Despite being mentioned in the last chapter, Goku’s forgotten brother Raditz has never been further from his family’s legacy than he is now.
Warning: Contains spoilers for Chapter 82 of dragon ball super
The Granolah the Survivor saga in dragon ball super has revealed many previously unknown details about goku father Bardock and the kind of man he was. While not all fans have been happy with these revelations, as they go against some long held notions about who Bardock is, the real victim of Bardock’s retcons is his lesser-known son, Raditz.
chapter 82 of dragon ball super featured a recording of Bardock fighting the Heeters’ secret weapon and his younger brother, Gas, 40 years ago. Flashbacks and stories from that time showed that Bardock, as part of the assault force on the planet Cereal, took pity on Granolah and her mother, who reminded him of her own family, and chose to help them escape. and survive. While Granolah managed to get out with the help of the Namekian Monaito, her mother died, and in her hazy memory, Granolah believed that Bardock had been responsible for her. The recording of the battle, found on Bardock’s old tracker, confirmed that Goku’s father was actually trying to save them, an unusually empathetic and heroic act for a Saiyan.
While it’s a sweet story, some problems do arise. Bardock imagines Granolah and her mother as Gine and baby Goku, but he never thinks of Raditz. It has never been firmly established how much older Raditz is than Goku; he could plausibly be a small child at this point, or maybe even an adult and part of the strike force. It’s fair to assume that Raditz’s age is comparable to Vegeta’s, which would make him about 5 years older, still a young enough kid to think he needs protection. While Raditz is referenced in the chapter, the reference is made by Goku in the present instead of Bardock, making his complete absence in the past all the more odd.
As Goku’s brother, Raditz has long been the focus of fan speculation. Upon his initial appearance, the implication was that Goku would be like Raditz, had he not hit his head and suffered brain damage shortly after arriving on Earth. While that explanation is a bit of a joke, it was taken seriously by fans and gave the impression that all Saiyans were more like Raditz and Vegeta than Goku. However, the revelations about Bardock show that this is not the case, so how did Raditz become so different from his family? At Dragon Ball Super: Broly film, Raditz is shown very briefly, already on a mission with Vegeta despite appearing the same age as Goku during the original film. Dragon Ball. It’s clear that Raditz was taken from his family at a young age (perhaps on Frieza’s orders) and put into combat training, which prevented his parents from imparting any of his values to him. Instead, he developed the cold and cruel personality that he displays, raised in an environment without love and attention. From that perspective, Raditz is an intensely tragic character, someone with Goku’s potential who was shot down every time, and not even given the same chance at redemption as Vegeta.
With dragon ball super Pumping out new revelations about Bardock and the past, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Raditz show up in some capacity, if only as a cameo. Even a few words from Bardock about his eldest son could shed light on the mystery that is Raditz, at least offering some insight into how he and Gine felt about the situation. Until then, however, the gap between Raditz and Goku (and the rest of his family) in dragon ball super has never been wider.
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