Read this Gohan arc take on reddit. Whats your take on this?

[DSB]

but all the moments OP described where gohan did pretty well were "meaningless death matches", it's only against cell that he suddenly turns into a vegan hippy pacifist until a robot he never met tells him "hey gohan i like birds" and then dies, triggering gohan to go into school shooter mode and torture cell like a sociopath who found a small rodent.

that whole character arc is kind of nonsense, even though it's my favourite arc in the series.

I'm gonna say i have no problem with it at all. Gohan wasnt hesitant to fight Vegeta or Freeza for blood. Heck, if he had the power to kill Freeza he would have done it right there.

So then suddenly he turns into a hippy pacifist because why? We never had an indication that Gohan is like that.

[Xeno Goku Black]

It's the same thing with Goku having no problem killing grunt Red Ribbon Army soldiers but then refuses to kill Vegeta or Frieza.

Yet then seemingly has no problem killing Yakon who didn't even do much of anything.

Dragon Ball was never known for its amazing writing.

[ekrolo2]

but all the moments OP described where gohan did pretty well were "meaningless death matches", it's only against cell that he suddenly turns into a vegan hippy pacifist until a robot he never met tells him "hey gohan i like birds" and then dies, triggering gohan to go into school shooter mode and torture cell like a sociopath who found a small rodent.

that whole character arc is kind of nonsense, even though it's my favourite arc in the series.

I'm gonna say i have no problem with it at all. Gohan wasnt hesitant to fight Vegeta or Freeza for blood. Heck, if he had the power to kill Freeza he would have done it right there.

So then suddenly he turns into a hippy pacifist because why? We never had an indication that Gohan is like that.

Because Gohan has no dynamic whatsoever with Cell so Toriyama invented one on the spot for him to angst about since waku waku is off the table. Not the first or last time he's done things like this for a story beat, just the one most people seem to harp on.

[Nodeo-Franvier]

I don't like it too,After all this is after he along with Kuririn slaughter Freeza soldiers in cold blood and after he made a cool proclamation in the time chamber about being strong enough to protect his friends too.
FPSSJ Gohan vs Perfect Cell could have been the best fight in the series.

[TobyS]

He kills two goons who cruelly stranded them miles away in space and expressed a desire to kill them immanently.

This is when he's an impulsive 4-5 year old child, who's been trained by a near demon for a year and attacked by killer space pirates who killed like the closest thing he has to uncles in front of him, these goons are from the same org as them.

6 or so years go by where he's grown as a person educationally, spiritually emotionally etc.
He goes into a time chamber that's completely barren for a year and undergoes intense training, unlike Vegeta, the rest of the dragon ball fighters are real martial artists there's a spiritual dimension to ki, they meditate and stuff.

It's out of the blue but completely plausible to me he could develop a respect for life.
Kids get more empathy, and capacity for it, as they age as well as being more aware of their own mortality.

Gohan never saw Cell kill anyone in gingertown or anything. They have no personal beef.
Freeza was wrong but he had specific long term grievances with the saiyans and stuff.

Cell literally is just dicking around playing a game, I believe Gohan says "this is pointless" because it absolutely is.
He has to literally murder a nice robot and torture his friends to finally provoke an emotional response, which shows how much Gohan has grown compared to when he was a kid.

[DSB]

It's the same thing with Goku having no problem killing grunt Red Ribbon Army soldiers but then refuses to kill Vegeta or Frieza.

Yet then seemingly has no problem killing Yakon who didn't even do much of anything.

Dragon Ball was never known for its amazing writing.

Goku is different tho. He only kills those evil who he thinks cant get better and give him a good fight. That includes Red Ribbon and Yakon.

Vegeta and Freeza were different than them.

[ABED]

It's the same thing with Goku having no problem killing grunt Red Ribbon Army soldiers but then refuses to kill Vegeta or Frieza.

Yet then seemingly has no problem killing Yakon who didn't even do much of anything.

Dragon Ball was never known for its amazing writing.

I’ll give you Freeza but he let vegeta go to fight him again

[MyVisionity]

It's the same thing with Goku having no problem killing grunt Red Ribbon Army soldiers but then refuses to kill Vegeta or Frieza.

Yet then seemingly has no problem killing Yakon who didn't even do much of anything.

Dragon Ball was never known for its amazing writing.

Killing the Red Ribbon soldiers was for comedy and mindless action. He also did not kill them directly in combat.

Yakon was not human but a monster.

[Xeno Goku Black]

Yakon was an intelligent life form who only ate some of Goku's energy and he was killed for it.

Frieza was just another alien but he killed Goku's race, destroyed planets, killed billions, tortured Gohan, almost killed Piccolo and killed Krillin.

And Goku didn't even wanna kill that one but he'll kill the one who is being controlled.

[ABED]

Yakon was an intelligent life form who only ate some of Goku's energy and he was killed for it.

Frieza was just another alien but he killed Goku's race, destroyed planets, killed billions, tortured Gohan, almost killed Piccolo and killed Krillin.

And Goku didn't even wanna kill that one but he'll kill the one who is being controlled.

I think he was a willing participant

[Xeno Goku Black]

It'd be irrelevant even if he was. He wasnt a mindless monster like Buyon, he was an intelligent creature who hardly did a thing wrong in comparison.

He'll kill Drum who just beat up Tien a bit but won't kill Moro who'll happily kill him, his entire family and his home planet.

[ABED]

It'd be irrelevant even if he was. He wasnt a mindless monster like Buyon, he was an intelligent creature who hardly did a thing wrong in comparison.

He'll kill Drum who just beat up Tien a bit but won't kill Moro who'll happily kill him, his entire family and his home planet.

doesn’t matter. They needed to kill him to move forward and stop Buu.

Goku usually doesn’t kill people he can subdue and provide a good fight in the future

[Xeno Goku Black]

So he needed to kill Yakon to progress further down into a ship because a Saiyan isn't powerful enough to blast through a floor in order to get to a monster that was sealed away.

But he didn't need to kill the homicidal tyrant who killed his friends and millions of innocent people while he had a few minutes before he himself died on an exploding planet.

It's just inconsistent writing. There's no point trying to find a loop hole for it. Makes it sound even worse for the character when you imply he kills just the weaklings who aren't good enough to measure up.

"You won't provide me with entertainment later on so you may as well just die".

[ABED]

So he needed to kill Yakon to progress further down into a ship because a Saiyan isn't powerful enough to blast through a floor in order to get to a monster that was sealed away.

But he didn't need to kill the homicidal tyrant who killed his friends and millions of innocent people while he had a few minutes before he himself died on an exploding planet.

It's just inconsistent writing. There's no point trying to find a loop hole for it. Makes it sound even worse for the character when you imply he kills just the weaklings who aren't good enough to measure up.

"You won't provide me with entertainment later on so you may as well just die".

Goku isn’t a superhero and they were told not to just burst through the ship since it runs the risk of awakening Buu

[Xeno Goku Black]

So being told what to do somehow excuses killing the monster who did hardly anything wrong in comparison to sparing those who've killed his friends and tortured his son.

[ABED]

So being told what to do somehow excuses killing the monster who did hardly anything wrong in comparison to sparing those who've killed his friends and tortured his son.

Yakon wasn’t a victim and nowhere am I arguing Goku was right to let Freeza live but it is consistent with his character

[Xeno Goku Black]

Compared to Frieza he is a victim. It's not consistent with his character because it's never been consistent.

He killed Red Ribbon grunts, he killed Tambourine who killed Krillin, he killed Drum, he killed Piccolo who killed Roshi.

Then suddenly he doesn't wanna kill Piccolo Jr though fair enough he didn't really kill anyone but he doesn't wanna kill Vegeta who was responsible for the death of his friends or Frieza who killed his friend but will kill Yakon because he ate some of his energy.

Nah we'll kill Drum because he sort of beat up Tien but we'll give Recoome a chance, he only broke my sons neck after all but then we'll kill Yakon because how else will we make the lift go down an entire floor.

[ABED]

Compared to Frieza he is a victim. It's not consistent with his character because it's never been consistent.

He killed Red Ribbon grunts, he killed Tambourine who killed Krillin, he killed Drum, he killed Piccolo who killed Roshi.

Then suddenly he doesn't wanna kill Piccolo Jr though fair enough he didn't really kill anyone but he doesn't wanna kill Vegeta who was responsible for the death of his friends or Frieza who killed his friend but will kill Yakon because he ate some of his energy.

Nah we'll kill Drum because he sort of beat up Tien but we'll give Recoome a chance, he only broke my sons neck after all but then we'll kill Yakon because how else will we make the lift go down an entire floor.

it isn’t a competition. Freeza being a bigger piece of shit doesn’t make Yakon innocent

Piccolo and vegeta were subdued.

Guess what, people are inconsistent.

He killed piccolo because he was pissed and he couldn’t subdue him unlike junior and Vegeta and Freeza.

Goku killed Yakon because it was expedient, Yakon is a monster, and he didn’t want to risk reviving Buu

Anyway the Gohan theory is utterly ridiculous. Cohan did not grow up in the RST. It is just a poorly executed character arc. He regresses to learn something he already knew. Whether he saw cell kill people he can’t be that naive.

[Xeno Goku Black]

People aren't inconsistent. The writing is inconsistent.

Goku killed Yakon because apparently his morals just didn't happen to matter there because Yakon was a minor character. He killed Yakon because he didn't want to risk reviving Buu but didn't mind the risk of letting Vegeta live so he could come back and blow up the planet.

[MyVisionity]

Goku let Vegeta live so he could fight him again. He wasn't gonna just sit back and let Vegeta blow up the Earth. He hadn't even met Majin Boo when he killed Yakon.

Goku is not the Batman. He doesn't have a no-kill policy. He just isn't a murderer.