Son Gohan is the eldest son of Goku and Chi-Chi, the shy little boy who appears in chapter 196 of the manga in autumn 1988 and carries the greatest raw potential in his whole family. Akira Toriyama once planned for him to take over from Goku as the lead. That plan changed, but Gohan remains the emotional core of Dragon Ball Z.
Who he is
He is named after Goku's adoptive grandfather, the old martial artist who raised his father. Half Saiyan and half human, he carries that split in his personality: enormous strength that erupts when he loses control, and a genuine wish to just study. Chi-Chi dreams of him becoming a scholar; the world keeps asking him to fight.
His defining trait is his hidden power. When pushed to anger, Gohan can outclass anyone, his father included, yet he struggles to reach that level again with a cool head.
His story across the series
- Dragon Ball Z: at four he is kidnapped by his uncle Raditz and, in a flash of fury, slams into him hard enough to hurt him. Piccolo trains him for the Saiyans' arrival, and Gohan then flies to Namek with Krillin and Bulma. While waiting for the androids he trains with Goku in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and becomes a Super Saiyan. At the Cell Games, after Android 16 is destroyed, he becomes the first to reach Super Saiyan 2 and defeats Cell. In the Majin Buu saga he goes to high school, becomes the masked hero Great Saiyaman, meets Videl and has his full potential unlocked by the Elder Kai.
- Dragon Ball Super: now Pan's father and a researcher, he has let his training slide, but he gets back into shape for the Tournament of Power and becomes a pillar of Team Universe 7. In the 2022 film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero he shares the spotlight with Piccolo and awakens his Beast form.
- Dragon Ball GT: he plays a supporting role and, like most of Earth, ends up under the control of the parasite Baby.
There is also an alternate Gohan from Trunks's future: an adult who has lost an arm, he is Trunks's teacher and dies fighting the androids.
Powers, techniques and transformations
| Technique or form | Key moment |
|---|---|
| Masenko | Taught by Piccolo (Saiyan saga) |
| Kamehameha | Learned from his father, decisive against Cell |
| Super Saiyan | Hyperbolic Time Chamber (Cell saga) |
| Super Saiyan 2 | Cell Games, the first to reach it |
| Unlocked potential (Ultimate) | The Elder Kai's ritual (Majin Buu saga) |
| Beast | Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero |
The father-son Kamehameha against Cell, with Goku backing him from the afterlife, is one of the most quoted scenes in the saga. To see where Super Saiyan 2 fits in the bigger picture, read our guide to Super Saiyan transformations.
Relationships
- Goku is the beloved and often absent father who, at the Cell Games, hands him a burden that may be too heavy for a child.
- Piccolo is his mentor and almost a second father; their bond is one of the warmest in the series.
- Videl becomes his wife. They meet in high school, and he teaches her to fly.
- Trunks from the future was his student in the alternate timeline.
Why he is iconic: our take
Gohan is the character who brings growing up into Dragon Ball. We see him cry, panic, get abandoned in the wilderness and come back a fighter; no one else goes through so many ages in front of the reader. The Cell Games work because the winner is not the most experienced fighter but the most fragile one, a kid forced to discover there is a monster inside him.
Plenty of fans complain that he was sidelined after Cell, but it is a consistent choice: Gohan never wanted to be a warrior. Super Hero puts him back at the centre without betraying that idea, because once again his strongest form is born of fear for the people he loves.
Did you know? In a 1993 poll of Weekly Shōnen Jump readers, Gohan was voted the most popular Dragon Ball character, ahead of Goku himself.
Trivia
- Gohan means "cooked rice" or "meal" in Japanese, in keeping with Toriyama's habit of food-based names.
- In Japanese he is voiced by Masako Nozawa, who also plays Goku. She only found out she would be voicing Gohan on the day she recorded his first episode.
- In Funimation's English dub, adult Gohan is voiced by Kyle Hebert, while the child version was voiced by Stephanie Nadolny and later Colleen Clinkenbeard.