There are a wide variety of characters appearing in Dragon Ball. Of course, each one of them has their own unique charm, but what really gets the fans fired up is the drama resulting from the relationships between them. We're sure there are as many takes on these relationships as there are Dragon Ball fans!

Here on the Dragon Ball Official Site, we've been digging deep into said relationships with a number of experts. We've taken excerpts from those interviews and compiled them into one easy-to-read article. If you find yourself wanting to know more, make sure to check out the original articles!

Contents

The first thing we need to consider when talking about Vegeta and Trunks' relationship is Vegeta's relationship with his own father, also named Vegeta.

Vegeta lost his father, King Vegeta, at a young age, but based on his dialog from the original story, it doesn't seem to have had a significant effect on him. Based on this, educational psychologist Daisuke Akamatsu points out that "Vegeta never knew what a real father was". He speculates this is the reason that Vegeta "isn't good at forming personal relationships with people", which is illustrated in many scenes throughout the story.

Of those personal relationships, perhaps the most impactful one for Vegeta is that with his wife, Bulma. Professor Akamatsu theorizes that she provided him with a "sense of authenticity" (broadly, the ability to be true to oneself). She invited Vegeta to her home when he had nowhere else to go, leading to them spending time together and creating a "mere-exposure effect" that led to their mutual attraction.

After becoming a father, Vegeta seems to treat Trunks more like a fellow warrior than a son, but towards the end of the Cell arc he does display some fatherly affection, such as becoming enraged after the teenaged version of Trunks is killed. Professor Akamatsu believes that their overlapping relationship as both father and son and master and student was built during the year-long period spent in the Room of Spirit and Time.

Shifting the stage to the Majin Buu arc, one important scene is the one where Vegeta allows himself to be brainwashed by Babidi. Professor Akamatsu reads this scene as Vegeta having his identity shaken and thus facing a "mid-life crisis". On the one hand, he is happy to see the growth of his child, but on the other he feels his Saiyan instinct to seek more power is atrophying. The conflict between these two feelings is what fuels this decision.

However, in the end he decides to use a self-destruct technique in order to defeat Majin Buu. Before his death, he tells his young son, "Trunks... Take care of mom...". This scene shows that after overcoming stagnation and conflict, he has a change of heart, accepting his current identity and choosing his family.

▼Read the article here
We Asked an Expert About the Father/Son Relationship Between Vegeta and Trunks and Got a Surprisingly Emotional Answer!

One of the most popular master-and-student relationships in Dragon Ball is undoubtedly that between Piccolo and Gohan. Many people find the way Piccolo bonds with the son of his old enemy Goku through training to be quite heartwarming.

When we think of this kind of relationship, we generally understand the master's job to be instilling the student with some sort of teaching. However, expert in developmental psychology Toshihiko Endou points out that Piccolo's actions don't really meet the standard for "instruction". In fact, initially Piccolo just leaves Gohan to his own devices without teaching him a thing about fighting.

According to Professor Endou, from the time children are born, they're constantly seeking to study and learn, and what is most important in encouraging that learning is for adults to be an emotionally supportive presence. That relationship of support rather than instruction, as well as the reassurance that if something were to go truly wrong, Piccolo would step in, was a major impetus for Gohan to grow.

On the other hand, in Professor Endou's analysis, it was Piccolo's recognition of Gohan's strong self-control and resilience that prompted this hands-off style.

Gohan, for his part, gradually begins to develop trust in Piccolo. It is obvious from the conversations shown to the reader that their relationship had been strengthening off-panel.

Gohan is not the only one who grows as a result of this training. According to Professor Endou, an emotionally mature adult "feels the desire to pass on what they've learned to the next generation, and even feels joy in doing so", which is called "generativity". In this way, Piccolo also grows through his interactions with Gohan.

You could even say that the memorable scene where Piccolo sacrifices himself protecting Gohan is the ultimate expression of the duo's relationship and their respective growth.

▼Read the article here
Are Piccolo's Training Methods Scientifically Sound? Piccolo & Gohan's Master-Student Relationship Analyzed by an Expert in Developmental Psychology

As two of the few survivors from Planet Vegeta, Vegeta and Nappa worked together for a time, but what's the best way to describe their relationship?

Professor Toshiro Murase, who specializes in teamwork research, points out that although these two may speak casually to one another, they are by no means on equal footing; there's a very clear hierarchy at work.

"I think that Vegeta allows Nappa to speak to him nonchalantly." (Professor Murase)

According to Professor Murase, surface-level communication isn't necessarily an indicator of rank, and in business situations it's not uncommon to have frank communication between a boss and their employees while still leaving the decision-making power in the hands of the boss. In fact, there are scenes in Dragon Ball that depict Vegeta berating Nappa and demanding he obey.

As a result, Professor Murase describes their relationship as something close to "a group of delinquents" and "in terms of team building, their dynamic is not very good".

As to how their relationship ended up that way, Professor Murase posits that in addition to Vegeta being unskilled at building interpersonal relationships, another major factor might be that for Vegeta, there was nothing he "couldn't do without Nappa's help".

"In the manga, Bulma points out that Vegeta is the type to get lonely easily. If Nappa had been able to support Vegeta in terms of external communication, then there's a chance things could have turned out differently." (Professor Murase)

Ultimately, through his time living on Earth, Vegeta learns to work together and fight alongside Goku and the others. That said, Professor Murase observes that "Nappa was the person who had spent the most time with Vegeta" and that with Nappa "he might have been able to let his guard down a little bit and be his true Saiyan self".

▼Read the article here
What Was Nappa to Vegeta? We Asked a Psychology Expert Why These Two Didn't Make a Good Team!

Both Goku's son, Goten, and Vegeta's son, Trunks, develop an impressive talent for battle from a young age. They're depicted as the best of friends, often engaging in play fights.

Professor Haruka Sudo, who specializes in clinical psychology, has the following to say about these play fights:

"Children in the modern world acquire the 'strengths' necessary to become a part of society through their classes at school and extracurricular activities, but in the case of Goten and Trunks, perhaps it is the literal strength that they acquire through play fighting that serves this purpose." (Professor Sudo)

According to Professor Sudo, what's important during one's childhood is confidence and the belief that one is capable, which is where the existence of a group of peers comes into play. Children are evaluated by their peers, known as "social judgment", which in turn teaches children to view themselves objectively.

Professor Sudo also notes that many of the thought processes distinctive to the childhood stage of development can be gleaned from Trunks' behavior towards Goten at the Tenkaichi Budokai.

Here, Trunks gives himself a handicap by choosing not to use his left hand. This can be interpreted as both a desire to look like an older brother figure to Goten, who is one year younger, and a desire to fight fair like a true warrior.

However, the fact that when Trunks is about to lose he ends up using his left hand illustrates his opposing desires of wanting to fight fairly against someone younger and his drive to win, notes Professor Sudo.

The two also display excitement when going up against the fiercest of foes, and are overly confident at times when even Vegeta is prepared for the possibility of death, saying, "That's not true! We're the best!" Here, Professor Sudo sees a sense of unity in the peer relationship between these two.

In the manga, we also get to see Trunks and Goten as young adults. Goten in particular starts exhibiting age-appropriate behavior for someone in their late teens, such as interest in romantic relationships. However, the foundation for such relationships was perhaps laid by the sense of intimacy developed in his friendship with Trunks, Professor Sudo points out. It could be that these bonds were strengthened and their relationship as best friends solidified through events such as the fight with Majin Buu.

Each of them had an incredible, larger-than-life man as a father, and it could perhaps be said that it was incredibly meaningful for each of them to have a best friend in the same position who could understand and share their feelings.

▼Read the article here
Are Goten and Trunks the Perfect Duo? A Clinical Psychologist Explains Why They Really Are the Best of Friends!

The last relationship we'd like to highlight is the one between Goku and Vegeta. These two are both members of the Saiyan warrior race, but their upbringings and attitudes towards fighting are very different. However, over the course of the story, the two learn to fight alongside one another.

At first glance, Goku and Vegeta appear to be a fine pair of rivals, but Professor Nobuyuki Ota points out that it "seems like Vegeta considers Goku to be his rival, but I believe that Goku is not the kind of individual who sees others as rivals".

However, this doesn't mean that no rivalry exists at all. Professor Ota notes that "one-sided rivalries are rather common". Furthermore, Goku and Vegeta develop their relationship through fighting together. According to Professor Ota, "fighting alongside one another allows them to learn more about each other and provides an opportunity for them to acknowledge each other's strength," which is a common occurrence and shows that their rivalry is a realistic one.

On the other hand, there is a gulf dividing Vegeta and Goku: their respective views on "competition".

"Vegeta's goal is to surpass Goku, while Goku's goal is to grow stronger through competition. I believe that for Goku, the focus is less on simply defeating his opponents and more on the desire to improve himself by besting whoever he's up against." (Professor Ota)

Professor Ota notes that due to this difference "Vegeta seems the more human of the two" and that "one of the interesting aspects of the Dragon Ball story is that Vegeta, raised on another planet, seems very human, while Goku, raised on Earth, seems very Saiyan-like," which is a fascinating aspect of both warriors' characterizations.

▼Read the article here
A One-Sided Rivalry? Goku and Vegeta's Relationship as Analyzed by a Psychology Expert!

In this article, we've given you a brief overview of different experts' deep dives into the nature of the relationships between Dragon Ball characters.

After reading what the experts have to say, we're sure you'll be able to gain a deeper insight into famous scenes from the Dragon Ball manga and anime.