Goku accidentally killed Grandpa Gohan when he transformed into his Great Ape form for the first time. This act made Goku into an orphan. He would have likely remained in the wilderness for the rest of his life if it weren’t for his chance encounter with Bulma.
It was during his early adventures that Goku first encountered Master Roshi. Goku would later seek him out in order to become his student. Master Roshi became a sensei and a surrogate father to both Goku and Krillin. He trained several members of the Z-Fighters and remained a significant supporting member of the cast throughout the remainder of the series.
Master Roshi was once the most powerful human being on the planet. He might seem like a lazy old man, but he took it upon himself to stop King Piccolo, even though he knew it would cost him his life. Master Roshi is one of the most important people in Goku’s life, to the point where it is safe to say that no one taught him more.
We are here today to look at the secrets of the most significant human in the history of Dragon Ball Z. From the inspiration for his design, to the mystery surrounding his name.
Here are Twenty Shocking Things You Didn’t Know About Master Roshi!
20 He Wasn’t A New Design
Akira Toriyama is notorious for using similar designs in all of his projects. The characters from Blue Dragon and Chrono Trigger wouldn’t look out of place in Dragon Ball Z. Indeed, some of the creatures from Dragon Quest appeared in the background during the preliminary rounds of the World Martial Arts Tournament.
Master Roshi might be one of the most blatant examples of Akira Toriyama reusing a design. His previous manga before Dragon Ball was called Dr. Slump. God himself (also known as Kami) showed up in Dr. Slump and he looked like a bald old man holding a wooden stick. The God of Dr. Slump looks exactly like Master Roshi. Even the name/concept would be reused in the form of Kami.
19 While It Was Still On The Air…
The Japanese voice cast of Dragon Ball includes people who have been there since the first episode. The same lady has been voicing Goku since 1986. The same cannot be said for the English voices for the Dragon Ball cast, as the series went through several different production studios during its early years.
Master Roshi has had several different voice actors in Japan. This is because the original actor who played him has passed away. Kohei Miyauchi voiced Master Roshi from his first appearance until the 260th episode of Dragon Ball Z, where Roshi was turned into candy by Super Buu.
Master Roshi is currently voiced by Masaharu Sato, who portrays the character in the Dragon Ball Z movies and Dragon Ball Super.
18 “Rock The Dragon” Lied To You
Master Roshi saw most of his action in Dragon Ball, especially during the period of time when he was pretending to be Jackie Chun and competing in the World Martial Arts Tournaments. By the time Dragon Ball Z rolled around, he became a supporting character who rarely engaged in combat. He has had more to do in Dragon Ball Super, but he likely won’t return to prominence.
You wouldn’t know any of this going on the original Dragon Ball Z intro for the English localization of the show. “Rock the Dragon” showed a brief clip Master Roshi kicking ass!
“Rock the Dragon” was a blatant case of false advertising, as 90% of the clips shown in the intro were from the Dragon Ball Z movies and would never appear on the show. The only exception to this was the brief segment of Nappa destroying planes.
17 A Form That Predates Super Saiyan…
One of the recurring themes of Dragon Ball Z is the ability to improve your powers by transforming into a new form. The Saiyans do this through their many Super Saiyan upgrades, while the Namekians do it through absorbing others of their kind. Frieza’s race loves to hide their true power in weaker forms, while pretty much every character gained a potential new transformation when the Fusion Dance was introduced.
Master Roshi was the first character in all of Dragon Ball to possess a transformation, as he had a power-up that predates Goku’s Great Ape form. He can use a form called MAX Power, in which he becomes super buff and can use the full extent of his power. Master Roshi rarely uses this form, as it inhibits his speed.
16 Officer Roshi Is Getting Too Old For This
Dragon Ball Z was toppled from the position of “best-selling manga of all time” by One Piece. The creator of One Piece is a mangaka called Eiichiro Oda, who has cited Akira Toriyama as his greatest influence. This mutual admiration has led to several collaborations between the two artists, one of which was a one-off manga called Cross Epoch, which acted as a crossover between Dragon Ball Z and One Piece.
In Cross Epoch, Hercule gathered the Dragon Balls and asked Shernon to make him a king. Hercule invited all of his friends to a massive tea party, which showed us a reality where the cast of Dragon Ball Z and One Piece hung out together.
In the world of Cross Epoch, Master Roshi is a police officer and works alongside Sanji of the Straw Hat Pirates. They were likely partnered due to the fact that they are both massively gross.
15 The Might Of The Gods (In The Arcades)
Dragon Ball Super made the series even more ridiculous than it was before. Goku now does battle with the Gods themselves, which resulted in a new form that is powered by divine energy, known as the Super Saiyan God.
Now that Goku has the power of a literal God, he can use it to perform an even more powerful version of his Kamehameha, called the God Kamehameha.
In the popular Japanese arcade game called Dragon Ball Heroes, it is possible for non-Gods to use the God Kamehameha. This includes Gohan, Goten, Gotenks, Mira, and Master Roshi. It makes even less sense for Master Roshi than the other characters, as he lacks any Saiyan blood and is not a supernatural creature.
14 Krillin Took Over His School
Dragon Ball GT is not considered to be canon with the rest of the series. This is because Akira Toriyama had little to do with the series, other than contributing some character designs. Before Dragon Ball Super came along, the official continuation of Dragon Ball Z was an MMO called Dragon Ball Online, which was exclusive to Asia.
In the continuity of Dragon Ball Online, Gohan would publish a book concerning all of his findings on ki. This caused a huge influx of interest in the teachings of Master Roshi and his school.
Master Roshi is essentially immortal, but he declined to take on more students due to his advanced age. He passed the leadership role of the Turtle School over to Krillin, who taught the lessons of his master to a new generation.
13 Frothy Mugs Of Water
The original English dub of Dragon Ball Z was created by a company called Ocean Productions. This dub has become infamous due to the sheer amount of censorship that was inflicted upon Dragon Ball Z. These censorships were sometimes very poorly implemented, to the point where it was obvious that an edit took place.
One of the earliest edits in the Ocean dub happened due to Master Roshi. He is seen holding a mug of beer in the first episode of the series. This was altered to turn the liquid blue so that it looked like a glass of water instead. The problem was that no one bothered to edit off the froth, which meant that the water now had a head like a pint of Guinness.
12 The Dentist Transformation
Master Roshi is missing a few of his teeth. This is likely due to his advanced age and the fact that he is a professional martial artist. Roshi has taken plenty of hits to the head over the years, which have managed to dislodge a few of his teeth. This never seems to happen to any of the other Dragon Ball Z characters.
There is a way for Master Roshi to restore his teeth temporarily. Those who watch him closely have noticed that Master Roshi regains all of his teeth when he performs his MAX Power transformation. These teeth later disappear when he returns to his base form. This is one of the many unexplained mysteries of the Dragon Ball world.
11 He Made The Rabbit Mob An Offer They Couldn’t Refuse
Akira Toriyama had no idea that Dragon Ball was going to take off in the way that it did. He was just writing each issue with no regards to long-term continuity or planning. This is why Dragon Ball had numerous inconsistencies throughout its run, as well as many characters simply disappearing from the story and never returning.
One example of an early weird storyline happening in Dragon Ball involved the Rabbit Mob. This was a group of villainous rabbits led by a guy who could turn people into carrots. Goku disposed of them by using his Power Pole to trap them on the moon.
Master Roshi would later accidentally kill the Rabbit Mob, as he used the Kamehameha to blow up the moon during the World Martial Arts Tournament.
10 The Censored Request
A recurring theme involving Master Roshi is his gross behavior. He constantly leers at women and attempts to cop a feel, which usually results in him getting punched in the face. Master Roshi did this a lot to Bulma, which culminated in Krillin pulling down her top in order to make Roshi’s nose bleed so much that it covered Fortuneteller Baba’s invisible champion.
The first Dragon Ball movie was called Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies. This was a film that combined elements from all of the early Dragon Ball arcs into the story.
In Curse of the Blood Rubies, Bulma, Oolong, and Goku visit Master Roshi, as he possesses one of the Dragon Balls. In the original English dubs of the movie, Roshi just hands the Dragon Ball over. In the original version of the film (and the Funimation dub) he asks to see Bulma’s chest first.
9 Grass Makes Him Live Forever
At the start of Dragon Ball, Master Roshi claims to be over three-hundred years old. This is also true of his sister, Fortuneteller Baba, though she has magical powers which can increase her lifespan. The two of them are still alive in Dragon Ball GT and in the far future of Dragon Ball Online.
Fans had speculated that the reason why Master Roshi could live so long was that he used the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality. Dragon Ball Super revealed the truth: Master Roshi actually uses a magical plant called Paradise Grass to increase his lifespan. This plant not only increases Roshi’s lifespan exponentially, but it prevents him from dying from natural causes. You’d think he would have given Goku some when they found out that he was going to die of heart disease during the Future Trunks Saga.
8 The Roshi Strength Retcon
One of the worst additions to Dragon Ball Z was power levels. This was an idea that broke down a character’s physical strength into a number that could be detected with technology. The power levels soon grew to incredibly high numbers and the series abandoned them shortly before the Android Saga.
Master Roshi’s power level was defined at several points throughout Dragon Ball Z and he was usually described as being far stronger than an average human but weaker than the rest of the Z-Fighters.
Dragon Ball Super has thrown years of canon out of the window with an episode that features Master Roshi beating up some of Frieza’s troops. Akira Toriyama has hand-waved this by saying that Master Roshi was always this strong, he just never applied himself.
7 No Need For Cerebro
The characters in Dragon Ball Z will often exhibit abilities once and then never use them again, with the possible exception of non-canon filler arcs. Piccolo rarely used his body stretching/expanding abilities after the first time he used them during his battle against Goku and would use telekinesis while training, but not during combat.
A lot of characters in Dragon Ball Z possessed the ability to use telepathy, with no explanation as to how they learned to use this power or why they don’t use it more often.
Master Roshi uses telepathy to read Nam’s mind so that he could learn of the plight of his village. He later used it to contact Master Shen so that they could trade insults from a distance.
6 The Convenient Flying Ability
Despite his strength and control over his ki: Master Roshi cannot fly like the other members of the Z-Fighters. He was often forced to rely on others for transportation, such as the Capsule Corps vessels used by Bulma, or his own trusty Baby Gamera mount. This is just another example of Master Roshi’s extreme laziness, as characters like Goten and Videl were able to fly with minimal training.
There have been some Dragon Ball Z video games were Master Roshi was able to fly. This was likely due to laziness on the developers’ part, as they probably didn’t want to have to program in special methods of flying for one character. Master Roshi was seen flying in the first Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi game and Dragon Ball Heroes.
5 The Best Actor In The Worst Movie
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is often cited as being responsible for bringing eastern martial arts movies to the mainstream in the west. One of the protagonists of the movie was a swordsman named Li Mu Bai, who was played by Chow Yun-fat. This role helped propel Chow Yun-fat to stardom outside of Asia and it helped him find mainstream roles in Hollywood. This led to him starring in movies like Bulletproof Monk and Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End.
Chow Yun-fat decided to take the role of Master Roshi in the universally despised Dragonall Evolution. This makes him by far the most acclaimed actor to appear in the movie, which is a shame when you consider what an absolute disgrace to the Dragon Ball franchise that it turned out to be.
4 He Stole Piccolo’s Signature Move
The most obscure and unusual Dragon Ball Z video game has to be Dragon Ball Z: Atsumare! Goku Warudo. This was released for a bizarre system that combined VHS tapes with a controller that resembled a rotary phone. The system was mainly used as a teaching aid for young children.
Dragon Ball Z: Atsumare! Goku Warudo would show sequences of characters performing actions or moves and it was up to the player to determine whether they actually happened in the show or not. One of the sequences in the game depicted Master Roshi using the Special Beam Cannon, which is Piccolo’s signature move. This was also the move that Piccolo used to kill Goku and Raditz, as he designed it specifically to take down his biggest enemy.
3 Getting A Little Too Close
One Piece is not the only series that has crossed over with Dragon Ball Z. A manga called Toriko ended up becoming popular in Weekly Shonen Jump, to the point where it received an anime adaptation. A crossover special between Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, and Toriko was created in order to celebrate the third year of Toriko being on the air.
The special involved the casts of all three series competing in a dangerous race. Master Roshi and Brook from the Straw Hat Pirates use this as an opportunity to be gross, as they pretend to be wounded in order to get close to Nami and Rin. Master Roshi tried to cop a feel of Nami, before getting kicked away.
2 The Best Epic Mount Of All
Godzilla became one of the most important movies in Japanese history, to the point where it spawned an entire genre and countless imitators. One of the biggest rivals to Godzilla is Gamera, who is a giant turtle monster that has starred in his own series of movies. Gamera has become a star in his own right which has helped to distance him from Godzilla.
Master Roshi is such a badass that he uses Gamera’s own child as a mount. Roshi frequently flies around on a spinning Baby Gamera and continues to do so in Dragon Ball Super.
It is odd that they are allowed to call the creature Baby Gamera, as Gamera is a copyrighted character who belongs to Daiei Films.
1 The Mystery Of His Name
There is a recurring aspect of Dragon Ball Z where no one bothers to ask people what their real name is. No one asked whether Hercule/Mr. Satan’s name was real, which led to Akira Toriyama confirming in an interview that his name is actually Mark. This might be because everyone in Dragon Ball Z has a stupid theme name based on food, so everyone is too embarrassed to admit what theirs is.
Master Roshi is another example of this. The name Master Roshi is actually an invention of the English dub. In Japan, he is referred to as Muten Roshi, which basically means “martial arts master” or “heavenly arts master.”
In the entire thirty years that the Dragon Ball franchise has existed, no one has bothered to ask Master Roshi’s true name.
