Gohan's Intelligence

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:47 pm

Heh. Good point.

That was the same sort of point I was trying to make when I said Gohan was still eight when the Androids first came, because he hadn't had his birthday yet. At least in the anime anyway, we see him having it a few days before Cell's tournament and there are clearly nine candles on the cake, also indicating that they forgot about the whole ROSAT thing.

Zackarotto · Post by **Zackarotto** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:52 pm

It's gotten pretty obvious that there's a large plot-hole concerning Gohan's age. Can we just say that he's in that age group and move on? It's not like a 1 or 2 year difference will determine if he's old enough to understand such things.

Gohan-kun · Post by **Gohan-kun** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:53 pm

Anyway you look at it, he can't be 11. Because he's 16 at the beginning of the Saiyaman arc, thats stated. Regardless of how Toriyama kept up with his age or not, he's 9. 16-7=9. How do you get 11 anyway? 4 when Raditz came, 5 when Vegeta came, 6 because a year passed since PN blew up, 3 years for Artificial Humans makes him 9. The time between when they got home from Namek isn't stated so saying "this many months passed" is pure speculation. The only thing is it took 260 days for the Namekian DB's to be activated and thats not a year.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 11:06 pm

Well, we're trying to decide about counting the "year" spent in the ROSAT. I agree with Zacko, one or two year's difference isn't really that big a deal. Let's just be done with it.

Gohan-kun · Post by **Gohan-kun** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 11:25 pm

That is why I say he's 9, but physically 10.

Zackarotto · Post by **Zackarotto** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 12:06 am

Yes, well as you can see there's a nice explanation given by the Final Fantasy Tactics guru on why he's 11. Maybe you missed a year. Whatever... right?

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 12:36 am

Gohan's age like everyone else whose age was mentioned, can be determined by doing the math.

4-beginning of DBZ
5-when Saiyans show up, and on Namek
6-when Trunks first comes to the past
9-when everything with the Androids and Cell goes down, but physically 10
16(17)-when Saiyaman and everything with Buu goes down
26(27)-end of DBZ

Ironically him being 11 when he beats Cell makes sense in the dub since it made him a year older.

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 12:33 pm

Constantly retyping that doesn't actually count as an argument, y'know.

Sure, you can argue that it's only 9 months that passes between the first and second set of Namek ball wishes, but that's still a hefty chunk of a year. Remember, he's 4 at the beginning of DBZ, but it isn't stated that he's EXACTLY four. Providing that he's more than 4 years and 3 months, then he's 10. And that's not taking into account the time he's on Namek, or the fact that the Daizenshuu states that 13 months passed between the Raditz and Nappa/Vegeta fights. The Daizenshuu actually makes it less than three years before the the Androids turn up, but he still works out as being 10, due to all the other extra months thrown about, and the fact that he is 4 years 5 months at the start of the show. (In fact, they turn up the day after his birthday, which makes the filler birthday episode an impossibility).

If you want it shown a different way, then according to the Daizenshuu...

4 years, 5 months, 1 day when Raditz arrives. (little over a year goes by)
5 years, 5 months, 23 days when Nappa/Vegeta turn up.
5 years, 7 months, 13 days when returning from Namek. First wishes made.
6 years, 3 months, 29 days when Tenshinhan and Chautzu are revived.
7 years, 3 months, ? days when Trunks arrives.
10 years, 0 months, 1 day when #19 and #20 turn up.
10 years, 0 months, 5-6 days when in Room of Time and Spirit (chronological), 11 years, 0 months, 4-5 days physically.

I'm not a slavish fan of using the Daizenshuu as the absolute gospel truth, but those numbers make perfect sense. Even ignoring them, we only need to get 3 months from somewhere for him to be 10 at the start of the "Android" arc, and there's plenty of places to get them from.

Gohan-kun · Post by **Gohan-kun** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 1:42 am

Okay, ALL thats stated is he's FOUR. That means that "4 and months" crap is PURE speculation on your part. The only factual information we are given is he's 4. Thats it. Nothing else. Going by the factual information thats given to us, he;s 9. Going by speculation, like the above, he could be 10-11. But going by the facts we are given, he is 9. Plus the fact that he's 16 during the Saiyaman arc.

And unless its provided by Toriyama himself, any outside source isn't considered factual in my opinion. That includes the Daizenshuu and those "World Guide" power level stuff.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 1:53 am

Well, I've always heard that Gohan is four and a half at the start of DBZ.

Gohan-kun · Post by **Gohan-kun** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 12:37 pm

Jerseymilk wrote:Well, I've always heard that Gohan is four and a half at the start of DBZ.

No. He says that in the dub.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 4:13 pm

The dub said he was five and a half.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 7:04 pm

Yes, just what I was going to say.

B-kun · Post by **B-kun** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 9:31 pm

I'm pretty sure he's just 4 years old. Just.

Yes, I am a true fanboy.

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 9:25 pm

Gohan-kun wrote:Okay, ALL thats stated is he's FOUR. That means that "4 and months" crap is PURE speculation on your part. The only factual information we are given is he's 4. Thats it. Nothing else. Going by the factual information thats given to us, he's 9. Going by speculation, like the above, he could be 10-11. But going by the facts we are given, he is 9. Plus the fact that he's 16 during the Saiyaman arc.

You're right. If someone says that they are "4", then they mean that they are exactly 4 years old and zero days. I forget that everyone in Japan responds to the question "how old are you" in casual conversation by stating their age in days, months, and years.

Yes, all that stuff is speculation. But you assuming that every "year" we're given means 365 days exactly is also speculation. You assuming that "4" means 4 years and 0 days is speculation. In fact, it's worse than speculation...it's out and out stupid. I cannot say that "he is definitely 10 when fighting Cell", but you also cannot say that "he is definitely 9 according to the facts", because your "facts" are completely ignoring the "fact" that in everyday conversation, people round dates up and down. And never mind the fact that it's really, really unlikely Chi Chi would have let Goku take Gohan out to see his friends if it was the lad's birthday.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 10:27 pm

Look, I personally think that Liam's last point has pretty much summed up this argument and we have to at least all agree that none of us will ever really know for certain, and as I said before, a year or two isn't that big of a difference. We should let this part of the debate drop and get back to discussing what this topic was originally about in the first place, Gohan's intellect.

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 12:45 am

Oh, I don't mind everyone agreeing that we can't know his age for certain. I'm only going to argue against someone who says "He's 9, for sure. I am right, because here are some facts that I'm interpreting in a certain way, so I win, nah nah nah nah nah."

Or similar.

On Gohan's intellect: I wonder...what exactly is the lad studying in those episodes where we actually see him with a book? Like the one with Mr Shoe, or the first movie? Was it typical 4-6 year old stuff, or what? And was he understanding it?

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:51 am

I know I remember in some scenes seeing mathbooks and I remember in the Saiyajin saga, that the test paper that Chi-Chi's proudly looking at while waiting for Goku and Gohan to come back home was a math one. It had some pretty complex-looking math problems on it, I think including some algebra and geometry. I also remember the score on the paper was %100! Of course maybe I'm overestimating it since I'm pretty remedial in math. If I get time, I'll check some of the scenes Psyliam mentioned and see what the books say.

Kanzenshuu

Gohan's Intelligence

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