About Gohan in the TOP

[GreatSaiyaJeff]

I think he did pretty good. For his return, while it seemed like they were building towards something bigger, it is fine how he went out.

He defeated a warrior from U10 which was tough ojn him since it wiped out that universe. He and Piccolo double teamed the U6 Nameks and worked with the others to take down U3. His sacrifice with Dyspo sure seemed a bit anti climatic, but over all he has done a lot and hopefully this will motivate Gohan to balance training with studying.

[GohanHiddenPowers]

I never really asked for much from Gohan from this arc as a whole. I thought he did very good in the tournament. He didn't really over perform, but at the same time he didn't really underperform, and in the end, went out on his own terms following his own well though out plan. I am a quite sad that this never really went anywhere.

You are right. But it's just anti-climatic to look back and see this, "the mini-Goku":

"Mini-Goku is an Overprotected Boy! I Am Gohan." / "The Arrival of Raditz" [The New Threat]
"Mini Gokū wa Obotchama! Boku Gohan Desu." (ミニ悟空はおぼっちゃま！ボク悟飯です。)

And then... we have DBS 124, only one arc of fighting, after 291 episodes, 13 movies, 2 ovas. Like i said some comments above, i will never understand, while watching this anime as a whole, why a character like Gohan was outlasted by Freeza and 17. I have no problem to say that in this Dragon Ball franchise, a fighter like Gohan is more important when the producers allow him to explore his powers, his potential. People like to say he has to deserve power. But since day one Gohan was "the error in the system", like Neo from Matrix. Even after the Grand Elder from Namek awakened his powers (before the Old Kaioshin), Gohan was always known for awakening powers during his fights, even when he had no training at all (Garlic Jr - yeah it's an ova -, Saiyans, Raditz, Freeza, etc). And when he trains, he is, at least, on par with Goku and Vegeta, if not above. Yeah, if he trained just a little in the rosat, or with Whis, he could do wonders, taking into account his potential. But we always have future arcs to hope for something better for characters we like... whoever, Gohan or not... if we have another series after Dragon Ball Super Ep.131, of course.

People like to say that he "won" with strategy, sacrificing himself with Dyspo (literally, a character who noone will remember after some good years). But... are we watching an action packed anime, or not? Yeah, it'a good to see smart fights, but if we had to watch only "strategy" with no spetacular transformation, without any "reaching the power to protect something/someone" tropes (Vegeta and Caba had moments with this tropes, minus Gohan), we could watch a match of chess, yugioh, etc. Well, let's just wait and see what happens with the new movie with this "origin of the Saiyans" story, if we will se Gohan doing something important, "glorious", aside Vegeta, Goku, and another powerful beings. Well, he was in the last two movies, specially the last one. "He's back" now, let see what happens. It depends on the chronology of the movie too, of course. The story of the movie could be in the past, present, or in a timeskip within the 10 years period between DBS and EoZ.

His sacrifice with Dyspo sure seemed a bit anti climatic, but over all he has done a lot and hopefully this will motivate Gohan to balance training with studying.

This.