Gohan's Many Masks 

"The closest thing he got to a friend is his father's best friend." "He dies." Pure. Gold.

Fun fact: the band Linkin Park was formed with only a single purpose, to make soundtracks for Gohan's AMV's.

Fun fact, I watched the Gohan SSJ2 transformation before watching anything else on Dragon Ball, and I automatically assumed that Android 16 and Gohan had been made friends of some sort; maybe even that Android 16 was considered a “good Android” because of a friendship with Gohan. I was then shocked to realize that this wasn’t the case in the slightest, and that the two had literally never even met

So what you're saying is that he could have been like his biological grandfather-- an average fighter but a brilliant scientist.

Awesome AWESOME video

Why are people in doubt of Gohan being smart? He marries the cute tomboy girl, that's a genius move right there.

Child soldier with hideous PTSD becomes well adjusted family man. Videl rocks.

Holy crap, the Android 16 not being able to be wished back and that fact of him being lost forever triggering gohan is really a breathtaking idea

"I am a 200 year old Lich, here to talk to you about anime." I mean, I always kinda assumed that anyway, Plague.

I'm glad you brought up Goku and Gohan's relationships with combat. It made me realise that Goku really must directly associate casual fighting with love. His grandfather, the only person he knew for over a decade, taught him martial arts the entire time. His upbringing by the only person he loved until he made friends in Dragon Ball was integrally linked to martial arts and said martial arts are the reason Goku met his friends, his wife and eventually his children. Beyond just the saiyan compulsion to fight, Goku believes martial arts are the direct cause of his happiness and all the love in his life. Of course he thinks Gohan would enjoy fighting, it's synonymous with love to him and he loves his son with all his big dumb monkey heart.

I like how the book Videl gives Gohan is “Muzukashii Hon” which just means “Difficult Book” 😂😂😂. Couldn’t even give him an interesting topic to study, it’s just “difficult”

Your Gohan has a lot of reasons to hate martial arts and have a grudge against his father, but I like how he doesn't quit. Instead of quitting, he tries to understand martial arts in relation to philosophy, science, and life. This study could also be one way for Gohan to understand Goku and reconcile their relationship.

The rewritten version of Goku's death and it NOT being a SSJ trigger for Gohan absolutely gutted me, holy shit. I love that idea so much that it makes me sad it's not real. Weekly deadline publishing is the equivalent of giving a chef five minutes to prepare one part of a dish, eating whatever state it's in and demanding the next course.

The idea of Cell sending out his Jrs to absorb all living life to gain more power is a great idea and kind of terrifying.

"Everyone in the series should have PTSD and be a walking mess of complexes if we were taking all of this seriously." Goddamn it, now i want Dragon Ball: Evangelion Edition.

Hispanic dudes with Goku/Gohan/Cell profile pictures have made more death threats than the FBI and KGB combined.

"Seeking peace isn't enough, Mr. Popo. I need the strength to end conflicts so that good people aren't hurt!" -Gohan. "Welcome to the Room of Infinite Bullshit!" -Mr. Popo

Whats funny is that one of the most prototypical "self insert" characters, Spider-Man, actually does a good job about subverting whats wrong with a lot of these characters. Peter's a nerdy boy that nobody understands, but he's also kind of an asshole in the original series, even after Uncle Ben's death. He can be selfish, manipulative, and cocky about his powers, he has a superiority complex and wants to beat the shit out of his bullies but is only held back by his guilt, and when he does finally go all out it's not considered a good thing. Like there's one story where Peter gets into a boxing match with Flash Thompson and its starts out like "Yeah, Peter's gonna get back at his bully" but as time goes on it comes across kinda weird, and Peter nearly kills Flash by smashing him through the ropes, and Peter freaks out realizing he's going to far and holds back as much as he wants, and even when he wins people assume it's a sucker punch and they insult Peter for cheating... which he was. Even the idea of being a Superhero that can save people is shown not to be a great escapist fantasy, but a extremely dangerous profession that constantly interferes with Peter's life and ruins most of his relationships and makes him even more of a loner. It doesn't even really help with his bullying, as he's still considered a little loser in his High School, and only gets better by the time he's in College where he personally goes through character development t break out of his shell and become friends with people. And his bully Flash Thompson isn't a completely one dimensional stereotype either, he's got flaws and he's an asshole, but he's also regretful at times to what he does to Peter, and admits that it's mostly peer pressure and Peter blowing off Flash when he tries to be nice. He's got redeeming qualities like respecting Spider-Man, trying his best to help people, and even sticking his neck out and fighting criminals to save Spider-Man's image only to nearly get himself killed over it. One time Peter attacked him after he teased him, and Peter actually owned up to the mistake and said that he started the fight when they got into trouble, only for Flash to come and take the fall because he didn't want Peter to get into trouble for his mistake. This even culminates in them becoming good friends in College and Adult life. It's kinda strange that the benchmark for all "Nerdy Superpower'd Teenaged Self Inserts" is one of the more realistic takes on the trope.

I love how TFS actually made 16's monologue meaningful. A harsh scolding of a sanctimonious child who stands idle while his friends are being tortured due to his disposition, and only once it resonates, could his death be meaningful because Cell drove the point home; after 16 put on the pressure, Cell broke the firmament with a final shock and gave him the realization; the helplessness Gohan felt was self-inflicted, and once he stopped inflicting it, nothing other than cold contempt mixed with fury remained. Then, all the rage he SHOULD have been feeling at this moment, as someone far more rightous and fair minded than his father, as someone far more caring than his father, and far less flippant than his father, unleased itself explosively and without warning. It wasn't 16's death that send him over the edge. It was merely 16 who made him realize it he should've gone over it months ago.

I honestly think the DB Super episode where Gohan and his family have dinner with Future Trunks was one of the best downtime episodes in the series. It was a weird fleeting instance of the series actually having a really good, solid grasp on Gohan's character for a bit, and even in the mess of an arc that was the Goku Black saga, it was really refreshing to see.

One thing I always found weird with Gohan was his portrayal as a smarter character. Despite this, all of his fights play out as if it was Goku fighting. Gohan had the potential to introduce tactics to the fight, overpower enemies not through bullshit transformations or fusions or whatever but through cunning and strategy. Learn his opponent, use their weakness. That sort of shit. He very easily could have been used to disprove the issue that "Big Numbers matter the most" that Dragon Ball fell into. Never happens.

A true fan isn't afraid to criticize and offer alternatives or better paths. Thanks for making this video.

Recently, Toei reveal that Gohan's field of study is entomology. Why? Because of Cell? Because Cell was...a bug? I can't think of any other reason. Gohan never had any real fascination with bugs. If anything, him being a zoologist would make more sense considering his childhood.

What you said about how Gohan’s entire character being a blank palette for fans to project themselves on is absolutely spot on. This is also the reason why fans are always clamoring for Gohan to do more in the franchise, because he’s never actually been written intimately ever since he was created. Subconsciously we all know that Gohan doesn’t have much to him, but the moments where he’s teased as something greater impacts everyone because they like to see themselves in those bursts of greatness. It’s just denying his banality.

The most solid evidence I can point to Toriyama never having the slightest idea what to do with Gohan in any given situation is the fact that there are two different parts of the story, in two different arcs, where Gohan proves himself to be utterly useless in the current battle, goes to visit a mystical old man who magically draws out "the maximum potential" of his strength, returns to the battle, and then still fails to make any impact on the outcome of the fight. This exact sequence of events happens *twice*.

I'll admit, your Cell Saga Gohan rewrite got me a little choked up. Well done.

Gohan's book "Muzukashii hon", literally translates to "a hard/complicated book". ...So, basically, Toriyama has no idea what a scholar even is. He's just as dumb as his characters. For me, the resounding success of this man really is just another proof of how stupid this world really is.

Gohan's anger should have been so bad he'd turn villain at the end of Cell saga.

The thought of Perfect Cell replicating himself via the Jrs is so creepy and logical it's perfect. And it distinguishes his power traits & goals from the rest of the rogues gallery; of course a biological weapon would seek to replicate itself at its apex holy shit.

45:10 Cell absorbing one of the Juniors could also hit a nerve with Gohan because here he could see the absolute extreme of a “father” using up the life of a “child” just for the use as a tool to get what the “father” wanted

“Comfort Branding” is a good term for what you described. Ive seen it my whole life but didn’t know a term for it beyond “fanboying” or “jerking off” to it. You see it in many products like Call of Duty being the biggest one. The anime fanboy wars from back then stemmed from “comfort branding”. But as you said, it can extend to any commercial product, both tangible and intangible like media. Even now still happens and will always happen as it is human nature. But comfort branding will always be an advantage for corporations or those that control the product or media.

Gohan is always said to be smart, but never shown to be smart. Having his fighting and studying combined instead of kept separate would be amazing to fix that. To have him be the combat professor. For him to get ChiChi's approval. ChiChi is afterall following the sterotype, as said, but she loves fighting and martial arts too. I think she's just not smart enough to see the chance for the two to overlap, much like Toriyama. Gohan being what his parents both wanted of him at the same time, whilst also being himself, sounds like the best outcome. That and I like the idea of Videl being the thing to push him into going professional after he teaches her how to fly. That scene should have been the first step in Gohan realising what he was going to be. Everything after that really falls into place as you described it. Learns his own unique form that uses the power of SSJ2 without the drain. Fascinated with Buu to the point that he manages to get himself absorbed, thus forcing the Vegito fusion. The story could have stayed the same, without any moments of disappointment. And characters that get random powerups for no reason later on could instead explain that they learned Gohan's special form. Krillen, Roshi, and others who are way stronger than they ever should be, would have an explanation. They graduated from Gohan's school of Ki! Except for Tien who made his own school and that's why he sucked. It really all falls into place. Combat professor Gohan is what I really expected and hoped for. And with your changes, I now see how close we came to it. Dragonball z needs a redo... Also with Raditz still alive.

Before the video: I never liked Gohan. During the video: poor kid wasn't allowed to be his own person. I feel bad for him.

Let's praise Plague for sexualizing Pokemon some more.

Plague: I like Gohan when he’s being a father Dragon ball heros: let’s fix that

Video is phenomenal, puts Gohan in a new perspective. How many of us wear masks, be who we "need" to be, never have been able to be ourselves, driven by an external person or force to partake in something we dont want to be a part of? Love it! The rewrite is phenomenal.Gohan (and we lol) deserve better.

Ironically, despite you disliking the idea of bullshit power-ups, your Gohan would've been ideal candidate to awaken Ultra Instinct. Imagine that Gohan decided to go against the idea of SSJ, he developed his own method of training and he found out that raw power isn't the answer, being calm, collected and focused was the key all along. Then as the story progress past tournament of power, Gohan could've thaught his technique to humans, as this "transformation" doesn't require saiyan blood, but presence of mind.

This hurts a little, I dont know if you guys know but the voice actor for grown gohan got murdered here in México....may he rest in peace.

Breaking down the fallacies of humanity through fiction is probably my favorite hobby. I’ll never forget that term, comfort branding

“Inside every cynical person is a disappointed idealist”- George Carlin Whether by the approving of positive or by the negating of negative, I hope you’ll share with us your well organized thoughts regarding story structure in the future as you have done in this. Thanks 👍

When you think about it, yeah, Gohan was really kept from becoming his own person from the beginning. He’s the child of an overbearing mother who was raised in the woods, and an alien with brain damage who was conditioned to associate violence with affection.

The statement about Gohan "figuring out mysteries" got my gnoggin joggin, and it made me come up with a tentative reason why saiyan hybrids would be so strong. None of this is based in canon, its entirely throwing idea's out into the void. My idea would be that, essentially, Saiyans are big walking ki generator's, and humans are big walking ki batteries. Saiyans lived on a hellworld, with high gravity, and lived their entire lives to fight. So they adapted as such. High metabolism and eating mountains of food at a time means they burn through a lot of energy in a short amount of time, its why saiyans seem so hyperactive and raring to go at all times. If they're not fighting they're training, because they're constantly outputting energy and it needs to go somewhere. Like a toddler on an eternal sugar high, you need to wear them out or they will never sleep. Humans, meanwhile, also kind of live on a horror world. But in their case the solution wasn't to fight constantly, but rather to survive a long while. They eat where they can because food isn't guranteed, and have more stamina then any other creature on the planet so that they can either outrun the bigger bastards or bring them down in the famous "slowly follow them for days at a time till they just die" trick. This is why on the surface level, saiyans are so powerful. They're constantly outputting energy of all kinds, especially ki, and training their bodies just lets them release more of it at a time. A saiyan has no layers to their power, its all out or its not out. A super saiyan transformation is literally jsut them morphing their bodies to be able to handle a greater energy output. If they were generators with an output dial from 1-10, training would be pushing that dial slowly from 11 to 20, then past that, and super saiyan would be upgrading the generator all together and starting again from the 1-10 dial. Humans meanwhile seem to have greater emphasis on hidden power, or stored power. They don't output nearly as much energy as saiyans, because thats a waste of energy that could be used on more important things, so their bodies just absorb any excess they don't use, gaining fat, or muscle, stuff like that. In ki terms, that would be locking away whatever they don't use to not die in their little ki vaults that the Elder Guru or the Elder Kai has the keys for. So in this little headcanon i've developed, Goku would always be able to fight on a better level then Krillin, he can just output more energy, but Krillin despite that would be able to fight for longer amounts of time, constantly chipping away or annoying Frieza while all the heavy hitters actually fight him and then lose to his next transformation, but its also why a saiyan can bounce back from injuries or exhaustion better. In which case, half breeds like Gohan would be a perfect mixture. As a saiyan he'd be constantly outputting metric shittons of energy, and as a human he'd be storing and locking away that very same power inside himself for emergencies. E.G. whenever he snaps and enters a rage boost, that's like, a years worth of energy being launched out in a moments notice. The Elder can somewhat unlock that hidden power, but its like a river. Even if you let the energy being stored flow out again its still being filled again and again over and over. He gets the training benefit of both races, expanding that store of energy he can tap into and also expanding the amount of energy he can use and generate, he'd have way more growth then either race would have just by themselves. It's 5am, these've been my incoherent ramblings about a childrens cartoon i care too much about.

Man, this revised story was incredible.

The rewrite you made for Gohan is excellent and would fix his character, but that's too mature, too good for Dragonball, really. Even at its very best, the writing of Dragonball never approached something so deep and fundamental as what you described and would even feel out of place, if the rest of the series was still as it is. The rewrite would, sadly, only work if the rest of the show had been written in the same way and tone, with the same level of maturity and insight.

Make fun of Naruto: LOTS OF DEATH THREATS. Sexualize Pokemon: UNIVERSAL PRAISE!!! You've got some experience in these fields don't you, Plague?

I hate seeing Gohan with glasses. Toei is just saying "See? He's smart" without doing anything with it.

And now Gohan Blanco is real...

The more i hear about this video, the more i see that Gohan would have been a wreck of a person if he grows up to adulthood. I know its just the writers but i am impressed that Gohan managed to stay sane from all of that

37:20 The official Plague Gohan Rewrite

The rewrite having Gohan faced with being a weapon, and a 'soulless puppet', I felt that. In fact, that's a perfect trigger for snapping. If he's a weapon, fine. Cell just made himself the target. It's sort of like how no one seemed to think, in series, that making a disturbed child the strongest could have turned out really bad if he say, actually killed Cell and then, in the Super Saiyan 2 rage high, decided he was in charge now, no more of the universe's bullshit. Like he immediately goes after Vegeta for what happened in the past. Saiyans are not very nice, after all. In that kind of murderous state he could have become exactly what they wanted, with the drawbacks included.

When you realize we technically never knew what gohan really wanted to be since chi-chi did force him to be a scholar

I know they say boys marry their mothers but jeez, that shot of videl in super telling him to be a scholar was striking. I love dragon ball and thats why ur right , it deserves so much better writing

I want to imagine a future where Gohan is a "Ki Scientist" with his hot wife Videl as his #1 Study Buddy (See also: Wife), and they just do crazy bullshit with Ki. Like that thing with Roshi? I wanna see Videl pull that off, and then them messing with it based on trunk's "Muscle mode" he tried to use against Cell. Imagine Roshi seeing Goku's son improve on his move, and have mastered it enough to be able to explain simply. Gohan. Also known as "Dr Fist"

"he has a job reading books or something...he does big learns because he wears glasses and he does a study...BIG money hab because BIG money"

It's telling that the most organic Gohan in the series, the one where he was without question center focus of the story, and allowed to do things without being pressured by others, was the Great Saiyaman stuff in the Early Buu Arc. A section of the story fans seemed to reject altogether

I think one thing worth considering.. In the original broadcast, Gohan got a LOT of filler focused around him. Including an entire filler only arc between Freeza and Androids where he is the power player. His filler is all.. remarkably well constructed in a way that would make you scoff at the idea it was filler at all. I certainly never realized it till years later when I got ahold of some of the manga. He gets a lot of genuine characterization and flavor through them. The original broadcast also embellishes some of the canon moments a bit in a way the manga simply.. glossed over. When cut faithful to the manga, DBZ Gohan really is just a plot device. Which is what you get in Kai. Which is probably the definitive version of DBZ now. But it does mean an entire generation of DBZ watchers were baited in to thinking there was some kind of actual baton pass being built up to. Gohan has THE MOST CHARACTER PROGRESSION AND SCREEN TIME of any character by several orders. It's one of the biggest bait and switch scams in anime history. No wonder people were confused when the series went back on it at the final hour. Not kidding. Unironnically. Some of the initial Z only filler was very touching. Piccolo And Gohan get more touching moments Kai/Manga don't get. There's also an entire miniarc before the saiyans arrive with Gohan meeting and saving some kids and deciding to go back to training. But none of it was ever real.

I am not emotionally invested in a stitched together rewrite of the cell saga. I'm not. I'm not. I'm really not at all. Holy shit

"I can sit down and rewrite everything" I mean. I WOULD PAY MONEY for your version of DragonBall Z.

They've finally revealed what kinda scholar Gohan actually is; he studies insects.

Man this makes me appreciate what dragonball abridged did with gohan

"Gohan. We're not tools of our fathers or anyone else. Fighting was the only thing... the only thing I was good at. But... at least I always fought for what I believed in."

honestly, i feel like ALOT of the android saga asspull problems happened only because the shonen jump weekly publish system....so toriyama is forced to give each chapter a cliffhanger to keep the viewers engaged....of course when you look back at the whole thing, you'll notice how incredibley artificial it all is

The whole rewrite resonates with me so much. Im absolutely gutted and shook. That was a well thought out and thorough breakdown

To quote TeamFourStar (again) Piccolo to Gohan, demolishing his hopes for the future in a brief but very meta phrase: "You peaked"

Incidentally, they added a scene in DBZ: Kakarot where Gohan is recruited by Bulma to help fix Android 16 via fetch quest, and then 16 has Gohan follow him into the woods for diagnostic purposes, which gives them a chance to talk and fight poachers, and 16 gets to talk about how he was a defective war machine because he wasn't as bold as Gero's son. It's not the best attempt, but it at least is an attempt to add any amount of parallels between 16 and Gohan, and give that sequence with Cell any amount of emotional weight and build-up. They also remove the part where Goku gives Cell a Senzu bean, which is a plus. Hopefully going forward, DBZ games can start taking more liberties with the story to flesh it out, or hell, just rewrite parts of it. Lord knows "What If" scenarios are popular with the Dragon Ball fanbase, so you'd think there'd be a market for them instead of just making you play through the manga over and over again.

So, did gohan ever learn that scholar isn't a profession? You have to be a Professor or a Scientist so that you can have something to study, research, or teach.

Gohan having his own philosophy and somehow channeling that into his love of fighting? My man, I think you just described the version of Gohan we deserved to have. Fantastic analysis and video overall!

Gohan is my favorite character from Dragonball. Probably because of the things you mention, I was around the target age for his marketing, and his presence helped me understand and relate to the story at the time. That being said I completely agree with you that Gohan deserved better than what he got most of the time. It always felt like Toriyama wanted him to be a significant character, but he never wanted to follow through on establishing his character.

Dragon Ball Z is such a goddamn mess that it annoys me, but I still love it more than I should.

Definitely prefer the rewrite, but a lot can be done in hindsight that wouldn't be possible when writing any weekly series. Not that Toriyama's a good writer, but I imagine the typical manga format is a nightmare of rushing both writing and art for years on end.

I am an aspiring writer, and the structure of the story im currently trying to write has changed so much just by watching these incredibly informative (and delightfully cringe) videos on narrative structure. My work has evolved from a conglomerate pile of clichés and self inserts to a story Im sincerely excited to write, and I have these videos to thank for it.

I love the idea that gohan being “weak” means there’s like 6 people in the universe that can hurt him

They can copyright claim your videos, but they can never copyright claim your spirit.

The more breakdowns and analysis I watch about Dragonball, the more I think I understand the appeal of the series. It’s a lot like a big set of Legos. Nearly limitless ways they can be used and pretty much universally loved no matter what form they take, but the actual writing feels like someone made half a spaceship from memory and called it a day. Watching these really helps me think critically about my own writing, and I hope this will help me translate my work into a book I’m proud to create

Ngl for a kid with as traumatic a past as Gohan, he turned out REEAAALLY well.

I love that you brought up Gohan's book from _Dragon Ball Online_ . Ever since I heard about it years ago, I've always had that as my mental image of what Gohan should be. Not a fighter, or a scholar, but a teacher. It feels like a natural progression from his time teaching Videl about ki. For the first time in his life, he's found a way to combine the two seemingly incompatible parts of his upbringing into something truly his own. Combined with his first experience teaching being with the girl he would eventually fall in love with, and it just feels right.

You saying Gohan researching Ki and giving that knowledge to the rest of the world was a REALLY great idea. He finds a compromise of sorts between both ideals. The Studying and Knowledge of the world to teach himself and others. That being the essence of Ki and the lessons it teaches. *And then think of this:* The first few epsidoes of Buu Saga show that the population is going through a "Ki craze", with a lot of people trying to do it themselves (could have a funny scene of kids trying to do a Kamehameha like many did at least once). This can tie into Saiyaman showing up r populace that they can be heroes too. After those scenes the story continues as usual (with fixing certain fights and such) all the way to the ending fight. The scene where everyone has to raise their hands to give energy is now possible and strong enough because people knew what Ki is and how to use it. Gohan basically helped save the world his own way, by making the fight not a one on one, but by everyone fighting together.

The non-existent relationship between 16 and Gohan being pointed out reminds me of Naruto and Gaara. After the time-skip they both act like they have this amazing deep bond with both of them deeply caring for each other, but in actuality they are total strangers who had just one meaningful brief interaction after a big fight. It's the reader who knows Gaara and (supposedly) cares about Gaara and that is projected onto Naruto, even though as mentioned... they are total strangers. Also shame that youtube is so toxic to this kind of videos, I love Plague's analysis stuff.

I can only imagine what Plague's opinion of Piccolo & Gohan are now after the Superheroes film. Specifically their new forms & actual main antagonist.

This version of Adult Gohan is sick. I can imagine all the cool things he could do for the Dragonball Universe. Like, being the one people turn to to find the latest enemies' weaknesses, discovering Ki secrets that let human characters power up to a relevant level again, maybe even letting an enemy that's on the edge live and recover just like his dad would, but this time it's instead to study it rather than have it be a good fighting challenge.

With the part of Gohan writing a book to teach others about ki, is an amazing thing to think about, which makes me sad when Tien, Iguess is doing that already. But of course we already know they don’t like Tien and will never explore upon the concepts of his dojo. Great evaluation and video.

This and the Villains editorials are some of my favorites you've put out, at least in terms of narrative analysis. I look forward to more, regardless of the time that will inevitably be required to put them together.

I swear someone at Bandai Namco saw this video, I was playing Kakarot the other day and there’s at least 1, mandatory, main story mission entirely dedicated to Gohan and 16 being together in a forest talking about animals, Gohans aspirations for the future and then the two fight off poachers. The reach of Gripes is far and wide

This is the video I've been looking for, one that talks about my current opinions on Gohan now that I am almost 22. I used to think Gohan was stupid for not training all the time like his dad. But lately I've been realizing he has been forced into his path in life by his dad and mom. Him being a "scientist" or whatever is still because of his mom. Gohan never got to choose. Gohan has the potential to be an exceedingly deep character, things like him resenting his father, mother, and never getting to choose in life...just isn't acknowledged, and even now he is still being pushed and pressured to be a fighter, to awaken...to get mad...because he was born with certain genetics. I actually feel really bad for Gohan now that I understand this, and it hurts even more that this side to him won't be acknowledged and he's just gonna be another musclehead who GETS STRONGER AND TRAINS etc.

Despite the moon exploding twice Monster Carrot is actually canonically still alive and still on the moon. .-.

Not gonna lie, it kind of annoyed me when you said Gohan's SSJ2 transformation was terribly written, but seeing your take on how it could have been, with the building up and the scene itself, I gotta say I agree with you. And also the "Gohan finds a different type of love for fighting" thing, really feels like it would have been in-character, and sounds like a really interesting concept.

You say you dont like Gohan yet theres more care in this video than most dragon ball videos ever made Thats why you are my favorite RU-vidr

I had a different perspective on Gohan as a character. For me he wasn't some McGuffin device for others to use, he wasn't some comfort branding with an added cool factor for people to empathize with. Instead, I really pity Gohan's life and all of the experiences he had. An impressionable boy born under the pressure of his mother to become a scholar and forced into fighting. Gohan gets kidnapped and borderline tortured by piccolo at the age of four and then see's him murdered along with many other seasoned fighters in front of his eyes. He's still 4 and all of the following events happened within a month. But Gohan doesn't look traumatized or feel the weight of these deaths because he never even had a chance to cope with the constant murder because before Yamcha was killed, he never experienced it first hand. Gohan was never given the chance to be a human character because he was never completely human, to begin with. I believe Gohan doesn't get a sense of how strong he is until he leaves Namek. When Gohan does come back to Earth he fights Vegeta believing that if he can overpower a galactic emperor then, he might be able to beat Vegeta in a fair fight. Gohan is pretty intelligent for his age but he's also Naive and doesn't understand that he still a kid with no fighting experience because he doesn't understand what it's like to be a kid. He was born a child soldier. Now If you made it this far I want to be very clear. I don't defend Gohan's far-fetched boost of power. But I do disagree that Gohan's power increase was without reason. It's sprinkled a lot within the series that Gohan has a ridiculous amount of latent power. Gohan's arc is poorly executed in the anime but I believe it's a little too much to call him just a plot device when he has a lot to show for his character. He has mannerisms, likes, and dislikes, he was faced with some of the most difficult choices as a child. I think you can see what I'm coming from when you think about everything that Gohan didn't do. During the Saiyan saga, Gohan is just a child soldier. After a traumatizing battle where many people, including his master/kidnapper, is killed. Gohan makes the decision to go to Namek in spite of his mother's disagreement. He didn't have to, but he chose to because in his eyes both Goku and Piccolo died for his sake. The least he could do is bring him back. Gohan never had to save Dende, He didn't have to fight Vegeta after Namek. And I think Piccolo really puts the nail in the coffin during the Cell Saga when he explains to Goku that Gohan honestly doesn't know what he wants because he wasn't born a fighter. He literally doesn't comprehend why he has to fight Cell. He only wanted to help his father become a stronger person, something that resonates deeply within Goku's character. To summarize I don't think it's fair to blame Gohan when really he never knew any better. He wasn't trying to get stronger, he was just in a rage during his encounters which resulted in him becoming stronger not because of it.

I forgot Bulma smoked. Huh.

Huh. Having Gohan discover a way to gain the potential of a Saiyan and pass on that knowledge to the rest of the Z-Fighters would have been an easy way to power the rest of the cast naturally.

Never had this video Been more exemplified than the new Dragon Ball movie

The thing between kuririn and 18 is literally what happened to vegeta and bulma, isnt it?

it's pretty fun when you realize gohan probably learned how to be a good dad from Satan and not from the "savior of the universes"

"Comfort branding" sounds a lot like what's known as *consumer identity* . In a capitalist/consumerist society, we construct our identity by (partly) basing it on what we consume. Be it a certain type of food, clothes of a specific brand, or media.

As a Gohan fan, I honestly WISH more people would look at him the same way most people think of Tien or Krillin. I also agree 10000 percent with your assessment with how people project onto Gohan. I notice the same thing a great deal with other "child sidekick" characters in other media as well. To many people are personally invested in this projection of a realised power fantasy they have imprinted on the character, not allowing him room to be his own man. At the end of the day, he is a character that is meant to represent the balance between responsibility and personal passion. EDIT: I take you you also watch MistareFusion? Guys channel is great! EDIT 2: 10000% Agree that trying to force Gohan to be the main character is a MASSIVE mistake and shows a lack of proper understanding of the relationship between character and narrative.

52:30 Metacontextually speaking, Gohan's job IS to read books and wear glasses.

I would have absolutely loved to see Gohan take the two desires of his parents and do his own thing with them. One wanted a fighter, one wanted a scholar. Gohan becoming a "warrior scholar" would have been really neat. Studying the complexities of fighters and techniques, deepening his understanding of them as fights go on. Earning that power increase against Buu by connecting dots that allow him to utilize the things he's learned in an unexpected way. Enjoying fights in a completely different way than goku. That look of pure confidence when facing Buu would have hit completely different, even if he lost anyway. Would have been super cool

I don't know whether it was the skillful and tactical use of the SSJ3 theme in the background but the description of everything after the 46 minute mark had me legit tearing up. It was SO GOOD. This whole video was spot on and a privilege to watch.

The fact that this gave me chill's proves it's Merritt

Gohan really is a mirror of anime fans, had a lot going for them, ended up as a complete disappointment