The main character from Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series, Goku, has been voiced by Masako Nozawa since the series began in 1989. To this day, she has been portraying the role of the Saiyan protagonist, and not only that, but she has also played the role of all the children of Goku and even his father, Bardock.
Nozawa made her name through Dragon Ball, but she has voiced other prominent characters too. She has been voicing characters since 1963, and even after so many years, she is still entertaining anime fans, making her a legend in the game. However, the most iconic role of her life required a sacrifice that many fans don’t know about.
During an interview, Toriyama once revealed that not only did he select Nozawa for the role of Goku, but she was already voicing a main character from another anime series, but the series had to change its voice actor, and because of this, Nozawa decided to play Goku, and the rest is history.
Akira Toriyama Chose Masako Nozawa For Goku’s Character
In the 2004 TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Tenka’ichi Densetsu, a round table discussion between Akira Toriyama, Nozawa, and the chief writer of Dragon Ball Takao Koyama took place, which was later translated by Kazenshuu. During this discussion, Toriyama revealed that he personally selected Nozawa for the role of Goku in Dragon Ball.
Toriyama revealed:
I had the honor of selecting Nozawa-san and the other principal voice actors. Although, I’m very sorry, but I had almost no connection to anime. So, even listening to Nozawa-san’s voice on the tape, it didn’t occur to me that she was a veteran; it was purely that Nozawa-san matched my own internal image of Goku’s voice.
According to the mangaka, at the time, he did not have much connection to the anime industry, which is why he did not know that Nozawa was already a distinguished figure in the voice-acting world. But her voice matched what Toriyama had imagined Goku’s voice should have been, and thus she was offered the role.
Masako Nozawa Had to Sacrifice Another Main Character Role for Goku
During the interview, Toriyama also revealed that at the time she was chosen to play Goku, Masako Nozawa was already voicing the character of Kitaro from the popular anime series GeGeGe no Kitaro, based on the manga by Shigeru Mizuki. She has voiced the character of Kitaro in two series since the anime started in 1968.
Toriyama stated:
But for the remake, it changed to a different voice actor, didn’t it? So, Nozawa-san, you were incredibly disappointed… but then right after that, you were set to be Goku. Both the remake and Dragon Ball were shows on the Fuji TV network, and at the time, there was some sort of thing about not being able to play the lead of two shows on the same network, right?
Toriyama explained that the series was being remade for the third season; however, they decided to change the voice actor for the main character because there were issues at that time with one voice actor playing two protagonists for different series as both of the shows (Dragon Ball and GeGeGe no Kitaro) were being aired on the Fuji TV network.
Nozawa was disappointed because of this, but she chose Goku and gave anime fans one of the best main characters in the history of anime and manga, and she is still going strong even after so many years.
You can watch the Dragon Ball series on Crunchyroll.
