TheGmGoken wrote:
Hell YEA! I thought Bojack Movie would have done this. I see no reason why Goku even NEEDED to be in the movie.
Because both the audience and Gohan needed a lesson, they needed to be told that Goku truly loves his family, but it is not his task anymore to protect the Earth, it's Gohan's. And they needed that lesson from Goku himself.
If Goku hadn't appeared at all, people would have thought "and meanwhile, Goku didn't even give a fuck, didn't even know his son and friends were about to join him, and was happily laughing with Kaio in the afterlife instead of realizing the disaster at hand".
So Goku needed to be there to give closure to the audience (and Gohan) and clearly state his passing on the torch (which he didn't really put an emphasis on during his "post-Cell Game" speech).
When he looks down on Gohan in his arms, it's almost like he looks at the camera and the viewers as well, and he says "You need to move on and forget about me! Get in your head once and for all that I won't be here to save the day even when you think I'll be here somehow at the last minute! I'm gone, deal with it, and stop counting on me!"
Somehow, like Gohan feeling his dad will somehow be here, the viewer is led to believe that Goku will ultimately get back on Earth for a decisive, final blow on something (through scenes showing him getting more and more worried, and if scenes show him building up his urge to go into the battlefield, it must be for something, right?).
He finally gets back on Earth to save his son, and Gohan and the viewer are like "That's it! He's finally here to save the day and defeat them all!"... and both of them get scolded by Goku himself saying "let's make it clear once and for all: I don't know why you were thinking I would come up and save the day, but I won't. It's not my role anymore to beat the bad guys."
Goku needed to be in that movie to have that sort of "he'll be back" climax building for both Gohan and the viewer, only for both of them to get the lesson "Goku's not the main character anymore, you were wrong to hope and shall not make that mistake again". This leads to Gohan understanding and in the next few seconds, becoming the hero (Super Saiyan 2) that will replace Goku, as both Gohan and the viewer come to the realisation that Gohan can and will be the new savior from now on.