Despite eventually becoming one of the most powerful fighters in the universe, Goku has a terrible track record in one of Dragon Ball’s most important events. From the very first chapter of Dragon Ball through the end of Dragon Ball Super, Goku keeps losing martial arts tournaments, partially because Akira Toriyama got a “perverse” joy in making him lose.

The turning point for Dragon Ball in terms of its popularity was the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, which was unique not just because of how well it injected emotion and drama into the fighting tournament but because Goku didn’t win. In fact, it wouldn’t be until his third attempt that Goku would win the World Martial Arts Tournament. The delayed gratification wasn’t lost on Akira Toriyama or the rest of the editorial staff at Weekly Shonen Jump.

“It took him until his third try to finally win,” Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama said in an interview. “Everyone around me was saying, ’I’m sure Goku will win in the end.’ Even though I had wanted him to win, but since I’m perverse, when they said that to me I went ‘Like I’d let him win!’”

The idea to stop Goku from winning the World Martial Arts Tournament (and every subsequent tournament that occurred in the series) might have stemmed from the kind of spite that only Akira Toriyama could muster for his main character, but it had the additional effect of raising the stakes of Dragon Ball. It ensured that there were always more powerful opponents out there for Goku to face, which forced the characters to become stronger and stronger as the series progressed. So we should all be thankful for Toriyama’s perverse desire to tease us every time Goku entered a tournament.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

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