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VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#41902: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:10:14 AM

Aren't you supposed to be happy that the characters are living the lives they want to live?

Rinsankajugin Since: Feb, 2012
#41903: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:13:42 AM

Trunks certainly is, and is now striving to have the life Gohan has.

I hope FT can reach his goal, he's been through a ton of shit in his 30 years of life.

randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#41904: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:25:45 AM

[up][up]That's ideal...but that usually happens when the series ends.

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
BlackYakuzu94 CHADhan Player. from Easy Coast/NY Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
CHADhan Player.
#41905: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:32:02 AM

[up][up][up]Im glad he's got a good life, but everything that made him interesting is gone.

And before anyone put words in my mouth, this isn't me saying I want him to be some super badass warrior.

edited 18th Jul '16 7:32:51 AM by BlackYakuzu94

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#41906: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:32:08 AM

Well, the series was over for a good long while. I don't think anyone ever expected the latest movies or Super to happen.

randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#41907: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:32:55 AM

[up][up]What was it exactly that made Gohand interesting?

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
Soble Since: Dec, 2013
#41908: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:36:20 AM

Aren't you supposed to be happy that the characters are living the lives they want to live?

They can live their lives and not be Butt-Monkey's, Earn Your Happy Ending doesn't necessitate "get wrecked every time you fight."

It's not that Gohan isn't a fightaholic, it's the whole "passing the torch" thing ended up being "pass the torch to Gohan so he can pass it right back to Goku, because Goku is the world's strongest. He'll never leave earth in the dead zone, at the mercy of cooler's revenge or a bojack unbound. He's faced unholy terrors like Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan and Lord Slug, fought in battles of gods, and even conquered the wrath of dragons. Goku is the Tree Of Might upon which the entire franchise is rooted around!"

And that's disappointing.

I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#41909: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:38:33 AM

I would think people would be over the whole "passing the torch" thing with the Buu Saga. It just wasn't going to stick.

BlackYakuzu94 CHADhan Player. from Easy Coast/NY Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
CHADhan Player.
#41910: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:42:06 AM

[up][up][up]Keep In mind I'm biased, but I did kinda like how his normal life contrasted with his desire to be a hero.

[up] it'd be easier to get over if it didn't feel like the series is beating the audience over the head with "HEY GUYS, GOHAN IS NOT A FIGHTER OK"

edited 18th Jul '16 7:46:14 AM by BlackYakuzu94

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.
Soble Since: Dec, 2013
#41911: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:45:04 AM

I was tempted to use that Forum Weapon of Cell going "Well good for you, you're wrong." But a literal example seemed less offensive.

Saying Gohan having the torch passed to him wasn't a big deal to feels like a massive understatement, if not outright wrong. Piccolo even mistook Gohan for Goku when the former showed up.

edited 18th Jul '16 7:50:15 AM by Soble

I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#41912: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:53:19 AM

I didn't say it didn't happen, I said it was obvious it wasn't going to stick because it was being undermined throughout the entire Buu Saga and his biggest moment. And you'd think people would be over it by now.

Like, there seems to be this huge catch-22 with Gohan, whereas no one is ever happy. It's tiresome to constantly see it being brought up.

edited 18th Jul '16 8:00:40 AM by LSBK

BlackYakuzu94 CHADhan Player. from Easy Coast/NY Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
CHADhan Player.
#41913: Jul 18th 2016 at 7:55:42 AM

What catch-22?

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#41914: Jul 18th 2016 at 8:00:05 AM

Where if you point out that a lot of what's going on with Gohan is simply lack of interest and having other things important to him, he's a huge nerd, and if you say he could keep training or keep his strength people jump on you as if you said he should do nothing besides training.

Not as common as it used to be but it cropped up around here all the time before. There's just no way of talking about Gohan that doesn't somehow come back to bitching. Though, at least no people don't talk about him as if he's the greatest person ever.

edited 18th Jul '16 8:01:33 AM by LSBK

Soble Since: Dec, 2013
#41915: Jul 18th 2016 at 8:01:13 AM

Eh, everyone's happy to throw shade at Dragonball GT whenever something better comes along. Wait.

Where if you point out that a lot of what's going on with Gohan is simply lack of interest and having other things important to him, he's a huge nerd, and if you say he could keep training or keep his strength people jump on you as if you said he should do nothing besides training.

See, I think he should have just retained his power, some of it at least. We don't even get a "Great Saiyaman saves the day from ordinary street crime" episode.

This whole Gohan debacle is a sore point now because when Dragonball ended the series was done, there was nothing else to be said about it, Gohan was arguably still the most powerful unfused fighter on earth.

Now that we have Super, we don't end on "World's Strongest Man and World's Most Famous Superheroine had a daughter who, surprise, turned out to be really strong," we have, "Gohan and Videl are shadows of their former selves and we have episodes devoted to their boring house life."

Give me an episode where Videl has to pose as Great Saiyaman #2 or something, or make an episode with emotional substance like Gohan looking for a mother's day/anniversary gift for Videl instead of Goten and Trunks fetching her a jar of water. Maybe somebody kidnaps Pan and Gohan makes a going of it, since he and his daughter are bulletproof while the kidnappers just don't get it. At least make that boring house life a little more interesting.

But nobody watches Dragonball to see how happy a family can be and if anyone does, well, I have no idea how boring the original 200-something episodes, or 90-100 if you watched Kai, must have been. Or however many chapters the manga was.

edited 18th Jul '16 8:18:40 AM by Soble

I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#41916: Jul 18th 2016 at 8:10:40 AM

There's way more than 200 something episodes, mang.

edited 18th Jul '16 8:11:04 AM by randomness4

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
Arha Since: Jan, 2010
#41917: Jul 18th 2016 at 8:43:30 AM

How can Videl be a shadow of her former self? There was very little to her to begin with.

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#41918: Jul 18th 2016 at 10:02:47 AM

Gohan is just another fodder cahracter who only exists to make Goku look awesome.......that is a terrifying.

"Mai waifu."
Shlugo_the_great King of Burgers from Far Far Away (On A Trope Odyssey) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
King of Burgers
#41919: Jul 18th 2016 at 10:47:42 AM

I never even got why people are so invested in Gohan. For me he was just this annoying crybaby brat who showed way into the show run, was nowhere near as cool as his father but somehow got way too much focus on himself. I'm honestly relived that Super did away with him and remembered that Goku is in fact the main character.

HamburgerTime Since: Apr, 2010
#41920: Jul 18th 2016 at 10:49:43 AM

I think it's largely due to the fact that Toriyama revealed that in an early draft of the Ultra Buu fight, Gohan won and the Buu Saga ended there, which some people see as a missed opportunity.

Shlugo_the_great King of Burgers from Far Far Away (On A Trope Odyssey) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
King of Burgers
#41921: Jul 18th 2016 at 10:53:34 AM

That would be rather unimaginative way to end a series. Gohan sits out most of the arc getting a power up, comes back and wins easily, the end. Yay?

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#41922: Jul 18th 2016 at 10:56:07 AM

The transition back to Goku did come off as really weird after all that build up, but at the same time, what [up] said would have been pretty bad, too.

edited 18th Jul '16 10:56:33 AM by LSBK

Ssj3Gojira Arashi Shigehito from The Event Horizon Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Arashi Shigehito
#41923: Jul 18th 2016 at 11:09:41 AM

Isn't that pretty much what happened with Goku in the Frieza Saga, once he got Super Saiyan?

Let's see if you can get past my Beelzemon. Mephiles, WARP SHINKA!
Soble Since: Dec, 2013
#41924: Jul 18th 2016 at 11:36:48 AM

I never even got why people are so invested in Gohan.

When we found out he had a hidden power inside him it kind of sets up some big expectations. This came to a head in the Cell Saga, when Goku, the previous main character, dies and the day is instead saved by his son, who Goku acknowledges is more powerful than him. Coming of age stories aren't uncommon and they need to be fulfilled with the character actually accepting the responsibilities of an adult, meeting the challenges expected of them. I mean imagine if Gohan headbutted Raditz and that was it, if Toriyama realized earlier he didn't want Gohan to be important and just left that plot thread hanging. Gohan's destiny is to wound an enemy his father couldn't and that's it.

I'm not one of those who thinks it should have ended with the Cell Saga, but where Goku's entire quest was about fighting, Gohan's was about living (losing his father twice, falling in love, getting his education). That moved the show forward. Having it always be about Goku's personal quest to fight stronger opponents runs into the same problem the Poke Mon anime has: when does that quest ever end? The show doesn't advance because Goku will never grow as a character, nor will he pass the torch to someone more complex.

It's not hard to like Gohan's character. He's not the typical shounen hero (or at least wasn't), we actually watch him grow up from this pathetic crybaby to a warrior in his own right - and unlike his father, he's not just a guy who loves fighting. In a series where most of the main characters were jerks at some point in their lives, Gohan has been a timid nice guy for most of his life. In a world of violence and giant dinosaurs, he's a pacifistic porcupine.

Also consider pattern recognition - students/underlings stepping out of their master's shadows is a theme in Dragonball. Goku and Roshi, Black and Red, Piccolo and King Piccolo, Tien and Master Shen, so on and so forth. Gohan resonates with many for this reason, it made the moment when Goku died and Gohan saved the day powerful.

That's what makes at least a few people invested in Gohan, I'm sure.

edited 18th Jul '16 12:49:04 PM by Soble

I'M MR. MEESEEKS, LOOK AT ME!
Zeromaeus Since: May, 2010
#41925: Jul 18th 2016 at 11:41:19 AM

I mean, really, if you're watching from the perspective of a kid in the USA with no outside context (Dragon Ball, mostly), Z can be interpreted as a story centered around the rise and fall of Gohan.


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