So what ARE the differences between Goku and Luffy?

[moose]

We all know that they're very similar characters, the ol' "not too bright, loves to eat, and is a great fighter" arch-type that Dragonball pretty much coined.

 

But other than the way they look, what are their differences? I know, obviously, Luffy was inspired by Goku, but he isn't exactly Goku and I would like to hear the differences.

 

And by differences, I mean personality traits and stuff like that, not which character you hate more (covering my basis, I already know this forum...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MasqueradeOverture]

Goku actually fucked...

 

...that's about it.

[moose]

Goku actually fucked...

 

...that's about it.

 

And yet Super makes it seem like he never did...

 

But I think there's more than that. Subtle things, but still things.

[Jman]

People in the US know who Goku is?

[Daos]

People in the US know who Goku is?

 

Oh damn things are heatin up in here.

[PokeNirvash]

From what I've heard about Goku in Super, I'd say Luffy's more sympathetic.

[Jman]

Goku in Super is less Japanese Superman and more Japanese Homer Simpson from what I've seen.

 

Still better than Luffy.

[CaptainStarwind]

Goku admittedly seems cooler, though that may be moreso due to the art style of DBZ vs. One Piece and because of the exposure DBZ has had in America.

 

Goku also seems much more self centered than Luffy.

[Cille]

I feel like Luffy is more reliant on his friends and considers them more of a team (the ol' nakama concept) than Goku does with his friends. I mean they both care about their friends, but with Goku his friends are people he cares about but he'd rather keep them out of trouble and take on the bad guy himself. The exceptions being Gohan when they were training and maybe Vegeta and Piccolo because they're so strong. Whereas Luffy hand-picked his crew members and relies on them for things he knows he can't do himself. He doesn't worry so much about protecting them because he knows they can take care of themselves.

 

Ultimately in both cases it'll come down to Goku/Luffy fighting the big bad because nobody else can beat him, because that's how it works in a shounen, but I think the team dynamics are different in each case.

 

Maybe it also seems like that because in every arc I've seen, Goku's friends just get their asses kicked before Goku shows up, whereas the Straw Hats tend to get matched up with minibosses and do fairly well for themselves while Luffy is focusing on the big bad (or trying to get himself unstuck, as the case may be).

[mochi]

Goku in Super is less Japanese Superman and more Japanese Homer Simpson from what I've seen.

 

Still better than Luffy.

Goku is a weird mix of Superman and Peter Griffin in Japanese, Funimations dub tends to tone down what a huge asshole Goku is to make him seem more like superman, which has the unintended effect of making it look like Piccolo and Vegeta hate him for no reason(granted presently both of them like him at least as a friend but still think he's an asshole)

 

in Japanese (and the dub of Super) he pretty much insults and says awful and childish things to everyone around him and behaves as if he's the one being wronged when they get mad at him

for example he teleports into Vegeta and Bulma's bedroom in one episode while she's walking out of the shower, Bulma yells at him and he tells her (in front of Vegeta) that she's old saggy and ugly, vegeta flies into a rage at Goku for both, walking in on his wife and then insulting her,  Goku's response makes it clear he has no idea why saying what he said made them so angry at him

 

also it's Canon that he only cares about his family when they are of some kind of use to him, he loves Chichi but only seems to show affection toward her when he wants something out of her, and ignores his children completely, unless he's training them for an upcoming evil, otherwise he basically tells Piccolo to take care of them for him

 

Vegeta on the other hand genuinely feels a fatherly instinct towards his kids and doesn't like to upset Bulma, because he loves her

 

 

edit: not to mention that previously acknowlaged scene where Goku tells Vegeta to ditch his family and come train with him and Vegeta responds that he's not going to abandon his very pregnant wife just to train

[moose]

Goku in Super is less Japanese Superman and more Japanese Homer Simpson from what I've seen.

 

Still better than Luffy.

 

Remember, I'm talking about listing key character personality differences, not which one you like better.

[moose]

Goku is a weird mix of Superman and Peter Griffin in Japanese, Funimations dub tends to tone down what a huge asshole Goku is to make him seem more like superman, which has the unintended effect of making it look like Piccolo and Vegeta hate him for no reason(granted presently both of them like him at least as a friend but still think he's an asshole)

 

in Japanese (and the dub of Super) he pretty much insults and says awful and childish things to everyone around him and behaves as if he's the one being wronged when they get mad at him

for example he teleports into Vegeta and Bulma's bedroom in one episode while she's walking out of the shower, Bulma yells at him and he tells her (in front of Vegeta) that she's old saggy and ugly, vegeta flies into a rage at Goku for both, walking in on his wife and then insulting her,  Goku's response makes it clear he has no idea why saying what he said made them so angry at him

 

also it's Canon that he only cares about his family when they are of some kind of use to him, he loves Chichi but only seems to show affection toward her when he wants something out of her, and ignores his children completely, unless he's training them for an upcoming evil, otherwise he basically tells Piccolo to take care of them for him

 

Vegeta on the other hand genuinely feels a fatherly instinct towards his kids and doesn't like to upset Bulma, because he loves her

 

 

edit: not to mention that previously acknowlaged scene where Goku tells Vegeta to ditch his family and come train with him and Vegeta responds that he's not going to abandon his very pregnant wife just to train

 

That pretty much nails Goku to a T, but what about that trait makes him different to Luffy?

[mochi]

That pretty much nails Goku to a T, but what about that trait makes him different to Luffy?

Luffy isn't a jerk

 

he's an idiot but if Luffy did something to hurt your feelings it's usually because he meant to hurt your feelings and expected it to

 

Luffy may also not really be AS dumb as he seems, it largely seems like some of his stupidity is feigned because he realizes it suits him better to appear incompetent in front of his enemies, basically Luffy is book dumb but street savvy

Goku is both book dumb and has no street sense, he doesn't know how to talk to or treat other people, Luffy does

 

in fact, being genuinely nice to people is the whole reason Luffy has a crew in the first place, the Straw hats all joined him because he helped and comforted them in exactly the way they most needed it when they needed it most

 

something Goku has never done (Goku's team basically all joined him because universal forces forced the to work together whether they liked it or not for a greater good, or in Bulma's case, because she wanted to steal Goku's most prized Possession at the time, the 4-star ball)

 

 

 

basically the difference is that Luffy is smarter than Goku and that Luffy is capable of empathy while Goku is incapable of feeling compassion towards other people

[mochi]

for that matter even as a kid Goku didn't express Grief in a normal way

 

when he accidentally killed his grandpa Gohan he basically just accepted that Gohan was gone and went on with his life, never really questioning how Gohan was killed

 

his way of expressing grief was just to keep Gohan's dragonball and start calling it Grandpa

[BUU8800]

for that matter even as a kid Goku didn't express Grief in a normal way

 

when he accidentally killed his grandpa Gohan he basically just accepted that Gohan was gone and went on with his life, never really questioning how Gohan was killed

 

his way of expressing grief was just to keep Gohan's dragonball and start calling it Grandpa

 

Rewatch how Goku responds to Krillin's death.

[mochi]

Rewatch how Goku responds to Krillin's death.

fair enough

 

but he makes a strange joke about it later on in Z....in the Buu saga when he temporarily comes back, Krillin says Goku seems like he hasn't aged while he was in otherworld,

 

Goku responds by happily saying "maybe you should try dieing sometime"

[moose]

To add my two cents in.

 

It's pretty obvious that the ONLY thing Goku really shows passion about is training and fighting.

 

He somehow had kids, which is kinda weird to me, because like Luffy... he doesn't really seem to care about romance, sex or anything like that (hell, in Super it's confirmed he never kissed ChiChi, in OG DB he thought getting married was eating, etc etc....) so for him to have two kids never really made much sense, but whatever...

 

But yeah, all Goku cares about is fighting. I mean, in this latest Super arc he's willingly putting his universe at stake, just so he can have that damn tournament. It's really gotten to the point where Goku is too obsessed with fighting.

 

Luffy on the other hand, cares about more things than just his dream of being King of the Pirates. He understands he needs his team of crew-mates to acheive his goal (whereas Goku rather not have any help, like when he was disappointed at Super Saiyan God only being achievable by a group effort and not his own). He shows more diverse emotions (whereas Goku is usually just happy, serious or mad). And of course, Luffy is a good deal more sillier than Goku (in that aspect, hes more like child Goku than adult Goku).

 

So yeah, that's my view on it.

[moose]

Goku cares about his family and friends to some degree, given that Krillin's death is what triggered his SSJ transformation.

 

But as for actually wanting to be with them, he rather just train.

 

Luffy, quite clearly, needs his friends to stay sane.

 

And he has fun with them doing different things! All Goku wants to do with others is train train train, spar spar spar.

[mochi]

To add my two cents in.

 

It's pretty obvious that the ONLY thing Goku really shows passion about is training and fighting.

 

He somehow had kids, which is kinda weird to me, because like Luffy... he doesn't really seem to care about romance, sex or anything like that (hell, in Super it's confirmed he never kissed ChiChi, in OG DB he thought getting married was eating, etc etc....) so for him to have two kids never really made much sense, but whatever...

 

But yeah, all Goku cares about is fighting. I mean, in this latest Super arc he's willingly putting his universe at stake, just so he can have that damn tournament. It's really gotten to the point where Goku is too obsessed with fighting.

 

Luffy on the other hand, cares about more things than just his dream of being King of the Pirates. He understands he needs his team of crew-mates to acheive his goal (whereas Goku rather not have any help, like when he was disappointed at Super Saiyan God only being achievable by a group effort and not his own). He shows more diverse emotions (whereas Goku is usually just happy, serious or mad). And of course, Luffy is a good deal more sillier than Goku (in that aspect, hes more like child Goku than adult Goku).

 

So yeah, that's my view on it.

wait really?...............between what you've said and what I'm seeing on tumblr I'm beginning to find Goku's marriage to Chichi really creepy and toxic

 

if Goku has never even kissed her it legitimately seems like everthing in their "relationship" is one-sided on her side and that Goku actually feels nothing for her

[Jman]

That's because Goku has a one track mind.

 

The thing about Superman and why he's so timeless is that he's reinterpreted differently in all his appearances depending on the writer.  The Golden Age version was an enforcer who doled out justice to those the system couldn't help. Silver Age writers alternated between him being an angel of mercy and a sociopathic dick to his friends when they schemed to find out his identity/try to marry him.  Optimistic writers portray him as everything from a pacifist to a system rattler for justice. Cynical writers seem his as a tool of the powers that be, while the most cynical writer on Earth, Garth Ennis, views him as a symbol of all that's right about America and immigration, essentially casting aside old grudges and helping the people of his new land.

 

Goku?  None of that.  Eat, sleep, fight, repeat.  Maybe conquer the streak somewhere in there.  Luffy, for all his many faults, seems to have people around him to direct him.  Goku doesn't nor does he want to interrupt his schedule.  At least that's Super's version.  GT made him childish but he was ultimately heroic and responsible.  It's reminiscent of Homer Simpson's decay.

[Cille]

Chichi decided as a child that Goku would have to marry her, because he patted her crotch because that was the only way he could tell whether someone was a boy or a girl.

 

Then years later she showed up at the World Martial Arts Tournament and fought him and took him up on his promise to marry her, which he had forgotten about and had only made in the first place because he thought a "wedding" was a kind of food.

 

So yeah, Goku's not really the romance type.

 

Of course, bringing it back to the comparison between Goku and Luffy,

 

(One Piece Toonami spoilers I guess)

 

 

Luffy is also supremely oblivious when a hot woman is totally into him,

 

 

so I guess they have that sort of in common.

[moose]

wait really?...............between what you've said and what I'm seeing on tumblr I'm beginning to find Goku's marriage to Chichi really creepy and toxic

 

if Goku has never even kissed her it legitimately seems like everthing in their "relationship" is one-sided on her side and that Goku actually feels nothing for her

 

Yeah, during the Goku Black arc, Goku is surprised that Future Trunks 'kissed' Future Mai (he was really just chewing up a Sensu Bean and feeding it to her because she was unconscious and couldn't chew on it) and stated that he never kissed ChiChi before, which confused the hell outta Vegeta, who stated how could that be since he's married. Goku didn't seem to understand the significance of that.

 

So him having kids really isn't adding up. They're obviously not adopted so...

[mochi]

Yeah, during the Goku Black arc, Goku is surprised that Future Trunks 'kissed' Future Mai (he was really just chewing up a Sensu Bean and feeding it to her because she was unconscious and couldn't chew on it) and stated that he never kissed ChiChi before, which confused the hell outta Vegeta, who stated how could that be since he's married.

I kinda feel bad for Goku.....

 

I mean, based on that it seems like Vegeta is starting to find Goku's marriage unhealthy

 

when a man who once killed people has a healthy and normal marriage and thinks yours is Creepy something is very wrong

[moose]

I kinda feel bad for Goku.....

 

I mean, based on that it seems like Vegeta is starting to find Goku's marriage unhealthy

 

when a man who once killed people has a healthy and normal marriage and thinks yours is Creepy something is very wrong

 

It's just the typical 'shonen hero is oblivious to woman' syndrome, but Toriyama made that trait become complicated by having Goku get married and have kids. Once those things happen, typically, you're not oblivious to woman anymore... but low and behold, Goku still is.... lmao.

[MasqueradeOverture]

Yeah, during the Goku Black arc, Goku is surprised that Future Trunks 'kissed' Future Mai (he was really just chewing up a Sensu Bean and feeding it to her because she was unconscious and couldn't chew on it) and stated that he never kissed ChiChi before, which confused the hell outta Vegeta, who stated how could that be since he's married. Goku didn't seem to understand the significance of that.

 

So him having kids really isn't adding up. They're obviously not adopted so...

 

This is a fucking retcon.

 

They kissed right in front of Master Roshi before he went to pick up Gohan to train in the Time Chamber.

[moose]

This is a fucking retcon.

 

They kissed right in front of Master Roshi before he went to pick up Gohan to train in the Time Chamber.

 

Was that part of the original, or the dub? The dub made them a little more intimate, if i remember right.

 

Oh, this scene right.

 

 

From what I can tell, this scene wasn't in the manga (neither was Super, I suppose). Also, it happened off screen, and the kiss sound could have been added for the dub.

 

 

[Jman]

This is why Meliodas > Goku and Luffy.

 

Wrong magazine I know.

[moose]

This is why Meliodas > Goku and Luffy.

 

Wrong magazine I know.

 

To be fair, he also shows signs of obliviousness when it comes to the giant girl, forget her name at the moment...

[Jman]

Diane?  He just seems more hung up on his old love so he has the nice little cross section where he doesn't want a serious relationship, yet respects her too much to grope her (he actually says it out loud that he doesn't grope her because he has way too much respect for her).

[mochi]

To be fair, he also shows signs of obliviousness when it comes to the giant girl, forget her name at the moment...

he's not oblivious to Diane, he just doesn't like her that way

 

his responses to her flirting make it pretty obvious he knows she likes him but he's just dissing her

[mochi]

Diane?  He just seems more hung up on his old love so he has the nice little cross section where he doesn't want a serious relationship, yet respects her too much to grope her (he actually says it out loud that he doesn't grope her because he has way too much respect for her).

basically,

he's just not attracted to Diane specifically, believe it or not you can be friends with a person without wanting to fuck them

[mochi]

Was that part of the original, or the dub? The dub made them a little more intimate, if i remember right.

 

Oh, this scene right.

 

 

From what I can tell, this scene wasn't in the manga (neither was Super, I suppose). Also, it happened off screen, and the kiss sound could have been added for the dub.

hah, he really doesn't kiss her....they added a smooch sound to the dub but all he did was touch her arm

[Leon]

He somehow had kids, which is kinda weird to me, because like Luffy... he doesn't really seem to care about romance, sex or anything like that (hell, in Super it's confirmed he never kissed ChiChi, in OG DB he thought getting married was eating, etc etc....) so for him to have two kids never really made much sense, but whatever...

 

It's pretty obvious that Chichi raped Goku.

[Jman]

basically,

he's just not attracted to Diane specifically, believe it or not you can be friends with a person without wanting to fuck them

 

That and not cockblock his buddy.  He's the macrophile.

 

Don't look that up.

[CaptainStarwind]

That and not cockblock his buddy.  He's the macrophile.

 

Don't look that up.

 

Too late.

 

I mean it's not the worst thing I've looked up.

[mochi]

Too late.

 

I mean it's not the worst thing I've looked up.

speaking of which there's a shortage of male/male art of the seven deadly sins of any kind

 

 

it's mostly macro art of Diane

[PokeNirvash]

Too late.

 

I mean it's not the worst thing I've looked up.

 

Agreed, giantess fetishism is actually on the low end of weird turn-ons.

[Jman]

speaking of which there's a shortage of male/male art of the seven deadly sins of any kind

 

 

it's mostly macro art of Diane

 

Diane is the fucking poster girl for that now.

 

Back on topic: Toriyama took a certain glee in making Japanese Superman Japanese Asexual Homer Simpson.  Luffy mighty as well be a jellyfish, but he isn't selfish.  It's almost a shame he is a jellyfish because some of the scenes of him trying to cheer up Nami and offer her food when she was sick were adorable.

[Top Gun]

Swinging back to the OP here, I think the primary difference is that Luffy has a very strongly-defined sense of justice and compassion.  He does take some inherent joy in fighting, and he repeatedly insists that he be the one to personally take on the Big Bad of the arc (as if it would happen any other way), but for all his protests against wanting to be a hero ("They have to share the meat!"), he jumps right into the role if people are suffering or being oppressed.  That goes triple if it's someone he considers to be a friend, even if that person had fought against him in the past.  (See: the greatest punch in anime history.)  His seeming stupidity could be better described as single-mindedness: he has the innate ability to see straight through to what's necessary to help someone, and lord help you if you're the ass he needs to kick in order to do so,  even if it makes him an enemy of the entire world.  And Cille already did a great job of explaining how Luffy  has an inherent trust in his crew's abilities: he values them because they can do things he can't, and he knows that they can hold their own when times are tough.  In turn, the rest of the Straw Hats are driven to be stronger in order to help Luffy fulfill his goal.

 

Then you look at Goku, who...fights.  And trains to fight.  And that's about it really.  He's in it almost entirely because he likes to fight, and he doesn't strive to get stronger in order to better protect people, but instead for its own sake.  Yes he has friends and family, and he does care about them in his own way, but they're always secondary to his drive to be the strongest fighter in the universe.  Hell, he's repeatedly put the entire planet (and more) in grave danger just for the sake of fighting his opponent at their full power.  As much as he loves punching people, that's not something Luffy would ever do.

 

(Also we all know that DBZ Abridged totally nailed how Goku's kids were conceived.  "He said one week...I'm using it.")

[Cille]

His seeming stupidity could be better described as single-mindedness: he has the innate ability to see straight through to what's necessary to help someone

This makes me think of a direct comparison between Goku and Luffy that just happens to involve scenes from the most recent episodes of Dragonball Super on Toonami and the One Piece Japanese airing:

 

(Vague spoilers for current Japanese One Piece)

 

 

Goku has a hard time remembering to address Beerus with the proper respect, because he's a dolt and can only think about wanting to know how strong Beerus is. King Kai freaks out because if Beerus feels insulted, bad things will happen, and Goku is just lucky that Beerus got bored with him and wanted to check out Vegeta.

 

Luffy addresses a member of royalty bluntly and calls him out on being a crybaby, not because he's stupid or disrespectful, but because he wants the royal to man up and take responsibility for what needs to be done. Everybody freaks out because it seems like Luffy is being impudent, but then they realize he's just refusing to coddle someone just because of his title or status.

 

[Misaka]

...

[PokeNirvash]

You only necrobumped this because I necroliked TG's comment, didn'tchu?

[Misaka]

2 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

You only necrobumped this because I necroliked TG's comment, didn'tchu?

Maybe

[CorbeauKarasu]

luffy's a bit greedier and more aware of his selfishness. he acknowledges when he's being selfish and thanks people for putting up with him and he's stated outright  that he'd rather have all the meat to himself than be a hero "who shares his food with everyone. Goku takes from people and doesn't understand that it's a problem.

 

Goku also seems easier to fool in combat. I can never help laughing when he exclaims "but that's not fair!" whenever an opponent in a life or death duel pulls an underhanded trick the first time. but luffy's often been heard to say that sneaky moves in combat are to be expected, even if he himself prefers to be straightforward.

plus, luffys not a fighting junkie. 

[naraku360]

Goku is garbage and Luffy is trash.

[PokeNirvash]

38 minutes ago, naraku360 said:

Goku is garbage and Luffy is trash.

And Toriko is toxic waste.