Why do people hate Buu arc Gohan?

[Doctor.]

I don't get the hate. Most of it spurs from the Great Saiyaman gig, but I don't understand why. It doesn't ruin nothing about his character, if anything, it adds comic relief and character development.

[DarkPrince_92]

Who hates Gohan? Do you mean the Kanzenshuu community, general fans, Youtube fans (fools)?

Well me presonally I think Gohan's a cornball. Saiyaman doesn't keep my interest. I don't like the fact that he became the strongest during that arc... by not doing a goddamn thing. Although Ultimate/Mystic Gohan is cool on its own, but the means he attained that power is beyond lame.

[Cursed Lemon]

People don't hate Gohan.

People hate how Gohan was used.

[B]

Gohan is not "cool" during that part of the story. And for the short instance that he gives off the illusion of being "cool," he stays true to his character and squanders that coolness. The folks that are mainly interested in punches to the head were not having anything to do with a body that couldn't be used for fighting.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Honestly, it's not until the Boo Arc that I actually do like Gohan. Don't get me wrong, Cell Games Gohan is pretty awesome, but...I dunno, it's coming off of an arc where he didn't really do anything up until that point, which already follows an arc where while he is pretty useful, he still didn't endear himself to me. And that's coming off an arc where I pretty much hate him.

Then again, I love cheesy things, so something like Saiyaman and Gohan's nerdy personality in the Boo arc were much more up my alley.

[DarkPrince_92]

People also have to keep in mind, Gohan is not a fighter like Goku or Vegeta. He's just tries to be responsible, and you can see that in him even when he's a kid. Most of us on the forums know Gohan not a fighter like the pure bloods, but most of the other fans, more casual fans don't see that and grill Gohan for it.

[dbzfan7]

Gohan is a walking conundrum. He hates fighting, but then he likes it, then he slacks off, but then he wants to fight crime. Seriously make up your mind. Does he just like picking on the weak people? Cause that's what I wonder as galactic threats may as well be Saiyaman territory, but he doesn't seem to see it that way.

SAIYAMAN: THE GUARDIAN OF JUSTICE......until someone actually strong shows up.....then get my dad to do it.


I think people hate how he squanders his potential. He could be kinda like Spider-Man without the snarkiness and quips. Someone who could fight, and train, just not as seriously as Goku or Vegeta as he has other stuff in his life he wants to do. But instead he just goes one way...and then really should just not be in the story no more. He has nothing to contribute.

[FoolsGil]

Well I disliked he became an awkward young adult. And the Great Saiyaman arc wasn't interesting enough. Just a bunch of standalone episodes that hit you on the head and remind you Gohan is way too strong for this stuff to be a challenge. Then because apparently he was lazy with his training he was actually weaker than what he was at a SSJ2 fighting Cell? Jeez. And finally, the 20 hour elder unlock ability was used on Gohan, and he still couldn't take out Buu. What was the damn point?

[dbzfan7]

Well I disliked he became an awkward young adult. And the Great Saiyaman arc wasn't interesting enough. Just a bunch of standalone episodes that hit you on the head and remind you Gohan is way too strong for this stuff to be a challenge. Then because apparently he was lazy with his training he was actually weaker than what he was at a SSJ2 fighting Cell? Jeez. And finally, the 20 hour elder unlock ability was used on Gohan, and he still couldn't take out Buu. What was the damn point?

Pretty much a repeat of Piccolo Kami Fusion, and then the Sequel with Oob and Boo fusion. All never accomplished anything.

Piccolo was stronger than Cell, but never put him down. Next time Cell appeared he was stronger than Piccolo. Piccolo could have terminated him early on, but chose not to. But he at least had the reason for information, so that's something. Either way he didn't amount to anything.

Gohan got powered up and kicked the shit out of Boo. He should have killed him as soon as possible, but instead allowed him to fight Gotenks. In his case he couldn't have known that Boo would absorb anyone, but he still should have learned his lesson early on from Cell. On the otherhand Kaioshin fucks up as he knew about absorption and told know one.

Oob was last as he greatly powered up and I think may have been said to be stronger than SSJ3 Goku. However he wasn't strong enough to win, and after that fight he was reduce to fodder under Vegeta of all people.

[Kid Buu]

People don't hate Gohan.

People hate how Gohan was used.

Agreed.

It's nothing against the character, but the way Toriyama handled him was awful. There are only so many times his potential can get unlocked before it becomes dull.

[trick007z]

Well Gohan went from being the most relatable character in Z to un-relatable. He was the fish out of water most kids could see themselves through. He wasn't the fighter his dad and all his friends were and he was just getting introduced into the universe. We saw him grow and develop from a crybaby to a kid who travels on Namek to fight aliens and trains with his dad to fight Androids. He was also a power fantasy for kids. He represented the "untapped potential" of kids who are still realizing their abilities in life. And by the end of the Cell arc this kid finally hit's his peak and saves the Earth.

Then we lose a huge chunk of his lifespan. We are introduced to this less than appealing awkward bookworm who changed a lot. It's similar to how the audience lost it's connection with Goku, after he trained with Kami and returned as an adult. We followed and tracked his journey, then he matured without us and returned as a bit of a different person. That's around the time when Toriyama began phasing Goku out to focus on other people. The difference is that Goku returned to us as a Superman esque hero. Gohan came back to us as an awkward high school bookworm trying to get the girl and finding his place in life.

Then, as the arc progresses, the tropes that shadow Dragon Ball came out. The strongest character from the last arc is immediately made to look unimpressive by being ambushed by Babidi's henchman, failing to defeat Dabura, and ultimately getting smashed by Buu. Right there all the progress we watched was marginalized. Notice how Goku wasn't made to look like a chump when he came back from Namek. He was even with Trunks, he had a good fight with 19 until the virus took him out (being spared the humiliating defeat Vegeta took at the hands of 18), and then had impressive fight with Cell at the Cell Games before admitting he wouldn't win if it continued, and passing the torch to Gohan. Then Gohan gets the huge build to having his potential unlocked, and he loses his advantage almost immediately, and is absorbed. Later, he is of no consequence in the final fight with Buu. Worst of all, the series ends with another character being anointed the successor to Goku after we watched Gohan spend years being primed for it.

[Son Edo]

I love "Mystic" Gohan

[Blade]

There's this prevalent "Gohan got turned into a pussy" opinion mostly around the (largely) dub-preffering parts of the internet and Youtube. From what I can tell, people seem to object to Gohan losing all of his previous youthful angst and attitude, and struggle with the the idea of a more mature Gohan emerging from the timeskip. Interestingly enough, these are also usually the same people who berate Dragonball for its lack of character development, so yeah, I don't really pay much attention to them.

[Doctor.]

Gohan is a walking conundrum. He hates fighting, but then he likes it, then he slacks off, but then he wants to fight crime. Seriously make up your mind. Does he just like picking on the weak people? Cause that's what I wonder as galactic threats may as well be Saiyaman territory, but he doesn't seem to see it that way.

Not really, you can just "blame" it on character development. In the Saiyan arc he was a coward who didn't like fighting. In the Freeza arc he was less of a coward but he still didn't like fighting. In the Cell arc he wasn't a coward at all but he still didn't like fighting, that it until the time he turns SSJ2 and his father dies, where he acknowledges he has to protect the Earth. It's not that he instantly grew to love fighting like his father, but he acknowledged that fighting is the only way to protect the Earth.

Honestly, most of the criticism Toriyama gets for his writing in the Cell and Buu arcs is unfounded.

[NitroEX]

I think most people get annoyed with the fact that Gohan couldn't really get anything done during the Buu arc, there was a lot of build up but no real pay off. He didn't get revenge on Spopovich for hurting Videl, couldn't beat Dabura and failed to do anything against Fat Boo. After all that you'd expect him to redeem himself in the story's climax but even after waiting for so long to become Ultimate Gohan he is still made to fail against Boo.

Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of Gohan, especially his future and child counterparts but even I have to admit he was used very poorly throughout the Boo arc. The goofy saiyaman stuff doesn't help him either but I have grown to like it more as I got older.

I think Toriyama should have kept Videl in the story more to motivate Gohan and create more tension in dangerous situations but that's just my opinion.

[sintzu]

Oob was reduce to fodder under Vegeta of all people.

Not a bad deal considering Vegeta is the second protagonist along side Goku

[dbzfan7]

Gohan is a walking conundrum. He hates fighting, but then he likes it, then he slacks off, but then he wants to fight crime. Seriously make up your mind. Does he just like picking on the weak people? Cause that's what I wonder as galactic threats may as well be Saiyaman territory, but he doesn't seem to see it that way.

Not really, you can just "blame" it on character development. In the Saiyan arc he was a coward who didn't like fighting. In the Freeza arc he was less of a coward but he still didn't like fighting. In the Cell arc he wasn't a coward at all but he still didn't like fighting, that it until the time he turns SSJ2 and his father dies, where he acknowledges he has to protect the Earth. It's not that he instantly grew to love fighting like his father, but he acknowledged that fighting is the only way to protect the Earth.

Honestly, most of the criticism Toriyama gets for his writing in the Cell and Buu arcs is unfounded.

After a while he grew out of that. He enjoyed his time with Piccolo and fighting him. He enjoyed fighting with his dad in the ROSAT. He never complained there. He asked to be trained for the upcoming Cyborg threat. He even complained that he trained 3 years and didn't want to sit around and do nothing. He doesn't hate fighting, he just doesn't want to settle matters with fights. If it's just fighting for fun or training he seems fine. He's the pacifist who'd rather solve things with words.

Hell he takes complete pleasure in fighting as a Super Hero. Problem is he only sticks to scrubs rather than taking things seriously and being a true guardian. He's more like a super powered police officer. He lets his dad prepare or be the one to handle real threats.

Oob was reduce to fodder under Vegeta of all people.

Not a bad deal considering Vegeta is the second protagonist along side Goku

He was already more powerful than Goku's strongest form before SSJ4. Vegeta isn't even an SSJ3 and he somehow does better than Majoob. If anything Majoob was linked to the others that toei deemed losers.

[sintzu]

He was already more powerful than Goku's strongest form before SSJ4.

He was stronger then ssj3 goku ? are you sure cause i don't remember that being said anywhere

[dbzfan7]

He was already more powerful than Goku's strongest form before SSJ4.

He was stronger then ssj3 goku ? are you sure cause i don't remember that being said anywhere

I'm not 100% on that, but Bebi was really intrigued by him. Also Majoob put up a better fight than SSJ3 Goku ever did.

[sintzu]

Majoob put up a better fight than SSJ3 Goku ever did.

Goku got weaker after being turned into a kid to the point where he couldn't hold the Ssj3 form for very long