Win-loss stats show that not just Saitama, but even new gen heroes are ahead of Goku

Without a doubt, the Dragon Ball franchise’s mascot protagonist Son Goku is one of the most respected, beloved, and influential anime protagonists in the history of the medium. It’s very arguable that the anime industry would not be as globally significant as it is without the character’s adventures, especially in the Dragon Ball Z anime series.

Likewise, as the years have gone by, many anime fans have tried to discover who will be the next Son Goku and what the next Dragon Ball anime series will be in terms of influentiality. To a lesser but still very prevalent degree, fans are extremely curious to see if there will ever be an anime protagonist as renowned for their strength and victories as the Dragon Ball protagonist is.

However, it seems that time has tainted fans’ memories of Son Goku’s legacy, according to a recent tweet breaking down the win-loss records of Goku and other famous protagonists. Although win-loss records aren’t everything, the tweet’s information does suggest that Saitama and other beloved anime protagonists are eclipsing him in this key area.

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Dragon Ball’s Son Goku may not have the stellar victory reputation he once did as the years go by

The win-loss stats, explained

X (formerly Twitter) user and anime fan @justmeight (Meight) first posted the collage featuring the win-loss stats of Son Goku and other anime protagonists on Wednesday, January 24, 2024. Son Goku’s win-loss stats are in the first slot when reading from top-to-bottom, left-to-right, putting him at 79 wins and 28 losses for a roughly 73% win rate.

The rest of the row features Hunter x Hunter protagonist Gon Freecs, My Hero Academia protagonist Izuku Midoriya, and Bleach protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki. Their numbers are 10 wins and 4 losses for a 71% win rate, 16 wins and 4 losses for an 80% winrate, and 16 wins and 7 losses for a 69% win rate, respectively.

The next row features Naruto’s Naruto Uzumaki, Black Clover’s Asta, One Punch Man’s Saitama, and Jujutsu Kaisen’s Yuji Itadori. Their numbers are 23 wins and 9 losses for a 71% win rate, 30 wins and 3 losses for an impressive 90% win rate, 44 wins and 0 losses for a remarkable 100% win rate, and 5 wins and 3 losses for a 62% win rate, respectively.

The third and final row features Boruto’s Boruto Uzumaki, One Piece’s Monkey D. Luffy, Fairy Tail’s Natsu Dragneel, and Demon Slayer’s Tanjiro Kamado. Their numbers are 6 wins and 4 losses for a 60% win rate, 19 wins and 21 losses for a 61% win rate, 50 wins and 4 losses for a respectable 92% win rate, and 15 wins and 2 losses for an 88% win rate.

While Son Goku is far from the lowest win rate in those protagonists sampled, he’s also a ways away from Saitama’s top prize win rate of 100% thanks to zero losses ever. Although these numbers don’t necessarily mean Saitama is the stronger of the two, it does suggest that the Dragon Ball protagonist is falling behind his peers.

That being said, it’s also worth mentioning that Goku’s journey envelops a much longer period of his life than it does for most other protagonists here. As a result, the sheer number of battles he’s involved in which are counted here (totaling 107) are much higher than anyone else, with the next highest being Natsu’s 54 battles. With this in mind, these numbers are seemingly skewed slightly against the Dragon Ball protagonist, which is an important distinction to make.

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