DRAGON BALL -- Was There Actually A Plan Behind It?

Having grown up with DBZ, and not ‘regular’ DRAGON BALL, I’ve
always wondered if the series was designed to be an epic. Obviously, Toriyama was making this up as he went along. There’s no way that the concept of
Super-Saiyans was even a twinkle in his eye at this point. However, I did
wonder about one thing specifically. Was it clear that Chi-Chi was intended to be Goku’s wife
from the moment she was introduced; or was she just another wacky character
in the cast, and Toriyama eventually decided it’d be cute to pair her off with the monkey boy?

(Really, if you
watched this show without any prior knowledge of the franchise, you’d assume
that Bulma was being set up as Goku’s
eventual girlfriend. Doesn’t matter if she’s more of a platonic older sister
figure, at this point - - there’s a literal sexual tension between them).

== TEASER ==

So, color me surprised when Chi-Chi’s fantasizing about
marrying Goku here, mere moments after meeting him. And
color me doubly-surprised when that big lovable Bluto, the Ox King, actually
wants to set the two of them up.

There you go. Question answered. And I suppose it only fits.
With the notable exception of JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE, DBZ has been fairly
unique amid major shonen series for the fact that it let its lead get a serious
girlfriend, marry her and raise a family with her in the space of the actual
show itself (no FMA-style post-credits
family reveals). And that seems to be something Toriyama was clearly
planning for, all along. Goku’s already been more… intimate with Chi-Chi in
this one episode than most shonen heroes get in their hilariously-never-consummated,
long-build romances.

For those of who you lunatics who’ve seen every single
episode of DRAGON BALL - - are there any other cases of foreshadowing which are
as amusing as this?

Watch "the
Ox-King On Fire Mountain” and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the
previous episode.