Can I ask a question? Who is the main protagonists in Dragon Ball Z? It is Goku because he was the main protagonist in Dragon ball? Could it have been Vegeta, he had a ton of growth in as a character so did Piccolo. I bet many people would choose Goku as the main protagonist. Which is a good choice, but the wrong one. The answer to this question is Gohan. Reading the title of the video, it should have been an easy guess. The reason I say this because of what happen to Gohan’s character in Dragon Ball Z. Gohan goes from a kid that feared the water in episode 1 to a fighter that could hold his own, but the story didn’t complete. Gohan didn’t become a man. This is the point of the video, I will explain how the Buu Saga was supposed to be the part of the story in which Gohan stops being a little kids and grows to be a man. I can hear people arguing that Gohan became a man when he defeated Cell but I disagree. Gohan broke out of his shell when he beat Cell. He still needed growing up to do after that fight. The reason I say this is that Gohan never leaves his parents shadow. Gohan fighting and beating cell shows that was his father's son. In the buu arc Gohan becoming a great student was his mother’s goals. Gohan never makes his own decisions in DBZ. Gohan was a product of his parents. The Buu arc should have been Gohan leaving his shell.

The Buu arc destroys Gohan as a character. Instead of making him, his own person, he instead becomes a clone of Goku. In the start of the Buu arc Gohan regress as a character. This could have been a great learning point for Gohan. He becomes complacent. The fighting ends and Gohan loses all of his reason to train. He lives under his mother‘s rule, studying day and night. Without his dad’s influence, his mother takes over his life.

But you know what is funny the Buu arc could have gone two different ways in developing Gohan‘s character. The first being Gohan turning into a hero. The Z fighters aren’t heroes they are people that love fighting. The fighting leads them to saving the world, but that has never been their major focus. Gohan could have the person who broke this mold. Saiyaman wasn’t a product of neither his mom nor his father. It could have been his own way forward. Gohan being a hero could have started a movement inside of the story. It would bring the Z fighters into the light. By doing so, the spirit bomb could have been Gohan achievement in beating Buu. Goku needs the energy from everyone on earth but needs their permission to use their energy. Goku wasn’t able to convince the earthlings to give him the power necessary to beat Buu. Why not make Saiyaman the hero of earth? Not only could he have been a hero but also he could have started a new legacy for the sayain race. Goku and Vegeta was the old guard. They are a dead race. With Gohan at the helm, the new legacies for the Sayians could be remade. Trunks, Goten, and Pam should follow Gohan’s footsteps.

It seems a direction DB creators want to go. In Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Trunks is the leader of the time patrol. The goal of the game is with Trunk’s help save the universe. Yes, they might not get any name recognition for saving the timeline, but it is the closest anyone gets to hero work. But that isn’t all. In super, we get the galaxy patrol. Goku and Vegeta gets recruited to save the universe from an alien criminal. I could argue these ideas stem from Gohan’s Saiyaman creation. Gohan should have been the leader of the new heroes of the future instead we get scholar Gohan. Something that he didn’t enjoy and something he didn’t have any say in the matter.

Gohan being a hero could have kept the Buu arc interesting. We could have seen Gohan progress as a person. Instead of the Z fighters depending on the Dragon Balls, Gohan saves people. He tries everything in his power to save lives. He understands that like in future trunks timeline there might be a time in which the Z fighters don’t have a cheat. The Z fighters depend on the Dragon Balls too much. They even lost them when the sayians attack. Gohan being a hero could change this mentality. Gohan should be the adult in the room. Trunks traveling back in time to give out grave news that in his time there wasn’t any dragon balls. So, why wouldn’t Gohan take this into account when fighting a new threat? There is a possibility that the dragon will not save everyone. Why risk it? Who cares if they rely on the dragon before they also rely heavily on Goku but he cannot save them forever. He couldn’t beat Cell.

The second way Gohan character could have developed as a teacher. This could have been the other way he could have developed and become his own person, shedding his parents' influence. They foreshadowed this idea in the Cell saga. When we learned about Trunks’ history. After all the Z warriors died out beside Gohan. Gohan train a young Trunks. He later trained both his future wife and his younger brother. How about instead of only training Videl and Goten, he also trains trunks before the fighting tournament. Gohan and Vegeta could have an understanding. Vegeta throwing away his pride and letting Gohan, goku’s son teach his son. The reason being two-fold, Gohan being stronger than Vegeta and also a better teacher than Vegeta. With Vegeta giving his son to Gohan for training, it would be the ending of an era. The Sayians brutal nature will die with Vegeta. Even though his bloodline continues, the old ways will die once he dies. Goku doesn’t count as a Sayian since he spent most of his time on earth. All of his ideas and customs come from earthlings. Now, it is time for the fun part. How would I remake the buu saga.

Part 2: Changing the Buu Saga

If I was writing the Buu Saga, the route I would have gone with Gohan is the teacher route. I would have made him become the teacher for the next generation. So, I would explain what I would do with Gohan character as a teacher after if I would make him a hero.

So, Gohan’s hero progression would have gone the same way at the start of the saga. Gohan leaves him goes to school. Mets Videl becomes Saiyaman and starts saving people. Instead of the tournament starting the Buu threat, Babidi minions attack different parts of the world stealing energy. Gohan as Saiyaman runs around the earth saving people. Each person he saves gives him more name recognition and a reason to fight. Gohan never wanted to fight. But saving people would have put faces on the people he was saving. Gohan save very few people as a Z fighter. Yes, killing Cell and other villains saved lives, but he never met the people he was saving. This could fuel his power. Gohan regressing as a fighter can change the way he draws power. Rage fueled his whole life. How about instead of his power being fuel by rage is fueled by the need to save people? After every successful rescue, he gains a little power. He time he saves a child, the children smile makes him want to get stronger. Wants to push his limits. Gohan stopping Babidi from getting his energy from buu, he would have to find another source, the dragon balls. With Gohan saving people now, we have no reason for the dragons balls to bring people back to life. Babidi use the dragon balls to bring back buu.

The stakes are raise, Gohan is now facing an enemy stronger than him with no dragon balls. It becomes a cat-and-mouse game in which Gohan must run around the world saving people from Majin Buu while trying to get stronger. Gohan would be push unlike any Z fighter before him. This isn’t like the Cell fight in which Gohan could take a day training knowing that the dragon balls are safe. If he is not out on the field saving people, the people that die could be lost forever. Yes, I know about Namek dragon balls. Lets make it so that Badidi uses both sets of balls. Now, the Z fighters don’t have a backup. Let’s also get rid of the Z fighters beside Goten and Trunks. Their first mission as Z fighters should be one without the Dragon balls. We can put the older Z fighters under Badidi’s control. Saiyaman have to save people on the ground and become stronger than all the Z fighters plus the main villain. With the death of Buu and the return of the Z fighters who would disagree that the rest should retire and leave the entire Earth into gohan’s hands? Now onto the next part.

We had Gohan as the hero let’s make him the villain. Yes, the Gohan that will train the future generation will fight the old one. The reason Gohan will turn evil is beacuse dun dun dunnn. Goku. I will have Gohan tire of Goku’s crap and having him trying to kill him. Let set up this bad boy. The story starts off like it does in the Buu saga. I will move the tournament arc further back in the story. Goten goes over to Bulma house and beats Trunks in a spar. This set up a meeting with Vegeta and Gohan with Vegeta given Gohan the reins to Trunks training. Let’s not stop there, Gohan goes to the lookout for senzu beans. Dende learns that Gohan is training fights and task him to train the nemakens. The nemakens after the freezia arc travels the stars. When news comes about that they can train with their saviors not only do they bring nemakes but other races. Gohan trains more and more aliens. That is when Videl reveals there is a martial arts tournament coming up soon. The aliens under Gohan training want to see how they match up against each other.

The tournament starts and Badidi comes and starts stealing energy from Gohan disciples because the Supreme kai told goku about the Buu threat. Goku being a moron serve up Gohan disciples on a sliver platter like what happen when he let badidi’s men steal his energy. Gohan is piss and told his dad it was a stupid plan. Z fighters just needed to kill all but one of his minions and see where the last one run off to, that way they wouldn’t have to sacrifice any of his disciples. Gohan is visibly mad, but the Z fighters tell him that there is a bigger problem and they need to stop buu from being brought back to life. They follow Badidi’s men back to the hideout in which goku refuse to take the situation seriously causing Buu to be brought back to life. Gohan tries his best to beat buu but Gohan is out of practice he has been studying since the Cell arc. Buu is ready to kill Gohan, but the Kai intervenes and saves his life. The Kai sends Gohan off planet to heal. Once the Kai heals Gohan, he shows Gohan the situation on earth. Buu have killed everyone he knows and love while Goku teaches Goten and Trunks the fusion dance. Gohan watches and learns that Goten and Trunks aren’t able to learn the fusion dance in time forcing Goku to fight buu. While fighting Buu, Goku shows a new transformation. SSj3. Goku isn’t able to beat buu being resummoned back to heaven. This gives Trunks and Goten enough time to learn the fusion dance and transform. They face buu. Gohan knowing they aren’t ready to fight Buu, he gets the Kai to take him back to earth. He feels Goten and Trunks new fusion power level as they also turn SSJ3. Goten and Trunks fusion isn’t enough to beat the evil monster. Goku contacts Gohan from the dead, and ask him to save the kids. Gohan have one question for Goku. Who was stronger Goku SSJ3 or the kids fusion SSJ3. Goku tell Gohan that he was stronger than the kids.

Gohan explodes in a rage. Easily kills Buu and runs to Bulma house to get the dragon radar. Gohan summons the dragon asking the dragon to bring back Goku to earth alive. Gohan fights Goku to the death. Not wanting his friend to kill his father Dende goes to new namake and uses the dragon balls to bring back everyone who got killed by buu. The new trainee’s first mission is to stop Gohan from killing his father. They have to work together to calm him down. The key pieces will be Videl and the two kids. The evil Gohan arc is over once they get Gohan rage under control. The series ends with Gohan leaving fighting behind because of his rage and instead have him teach the next generation.

The reason Gohan character fail in the Buu saga is because toryima didn’t give Gohan any agency. He tried to make Gohan Goku 2.0 but forgot the reason Gohan should fight. Goku fights because he loves fighting. This was never Gohan’s character. I watch a youtuber talk about Gohan as a character in him being a passive character. Which he was during all of DBZ, but he didn’t need to stay passive. The only reason Gohan was a passive character in the Buu saga is because the toriama didn’t know what to do with Gohan’s character and make him Goku 2.0.

I hate how the dragon ball team is treating Gohan. They made one mistake with his character and instead of fixing it in GT or Super they made him worst. I didn’t mind Gohan regression in power after a long break but having his character regress as well was a slap to the face of all Gohan fans. Gohan could be written better. He should be written better. We should all demand Gohan be something more than a power character with anger issues.