How old is Gohan in each arc/film?

[Zestanor]

I’m sure this is trivially easy to answer. But until he got his hair cut before the Cell Came, his appearance is the same as in the Saiyan arc for what I can tell. Is there subtle aging going on in the way Toriyama/the anime drew him? Or do they hide all his aging inside the room of spirit and time?

Also, the films.

Not concerned with Buu arc, GT, or Super.

[MasenkoHA]

Beginning of Z- 4
Around the time the Saiyans arrive-5
By Garlic Jr-6
Android/Cell saga-9 (well 8 and then turns 9 in the Anime)

He says he’s 4 at the beginning. The Saiyans arrive a year later and he’s 9 by the 3 year time skip.

Movie 1-4
Movie 2 to 4 - 5
Movie 5- Around 6 or 7
movie 6 to 9 about 9

Movie 1 takes place at the beginning of Z. Movie 2 tp 4 take place during the Namek era. Movie 5 takes place sometime between Goku returning to earth but before the Androids arrive (but he doesn’t seem much older than when Namek ended) and movie 6 to 9 take place in the Android/Cell era

[SSJGAffleck]

Beginning of Z: 4
Saiyan fight/Namek: 5
Trunks shows up: 6
Androids/Cell: 9, though after his year in the Room of Spirit and Time he is physically 10 but I'd still say he is 9.
Buu Saga: 18 16(editted)
End of Z: 28 26
GT: 33-34 31-32

Movie 1: 4
Movie 2/3/4: 5
Movie 5: 6
Movie 6-9: 9
Movie 10-13: 18 16

[MasenkoHA]

Buu Saga: 18

He’s 16 in the Buu saga. Not 18. Funimation royally fucked up by saying he was 11 in the Cell Games and calling High School aged Gohan “Adult Gohan”

[SSJGAffleck]

Buu Saga: 18

He’s 16 in the Buu saga. Not 18. Funimation royally fucked up by saying he was 11 in the Cell Games and calling High School aged Gohan “Adult Gohan”

Damn it, no that is just me messing up my math, smh. Yeah you are right. 9+7 is not 18... it's 16, I'm just an idiot

[Dbzfan94]

Buu Saga: 18

He’s 16 in the Buu saga. Not 18. Funimation royally fucked up by saying he was 11 in the Cell Games and calling High School aged Gohan “Adult Gohan”

It wasnt all Funimation's fault. Toei added an extra year for Goku being in space, so Gohan was 10. Also I could've sworn the sub said he was 11 at one point too.

[MasenkoHA]

Buu Saga: 18

He’s 16 in the Buu saga. Not 18. Funimation royally fucked up by saying he was 11 in the Cell Games and calling High School aged Gohan “Adult Gohan”

It wasnt all Funimation's fault. Toei added an extra year for Goku being in space, so Gohan was 10. Also I could've sworn the sub said he was 11 at one point too.

Hmm I actually went and checked Gohan’s birthday episode and Chi Chi does indeed say he turned 11 in the subs. There’s even 11 birthday candles on his birthday cake. My mistake.

So it was the original Japanese anime that fucked up his age not Funimation.

[Magnificent Ponta]

For actual ages, I guess Herms's Age Guide is the best resource.

For depictions of Gohan's age, which I think is what the topic is really driving at, this is the best set of comparisons I could cobble together from the manga:



(Health Warning: I've re-sized the panels a bit to make Goku a more intuitively consistent frame of reference, so feel free to disregard if you feel that undoes the validity of the comparison - Gohan comes up to where he does on Goku in any case, however. Obviously, since they're drawings, they're not entirely consistent anyway - for example, I've seen a couple of Gohan on Namek where he seems to come up closer to Goku's waist than the image I picked - but either way, it seems to indicate a subtle, if occasionally inconsistent, pointer towards gradual growth).

Hope this helps.

[Grimlock]

Androids/Cell: 9, though after his year in the Room of Spirit and Time he is physically 10 but I'd still say he is 9.
Buu Saga: 18 16(editted)

Technically, Gohan is ten years old after the three-year timeskip, Cell saga happens in AGE 767, Gohan was born in AGE 757. I believe that's where Toei came up with the filler of his eleventh birthday. I think they take into consideration the time spent in the chamber. But as said, not only is it filler, the manga doesn't take into consideration, otherwise Gohan wouldn't be sixteen (turning seventeen) in Majin Buu saga.

[jjgp1112]

Going off the Daizenshuu timelines and birthdays:

4 and 5 in the Saiyan saga

5 in the Frieza saga

9 and 10 in the Android saga (The Frieza saga happens in December and Trunks arrives a year later. Since the Androids arrived in May the gap is actually 3.5 years. His birthday is May 18th. So he's just short of his 10th birthday at the beginning of the arc). Physically 11 once he gets out of the Time Chamber

16 going on 17 in the Buu saga (physically 17)

[ArmenianPepsi]

Not entirely on topic, but isn't Goku around 45-50 years old by End-of-Z? And close to 60 when GT starts?

[jjgp1112]

Not entirely on topic, but isn't Goku around 45-50 years old by End-of-Z? And close to 60 when GT starts?

If you take off 8 years worth of being dead he's 38.

[ArmenianPepsi]

Not entirely on topic, but isn't Goku around 45-50 years old by End-of-Z? And close to 60 when GT starts?

If you take off 8 years worth of being dead he's 38.

Sorry to sound like I'm having some geeky "ACKCHUALLY!1!" moment, but would you also consider time spend in the Room of Spirit and Time into the equation?

[jjgp1112]

Not entirely on topic, but isn't Goku around 45-50 years old by End-of-Z? And close to 60 when GT starts?

If you take off 8 years worth of being dead he's 38.

Sorry to sound like I'm having some geeky "ACKCHUALLY!1!" moment, but would you also consider time spend in the Room of Spirit and Time into the equation?

I thought about this immediately after hitting submit lol. So yeah, it would be 39

[Zestanor]

For actual ages, I guess Herms's Age Guide is the best resource.

For depictions of Gohan's age, which I think is what the topic is really driving at, this is the best set of comparisons I could cobble together from the manga:



(Health Warning: I've re-sized the panels a bit to make Goku a more intuitively consistent frame of reference, so feel free to disregard if you feel that undoes the validity of the comparison - Gohan comes up to where he does on Goku in any case, however. Obviously, since they're drawings, they're not entirely consistent anyway - for example, I've seen a couple of Gohan on Namek where he seems to come up closer to Goku's waist than the image I picked - but either way, it seems to indicate a subtle, if occasionally inconsistent, pointer towards gradual growth).

Hope this helps.

Thanks for this response. I’ll have to get the manga sometime, maybe. In the anime that progression is obscured by the change in art style, which is more pronounced than in the manga. Will say more later.

[Magnificent Ponta]

Thanks for this response. I’ll have to get the manga sometime, maybe. In the anime that progression is obscured by the change in art style, which is more pronounced than in the manga. Will say more later.

You're welcome. Happy to contribute.

With regard to the anime, this is completely a hunch, so take it how you will, but the anime may be more inclined to a more punctuated pattern of development because the animators would likely have been working from reference charts for heights, and such, so they'd perhaps change it as the designs changed periodically, rather than being at liberty to take a gradual approach off their own backs?

[WittyUsername]

Regarding Gohan’s age in the movies, it should be noted that while fans like to slot Movie 5 during the three year wait for the artificial humans, that was definitely not Toei’s intention when they made the movie. Movie 5 was written during the tail end of the Freeza saga, which is why Gohan has the bowl cut.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Regarding Gohan’s age in the movies, it should be noted that while fans like to slot Movie 5 during the three year wait for the artificial humans, that was definitely not Toei’s intention when they made the movie. Movie 5 was written during the tail end of the Freeza saga, which is why Gohan has the bowl cut.

That's what i have noticed upon closer analysis, because him having that bowl cut look clearly places the first Coola movie in the period of time (at least somewhat) after the end of the Freeza arc but sometime prior to Future Trunks' arrival as by the the time the Artificial Humans come after the three years in the series timeline it's already gotten long again. Also on that note it appears most times that Gohan's various hairstyles in the anime seem to heavily resemble Yamcha's much more than Goku and really the closest his hair ever comes to looking like his dad's is late in the Cell arc and DBZ movie 9.

[BWri]

He’s 16 in the Buu saga. Not 18. Funimation royally fucked up by saying he was 11 in the Cell Games and calling High School aged Gohan “Adult Gohan”

It wasnt all Funimation's fault. Toei added an extra year for Goku being in space, so Gohan was 10. Also I could've sworn the sub said he was 11 at one point too.

Hmm I actually went and checked Gohan’s birthday episode and Chi Chi does indeed say he turned 11 in the subs. There’s even 11 birthday candles on his birthday cake. My mistake.

So it was the original Japanese anime that fucked up his age not Funimation.

TBF, it makes more sense to me this way. The only thing I don't like is Gohan being 18 in high school, but even that could make sense. 6 days to Namek is super senseless considering all the power gains everyone made.

[MyVisionity]

Gohan being 18 in high school works because then he would only be biologically 18 from the Time Room, but publically 17. I can see a 17 year old Gohan as a second-year high school student, maybe.