To be fair, Cell Games Gohan wasn't completely OoC. Where he came from made sense. The guy had never even met Cell before that tournament, and all of a sudden he's not only the universe's only hope against him, but he has to kill him too. Add to the fact that he has to do so using a power he's seemingly scared of and has never been in control of. That's a ton of pressure for a 9 year old who, up until then, relied on Goku and Piccolo to take care of all the messes. They just really poorly executed this character development--a lot had to have happened during that period he was in the ROSAT.Whatever wrote:Yeah classic Toriyama thing,he shows how awesome Goku is by accomplishing something much easier than others.fadeddreams5 wrote:
Can't argue that. Goku is a stud. He deserves UI.
As for Gohan, it took him 90 episodes to finally act on his words of trying to learn from his mistakes, and he's been unbearably dull throughout. I know some fans found him boring in DBZ, but I thought he was great in every arc, and besides the missing gap between the android and Cell Games arc, felt he developed better than most characters in the series. I loved his evolution, up until the Buu saga, where they started that trend of him not training.
From the saiyan saga till the the androids,Gohan's character has been through a consistent development.
Then the cell games begin and everything changes,Gohan turns OC with the whole pacifist thing(which never comes up again after this) but hey at the least he learns from his mistakes and finishes of Cell right?
Then the Buu saga comes(or rather the Great saiyaman arc)Gohan is a better character overall,he is not just Piccolo's student or Goku's replacement,he is his own character,a problem with this is that Gohan's new traits are a first just like the pacifist thing in the Cell arc but at the least this traits stick around from this point on unlike the pacifist thing.
Then Ultimate Gohan comes,he is so powerfull and cool and he is even a savage in trashtalk as well!(pretty much fanfiction Gohan in terms of personality)
And then he screws up again,he makes the same mistake he did in the Cell saga,its like he learnt nothing,in fact he screws up even more than the Cell saga with the whole Super Buu and not being able to catch an earring as well.
I mean yeah Gohan along with Piccolo and Vegeta are the best developed characters in Z but the problem with Gohan was that he was pretty much a new character every main arc.
Him not training is not against his characters since he pretty much says from the 1st moment we meet him that he wants to be a scholar.
In super his character is consistent and he is learning from his mistakes at the very least.
When he finally taps into his powers, part of what he feared came true btw: he's consumed by rage, costs his father his life, and nearly endangers the universe.
As for the Buu saga, 7 years passed and Gohan is now a teenager, the man of the house, and an older brother, so it makes sense he's different to some extent. I wouldn't say he's inconsistent. I just feel "Ultimate Gohan" (his fighting drive/personality in that form) should have been present from the start. Him not training makes little sense to me, given everything he should have learned during the Cell Games. Then they regressed the character in Super, and he's been a follower since. Up until the current TOP arc, he was actually worse than his GT counterpart. Really lame.
I don't think you have to be a certain level to achieve UI. Whis had been trying to teach Goku and Vegeta about it for quite some time. Even if that is the case, though, this is Super, the show where someone can wank off and reach the level of the gods.Saturnine wrote:UI is something you can only achieve if you're already at a certain level of power, which Gohan is not. Not to mention it's been said to be extremely difficult to achieve, which means someone like Gohan will never have enough drive, and most importantly - time to pursue. Being a faster improver than both Goku and Vegeta means squat in this case.
Part of the android saga was about ascending beyond SSJ to overcome the new threat. Everyone was more experienced than Gohan, but who ultimately reached SSJ2? The boy with no drive to fight.