I've always liked the character. He always seemed to me as somewhat of a more "realistic" portrayal of how a real person would be affected by events such as those regularly encountered in the series. From an old post of mine:
Kamiccolo9 wrote:East Kaioshin was the youngest, weakest, and least experienced of all the Kaioshin. He lived in a time of peace, when suddenly, a monster appeared out of nowhere, and killed all of his peers. He got lucky, and managed to ensure that the monster got sealed, but lacked the power to destroy it. So he hides it on Earth.
Kaioshin spends the next several thousand years doing the job of four Kaioshin's; something he obviously was not prepared for. For all of these years, the images of his dead friends (family?) are seared into his brain. He knows that, at any time, there is a chance that the monster can be awakened.
Thousands of years later, he finds out that the wizard who created the monster had a son, who is also a powerful magician. He knows that the son's goal is to free his father's creation. So, he sets out to find Babidi, while neglecting his observation of the universe. As a consequence, he is unaware of the growing power of the Saiyans on Earth.
He arrives on Earth, and, while outwardly appearing confident and mysterious, on the inside he is torn. He chooses to take a gamble, allowing a powerful fighter to fall in order to follow Babidi's minions back to his ship. Along the way, he gains powerful allies in the Saiyans, but due to his focusing on finding Babidi, he is unaware of their true strength.
They arrive at the ship, and Kaioshin sees the ruler of the Demon Realm, enslaved by Babidi. He notices that Babidi's henchmen all have the same "M" symbol that the monster did. Kaioshin, overwhelmed by his memories of the past, starts behaving irrationally, doubting the powers of his comrades, and overestimating his enemies, due to their association with the monster. He is further shaken when his allies, who are mere mortals, prove to be even stronger than he himself, the god of gods, is. In only a few hours on Earth, his entire perception of his place in the universe has been shaken, and he is clearly out of his depth.
So, in conclusion, Kaioshin has a massive case of PTSD, and it's amplified by seeing foes who have some relation to Majin Buu.
I feel that too often people dismiss the context of Kaioshin's erratic behavior in their eagerness to point out how "stupid" he is. The point is, he's not behaving rationally. He's totally helpless in a situation far beyond his control that he feels personally responisble for. From another old post:
Kamiccolo9 wrote:I wouldn't say so much that he is dumb, instead he seems more like he's out of his depth. Remember, at the time of Buu's creation, he was the youngest, weakest, and least experienced of the Kaioshins. Then suddenly all the responsibility for overseeing the entire universe falls on him alone.
Fast forward to the present. The son of the man who created the monster that killed his friends/family is trying to revive said monster. He finds these mortals who he had never noticed before, and are much stronger than he, the god of gods, is. He spends most of his time on Earth in denial of their strength, and overestimates his enemies because they are associated with Buu.
Later on, when he sees that there may be a chance to win, of course he tries to join in the fight. He wants to be there when Buu is defeated; he alone knows how much of a monster Buu truly is, and wants to be a part of the victory against the monster he has been terrified of for millenia. It's totally natural for him to want to contribute.
He's irrational throughout the arc due to his overwhelming fear of Buu, but that does not make him a dumb character.
Just before someone brings up him wanting to fight Buu after fusing as another chance to call him "stupid."
I don't generally like using GT, but his portrayal there is much more competent. People joke that he is terrified of anything with an "M" on it, and that's actually true, to a much closer degree than these people may think.
Anywho, enough about his character.
I really like his design (as well as the designs of most of the Kaioshin in general; West Kaioshin remains my third favorite character design in the series after Piccolo and 23rd Budokai Chi-Chi.) He gives us a bit of character development for Piccolo, which is nice, and he is an interesting, mysterious character upon his debut.
