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Son Gohan, is a fictional character created by Akira
Toriyama, written and illustrated for his Dragon Ball manga, originally
published by Shueisha and Bird Studio in 1989. Gohan makes his debut
appearance in volume #17, or the premier episode of its animated
adaptation, Dragon Ball Z. In the series, Gohan is the first son of the
primary protagonist, Son Goku, and his wife, the Ox princess named
Chichi. Gohan was the first Saiyan/Human hybrid in the series, and as a
result, has unusual physical abilities. Gohan was named after Goku's
adoptive grandfather, and is a pun on the Japanese word for cooked rice
or meal. |
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Gohan's appearance changes dramatically throughout
the series, with his beginning as a child and concluding when fully
grown. As opposed to full-blooded Saiyans, whose hair does not grow
throughout their lives, Gohan's is drawn at varying lengths, and
changes markedly in style. Initially, he's illustrated garbed in a
kimono-like surcoat, with the four-star Dragon Ball fitted on top of his
hat. Normally thereafter, he's drawn with a gi modeled after his
mentor's, Piccolo (likewise having his obi recolored from red to blue in
Toei's animated adaptation of the Cell Games tournament), or his
father's (such as during his training for the Saiyans or when fighting
Majin Buu), and on occasion he is portrayed in battle armor worn by
Freeza's henchmen. 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.
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Due to his mixed heritage, Gohan's character exhibits
unusual abilities, possessing power surpassing that of a Saiyan.As a
child, Gohan is depicted with a seemingly bottomless dormant power,
which at first only revealed itself when he experienced fierce rage.
Like pure Saiyans, Gohan was born with a monkey tail (Gohan is the only
Saiyan/Human hybrid shown to have grown a tail). This allowed him to
transform into the Oozaru, a Saiyan great ape. However, during his fight
with Vegeta, Gohan's tail is removed permanately, and he therefore loses
this transformation.On Namek, Saichoro helped unlock a portion of his
untapped potential, unable to bring out the fullest of his tremendous
latent abilities. In later chapters, as he got older, Gohan's training
expanded his use to a larger portion of this power, ultimately giving
him access to the legendary Saiyan-state called the Super Saiyan, as
well as becoming the first to achieve the ascended state, Super Saiyan
2. During the final story arc of the series, the Rou Dai Kaioshin helped
bring out Gohan's potential, enabling him to utilize power beyond his
natural limits, rendering him more powerful than Buu. The second
Daizenshuu book labels him in this state as Ultimate Gohan . |
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