Goku (film character)

"I am Goku. I am Oozaru. To be at one with myself, I must be two."
— Goku in Dragonball: Evolution

Goku (孫 悟空, Son Gokū) is a Saiyan. He is an adaptation of Son Goku and is portrayed by Justin Chatwin.

Biography

Goku appeared in Dragonball: Evolution. He was a regular teenager attending high school who had trouble fitting in. He dealt with bullies often and seemed to be infatuated with the school's most popular girl, Chi Chi. Although he had been trained in the way of the martial arts by his grandfather, Gohan, he opted not to fight back or abuse the skills he had been taught, partly on behalf of his struggle with believing that he could live up to his grandfather's legacy. Gohan gave the Four-Star Ball to Goku shortly before being confronted by Piccolo. After the death of his grandfather, Goku embarked on a journey with Bulma Briefs to locate the seven Dragon Balls before Piccolo, who planned to destroy the world using the artifacts. As Oozaru, he killed Master Roshi, but managed to gain control of himself and finally mastered the Kamehameha attack, which he had been having trouble with before. With that, he defeated Piccolo and used the Dragon Balls to revive Master Roshi. Afterwards, he started a relationship with Chi Chi.

Techniques

• Evolution Kamehameha – An energy wave technique.
• Ki Blast – The most basic form of energy wave.
• Oozaru – An (initially) uncontrolled transformation into a large primate.
• Shadow Crane Strike – An agile martial arts technique Goku learns from his grandfather.

Actor's insight

• "First of all, it's an honor to play Goku, because he is a very important and epic character. He is always seeing the positive side of things, does good things, and always tries to help and take care of the weak, not only pursuing his power. He is a dependable and loving man as well as a boy. So I like Goku. In preparation for the role, of course I read the original manga (all of it), in addition, I read [Journey to the West] a little, because Dragonball is based on [Journey to the West]. And during the break time of shooting, I got into Goku's character, telling jokes with other cast in search of the real communication which can be used in acting. This is the most interesting movie for me. Because I have never fought with anyone though, I trained martial arts and acrobat, and then we shot it. That's fun as well as challenging. Fighting with Eriko (Tamura), she punched me in the face, actually she intended to hit lightly, but... it was a clean hit (laugh) She said "I'm sorry!" and apologized to me, but thanks to her, we could shoot very powerful action scene. Through this work, I think I could learn a lot of things."

Comparison to the manga character

Similarities

• He has a bigger appetite than Bulma, briefly shown in the film.
• He performs a weaker version of the Kamehameha seconds after watching Master Roshi do it, however, in the manga it is more powerful and does not fall apart in the air.
• He is raised by Grandpa Son Gohan.
• He is trained by Master Roshi.
• He is not exactly smart.
• He has spiky hair.

Differences

• Goku lives in the mountains, but (in the film) migrates into town frequently.
• In the manga, he was isolated from modern civilization for most of his childhood. In the film, Goku is a teenager in high school and interacts with his peers frequently and uses electronic devices.
• The romantic relationship between Goku and Chi Chi is reversed; Goku (in the film) has had a crush on Chi Chi for some time.
• In the manga, Bulma is the first female he meets, and second Human being, whereas in the film he knows many females and sees people a lot, long before meeting Bulma.
• In the manga, he gets his blue gi from Gohan, and is never seen wearing anything else until Master Roshi gives him his trademark orange gi. In the film, he wears regular clothes, and Master Roshi gives him his blue gi. He finds the orange gi early in the film, supposedly taking it with him to put it on just in time for the final battle.
• The trademark orange gi is all orange in the manga, except for a black and white "turtle" symbol. In the film, it has navy blue pants, and undershirt with an orange shirt. In addition, Goku's wristbands, and belt, which were blue in the manga, are black in the film.
• Goku is 12 years of age when first introduced in the manga. He is 18 when first introduced in the film.
• Goku transforms into his Oozaru (Great Ape) form during a full moon in the manga. Goku transforms into his Oozaru (Great Ape) form during a solar eclipse in the film.
• In the manga, Oozaru, otherwise known as the Great Ape, is a Saiyan trait, as all Saiyans have the ability. In the film, Oozaru was an ancient god who helped Piccolo destroy the earth, and is being reborn in Goku (as an adaptation of the notorious full moon transformation from the series) for unknown reasons.
• Goku's traditional, happy personality is lacking in the film. Instead, he questions his belonging on Earth and wants to fit in, while in the manga, he never really cares to wonder.
• In the manga, he masters the Kamehameha extremely quickly after simply watching Master Roshi do it. In the film, he has a great deal of trouble mastering it, but finally succeeds in the end, just in time to defeat Piccolo with the technique.
• In the manga and anime, even by the age of eighteen, Goku is capable of performing feats of strength, speed, agility, and ki power that are nearly god-like. In the film, while Goku's abilities are impressive, they are significantly less so.
• In the manga, Goku defeats Piccolo with Penetrate, but in the film Goku defeats Piccolo with a Kamehameha.
• In the manga and the anime, Goku's negative Saiyan traits are knocked out of him after a fall from a ledge. In the film, the incident never happened, as Gohan taught Goku the proper restraint himself. However, Goku does display some Saiyan-like behaviors such as arrogance (claiming Bulma was not even close to killing him after their inital confrontation), toying with the enemy (continually dodging Fuller's attacks, making him destroy his own car and knock himself out), and even sarcasm (directed towards Bulma when she was having trouble finding Roshi in Paozu's directory, claiming she should look up "Master" and then proceeding to spell it out for her).

External links

• Justin Chatwin fansite