Gohan is an interesting character in the world of Dragon Ball Z, as he’s almost the antithesis of the series as a whole. Gohan himself is not overly fond of fighting and never intended to be a martial artist. He is thrust into the position as a warrior pretty much against his will, becoming a soldier in a fight rather than Goku’s story of growing stronger through the challenges he sought out. Gohan isn’t necessarily a reluctant hero; he just doesn’t actually have much of a choice in the matter.

Gohan lost a lot of focus and personality after the end of the Cell Saga. Fans who were watching Gohan’s story in the ’90s, especially in the West, tended to love him. He was young, vibrant, and in way over his head. Dragon Ball Z was also the first taste of Dragon Ball many people in America got, so they were able to bond with Gohan a little more than they were able to bond to Goku in the beginning. It was disappointing to see Gohan lose so much character and importance after the Cell Saga. Part of it comes down to the simple fact that Akira Toriyama was never as enthusiastic about Gohan as the audience was.

Gohan Was Meant to Take Over for Goku

Gohan Was Supposed to Take Over After the Cell Saga

At the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, five years have passed since the end of the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, and the old gang is meeting up again on Master Roshi’s Island. Goku surprises everyone by bringing along his 3-year-old son Gohan, an adorable little boy who wants to become a scholar some day and is in possession of Goku’s Four Star Dragon Ball. Everything goes well until Raditz shows up, explains that Goku is an alien, and kidnaps Gohan in the hope of inspiring Goku to some extreme violence in helping to take over the planet Earth. This leads to Goku and Piccolo teaming up and also Goku’s death, leaving Gohan with Piccolo after his father dies.

Piccolo’s time with Gohan is what changes both of them. Gohan, at the ripe old age of 4, becomes more independent and more powerful, while Piccolo grows to become kinder as he makes his first real friend. This is where the audience gets to spend a lot of time with Gohan in particular, watching his struggles as he grows from being scared of his own shadow to being able to fight dinosaurs. There is also an air of sadness to it; Gohan is forced to become an adult at an extremely young age with the literal weight of the world on his shoulders. He also watches several of his friends die, with Piccolo sacrificing his life for his right before Goku appears to make quick work of Nappa. After this, Gohan is again thrust into another adventure with very little time in between.

On Namek, Gohan and Krillin work together to collect the Namekian Dragon Balls in the attempt to save their friends while Vegeta and Frieza are both hunting them for their own purposes. At this point, the audience gets to see how brave Gohan has become, how much he is like Goku in that he wants to do good. But Gohan’s anger issues and emotional explosions keep things interesting. Even during the Cell Saga, Goku comes to rely on Gohan’s emotional instability in a failed Batman Gambit. Gohan is ultimately defined by the fact that he is never allowed safety and has anger issues that can level a planet, but it’s so much more than that. Gohan is a very, very different character from Goku himself, and that is part of the tension in the series as a result. Where Goku’s childishness continued into adulthood, Gohan’s childhood was cut incredibly short.

The Cell Saga is the peak of Gohan’s importance and character, showing him to be brave and flawed all at once. As a saga that would pass off the torch, this was the best one, and the series was originally meant to end here. However, the Buu Saga completely does away with a lot of this. While Gohan is older, and the saga does give him attention, he just seems to lose much of his drive for anything related to the life-or-death exchanges he’d spent most of his childhood around. He wants to go to school, to be the Great Saiyaman, and live a more normal life. Gohan never gets the focus he got in the Cell Saga again, which feels like a shame, but a lot of it comes down to how Toriyama himself felt about the character.

Akira Toriyama Never Got as Interested in Gohan as a Character

If Toriyama Liked Gohan, Dragon Ball Z Could Have Been a Very Different Series

Most kids who grew up watching Gohan in the ’90s felt a very strong affection for him. He was out of his depth more often than not, but always rose to the challenge. He had his flaws, like his temper and his cowardice in the beginning, but he managed to find ways to either use or overcome those traits. Gohan’s story of being a reluctant hero was intriguing when compared to all the professional fighters around him. Gohan never asked for this. He never wanted to be the strongest, but he ended up achieving that a few times despite all the obstacles against him. Unlike Goku at a young age, Gohan didn’t have aspirations of an adventure and his was immediately life or death.

On the surface, this would be a great and intriguing story to follow with a lot of emotional catharses after the end of Cell, but that’s not what ultimately happened. Gohan was originally meant to be the main character of Dragon Ball Z and it shows, but that is ultimately abandoned because Toriyama didn’t have the level of investment in Gohan that he did in Goku. Toriyama stated in the Daizenshuu 2 that “I intended to put Gohan into the leading role. It didn’t work out. I felt that compared to Goku, he was ultimately not suited for the part.” The statement is pretty telling as to what was going through his mind when he made the change. Gohan also didn’t manage to retain a lot of popularity after the end of the Cell Saga, not even making it into the top five for several popularity polls that were happening in Japan at the time.

Manga creators not liking or focusing on fan-favorite characters is something audiences are seeing more of these days, and more blatantly. Creators like Gege Akutami from Jutustu Kaisen or the creator of The Apothecary Diaries have been upfront in their relative dislike of characters like Gojo and Jinshi. While Toriyama never made it as explicit as they have, it’s clear he wasn’t ready to let go of Goku’s journey and neither was the Japanese public. Gohan was a great character, but the Buu Saga made him lose a lot of momentum as a character to the point where he was barely involved in Dragon Ball GT or Dragon Ball Super. It feels like Gohan’s arc was somehow too fast and also cut far too short when it comes right down to it.

’90s kids have a lot of fond memories of Gohan because they also grew up with him in the same way many people grew up with Goku, but his story was just very different. It wasn’t one of magical journeys and wonderment, but a constant fight for survival that left him way too old at way too young of an age. It’s actually a shock that Gohan is as well-adjusted as he is in the franchise considering what he went through. It can be a shame to imagine “what if”, if Toriyama had seen fit to give Gohan the focus that he could have deserved, but that would have made the story of the franchise completely different. Goku passing the torch to Gohan would have been a wonderful thing, but sometimes it’s just simply not meant to be.