Gohan Out of Character at Cell Games? Let's end this debate.

[Flame Dragon]

In my opinion, Gohan never was Out of Character.
Gohan NEVER liked to fight. He liked to PROTECT!

He attacked Raditz to try to save his father.
He didn't want to fight as a kid, and cried a lot when kidnapped by Piccolo. Piccolo basically forced him to survive in harsh conditions to try and make him self sustainable. Piccolo hoped this would change him and make him willing to fight.
He joined the fight against the Saiyans to protect Earth, and he didn't fare well in that fight anyway.
He failed to blast Nappa because he was scared and didn't want to fight.
He attacked Nappa because he was enraged at Piccolo's Death.
He decided to go back to his father because he was afraid of him dying against Vegeta.
He fought against Dodoria to save Dende.
Then when he fought against Guldo he wasn't able to do anything.
He attacked Recoome because he didn't want Vegeta to die, because if he died then they would be (more) screwed.
Then he went out against 2nd form and 3rd form Freeza because he wanted to protect Piccolo.
He wanted to go fight against 2nd Form Cell JUST to save Tienshinan.

The Keyword here is PROTECT. Heck, the only reason Gohan reached SSJ was because he was annoyed at himself for being too weak to protect anyone.

Who did Gohan kill? Some nameless Freeza soldiers? Face it, 90% of his battles were initiated to protect something/someone.

Gohan isn't a coward either, he likes to spar with his father/Piccolo/brother (like when he trained for the Androids or in the RoSAT), he wants to protect the weak, he however hasn't got the same drive for fightning as the other Saiyans. He doesn't dislike fightning either, he just doesn't like mindless violence.

There is a perfectly explainable reason for his behavior in the Cell Games.
He never tried to negotiate with the other villains because HE SAW THEM WITH HIS OWN EYES, causing pain and suffering and trying to hurt his friends/family.
However, he never saw Cell before. The only thing he saw was his fight with Goku.
So here's Gohan, partecipating in a useless tournament for the sake of the world, and he tried to talk down to Cell becausemhe didn't want useless bloodshed, especially since the tournament was just a savage, cruel game for Cell to test his strenght.
And by this point in-universe, Gohan didn't accomplish much in fights, so while being pressured by his father, it was normal for him to doubt himself.
Also by this point he knew if he went berserk it would be dangerous, so he tried to pacify Cell.

It didn't work in the end, but he tried.
Then in the Buu Arc, Gohan becomes Great Saiyaman. Again, to protect the weak.

In short, Gohan was never out of character, he just wants to protect those he cares about, his rage boosts are because he doesn't want anyone to die, and also he's insecure. And do you know what happens to insecure people when they obtain power?

They usually become arrogant and cocky. Voila, perfect explanation for SSJ2 Gohan and Mystic Gohan behavior.

[ABED]

You're looking to end the debate? Not gonna happen.

[MediaFanGirl93]

I don't think Gohan was out of character, but he had an out of character moment. I mean, Gohan's a nice guy, and him actually wanting Cell to suffer...isn't much like him.

[penguintruth]

There's no debate to be had. Gohan was fighting Cell. He never refused to, he just froze in despair for a bit.

This "pacifist Gohan" nonsense is something that proves why schools need that Common Core Initiative.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

There's no debate to be had. Gohan was fighting Cell. He never refused to, he just froze in despair for a bit.

Thatey McThaternitch. The kid finally had an understanding of why his power spiked when he got made, was naturally a bit afraid of himself for, and Cell kicked him in the emotional groin for it.

[RocktheDragon]

I don't think Gohan was out of character, but he had an out of character moment. I mean, Gohan's a nice guy, and him actually wanting Cell to suffer...isn't much like him.

I always thought it had something to do with his new SSJ2 transformation. I thought that something about the transformation itself made him lose control, sort of how like Goku becoming more merciless when he first transformed into an SSJ with Freeza. That was always my personal interpretation on the matter but that's just me. I never gave it much thought to be honest. Should be interesting to monitor this thread though.

[garnetjester]

I also thought a big part of it had to do with his becoming SSJ2. But there's a saying that says that a cornered deer is the most dangerous animal. Even if Gohan was a complete pacifist, there's gotta be a point when the violence just gets to him and makes him snap, after all, seeing all of his friends and his dad tortured by Cell was pretty heavy.

[GeeRod]

Gohan is half-saiyan don't know why people bash him just because he do not like to fight. He is not like Goku or Vegeta who likes to battle, Mirai Trunks is a half-saiyan too and follows the same ''philosophy''as Gohan: Protect your friends and family. Why so difficult to understand that? Sorry for my english too.

[Kid Buu]

In the manga? Debatable.

In the anime? Yes. There's a ton of filler that has him expressing a strong desire to fight Cell only for him to get cold feet once the Cell Games begin.

[garnetjester]

Yeah, that ROSAT filler was ridiculous and made no sense at all. It's the only instance in DBZ where I've really HATED filler. But I guess the anime crew didn't know that Gohan was going to be the one who defeated Cell, so they thought it would be better to paint him in a more heroic light through his training only to have it backfire on them later.

[thatdbzguy]

There's nothing to debate about.

Gohan was inexcusably and blatantly out of character. He contradicted everything about his character with that little speech of his, and it's just one of many things the Cell saga f'ed up.

[Kendamu]

I don't think Gohan was out of character, but he had an out of character moment. I mean, Gohan's a nice guy, and him actually wanting Cell to suffer...isn't much like him.

I always thought it had something to do with his new SSJ2 transformation. I thought that something about the transformation itself made him lose control, sort of how like Goku becoming more merciless when he first transformed into an SSJ with Freeza. That was always my personal interpretation on the matter but that's just me. I never gave it much thought to be honest. Should be interesting to monitor this thread though.

That's exactly what it was. At least, that's how it came across in the manga. The Super Saiyan transformation, amongst other things, increases a Saiyan's ferocity. That's why Goku and Gohan trained to make it feel natural. When it feels natural, it can be used a lot more efficiently and efficiency in combat has been a theme since Goku trained under Kami.

In the case of Super Saiyan 2, everything is taken to an even further extreme. That includes the ferocious nature of the Saiyan psychology. The effect is so strong that even someone like Gohan, who is normally looking for a way to avoid fighting if possible, makes a complete 180 and becomes the most savage of the entire gang.

He's not out-of-character. He's been set up as a rather peaceful kid so that the psychological effects of the transformation are even more astonishing to the reader. The best part is that Toriyama explained all that stuff very simply in what was probably just a few panels. It's extremely obvious when you read it and pretty much any kid at the time would understand it, let alone some fan with a chip on his shoulder decades later.

[The Monkey King]

Seriously what did Gohan expect a maniacal being made up of the Cells of some of the most powerful and evil beings in the universe who is hellbent on eradicating all life to do when he said "We don't have to fight."? Heck, during the fight with Goku Gohan witnessed that Cell would gladly bow up the planet and not really give a rat's ass.
The whole thing made no sense, did Gohan expect Cell to be like 'OK' and fly away or something?

[Kid Buu]

Seriously what did Gohan expect a maniacal being made up of the Cells of some of the most powerful and evil beings in the universe who is hellbent on eradicating all life to do when he said "We don't have to fight."? Heck, during the fight with Goku Gohan witnessed that Cell would gladly bow up the planet and not really give a rat's ass.
The whole thing made no sense, did Gohan expect Cell to be like 'OK' and fly away or something?

Clearly Gohan wanted to Talk No Jutsu Cell, but he ain't no Naruto.

[DBZAOTA482]

Seriously what did Gohan expect a maniacal being made up of the Cells of some of the most powerful and evil beings in the universe who is hellbent on eradicating all life to do when he said "We don't have to fight."? Heck, during the fight with Goku Gohan witnessed that Cell would gladly bow up the planet and not really give a rat's ass.
The whole thing made no sense, did Gohan expect Cell to be like 'OK' and fly away or something?

He basically said "Don't push me, you fuckin' cockaroach or else I'll bomb on your ass!"

[Kingdom Heartless]

My interpretation is that it wasn't so much that he didn't want to kill Cell, it was more that he was afraid of being in the position where he would enjoy killing him, a fear that was shown to be justified later on.

It's understandable that a child with a pure heart would not want to give in to the bloodthirst he had dwelling within.

[rereboy]

Gohan had never done anything with his rage boosts that he regretted and he had never hesitated to fight to defend and save his friends and family no matter how much he disliked fighting.

Enter the Cell games, and he is now suddenly and apparently afraid of his rage boosts (even though he had never done anything he regretted with them or even come close to doing something regrettable), he only makes a half-assed attempt to fight Cell, and then stands there without moving or trying to fight as Cell tortures and comes very close of killing his family and friends.

This development in his behavior falls out of nowhere and seems like a artificial reason to create more drama and tension than would be possible if Gohan acted more consistently to what he had done before. At the very least I believe this change required some things leading up to it prior to the change itself. Without it, it falls out of nowhere and Gohan does look out of character.

[thatdbzguy]

Gohan had never done anything with his rage boosts that he regretted and he had never hesitated to fight to defend and save his friends and family no matter how much he disliked fighting.

Enter the Cell games, and he is now suddenly and apparently afraid of his rage boosts (even though he had never done anything he regretted with them or even come close to doing something regrettable), he only makes a half-assed attempt to fight Cell, and then stands there without moving or trying to fight as Cell tortures and comes very close of killing his family and friends.

This development in his behavior falls out of nowhere and seems like a artificial reason to create more drama and tension than would be possible if Gohan acted more consistently to what he had done before. At the very least I believe this change required some things leading up to it prior to the change itself. Without it, it falls out of nowhere and Gohan does look out of character.

Exactly. Gohan had never shown a fear of his rage boosts before, and he never stood there like an idiot whenever he saw his friends getting tortured. There is no good excuse for either of those things, thus proving that Gohan was OOC.

[Michsi]

I kinda doubt will be able to end the debate but like always, I'll add my 2 cents:

Personally, I don't think he was out of character and his behavior given the context makes sense.

I think some people misinterpret his talk with Cell which also might be where this controversy starts . As it has already been stated in this thread, he wasn't trying to talk Cell out of being evil, he was trying to WARN him. "If you fight me, you'll make me angry and when I'm angry I'll be stronger than you"

Gohan understood Goku's plan and understood what made Goku chose that plan, but the kid probably underestimated how much his father choice would affect him.

I really think that's pretty much all that there is to it.

[rereboy]

I kinda doubt will be able to end the debate but like always, I'll add my 2 cents:

Personally, I don't think he was out of character and his behavior given the context makes sense.

I think some people misinterpret his talk with Cell which also might be where this controversy starts . As it has already been stated in this thread, he wasn't trying to talk Cell out of being evil, he was trying to WARN him. "If you fight me, you'll make me angry and when I'm angry I'll be stronger than you"

Gohan understood Goku's plan and understood what made Goku chose that plan, but the kid probably underestimated how much his father choice would affect him.

I really think that's pretty much all that there is to it.

The inconsistency is not him trying to warn Cell and make him give up. That's fine. He always disliked fighting so him trying to talk Cell into giving up before fighting is not a problem.

The problems are:
- him being suddenly afraid of his rage boosts when he has never come close to doing anything regrettable with them at all. All they ever did was allow him to attack the enemy with more power than what he normally could. Nothing else ever happens;
- him making a so half-assed effort to fight Cell after Cell had refused to stand down and him not trying at all to stop Cell as his friends and family were being tortured and very close to being killed by Cell when Gohan had never hesitated to fight a stronger opponent to defend and save his friends and family before, even with very little odds of succeeding.