Summary
Toriyama's editor pushed for a Bulma/Goku romance from the beginning, but Toriyama ultimately rejected the idea. Fans likely wouldn't respond well to a romance between Goku and Bulma due to their personalities. A Goku/Bulma pairing would drastically change the Dragon Ball series, affecting characters like Trunks and Vegeta.
Bulma and Goku are two of the oldest and most important figures in Dragon Ballhas been around since the very first chapters of the manga. As friends, they've been through a lot together, but was a romance ever in the cards? At least one person involved in the production of Dragon Ball thinks so, and that could have changed everything.
When Bulma and Goku first met, there was a pretty big age gap between them – Bulma was already a teenager, while Goku was still a child. That was enough for most people to dismiss the idea of a romance between the two, especially given how sheltered and naive Goku was when Bulma first found him. Most people would say that Bulma and Goku had a sibling-like relationship, sometimes torturing each other while mostly being supportive and working towards the same goals.
However, Toriyama's first editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, seemed to have a completely different feeling about the matter.
Toriyama's Editor Wants a Romance Between Goku and Bulma
Torishima always supports romance
While Akira Toriyama himself certainly wasn't a fan of the pairing, his editor Torishima apparently was. On a bonus page after chapter 200 of Toriyama's other manga, Dr. Slump, which features a wedding scene, Toriyama says, “My editor, Mr. T, likes love and romance, that's a problem.” He then lists several pairings from Dr. Slump, attributing their existence to Torishima, before concluding, “This is a secret, but in the other manga I'm writing, Dragon Ball, Mr. T wants Son Goku and Bulma to fall in love. Oh, that's great.”
If Torishima had been a more pushy editor, he could have definitely forced Toriyama into a Goku/Bulma romance if he really wanted to, especially in the early chapters of Dragon Ball before the series became popular. While the pairing still has fans to this day, it's safe to say that most Dragon Ball fans aren't here for the romance, and would likely react quite negatively to the idea of Goku and Bulma together. Goku is a character who, especially as a child, really doesn't lend itself to a romantic storyline – hence why his courtship of Chi Chi is almost entirely her fault, and their early married life takes place off-screen.
Since Toriyama went so far as to make his feelings on the matter public, it's clear that he was against the pair, and would have ultimately won that battle since it never happened. If Goku and Bulma had gotten together, it would have had a huge impact on the rest of the series; Trunks may never have existed as a character, for example, and Vegeta's relationship with Bulma was a big part of softening his character over time. Depending on exactly when Toriyama had this conflict with Goku and Bulma, it could have even led directly to the creation of Yamcha as a love interest for Bulma.
Having a relationship has never been a big part of Goku's character, and that doesn't seem like something that would change, even if he ended up with Bulma. Goku and Bulma getting together would certainly be an odd choice, looking back now, and it would definitely change Dragon Ball forever.
