Chi Chi

Origin

As the daughter of the Ox King, Chi Chi was sent out to find Master Roshi to save their home, and along the way met a young Goku. This meeting would seal the pair's fates. She would later become Goku's wife and the protective mother to their children.

Creation

Chi Chi is a character of the Dragon Ball series created by Akira Toriyama. She is the first and only true love interest for the main protagonist, Goku Son; and started out at a similar age as him. She was the second female character to appear, but is often never involved in action.

Chi Chi first appeared in Dragon Ball Volume 1, Ch. 11 "....And Into the Fire!",and her first anime appearance was in Dragon Ball - Episode 7 "Gyuumao of Mount Fry Pan". In both the Japanese and U.S. voice work for Chi Chi she had several voice actresses throughout the series run. Her first Japanese voice actress was Mayumi Sho (DB / DBZ Seasons 1-2 / DBZ Movies 1-3 / DBZ Budokai 1) and she was later voiced by Naoko Watanabe (DBZ Season 3-9 / DBZ Movies 4-13 / DBGT / DB Kai / video games and various other media.). Numerous actresses for the US have voiced Chi Chi in the United States releases, due to the various companies that have dubbed the series long run. Some actresses only voiced her as a child or adult.

English Voice Actresses

Ocean Group

• Andrea Libman (Child)
• Laara Sadiq (DBZ Ep. 1-53 / DBZ Movie 3)
• Lisa Ann Baley (DBZ Ep. 104-276 / DBZ Movies 1-2)

Blue Water

• Katie Rowen
• Pascale Hutton

FUNimation Entertainment

• Laura Baily (Child)
• Cynthia Cranz (Teen/Adult)

Though Chi Chi is a human, she is a skilled martial artist and one of the only people in the universe Goku is scared to anger. The name Chi Chi in Japanese チチ (chi-chi) is also a childish way of saying "father".

Chi Chi's name was changed for several publications in different languages due to translation issues. In the Latin-American publication of Dragon Ball, Chi Chi's name was changed to "Milk". This is because in Latin-American Spanish her name means "breasts". In Portuguese her name means "urine" and was changed to "Kika".

Character Evolution

Little Chi Chi as seen in Dragon Ball.

Unlike with many other manga/anime series that don't follow the characters for long stretches of their lives. The Dragon Ball story began with the cast as either children or teens and followed them well into their adulthood. As such, Chi Chi has gone through a great deal of change in both appearance and personality. After she reaches her teens, her character's appearance changes subtly in hair styles and age. Originally, she was designed to have blue hair, but this was changed to black for the anime.

Though she began as timid and shy, as a mother she was over protective of her first son, Gohan; and pushed heavily to keep him out of fighting and into a good education. This forced her to be the disciplinarian of the family.

Dragon Ball Era

When Chi Chi first appeared she was roughly the same age as Goku and wore a very fantasy themed outfit. She wore a blue-bikini outfit and cape. She would use her helmet as a weapon. It has a laser beam and can be thrown as a balded boomer-rang. Being pure of heart, she was the only other person that could ride Goku's Flying Nimbus.

In the anime version, Chi Chi would have several quick appearances in the story, but in the canon manga, she wouldn't appear unil after the three year time skip as a participant in the 23rd World's Martial Arts Tournament. She was now wearing a Chinese style dress. Her hair was in bands and a long pony tail. Though, Goku was unaware of who she was. After the tournament was over, the two marry and live happily together.

Dragon Ball Z Era

Chi Chi as seen in Dragon Ball Z.

After the events of the first Dragon Ball series, five years has passed. She has had one son with Goku that they named Gohan, after Goku's grandfather. Her clothing style hadn't changed much and her hair was rolled into a bun. As a mother, Chi Chi was strictly protective of her son. She was determined he would not be as poorly educated as his father, but this sheltering produced Gohan to be a timid child. Though, both she and Goku were skilled fighters. She refused to let him be trained as a fighter.

It wouldn't be until the events of the Cell-Games Saga that Chi Chi would relax her strict rules on her son about training to fight, but only as long as he also took care of his studies. After the Cell Games there would be another time skip of seven years. In that time she would have a second son with Goku named Goten. Unlike with Gohan, it was Chi Chi that trained Goten to fight. Chi Chi is one of the strongest human women of the Dragon Ball series until Videl, Gohan's girlfriend, learns to control her Ki.

Dragon Ball GT Era

By the final arc of the series, Chi Chi would also become the grandmother of Pan after Gohan marries Videl. Her hair would have it's most dramatic change to a shoulder length hair and no bangs. She would have a progressively smaller role in the series to it's ultimate finale. Always proud of her family, Chi Chi at times would bicker with Bulma about who had the better family.

Major Story Arcs

Dragon Ball

Chi Chi chased by a dinosaur

Chi Chi's father the Ox King was a feared man of the kingdom, but in reality was a kind-gentle man. To protect their home from invaders, her father hired someone to cast a fire spell around it to keep intruders out, but it also kept her family out. She was charged to go find Master Roshi and bring back the Bancho Fan, a magical item that could blow out the fire. Along the way she was attacked by a dinosaur, but killed it with her balded helmet. Due to her timid nature and fear of strangers, Chi Chi attacked a young man named Yamcha, but she was defeated and knocked unconscious. Upon hearing who her father is, Yamcha feared for his life and lied to Chi Chi by saying he was in love with her. At the first opportunity, Yamcha ran away.

Goku checks if Chi Chi is a girl

It wasn't long after that she would run into a boy her age with a tail and riding a golden cloud. His name was Goku and said he was there to pick her up on request from the Ox King. When she tried to climb onto Goku's cloud, she squeezed his tail and revealed his greatest weakness. As they flew to the island home of Master Roshi, Goku patted at her crotch to check if she was a boy or a girl. She thought this meant Goku was in love with her, but he was an innocent boy who just had a hard time telling the difference between boys and girls. When they arrived at Master Roshi's Kame House, they discovered that Roshi had accidentally thrown away the Bancho fan, but told Chi Chi that he could put the fire out himself.

They all traveled back to Fire Mountain, and Master Roshi used a powerful energy blast call the Kamehameha wave to snuff out the fire that had engulfed the entire mountain. Unfortunately, the attack destroyed the castle with it. Goku and his friends would take the Dragon Ball they needed from the castle. Before he left, Chi Chi asked Goku if he would think of her. The innocent boy replied he would, and asked if she would think of him. The love struck girl mistook this as a sign of affection.

Chi Chi would be seen again in three years as a contender at the 23rd World's Martial Arts Tournament. She was angry that Goku never returned for her and refused to tell him her identity. She would face him in the tournament and told him that if he could win against her she would tell him her name and why she was angry.

Dragon Ball Z

In DragonBall Z Goku and ChiChi had their first son, Son Gohan. Years later they had their second son, Son Goten. They all live at Mt. Paozu. Chi Chi's father Gyumao sometimes visits them.

Powers and Abilities

Chi Chi is a normal human from Earth however she is the daughter of the Ox King, she is very strong physically as she made it to the finals in a martial arts tournament before she and Goku were married. She is obviously stronger than the average female having killed a dinosaur as a child after being frightened by it, she is possibly at the peak of human physicality if not she is possibly above the natural limits of a normal human. She was once seen with a red flame-like aura similiar to that of the Kaioken after being enraged at Krillin's ex-girlfriend Maron however she is never seen to do this ever again. Chi Chi also possess great fighting skill as she is a martial arts master and trained Goten in martial arts herself. She is also an impressive weapon master having mastery over most of forms weaponry.

Chi Chi was able to take a hit from a SSJ, and was too much for normal Goten to handle. Chi Chi has also been able to defy the laws of gravity to jump incredibly high, and stay in the air at the same height for a long time, Chi Chi is very fast and even Krillin sees Chi Chi as strong.

Other Media

Anime Alterations

Other than changing Chi Chi's blue hair to black. Several over changes were made to the canon Dragon Ball story. When Goku first met Chi Chi, he pat on her crotch to check what her gender was. She would also have many more appearances in the anime than she did in the manga story. She joined Goku in fighting the Red Ribbon Army and had a date with Goku.

Official Anime Films

Chi Chi has made appearances in several of the official anime movies based on the several generations of Dragon Ball animes. None of these films held any place in the official continuity of the series.

Dragon Ball Z Era

• Dragon Ball Z - Dead Zone(1989)
• Dragon Ball Z - The Tree of Might (1990)
• Dragon Ball Z - Lord Slug (1991)
• Dragon Ball Z - Cooler's Revenge (1991)
• Dragon Ball Z - Super Android 13! (1992)
• Dragon Ball Z - Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993)
• Dragon Ball Z - Bojack Unbound (1993)
• Dragon Ball Z - Fusion Reborn (1995)
• Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! (2008)

Unofficial Live-Action Films

A few live action movies have been created under the title of Dragon Ball. They were produced in other countries and without the permission of the series creator or copyright holder. The first was a Korean movie named Dragon Ball: Goku Fights, Goku Win (1990). In this movie Chi Chi was portayed as a child with the helmet. The title of the second was Dragon Ball - The Magic Begin (1991), and she was played by the actress Yi-Juan Li. The character of Chi Chi in this movie was merged with the character Jade, who appeared in the first Dragon Ball movie DB: Curse of the Blood Rubies.

Dragon Ball Evolution

ChiChi in Dragonball Evolution (2009)

In the movie DragonBall Evolution (2009), Chi Chi is a popular girl at her high school. In movie she was played by Jamie Chung and was dubbed in Japanese by Ami Koshimizu. Goku is madly in love with her. Chi Chi is dating a guy called Carey Fuller but seems to like Goku as well. She is secretly a fighter and even participates in a Martial Arts Championship. This is where Mai steals a blood sample of her which allows her to transform into Chi Chi. The movie was panned by both fans and critics. Though, despite the poor reception of the first movie, there were confirmed reports of a direct sequel until word came that Hollywood was going to attempt a reboot of the movie instead.

Games

Chi Chi has had a supporting role/cameo appearances in nearly all the numerous video games based on the Dragon Ball series, but has only been playable in a small handful. Her first role as a playable character was in Super Dragon Ball Z. In the game, she wears the same outfit she wore at the 23rd World's Martial Arts Tournament. She was armed with the Power Pole, the Bancho Fan, and rode the Flying Nimbus.