Gohan

Premiering in the manga chapter #196 Kakarrot 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, 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, Vegeta and Nappa. 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. 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 Room of Spirit and Time (Hyperbolic Time Chamber) 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 Room of Spirit and Time, 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. At the Cell Games, Gohan, after stating his reluctance to fight out of fear of being consumed by anger, is tormented by a curious Cell, forced to watch Cell's Cell Jr.'s attack the others in Cell's effort to bring out Gohan's latent power. Following Android #16's death, 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. 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.

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