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Singer Hikaru Utada's Son Makes Dragon Ball Discovery, 36 Years Later

Acclaimed Japanese singer Hikaru Utada took to social media on Tuesday to report her son made a "discovery" in Akira Toriyama's hit manga series Dragon Ball. Utada said she and her son were reading out loud Dragon Ball volume 21 (the tail end of Goku's battle with Vegeta) together, when her son (while playing the role of Goku) exclaimed, “Goku said 'Ore'!" (literally, "I"). Utada's son was referring to the personal pronoun Goku used, as the character generally referred to himself as "Ora."

Utada noted she checked her 1990 print and 2024 print editions of the comic to see if any changes were made. To her astonishment, the line has been kept the same. The singer also checked for other instances of Goku using “Ore” around the same volume and found that was the only instance.

As of press time, Utada's post has received over 53,000 likes and nearly 1,500 replies. A cursory look at the replies revealed that they fell into four general camps. Several commenters were ecstatic Utada is reading Dragon Ball with her son, with some praising her son's astute observation. A second group of commenters were just as shocked at the revelation and looked up the scene in question. One commenter even noted Goku used "Ore" in 2016's Dragon Ball Sōshū-hen Super Goku-den edition of the manga series.

The third slate of commenters offered their analysis of the situation, generally suggesting Goku's use of "Ore" is him expressing his only selfish request. The final set of comments are fans stating Goku's use of "Ore" in Dragon Ball volume 21 is well known among dedicated fans of the series. These commenters also noted Dragon Ball volume 21 is not the only instance Goku uses "Ore" in the series. One commenter cites volume 27, just after Goku becomes a Super Saiyan for the first time.

Use of “Ore” and “Ora”

According to the definitive Japanese dictionary Kōjien 4th Edition, “Ore” is a gender-neutral personal pronoun, often as “I,” “me,” or “my” in English. “Ore” is used when referring to oneself to those who are above and below them in a social structure. The dictionary further states modern usage of “Ore” is generally used by boys and men in a crude way to refer to themselves to those equal to or lower than them in a social structure.

"Ora" is also a gender-neutral personal pronoun, often as "I," "me," or "my" in English. However, its use dates to the Edo Period as a short form of the personal pronoun "Oira." "Ora" is also an alternate use of "Ore" but is still used by both men and women.

Within Dragon Ball Goku and his wife, Chichi, use "Ora" as personal pronouns in the Japanese-language version of the manga series. However, as Utada's son pointed out, there are instances where Goku uses "Ore" in place of "Ora," although it is generally when Goku first becomes a Super Saiyan and his battle with Frieza.

Update: On the topic of pronouns, Utada came out as non-binary on Instagram on June 26, 2021. The following June, the singer posted, "Aww I just noticed [my label's staff] using 'they/them' for me! I'm personally not so hung up on pronouns but it's really cool for a Japanese label to be doing this." Utada's Instagram profile now lists the pronouns "she/they."

Sources: Kōjien 4th Edition, Hikaru Utada's X/Twitter account, Dragon Ball's X/Twitter account via Hachima Kikō