Dragon Ball: Does Goku Actually Love Chichi?

Dragon Ball’s Goku is one of the weirdest characters in the history of manga and anime because he doesn’t really view things the same way that other people do. In Vegeta’s words, Goku’s an idiot because he can be quite slow in things outside of fighting. Of course, one of the things that Goku hasn’t been good at is his job as a husband to Chichi. So, does Goku actually love Chichi?
Goku loves Chichi, but not in the conventional way people view love. That’s because he isn’t the most romantic and sexual person on the planet, as he doesn’t understand those concepts well enough to say that he loves Chichi in a conventional manner.
What makes Goku unique is that he doesn’t really get how the world works and has a certain way of viewing things that can irritate some of his other allies. But Goku is a pure-hearted person who may not understand what romantic love is but will surely be there for the people he loves no matter what happens. Now, let’s try to understand whether or not Goku really does love Chichi.
Goku Doesn’t Really Know What Romance Is
If there’s something that we have always known about Goku, it’s that he isn’t the smartest person in Dragon Ball. He tends to be someone who doesn’t understand how certain things in the world work. Of course, while he may be married to Chichi and is a father to two sons with her, the thing about him is that he doesn’t even understand what romance is.
The fact that Goku is married and has two kids isn’t really consistent with his personality. But if you look at how he and Chichi got together, it would be understandable why they are married. It happened during the World Martial Arts Tournament when Goku and Chichi were already grown up. They faced one another in a match, and Chichi tried to remind Goku of his promise to her when they were still children.
In the past, Goku met the Ox-King and his daughter, Chichi. Back then, he promised to take her as his bride. However, Goku was still just a child back then and couldn’t take anyone as his bride. And the worst part is that he didn’t even understand what a bride was as he thought it was related to food.
But being the honorable man that he is, Goku agrees to keep his promise to marry Chichi as he doesn’t want to break a promise that he made even though he really doesn’t understand what he was doing back then. He and Chichi eventually got married and had two kids together. But throughout that time, Goku really didn’t seem to be the type to understand what romance is.
Raised by an old martial artist, Goku didn’t have a normal childhood. On top of that, his Saiyan instincts made him love fighting more than anything else in the world. That means that he grew up with only one thing in mind—to become stronger than anyone in the world of martial arts and fighting. That’s why Goku was always kind of an airhead, as he never tried to try to learn more about how the world works and what romance was all about.
Goku never had any idea what being romantic and sexual is all about, even though the biggest pervert trained him in Dragon Ball Z. Even his best friend, Krillin, knows a thing or two about romance. And he was even exposed to the romantic relationship between Yamcha and Bulma when he was still just a young boy.
As such, it’s just that Goku was never interested in romance or sex at all because his upbringing and Saiyan bloodline allowed him to focus more on the base instincts of a Saiyan, and that is to fight and eat. But Goku is unique because even his fellow Saiyans know a thing or two about romance. Vegeta would never admit it, but he loves Bulma more than anything in the world. Meanwhile, we also saw how Goku’s parents were quite caring in terms of their relationship with one another.
In short, Goku is simply different. He may not understand how romance works, but we know he is a pure-hearted and innocent person who loves his friends and allies more than anything else. After all, he wouldn’t be overprotective of them if he never loved them at all. It’s just that he doesn’t have the brain to understand romance.
Chichi Is More of a Companion Than a Wife
Of course, while Goku doesn’t understand what it is to be romantic or sexual, he still loves Chichi. But the way that he sees Chichi is different from the way that other husbands see their wives. In Goku’s case, he sees Chichi as more of a companion that’s there to support his training and raise his children. Yes, in a manner of speaking, he loves Chichi. Still, it is more of a companionship of convenience for Goku because he knows that his wife will always be there to support him, feed him, and take care of his kids no matter how many times Chichi nags about how irresponsible he can get.
Chichi is a tiger mom because she does all the cooking, cleaning, and parenting. At one point, Goku and Vegeta agreed that they liked their wives because of their toughness. That is true about Chichi because she has always been the only woman to ever make Goku scared whenever she is nagging. And Goku probably reverted to his base Saiyan instincts of finding a strong and tough woman that could also produce strong and tough children.
Goku also probably understands a family’s basic purpose, procreation. After all, he does have two children with Chichi, although it is possible that she was the one that made the first move on him because Goku seemingly doesn’t have a sexual bone in him. Whatever the case, Goku isn’t the best husband in terms of conventional standards, but he does love his wife and children. He just doesn’t love them more than he loves training and fighting, which is why we often see Chichi nagging him.