Gohan for the character ask!
Give me a character and I will answer:
Why I like them: I think the main appeal of Gohan is that he’s constantly being pulled in two directions. You can interpret those two opposing forces however you please: Saiyan vs. Earthling, Chi-Chi vs. Goku, fighter vs. scholar, etc. But I think it’s a pretty relatable dilemma.
What’s also relatable is that Gohan tries to blaze his own trail, even as he works hard to satisfy everyone’s expectations of him. The moral of his story is that it’s not always easy to find your own path. It sounds liberating, but it also means you’re on your own.
Why I don’t: Very early on, I was frustrated with Gohan being such a major player in DBZ when it didn’t seem like he was qualified for the role. It took me a while to recognize how important his “hidden” power was to the story. That, and the fact that the good guys usually only ever involved him in a battle because they had no other options. I think it’s interesting that Gohan maintains such a low profile during the Androids/Cell arc, so when he finally gets tapped to fight Cell at the end, it’s treated like a huge plot twist. It’s ironic, because Gohan was so instrumental in defeating Vegeta, and if he had beaten Frieza on Namek, I don’t think anyone would have been shocked. As it is, he was built up to be the guy who would beat Majin Buu, and everyone’s still mad that he lost.
For a time, I was frustrated that Gohan was technically the strongest character at the end of the Buu Saga, even though Goku was the main guy. It just felt wrong somehow, and I’ve seen enough “Mystic Gohan vs. SSJ3 Goku” threads on the internet to know that a lot of people used denial to cope with it.
None of this really made me dislike the character, though. I think most of the hand-wringing about Gohan is just a side-effect of that tug-of-war he’s been in his whole life. Some fans want to see him kick ass, some want to see him settle down and be a student/family man/scholar. Super tried to play it both ways by having Gohan be out of shape and then suddenly get good after a crash course with Piccolo. It seemed like half the fans were happy to see that and half were upset. Personally, I liked that approach better than how they handled him in GT, where he dressed like a nerd in church but could still throw down with Vegeta. He used SSJ1 the whole time, so what happened to the Elder Kai power up? GT just shrugged and hoped no one would care.
For my part, I think it makes sense for Gohan to try to balance fighting and academia and family life. Team Four Star made a lot of hay out of the idea that Gohan hates fighting, full stop, but I don’t totally buy that. Gohan may not enjoy fighting for his life, or killing people, but I think he’s cool sparring with his family, for example. But he can’t just throw himself into it like the others, so he’s got to train hard to keep up, and then he has to work hard at his ill-defined job, and then he has to be a good parent. That’s the character. Goku can be carefree, but Gohan has a lot of responsibilities.
I do sort of wish they would focus on that balancing act, since that’s what Gohan’s all about. Super only did it long enough to spackle over a plot hole. “Frieza beat him in one hit, so how’s he going to do any good in the Tournament of Power? Oh, Piccolo worked him over for a while, so he’s back in shape now.” It’s not enough, and I think this is why some fans argue over the dilemma instead of appreciating the dilemma. It’s a feature, not a bug.
Favorite episode (scene if movie):
Gohan just dismantling Cell is the standard by which I judge all wrestling grudges. The reason WWE sucks is that they’ll have the bad guy Perfect Cell all over the place for months, and then they fuck up the part where the good guy is supposed to turn SSJ2 and dole out sweet, sweet consequences. If all you know how to do is the first half of the formula, then... well, I’m cancelling my WWE Network subscription, I guess. I forgot where this analogy was heading.
Point is, Gohan’s an awesome moment factory. Take a look.
Favorite season/movie: Cell Games, let’s be honest.
Favorite line: When he calls Super Buu a r-- hahaha, no. I’m actually thinking of the part in the Funimation dub when Cell starts to panic. In Japan, the narrator explains Cell’s fear, and in Latin America it was meme fuel, but in the U.S., Gohan reminds Cell that he warned him about this.
“What are you so afraid of Cell? Isn't this what you wanted? I warned you! I told you what would happen if you pushed me too far! But you didn't listen! You forced me to awaken my hidden power! And now that you've seen it, you're afraid...because you know that I'm going to destroy you!”
It’s a brilliant bit of work, because you can’t see Gohan’s face in the shot, so he can be the one to point out what the narrator says in all the other versions. They all compliment each other so well. I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am for Brickshitting Cell.
It’s a tough call, but Casual Friday Great Saiyaman is a killer look, and one of the few Gohan outfits that isn’t based on some other thing. Let’s be real because I am keeping it real: Videl only wanted to unmask Great Saiyaman because she saw his outfit and could not stop thinking about how hot he’d look if he ditched the helmet and cape and wore sunglasses instead.
OTP: Videl. Well, Gohan and Videl. Godel? Vihan? None of these sound right. He should stick with the lady he made a baby with, is what I’m saying.
Brotp: Krillin literally calls him bro throughout the Namek arc, so I think this one wins by default. On the other hand, Goten is literally Gohan’s brother, so I guess that can’t be ignored.
Personally, I think of Piccolo more as a brother figure to Gohan than a father figure, since he’s only a few years older than him, so maybe that’s my answer, but whatever.
Head Canon: I think Gohan is disillusioned with outer space after having traveled to another planet and finding only death and horror. It’s kind of tragic that this is a kid who should be totally into space and spaceships and he should be telling space facts to everyone who will listen, but that probably stopped being fun after Namek.
Unpopular opinion: He was never going to be the main character of DBZ. I think even Toei was hoping for some sort of torch-passing thing, but it never materialized, and Gohan only took the reins because Goku was too dead or Vegeta was too evil to do it instead. And Gohan never really wanted to be the main character anyway. I look at him and see a guy who’s totally happy to be the overlooked son of this pop culture phenomenon. He sees his dad’s parade float and he’s just super-thrilled to see his dad in baloon form. There’s no sense of “If only I was better at this, and then I could have my own parade baloon!” That’s Vegeta.
A wish: Pay Bruce Faulconer whatever he wants and use “Gohan Fights Frieza” in the next anime where Gohan kicks somebody’s ass. Also, make a new anime where Gohan kicks somebody’s ass.
An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: You know, one of these years, some official DBZ story is going to be made where they decide to “get serious” and have Gohan say a bunch of “cathartic” stuff to Goku, calling him a terrible father or some other horseshit. Like how DC brought back Jason Todd just to have him bitch at what a crappy parent Batman is. Again, I hope I’m safely cremated before that happens, but so many pompous dopes are gonna gush about a hacky moment like that, and go on their YouTube vlogs to say “it’s about time!”
5 words to best describe them: Gohan Fights Frieza Dot mp3.
My nickname for them: I... don’t really have one? Do people nickname fictional characters? I didn’t know that was a thing.
