‘Dragon Ball’ Fans Cannot Believe How Old Goku Just Turned

If you hadn’t heard, today is a big day for the Dragon Ball fandom. No, there aren’t any big anniversaries going down, but there is a rather important birthday you should be celebrating. Son Goku has turned another year older, and it seems fans are surprised (and a bit confused) about how old the Saiyan is nowadays.

No, really — figuring out the hero’s age requires more math than you might expect.

Today, Goku is celebrating his birthday as April 16 has rolled around. The date marks the hero’s canonical birthday, but things get trick from there on. If you go by the manga, Goku was born on this day in Age 736, but the anime claims the guy was born a year later on the that date. For canonical reasons, fans tend to base Goku’s age on the year provided in the manga, so that is his starting point.

Right now, the Dragon Ball timeline has caught up to Age 780 as the franchise most recently wrapped the ‘Universal Survival’ arc. If the timeline is right, the Tournament of Power begins in 780, so Goku is biologically 44. However, that number does not account for all the years he spent dead or working out in the Hyberbolic Time Chamber.

When it comes to death, Goku is pretty familiar with the whole shtick since he’s died more than one. For instance, the Saiyan died after his fight with Cell, and Goku stayed that way for 7 years before he was revived for another World Martial Arts tournament. The hero has also spent years at a time training in the Hyberbolic Time Chamber which may or may not have physically aged him while he was inside the building. If you choose to add those years to Goku’s overall age, the Saiyan is close to 50 years old.

For the most part, fans tend to agree that Goku is safely in his early 40s and ignore the time that passed while he was dead. In a similar way, the Saiyan’s age is treated the same way Captain America’s age is. The Marvel hero was frozen in ice for several decades and brought back after being found. So, the hero can either be seen in his mid-to-late 80s or in his 20s as that was his biological age when he went into the ice.

When it comes to Goku, him being in his early-to-mid 40s is hard for some fans to take. After all, the guy has not aged much if any since he appeared in Dragon Ball Z. For Saiyans, their long lifespans add to their slow aging, and Goku did learn his race stays in their prime until they are almost 100. The hero may be getting older, but he is by no means middle-aged even with his latest birthday. So, Gohan and Goten better not make any jokes about their dad growing gray hairs for a couple more decades.

Are you surprised by Goku’s age? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!