Son Gohan
Encyclopedia
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
, soundtrack
s, movies
, television special
s, video games, and other collectible
s. 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.
In conceptualizing for Gohan's character, Toriyama originally included glasses or a jacket to his apparel, and commonly, his hair is spiked up as seen in the final design. With the ending of the Cell arc, Gohan was meant to replace his father as the main protagonist; Toriyama later decided against it though.
Gohan is a sayian son of Goku and Chi-Chi, and later a brother to Goten.
Being the son of Goku, Gohan inherited great powers of his own, however due to his peaceful nature he only releases them when anger grows inside of him during a battle. His personality also differs from Goku's during battle, since Gohan shows less merciful methods against his enemies when at full power (mostly due to Piccolo's influence on him). Gohan proved this during the battle against Garlic Jr. when he defeated each of Garlic's minions by killing them, when fighting Cell by claiming a murderer like him needed to suffer before being defeated, and during his battle with Buu, whom he heavily humiliated when every of his attacks showed no effect against Gohan.
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. 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.
and Nappa, though Piccolo is aware that training the son of his greatest enemy will be a risk. 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.
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. 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, who seeks the Dragon Balls for immortality. Gohan is outraged by the killing of his good friend Dende, who is a Namekian, and unleashes all of his power against Frieza. However, that has no effect on 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.
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. Gohan then commits himself to training with Goku and Piccolo until the arrival of the androids. Following the appearance of Cell, Gohan is taken to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber (Room Of Spirit) and trained by Goku. Goku then reveals his intentions: to train Gohan to become a Super Saiyan, and to have Gohan surpass him in strength. Following Gohan's emergence from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, 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.After Goku surrenders from his match with Cell, he recommends Gohan to be Cell's next opponent. Gohan matches Cell's powers with his Super Saiyan form but is reluctant to unleash his full power. After being constantly tormented by Cell, and after he killed Android #16, an enemy-turned-friend, Gohan, infuriated, ascends to Super Saiyan 2, and later defeats Cell in a Kamehameha struggle, counseled by Goku from the afterlife and winning with the assistance of Vegeta.
Gohan, during the consequent peace that follows, is said to have continued his studies, and later, a sixteen-year-old Gohan is shown enrolling at Orange Star High School in Satan City. On his first day, he foils a bank robbery as a Super Saiyan, and, with help from Bulma, adopts a superhero
identity that he dubs the "Great Saiyaman". Participating in the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, Gohan is depicted as having grown weaker, which the Daizenshū World Guide book explains as due to a lack of training and anger in transforming. 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. 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. This makes him arguebly the most powerful non-fused character in the series (excluding Dragon Ball GT ). Gohan then returns to Earth and confronts Buu for a second time, and defeats him. However, he, along with Gotenks and Piccolo, are later absorbed by Buu. Once revived, Gohan is able to aid Goku's Super Spirit Bomb by lending his chi. 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.
, 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. In appearance, Gohan's hair is cut much shorter than his present 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.
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. What happened was that the two androids ganged up on Gohan, and killed him with machine gun-like ki blasts.
in all media. In the Ocean dub of the series he would be voiced by Saffron Henderson
and later by Jillian Michaels
as a child and Brad Swaile
as an adult. In the Funimation
dub Gohan would be voiced by Stephanie Nadolny
as a child and Kyle Hebert
would voice him as an adult throughout the series with the exception of the Trunks TV special where he was voiced by Dameon Clarke
. Currently Nadolny and Hebert voice him in all video games with the exception of Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout
, where he was played as a teenager by Lex Lang
, and in Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2
, where, just like in the English dub of Dragon Ball Z Kai, the younger Gohan is voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard
.
Gohan can also freely manipulate his chi for the use of abilities such as the , enabling him to fly, or concentrate it into beams of chi energy blasts, such as the Kamehameha both regular and super versions or . Gohan also possesses superhuman strength, as well as superhuman speed and reflexes (as seen during his training with Goten). Gohan can also use his chi in ways not even Goku can master, such as being able to create protective energy spheres. He was revealed to have great hidden potential which was seen when he transformed to Super Saiyan. He later showed his hidden talent by transforming into a Super Saiyan 2, during the fight against Cell. During the fight with Buu, Elder Kai unlocked his full potential, allowing him to utilise his previously dormant power. When his potential was fully unlocked, he could use all the power he could use, (even as a super saiyan 2) without transforming. Because he doesn't need to transform, he rarely transforms afterwards. It's also arguably said that after his full potential was released, Gohan's power level is equal or even a little superior to that of a Super Saiyan 3.
Gohan also possesses a genius level intelligence, wich can be seen in his ability to solve problems without hesitation. It's also known that sometimes he uses more strategy and brains in order to defeat his enemies (like Piccolo) than just depend on his power level and chi skills (like Goku or Vegeta).
in various Dragon Ball-related video games. He first appeared in the 1990 Japanese-language
game Dragon Ball Z: Kyôshū! Saiyan (with Future Gohan selectable in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road and Dragon Ball : Raging Blast 2). Gohan has also appeared in crossover media such as Battle Stadium D.O.N
and Jump Super Stars
.
Gohan, along with Goku, is parodied
in the Robot Chicken
episode "Easter Basket". Gohan has been used in promotional merchandising at fast-food chain Burger King
, and collectible cards
, such as the Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game, have featured Gohan frequently.
s, video games, and clothing have featured Gohan in Japan and in various countries around the world. 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 seiyū
, 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. Saffron Henderson, Gohan's original Ocean Studios voice actor, has stated she felt protective of the role and considers it to be one of her favorites. In addition, Gohan's Funimation voice actor, Stephanie Nadolny has said that playing Gohan was a unique and much-loved experience.
IGN
's writer, D. F. Smith, liked how during the Cell Games arc, Gohan has more screentime than Goku, and praised his scenes as one the biggest moments from said story arc. Theron Martin from Anime News Network
celebrated Gohan's development in the Cell Games as he has grown up and has become stronger.
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995; later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the...
universe
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
created by Akira Toriyama
Akira Toriyama
is a Japanese manga artist and game artist known mostly for his creation of Dragon Ball in 1984. Toriyama admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he remembers for the great art...
as a protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
for the media franchise
Media franchise
A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
, which consists of a series of manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s, movies
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, television special
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
s, video games, and other collectible
Collectible
A collectable or collectible is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector . There are numerous types of collectables and terms to denote those types. An antique is a collectable that is old...
s. Gohan is introduced as the first son of the primary protagonist, Son Goku
Son Goku (Dragon Ball)
Goku, known as in the English-language manga and original Japanese-language version, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise created by Akira Toriyama. He is loosely based on Sun Wukong, a central character in Journey to the West...
, 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
Gohan's name comes from the Japanese word , 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 tidy. 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 for Gohan's character, Toriyama originally included glasses or a jacket to his apparel, and commonly, his hair is spiked up as seen in the final design. With the ending of the Cell arc, Gohan was meant to replace his father as the main protagonist; Toriyama later decided against it though.
Gohan is a sayian son of Goku and Chi-Chi, and later a brother to Goten.
Personality
At first, because of his mother's protectiveness, Gohan starts out quite different than his father, as he is at the start of his appearance quite polite, timid and easily scared. Only after Piccolo's training does Gohan start to acquire his father's love of adventure and freedom. As Gohan starts to join the other heroes in battle his temper starts to show as the villains insult and underestimate him. While he loves martial arts he never quite inherits the love of fighting Goku has though it's obvious he enjoys being the hero.Being the son of Goku, Gohan inherited great powers of his own, however due to his peaceful nature he only releases them when anger grows inside of him during a battle. His personality also differs from Goku's during battle, since Gohan shows less merciful methods against his enemies when at full power (mostly due to Piccolo's influence on him). Gohan proved this during the battle against Garlic Jr. when he defeated each of Garlic's minions by killing them, when fighting Cell by claiming a murderer like him needed to suffer before being defeated, and during his battle with Buu, whom he heavily humiliated when every of his attacks showed no effect against Gohan.
Appearance
As opposed to full-blooded Saiyans, whose hair stays the same from birth, 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.Initially, Gohan is illustrated garbed in a Hanfu
Han Chinese clothing
Hanfu or Han Chinese Clothing, also sometimes known as Hanzhuang , Huafu , and sometimes referred in English sources simply as Silk Robe or Chinese Silk Robe refers to the historical dress of the Han Chinese people, which was worn for millennia before the conquest by the Manchus and the...
-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
Keikogi
or dōgi is a uniform for training, used in martial arts derived from Japan, or budō. . The prototype for the modern keikogi emerged in the late 19th century. The keikogi was developed by judo founder Kano Jigoro...
fashioned after Goku's, but substitutes it with the demon character "" as a sign of his admission into the Demon Tribe. 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
Obi (sash)
is a sash for traditional Japanese dress, keikogi worn for Japanese martial arts, and a part of kimono outfits.The obi for men's kimono is rather narrow, wide at most, but a woman's formal obi can be wide and more than long. Nowadays, a woman's wide and decorative obi does not keep the kimono...
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
Premiering in the manga chapter #196 (Son Goku) first published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on October 24, 1988, Gohan is introduced as the four-year-old son of the series' main protagonist, Goku. Described as well-mannered and reserved, 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, a level of 1,324, 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, VegetaVegeta
is a fictional character and antihero in the Dragon Ball franchise created by Akira Toriyama. Vegeta first appeared in the manga chapter #204 first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on December 19, 1988, and in episode 5 of its anime adaptation Dragon Ball Z...
and Nappa, though Piccolo is aware that training the son of his greatest enemy will be a risk. 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.
After the defeat of Vegeta
Vegeta
is a fictional character and antihero in the Dragon Ball franchise created by Akira Toriyama. Vegeta first appeared in the manga chapter #204 first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on December 19, 1988, and in episode 5 of its anime adaptation Dragon Ball Z...
, 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. 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, who seeks the Dragon Balls for immortality. Gohan is outraged by the killing of his good friend Dende, who is a Namekian, and unleashes all of his power against Frieza. However, that has no effect on 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.
A year later, Future Trunks
Trunks (Dragon Ball)
is a fictional character from the Dragon Ball franchise by Akira Toriyama. Trunks is the half-Saiyan son of Vegeta, the prince of the dying race of fictional aliens called the Saiyans, and Bulma, the heiress of a massive company called Capsule Corporation...
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. Gohan then commits himself to training with Goku and Piccolo until the arrival of the androids. Following the appearance of Cell, Gohan is taken to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber (Room Of Spirit) and trained by Goku. Goku then reveals his intentions: to train Gohan to become a Super Saiyan, and to have Gohan surpass him in strength. Following Gohan's emergence from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, 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.After Goku surrenders from his match with Cell, he recommends Gohan to be Cell's next opponent. Gohan matches Cell's powers with his Super Saiyan form but is reluctant to unleash his full power. After being constantly tormented by Cell, and after he killed Android #16, an enemy-turned-friend, Gohan, infuriated, ascends to Super Saiyan 2, and later defeats Cell in a Kamehameha struggle, counseled by Goku from the afterlife and winning with the assistance of Vegeta.
Gohan, during the consequent peace that follows, is said to have continued his studies, and later, a sixteen-year-old Gohan is shown enrolling at Orange Star High School in Satan City. On his first day, he foils a bank robbery as a Super Saiyan, and, with help from Bulma, adopts a superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
identity that he dubs the "Great Saiyaman". Participating in the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, Gohan is depicted as having grown weaker, which the Daizenshū World Guide book explains as due to a lack of training and anger in transforming. Gohan, after having his chi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
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. 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. This makes him arguebly the most powerful non-fused character in the series (excluding Dragon Ball GT ). Gohan then returns to Earth and confronts Buu for a second time, and defeats him. However, he, along with Gotenks and Piccolo, are later absorbed by Buu. Once revived, Gohan is able to aid Goku's Super Spirit Bomb by lending his chi. 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
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). Gohan is shown training Bulma's half-Saiyan son, Future TrunksTrunks (Dragon Ball)
is a fictional character from the Dragon Ball franchise by Akira Toriyama. Trunks is the half-Saiyan son of Vegeta, the prince of the dying race of fictional aliens called the Saiyans, and Bulma, the heiress of a massive company called Capsule Corporation...
, 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
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
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. In appearance, Gohan's hair is cut much shorter than his present 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.
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. What happened was that the two androids ganged up on Gohan, and killed him with machine gun-like ki blasts.
Voice actors
Like his younger brother and Goku, Gohan is voiced in the original Japanese anime by Masako NozawaMasako Nozawa
is a Japanese voice actress and actress affiliated with Office Nozawa. Her pet name is Mako. Her husband, Masa'aki Tsukada is also a voice actor....
in all media. In the Ocean dub of the series he would be voiced by Saffron Henderson
Saffron Henderson
Saffron Henderson is a Canadian voice actress and singer and the daughter of Bill Henderson of Chilliwack fame. She has voiced various characters from anime series...
and later by Jillian Michaels
Jillian Michaels (actress)
Jillian Michaels is a Canadian voice actress who has done English dubs of Japanese anime like InuYasha, Hamtaro, and Silent Möbius...
as a child and Brad Swaile
Brad Swaile
Bradley "Brad" Swaile is a Canadian voice actor. He has acted in several animated series, known mostly for his anime roles; particularly that of Amuro Ray in the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, Mousse in Ranma 1/2, and Quatre Raberba Winner in Gundam Wing...
as an adult. In the Funimation
Funimation Entertainment
Funimation is an American entertainment company. Originally founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, the company became a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005...
dub Gohan would be voiced by Stephanie Nadolny
Stephanie Nadolny
Stephanie Ann Nadolny is an American voice actress and Singer who has worked on the properties of FUNimation Entertainment and ADV Films...
as a child and Kyle Hebert
Kyle Hebert
Kyle Henry Hebert is an American voice actor and podcaster who works with anime films, television series, as well as video games...
would voice him as an adult throughout the series with the exception of the Trunks TV special where he was voiced by Dameon Clarke
Dameon Clarke
Dameon J. Clarke is a Canadian-born American actor and voice actor who currently resides in Los Angeles. He has worked on numerous film and television productions as well as many anime and video game properties for FUNimation Entertainment, New Generation Pictures and OkraTron 5000. He is...
. Currently Nadolny and Hebert voice him in all video games with the exception of Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout
Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout
Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout, known in Japan and Europe as , is a fighting game for the PlayStation. It was produced and released by Bandai in Japan, parts of Europe, and North America in 1997. The game would reissued in Europe in 2002 and in North America in 2004...
, where he was played as a teenager by Lex Lang
Lex Lang
Walter Alexis "Lex" Lang is a two-time Emmy Award–winning American voice actor, producer and entrepreneur. He is the cofounder of The Love Planet Foundation, a non-profit organization which creates educational materials for children on the importance of recycling, world water awareness, and the...
, and in Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2
Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2
is a video game based on the manga and anime franchise Dragon Ball and is a follow up to the 2009 video game Dragon Ball: Raging Blast. It was developed by Spike and published by Namco Bandai under the Bandai label for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gaming consoles in the beginning of November 2010...
, where, just like in the English dub of Dragon Ball Z Kai, the younger Gohan is voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard
Colleen Clinkenbeard
Colleen Smith Clinkenbeard is an American voice actress, Line Producer, ADR Director, and Script Writer who works for Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, and OkraTron 5000. She has provided voices for a number of English language versions of Japanese anime films and series, most notably, Monkey D...
.
Abilities
As a child, Gohan is depicted with an immense amount of hidden powers, which at first only revealed itself when he experienced fierce rage or distress. Gohan unleashes this great power which he possessed within him when he fights Cell in the Cell Saga.Gohan can also freely manipulate his chi for the use of abilities such as the , enabling him to fly, or concentrate it into beams of chi energy blasts, such as the Kamehameha both regular and super versions or . Gohan also possesses superhuman strength, as well as superhuman speed and reflexes (as seen during his training with Goten). Gohan can also use his chi in ways not even Goku can master, such as being able to create protective energy spheres. He was revealed to have great hidden potential which was seen when he transformed to Super Saiyan. He later showed his hidden talent by transforming into a Super Saiyan 2, during the fight against Cell. During the fight with Buu, Elder Kai unlocked his full potential, allowing him to utilise his previously dormant power. When his potential was fully unlocked, he could use all the power he could use, (even as a super saiyan 2) without transforming. Because he doesn't need to transform, he rarely transforms afterwards. It's also arguably said that after his full potential was released, Gohan's power level is equal or even a little superior to that of a Super Saiyan 3.
Gohan also possesses a genius level intelligence, wich can be seen in his ability to solve problems without hesitation. It's also known that sometimes he uses more strategy and brains in order to defeat his enemies (like Piccolo) than just depend on his power level and chi skills (like Goku or Vegeta).
In other media
Gohan is a playable characterPlayer character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
in various Dragon Ball-related video games. He first appeared in the 1990 Japanese-language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
game Dragon Ball Z: Kyôshū! Saiyan (with Future Gohan selectable in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road and Dragon Ball : Raging Blast 2). Gohan has also appeared in crossover media such as Battle Stadium D.O.N
Battle Stadium D.O.N
is a Japanese fighting game for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 featuring characters from the three popular manga series published by Weekly Shōnen Jump. Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, and Naruto, hence the D.O.N...
and Jump Super Stars
Jump Super Stars
is a 2D fighting game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Ganbarion and published by Nintendo. The game was released on August 8, 2005 in Japan and accompanied the release of a red Nintendo DS...
.
Gohan, along with Goku, is parodied
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
in the Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
episode "Easter Basket". Gohan has been used in promotional merchandising at fast-food chain Burger King
Burger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
, and collectible cards
Trading card
A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text...
, such as the Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game, have featured Gohan frequently.
Reception
In 1993, Gohan placed first in an official Shonen Jump character popularity poll, followed by Goku. Due to the popularity of Gohan, other merchandise, such as action figureAction figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
s, video games, and clothing have featured Gohan in Japan and in various countries around the world. 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 seiyū
Seiyu
Voice acting in Japan has far greater prominence than in most other countries. Japan's large animation industry produces 60% of the animated series in the world; as a result, Japanese voice actors, or , are able to achieve fame on a national and international level.Besides acting as narrators and...
, 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. Saffron Henderson, Gohan's original Ocean Studios voice actor, has stated she felt protective of the role and considers it to be one of her favorites. In addition, Gohan's Funimation voice actor, Stephanie Nadolny has said that playing Gohan was a unique and much-loved experience.
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's writer, D. F. Smith, liked how during the Cell Games arc, Gohan has more screentime than Goku, and praised his scenes as one the biggest moments from said story arc. Theron Martin from Anime News Network
Anime News Network
Anime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
celebrated Gohan's development in the Cell Games as he has grown up and has become stronger.