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"I have many things. A best friend who's a turtle. An island. Chlamydia. This... is not one of them."
— "Cooler 2: The Return of Cooler's Revenge – The Reckoning"

Master Roshi (武天老師, Muten Rōshi) is the founder of the Turtle School in the original Dragon Ball. He's the teacher of Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha. He normally lives at Kame House with his pet Turtle.

In the original series[]

In the original series, Master Roshi was the founder of the Turtle School and the inventor of Goku's signature Kamehameha technique. He was a very perverted and grabby old man, often groping women or asking them to reveal their undergarments to him (as was the case with Bulma). 

In DragonBall Z Abridged[]

His character is fundamentally the same, although he's less perverted than before, not making as many perverted jokes or attempts to grope women. He does, however, still have an exceptionally perverted mind, laughing at every moment of poor phrasing, such as those said by Krillin when he revealed that Gohan was pounding the tuna (everyone thought he was having sex with someone, when Krillin meant that he was fishing) in "There's Something About Maron". His beard once caught on fire. In the "Super Android 13", it was revealed that "Master Roshi" is not his real name.

Master Roshi visited Goku during his hospitalization following the battle against Vegeta, asking him how his recovery was going. When Mr. Popo arrived, Goku became frantic in remembering their first encounter and was eventually sedated. Master Roshi asked the doctor in charge of Goku what was used to sedate him and asked Mr. Popo for his identity after realizing that he was there. Korin tried to explain to him who he was, but Master Roshi was more concerned with whether or not the cat had spoken to him, unusual for the animal. Mr. Popo explained that the group could wish their friends who had died in the battle against the Saiyans back to life after going to Namek and using the Dragon Balls there, by taking a ship Kami formerly owned. He wanted one of the group to come with him and Bulma opted for them to have a democratic vote, during which Master Roshi and the others unanimously agreed for her to be the person to go. Bulma tried to use a crashed Saiyan ship but caused it to explode with the remote, prompting Master Roshi to tell her to stop being scared and get on the carpet with Mr. Popo who he admitted was scary.[1]

Movie Appearances[]

Dead Zone[]

Master Roshi made a cameo at Kame House when Goku was looking at the Dragon Radar in order to find Gohan.

World's Strongest[]

When Dr. Kochin and his Bio-Men came to Kame House to kidnap Master Roshi (beliving he was the world's strongest), Roshi was already high when Oolong burnt his edibles (pot brownies). He was able to defeat the Bio-Men with no problem, but was forced to come with Kochin when he took Bulma as a hostage.

Personality[]

Roshi is a genius martial artist, capable of creating powerful and legendary attacks such as the Kamehameha. His brilliance can be muddled by his jaded personal views and his alcoholic tendencies. Roshi is easily bored and does not do well with routine. He is willing to be extremely brutal such as when people betray him or if his life or those close to him are in danger. He is usually portrayed as homicidal and having a large disregard for life.

This does not make him completely heartless, however, as he has been shown to be shocked, startled or annoyed by loss of life that he deems unnecessary, foolish or unreasonable. He was annoyed at Goku for letting Piccolo live, and he was panicked when Nappa destroyed an entire city that still had people in it. He also was shocked and upset by people he was close to dying or nearly dying, such as when Turtle was nearly shot and he ran to his side in fear for the latter's life. When Lunch was threatened by a group of Red Ribbon Army soldiers, Roshi flew into a rage, mowing down multiple Red Ribbon Army soldiers.

Contrary to popular belief, Roshi is not a nihilist. Although his commonly-stated viewpoint on life may be the typical nihilistic idealism that "nothing has meaning", he doesn't always put his money where his mouth is. Roshi expresses love and emotion for his friends and lovers. Roshi frequently reminds people that he's above everything that could hold meaning or value to him and made "I don't give a fuck!" his new catchphrase for a while, but this is all a mask. Roshi does care about maintaining positive relationships with others and holds sentimental value of his family.

When it comes to sexy women, Roshi has a tendency to be extremely possessive and dominating, believing them to all belong to him regardless of whether they are single and/or share his feelings or not and stating that it would only be a matter of time before they would. This doesn't prevent Roshi from genuinely caring about all of them. He occasionally uses his reputation as a famous martial artist to get attention from women. Roshi can also be protective of them, as shown when he abruptly kills Captain Dark after he implied that he was going to rape Lunch. He even sacrificed himself for, in his own words, "all the sexy bitches of the world as well as his friends" after trying to use the Mafuba to seal King Piccolo away, and knowingly and willingly accepted death.

Roshi's perversions, well-known to his friends and family, border on the pathological. Several times he has been seen in public often trying to flirt with, molest, or otherwise fuck any young girl or mature women that catches his eye. He demonstrates little to no shame over his actions or any of the consequences that could result and indeed seems to take a twisted kind of pride in cataloguing his depraved adventures.

In the beginning he seemed to focus his attentions primarily on women whom he knew for sure were single and living alone. At some point between Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, however, possibly as a result of Launch breaking up with him, his habits worsened to the point where he now regularly targets wife, mother, sister, daughter, roommate, literally anyone fitting his preferred types. They need be alone only briefly.

Roshi and his students have a strong bond for the most part, though their relationship is strained due to Roshi's cynicism, alcoholism, lack of conventional morality, and his tendency to constantly hit on their girlfriends and wives at any given chance. Roshi clearly doesn't respect Yamcha in any sense, and his relationship with Goku can be tumultuous at times due to Chi-Chi not liking him. Out of all of his past students, Roshi appears to get along with Krillin the best as the two are often seen hanging out on Roshi's Island.

Roshi has trouble taking orders from others, is very anti-totalitarian, and seems to dislike people with authority and government officials. He utterly refused to join the Time Patrol when Dumplin tried to offer it to him because he viewed it as a form of government. Roshi also has a great dislike of standardised education, claiming that school in fact limits peoples' minds, and insists that things such as studying and homework are pointless and stupid.

Roshi holds seemingly contradictory beliefs on religion, at one point telling Bulma, "There is no God", yet much later as he is about to sacrifice himself to seal away King Piccolo he actually kneels and prays- "Please God, if there's a Hell, please be merciful to me" (significantly, when there's no one else who can hear him). When brought back to life the first time around with the Dragon Balls, he yells "Fuck you God, not today, bitch!" It's possible that this is just due to Roshi's ego and his complete confidence in his own abilities. Even when he is eventually face to face with God himself (Kami) Roshi utterly refuses to acknowledge him or his authority and instead refers to him as a "green-faced motherfucker" and takes great pleasure in mocking him for his part in Piccolo's creation referring to him as King Piccolo's wife. These cynical viewpoints may extend well beyond Kami to any and all other deities in the Universe.

Despite his general disregard for others, he is shown to harbour deep emotional pain and sorrow, especially when it comes to his romantic relationships, such as with his ex-wife and Lunch. Not much is known about his marriage, but the absence of his wife is possibly a contributing factor to his current personality. Much more is known about his relationship with Lunch. After a two month relationship, she broke up with him and left, leaving behind a farewell note for Roshi explaining that while Lunch enjoyed their time with him, they could not be together.

Dejected, heartbroken, and alone, Roshi returned home, where he was confronted by Bulma over his magazines, calling them filth and that they should be thrown out. To Bulma's (and everybody else's) shock, Roshi simply conceded and retreated to his bedroom, where he clumsily attempted suicide with a makeshift noose only to loose consciousness before he could go through with it. He remained slumped over his bed, passed out, for the majority of the day and night. He and Krillin then visited Tenshinhan's hut, where Lunch was temporarily staying. Roshi demanded to see Lunch, but Tenshinhan informed him that Lunch didn't want to see him and threatened to attack the two unless they left, which Roshi reluctantly did at Krillin's urging.

Substance Abuse[]

Generally, Roshi's consumption of alcohol is presented more from a comedic viewpoint for the most part, however, Turtle claims that Roshi is in "great pain", and that he uses drugs and alcohol to numb himself. This is most likely due to his genius intelligence as a martial artist, and the traumatizing effect that his continuous adventures may have on him, in the past and present. Roshi explains that the best method on how to deal with horrible events and outcomes is to "not think about it".

Criminal Record[]

Throughout his extended lifetime, Roshi has been shown to be ready and willing to disregard rules, laws and social norms if it is necessary to complete a task or escape a dangerous situation. In the past he has resorted to assault, battery, vandalism, smuggling, corruption of a minor, home invasion, reckless endangerment, terrorist threats, indecent exposure, and even murder and arson in order to get the job done. The most common crimes committed are, sexual harassment (though a surprisingly large amount of women seem to accept his offers), driving (or flying) under the influence, drug abuse, and public intoxication. On one occasion after he was discovered to be a registered sex offender, Cyborg 18 asked him what else he was guilty of to which Roshi responds simply with "Everything."

  • Assault:
  • Bioterrorism: Unintentional side effect; in at least one alternate timeline.
  • Breaking and Entering (Burglary): He regularly break into places he shouldn't be. Including on at least one occasion, Doctor Briefs' basement where he successfully made off with a clone of Panchy. He has plenty more.
  • Cable Piracy:
  • Child Abuse: Not intentional, but sometimes while training Goku and Krillin things could get out of hand. To be fair, they usually gave as good as they got.
  • Corpse Mutilation: Long story. Involving my son-in-law Trunks. No, not that Trunks.
  • Driving Under Influence:
  • Felony Murder:
  • Genocide: Unintentional side effect; in at least one alternate timeline.
  • Human Cloning: After discovering Doctor Briefs secret lab; in addition secretly stole one of Panchy's clones for "private reasons".
  • Illegal Arms Dealing: He's been selling weapons to a hitman for a long time, He's also been hiring him to get rid of certain obstacles in my way.
  • Impersonation:
  • Kidnapping and False Imprisonment: Grabbed. Gagged. Gone.
  • Murder:
  • Prison Escape: Quite a few times actually. They never seem to understand that I'm only there for as long as it entertains me.
  • Slavery:
  • Smuggling:
  • Terrorism: Unintentional side effect; in at least one alternate timeline.
  • Time Bending: After taking Bulma's time machine for a joyride without telling her.
  • Torture/Cruelty to Animals:
  • Vandalism/Arson:
  • Treason/Rebellion:

Sexual Behavior[]

If Roshi could be summed up in just one word, it would be 'pervert'. Roshi has had sex with at least 1000 women.

He has a foot fetish. On one occasion he also got an erection from watching a DirecTV help video. He has also been known to occasionally visit the local prison so that he can have sex with the female prisoners.

Roshi also seems to have an affinity with rape, on one occasion he encounters a gagged cheerleader in the male toilets and appears ready to have sex with her. Another time, during his attempt to rape a woman from the postal service outside his house, it is revealed that Roshi's body has built up an immunity to Mace due to it being used on him so many times. Roshi is also not above date rape, as shown how while being on The Bachelorette, where he drugged a woman's drink and attempted to drag her into a cabana, only to run off with one of her shoes when he realized their date was being filmed. In another situation, a waiter at a restaurant asked Roshi if he wanted the usual drink with a roofie, a known date rape drug to his female companion, something that Roshi denies when he is with Bulma, but later orders when he hooked up with Launch. Also, he was once seen dragging away an unconscious Maron after she broke up with Krillin. His bed is equipped with mechanical arms in order to physically grab, strip and restrain any female in a position ready for sex. His sofa is similarly equipped although it reacts only when manually controlled with a button on the wall.

He also does not seem to care exactly what he has sex with as long as it's a girl and he's happy. On one occasion a cat starts to lick him before he realized what was happening and he then chased it away because it wasn't the same cat from the previous night.

Attacks[]

  • Kamehameha: Master Roshi created this attack, and taught it to Goku and Krillin. The Kamehameha wave fires an explosive blast of ki energy against his opponent. First used against the Bio Warriors.
    • Master-Student Kamehameha: A team attack. Master Roshi, Goku, and Krillin combine their Kamehameha's into one big energy blast for extra damage. First used against Dr. Wheelo.
  • Medium Awareness (Roshi seems to be afflicted by what is commonly known as the Truman syndrome, a type of delusion in which the person believes that their lives are staged and that they are constantly being watched on cameras. Roshi believes that he is a fictional character in a parody, allowing him to break the fourth wall to address and share his thoughts with a hypothetical audience watching his adventures.

Appearances[]

Appearances of Master Roshi in DragonBall Z Abridged
Season 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes
Season 2
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Yes No Yes No No No No No No No
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
No No No No No No No No No Yes
Season 3
31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Yes No No Yes No No No No No No
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
No No No Yes No Yes No No Yes No
Epilogue
No
Movies
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8
Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes
Specials
SP1 SP2 SP3 SP4
No No Yes No
Kai Abridged
Kai1 Kai2 Kai2.9 Kai3 Kai3.5
Yes Yes No No No
  • Note 1: Didn't speak in episodes 4, 30, 43, Dead Zone, Kai 1 and Kai 2.
  • Note 2: Only a voice cameo in Episode 34.

Trivia[]

  • He is a registered sex offender. He is also banned from 500 Victoria's Secret locations.
    • The revelation that Roshi isn't his real name directly relates to this. Interestingly, Roshi is a title rather than a proper name, providing the joke "Muten Roshi" would translate properly to "Master Master."
  • In the Dragon Ball Z Abridged Creator Commentary series, Lanipator and KaiserNeko revealed that the changeover of Master Roshi's voice actor from MasakoX to Lanipator was due to the need for the "old prospector laugh", made famous by Mike McFarland's performance in the Funimation dub, for There's Something About Maron. As MasakoX could not adequately perform the laugh, he agreed to relinquishing the role to Lanipator, who has maintained the role ever since.
  • Master Roshi is the second character who can see the fourth wall. The first being Dumplin.
  • Roshi is the only character to reference (his sister) Fortuneteller Baba, who only appears in one blink-as-miss-it shot. TFS joked she was one of the most prominent characters they never bothered to include in the parody series.

References[]

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