So why is Adult Gohan always shamed by the fandom?

[ulisa]

Here is my interpretation of it, I know a lot of fans will probably disagree with me but this is just how I see and interpret things:

I like Gohan best as Cell Games and before. I still like him as an adult but not as much. I dislike Saiyaman but I didn't mind "Golden Fighter." I always thought if he had just remained that, without the horrid outfit and over-the-top speeches that I would have liked that arc better. I see Gohan as someone who likes to protect others, so the idea of him taking on a "super man" type of role was not a surprise but I just disliked the "saiyaman" bit of it.

As for Gohan being a scholar and having his own life, I am sure I will get a lot of heat for this but I don't see Gohan as a scholar. I know, I know, he has mentioned it countless times in the series but to be frank, I never saw those as a genuine desires. All those times, it felt a lot more like "my mother has told me this my entire life, it must be what I want to do" I am not saying I see Gohan as full time fighter, because, obviously, he is not his father but I do think he liked training more than people assume he does. Gohan hates the fights, the battles but I always saw him as enjoying the training aspect, especially with his Father and Piccolo. I think it gave him a sense of power and strength he was not used to and gave him a sense of control over his life (not to slam on ChiChi as I know she had good intentions but the way she interacts with him, especially Android Saga and prior, doesn't leave a lot of room for a kid to feel a great sense of control) Plus, as I mentioned, I think Gohan takes it upon himself to protect others and his power and strength gave him a means to do that.

I actually love the idea of Gohan marrying, having a child and his own life but I think he would have kept his own training up. I think after seeing all the crap that seems to like to fall into his life, he would be devoted to keeping his family safe, in any way he was able to. To just stop training and keeping himself strong when he suddenly now has a daughter and wife who obviously mean a lot to him is just stupid.

I just don't see him as a 'classroom/lab scholar.' I do think he was interested in nature, exploring and things like that, so I could see him doing hands-on research for things, but being bottled up inside, in a classroom or lab just never seemed to suit him to me. I think growing up with his father and mother's lifestyle made him much more of a nature person than someone who would be comfortable in a research facility.

Honestly, with the half-Saiyans, I would have liked to see them do lifestyle choices that combined the aspects of their human side and their Saiyan side. Most people cite the fact that they aren't into the fighting as "they're half-human" but I see it as "they're half Saiyan too" I would have just liked to see the two sides of their races combined more than just blatantly contrasted all the time. Why not be a mix of both?

incidentally, I do wish they have stuck with Gohan becoming the protagonist; I think it would have been an awesome 'passing the torch' idea.

[B]

Because genre conventions weren't adhered to.

[Wibbs]

I don't hate Adult Gohan, I'm just a little disappointing that he never got to beat Buu. It would have been nice if he'd managed to beat a main villain without Goku's help.

[DBZAOTA482]

I actually love the idea of Gohan marrying, having a child and his own life but I think he would have kept his own training up. I think after seeing all the crap that seems to like to fall into his life, he would be devoted to keeping his family safe, in any way he was able to. To just stop training and keeping himself strong when he suddenly now has a daughter and wife who obviously mean a lot to him is just stupid.

To be fair, pretty much anyone who isn't Goku and Vegeta stopped training once they've settled down to raise a family. Kinda like mothers who quit their jobs to raise their child/children.

[RandomGuy96]

Why would Gohan even want to train anymore? Seriously, he's waaaaaay stronger than his father will ever be, and strong enough to casually finger-flick the strongest gods of the DBU (outside of whatever continuity BoG takes place in). Who exactly is going to be a threat to him, even at 1% of his power? Some random alien? Laughable. By the standards of the universe's regular warriors, 1st form Freeza was an unrivaled unstoppable god. A demon? Dabra was the strongest in the Demon Realm and he's fodder now. An evil god? The Kaioshin were the highest gods of the universe and were all slaughtered by Buu, who is one-shot material to Gohan.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

Because genre conventions weren't adhered to.

This, I guess. Super Sayain two Gohan leaving a hell of an impression on a lot of minds, and the shonen target audience tendency to devalue anyone who cannot fight, particularly if they have potential to.

I can't really complain As disappointing as his final matchup with Buu was, we have Toriyama's own word that it was his gut decision, made in one act of losing an earring in a gigantic pile of rubble, nothing really to do with where Gohan had gone over the rest of the story. I love where Gohan went as teen, and take "Ultimate" form as an image of what could have been- a Gohan who had the mistakes he made against Cell in his mind, in charge, unafraid, and ready to beat the bad guy- and did until it took him too long to grab an earring.

As for Gohan being a scholar and having his own life, I am sure I will get a lot of heat for this but I don't see Gohan as a scholar. I know, I know, he has mentioned it countless times in the series but to be frank, I never saw those as a genuine desires. All those times, it felt a lot more like "my mother has told me this my entire life, it must be what I want to do" I am not saying I see Gohan as full time fighter, because, obviously, he is not his father but I do think he liked training more than people assume he does. Gohan hates the fights, the battles but I always saw him as enjoying the training aspect, especially with his Father and Piccolo. I think it gave him a sense of power and strength he was not used to and gave him a sense of control over his life (not to slam on ChiChi as I know she had good intentions but the way she interacts with him, especially Android Saga and prior, doesn't leave a lot of room for a kid to feel a great sense of control) Plus, as I mentioned, I think Gohan takes it upon himself to protect others and his power and strength gave him a means to do that.

Oh mean, I was contemplating that to going through comments, watching where Gohan goes is one of the best things about DBZ, seriously. Do we ever really know who Gohan is? The guy was kind of victim of a projecting mother and unconcerned father, an active and passive force, but gets shaken when he's thrown into the values of the otherwise passive parent at an impressionable age. Honestly, one of my big regrets with the series is that we don't get to see how teenage Gohan and Goku interact; its exactly the life stage where Goku's being unsocialized becomes a burden, but because Goku is so well-meaning and not and destructively selfish in peace time ( ), it is not clear-cut to blame it on Goku.

[mAcChaos]

The thing is, if Gohan DIDN'T get sidelined, we would have had Goku and Gohan fuse and end things right there. Then we would have never had the development with Vegeta and Goku we had. So it's a question of which one would have been better.

[Duo]

Because genre conventions weren't adhered to.

You know, that is a pretty effective way to summarize the issue, but I'd go a bit further and say that Gohan wasn't written very well as a character. His role in the story consists largely of unfinished plot threads.

The Saiyan arc has him largely mirroring Goku whilst being trained by the biggest bad in the story prior to the Saiyans. Why does this panel exist:

Spoiler:

Gohan is set up to become the ultimate combination of Son Goku and the Great Demon King, powerful rivals who have fought to the death. But...then he doesn't really learn or do anything that makes him seem like either of those two fighters particularly. Early on he uses some of Piccolo's Ki attacks, and later the Kamehameha (used by damn near everybody in the story). He has a hard time growing a personality because he's a little kid thrown into life or death situations with almost no time spent to make him somebody unique from that. Gohan ends up being largely ignored for the Cell arc, then shoved in at the end with personality traits that weren't really clearly established prior.

Adult Gohan is actually a solid character, but the fact he actually ends up becoming a scholar does nothing to address the fact he had his education forced on him from a very young age. It also turns him away from his Saiyan heritage almost completely. The Boo arc, however, takes the necessary steps that the Cell arc didn't to make him a meaningful centerpiece for the climax of the story. Yet, that, as many have said, fizzles out like a dying battery. The Buu arc gave him the character development he needed to be the hero, and didn't use it. The Cell arc didn't give him the character development he needed to be the hero, but forced him into the role.

I can get why many folks are disappointed in this, whether they identify these aspects or not. I love that movies 9 and 10 try to use him as the lead character, and I think he fits very well there. I'm not wholly dissatisfied with Dragon Ball because of this, but that's because there are better developed characters that can still be used.

[BradBuddy]

Gohan..... He's always been a bit whiney to me. He finally grew some balls after defeating cell, but they soon retreated from where they came from, when Saiyaman arrive..

I do commend him though for scoopin Videl.

[MediaFanGirl93]

I think it's mostly because he 'didn't beat Boo', mixed with him failing as the lead character. That and a lot of people don't like the Saiyaman stuff (which I love). Honestly, Gohan of any kind isn't my favorite character, but I liked him a lot more in the Boo arc than I did anywhere else. He seemed to finally come into his own as a character rather than being 'the son of Goku' who either A) was helpful enough in a fight, or B) got in the way. Cell Games Gohan is cool enough too though.

And not to de-rail the topic, but two off-topic-ish additions. 1) Huh...never noticed that the books Gohan were holding were by Darwin. 2) Love the Botan avatar. Easily one of my favorite characters in Yu Yu Hakusho.

To be honest, I'm no that fond of Saiyaman either because it was too awkward to watch Gohan act like that lol. I agree about him being a lot more likable in the Buu Arc and I do love him in the Cell Arc.

Responding to the off-topic: 1). IKR..charles Darwin! 2). Thank you so much. I love Botan too, she's my favorite female.

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

Gohan..... He's always been a bit whiney to me. He finally grew some balls after defeating cell, but they soon retreated from where they came from, when Saiyaman arrive..
I do commend him though for scoopin Videl.

The only gohan that actually had balls was Future Gohan.

[Kid Buu]

He seemed to have a lot of balls on Namek.

[TheGmGoken]

Gohan..... He's always been a bit whiney to me. He finally grew some balls after defeating cell, but they soon retreated from where they came from, when Saiyaman arrive..
I do commend him though for scoopin Videl.

The only gohan that actually had balls was Future Gohan.

They was fake balls as he was forced to. Where was he when everyone died?

[ChiChiFan]

I prefer adult/teen Gohan over kid Gohan. Whether fans like it or not, Gohan was not like his father. His heart wasn't into fighting. He only did it because he was forced to do it. Granted, I would have loved for him to be a hero and take his father's place but he preferred the books over martial arts.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Where was he when everyone died?

There's nothing to back this up I'll admit, but I've always assumed he was 1) either knocked out by Piccolo or Kuririn to keep him from coming along, much like Gohan himself would later do to Trunks - I find this theory a little unlikely though since then it's hard to imagine he'd do the same to Trunks, knowing exactly how that feels, though it does still leave the possibility he'd have since come to realize why it was required - or 2) just got knocked out somewhere along the way during the fight, ended up overlooked for the rest of the fight, and came to to find everyone else dead. Again, just my assumption though, since there's nothing to give us any kind of hint.

[RandomGuy96]

I like teen Gohan better than kid Gohan because he has an actual personality.

Also because CG Gohan sucks.

[Gokuden]

Kid Gohan didn't get my respect until he rushed Freezer, and nailed him to the ground with energy volleys. When I first saw Gohan as an 'adult', I thought of a scholarly tactician, and my respect was immediate.

Teen Gohan pissed me off because he inadvertently lead to Goku's death for 7 years, had the gall to lay down on the green mountainside and smile at the sun (which was Goku) on mt. Paozu at the end of the Android saga. Your dad is dead because you were showing off, but now you can kickback and relax, while your mother is expecting a baby with no father. Congrats!

I found that 'adult' Gohan was more cautious (as a result of the ulterior events?).

That said, performance-wise, adult Gohan couldn't cut it until he became SSJ2, and even then, he was still a step shy of dabura. Mystic Gohan was less cautious, and ended up getting absorbed by Boo, I don't understand why they wrote his character that way, he was supposed to the product of several thousands of years of Kaioshin wisdom.

The writing in the Buu arc really crippled Adult G, had many fans realized this, I would assume the for and against margins would be different.

So, whenever Gohan gets power, he gets careless. He's written that way. As a kid, he lacked any self-confidence, and when he got power later on, he had ego trips.

If only he were somewhere in the middle.

Alternate universe DBGT doesn't count.

[miguelnuva1]

I always felt that instead of turning into saiyaman Gohan should have become a overconfident in his own powers teen and maybe he could have even become a celebrity by exposing himself as the one that beat Cell.

CG Gohan, Anime Future Gohan and Ultimate Gohan were when Gohan was at his best to me.

[RocktheDragon]

The only situation that really bothered me with teen/adult Gohan is the Great Saiyaman shtick that he had to develop, it just eventually got on my nerves a bit too much. But I agree with another poster in this thread that mentioned that Gohan isn't Goku nor Vegeta. He is his own person I guess and with a lot of fans not liking him I guess that shows he really is unique, whether that's taken positively or negatively by the fandom.

[Rostir]

I never liked Gohan at all, adult Gohan even moreso, because he was spoonfed a bunch of power and wasted it. I don't really care about him being a scholar later on.