The Dragon Ball franchise is one of the most universally loved anime of all time. The adventures of Goku, starting in Dragon Ball and stretching all the way into Dragon Ball Z Super (because the evil that is GT should never be mentioned), includes a lot of emotional beats and some of the most explosive action ever done in animation. Massive fights with villains like Cell and dangerous attacks like the Kamehameha wave may be the first thing that comes to fans' minds when they think about the franchise, but they're not its only hallmarks.
Like a lot of other anime franchises marketed towards children, Dragon Ball is chop full of adult, usually downright sexual, jokes. Despite its seemingly innocent tone, Dragon Ball and all of its sequels are only a hair's length away from being rated M for mature. Show some blood and guts on TV and nobody panics, but throw in a couple boobs up there and everyone loses their mind! (Yes, that's a Joker reference). A few of the jokes featured on the list were considered too spicy for American audiences and they weren't even included in the original dubbed version.
With that said, come click and learn about 15 Adult Jokes You Completely Missed In Dragon Ball.
Master Roshi Gets Fresh With Android 18
After a crash landing sends their ship skidding across the sand, Master Roshi and Android 18 find themselves in a rather awkward position. Instead of being a gentleman and backing off once he realized he was in a tight jam, he decides to take things even further. Making a quick move and smiling, Roshi quickly sends his head forward into 18's bosom and keeps it there for about five seconds.
Roshi does a lot of perverted stuff throughout the series, but since he's a pretty pathetic character a lot of it is thrown under the rug. But this time, especially since Roshi decides to do this right next to 18's daughter, it feels right that he receives such a beat down after his action.
Krillin Gives Roshi a very adult Bribe
Clearly, Master Roshi was going to appear on this list more than once. In a world full of pervs, Roshi might as well be King. In addition to being a connoisseur of adult entertainment, Roshi is a master fighter. He taught Goku how to fight, even teaching him his signature move, the Kamehameha wave, but he's not always willing to take on more students. Now that he's an old man, he'd rather relax and enjoy the hermit life on his personal island.
When Krillin is finally introduced, he knows exactly how to win his way into Roshi's heart. Instead of offering the man money or a rare artifact, Krillin brings Roshi some adult magazines in the hopes he will take him on as a pupil. Luckily that's all it takes because Krillin was quickly allowed to be a student and became a rival/friend for Goku as they grew up learning how to fight together.
Maron's Day at the Beach
No, that's not Bulma, it's Maron. For some reason, Dragon Ball Z decided to have two nearly identical characters who are distinguished only by their brain capacity. Bulma is a technological genius while Maron is depicted as a classic, ditzy air-head, sometimes even being downright stupid.
Maron's most famous appearance depicts her hitting the beach in a Borat like swimsuit; causing quite a ruckus. She upsets Chi-Chi so badly that she tries to beat her up without even realizing she produced a hostile situation. Somehow, Krillin of all people starts dating her. She is a pretty flirty girlfriend, even kissing Gohan, but it's Krillin who ends up breaking up with her in the end, thinking that she's too good for him.
Goku Teleports into Bulma's Room
Dragon Ball Z Super is an official continuation of the Dragon Ball mythos, unlike GT. While a few things are different in the world, for the most part everything lines up. Goku is still married to Chi-Chi, and Bulma and Vegeta are still together raising two children. Most importantly, Goku is still a bit of a buffoon who doesn't quite understand when he's overstepped someone's boundaries.
After a conversation with his family, Goku gets up and instant-transports out of the room to start his day. He accidentally teleports right into Bulma and Vegeta's bedroom, plopping right down on their bed. Instead of leaving when he realizes he's in the wrong place, Bulma comes into the room in a towel after taking a shower. Once again, instead of leaving he stays and bears the brunt of her aggressive reaction - he gets scolded by Bulma and Vegeta and shot by lasers for almost sneaking a peak.
Vegeta and Recoome Flip the Bird
The Dragon Ball franchise is full of intense action and manly-men, so it makes sense the characters get a little angry at each other every once in a while. In the middle of a fight, it's pretty natural to curse one's opponent out in a moment of rage, but the American version of the show never included those moments. The Japanese version of the anime, on the other hand, has no problem including those jokes.
After Vegeta steals a Dragon Ball from Krillin, the cocky saiyan has no problem flipping baldy the bird because he knows he can't do anything to get him back. Recoome, on the other hand, chooses the wrong person to flick off. After mocking Goku for his seemingly meager power level, he flips him off.
While Krillin couldn't do anything to get back at Vegeta, Goku is more than capable of smacking Recoome off his vulgar high horse.
Master Roshi and his Mermaid Girlfriend
Just like Krillin had to bring a gift for Master Roshi, Goku needed to do something to prove himself a worthy pupil. When he first approached Roshi, also known as the Turtle Hermit, Goku brought him a gift he knew the old pervert would like.
Krillin may have brought some magazines, but Goku had something even better; a real girl who he thought would be Roshi's new girlfriend. What the young Sayan didn't tell his teacher was that the woman was a mermaid, and as a result wouldn't be able to participate in any of Roshi's favorite... activities.
Instead of giving up when he noticed the woman had a tail, he tried inviting her in so they could learn more about the anatomy of different species. For a world-renowned martial arts fighter, Roshi sure does get beaten up a lot by women he offends.
Goku Thinks Fighting is Pleasurable
Goku and Chi-Chi sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
Well, if they were normal kids at least that's what they'd be doing. One afternoon Chi-Chi tells Gohan all about the first time she met Goku and their first date together. Take one look at Chi-Chi's "outfit" up there and it's pretty obvious what she has on her mind. When she tells Goku that she thinks the two of them should do whatever he finds to be most pleasurable, she puckers up and expects a kiss. Unfortunately for her, Goku sees things a bit differently. Instead of leaning in and planting a wet one on her cheek, Goku fires up and aims a punch right at Chi-Chi. Luckily she is able to avoid the blow, but the two of them spend their first date exhausting each other in a way no one quite expected.
Bulma Flashes Master Roshi
Bulma is back in action and her body once again is capable of sending people into a state of shock. On another quest for the Dragon Balls, Bulma decides to use her feminine physique to persuade Master Roshi to give her his ball.
At this point, a few characters have already seen Bulma in a bikini, so she didn't think too much of showing off a little bit. Unfortunately, when she made the decision to flash the crowd, Bulma forgot that she wasn't wearing underwear that day. Right before she makes the decision, she rationalizes to herself that someone seeing her underwear is essentially the same thing as a bathing suit, so she bites the bullet and lifts her skirt. Despite her intentions, she gave the world a show no one was quite ready for.
Even Master Roshi, who's the King Pervert in the entire series, finds it all a bit much. For someone who looks at adult magazines all day, he sure has a strong reaction to seeing a female body up close!
Gotenks v. Hitler?
Most of the items on this list are naughty in nature, but this one is downright historic. In the 12th Dragon Ball Z movie, Fusion Revival, Goten and Trunks find themselves squaring off against a minor villain known as The Dictator. A clear caricature of Hitler, The Dictator is a small man with a particular mustache who leads his tank troops into battle. Instead of a swastika, he just had a simple red "X" on his hat.
He's brought back to life, literally coming out of hell, at the same time as a lot of other previous DBZ villains. While Frieza might be the most powerful warrior to reemerge in the movie, The Dictator is clearly the most random.
In the English dub, he even makes comments about Gotenk's blond hair and blue eyes, a clear reference to the Aryan physicality Hitler idealized.
Buu Harasses a Girl
The Buu saga is one of the most intense, action-packed arcs in all of Dragon Ball Z.
Despite the fact that he is an ancient demon with the power to destroy the world, Buu is an extremely childish creature who picks up his behavioral cues from his surroundings. Walking down the street, he sees a random girl and thinks that she is so pretty he pretty much sexually harasses her, asking for a kiss.
After being constantly rejected, he sees a picture of a particular boy in the girl's magazine and decides that his best bet to get a kiss is to change his appearance to match his. Obviously, the girl is still scared of Buu as he tries to steal a kiss, so instead of forcing anything he just decides to transform her into a piece of candy and eat her.
Ranfan's Translation
Ranfan is a classic Dragon Ball character who's appeared in a few movies and games over the years. What a lot of fans may not know about her is the fact that her name is derived from a Japanese abbreviation for lingerie. Yes, the character who is shown above wearing a lacy bra is actually named after the garments in general.
In addition to her blunt name, her entire character is based on her attractiveness. A skilled fighter who competed in the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, Ranfan misleads her opponents into thinking she is innocent or defenseless before lashing out and showing off her abilities. She eventually married a man who's never shown in the core series and settles into the house-wife lifestyle.
Bulma Tries Seducing Young Goku
The show isn't called Dragon Ball for no reason. The title refers to the ancient artifacts called dragon balls that grant the collector a single wish when they gather all of them together. Over the years, finding the balls became easier and easier, as Goten and Trunks were sent to find them during the Buu saga with relative ease when it took years to collect them all at the beginning of the series.
At one point in Dragon Ball, Bulma, trying to collect all of the balls, thinks she can seduce and persuade Goku to give her his ball. Pulling up her skirt in the hopes she can seduce the young boy, she quickly gets shut down from the single-minded child. Why would he want to touch a butt when he's got things to accomplish?!
The Brief Family
Bulma, one of Dragon Ball's most interesting characters, has a name that directly translates to "Bloomers", an old-fashioned term for ladies underwear. At the beginning of the series, she was a young woman facing the world on her own. But as the show progressed, she eventually married Vegeta, another staunchly independent person, and raised a family. For some silly reason, she named her son Trunks and her name Bra (or Bulla in the Japanese version).
While they're only officially known as the Brief Family in the English dub, her father's name is Dr. Brief in both versions of the anime. His first daughter is even named Tights and is now becoming an important character in Dragon Ball Super.
Their interesting names leaves audiences with more questions than it answers though. Is Trunks more of a boxers or briefs kind of guy and where does Bra buys her bras?
Goku Touches Women Inappropriately a Lot
Parents teach children to look both ways when they cross the street, to always eat their vegetables, and to never smack people on the crotch. But Goku wasn't really raised by his parents, he grew up under the supervision of Master Roshi, a notorious pervert who has boundary issues.
Goku clearly has no problem "going there." Since he's a child, part of him doesn't really understand what he's doing, but he is also mature enough to know that he's dealing with people's privates. At one point after he smacks Bulma's crotch, he freaks out because he realizes she doesn't have balls! When he wakes her up shouting her balls are missing, she misunderstands and thinks someone stole her Dragon Balls. Awkward...
Yamcha Walks in on Bulma Showering
Like Roshi, Bulma is a repeat offender on the list. She's one of the franchise's longest stars and its smartest character, but she's still a woman in a show intended for men, so she's the target of a lot of unnecessary sexualization. The early chapters of Dragon Ball were especially raunchy, and moments including nudity or jokes about someone's crotch became pretty normal.
When Yamcha was trying to sneak up on the group, he spots a window and decides to peek inside. For some reason, the window leads right into the shower and he gets an eyeful of Bulma in the middle of a shower. Like a gentleman, he immediately moves aside when he realizes what he's watching, but he also seems to be sent into a state of shock as if he's never seen a naked woman before.
His eyes roll back in his head and he mutters angrily to himself that he hates turning into "a bowl of mush every time he sees a girl."
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