Despite Dragon Ball Super significantly lowering his importance, Gohan still stands out as one of the franchise’s most beloved characters. That’s likely in large part due to his increased role in the anime adaptation, where Toei greatly emphasized his importance when transitioning from Dragon Ball to Dragon Ball Z.
Even in the manga, Gohan is an incredibly important character, rivaling Goku for page time in just about every arc they appear in together. Of all the members of the cast, Gohan’s the one who changes and matures the most. He never has the same appearance or gi for long, and the constant nature of his character arc can often make it seem like Goku’s clothes are changing alongside him.
The China & Chaozu Connection
Although Akira Toriyama only uses Journey to the West as a minor influence early on in the series, the story’s inherent Chinese aesthetic ends up seeping into Dragon Ball and persisting quite prominently until the end of the original series. Gohan’s introduction even features him wearing Chinese prince-esque attire.
Interestingly, Chaozu actually wore a very similar outfit in his introduction. Not just that, the anime’s film continuity runs with this premise for Chaozu’s character in Mystical Adventure. In truth, Chaozu’s design is based on jiangshi, Chinese hopping vampires. Aside from a few subtle differences, Gohan is introduced in one of Chaozu’s outfits.
Branded By The Demon Clan
Considering he doesn’t wear his first training gi for long, it’s easy to neglect the significance of Piccolo branding Gohan with the “Ma” kanji. Not only is Piccolo formally adopting Gohan as his student with this act, he’s also insulting Goku in the process, twisting his iconic kanji and uniform with his own symbols.
The orange demon gi calls back to Goku participating in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai all the way at the start of the series. Gohan’s experience in the gi is very different from Goku’s, however. He isn’t training to enjoy combat, he’s training to survive. The nature of his training is much harsher than Goku’s ever was, so it makes sense Gohan would carry a harsher kanji on his back.
Gohan’s Green Demon Gi
Although Dragon Ball (the manga) is primarily in black and white, Akira Toriyama would often feature color chapters throughout the series’ serialization. This would allow readers the chance to note outfit colors before seeing the anime’s interpretation. It also made it easy to make assumptions. If Piccolo’s gi is purple, Gohan’s must be too.
That’s the thing about color in a black and white manga— it isn’t always consistent. For one chapter, Gohan’s demon gi is green. The anime uses the same shade of purple as Piccolo’s gi and Gohan has a purple gi for the Namek arc in the manga, but for whatever reason, Gohan sports a green gi during the fight with Vegeta in the manga.
Gohan Makes His Own Demon Gi For Namek
The stretch between the end of the Saiyan arc and the start of the Namek arc is one of the most peaceful ones in the series. There’s no action, no villains are currently wreaking havoc, and the story’s goal is centered around what to do next. This naturally leads to plenty of humor and a lot of solid character writing.
It’s also wordier than Dragon Ball usually is, making it a denser read. As a result, it can be difficult to catch every little detail during this portion of the series. Right before blasting off to Namek, however, Gohan mentions in passing that he actually made his own version of the demon gi— which would make sense as Piccolo wouldn’t be alive to conjure him a new one.
Gohan Changes His Main Gi Every Arc (In Z)
Although Goku changes his gi fairly often, it’s usually so he can put on another version of the same outfit. This is someone who wears the exact same style of clothing for four-story arcs straight. On the flip side, Gohan doesn’t have a consistent main gi across the four-story arcs he appears in Dragon Ball Z.
For the Saiyan arc, his main outfit ends up being his demon gi. Gohan brings the demon gi to Namek, but his main outfit ends up being Freeza Force armor. The Cell Games sees Gohan wearing the demon gi one more time, but he’s upgraded to a cape. By the end of the Buu arc, Gohan is sporting the turtle school uniform after spending most of the arc wearing his Saiyaman tunic.
Gohan Wears Goku’s Wristbands
Gohan wearing Piccolo’s outfit for the Cell Games is his way of honoring his first martial arts master. Even after spending an entire year training with Goku, Gohan goes back to his roots much in the same way Goku honors his roots by wearing the turtle school uniform. What’s easy to miss, however, is that Gohan is wearing Goku’s wristbands.
It’s easier to spot in the manga where Piccolo and Gohan have red belts for the Cell Games, but Gohan’s blue wristbands are clearly modeled after Goku. As Piccolo doesn’t wear wristbands (that’s his skin,) it only makes sense that Gohan would default to his father’s. It’s a nice way of Gohan honoring both of his masters.
Gohan Only Wears His Own Kanji In The Future
It’s hard to deny the importance of kanji in Dragon Ball. Even after Goku stops wearing his consistently, kanji still plays an important role. Goku even went back to wearing his personal kanji for Battle of Gods, a trend that’s continued up to Dragon Ball Super: Broly. Despite coming into his own by the end of the series, Gohan never wears his own kanji.
Except in the future, that is. In Trunks’ ruined timeline, Gohan wears “han” with pride. It’s interesting to note that he doesn’t wear “go” despite trying to honor his father. Rather, Gohan takes on the namesake of his grandfather. As he’s the Earth’s last warrior for quite a while in this timeline, it makes sense Gohan would want to represent himself.
Gohan Has The Most Gis In Dragon Ball
Only Bulma has more outfits than Gohan over the course of the series, and that’s almost entirely due to how often Toriyama will draw Bulma in a new outfit for just a single panel. As far as marital artists go, no one even comes close to competing with Gohan. He has the most gis in the series.
Not including his Chinese prince outfit, Gohan has two in the Saiyan arc; two in the Namek arc; four in the Cell arc; and, not including his school clothes and leisurewear, Gohan has four in the Buu arc. Between GT and Super, Gohan has even more!
Gohan Is The Only Lead Without A Signature Gi
Although Gohan has so many different outfits to choose from, he’s the only main martial artist without a signature gi. Goku has his turtle gi, Vegeta his Cell arc armor, and Piccolo his demon gi, but Gohan doesn’t have a gi he goes back to often enough in. Battle of Gods tried making it his turtle gi, but he loses it by Resurrection F.
His only consistent outfit these days is his formal wear which… does leave a lot to be desired. It’s not a bad look, but it’s one of Gohan’s worst (at least in Super’s plasticy art style.) Super frequently teases the idea that Gohan will get back in action, but even the Moro arc has him fighting without a gi.
Gohan’s Relationship With The Turtle Gi
Of all the wearers of the turtle gi, Gohan has the strangest relationship with it. For Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha, their relationship is clear and explicit: they wear the gi to honor Master Roshi, their master. Gohan notably wears the gi at the end of the series and in the future timeline, representing his father seemingly after Goku’s permanent death.
In the case of the Buu arc, it’s clear that Gohan donning the gi is meant to be Toriyama’s way to fully transitioning Gohan into the role of the hero… only to transition him out immediately. It’s a good moment in the vacuum, but Gohan wearing the turtle gi ends up having no meaningful impact in retrospect.
