The more I watch Dragon Ball, the more I realize that Gohan has never wanted to be my favorite character. Not that Goku and Vegeta were ever vying for my attention, but Gohan especially has never wanted the screen time that the Saiyans have received, and it's easy to see why. While Goku and Vegeta can't wait until their next fight, Gohan hates it.

Gohan has never wanted to be a fighter. Because of his Saiyan heritage and his unreal potential, Gohan has been forced to fight alongside Earth's greatest warriors. I always loved watching him on-screen, but I now realize that he really doesn't want to be there. He'd rather be at home studying, but his dad and all the threats that come to Earth stop him from doing what he as an individual really wants.

Dragon Ball Has Always Been About The Fighters

Goku And Vegeta Have Always Taken Center Stage

Dragon Ball is one of the best anime series of all time. There are so many different aspects that make Dragon Ball the titan of anime that everyone knows it as. One of the reasons that Dragon Ball stands at the pinnacle of anime is the cast of warriors the series centers on.

While Gohan has always been my personal favorite in Dragon Ball, characters like Goku, Vegeta, and Future Trunks have always held a special place in my heart. There's nothing more entertaining than watching Goku teleport across the battlefield to launch an Instant Kamehameha, Vegeta finally achieve Super Saiyan 3, or Future Trunks obliterating Frieza with one of the coolest attacks in the series.

Dragon Ball is excellent because of the fighters in the series. Most shōnen series don't develop their characters much, focusing on the fights that make the series action-packed. Dragon Ball has time for both; it's a series that creates excellent characters through the fights they're part of. Some of the best moments of character development come when a character's back in firmly against a wall.

Gohan Was Never A Fighter

Gohan Was Forced To Fight From A Young Age

Gohan was never a fighter in Dragon Ball. Every other fighter in the series enjoys battle more than Gohan, and half of them don't want to fight either. Gohan's godlike potential can be seen from two perspectives. The first would show Gohan as the people's hope. He's so strong that he's arguably the strongest character in Dragon Ball that isn't divine.

The second perspective would see Gohan's unreal strength as a burden. There isn't anyone else with Gohan's potential, and because of that, he's forced to fight. When Cell MAX is unleashed, Gohan is forced to head to the battlefield. It wasn't the first time that Gohan was burdened with the Earth's defense either.

While nobody really knows whether Gohan Beast is stronger than Ultra Instinct Goku or Ultra Ego Vegeta, there have been two separate times when Gohan was objectively the strongest character in the series. The first was during the Cell Arc when Gohan was the first character to ascend to Super Saiyan 2.

The second was at the end of the Buu Arc. Mystic Gohan is stronger than even Super Saiyan 3 Goku, and if it wasn't for Gohan's arrogance, he might've been the one to stop Buu once and for all. Either way, it was up to Gohan to save the world, and that wasn't really his problem to solve.

Gohan Would Rather Be Home Studying

If It Was Up To Gohan, He'd Never See A Battlefield Again

Gohan never really got to make his own choices in Dragon Ball. When he was a kid, he was either forced to study or forced to fight. The older I get, the more I feel bad for Gohan. Funnily enough, neither one of those traits is bad in moderation. It's good Chi-Chi wanted her son to be smart, and it isn't a bad thing for Goku to teach Gohan how to defend himself.

The problem was the extent Gohan was pushed to. Chi-Chi wanted Gohan to go to college before he was even a teen, and Goku made Gohan fight Cell before Gohan turned 13. Eventually, Gohan decided to follow his mother's advice and become a scholar.

It's a pretty easy decision in hindsight. Gohan saw his dad die when he was a small child, again when he was a pre-teen, and had gotten beaten to a pulp by adults before he hit puberty. If I was constantly fighting aliens way stronger than me as a child, I probably wouldn't want to fight either. Books sound a lot safer than Recoome and the Ginyu Force. Gohan had his neck broken by Recoome on Namek when he was only five-years-old, by the way.

Just Like Goku, Gohan Doesn't Even Want To Be A Dad

Gohan Would Rather Do His Own Thing Than Pick Up Pan From School

Sadly, Gohan shares a few more traits with his dad than I'd like to see. Goku isn't one of the worst dads in anime, but he's nowhere near one of the best. He's in a pretty tough position, all things considered. With enemies strong enough to destroy the Earth, Goku doesn't have much of a choice but to force his kids to fight, especially when you consider that they're some of the only people who can.

Gohan might not want to fight as much as his dad, but neither one of them really wants to do daily dad activities. Gohan and Goku are both there to defend their kids, for the most part, but that's about it. In Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, it's revealed that Gohan would rather study bugs than pick up his daughter from school.

He learned it from his dad. Goku would rather train, or even remain dead, than raise his kids. Goten didn't even meet his dad until he was about six, and it looks like Gohan is keeping the unfortunate tradition alive with Pan.

Gohan Has Never Wanted To Be In The Position He's In

Gohan Is Forced To Fight Thanks To His Unreal Potential

I've always loved Gohan more than any other character in Dragon Ball. When Gohan turned Super Saiyan 2 against Cell, I was ecstatic, but maybe I shouldn't have been. Goku loves fighting. Gohan does not. Gohan is forced to sur his limits when his friends and family are dying around him, and that's brutal to say the least.

Gohan only wants to study. He just wants to stay home and research his bugs, and there's nothing wrong with that, but his friends won't let him relax. The entire plot of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is just Piccolo tricking Gohan into fighting. Thanks to Gohan's near-limitless potential, he'll probably never get to live the normal life he's always wanted.