Gohan

Template:DB Character Son Gohan(孫 悟飯) is a fictional character in the manga and anime series of Dragon Ball created by the famous mangaka Akira Toriyama. When the manga was adapted to anime, the series was split into two sub-series, called Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, respectively. Son Gohan makes his first appearance in the first episode of Dragon Ball Z. He also appears in a third anime-only sub-series (called Dragon Ball GT). Gohan is the first son of the main protagonist of the series, a Saiyan named Son Goku and the Ox princess named Chi Chi. Gohan was the first Saiyan/Human hybrid born in the series. Gohan was named after Goku's adoptive grandfather, also named Son Gohan. Gohan is a shy and studious intellectual, who harbors a vast potential that transcends even his father's. However, Gohan does not possess the fierce desire of competition as pure Saiyans do, which results in his unwillingness to harm others regardless of how evil they are, except when his loved ones have been in danger. Gohan as an adult is observed to grow out of this as he gets stronger, however, he never develops a strong desire for competition. As peace is restored after the events of Majin Buu, Gohan abandons his responsibilities as a defender of Earth and becomes one of Dragon World's most accomplished scholars.

Appearance

Gohan's appearance changes drastically through Dragon Ball Z, due to the fact that the series starts out with him as a child and ends when he is fully grown. But Gohan's basic physical appearance pretty much stays the same through the course of the series. Gohan has black hair, black eyes. Gohan has his mother's light peach complexion, rather than his father's light tan.

When Gohan is first introduced, he wears a child's outfit and his hat has the four star Dragon Ball attached to it, the same Dragon Ball in which Goku believes that his grandpa's spirit resides. The character on the front is his surname, Son (孫). While training with Piccolo, he wears an outfit similar to Goku's original. After training with Piccolo he has a bowl-type haircut and dons similar attire to the Namek warrior which he continues to wear until the end of the Namek saga, after which he wears Saiyan-style armor. Afterwards he still wears the Piccolo clothing though his hair is styled in a more wild way due to it being self-cut. While training in the Room of Spirit and Time, he begins wearing Saiyan training gear but again reverts to Piccolo's clothing before facing Cell.

As a teen/young adult, he alternates between a school uniform, his Great Saiyaman costume, the Piccolo clothing (except larger in size), a replica of the gi his father Goku wore while he was alive, prior to the Buu Saga, and the Kaio clothing given to him by Kibito. His hair is much shorter and stands on end in a spiky formation.

In Future Trunks' alternate time line, Gohan is always seen wearing a gi very similar to Goku's, except that the sleeves on the blue undershirt are longer. After an encounter with the Androids, Future Gohan has a scar going down his right eye.

In Dragon Ball GT he is usually seen dressed as like a professor or a businessman, in a suit and a tie. He also wears eyeglasses, even though he shows no sign of actually needing them, due to the fact that he doesn't need them to fight. During the last major fight of the series (against Omega Shenron), Gohan arrives to the battlefield in a replica of Goku's orange gi, much like his outfit in the latter part of the Buu Saga.

Personality

Gohan, being only half-Saiyan, is unusual in his values and personality. These unique values and personality separate him from pure Saiyans; as powerful as he is, he does not like fighting much. But when he is forced to fight, he shows special interest in protecting his family and friends. Like his father, Son Goku, Gohan has a pure and gentle heart. Besides concerning himself with his family (and his studies), Gohan has a strong attachment with his mentor: his father's former arch rival named Piccolo. Piccolo was forced to train Gohan after the death of Goku when Gohan was four years old. At first the relationship with Piccolo is a frightening one, but after just one year Piccolo admits his change because of the gentle Gohan and even sacrifices himself to save the boy. He can be considered as a surrogate father for Gohan. Kuririn also has influence on Gohan, mainly because Kuririn is Goku's closest friend.

History

Son Gohan's early childhood was a pampered one, unlike his father's. His life was relatively well-balanced with a loving family and a nice home. Gohan was well-adjusted and intelligent, but unlike his father as a child, he lacked any affection for fighting and was easily scared at a level that most normal children would be. However, he still possessed a strong urge to protect those he loved and in desperate times was able to unleash an incredible level of power that outclassed even experienced Saiyan warriors like his uncle Raditz. His childhood ended quickly as he was drawn into training with Piccolo and forced to battle against Nappa, Vegeta, the Ginyu Force, Freeza and Freeza's forces.

Dragon Ball Z

The following account of the character's biography is based primarily on the original manga series, with several mentions of the anime series.

Saiyan Saga

Despite Goku's protests, Chi-Chi home-schooled Gohan to be a scholar until he was four, before Goku took him to Kame Island to introduce him to Muten-Rôshi (Master Roshi), Bulma and Kuririn. At this time he is shown as a shy but very smart boy who also has a tail like Goku once had. Goku's brother Raditz soon arrived looking for his brother Goku, and kidnapped Gohan. It was during this time that Raditz discovered that Gohan was potentially far stronger than Goku himself.

During the battle between Goku, Raditz, and Piccolo, Gohan became angry and broke free of the space pod he was being held captive in. He delivered a devastating blow to Raditz, giving Goku and Piccolo time to kill Raditz, though Goku died in the process as well.

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Son Gohan, transformed into an Oozaru.

After the battle with Raditz, Piccolo, having seen Gohan's power first hand, decided to take Gohan out training in the wilderness. He left Gohan alone to survive against dinosaurs and other dangers for the better part of a year, though during this time he watched Gohan carefully. The rest of the year, Piccolo taught Gohan how to fight. Soon Gohan's bright and cheerful nature made Piccolo protective over the young boy. When the time came for the Z Fighters to take on the remaining two Saiyans, Vegeta and Nappa, Gohan was able to control his fear but at times his age caught up with him, and he became frightened.

When Nappa fired a lethal energy blast at Gohan, Piccolo threw himself in front of Gohan and took the impact. Gohan was deeply angered by Piccolo's death and in turn fired a powerful Masenko at Nappa, which did some damage to his arm.

Later on, after Vegeta turns into an Oozaru and injures Goku, Gohan himself transforms into the Oozaru form, defeating Vegeta by landing on him after his tail is cut off.

Freeza Saga

Gohan chooses to go to the planet Namek to gather the Namekian Dragon Balls to resurrect his friends, because Piccolo's death causes the Earth's Dragon Balls to turn to stone. One of Gohan's main goals is to wish back Piccolo; he even wears a copy of Piccolo's dōgi to honor him.

In the Z Fighters' battle against Freeza's second form, Kuririn is injured by the tyrant and is cast into the depths of the water below. Gohan rushes to save his friend from drowning, but Freeza stops him. This enrages Gohan, and his hidden power is unleashed once again as he attacks Freeza savagely, bringing the villain to his knees.

After Freeza's defeat, there is a momentary period of peace while the Z Fighters wait for Goku to return to Earth. During this period, with Piccolo ensuring the safety of Gohan and his mother, Gohan goes back to his studies.

Garlic Jr. Saga

Filler saga, that was not in the manga. After Garlic Jr. escaped from the Dead Zone and enslaved most of humanity with the Black Water Mist, Gohan, who was unaffected due to hiding in a cave, is forced to travel to the lookout point to save his mother and friends, together with Kuririn and Piccolo. He had to do battle with Garlic Jr.'s henchmen, the Spice Boys, and after taking them down, he had to face his friends: Kuririn and Piccolo. Luckily it turned out that these two were only pretending to be evil so they could free Kami and Mr Popo. While outmatched at first, after a reunion with his friends Gohan eventually manages to overcome and send Garlic Jr. back to the Dead Zone by blowing up the Makyo Star that was powering the villain. This would be the first time Gohan had saved the world without his father's help.

Android Saga

At the age of 7, Son Gohan trained with Piccolo and Goku (who had recently returned to Earth) for three years to fight Android 18 and Android 17, which Future Trunks had warned them about. He spent a further year with his father in the Room of Spirit and Time (known as the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in the English dubs) where he spent some quality time with his father whom he was rarely with, spending a whole year in one day's time.

At the age of 9 (10 if you consider the year spent in the Room of Spirit and Time) he emerged from the room as a mastered Super Saiyan. However, in the actual storyline, Piccolo yells at Goku, saying "He's just a scared 11 year old boy!" After the Cell Games began, Goku was the first Z Fighter to battle Cell. However to everyone's surprise, Goku forfeited his match with Cell, choosing Gohan to continue the fight. It was then revealed that Gohan was stronger than Goku, and Goku had counted on Gohan's hidden power to be used as the primary tool to defeat Cell. Gohan did not want his power unleashed, and he refused to get angry enough for it to awaken. Desperate to see this power and test his own limits, Cell began tormenting Gohan, and created seven miniature versions of himself (Cell Juniors) to kill the Z Fighters.

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Super Saiyan 2 Gohan during his fight with Cell

Gohan's fear of his own power inhibited him from helping the Z fighters, and Gohan doubted his own abilities. It was then that Android 16 told Gohan that he had to fight to protect the life that he loved. Cell killed the android, and upon seeing this, Gohan's hidden power exploded, transforming him into Super Saiyan 2. With his new power, Gohan easily obliterated all seven of the Cell Jr.'s, and when he finally fought Cell, he pulverized the perfect organism to a point that made him revert back to his imperfect state. In desperation, Cell began a self-destruction technique, planning to blow up the Earth. However, Goku used Shunkan Ido to transport Cell away from Earth, to North Kaio's planet, sacrificing himself in the process.

Unfortunately, Cell survived the explosion, regenerating from a lone cell in his core to his perfect form. Due to Cell's Saiyan genes, this attempt at suicide effectively increased his power from his previous state to a point that matched Gohan's. Cell had also learned Goku's teleportation technique. Cell returned to Earth to destroy Gohan and the remaining Z-Warriors. Wanting to end the conflict, Cell prepared to destroy Gohan with a massive Kamehameha. Gohan, seeing no hope after he was injured from trying to save Vegeta from Cell, did not fight back. Goku (now in the Other World) telepathically urged Gohan to fight back, and fire a Kamehameha to combat Cell's. Gohan did as his father told him, but would not release all his power in fear of destroying the Earth. In the end however, Vegeta distracted Cell, and Gohan was able to unleash all of his power, obliterating Cell completely.

Majin Buu Saga

Seven years after the events of Cell, Gohan is living at home with his mother and his seven year old brother named Son Goten. Chi-Chi decides Gohan needs to go to high school to finish his education. On his first day, he turns Super Saiyan (in order to conceal his identity) to stop a robbery, and by the time he arrives at Orange Star High tales of the newest hero, "Gold Fighter", have already spread (which name was actually given him after two previous incidents while going to the school to take entrance exams). In class he meets another crime-fighter and the most popular girl in school, Videl. She is the daughter of Mr. Satan, who got rich and famous for stealing Gohan's credit over the defeat of Cell.

Videl is highly suspicious of Gohan and spies on him to see if he's the Gold Fighter. Videl confronts Gohan several times to voice her suspicions but Gohan nervously denies them. Son Gohan decides to use a disguise when fighting crime and goes to Bulma to make him a costume. He becomes the Great Saiyaman to hide his identity so that the media will not bother his family. But while trying to convince Videl to let him return a stolen dinosaur he and Goten knew well to its two pterodactyl parents, he accidentally reveals his identity to Videl. In the Manga, the arc with the stolen dinosaur never occurs, and Videl discovers Gohan is the Great Saiyaman by recognizing his voice. Videl then blackmails Gohan to compete against her in the newly revived Tenkaichi Budokai in exchange for her silence. Gohan, having no experience with kids his own age, especially girls, is helpless against the confident Videl. She also makes him promise to teach her to fly.

When Gohan tells Bulma about the tournament, Son Goku, listening in from the Other World, contacts them and tells them he'll come too, using his one-day pass to the human world. Hearing this Vegeta also decides to compete. To make it more interesting, and to give them a chance to meet Goku again, Gohan tells all his friends about the tournament, and they all decide to compete, either to meet Goku, or to get the prize money, or simply to have a good fight. Gohan also trains with Goten and is shocked to see Goten become a Super Saiyan.

When Videl shows up at the Son home to learn, Son Gohan learns that she has no knowledge of ki, since her father believes it to be just a trick. Son Gohan then has to start her training from scratch, though she picks it up pretty quickly. Videl, like the rest of the world, believes her father is the strongest fighter on Earth and he laid down a rule she was not allowed to date anyone unless they were stronger than him. During his training of Videl as well as his brother Goten, Videl learns more about Gohan and grows closer to him. Goten lets it slip that their dad is coming back from the dead to compete, but Videl brushes it off, assuming that their father left them.

During the Tournament Piccolo is matched against the mysterious Mr Shin. Seemingly terrified Piccolo withdraws from the match telling Goku and the others that he believes Mr Shin is actually the Dai Kaio. Videl steps up to fight Spopovich next who brutally beats her, nearly to death. After rushing her to the hospital Gohan steps into the ring against Kibito who demands that he transform into a Super Saiyan, but is surprised when Gohan informs him that there is a level beyond Super Sayian (Super Sayian 2). Upon doing this Gohan is assaulted by Spopovich and Yamu who drain his energy and then fly off. Shin reveals himself as Kaioshin and tells them of the wizard Babidi's plan to resurrect the evil genie Majin Buu. Yamu and Spopovich were two of his minions and in order to restore Buu they must collect large amounts of energy. Kaioshin intended to give them just that so that they would lead him to Babidi's ship. Kibito heals Gohan and they (along with Piccolo, Vegeta, Goku, Supreme Kai, and Kuririn) fly off after Yamu and Spopovich.

Later on, Majin Buu is resurrected by Babidi and Dabura. Gohan is beaten severely after he tries to defend East Kaioshin. Kibito (East Kaioshin's bodyguard and friend) finds East Kaioshin and is told that Gohan is their only hope against Buu. They bring Gohan to the Kaioshin home world and inform him that he must master the use of the Z-Sword in order to defeat Buu. During his training with it, Gohan accidentally breaks the sword, releasing Rou Dai Kaioshin from the Z Sword which he had been sealed in. Rou Dai Kaioshin tells Gohan that he can defeat Buu if he releases his potential power. After a 20 hour ritual is performed, Gohan's latent power is released, granting him incredible strength.

Gohan is taken back to Earth by Kibito, and he makes it in time to save Piccolo and Gotenks from Buu. He easily overpowers Buu, but before Gohan delivers the finishing blow, Buu blows himself up, and flees. Buu later returns and taunts Goten and Trunks to fuse, Gohan with his guard down allows it and Gotenks is formed again. Buu then uses the opportunity to quickly absorb Gotenks and Piccolo, gaining Gotenks' immense power and Piccolo's knowledge.

Gohan and Buu initially match each other blow for blow, until Buu uses his newly acquired knowledge of Gohan's attacks to gain the upper hand. Just as Buu is ready to launch an attack toward a wounded and exhausted Gohan, Tenshinhan appears and stops the attack with his Kikoho. Afterwards, Buu then charges an attack that can destroy the Earth. At this time, Goku appears with his instant transmission, alive again, and attacks Buu by cutting him in half. With Potara earrings he obtained in the afterlife, Goku plans to fuse with Gohan to defeat Buu.

Goku throws one earring to Gohan who misses it and goes looking for it. Goku stalls for time by fighting Buu. When Gohan finds the earring, Goku realizes that there is no need to fuse as Buu lost quite a lot of power when Gotenks' fusion time limit ran out. Buu was weaker than Gohan once again, but manages to absorb him from behind. After Gohan is released from Buu and subsequently killed when the Earth was destroyed, he is then brought back to life with the Dragon Balls. He makes the most significant contribution to Goku's Genki Dama during the climax of the final battle with Kid Buu.

Finally, a few years later, Gohan and Videl are married and have a child, Pan. According to the manga, when Pan was 4, it's alleged that Gohan became a scholar.

Future Gohan

Main article: The History of Trunks

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Gohan trains Trunks to help fight the androids.

In the alternate time-line, Gohan is the only surviving Z fighter as result of the androids. He trains Vegeta's son Trunks to become a Super Saiyan in order to help him in fighting the androids. Gohan loses his arm in one of the battles against the androids, and then is killed against the androids later on.

Dragon Ball GT

Ten years after the end of Dragon Ball Z, Gohan works for Capsule Corporation as a researcher, and like Goten and Trunks, does not consider training a major priority. Gohan's involvement in battles is minimal, which ultimately turns him into a minor character. This is unlike his character in Dragon Ball Z, where he was made the main character for brief periods of time in the series. During DBGT, Gohan is much more focused on being a husband to Videl and father to Pan than fighting and has embraced, to his mother's joy, a more educated and job-oriented lifestyle.

With Goku being exclusively the main character in Dragon Ball GT, his presence overshadows the other characters. Gohan's only major contribution to Dragon Ball GT was that the evil alien Bebi, possesses him and he becomes a disciple of his. Gohan is also seen at the end of the series battling Omega Shenron with Goku, Vegeta, Goten, and Trunks.

Power and Transformations

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Gohan's hidden power

Gohan, being of partial Saiyan heritage, has access to Saiyan transformations. Gohan, like pure Saiyans, was born with a monkey tail. This allowed him to transform into the Saiyan were-monkey called an Oozaru. Gohan's tail is removed early in Dragon Ball Z, and as a result, he loses this transformation. However, as his power continues to grow, Gohan gains access to the legendary Saiyan warrior called the Super Saiyan, and achieves an ascended state called Super Saiyan 2. Even with his Saiyan traits, Gohan is observed to have unusual abilities because of his mixed heritage. As a child, Gohan is known to have within him a seemingly limitless dormant power, which at first only revealed itself when he experienced fierce rage. The intensity of this power was abnormal, even for people of pure Saiyan heritage. As he got older, he trained hard and gained conscious access to a large portion of this power, but it was not until he was a young adult that his power was fully awakened and he was able to use all at his own will. Gohan's latent power is finally released to its fullest extent in the Buu Saga (fans use the term "Mystic Gohan" to describe him after this awakening), making him one of the strongest single characters in the manga series.

Oozaru (Great Ape)

An ability only available to Saiyans who still have their tails, the Oozaru transformation occurs whenever a Saiyan see's a full moon or a similar orb that emits similar rays. These rays transform any tailed Sayian into a gigantic ape/Oozaru, with incredible power. Unfortunately, without proper training this form cannot be controlled and the transformed Saiyan goes on a beserker rampage until the moon or alternative source of power is no longer visible or the Saiyan's tail is removed.

Unlocked Hidden Potential

Though technically not a true transformation, Gohan first had a small amount of his latent powers released on Namek by the namekian elder, named Guru in the english dub. After this transformation, Gohan used his fighting powers much more openly and easily, nearly destroying one of the Guldo, one of the Ginyu Force members (Vegeta had made an earlier claim that all of the Ginyu Force members were just as powerful as him at the time, although this proved false given the fact that the four remaining members were exponentially stronger). As the Ginyu Force members looked on, they commented that Gohan's power level seemed to be increasing as he fought.

Super Saiyan

Gohan has a great deal of difficulty reaching this level, arguably even more difficulty than Vegeta, who had to actually "give up" in order to reach this level. Having been told by his father that the "power comes in response to a need not a desire", Gohan focused on all the times he had let people die by not being strong enough to save him. This, combined with Gohan forcing his father to train him as brutally as his previous mentor Piccolo had (resulting in Gohan being blasted with a fully powered Kamehameha wave) served as the ultimate catalyst for this transformation.

As with all Super Saiyan transformations, Gohan hair become a yellow golden color and his eyes became a shade of green. Although his strength and speed had drastically increased as well, Gohan's nature prevented him from taking full advantage of this form. At best it only served to better protect him from repeated pummeling by Cell.

Super Saiyan 2

This level was reached after the death of Android 16. In this level, Gohan's speed and strength drastically increases. His hair stands further on end and in most instances (usually the manga more than the anime) sparks of electricity crackle about his body.

It should be noted that Gohan's nature is altered drastically in this stage as well, as he seems slightly sadistic following the transformation.

Mystic Gohan (Elder Kai Unlocked Potential)

Although many believed that Gohan's fully unleashed power was at the Super Saiyan 2 level, this turned out not to be the case. When Gohan became a teenager his powers diminished slighlty due to lack of training. Because of this, he was entirely unprepared for the awesome power of a new threat to planet earth, Majin Buu.

The means of release are made ambiguous, but what is known is that Gohan was required to sit perfectly still for an extremely long period of time (somewhere in the range of 20 hours) while Elder Kai unlocked his abilities. Following this release, Gohan proved himself to be arguably the most powerful unfused fighter of the entire Dragonball Z series, nearly defeating Buu singlehandly, failing only after Buu absorbed both Piccolo and a fused Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks.

Unlike other transformations, Gohan does not change physically whatsoever. The only sign of this power has been shown in the Budokai series, as a blueish aura surrounding his body as opposed to the signature gold aura of Super Saiyans. It can be argued however that in this stage Gohan is at least as powerful as Super Saiyan 3, if not stronger.

Special Techniques

Bakurikimaha (Exploding Powerful Demon Wave)

A very powerful blast shot from one hand, with the other arm supporting the one that is firing the attack. During the battle against Freeza on Namek, Gohan uses this technique when he comes to help Piccolo after Freeza transforms into his second form. As Piccolo is the creator of this technique, it is likely he taught it to Gohan. Known as Destructive Wave in english releases.

Masenko (Demon Blast)

Gohan's first and most used attack. Its origins are from Piccolo (hence the Ma or demon beginning of the word) who presumably taught the attack to Gohan while training together in the wilderness, although this is never shown. He holds his hands crossed with the palms facing forward above his head, creating a yellow-colored energy ball. Then he throws his hands forward and fires the yellow beam, with the beam's pattern almost similar to the Kamehameha.

Kamehameha (Turtle Destruction Wave)

After training with Goku before the arrival of the androids, Gohan masters this attack. He holds his hands near one of his sides (usually right), creating a shiny, blue energy ball. Then he throws his palms forward to fire the beam.

Energy Shield (Protective Ki Shield)

Gohan has shown the ability to (in filler) create a ki energy shield to protect himself and other from harms way.

Voice actors

Toei Animation:

• Masako Nozawa

FUNimation (Ocean Group):

• Saffron Henderson
• Jillian Michaels
• Brad Swaile

FUNimation (in-house actors):

• Stephanie Nadolny (Chibi Gohan)
• Kyle Hebert (Adult Gohan)
• Dameon Clarke (Adult Gohan from Trunks' Timeline)