The Morality of Son Goku.

Time to go over the MORALITY of Goku and how it's CHANGED over the course of the series.

Goku over time has grown as a character and his morality has altered and grown along with him. The way he treats the antagonists and villains that face him is the clearest way to see this. Most think of Goku as being strictly merciful - never changing in his belief that enemies can be redeemed and become rivals, but this isn’t the case at all.
After watching the video feel free to leave any and all counter points in the comments below - I love a good discussion.
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#DragonBallSuper #Goku #DragonBallZ

[CarthusDojo]

Editing this comment in 2023 cause DAMN this video is blowing up again for some reason. I've wanted to remake this for awhile, but I guess I'll wait a while before I do - welcome new people!

[Ekainen]

Can we talk about the fact that Goku's childhood is :
- being an orphan
- killing his own step grandfather
- having no education
- having no role model
- being left alone to survive in the wild
- being forced to fight

With such background and seeing what he is now, I think Goku is more than a good man.

[joejames]

“Goku has no characterization”
“Goku isn’t a deep character”
“Goku is a 2 dimensional character”
Give the man credit already he’s a very good MC.

[joshualowe]

DBZ Goku was a good role model. He teaches to keep pushing themselves to their best, to turn the other check when others do wrong to you and others, and to stay strong and be brave in the face of impossible odds

[jmcsquared]

Even though they changed his face slightly after he "killed" Frieza, I'm pretty sure we could all tell he was questioning his decision and regretful that Frieza couldn't be saved. But in my head, I also think he felt anger, too. Even after Trunks sliced Frieza up, Goku told him, "I was only fooling myself, thinking he might change."

[riteshjadhav]

Also Goku at the beginning of z, was disgusted after discovering that he belongs from a race who slaughtered civilizations and destroyed planets
later in the frieza saga after vegeta's death he accepts himself as a saiyan warrior and fights frieza to avenge his race

[sebastianrodriguez]

I honestly this is by the greatest Goku character breakdown ever recorded. And quite possibly the best scripted Dragon Ball video to date.

[oroboros]

I can show this video to people who think Goku has no character development.

[sebastianrodriguez]

Dragon Ball Super is mischaracterzing Goku to a offensive degree. There are many layers to his behavior yet they continue do so wrong by him.

[cognozzle]

The way Goku looks down after blasting Frieza is so well done. You say he's sad, but he's not merely sad. He's also baffled and disgusted. Even then he can hardly believe someone so twisted exists.

[elmicmac]

This is by far the best video you’ve ever made

[CGB_Crash]

I love the scene between Goku and half of Frieza so much.

Both of them are given perfectly good opportunities to betray their beliefs, betray who they are at their core, and neither one take it, it perfectly sets up their dynamic for later on in the series.

[_MaximumVoltage]

You know, I thought this was just gonna be a throw away episode but it really opened my eyes. I’ve grown up watching the anime and from everyone who’s talked about Goku, I’ve never been exposed to this Goku. The manga Goku. THE GOKU TORIYAMA was trying to show us.
Thanks for making this video Carthu. You’ve really shown me that Goku’s morality is far greater than what everyone and even I would’ve thought. Keep up the videos man.

[jpg_vision]

“Goku doesn’t have character development.” They say.

[leandrodiaz]

the fact that such an old character is always being discussed, shows that he is, in fact, a very well written one

[jayschannel]

I've been pretty mixed with Goku as a character, and that's mainly because of Super, but after watching this, I've honestly started liking Goku now. Sure he has his flaws that are presumably going to be fixed in the future, but in the end, I love Goku no matter what.

[scorpionhh]

I absolutely love the fact that Goku was disappointed that he couldn't try to redeem Freeza, like he did with Vegeta and Piccolo. Also what's the name of the music you used in the background?

[renegadetrooper]

On a side note, I absolutely love the music you had playing in this video it sets the mood perfectly. I totally love this video Carthu you totally outdid yourself bro! My favorite from you so far and that’s saying a lot, I love all your vids!

[MrThemelloman]

Goku didnt kill piccolo ONLY because he wouldve lost the tournament. Lemme tell you guys this. Goku was a straight savage in dragon ball. He killed alot of people. He slautered everyone at the red ribon base and he laughed while doing it. Completely gleeful. I tell you, as someone starting with dragonball z I was shook to see how brutal goku was and how many times he did it with a smile. And they say he didnt have a character arc..

[Crow_Rising]

While it's true that Goku's choices haven't always been completely selfish, I do think that selfishness is often a factor in his mercy. I genuinely believe that he views life as precious and wants to do the right thing without killing unnecessarily, but I also believe that despite this he does still have a selfish desire to fight strong guys, and spares his enemies whenever he can get away with it in part because of this. I think in Goku's ideal world, fights would still happen, but with no bad blood between fighters. Every fight would be a peaceful sparring match, and people would grow stronger through friendly rivalries rather than our of necessity.

This is largely because of Goku's Saiyan heritage. Saiyans are a warrior race by blood and nature. Their brains are hard wired to seek violence and power. Goku's simply evolved his mind and moral compass to the point where he's able to hold such desires without taking them too far when it isn't needed. He does view life as precious, but the chance to fight someone again is also something that's precious to him.

Also important to note is that Goku is able to prove that he isn't an anomaly by teaching his ideology to Vegeta, and in time it ultimately ends up working. Goku and Vegeta meet as fundamental opposites in philosophy, but by the end of Z they have become true peers. Vegeta by then has long abandoned his old mindset, having learned to view life as precious as Goku does and accepting that one can truly surpass their limits through hard work and training. The flawed philosophy of the Saiyans was ultimately largely indoctrination and propaganda, and although they are hard wired to seek violence and power, they are still very capable of mercy.

I'd say a little bit of Vegeta's mindset rubbed off on Goku too, however. While Goku would prefer not to kill when he doesn't have to, he no longer holds back when someone proves unredeemable. This is a trend that carries over to Gohan in Super, as he is slowly learning that while a life of peace is nice, he still needs to be strong to be able to protect those he cares about when the time comes to it.