TheGreatness25 wrote:How would anyone expect an audience who witnessed Goku growing up and spent years with the character, to suddenly be okay when another protagonist takes over?
True, which is why I believe that Toriyama's fondness with time-skipping should've stopped when Gohan was about ten or eleven. That way Goku could go on to be the main character without the sheer awkwardness of having a 16-17-year old son who's as big as he is, and who throughout the Boo Arc was expected to save the planet (like he did with Cell) before he was:
(1) Cruelly beaten to a pulp by Super Boo. (2) Absorbed by Piccolo-Boo. (3) Died when Kid Boo destroyed earth. (4) Became relatively weak (or super weak if we count DBGT) after being the strongest unfused character in DBZ.
Doesn't anyone think the four points above almost seemed forced in order for Goku to return as the hero/ savior and
not have Gohan competing with him to save the planet like things were in Cell and Boo Arc?
SansrivaaL wrote:Gohan has all the traits to become a main character, at one point you'd really see him as the main character because of his flaws, while Goku's just... his father that he so looks up to, its just that in this franchise, a flippant guy like Goku is more suited for the role than Gohan.
When we first caught a glimpse of Gohan as a 16-17 year old, I didn't think he differed that much from Goku. They're not exactly similar since Gohan is educated and doesn't like to train, but their naivety in real-life situations is almost on the same level. We certainly wouldn't have lost any humor if Gohan had permanently taken over, because the situations he got himself in during the Saiyaman/ High School arc were quite funny, and what little scenes he had with Videl were more interesting than Goku and Chi Chi's.
Cure Dragon 255 wrote:And I think its the contrary. Without Goku his training went to shit, because no one is as battle crazy as Goku.
Gohan not being battle crazy didn't stop him from surpassing Goku and Vegeta in the Cell arc, and again in Majin Boo arc. His inborn powers enable him to reach and surpass Goku and Vegeta without training as much as they do. So if this had occurred twice in DBZ, why shouldn't it happen again? My theory has always been that it was
imperative for Toriyama/ Toei to weaken Gohan and significantly reduce his screen-time after Boo to ensure that Goku can never be overtaken again. Maybe, just maybe, having Goku and Vegeta look on helplessly as SSJ2 Gohan pummeled Cell wasn't appreciated by many, and this had come to Toriyama's attention a long time ago.
Also, if we temporarily disregard whether it's Goku or Gohan who defeats the villain in the end, the two characters have shared an equal amount of screen-time from the beginning of DBZ. In fact, Gohan had a more active role in the Saiyan and Namek Arcs as Goku was training elsewhere (and away from the main event) most of the time before showing up to save the day. My question is, what does Gohan failing to beat Boo and Goku succeeding to do so have to do with who gets more screen-time later on? How'd Goku suddenly start getting more screen-time than he ever did in all of DBZ? (it was like the original Dragonball). I can't see Gohan giving up fighting and marrying Videl having anything to do with it. Gohan has always given up fighting after a villain is beaten. He wasn't exactly training after Freeza or after Cell.