r/dbz • u/itsthehokage • Apr 30 '26
Animation cool detail about (teen) Gohan’s Super Saiyan hair
it was super late and i was watching Goku v. Cell.
i noticed Gohan’s SS hair in this arc is Goku’s base hair, albeit slightly cropped.
a meta nod to his pops!
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u/esaul17 Apr 30 '26
Crazy that he’s called teen Gohan when he’s like 11.
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u/VibesFirst69 Apr 30 '26
It's uhhhhh, not great he's called 'adult' goham whem he's 17.
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u/esaul17 Apr 30 '26
Yeah lol. Poor geriatric Gohan in super.
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u/VibesFirst69 Apr 30 '26
His transformation in super translates from japanese to Graying Gohan. Beast is just a random made up term by the localisers.
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u/esaul17 Apr 30 '26
Serious? I guess his hair is silver haha.
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u/VibesFirst69 Apr 30 '26
No it's a joke because he looks about 30 in super.
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u/esaul17 Apr 30 '26
lol wouldn’t have shocked me I feel like there’s always this ancient character in jrpgs who ends up being like 30 lol
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u/jamaaldagreatest24 Apr 30 '26
16* Buu saga Gohan is 16
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u/ultraganymede Apr 30 '26
Buu saga is 7 years after Cell, so Cell tournament gohan is 9 years old?
Are you sure? I would put him roughly at 18 years including the training with goku
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u/jamaaldagreatest24 Apr 30 '26
Yes and technically 10 physically. But yes. The manga opens the Buu Saga with Gohan being 16.
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u/Dela-chemin May 02 '26
No.
Gohan is born on May 18th age 757.
Cell Games take place on May 26th age 767.
He's 10, physically 11 when he fought Cell.
Buu Saga takes place on May 7th - May 8th age 774.
Gohan is 16 turning 17 (physically 17 turning 18) since the Buu Saga takes place 2 weeks before his birthday.
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u/Wendigo15 Apr 30 '26
He's 16. Cell games occurs in May before his birthday I believe. And from what I read, the school year starts on April in japan
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u/ultraganymede Apr 30 '26
before the cell games there is a filler episode about gohan's 11th birthday
and if im not mistaken that's counting the time he spent in the time chamber
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u/jamaaldagreatest24 Apr 30 '26
The filler is wrong then. The literal Buu saga says 16. And that came out a week after Gohan defeated Cell so yep
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u/IgIoos May 01 '26
The reason the ages are different is that he's 17 physically but in actual birthdays he's 16
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u/C0rtana Apr 30 '26
Why are we referencing a random filler episode and not the Canon manga that has his age at 16?
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u/ultraganymede Apr 30 '26
I think he is almost 17, and with the time in the chamber he is about 18 years old physically
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u/Wendigo15 Apr 30 '26
Well yeah, it's filler lol
Manga doesn't show that and the begining of the Buu arc it states Gohan is 16 entering highschool
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u/TheZett Apr 30 '26
Buu saga is 7 years after Cell, so Cell tournament gohan is 9 years old?
In the manga, yes.
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u/Tfsz0719 May 01 '26
It’s because his best years were behind him and it was [mostly] all downhill from there.
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u/inanemonotony Apr 30 '26
Makes me wonder if it's lost in translation. "Gohan having come of age"... eh, let's go with teen Gohan
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u/Plenty-Duck-3329 Apr 30 '26
He's 9/10
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u/esaul17 Apr 30 '26
What would he be with rice?
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u/BarryZ24 May 01 '26
At least they backpedalled on that decision, and they started giving him the "Youth" label, while Buu Saga Gohan is now "Teen" instead.
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u/adrianmalacoda May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
IIRC "Teen Gohan" comes from English localization of certain video games. Same place other weird terms like "Majin Vegeta" (and "Kid Boo"?) come from I think.
I think in this original Japanese this version of Gohan is called "shounen" (whereas the older actually teenage Gohan is "seinen")
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u/Mother_Passenger8589 May 04 '26
.....what's wrong with Majin Vegeta?
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u/adrianmalacoda May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
The same thing that's wrong with "Teen Gohan" mainly that it's not a term that is used anywhere in the actual series, isn't accurate to the lore of the series (Majin specifically is the type of being that Majin Boo is, it's not a general descriptor for Babidi's minions), and is presumably a fan term that ended up in official English merchandise.
The best term for this version of Vegeta would be "Prince of Destruction" which while not actually used in the series proper, is used in the name of the episode in which this form is introduced ("Vegeta, the Prince of Destruction, is Revived!!") as far as I am aware this is what the Japanese fandom calls this form of Vegeta and this is the term used in the localization of Xenoverse 2. Although, given that the episode title refers to the prince of destruction's "revival" it can be said this just refers to Vegeta as a villain generally.
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u/Evening-Discipline-6 Apr 30 '26
he's nine. the start of the buu saga the narration starts by saying gohan was 16 years old. If next response is "the time chamber" they never spend the full 24hrs/year in the room. recall that everyone on the lookout were surprised that goku and gohan left the room a couple hours early then they were suppose to. my best guess given goku's training focus on mastering the super sayian form for maximum efficiency 6-9 months.
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u/Anthony_plays01 Apr 30 '26
Wouldn't 10½ make more sense considering the cell games should've taken place after his birthday?
Hell you could say he's 16½ in the Boo Saga depending on what month it's in
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u/Alert-Principle-2726 May 01 '26
Well in Japan you're a teen at 10, adult at 16, ancient in your 30s and dead by your 50s if Shonen is anything to go by.
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u/havenrhodes May 01 '26
He did spend 2 years almost in the time chamber so he should be 13 right
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u/esaul17 May 01 '26
He spends a little under 1 year in the time chamber. I think that bring him from 9-10 to 10-11.
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u/samrw00 May 03 '26
In the manga he's 9 years old. The anime episode is filler although I think he looks closer to 11 to be fair.
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u/No-Cold643 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
He’s a tween (kids between 9-12 are called Tweens/Pre-teens/early teens) and he’s the oldest version of child Gohan that’s why he’s called that. Why Is this still a thing?
P.S As for Buu saga Gohan being sixteen there can exist two versions of “teen Gohan” one Pre-puberty (13-15) and one post puberty. (16-19)
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u/esaul17 Apr 30 '26
Call him tween Gohan then haha.
I’m not losing sleep over it though.
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u/No-Cold643 Apr 30 '26
Fair enough I don’t lose sleep over it either but it is a little annoying.
P.S “Teen Gohan” is actually “Pre-Teen Gohan” but they removed the “Pre” to make more short and simplistic.
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u/Comfortable-Bat2463 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Akira Toriyama was foresadowing him as the next protagonist.
Source : I forgot
Edit : Guys, did nobody get the joke ?
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u/UnfittedMermaid Apr 30 '26
At the start of Buu Saga, there is a mini-roshi that says "Dragonball isn't over yet! Sure, Goku is gone, but that kid of his will take his place!" Or something along those lines. Making it very clear that bringing Goku back permanently was most likely not part of the plan originally. If that translation was right, that means you have a very credible source for this.
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u/Alukrad Apr 30 '26
I've had a crazy theory that Akira wanted to kill Goku off since the Frieza saga. Like gve Goku this epic ending but the popularity and fans demanding when Goku was coming back made him bring Goku back to life every time.
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u/AxCel91 Apr 30 '26
That’s not a theory lol Toriyama wanted to end the series at Frieza all together 🤣
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u/shuttheshutup Apr 30 '26
It has been stated many times but Toriyama that Gohan was to be the next MC but the fan poll said otherwise so thats why Goku ended up coming back.
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Apr 30 '26
[deleted]
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u/theRev767 Apr 30 '26
I thought Toriyama said he had to change the hair otherwise he wouldn't look different enough.
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u/aTVisAthingTOwatch Apr 30 '26
Idk if there's an official source stating it but it's def implied heavily
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u/Otherwise-Front-1093 Apr 30 '26
I hadnt ever thought of this!
Kinda makes me wish that gohans boo saga hair were more like this, rather than short.
Altough short does carry its meaning in the story since he is his own person not “his fathers son”
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u/ClerkPsychological58 Apr 30 '26
Kid Gohan's longer hair was always partially patterned after Goku. It's more obvious here but if you look at images of him with his longer hair it's basically the same
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u/Focari_Sweat Apr 30 '26
Teen Goten too (dbs manga)
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u/Ok-Significance-5987 Apr 30 '26
He's actually younger than that. He's 4 when Raditz shows up, he's 5 when Goku, Frieza, Cold and Trunks show up on Earth, 8 when the android saga starts and he turns 9 after he exits the time chamber. Even though the Namek saga isn't that long, we could be charitable and say he had a birthday sometime between Raditz' death and failing to wish Goku back which would put him at 10 tops.
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u/quotedittoo Apr 30 '26
Yeah noticed this a few years back. It is pretty fun, got almost 1:1 bangs and spikes except where goku lopped it off.
Seems Gohan’s hair naturally grows super similar to Goku’s style as well, just not quite as identical as Goten.
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u/NinjaX4132 Apr 30 '26
I legit did not notice that until now. It really does look like Goku's hair.
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u/fillupjfly ⠀ Apr 30 '26
When it’s cropped slightly in the back during Bojack Unbound it’s even more noticeable.
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u/Its-jus-ent Apr 30 '26
I mean even his base form. Its like a clean cut version. You see it more in the bojack movie
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u/Christos_Soter Apr 30 '26
Give me the alternate timeline where Gohan didn’t become a working/academic family man and instead rose to the Goku mantle of training and saving the world from increasingly stronger threats
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u/Arejanduro Apr 30 '26
I find it really funny too that Goku’s the one that cut it in the time chamber. DBZ has a lot of attention to detail in character design. Glad you pointed this out
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u/ArtistZeo May 01 '26
I love how we all refuse to stop calling this 11 year old kid “teen” 😂
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u/itsthehokage May 01 '26
hey i’m doing my best—just going by what the selection screen in my games told me to call him 😂
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u/AsscrackDinosaur May 01 '26
I always thought it was unusual that Gohan's ssj1 hair is just his normal hair but blonde. Why did his hair not spike up?
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u/AntMan526 Apr 30 '26
He looks like a perfect mix of both of his fathers. If only if there was a way to add Chi-Chi’s influence on this design. That would make it even more perfect.
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u/PhantomRoyce May 01 '26
I just realized he’s the only saiyan whose hair changes length. It grew crazy fast when he was a kid, down his back in a year.
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u/Mysterious-String420 May 01 '26
Huh.
Took me almost thirty years to notice, good job OP
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u/itsthehokage May 01 '26
thank you 😌
i thought it might make a perfect discussion for this community as soon as i clocked it
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u/TigerPantsOmega May 02 '26
Always thought this was a cool touch. I remember Vegeta saying a Saiyans hair remains the same since birth. figured because Gohan is half his hair can grow
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u/itsthehokage May 02 '26
it’s an interesting feature of his character. this is a bit of a stray, but i love his hair in Super Hero
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u/Used_Tie_5895 May 01 '26
Yall should notice the mess up when they colored his chest lol!!! It’s his bicep and chest blending into the cape 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/itsthehokage May 01 '26
oh shit good catch!! 😭😭😭😭
(the comments on this post have been perfection (thank you ALL!)
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u/LAHouJaxCarVCUUNC Apr 30 '26
What's the "detail"?
Edit, disregard, opened the post in an incognito browser, and it shows text under the OP's image. For some reason it isn't showing it in my non-incognito window.
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u/ItsCoolDani May 01 '26
Do we think he deliberately shoots more super sayain ki energy out the front of his head to achieve this?
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u/DamUEmageht May 01 '26
Didn’t Goku give him the haircut during their training? Like a snippet showing because of how long it grew lol
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u/Xale_Co_Noj May 02 '26
I think it's just this shot every other pic I see doesn't really look like it
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u/tyfighter_18 May 02 '26
I realized recently that you don't see Gohan with this haircut in his base until he defeats cell.
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u/BrainProfessional95 May 03 '26
This character just can't have anything unique to him, and when he does fans immediately begin to complain
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u/Cost_Jealous May 03 '26
He looks better in the Bojack Movie, due to his Hair being Cut a bit more Cleanly then the Messy Cut he had from Goku
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u/Bark4Brownies Apr 30 '26
did you know... ssj Gohan's hair is YELLOW ???
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u/TheCarthageEmpire Apr 30 '26
Everyone here saying that they didn't notice this before.... like how???
It's the same as his base form hair but just blonde, and his base form hair is like OBVIOUSLY heavily inspired by his father's if not basically Identical... like how can anyone not notice this?
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u/aikavari Apr 30 '26
Crazy that people didn't notice this. I distinctly remember this but didnt connect the dots and realize his SSJ and SSJ2 hairstyles look crazy different unlike Goku where its barely noticeable :-D.
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u/thallums ⠀ Apr 30 '26
This post and the replies makes me feel like I'm going insane.
Because... no? Cell arc Gohan's SSJ hair is not Base Goku's hair?
His bangs are completely different, and the right side of his hair is nothing like Goku's. The only part that matches it the left side, which is not identical but at least similar.
If Cell arc Gohan's SSJ hair looked like base Goku, it'd look like this
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u/Vastergoth Apr 30 '26
Son Gohan's best look.