Gotenks striking a pose, knees bent, one arm raised, one eye closed and mouth open, in baggy white pants against a radiant pale yellow background

Gotenks: The Fusion of Goten and Trunks

CharacterFusionsBuu Saga

Gotenks is the warrior born from the Fusion Dance between Goten and Trunks during the Buu Saga. After two failed attempts and an early beatdown at the hands of Fat Buu, he trains in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, holds his own against Super Buu with exploding ghosts, then reaches Super Saiyan 3 before getting absorbed. Here's a look back at the dance, his fights, his appearances on the big screen and in Dragon Ball Super, and his dual Japanese voice.

Two kids, one dance and thirty minutes of power: Gotenks is the fusion of Goten and Trunks. Here's how this cocky warrior was born, fought Majin Buu, then came back.

Contents

Goten + Trunks: the Fusion Dance

Gotenks is born from the fusion of Goten, son of Goku and Chi-Chi, and Trunks, son of Vegeta and Bulma: the kid Trunks of the Buu era, not the one who came from the future. His Japanese name, Gotenkusu, joins “Goten” to the “kusu” ending of Torankusu, the way Japanese pronounces Trunks.

In the manga (chapter 469), it's Goku who brings up the fusion, which he learned in Other World from a Metamoran; it's Mr. Popo who then thinks of Goten and Trunks, who are close in strength and size. Since Goku can't stay on Earth for long, he's counting on Piccolo to teach it to the boys after he leaves. The dance requires two equal power levels: Trunks, who is a bit stronger, has to lower his ki to match Goten's (chapter 473). Before leaving, Goku teaches them the dance himself and performs it in mirror image with Piccolo (chapter 477); in the anime, episode 248, which aired in Japan on November 30, 1994, shows him at it, exhausted.

In chapter 480, before the first attempt, Chi-Chi wonders whether the warrior will be called “Gotenks” or “Trunten.” The first attempt produces a fat kid, because Trunks stretched out his fingers instead of making a fist; the second, a very scrawny kid; the third, at last, Gotenks. Each time, the boys wait out the thirty minutes of the failed fusion before trying again. The anime keeps this order, in episode 251, which aired in Japan on December 21, 1994.

Full of himself, Gotenks claims he can beat Majin Buu without even going Super Saiyan. In the manga, this first duel against Fat Buu is played as a gag: Gotenks flies off and comes right back beaten to a pulp; the anime, for its part, shows the fight. Like the warriors born from the dance, he usually wears the Metamoran outfit: a short vest, black in the manga and dark blue in the anime, with yellow padding at the collar and armholes.

Goten and Trunks, side by side, some distance apart, on tiled ground lined with palm trees, stretching their arms outward in symmetrical gestures
Goten and Trunks mirror each other's moves in the Fusion Dance, which requires two equal power levels to give birth to Gotenks.

🧥 Under that vest, Gotenks is shirtless; for a piece to throw on over your T-shirt, check out our Dragon Ball jackets.

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber and exploding ghosts

To prepare for the fight against Super Buu, Piccolo sends Goten and Trunks into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where one hour outside is worth fifteen days of training (chapter 487). To keep Buu waiting, he conjures up an hourglass; Super Buu loses patience and smashes it, when not even thirty minutes have passed (chapter 488).

Inside the chamber, the boys have gone beyond Super Saiyan, but in this new form their fusion would only last five minutes (chapter 489). Their plan: fight in normal form first to drag out the show, then go “Ultra Super Saiyan” for the finale.

Facing Super Buu, Gotenks, still in normal form, unleashes a barrage of ordinary attacks with ridiculous names; annoyed, Buu swats him away with the back of his hand. Gotenks then goes Super Saiyan after fusing, rather than before, as he had until then, which stuns Piccolo (chapter 490). He follows up with the Galactica Doughnut, a ring of energy that tightens around the opponent to immobilize him.

Another technique, the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, creates ghosts in his image that explode at the slightest touch; in both the manga and the anime, he spits the first one out of his mouth. In chapter 491, two ghosts high-five and blow up; others pretend to examine something strange lying on the ground, and Buu, curious, walks over before getting blown to bits.

Super Saiyan Gotenks shouting, hands behind his back, in front of a row of white ghosts in his likeness, arms at their sides, on white ground
Super Saiyan Gotenks in front of his look-alike ghosts, the ones from the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack he launches against Super Buu, which explode at the slightest touch.

⏳ Piccolo conjures up an hourglass to time the hour Buu is made to wait, and Buu smashes it before time is up; to keep an eye on the time at home, hang one of our Dragon Ball clocks on your wall.

Super Saiyan 3, then absorbed by Super Buu

Buu pulls himself back together. Purely as a joke, Gotenks pretends he's out of strength, just to scare Piccolo; Piccolo takes him seriously and destroys the entrance to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to trap Buu inside with them (chapter 492). Buu escapes anyway, through a rift his screams tore open, and Gotenks, still trapped in the chamber, goes Super Saiyan 3; when Piccolo asks him how he did it, he has no idea (chapter 493).

As a Super Saiyan 3, he screams in turn and tears open his own rift to get out with Piccolo. Goku, who is watching the scene in a crystal ball from the Supreme Kais' sacred planet, is amazed that the boys, who saw him turn Super Saiyan 3 against Buu, reached that level so fast. In the anime, this escape makes up episode 260, which aired in Japan on March 15, 1995.

In chapter 494, Gotenks traps Buu in a ball of rings and improvises a volleyball game: Piccolo sets, and Gotenks spikes Buu toward the ground. But just as he announces the finishing blow, his Super Saiyan 3 runs out all at once (chapter 495); by the next chapter, Goten and Trunks have already split apart.

In chapter 499, Super Buu goads the boys into fusing again; Gotenks appears directly as a Super Saiyan 3 and calls himself “Super Gotenks.” It was a trap: two pieces that break off Buu's back engulf Gotenks and Piccolo, and Buu absorbs them on the spot. Super Buu then wears Gotenks's vest, and even borrows his Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack to throw it at Vegito, with Buu-headed ghosts (chapter 505), before Goku and Vegeta pull loose the cocoons holding the prisoners (chapter 506).

Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks with long golden hair screaming, fists clenched, surrounded by a yellow aura and white lightning
Trapped in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Gotenks goes Super Saiyan 3: a scene from episode 260 of the anime, the one where he escapes with Piccolo.
Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks figure, long golden hair, arms crossed and fingers in a V, surrounded by orange lightning on a round gray base

For fans of Gotenks

Dragon Ball Figure - Gotenks Super Saiyan 3

The Super Saiyan 3 form Gotenks reaches while trapped in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber finds a place in your home with this figure.

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After Buu: movies, Dragon Ball Super and GT

At the end of the Buu Saga, in the anime (episode 287), Goten and Trunks fuse right in the middle of a hot bath to get back at Goku, who dunked their heads underwater. On the big screen, in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, Super Saiyan Gotenks takes on the Dictator, a parody of Hitler, and his troops while Goku and Vegeta fight in Other World.

In Wrath of the Dragon, Gotenks goes Super Saiyan 3, but the monster Hirudegarn, after changing form, knocks him out of the fight with a single punch. In Battle of Gods, he charges at Beerus as a Super Saiyan and gets nothing more than a spanking; in the Dragon Ball Super manga (chapter 3), he goes Super Saiyan 3, and Beerus throws him into the sea.

In the movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Goten and Trunks botch their fusion against Cell Max: the result is an obese Gotenks, unable to go Super Saiyan. Bounced from one fighter to the next like a pinball, he ends up headbutting Cell Max's weak spot and cracking his skull. The boys then try the dance again, but the movie doesn't show the result; in the manga adaptation (chapter 102), they fail it again later, during a training session against Gohan.

In Dragon Ball GT (episode 38), Goten and Trunks, now young adults, want to fuse against Baby, who has turned into a Golden Great Ape, but Goku decides that won't be enough. The adult Gotenks comes from the game Dragon Ball Heroes, where the GT versions of Goten and Trunks can fuse.

Super Saiyan Gotenks, fists clenched and surrounded by a golden aura, standing in front of colorful buildings under a blue sky
Super Saiyan Gotenks in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, where he takes on the Dictator and his troops while Goku and Vegeta fight in Other World.

Bragging, hairstyle and a dual voice

Ever the braggart, Gotenks loves putting on a show: he shouts out his attacks at the top of his lungs and gives ridiculous names to simple punches and kicks. In the anime, his hairstyle blends those of both boys: black at the front and back like Goten's, lavender on the sides like Trunks's.

In Japanese, Gotenks speaks with two voices at once, those of Masako Nozawa and Takeshi Kusao. The English dub keeps that dual voice: in Funimation's Dragon Ball Z and in the movie Battle of Gods, Kara Edwards voices Goten's half and Laura Bailey voices Trunks's half; in Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters, Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Daima, Kara Edwards shares the role with Alexis Tipton.

In English, Funimation's dub and Viz's translation of the manga both call him “Gotenks,” just like the Japanese; in the English dub of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the obese Gotenks is voiced by Robert McCollum and Eric Vale, who play the teenage Goten and Trunks in that movie.

Close-up of Gotenks winking and sticking out his tongue, hair black on top and lavender on the sides, vest with a yellow collar
A wink and a stuck-out tongue: Gotenks the show-off, with a hairstyle that blends the black of Goten's hair and the lavender of Trunks's.

Gotenks at a glance

Key fact Gotenks
Japanese name ゴテンクス Gotenkusu
Fusion of Goten and Trunks, through the Fusion Dance
First appearance Manga chapter 480; Dragon Ball Z episode 251, December 21, 1994
Forms Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 3; failed obese and scrawny versions
Techniques Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, Galactica Doughnut
Voices Masako Nozawa and Takeshi Kusao (Japanese); Kara Edwards with Laura Bailey, then with Alexis Tipton (English)

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Who is Gotenks?
    He's the fusion of Goten and Trunks as kids, through the Fusion Dance, during the Buu Saga.
  • How long does the Gotenks fusion last?
    Thirty minutes. After a successful fusion, you have to wait an hour before fusing again; as a Super Saiyan 3, the fusion wears off much faster: five minutes, according to the boys.
  • Why do the first fusion attempts fail?
    On the first, Trunks stretches out his fingers instead of making a fist, and out comes a fat kid; on the second, one of Trunks's fingers is still in the wrong place, and out comes a scrawny kid. The third one works.
  • Does Gotenks appear in Dragon Ball GT?
    No. In episode 38, Goten and Trunks want to fuse against Baby, but Goku decides that won't be enough. The adult Gotenks comes from the game Dragon Ball Heroes.
  • Does Gotenks come back in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero?
    Only in his failed form: against Cell Max, the fusion produces the obese Gotenks. The result of the next attempt isn't shown.
  • Who voices Gotenks?
    In Japanese, Masako Nozawa and Takeshi Kusao at the same time. In English, two voices as well: Kara Edwards (Goten's half) with Laura Bailey (Trunks's half) in Funimation's Dragon Ball Z and in Battle of Gods, then with Alexis Tipton in Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters, Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Daima.

🛁 In episode 287, the hot bath blows apart and Goku and Gotenks end up naked in the open air; when you step out of yours, wrap yourself in one of our Dragon Ball bath towels.

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