He's the main character for most of the series (Gohan "takes over" the series when his father dies the second time). He starts the manga as a
young and innocent boy with black spiky hair, a strange monkey tail and an expanding stick (nyoibo).
Incredibly strong for his age (which he claims to be of 14 years but later we find out that he canīt count), he has one of the Dragonballs which he refers to as his Grandfather (it was the only thing that his Grandfather left before dying, so he considers it to posses his soul). Goku while carrying his lunch home (a giant fish that he killed with one kick) literally bumps into Bulma. After a brief discussion, and Bulma explaining the power that lies in the Dragonball, both leave to search for the Dragonballs. It is in this way that the series of adventures begin. Soon after, both meet Kamessenin who then gives him his "first" magic cloud (he frequently has it destroyed, but later we find out there's a bunch of them), also known as Kintoen.
After some 17 mangas, Goku has had many adventures and friends and is already an adult, married (with ChiChi) and has a child (Songohan, he
was given the same name as Gokuu's Grandfather). - On the TV series the name is changed to Dragonball Z- . By this time, with the coming of
Gokuu's brother: Raditz, we find out that Gokuu isn't human. He was
found by his "Grandfather"(SonGohan isnīt his real grandfather, but an
adoptive one) inside a space capsule
Gokuu had been sent to Earth in
order to conquer it, but due to a big fall he lost his memory thus,
becoming the innocent boy that we meet at the beginning of the manga
we
are told that Gokuu is really a Saiya-jín(-jin is used in Japanese to
say that a person is part of the people that the "-jin" follows,
therefore, Gokuu is part of the Saiya people
living the Saiya in planet
Vejiita (they are not originally from this planet-this we find out in
one of the films).
Later Gokuu finds out that he can turn into Super Saiya-jin when he gets really angry (this occurs the first time when Freeza, one of the most dangerous enemies during the series, kills Kulilin, during the quest for the Namekian Balls). This transformation increases greatly Gokuu's power and gives him physical transformations (his hair becomes blond and more
spiky, his eyes green, his face linear and an aura forms around him)
afterwards, he finds that he can also turn into Super saiya-jin 2 and 3, which means an increase of all the caracteristics of the first stage.
Other Characters
Gohan
Vegeta
Piccolo
Krellin
Frieza
Trunks
Goten
Chi-Chi
Tien
Yaumcha
Chowauzu
