it wasn’t some form of creature, and he learned of her quest, which was to search for the mythical orbs of magic, to make a wish for the perfect boyfriend, only to find out that Goku owned the four star Dragonball, and she tried to trick him into giving it to her, only for him to opt to follow her, wanting to hold his grandfather’s memento, to make sure that she doesn’t steal it, and she keeps her end of the promise to return it afterwards.
Bulma was being duplicitous, and she also decided Goku would also make a good bodyguard, and would often lose patience with him, and in her defense, Goku is a very high-maintenance, high energy child, with very little worldly experience, and she, herself, is a young, adolescent girl in her own right, and she put it upon herself to raise him, something that she would abandon, some for reasons I judge her, others that I can understand why she would put that promise aside, and put that responsibility on Master Roshi. She would be a child raising a child, and Oolong often didn’t help, thinking only of himself. He may have been the voice of reason, but he went along, because both Goku and Bulma wanted him to take responsibility for his actions in kidnapping young girls.
And it didn’t help that Bulma, being a supergenius, doesn’t know how to teach an illiterate child a basic education. Often geniuses have trouble putting themselves in the shoes of an amateur, in order to help them learn, and she wouldn’t know where to begin. Oolong refused to do so, claiming it wasn’t his responsibility and didn’t want to step up, which more power to him to make that choice.
Goku would turn out to be an incredible genius in his own right, surpassing even her own intellect, maybe not in inventing technology, but in other fields. Even she wasn't able to tell us the speed of light down to the last decimal off the top of her head, while Goku did at some point in Dragonball Z. However, he wasn’t at all educated, and Gohan didn’t have the chance to do so, before Goku turned into a giant monkey and killed him, only managing to teach him how to survive. The young boy had a hard time taking to schooling initially because he was a high energy youth that loved physical activity a lot more, and his competitive fighting spirit took over, which would later be revealed as Sayian instincts.
I remember when I first watched Dragonball, only the Pilaf arc was shown on tv, and it proved to be more niche than popular at the time, with the series not continuing until much later. It would end after the group would split their separate ways, with Goku going to train under Roshi, and the rest to return to Bulma’s home. I was frustrated by the series not continuing, (although our brother was far more into it, and worked hard to search for the Dragonball series for several years.) and I would move onto other series, as I was but a child at the time. I may have seen an episode here and there afterwards, but it was more focused on other shows, such as Pokemon and Yugioh. But rewatching the series, and seeing Bulma nearly running over Goku really brought something out, and I grew to love the series.
Bulma didn’t realize how grand her adventure would be when she “adopted” this boy as a bodyguard, and as much as she would always treat him as a simpleton, when all he was was a troll, when he grew a little older, as it was only early on that he wasn’t as bright, as he didn’t know how to read or write. Roshi himself tried, but Goku was too much for him, and Goku would have to wait for Kami to come in and sit him down to study.
But we wouldn’t have this legendary gem of an anime, if it wasn’t for a man who started a story based on an old tale, of a girl nearly running over a boy with a monkey tail.
Can we get more Zelda content? I really like those analysis videos! They are SO good!