Yamcha

is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama. He is first introduced as a desert bandit and an antagonist of Son Goku in chapter #7 "Yamcha and Pu'ar", published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on September 11, 1984, alongside his constant companion Pu'ar. He is eventually depicted as being reformed, becoming an ally of Goku. Yamcha has received mixed reviews since his inception, being criticized for his weak abilities compared to other characters, but he has also been praised as being a fun character. Creation 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 on a form of Cantonese brunch called yum cha. A prototype for Yamcha was Gojō, the river monster, from Toriyama's one-shot series Dragon Boy. Voice actors 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.