dragon-ball-meta:

betaruga:

“Yamcha was… um, not always faithful. She got fed up and broke up with him for good. Then she saw my father, sitting all alone, and it just… happened.“  -Future Trunks, Viz Manga Translation 

“Unfaithful.” “Fickle.” I really like this line and its dub variations because it still makes me pause and think about Yamcha and Bulma’s relationship, which is pretty overlooked by fans, despite having lasted 15 years. Like. 15 YEARS. It’s kinda fascinating so I thought I’d bring it up. Unless someone on here reads Japanese and can pick apart Trunks’ word usage, we basically just have the dub versions to go by. English-speaking discussions tend to fall within two camps, “I can’t see Yamcha cheating on Bulma, it’s against his character, Bulma put a spin on things” or “Bulma was an innocent, sassy flower and cuck-Yamcha was cheating SCUM”. Now, for fans who are firmly in either camp, you can call me a fascist buttmuncher if you want, but I’m willing to wager that the truth fell somewhere in the middle…

… I think, over 15 years, there’s a lot of ground to cover, and they started when they were still teens. It’s not like either of them started out as model relationship material. And it’s not like Bulma wasn’t openly trying to seduce General Blue, or Zarbon, or outright declaring her wish to replace Yamcha with a better guy. You know, one that calls her when he’s off training for a year (in DB and DBZ.) 

Let’s blow aside the idea of “faithful” only meaning “not cheating” for a second here before we go further. Whether or not they ever “cheated” on each other when they weren’t having one of their “breaks” during their on-and-off relationship, you could easily see that in many ways, the two of them weren’t “committed” to each other (if your favored word here is “fickle” instead of “unfaithful”) despite staying “stuck” together and in their lives.  When you consider the concept of faithfulness meaning that someone is the “only one” for you, which I think we can all agree is what Bulma really wanted–and also what Yamcha really wanted, we can see that for two people who desperately wished to be with someone, neither of them really filled that role for each other. 

 … I think primarily, what being “fickle” or “unfaithful” really meant to Bulma, was that Yamcha was not always settled on, or committed to her. Or at least, he didn’t treat her like it to the extent she needed. I don’t think he necessarily cheated. But, I think with his baseball career, being famous in that right, and having fangirls, AND finally being confident around girls… you’d think that over the years, Yamcha sowed his oats a little, threw his weight around some… particularly during their separations. Now, him doing that during a break isn’t necessarily wrong, but to Bulma, who felt threatened by that kind of attention and those exploits, it must have signaled: I’m fine not having you, you’re replaceable. I’m not SERIOUS about you. I can walk away anytime. And if I were her, I’d think that if he were really committed to her, he’d have spent those breaks trying to get her back instead of playing the field. 

Or even so, let’s also imagine Yamcha never even slept with anyone else during any of their breaks (which I doubt, but hey, let’s Devils Advocate here) but was a good guy, despite being a little dumb, easy to flatter, fluster and charm and got himself roped into some bad-looking situations that he still didn’t necessarily stop. And Bulma seeing Yamcha’s hapless galavanting with fangirls, his long periods of blowing her off, and any involvement he really had with women during the “off” periods of their relationship would come across as being very suspicious, and would call his overall commitment to her in the long run into question. 

And when you’re teens, and fucking off in your early 20s, that’s one thing. But if you guys are in your 30s, and it’s been 15 years, and that kinda shit is still going on, then my God, what are you doing? What is your life? And Yamcha isn’t spending any of the “breaks” they have in the latter part of their relationship staying single and waiting out for HER, then like. Why the Hell would she stay? I think Bulma finally dumping Yamcha for good was an act of self-respect for her that took many years in the making, from a girl who would search all over the world for a wished-upon boyfriend (because, what, she couldn’t just find one on her own, miss rich-gorgeous-brilliant-buxom babe?) and who settled in an on-and-off relationship with him, to a grown woman who finally had enough and would rather be alone than be stuck in that bullshit for another 15 years. 

“Then she saw my father, sitting all alone, and it just… happened.“ And like, look at this regal rebound-sex troll who boomeranged back and didn’t leave. Look at Vegeta and the relationship security he wound up offering in comparison. NO fangirls (in canon, cough) he keeps to himself, and unless special circumstances arise, is a total gravity room homebody. Who he gonna call if he and Bulma take a break? (Goku) NO one, that’s who, and Bulma likes that 😉

Well its an interesting perspective but… Well.. Bulma was still quite immature at the time tbh, so I have a wee bit of doubt this was about growing up and “not settling” for an on again/off again thing. Honestly, I think they broke up as usual over something stupid, she got horny, Vegeta was there and also horny, and… Suddenly she’s knocked up and he’s gone and now both are seemingly over.

I mean I know people really want VegeBul stuff to be super serious, adult, and romanticized but there’s really nothing to back that for a long time. Vegeta got her pregnant, still didn’t care about her or their child, and she even kicked him out of her home. He only came back in an attempt to emulate his rival, thinking that may have been what made him strong. Even then he stayed detached, refusing to so much as hug his own child. Took him 7 years to get to the point of being willing to even do that. Sure it happened eventually, but it happened years after the fact.

Again I get wanting to rationalize what happened, and its pretty open to interpretation, but the idea Vegeta offered her some sort of “adult” relationship doesn’t hold up, imo. Just my two cents.