Goku’s reference is the Monkey King from the Dragon Ball manga series Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール) is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters collected into 42 tankōbon volumes by its publisher Shueisha. The series follows the adventures of protagonist Son Goku from his childhood through adulthood as he trains in martial arts. He spends his childhood far from civilization until he meets a teen girl named Bulma, who encourages him to join her quest in exploring the world in search of the seven orbs known as the Dragon Balls, which summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered The prototype for the fictional character Son Goku is Sun Wukong. Some scientists believe that Sun Wukong's image is based on the Indian monkey god Hanuman. In some countries, such as Indonesia, the two are indeed difficult to distinguish - Hanuman and Sun Wukong are considered to be the same creature. Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. After five hundred years, he accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang (唐三藏) and two other disciples on a journey to get back Buddhist sutras from the West (the Indian subcontinent), where Buddha and his followers dwell.