It's called closure...
Better to have no regrets...
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.Man, that fight was brutal. But kinda painful seeing them die to a pit due to not knowing a simple move. The game really should have a better tutorial, this is the sort of thing you should be learning in the first few levels.
Incidentally, I looked up and that game has a truly insane number of playable character. Oolong is playable and he is not even the silliest character there.
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An actually good tutorial is one that appears naturally in the course of the game, meaning it is not ignorable. Like, that part you can't progress without an wall jump? That should have come up earlier. Before the death pit with bombs, preferably.
Unfortunately, it appear he only have two modes in the game: bat and rocket. It seem what they did is make every single non-giant enemy an unlockable playable character, including the soldiers, wolves and whatever. Since you fight Oolong, he is a playable character as well, but only in the form you fight him.
You can play as every character in extra mode, including giant enemies. For some reason...both versions of Tao are only available in the versus mode.
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.No one discussing Kaiser's long twitter thread on the role of Gohan in DBZ? I'm surprised.
The Hero's Journey does not necessarily end with progeny. In fact, family can open up new, fascinating, and emotionally resonant angles to explore for the protagonist.
However... emotional resonance of that manner was rarely Toriyama's forte, at least in regards to Goku.
His journey was never about falling in love and starting a family, and subsequently protecting said family. Those are secondary to his narrative; one defined by a lifelong dedication to the martial arts... and meta-narratively, finding bigger baddies to beat and befriend.
Another approach would involve Gohan taking the mantle from his father as the strongest, and subsequently the protector of Earth.
The narrative does approach this concept directly, even leading up to the passing of the torch against Cell.
... but, did it work?
I would argue... not particularly. I adore the father-son Kamehameha, don't get me wrong.
The SSJ 2 transformation is one of the most beautiful in the series.
But... Toriyama himself saw that, this route— despite intentionally guiding it— wasn't working.
Son Goku and Son Gohan are two vastly different characters. Pure hearted in their own ways, but with different wants, needs, and perspectives.
Where Goku fights and trains, striving to be the strongest out of personal desire, Gohan grows out of the needs of those *around him.*
And that difference is what makes Goku... Goku! He's not fighting to save the world. He's fighting to get stronger, and saving the world in the process.
Sure, he consciously wants to save his home, his friends, and his family. He has emotional investment in them.
But remove them all, and he'd still search out greater heights via stronger opponents.
And that makes for a great fighting protagonist. He's always got a reason to get stronger, to fight the bad guy, to put it all on the line. He's pure Shonen action hero.
So when Toriyama decided to switch gears and put Gohan in the limelight... there were some struggles.
Gohan isn't interested in strength for strength's sake, nor should he be. A clone of Goku would only serve to make him trite and pointless.
But... what IS his point?
In his introduction, he does a phenomenal job acting as an emotional balance to Piccolo. In that regard, Gohan is at his strongest. The relationship they build is remarkable, memorable, and a staple of the series.
But then the fighting starts, and... he falters.
In the Saiyan Saga, he mostly provides a *hindrance,* for the protaganists. All the supposed growth he had made, emphasized most heavily in the anime, falls apart as soon as the action begins, and it isn't until the last stage of the fight that he actually contributes.
And even then, it's not *actively*. It's relatively, and passively.
In the Freeza Saga, he's essentially filling in for Goku in the first half, as he adventures off to Namek. But here is where his character starts to suffer the most, even as it is given time to shine.
His overall demeanor is bright, cheerful, and friendly. His reactions to the death of the Namekians is anger and rage that helps to build his pathos and push the plot along, he is far braver than he ever was and even managed to outwit Vegeta.
... then Goku shows up.
Gohan, Kuririn, and Vegeta feel like the major protaganists in this arc, until Goku arrives. While Vegeta is a villain, Freeza maintains his antagonistic role in the narrative that everyone else must struggle against.
But once Goku arrives, this begins to falter.
Sure, he's put out of commission *immediately* after the Ginyu are defeated, and the stretch between that victory and his reintroduction to the story is vast, but we've put a ticking clock on Gohan's involvement now, and truthfully? There is very little that Gohan provides.
He essentially repeats his role in the Saiyan arc, only without the cowardice. He is now actively fighting and showing off his rage induced power-up, much like with Nappa, but it doesn't mean anything in the short term, and does not actively effect the plot.
Meanwhile, the psychological rollercoaster for Vegeta is intense, gripping, and well executed.
So when Goku shows up, he barely has anything to say to his own child, but the man who tried to murder him gets an intimate, harrowing death scene between the two.
Then Gohan is shooed off, only to return for the SSJ transformation and to retrieve Piccolo's body.
Even Kuririn gets more to do.
But this is all leading up to the Cell saga, right?
... technically yeah.
But without laboring on the details, Gohan isn't much of a character AT ALL until the Room of Spirit and Time is introduced. His place in the story continues to be passive, and his demeanor remains cute, but highly ineffectual, until he is forced by the narrative to join his dad.
And this is where the narrative tries to actually utilize Gohan's unique trait: His rage. Goku sees strength in his son that outshines his own, and strives to use *it* to save the world.
Which... is narratively curious.
Goku has rarely shown this sort of pragmatism before.
But regardless of that, it puts Gohan in the position of the protaganist... in a sense. It's actually a very passive role. He has no really choice in the matter, because Goku drags him into it. And while Gohan is happy to take part and help his friends and family...
... it isn't until Goku has already lost to Cell that his role is made clear.
Then the transformation happens.
Gohan loses his purity, burned into ashes by a white hot rage that consumes him and demands not only the destruction of Cell, but his *penance via torture.*
It's a frightening display of brutality and loss of innocence, and the narrative is quick to punish his sadism and hubris, leading to a climax that is hardly rivaled in all of Dragon Ball.
But... is it earned?
I don't think so.
Gohan is not the protaganist. His father is. Without agency to progress and grow, and a uniquely endearing quality like his father, he feels less like a member of the main cast and more of a supporting character who happens to consistently be involved in the main plot thread.
You may disagree. That's fine! This is all MY perspective on the character. Twitter also says I've hit my limit on this thread, so I'll leave it at this:
Gohan in High School is the best Gohan don't @ me.
There's more discussion after it in the form of comments and replies.
Edited by Ghilz on Jan 1st 2019 at 11:06:51 AM
"From the Chamber of Space and Time on, Goku is basically a toddlers and tiaras mom."
That is the best sentence.
In the history of sentences.
Everyone go home, turn off the lights, close up the universe. We just peaked.
I know she's only four, but part of why Pan in End of Z (before GT ruined everything) is one of my favorite things is that she seemed to genuinely like fighting and training and getting strong for its own sake.
Like Goku always did.
It's why. Like, I could see Pan as Goku's successor more than literally anyone else.
Goten had fun fighting which Gohan didn't, but eventually it seemed more like he enjoyed fighting socially?
We don't see much of Pan, and. She's four. The Toddlers and Tiaras comparison comes to mind. Kids want approval, and they want you to like them, so they might want what they think you want them to want.
But from what I can tell, she's sincere and intrinsically motivated.
GT dropped that ball immediately, and it's the thing I hate GT for the most.

You mean Cell's cut off "My Way"?