So, I’ve been waiting for the Super manga to come out and see how they handle this scene because its counterpart is really controversial in the anime. We know from interviews that Toriyama gives Toei and Toyotaro a general draft, and they fill in the rest, although Toriyama appears to be more involved in the production of the manga with Toyotaro (and working on a comic with someone is a more intimate setting than, say, a massive studio) so I’ve been waiting to see how this plays out. It turns out the dialogue in the manga is different, and I had a buddy of mine who translates Japanese-to-English for the DBZ fandom all the time take a stab at it. Here’s what she sent me:
“Goku literally says that Trunks puts his mouth against Mai’s mouth (“kuchi to kuchi kuttsukeru” = place mouths together), but his “yoku” is giving me trouble here, because it can either be translated as “nicely/skillfully/well” or “frequent/often”. To me it seems like Goku is simply refering to it coming off as a natural thing for Trunks to do.
Vegeta then says: “You… don’t know about that?”
Goku: “Mh? About what?”
Vegeta: “(About) that kiss(ing)…”
Goku’s “attarimee daro” can either mean “Well, of course?!” or “It’s a common thing to do, right?!”
Vegeta: (not stating WHO he is talking about) “…aren’t you married?” or possibly even “…they aren’t married?” refering to Trunks and Mai (they are in the panel after all.)
Goku: “Huh? Has that something to do with this?”
Like… I honestly don’t know what the whole point of this conversation is.
Are they completely talking past each other? Is Vegeta an idiot? Maybe Vegeta is like: “Duh, Bakarotto, why you so surprised two people put their mouths against each other?! You damn hick. You don’t know about that?! That’s what they call a kiss.” and Goku: “Yeah, of course I do, because it is a common thing.” I don’t even think this is about the momma-birding and more about Vegeta thinking Goku’s dumb and Vegeta being being uptight or even prude, because he doesn’t wat to continue the conversation, dissmissing it with an “Enough!”.
So, what Western audiences may not know, is that Japanese is a very contextual language, and if two people are having a conversation and assuming they’re referring to the same subject, but they’re not, they may not even realize it and walk away with a complete misunderstanding–it doesn’t help that in Japanese, usually, the context is implied, so if two people aren’t on the same page, misunderstandings can occur often. In the anime AND the manga, the “joke” is that Goku and Vegeta misunderstand each other due to this aspect of the Japanese language.
For the anime, most English and Japanese fans who logically concluded that, even with Goku’s childhood, common sense must prevail, and that the idea that Goku has never kissed Chichi after 20+ years of marriage and fathering two children with her–or that Chichi never even taught him what a kiss was or continued to remain ignorant of it when exposed to TV or public outings, figured that Goku was referring to Trunks momma-birding Mai–while Vegeta thought he was referring to kissing.
In the manga, Goku balks at the idea of not knowing what a “kiss” is, because it’s a very common thing. Like, duh, Vegeta. Interestingly, Vegeta’s option for translation here, since Goku has already stated he knows what kissing is, is to wonder aloud “…Trunks and Mai aren’t married?” which might imply that Vegeta has a more conservative view on kissing, or is wondering aloud about, after seeing his son kiss Mai, if they’re married.
When Goku asks, “Huh? Has that something to do with this?” the most sensible interpretation after what’s just been said, would be that Goku doesn’t see how kissing is something that is necessarily exclusive to marriage, so he wonders why Vegeta would even pose the question.
Before this though, Goku describes the literal description of kissing and with some awe, the manner in which Trunks does it–he hasn’t seen Trunks do it before now (which dismisses the “frequently/often” translation option) so Goku’s probably mentioning the natural manner in which Trunks “puts his lips up against her’s”, and in front of company in such a public and casual display of affection–all of which seems to have surprised Goku. The most logical interpretation of Goku’s response here would probably imply that he just doesn’t kiss Chichi in public or do PDA really, and thus the casual way Trunks “kisses” Mai in front of him and Vegeta strikes him as a culture shock. (which fits with the manga–and in the anime he’s only physically affectionate when they’re 1) alone or 2) around close friends or family)
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