Yamcha is a major deuteragonist in the Dragon Ball manga and in the anime Dragon Ball, and later a supporting tritagonist in Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super, with a few appearances in Dragon Ball GT. He is a former boyfriend of Bulma and the lifelong best friend of Puar.
A former desert bandit, Yamcha was once an enemy of Goku, but quickly reformed and became a friend and ally. Brave, boastful and dependable, Yamcha is a very talented martial artist and one of the most powerful humans on Earth, possessing skills and traits that allow him to fight alongside his fellow Z Fighters when major threats loom. Although he retired the latter half of Dragon Ball Z, due to being largely outclassed by both his allies (namely the Saiyans) and their enemies, he is always present whenever a new threat approaches, and will occasionally lend a helping hand, thus proving himself to be a powerful ally in his own right.
Yamcha: Abilities
Though Yamcha is a skilled swordsman he is an exceptional martial artist. His signature technique is the Rōgafūfūken, “Fist of the Wolf Fang”, “Wolf Fang Fist” in the English anime dub), a quick flurry of punches and kicks.
He has the ability to perform the Kamehameha, a concentrated beam of a chi energy blast that many other characters in the series have the ability to perform as well.
Yamcha also uses the Sōkidan, Spinning Chi Bullet, “Spirit Ball” in the English anime dub), a technique that forms a ball of chi energy to assault an opponent with. He can fully control the ball, allowing. It to home in on enemies and to go underground for a surprise attack.
Creation: Yamcha
When Toriyama decided to create Dragon Ball, he used Chinese author Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West as a prototype for his own series. Yamcha took the role of Sha Wujing. His name is a pun form of Cantonese brunch called yum cha. A prototype for he was Gojō, the river monster, from Toriyama’s one-shot series Dragon Boy.
Voice actors: Yamcha
In the original Japanese version, Yamcha is voiced by Tōru Furuya in all media. In the Funimation English dub, Yamcha is voiced by Christopher Sabat. Sabat currently voices him in all Dragon Ball related media.
Reception and Legacy
Yamcha has had mixed reviews during his inception. He is commonly described as useless and outclassed as a fighter the Dragon Ball series yet has also been described as fun and an iconic anime character to other publishers. A few have noted that his most highlighted moments in the anime in the original anime adaptation compared to the more popular Dragon Ball Z anime. In 2004, Japanese fans voted Yamcha the fifteenth most popular character of the series. He was ranked as the thirty-eighth greatest Dragon Ball Z character of all time by Complex describing willing to sacrifice himself as being the best part of his character.
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