'Dragon Ball' Star Causes Gohan Fan War With Viral Tweet

The US release of Dragon Ball Super: Broly has brought out the anime's Dub cast for a promotional [...]

By Kofi Outlaw

The US release of Dragon Ball Super: Broly has brought out the anime's Dub cast for a promotional tour of the film, and their interviews with press are sparking some big (and controversial) headlines, along the way.

No one has been better at generating controversy around Dragon Ball Super: Broly's release than the "Voice of Vegeta" himself, Christopher Sabat. In just one tweet, for example Sabat managed to start an epic flame-war within the Dragon Ball fandom, over the always-sensitive subject of Gohan:

As you can see in the tweets above, the flame-war didn't start with Gohan, it was actually about his wife, Videl. Mr. Satan's daughter was a fierce martial arts competitor when we first met her in Dragon Ball Z's "Great Saiyaman Saga". Videl actually bonded with Gohan when she figured out that he was both the Great Saiyama and the Golden Fighter who took on and defeated Cell. She actually used her deductions to blackmail Gohan joining a martial arts tournament - just so she could fight him. And yet, by the time she married Gohan and had their daughter Pan, Videl's character took a major turn, which is something fans have never forgotten, judging by the tweet that started all this:

"The decision to bench Videl as a fighter has never, ever sat well with me. She had a true, honest to God fire in her belly to be a martial artist and improve, and the moment a whole new world of possibilities via Ki are introduced... she gets pregnant and just *s t o p s.*"

Well, Chris Sabat heard this criticism, and rather than point to the makers of Dragon Ball Z and/or Dragon Ball Super for this character downturn, Sabat had the following thoughts to share:

"You know who removed that fire? Gohan. Plain and simple. He bored her into retirement. Because Gohan is the most milquetoast character in the show."

Needless to say, those were considered fighting words for the considerable sector of the Dragon Ball fandom that loves Gohan and has never stopped stumping for him. All throughout Dragon Ball Super's run there's been a running dialogue within fan chat threads about how Gohan has been effectively de-powered and sidelined since his Dragon Ball Z heyday - the poor kid is one of the only central characters who doesn't appear in Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

And yet, hearing Sabat effectively victim-blaming Gohan for his own blandness set a lot of fans off, forcing Sabat to send out some additional tweets, explaining his position. We've compiled those together, below:

"I think Kyle knows how I feel about adult Gohan. Now if Gohan had decided to stay Great Saiyaman for the rest of the series THEN he would have been perfect. And just to be clear, this is not @kylehebert's fault. I just think Toriyama was confused as to how to handle Gohan and he just always felt like he never truly reached his potential as a fighter or as a scholar."

But just to add insult to injury, Sabat also offered this breakdown of Gohan's role in Dragon Ball Super:

Dragon Ball Super: Broly is out now. Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release is available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and Crunchyroll.

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