Goku’s Mother Revealed

Akira Toriyama has revealed the name of Goku’s mother in the latest issue of Saikyō Jump in Japan, for March 2014.

Her name is Gine (ギネ)!

Gine’s Story

As discussed in the Kanzenshuu.com forums, Akira Toriyama provides a short explanation of Gine’s back story in the article.

He says that unlike other Saiyans, Gine has a gentle nature that is unfit for war. She is part of Bardock’s squad, and after being saved by Bardock on the battlefield several times they start to develop feelings for eachother. This type of sentimentality is rare for Saiyans, who normally don’t develop such relationships except when breeding.

Here is the exact quote of Toriyama, courtesy of Kanzenshuu.

“As for her appearance and such, you’ll find out if you read the bonus comic in the collected release of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman. Her name was Gine, and a long time ago, she fought on a four-person team together with Bardock.

Gine had a gentle personality and wasn’t cut out as a warrior, being repeatedly saved from danger by Bardock. At that time, a special emotion was born between them. Normally, Saiyans don’t have much of a notion of romance or marriage, and apart from the royal family of Vegeta, they aren’t particular about blood-relationships. Being in among all that, I suppose you could say that the pair of Bardock and Gine were those rare Saiyans who were joined by a bond other than for the purpose of reproduction. Incidentally, Gine, who was not cut out as a warrior, would go on to work at the meat distribution center on Planet Vegeta.”

So there you have it!

Goku’s mother will appear in a bonus manga packaged together with Toriyama’s one-shot manga titled Jaco the Galactic Patrolman when it is released in a tankobon print collection on April 4.

It took 30 years for Goku’s mother to finally be revealed!! 1984 to 2014.

Gine’s Name

All of Toriyama’s names for his characters in Dragon Ball have a double or triple meaning. The Saiyans are named after vegetables, so what does Gine mean?

The answer may not be revealed until Jaco’s publication in April, but there are some fan theories already.

The most logical guess is that Gine is a rearrangement of Negi (葱), which is Japanese for Spring Onion.

Gine could also be named after the English word of Aubergine, another word for Eggplant. The Japanese name for eggplant is Nasu (茄子), but Aubergine rendered into Japanese could be written as Aberugine (アベルギネ). However, this word does not exist in the Japanese language, so it’s a bit of a stretch for Toriyama to use.

Toriyama has a perverted side to him, so my theory is that an additional reason she was named Gine is because the word Gine (ギネ) is the Japanese shorthand term for gynecology. She is the mother of Goku and the one who brings life to the savior of the universe through her “gine.”

This use of Gine (ギネ) is a buzzword among health professionals in obstetrics and gynecology. It is derived from the German Gynecology and rendered as Gainekorojii (ガイネコロジイ). The shorthand term of Gine then emerged and was even used for the title of a recent television drama that premiered in 2009, seen here on the Japanese Gine website, with it’s URL romanized as “gyne.” Though the drama was not a big hit, it may still have inspired Toriyama to pick this particular name among all possible vegetables.

We’ll have to wait and see what Toriyama says.

Gine’s Appearance

Gine’s appearance is unknown since the character has only just been announced, but she will be drawn in the bonus pages of Jaco.

What do you think Gine will look like?

Goku resembles Bardock without the scars, so maybe Gine will look like Raditz, with super long and wild hair?

Exciting Mysteries

What does this mean for Goku’s character?

It was believed that he became good natured because he bumped his head as a child and was then raised to be kind by Son Gohan. But is it possible that his compassionate personality was inherited from his good natured mother, alongside his father’s fighting instincts?!

Discuss in the comments below.

Further Reading: If you’d like to learn more about Goku’s upbringing and how it made him a kind warrior, please read my book, Dragon Ball Z “It’s Over 9,000!” When Worldviews Collide, available across the world in English and Spanish.