Dragon Ball has more or less become the Saiyan show in recent years, hasn’t it? Dragon Ball Z introduced us to the concept of Saiyans, but Toriyama was able to keep the cast reeled in for the most part. It really wasn’t until the Cell saga when he fully embraced the potential of a Saiyan main cast, using Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and Trunks to show just how far the Super Saiyan transformation can go. It’s gotten to the point where the newest move in the series, Broly, is all about Saiyans to the point where its main theme could simply be called “Saiyan.”
What about the Saiyan wives, though? They say behind every Saiyan is a great wife, pushing them to their limits. Well, no, they don’t actually say that, but the Saiyan wives do deserve some recognition. It’s quite interesting just who Toriyama choose to pair off in the series. Goku ended up with Chichi; Vegeta ended up with Bulma; and Gohan ended up with Videl in the original series’ last arc. While not a single wife gets as much focus as their husband with the exception of Bulma (and only retroactively at that,) fans tend to rarely discuss them. Which is a shame as they’re all quite interesting in their own right.
25 Chichi Was One Of The Strongest Fighters On Earth
Everyone knows that Chichi was quite the strong martial artist in her day, but fans take for granted just how powerful she actually was. Chichi was one of eight finalists in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. While this may not seem like much considering how insane the power fighting goes, this is actually a big deal.
You don't get to a Budokai without being fairly strong.
Chichi was strong enough to participate in a tournament with Goku, Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, Piccolo, Kami, and Taopaipai. Goku, who defeated King Chappa, one of Earth’s greatest martial artists on Earth with a single blow, actually had to dodge Chichi’s attacks. Guidebooks even place her Power Level in the 100s.
24 Bulma Had Feelings For Goku
On two separate occasions within the original series, Bulma comments on Goku in a way that strongly implies she has feelings for him. The first time occurs in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. Near the end of the arc, she mentions how Goku has really come into his own as a man, suggesting an attraction to him.
The second instance occurs during the Namek arc where, upon hearing that Goku will be arriving on Namek soon to help out against Freeza’s army, Bulma laments on her relationship with Yamcha, wondering if she chose the right man in the end. Considering the context, it’s quite obvious by this point that she does have a legitimate crush on Goku.
23 Bulma Never Got Married In Trunks’ Timeline
Since Bulma and Vegeta end up having Trunks in every timeline, fans simply assume that they get married in the future as well. After all, they clearly did have a relationship of sorts in Trunks’ future, but the extent isn’t known. What is known is that Vegeta and Bulma never actually got married.
Future Trunks actually explicitly states that his parents never married. This leads to some conflict with Vegeta since, despite knowing this fact, he was under the impression they were amicable. For present Vegeta to not really care about Bulma ends up being a rather large upset for Trunks.
22 Z’s Filler Treats Chichi VERY Badly
If you’ve never read the manga, there’s an incredibly high chance that you do not like Chichi. After all, why would you? All her appearances in the anime are downright awful. She’s cold, she’s mean, she refuses to understand what’s going on at any given moment, and she’s totally ignorant to the inner workings of her world.
It's hard enough being married to Goku.
For whatever reason, the anime staff completely decided to exaggerate all of Chichi’s worst traits for filler. She never acts this bad in the manga, and keep in mind that Toriyama hated drawing her. Despite that, however, he always treated the character with respect. The anime staff shows no such respect.
21 You’ve Been Pronouncing Bulma’s Name Wrong
Given how Bulma’s name is spelled, it’s quite obvious how her name is pronounced: “Bull-muh.” There’s a problem with said pronunciation, though. While Bulma’s name is spelled this way, her name isn’t actually spoken phonetically. With that in mind, her name is also a pun on the word “bloomers.”
Naturally, this means Bulma’s name is actually pronounced “Blooma.” If you’ve ever watched the Japanese version, you’ve likely noticed this pronunciation, but just never registered it. Now, this doesn’t mean Bulma is actually spelled Blooma, but just that Bulma is pronounced Blooma. Feel free to keep saying Bulma, though. Even though it’s wrong.
20 Chichi Trained Goten
For as much as Chichi did not like Gohan training to become a martial artist, she had quite the change of heart with Goten. Following Goku’s self-sacrifice at the end of the Cell Games, Chichi likely humbled herself in regards to martial arts, especially in light of Gohan actually going on to become Earth’s defender.
And people say Chichi doesn't grow.
As a result, she takes her time to train Goten in the basics, likely also not wanting to lose yet another family member. Her only stipulation is that Goten not go Super Saiyan as she’s not particularly fond of the blond hair, believing it to be a sign of delinquency. All in all, a rather big jump from the Chichi of the past.
19 Vegeta Didn’t Love Bulma Until After The Cell Arc
Although Vegeta does come to love for and care about Future Trunks throughout the course of the Cell arc, he has no such development in regards to Bulma. In fact, the two have a really disconnected relationship in the saga with Vegeta more or less ignoring her existence up until the very end.
As a result, we can deduce that Vegeta didn’t come to love Bulma until after the Cell arc. Likely after Goku’s sacrifice, Vegeta decided to settle down to center himself, marrying Bulma and living a life not too dissimilar to Goku’s at the beginning of the series. He came to legitimately love his wife and the rest is history.
18 Toriyama Hated Drawing Chichi
Toriyama has gone on record of stating that he really did not like drawing Chichi. What is particularly interesting about this claim is that, from the way he phrased himself, this hatred stemmed far earlier than when Chichi actually became a series mainstay. According to Toriyama, he hated drawing her enough that he needed to have her marry Goku just so he would be forced to draw her into the story.
Don't let your biases dictate who your hero marries.
One has to seriously wonder why Toriyama even went through with this. If his Chichi hate predates her marrying Goku, why write her back into the narrative? Was she planned to end up Goku’s wife all along? It’s possible that Toriyama simply didn’t like the idea of Goku getting married, but recognized that he needed to grow as an adult for the story to keep moving smoothly. Either way, it’s quite strange on Toriyama’s part.
17 Bulma Was The Real Main Character Of The First Arc
Although Dragon Ball is ultimately the story of Son Goku, the very first arc, the Hunt for the Dragon Balls, very much presents a Goku who’s more comfortable being driven by the plot than driving it. Bulma is the actual character who actively pushes the narrative forward. Finding the Dragon Balls is her motivation, not Goku’s.
On top of that, Bulma has an actual character arc in the first saga whereas Goku does not. He remains a static character up until he starts training with Master Roshi in the next arc. As a result, while Goku is the protagonist, he is not the main character of the first arc since Bulma is the one who the story actually focuses on.
16 Videl Is The Strongest Non-Ki Using Earthling
There are basically two versions of Earthlings in Dragon Ball: those who can use Ki and those who cannot. Earthlings who can use Ki, more often than not, are a part of the main cast. Those are characters like Master Roshi, Yamcha, and Tien Shinhan. Earthlings who can’t are basically everyone else: Mr. Satan or Videl.
Yajirobe doesn't count.
What’s interesting is that Videl is actually the strongest non-Ki using Earthling. While the series implies said title genuinely belongs to Mr. Satan, Gohan comments early on in the Buu arc that Videl is stronger than her father and just doesn’t know it. Given how well she fights against Spopovich, it’s safe to say this is true.
15 Great Saiyawoman Is Non-Canon
It’s not unusual to see fans expressing a desire for Videl to suit up as the Great Saiyawoman again, especially since the Super anime has more or less embraced the series’ slice of life moments to the fullest, but it’s important to keep one detail into consideration when reading these comments: Great Saiyawoman was never canon.
In-universe, Videl never fought alongside her husband as a Great Saiyaman offshoot. That was always just Gohan’s thing. Great Saiyawoman’s most famous appearance came from the thirteenth Dragon Ball Z film, Wrath of the Dragon. While it can fit in canon without contradicting much, it’s not a part of Toriyama’s intended story for Super.
14 Videl Always Knew Gohan Was The Great Saiyaman
If you’ve only watched the anime, chances are you’re already mentally disputing this. After all, it does take a few episodes for Videl to finally catch Gohan in the act. The manga, however, is another story entirely. Rather than being the Great Saiyaman for a large stretch of time, Gohan only dons the helmet for four chapters.
So much for a secret identity.
By the fourth, Videl immediately calls Great Saiyaman by his real name and Gohan responds in earnest, giving away his identity. In the manga, Videl believes Gohan is the Great Saiyaman almost asap and never really falters in her believe. It’s mainly the Golden Warrior who she stays confused about.
13 A Filler Episode In OG Dragon Ball Ruins Chichi’s Return
Chichi’s return at the start of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai is one of the biggest twists in the manga, in large part due to the fact that Toriyama had not drawn or mentioned Chichi since the series’ very first arc. Nearly three years and six arcs later, Chich finally returned ready to marry Goku, following up one of the series’ first jokes.
While this is surprising in the moment, the surprise is more or less ruined thanks to the anime. In the Red Ribbon Army arc, Chichi appears in several episodes of filler to help Goku find a Dragon Ball before he confronts Colonel Silver. She then appears in a vision when Goku trains with Karin, implying she’ll be important later on.
12 Bulma Was Almost Playable In Budokai 3
Very rarely do the Saiyan wives get a chance to actually be playable in the video games. As the only real fighter of the group, at least consistently, Videl tends to get the most appearances. Chichi, as a legitimate former martial artist, follows suit right behind Vide, but poor Bulma never gets her day in the limelight.
It's time we made Bulma playable.
Interestingly, data miners were able to discover that Bulma was indeed intended to be playable in Budokai 3. She has a full in-game model and everything, strongly suggesting you could have fought her. To make matters more intriguing, she plays a great deal like Videl perhaps implying that Bulma was ultimately cut in favor of Videl.
11 Chichi And Goku Have Never Kissed
As if it wasn’t bad enough that Goku already was pretty aromantic in regards to his wife, Dragon Ball Super came out and specified that Goku straight up never kissed Chichi on the lips in the entire duration of their relationship. They have two sons together, but Goku never once actually kissed his wife.
What’s especially strange about this fact is how the Dragon Ball Super manga more or less doubles down on this detail. The anime left it ambiguous, but the manga outright specifies that Goku did not, in any way whatsoever, kiss his wife on the lips. Which weirdly means this detail came from Toriyama himself.
10 All The Saiyan Wives Pursued Their Husbands
Saiyan men aren’t exactly known for their romantic endeavors. Not a single one of the Saiyans we see in the series ever actually pursued their eventual spouses. Goku is the textbook example, basically marrying Chichi because of a promise he made as a kid. The fact they work so well is honestly a miracle.
What Saiyan is going to prioritize love over a good fight?
Vegeta is so standoffish that Bulma must have pursued him, eventually defrosting him to the point where he felt comfortable marrying her. As for Gohan, we actively saw how he interacted with Videl. While he clearly liked her, she pursued him full on with Gohan simply allowing love to happen to him.
9 Goku Was Chichi’s Only Love
The fact that Bulma was with Yamcha before she ended up with Vegeta is a topic of hot debate within the Dragon Ball fandom. On one hand, it makes sense for a character like Vegeta, who was quickly gaining popularity, to be paired off with the most popular female character who was dating someone fans didn’t really care about anymore.
In that sense, Bulma has had multiple canonical love interests. Chichi, on the other hand, has only ever been interested in Goku, even as far as crushes go. She’s been infatuated with him since she was a little girl and clearly adores him even in their old age. As Videl is a normal teen, we can assume she had crushes, but the same can’t be said for Chichi.
8 Bulma Is The Most Relevant Female Character
It perhaps goes without saying, but Bulma is one of the most important characters in the franchise. Without Bulma, there would be no Dragon Ball. She’s the character who finally gets Goku out of the mountains and the non-martial artists who contributes the most over the course of the series.
Bulma even manages to actually stay relevant throughout most of the series. She’s a major character during the Hunt for the Dragon Balls arc, Freeza arc, and Cell arc while also playing a supporting role in every single one of the series’ key sagas. Even GT used Bulma far more than it used its other female characters.
7 Videl Suffers The Worst Beatdown In The Series
Characters get beat up all the time in Dragon Ball, but never to the point where fights outright get morbid of uncomfortable. Goku’s had some pretty awful losses and defeats, but never to the point where it feels narratively out of place or dehumanizing. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for a fighter like Videl.
Videl deserved better.
In her standout match against Spopovich during the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai, Videl gets absolutely brutalized. Spopovich breaks every inch of her body, beating her to a bloody pulp. She even loses teeth in the manga. It’s brutal even for Toriyama.
6 Not A Single Saiyan Wife Wins A Fight
The Saiyan wives don’t have as much luck as their husbands when it comes to fighting. Not a single one actually manages to win a fight at any point within the series, canon or otherwise. Chichi must have beaten somebody off screen for her to make it into the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, but she loses her only fight to Goku.
This is the same case with Videl where she clearly needed to have defeat someone at some point, but her fight against Spopovich is the only one we ever see and, naturally, she loses that one. Bulma is not a fighter so naturally, she has no fights to win, but Beerus does hit her pretty bad which is, in itself, a loss.