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Japan realized long ago that their anime would eventually be marketed overseas to non-Asian audiences. So the tendency is to draw characters with nondescript races. In other words, racial ambiguity is intentional to make the appeal more universal, even if they keep Japanese names in the dubs. Plus Japanese see themselves as having *rounder* eyes than Caucasians perceive Asians as having. Something my late mother had a hard time figuring out.

Since DbZ is a fantasy, why stick with the norms of human appearances at all? Also Hercule/Mr Satan is also unclear as to ethnicity.

Dragonball Characters

Yamcha looked Vietnamese in Dragonball, but then in dragonball z his eyes are more wide and his skin got paler so he looks more white to me. Bulma seems white because she's from West city making her a Westerner and her family dosen't show any sort of asian tradition, unlike Chi Chi. That makes Gohan, and Goten have Asian and Trunks half white. Goku and Vegeta look more white than Asian but they're aliens so they shouldn't count. I also honestly think Videl and Hercule are white. If anything Hercule seems kinda Jewish because of the hair and face shape. I think 17 and 18 are mixed( white and asian possibly) because of their eye shape. So, yeah . Thats what i think.

What I find funny is that while Dragonball Z is a Japanese cartoon, not very many of the characters even look remotely Asian

That's case for the majority of japanamtion characters.

so whats ur question? And yes i agree with you Goku is not asian he is a saiyan. people think goku is white because the voice actors voice is american and when goku goes super saiyan he looks white.

If you watch dbz in japenese music and voice acting everyone will seem japenese. but i grew up watching the american version so everyone to me seems white

Due to its basis on Journey to the west, many of the characters in Dragon Ball are themed on depictions of ancient China. Particularly on many characters and places use Chinese Kanji.

Goku was originally based off Sukong, the monkey king and early on looked rather monkeyish.

Bulma is possibly caucasian themed, as her name(which was supposed to be "Bloomers" is described as a western name at one point.

Also real world nations don't seem to exist in the Dragon Ball, except for occasional jokes.

What are you talking about? Is this the first time you've seen anime or what? Anime characters typically don't look like any race. If all you think about asians is that they have small eyes, then sure they may not look asian to you, but they mostly have straight hair (which is an asian feature), and they dress in whatever is popular in Japan at the time, not to mention they speak japanese.

As for DBZ, first thing you need to understand is that certain character's names were directly translated based on the phonetic pronunciation, and some character names are directly translated to english words. The ones that are translated into English words like Bulma Briefs is difficult to tell. But the ones that are directly translated based on phonetics are easy. For example, Grampa Gohan is obviously an asian name, probably Chinese, since Goku is based off of Son Wukong, a famous chinese fairy tale character. Because Grampa Gohan comes from the same group of characters as Roshi and Chichi's father (aka the Son Wukong story), they're probably all based on Chinese characters as well. Also, Roshi's stance and attire most resembles Chinese martial arts.

Likewise, I think Yamcha is also Chinese, since his name sounds more like a Chinese name with 2 syllables, but are long syllables that are not used in vietnamese names. Not to mention during the saga when Goku met Yamcha, his storyline was still based off of Journey to the East (aka the Son Wukong story), which is Chinese. This also leads me to believe Krillin is Chinese (not to mention he's a buddhist shaolin monk when we first meet him), however Krillin's real name, Kurriren, is clearly Japanese. But if you really want to get down into it, Krillin is not even human since he doesn't have a nose.

The Briefs are a bit more difficult. My guess is that Bulma is half asian half white, with her father being asian and her mother being white. This is because Dr. Brief has black eyes, straight hair, and his facial hair is typical of asians who are more likely to grow mustaches than beards. Also, I think Bulma's father is suppose to be a cliche of old rich japanese men who have trophy wives. Bulma's mom has blond hair blue eyes and is clearly based off of Marilyn Monroe. Bulma therefore is half and half. I think the same would be true of Videl, with Mr. Satan being white and his wife being asian. Videl therefore has asian features, but also blue eyes like her father. Hercule also seems like a cliche of WWE wrestlers, which is an American thing.

As for the Saiyans, I'm 99% sure the Saiyans are supposed to look asian, specifically Japanese, no matter how many movies they make starring white people. Saiyans have extremely straight black hair, black eyes, and are obsessed with martial arts. And not just that, pretty much all Saiyans look like this, much like how white people make the stereotype that asians all look alike - with Turles (and Goten) looking IDENTICAL TO GOKU. This isn't by accident. Toriyama loves using cliches, as I explained earlier. These designs were created to poke fun at the western stereotype that all asians look alike. The only exceptions are that some Saiyans have reddish hair, which is the second most common natural hair color in asians. I, myself, am an asian with natural red hair. The dead giveaway, however, is the hair - the crazy spiky hair. The whole random blocky hair thing is extremely common in anime, like with ash ketchum, tai from digimon. These depictions didn't come from thin air. This is how asian hair gets if you grow it out. It gets crazy. It stands up, it's super straight. You never see this with white people hair. And if you want even more proof, there's the fact that Goku has passed as Grampa Gohan's grandson for his entire life, without a single person saying "wait a minute, those two aren't the same race." Lastly, Goku's origin story is based on Superman, obviously. Just like how Clark Kent is miraculously white, Goku is miraculously the same race (at least on the outside) as the people in his life at the beginning - Grampa Gohan, Roshi, Yamcha, and Krillin.

All of them are Asian.

Thanks to each and every one of you for the answers!