Master Roshi's first appearance is in chapter #3 of the Dragon Ball manga. Roshi lives with his longtime companion, an anthropomorphic turtle referred to as Umigame, on an island with a house built on it known as "Kame House". Kame House eventually serves as a gathering place for Goku and his associates throughout the series, as well as a home for certain recurring characters like Oolong or Krillin and his young family. When wishing to fight anonymously at the WorldMartial Arts Tournament, Roshi assumed the disguise of Jackie Chun, a reference to the real-life actor Jackie Chan. When tasked with putting out a fire on Mount Frypan, Master Roshi demonstrated an ability to greatly increase his energy. In this state, his appearance changes dramatically, with an enormous increase in muscle mass and likewise height which was nearly equal to Piccolo. Due to his natural precision in battle, this bulky state does not appear to affect his speed and agility. In this state, he can perform many ki attacks at their maximum potential, most noticeably an enhanced version of his Kamehameha attack, which was so powerful that it was able to destroy the moon. At the beginning of the Dragon Ball series, he is considered to be the strongest mortal fighter in the Dragon Balluniverse, however his power level began to pale in comparison to Goku and his allies later in the series. While his legacy is demonstrated in the prolific use of the Kamehameha technique by numerous characters in the series, his prominence have diminished greatly by the time Goku reaches adulthood. He would only make occasional appearances as a supporting character and no longer operate as an active fighter. Graduates of Roshi's training often wear the kanji for "Turtle" on their dogi.
In Toriyama's films and ''Dragon Ball Super''
Master Roshi would return to prominence as a major character with the revival of the Dragon Ball Series in the 2010s. In the film and in Dragon Ball Super, Master Roshi would join Goku and his friends in their fight against a resurrected Frieza leading his army to Earth and exact vengeance against Goku. It is also implied on one episode that the Paradise Grass is the source of Master Roshi's long lifespan, as he claims that eating some of it would allow him to live on for another millennia. In the Universe Survival arc of Dragon Ball Super, revealed to have been secretly training and holding back his true strength, Roshi is recruited as one of the representatives of the Seventh Universe by Goku. But as his perverted behavior got him caught in a mind control spell by a Crane School student named Yurin, Roshi enlists Puar to build up a resistance to beautiful women. While Master Roshi managed to eliminate four competitors from other universes during the tournament, he was forced to eliminate himself when an altercation with the Sixth Universe warrior Frost nearly killed him from excessive using the Mafuba technique.
In other media
Master Roshi is portrayed by Chow Yun-fat in the American live-action film Dragonball Evolution; his voice was dubbed over by Tsutomu Isobe in the Japanese version. Roshi is a playable character in the following video games:
Japanese fans voted Master Roshi the thirteenth most popular character of the series in a 2004 poll. Master Roshi is ranked number 9 on IGN's Top 13 Dragon Ball Z Characters List, and came in 12th place on Complex.com's list "A Ranking of All the Characters on 'Dragon Ball Z"; Pearce citing that though Master Roshi's role in the series deteriorated with the arrival of the Saiyan characters, he still pops up to offer advice, support, and comic relief. In 2016, Master Roshi was ranked No. 9 on the saikoplus.com list 10 Most Popular Characters in Dragon Ball Z. Tim Jones from Them Anime Reviews noted that while fan service is prevalent in the original Dragon Ball series and Master Roshi is depicted as a pervert who frequently flirts with or harasses attractive female characters, he believed that it is not very extremely offensive as the hermit quite often gets beaten up or punished in retaliation for comedic effect. However, a Dragon Ball Super episode received a major complaint by the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization as the part of the story involved Roshi making multiple sexual attacks on the female character Yurin.
Voice actors
Master Roshi's design was inspired by the character of Kami-sama from Toriyama's previous manga Dr. Slump and accordingly was originally voiced by Kōhei Miyauchi, who also voiced Kami-sama in the original Dr. Slump anime. For unknown reasons Miyauchi was unavailable for the recording of Dragon Ball Episode #137 is the role was played by series narrator Jōji Yanami Miyauchi's final acting session before he died was for episode 260 of Dragon Ball Z, which he recorded only 3 months before his death. Kame-Sennin is voiced by Hiroshi Masuoka from episode 288 of Dragon Ball Z onward, in Dragon Ball GT and the '. He is voiced by Kinya Aikawa in the, by Takko Ishimori in gameplay of ', and by Masaharu Satō in the thirteenth Dragon Ball Z movie and all media following Dragon Ball Kai. In the Ocean dub, he is voiced by Michael Donovan, Ian James Corlett, Peter Kelamis, Don Brown, and Terry Klassen at various points. Dean Galloway voices him in the Blue Water dub, while Mike McFarland voices him in the Funimation dub. Other English dub voice actors include Ed Marcus, Amir Khafila, Nesty Ramirez, Dave Bridges, and Kirk Thornton.
