Son Gohan
Dragon Ball character
Son Gohan by Akira Toriyama
First appearance	Dragon Ball chapter 196 Dragon Ball Z episode 1
Last appearance	Dragon Ball chapter 519 Dragon Ball GT episode 64
Voiced by	See Voice actors
Profile
Date of birth	May 11, 757[1]
Known relatives	Son Goku (father) Chi Chi (mother) Son Goten (brother) Videl (wife) Pan (daughter) Ox King (maternal grandfather) Bardock (paternal grandfather) Raditz (uncle)
Information
Japanese name	? ??
Romaji	Son Gohan
Anime name	Gohan
Manga name	Son Gohan
Alternate names	The Great Saiyaman The Gold Fighter

Son Gohan (? ??, Son Gohan^? addressed only as Gohan in most English adaptations) is a fictional character from the Dragon Ball universe created by Akira Toriyama as a protagonist for the media franchise, which consists of a series of manga, anime, soundtracks, movies, television specials, video games, and other collectibles. Gohan is introduced as the first son of the primary protagonist, Son Goku, and his wife, Chi Chi, in volume #17 of the original manga, or the premiere episode of its animated adaptation, Dragon Ball Z. Gohan is the first Saiyan/Human hybrid in the series.

Creation and conception

Early concept art of a teenage Son Gohan.

Gohan was named after Goku's adoptive grandfather, Grandpa Gohan.^[2] The name, which comes from the Japanese word "gohan" (? ^?, lit. "cooked rice" or "meal of any sort"), is a continuation of the naming scheme of foods by Toriyama. Rice, being a grain, is not normally considered to be a vegetable, even though it is part of a plant. However, as the word "vegetable" is a culinary term, and not a botanical term, the name can also continue the naming scheme for Saiyan characters, which derives names from puns on vegetables (Saiya being an anagram of the word yasai, meaning "vegetable").

In conceptualizing Gohan's character as a teenager, Toriyama originally included glasses or a jacket to his apparel, and commonly, his hair was not spiked up as seen in the final design.^[3] With the ending of the Cell arc, Gohan was meant to replace his father as the main protagonist; Toriyama thought that he was unsuitable for that part so he avoided doing that.^[4]

Appearance

As opposed to full-blooded Saiyans, whose hair stays the same from birth,^[5] Gohan's is drawn at varying lengths, and changes markedly in style. Many of Yamcha's hairstyles are used by Gohan at various points in his life.^[6]

Initially, Gohan is illustrated garbed in a Hanfu-like surcoat with the Chinese character ?, fixed on the front and the four-star Dragon Ball fitted on top of his hat. Piccolo later supplies him with a keikogi fashioned after Goku's, but substitutes it with the demon character "?" as a sign of his admission into the Demon Tribe.^[7] Normally thereafter, Gohan is drawn with a keikogi modeled after Piccolo's own, with the anime recoloring his wristbands from blue to red and, during the Cell Games tournament, his obi from red to blue, despite reverting to the original colors for the former. On Namek, Gohan is portrayed in battle armor worn by Frieza's henchmen, having been given it by Vegeta in preparation for their encounter with Frieza. Prior to his second fight with Majin Buu, Gohan asks Kibito for an outfit resembling his father's, and is then drawn in a keikogi identical to Goku's.

Plot overview

Main articles: Saiyan Saga, Freeza Saga, Cell Saga, and Majin Buu Saga

Premiering in chapter #196 of the original manga, Gohan is introduced as the four-year-old son of the series' main protagonist, Goku. Described as well-mannered and reserved,^[2][8] Gohan's story begins following his abduction by the Saiyan named Raditz, Goku's older brother. Later, while Goku is pinned to the ground, Gohan's extreme distress exploded with the release of his dormant power, which allowed him to injure Raditz. Piccolo, startled by this, then takes Gohan away following the fight and Goku's death, and trains him for the upcoming battle against the two other Saiyans, Vegeta and Nappa.^[9] His tutelage under Piccolo forms a deep bond between the two characters, with Piccolo ultimately sacrificing himself to save Gohan during their fight with Nappa.^[10]

After the defeat of Vegeta, Gohan, Bulma and Krillin travel to Namek to use the Dragon Balls there, as the Dragon Balls on Earth had turned to stone due to the Earth's guardian Kami's death.^[11] After succeeding in gathering the Dragon Balls, Gohan and the others wish Piccolo back to life, causing Kami and the Dragon Balls to be returned. Gohan, along with Krillin and Vegeta, are then forced into an encounter with Frieza. Later, after Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan and defeats Frieza, Gohan is shown to settle back into school life on Earth, waiting for Goku to return home from Namek.^[12]

A year later, Future Trunks kills a cybernetic Frieza and his father, King Cold, and informs Gohan and the others of the upcoming threat of the androids arriving in three years time.^[13] Gohan then commits himself to training with Goku and Piccolo until the arrival of the androids. Following the appearance of the Cell, Gohan is taken to the Room of Spirit and Time (Hyperbolic Time Chamber) by Goku.^[14] Goku then reveals his intentions: to train Gohan to become a Super Saiyan, and to have Gohan surpass him in strength.^[14] Following Gohan's emergence from the Room of Spirit and Time, Gohan is depicted as a Super Saiyan, with Piccolo shown thinking to himself that he barely recognized him before granting Gohan's request to give him an outfit resembling his own.^[15] At the Cell Games, Gohan, after stating his reluctance to fight out of fear of being consumed by anger, is tormented by a curious Cell, forced to watch Cell's Cell Jr.'s attack the others in Cell's effort to bring out Gohan's latent power. Following Android #16's death, Gohan, infuriated, ascends to Super Saiyan 2,^[16] and later defeats Cell in a Kamehameha struggle, counseled by Goku from the afterlife and winning with the assistance of Vegeta.^[17]

Gohan, during the consequent peace that follows, is said to have continued his studies, and later, a sixteen-year-old Gohan^[18] is shown enrolling at Orange Star High School in Satan City. Participating in the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, Gohan is depicted as having grown weaker, which the Daizenshu World Guide book explains as due to a lack of training and anger in transforming. But he is still much stronger than his kid brother Goten.^[3] Gohan, after having his chi absorbed by Spopovich and Yamu, pursues the two and enters Babidi's spaceship with the Supreme Kai, Goku and Vegeta, where Gohan later fights with Dabura.^[19] Following Buu's release and Gohan's defeat at his hands, Gohan is taken to the Planet of the Kai by the Supreme Kai and Kibito. After pulling out the Z Sword and accidentally breaking it in a training session, Gohan unwittingly releases the Elder Kai, who then performs a prolonged ceremony to unlock Gohan's latent powers.^[20] Gohan then returns to Earth and confronts Buu for a second time, and very easily beats him in a fight.^[21] However, he, along with Gotenks and Piccolo, are later absorbed by Buu.^[22] Once revived, Gohan is able to aid Goku's Super Spirit Bomb by lending his chi.^[23] Following Buu's defeat and a ten year gap at the end of Dragon Ball Z, Gohan has finally become a scholar and is depicted with a wife, Videl, and a daughter, Pan.

Future Gohan

Future Gohan in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

Main article: Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks

Future Gohan (?????, Mirai no Gohan^?, Gohan of the Future) appears in the alternate timeline presented in the volume #33 sidestory of the original manga, Trunks the Story, in which he is shown to be the only surviving fighter; the others have all died at the hands of the androids (Goku, having died from a heart virus following the defeat of Frieza and King Cold, being the exception).^[24][25] Gohan is shown training Bulma's half-Saiyan son, Future Trunks, to assist him in battling androids #17 and #18.

In this timeline, Gohan has become a Super Saiyan, and is depicted wearing a uniform similar to his father's, one with his own kanji symbol on the back, Han, ?. Gohan states he wears it in hopes of becoming as strong as his father one day, and Trunks mentions that his mother, Bulma, finds Gohan bears a striking resemblance to Goku when donning it.^[16] In appearance, Gohan's hair is cut much shorter than his counterpart's, as well as having a scar running down the left side of his face, and is implied to have had lost his left arm fighting #17 and #18.^[16]

He is eventually killed by the two androids in a battle trying to defend Pepper Town, with #17 boasting that, in previous encounters, the most he had ever used was half his strength; Gohan reacts with alarm at this statement, with #18 chuckling before the manga cuts away to an unconscious Trunks, who cannot feel Gohan's chi upon waking.

Abilities

As a child, Gohan is depicted with a seemingly limitless dormant power, which at first only revealed itself when he experienced fierce rage or distress.^[26][27] According to Raditz's scouter, a device able to produce a statistical measurement of strength, Gohan has an initial battle power of 710,^[28] and, following Gohan's eruption from the space pod, increases to 1,307.^[29] (Goku, meanwhile, who has demonstrated superhero-level feats up until Gohan's introduction, has his stated to be 416, and rises only as high as over 924 when using the Kamehameha.)^[30][31]

Due to his mixed heritage, Gohan's character also exhibits unusual abilities, possessing power that surpasses that of regular Saiyan's.^[8] Vegeta suggests that mixing human and Saiyan blood begets powerful hybrids, which Nappa refers to as a Super Saiyan.^[32] On Namek, Saichoro helped unlock a portion of his untapped potential, unable to bring out the fullest of his tremendous latent abilities.^[33]

Gohan can also freely manipulate his chi for the use of abilities such as the Bukû-jutsu (???, Bukû-jutsu^? lit. "lighter than air skill" or "sky dancing skill"), enabling him to fly,^[34] or concentrate it into beams of chi energy blasts, such as the Kamehameha or Masenko (???, Masenko^?, lit. "Demon Flash"). Gohan also possesses enhanced strength,^[35] as well as superhuman speed and reflexes.^[36] He is able to ascend to Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 levels.

In other media

A playable character in various Dragon Ball Z-related video games, Gohan first appeared in the 1990 Japanese-language game Dragon Ball Z: Kyôshu! Saiyan (with Future Gohan selectable in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road). Gohan has also appeared in crossover media such as Battle Stadium D.O.N and Jump Super Stars.

Gohan, along with Goku, is parodized in the Robot Chicken episode Easter Basket. Gohan has been used in promotional merchandising at fast-food chain Burger King,^[37] and collectible cards, such as the Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game, have featured Gohan frequently.

Reception

Character information appearing in the Dragon Ball Daizenshu: Story Guide.

Gohan premiered in the United States when Dragon Ball Z first aired in September 1996 on the WB Television Network, and later in the original format when Shonen Jump began distribution in January 2003.^[38] Portions of the character's design data have been released to the general public in Japan under the Dragon Ball Daizenshu, encyclopedic guides for Dragon Ball written and compiled by Toriyama's staff members, Bird Studio. Viz Media announced in May 2008 that the first Daizenshu book would be translated and released in August 2008, under the title The Complete Illustrations.^[39] However, no indication has been made if later volumes will be released.

In 1993, Gohan placed first in an official Shonen Jump character popularity poll; the closest Dragon Ball character to rank behind him, Goku, took fifth.^[40] Due to the popularity of Gohan, other merchandise, such as action figures, video games, and clothing have featured Gohan in Japan and in various countries around the world. The character of Gohan is frequently depicted in fan art and fan fiction by supporters of the series and Toriyama, its creator.

In an interview featured in the second Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files, a companion book released in December 1997 by Shueisha's Jump Comics Selection imprint, Masako Nozawa, Gohan's seiyu, stated that her favorite episode voicing Gohan was Sorry, Robot-san - The Desert of Vanishing Tears, an episode originally cut from the American release of Dragon Ball Z.^[41] Saffron Henderson, Gohan's original Ocean Group voice actor, has stated she felt protective of the role and considers it to be one of her favorites.^[42]

Family tree

References

External links

• Official Son Gohan Profile in Dragon Ball Wikia

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