Fair enough. To me, though, Gohan is charming and endearing. He doesn't have those traits of Piccolo's or Krillin's that you mentioned, true; what he does have is a polite, shy, gentle disposition and a scholarly mind, with something of an adventurous streak even if he doesn't enjoy combat. That's a very charismatic character IMO, and one with a lot of potential as a series lead.ekrolo2 wrote:True, I worded that poorly. It's not that you can't a reluctant hero type, it's just that... Gohan's not a compelling example of one. What Gohan lacks that a lot of other Dragon Ball characters have for me is charisma, and that matters a lot. In fact, I would argue that the charisma present in so much of the cast is what allows them to get invested in characters who really aren't that deep when you start breaking them down and what allows them to like a lot of the cast in-spite of their... frequently questionable moral actions.zDBZ wrote:I don't know what MistareFusion's thoughts on Buu are going to end up being, but I'll borrow from one of his Cell saga videos - good storytelling and character development > Wuxia conventions. And I cannot understand the logic that a character who's reluctant to fight can't be the main character of a fighting-based series. That whole premise sets up a lot of potential for conflict, dramatic and comedic. And whenever Toriyama did something with that - in the Saiyan, Cell, and first two-thirds of the Buu saga - the results were good, in turns funny and harrowing for Gohan and for the other characters depending on him, and there were variations in how Toriyama wrote that sort of material. Did it always make for the most exciting and dynamic action sequences? Maybe not, but it made for good story, and what action there was in relation to that story was better for it.
The earrings solve the immediate story problem in an arbitrary manner. That fits the definition to me. And I don't object to fusion being used at that moment either; I object to the method and the characters involved.ABED wrote:Clearly. But while it made something of a difference, it didn't solve their problems. That's one big qualification for a deus ex machina. The earrings aren't a big cheat because it is only another means of reaching the same end. If they had won using them, I would agree, but they didn't. It doesn't bug me because of the fusion. Toriyama could've easily written that Vegeta knew the dance by watching in the afterlife. I buy that Vegeta's a quick study. Where the convenience comes in is that what was supposed to be permanent ends up being temporary for unexplained reasons. I'm of course not counting Super's explanation. Taking away that downside without a good explanation makes it all feel too easy.
It's not arbitrary. Everyone is out of options. Until then, there was Gohan, now it was only Goku. Did it come at the expense of those story threads? Maybe, but it was sure as hell far better than them taking over. Vegeta coming there last minute is irrelevant. And you only seem to be considering the story threads of the final arc and not DB as a whole.
In this case it would be as the story was never about the next generation. It was one person's story and his journey to reach greater heights.
I think people care WAY more about the idea of the next generation taking over than the execution because I can't think of a single story where it was ever for the better after a long run with the same main character(s) to have others take over. It's about what I call "emotional equity". Granted, Gohan's been around a while, but DB doesn't reflect him, and Goten & Chibi Trunks were just introduced. Why make them the focal point? If it happens, let it be the coda, not a protracted (not to mention boring) arc.
Dragon Ball doesn't tell one unified story either. It's a serialized narrative, with an internal continuity, and each arch follows from and sometimes builds directly off of what came before it. But this ain't Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire. The first hunt for the dragon balls is a self-contained narrative. While the first Budokai arc grows out of pieces of that story, it's very much its own narrative too. And so on, and so on. The Buu saga is connected to the past arcs and builds on some of them in certain areas, but it's its own story as well, and with a fair amount of time distance from the previous events. And while Goku, again, may have still been the hero up until the Cell saga, the story trended toward a more ensemble approach with its cast - arguably first in the King Piccolo saga, but definitely in the Saiyan and Freeza sagas.