You Don't Understand Gohan...

As a gohan diehard for 2 decades, It's not simply that gohan is misunderstood by fans. The problem is that 2 major aspects of Gohan's personality keep getting overlooked by the writers, his sense of responsibility and intelligence. No matter how much he hates training, he's smart and caring enough to understand that he should continue training to protect his family, world and even universe at this point. The fact that he has to learn this exact same lesson not once, not twice, but three times (buu saga, TOP, and super hero), is ridiculous to the point where It belittles the quality of the character.

The part that really sold this for me was the goku black arc when future trunks saw gohan with video and pan. He was amazed at how different he was to the gohan he knew then he smiles because he realised this is who gohan wants to be if given the choice.

I wonder what the right solution even is. On one hand, I don't want Gohan to force himself to always train simply out of guilt and fear of losing the people he loves, like his potential is a burden that decides his life. But on the other hand...Gohan fully giving up fighting to pursue his interests is just not feasible in a story like Dragon Ball. I guess this makes Krillin the perfect mentor for Gohan? He's the one person in the group with a life beyond martial arts, and unlike Gohan, he has no trouble mantaining those two sides of his life. They should hang out more.

Goku isn't a perfect dad but he doesn't get enough credit for being so supportive of Gohan's choices. Yes, he messed up in the Cell saga by assuming Gohan wanted the same thing as he. But after that? Goku has never complained about Gohan's choice to be a scholar or nagged him for slacking off the way Piccolo does. He supports Gohan's ambitions, even if he doesn't fully understand them. Let's be real, if one day Trunks decided he didn't enjoy fighting Vegeta would NOT take it nearly as well.

I can imagine anyone who went through what Gohan went through would hate fighting. I saw a Plague of Gripes video on this once, that went into detail about how Gohan's experiences with fighting are always negative. Filled with pain and death and fear. Total opposite to Goku's upbringing, which was always positive. Goku was already basically the strongest person out there, in the original Dragonball. There are very few instances of him actually being in mortal danger. Their childhoods are so different, that it's no surprise they view fighting differently.

You'd think it'd be simple to understand with how often it's said by the character but that definitely isn't the case. Through the highs and lows, he and Piccolo are my two favorite characters

One thing that really gets me is how it's Gohan's "responsibility" to fight. Like bro was literally just born and he's expected to fight aliens because he's strong. Let the man have his peace 😭

Something that we say in the black community about Gohan is “Gohan been in the field early. No wonder he wants out.” And that means essentially what you think it means. He’s seen so much trauma and death especially so early, and fought for so long, it’s understandable that he is TIRED. And doesn’t want to do it anymore. And I mean. In hindsight and in growth…we understand Gohan’s plight. I’d love to see him train and fight SOLELY to PROTECT and not for blood and death. But. If he doesn’t, then I mean it is what it is. Lmao.

A great retrospective look at Gohan and why he doesn't like fighting. It makes sense for Gohan to be traumatized ever since his uncle Raditz showed up. Gohan has experienced many near death experiences and watched many of his friends die from a young age. Not to mention that he was forced into the role of a fighter and is always pulled back into that role whether he wants to or not. It's no wonder Gohan doesn't want to fight unless he truly has to.

i don’t understand why people don’t let him study his little ants, leave the poor guy alone

I actually relate to Gohan a lot; introverted, peaceful nature and hates conflict, but with a strong sense of justice and will jump in without hesitation despite his docile nature, in order to protect someone. I honestly feel like if I were put in Gohan's shoes, I wouldn't have done a single thing different, including going berserk against Cell. And you can bet my black ass would've become a cheesy superhero without a second thought. (The weird poses are like the one thing that I wouldn't have done..)

Yeah that’s why I love his character, he’s the closest character to an actual hero. Also I like the importance shown in him not enjoying fighting much, at best he could spar and enjoy helping someone train, but he is a scholarly nerd who prefers peace.

“Gohan is lazy for not fighting and not training!” Goku at 5: Trained alone in a forest as part of a morning routine Goten at 5: Trained lightly with his mom in a long period of peace Gohan at 5: Gets attacked by his evil uncle, then is brutally trained by his dads evil nemesis, and then is forced to fight the biggest threat known to earth and is called a coward when he doesn’t, then goes up into space getting his ass kicked by Friezas soldiers after nearly dying from a lethal highly skilled task force from Friezas army. Don’t even get me started on the cell/buu saga

100%. I've been rewatching/re-reading Z since Super has been on these long hiatuses, and it's clear that Gohan is the equivalent of a Nam vet at the age of 5. The Saiyan Saga was practically his D-Day.

I think the fact Gohan dislikes fighting makes moments like his transformation in the Cell games or the fight with Super Buu much more fascinating. Contrary to Goku, Gohan isn’t driven by the thrill of the fight. Every fight against a major enemy is passionless and executed with the full intention to end things as fast as possible. He’s driven by survival. It becomes scary when he does gain the drive to watch his opponents suffer.

It was always clear to me even as a kid that Gohan hated fighting. I didn't understand trama or what not cause I was a kid but I understood that if Gohan didn't have to save the day he'd be in the woods. Gohan's whole life has been forced on him, from studying to carrying the world on his back. It is no wonder that he lives closer to his wife's family then his own. He doesn't hate his family but with Videl he can be the true Gohan. A soft spoken man that gets little carried away studying nature. Videl clearly loves all parts of Gohan not just the hero side of him she met first. Frankly Krillin and Gohan have amazing partners that better their lives. And while we all joke Piccolo was the better dad (if he was, then just barely) it really is Krillin that Gohan copies the most. For me, a big Gohan fan I want him to finally retire the cape and gi, and maybe just maybe if he has to stay in the action he teaches Pan how to fight if she wants to.

Even when he was born with an almost unlimited immense fight potential, Gohan literally was thrown into the battle against his will for that reason: his great hidden power. Of course he will fight to protect the earth, but he will not do it unless he is driven be because his friends or family are in danger, but that he isn't like his father (eager to fight strong opponents) is not enough reason for belittling him. Gohan is an excellent character within his own terms.

They’ve gotta gather the Dragon Balls and wish away Gohan’s trauma

“Have you ever in your life asked your son what he likes? He spent that year with you because he wanted to spend time with YOU! HIS FATHER! The man who spends half his time training, and the other half dead. Sometimes both!” That line hit way too hard for me after having grown up on DBZ and having seen some of super

It's interesting to compare all off the young part-saiyan characters. Future Trunks, who also had a traumatic childhood doesn't particularly seem to like fighting either, but he trains intently and tries to keep growing stronger purely out of duty. He's the only one left in his timeline who's strong enough to protect it. He never fights just for fun or to prove that he's better than anyone, he just cares about being strong enough to defeat the threats he faces, and he would be perfectly happy to not have to. Present Trunks, Goten, and Pan all show a love of fighting, but unlike Gohan and Future Trunks, they didn't have brutal traumatic childhoods. Even though a lot of people died in the Buu Saga, the boys were largely shielded from it. They didn't see things like their friends and family being beaten to death or blown apart right in front of them, and it was all undone pretty quickly. Whereas Gohan's first exposures to fighting were life and death situations which always resulted in people he cared about dying, fighting was always just game for Goten and Trunks. Even when they faced Buu they didn't take the situation seriously enough.