This past week, both the Dragon Ball Super English Dub and Dragon Ball Z Kai dub series on Toonami featured Gohan-centric episodes. DBS’ “Future Trunks Saga” storyline revisited a timeline in which Future Gohan was a masterful warrior and mentor to Future Trunks; DBZK saw Gohan locked in a brutal battle with the latest fused form of Majin Buu.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Seeing Gohan back in the Dragon Ball limelight again (if only for a week) was actually a refreshing experience! It reminded us of something that the latest chapters of Dragon Ball Super English sub has failed to: Gohan is one of the most badass and powerful characters in the franchise. Here’s why he needs to be one of the main heroes of the franchise, going forward:
He Was One of the Biggest Plot Elements of DBZ
Dragon Ball Zย made a three-saga long epic out of Gohan’sย character arc, before unleashing him as the main hero of the epic “Cell Saga.” Gohan’sย fierce training to unlock his hidden potential against Cellย resulted inย the series first SSJ2 power-up (classic moment), and later, during the “Buuย Saga,” we saw Old Kai unlock even more hidden power in Gohan’sย base form, which made him a pivotal player in that fight, as well.ย
Simply put: much ofย Dragon Ball Zย seemed dedicated to the power-up fantasy that took Gohanย from feeble child to the sort of warrior we saw in Future Trunks’ timeline. The series lost that focus at the end, and DBSย didn’t correct it. But it’s time to.ย
He’s the Way to Correct Over-Powering
Right now,ย Dragon Ball Superย has created its own wave of problems regarding power-ups, taking Goku and Vegeta to new levels that are literally redefining the mechanics and physics ofย Dragon Ballย fight sequences. For a lot of fans, the “Universal Survival Saga” has come with an overly-rapid pace of power-ups, but Gohanย could be the way to fix that in the nextย Dragon Ballย series.ย
Gohan’sย power progression has always been marked as different from Gokuย and Vegeta’s, and his transformations have never followed the exact same path. That leaves a lot of room for the nextย Dragon Ball series to introduce some new kind of power via Gohanย – one that doesn’t necessarily require the same color-coded transformations that we’re now seeing with SSBBย and Ultra Instinct. Given Gohan’sย half-human, half-Saiyanย background, it could even be a power-up that the full-blooded Saiyansย aren’t even able to achieve.ย
Gohanย could allowย Dragon Ballย the same fresh start with limit breaks that we got withย DBSย and it’s introduction of SSG and SSB.ย
It’s Time to Retcon the Nerf
The entire notion of Gohanย having Nerfedย power levels inย Dragon Ball Superย has always been rather disingenuous. The theory is that Gohanย being a scholar and family man has distracted from his training and lessened his power; however, inย Dragon Ball Z, Gohanย was the most emotion-driven character, achieving his biggest battle moments or transformations during highly-emotional moments.
Now that Gohanย has a bigger family than ever, he has much more to protect. With characters like Beerus, Golden Freeza and the Zenosย having threatened the very existence of Earth, Gohanย should’veย ostensibly been tapping into more emotional power than ever before. At this point, having his power Nerfedย just seemsย very far away from the line of series logic. Let’s correct that.ย ย ย
He’s a Perfect Mix of Brains and Brawn
Right now,ย Dragon Ballย is populated by a lot of brawlers who aren’t necessarily brainiacsย (Goku, Vegeta), and brainiacsย who aren’t nearly as strong as the brawlers (Piccolo, Bulma). However, the series hasn’t really given us a mix of both.ย
Gohanย is a character that could be more than just a brawler waiting to meet the next opponent on the battlefield or scream his way into a new power-up; he could actually handle complex missions (covert-ops or big mystery quests), and could invent anything from tech to new forms of ki application like only a scholar could.ย
If we wanted to really put that brain power to use, Gohan’sย big brain could unlock some psychic power-ups that would definitely change the game of how Z-Fighters battle.ย
He’s the Natural Series Successor
It’s almost crazy that Goku is still the main character of theย Dragon Ballย franchise. As stated, a lot ofย Dragon Ball Zย seemed specifically geared toward telling the story of how Gohanย grows up to surpasses his father – and then we sort of lost track of that thread, as Gokuย and Vegeta went on to stay on their thrones.ย
However, all things must change eventually, and Gokuย can’t be the lead focus ofย Dragon Ballย forever. If characters like Gohan, Goten, and Trunks, don’t get to eventually move up the ladder into the limelight, then what was the point of having them?ย
It Would Be a Great Timeline Bridge
As stated, the latest episode of theย Dragon Ball Superย dub revisited the timeline of Future Trunks, to once again examine the relationship between Trunks and Future Gohan. Like with the Cell timeline, Future Gohanย is the last remaining warrior of the Z-Fighters defending Earth, and trains Trunks to be the world’s final hope.ย
The fact that this version of Gohanย is out there in another timelineย means the potential for Gohanย to became a great leader and warrior has already been mapped out in the canon. The nextย Dragon Ballย series just needs an excuse to make that transition happen in the current timeline.
Goku and Vegeta vs. Gohan
Finally, there’s one purely indulgent and gimmicky reason that we want to see the nextย Dragon Ballย series put Gohanย in a bigger position of power: We want to experience the novelty of Gohanย having to battle both Gokuย and Vegeta!ย
As we said, Gohanย seemed like he was once supposed to be the successor to Gokuย and Vegeta’sย status as top fighters of the universe, and for Gohanย fans to really get their due, the son must rise up and smack down his predecessors. Gohanย needs that decisive proof that he’s the real MVP, and so does the fandom.ย
******
Dragon Ball Super airs on Crunchyroll Saturday evenings at 7:15 p.m. CST. Adult Swim airs the English dub during its Toonami block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m, and is now available to stream on FunimationNOW and Amazon Video
