Goku becoming "the hero" in the Boo Arc - A new perspective

[Captain Cadaver]

So, upon revisiting the section of the manga focusing on the Genki-Dama and coming across an interesting video discussing DB's writing style for character focus, it got me thinking about the most common fan complaint for the Boo Arc - Goku becoming the main character ruining the themes of the arc and the Cell Arc's ending; as well as the question of how much validity it holds.

Now, Goku being brought back to defeat Boo and save the day would indeed ruin the themes of what came before...if that were strictly the case. One clear bit of dialogue that tends to fly over most people's minds on the subject tends to be Vegeta bringing up the idea of using the Genki-Dama when talking about how many times Goku has saved the Earth and how "it's time for the people of Earth to save themselves for a change."

That is perhaps the most important statement when it comes to the framing of the Boo Arc's climax as it's not just Goku being the one to kill Boo as it's instead the biggest team effort since the battle with Vegeta, if not arguably a contender for biggest team effort in the series. Vegeta and Good Boo distract Pure Boo whilst Goku gathers Genki from everyone on Earth and in Otherworld with a lot of help from Mr. Satan and wouldn't have been able to accomplish this nor win had it not been for Kibitoshin transporting Dende to Namek where the latter and his fellow Namekians used the Dragon Balls to give Goku the opportunity to defeat Boo. This is made even more apparent by Goku's attitude in wanting Boo to be reincarnated and, later, to fight Oob. Goku spells it out clearly that he wanted a one-on-one match with Boo/Oob and the reason for that is pretty obvious - he couldn't beat Boo by his own power and had to rely on everyone's efforts to finally do so. This is pretty consistent with Goku's character as well, given his main reason for sparing Vegeta. Also, from a purely utilitarian perspective, Goku being the only user of the Genki-Dama, an attack that can easily be made large enough to completely envelop Boo, made him being the one chosen to eliminate Boo the most logical decision from an in-universe perspective and general consistent writing with how broken Boo's regeneration was. That said, Goku didn't defeat Boo (at least not in the more standard sense that he had with past main villains such as Piccolo Daimao or Freeza) and the Genki-Dama being the choice Toriyama went with made a lot of sense.

Hell, you could even argue that Gotenks and Gohan's roles in the battle contributed towards this eventuality more so than the support cast did against a lot of past antagonists. Without them failing to kill Boo through decisions that were consistent with their character, they wouldn't have been absorbed and lead to the climax we got. Yes, Gohan defeating Boo would be satisfying, but there wouldn't be much more to it than reaffirmation of what was established in the Cell Arc, compared to the idea of everyone pitching in for the Genki-Dama providing the idea that the battle with Boo brought so much of the series together (even if a lot of it was just cameos). I'd argue that what Gotenks and Gohan accomplished towards the eventual endgame with Boo was a lot more than against many of the manga's past main villains. Roshi and Chaozu's sacrifices against Piccolo Daimao ended up meaning nothing and the support cast on Namek's efforts against Freeza's lower forms were made meaningless each time he transformed; with even Piccolo's distraction for the Genki-Dama proving pointless when Freeza lost no stamina or Ki from it (seeing as how his stamina drain at 100% wasn't suggested to be purely due to his damage).

Also, even if not entirely convinced about these points mitigating the themes of the next generation, which is a fair point, it's worth noting the kind of writing style DB has. From the beginning, Dragon Ball has always been the story of Goku with the first arc's ensemble feel being the only time that's debatable. In stories particularly focused on a single protagonist rather than an ensemble cast, it makes sense for the protagonist to be the centre of attention throughout its run. Yes, Gohan became the main focus at several points, but those were times where Goku was either dead or otherwise unable to be the one driving the plot. Toriyama's statements about Gohan not being someone who could carry the story have some truth to it as, whilst Gohan is a decent enough character that a story about him would be interesting, his focus on more grounded aspects of life and society would have made a DB story centred on him somewhat dissonant in its focus compared to what Dragon Ball had been up to that point and the only way to avoid that would be to throw in so many battles that it'd distract the audience and characters from any sense of personal character motivation. The only other option for a protagonist in order for the series to keep the same atmosphere would've been Vegeta, at which point you've already abandoned the next generation theme and may as well bring Goku back due to their dynamic and comparison. Making Gohan or Oob the main character would work, provided it was a sequel. For the original manga, however, it makes sense for a story that has covered and centred around Goku's life to start and end with him.
There is still the hanging question of the next generation, but that theme is something Goku addressed just prior to fighting Pure Boo - he gave the young generation their chance and they blew it. As I said before, the next generation succeeding would've just resulted in reaffirmation of what the Cell Arc did and offer nothing new thematically. If anything, there is more to take away from the idea that sometimes the older generation need to pitch in for problems they left in the younger generation's hands and that everyone needs to play their part in getting through a difficult situation.
It may have been different if Boo as a villain had offered something that would give Gotenks or Gohan extra agency compared to Goku. Yes, Boo killed their families and friends....who are also Goku's friends and family. The only character with any additional level of agency in defeating Boo would've been Shin, and I don't need to explain how jarring it'd have been for Kibitoshin to be the one to obliterate Boo.

All that said, what are your thoughts? Would you still have ended the Boo Arc differently? Have I offered a new light for you to view Toriyama's decision in?

....Discuss...XD

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Gold still felt kind-of felt like the least deserving one of defeating Boo because he could have ended the saga when he transformed against Majin Boo.

Also whilst I do like that Vegeta said it's about time that the earthlings protect their planet, I thought that was weird at that point coming from him, considering the whole reason for Boo's resurrection was Majin Vegeta in the first place.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Gold still felt kind-of felt like the least deserving one of defeating Boo because he could have ended the saga when he transformed against Majin Boo.

He also acknowledges this as his fault so there's no fault with the writing on that point and, as I said, it wasn't exactly Goku who defeated Boo per-se. Even he was dissatisfied at what was required for the conclusion.

Also whilst I do like that Vegeta said it's about time that the earthlings protect their planet, I thought that was weird at that point coming from him, considering the whole reason for Boo's resurrection was Majin Vegeta in the first place.

It's indeed a slight problem Vegeta never openly admitted it was his fault, though I guess you could say his Final Explosion was a form of atonement in a way and that he made up for it somewhat in making such an active effort at distracting Boo that he got included with the revived good guys.
It makes sense for Vegeta to bring up the Genki-Dama since he's been victim to it first-hand and is likely aware of how much more potent it can be with more Genki contributed to it from the fight with Freeza (I doubt he wouldn't hear the details of the battle during his stay on Earth when even Future Trunks seemed to have enough info to not be out of the loop on what a Genki-Dama was when Cell mentioned it) and Earth's populace would be the quickest source of Genki for it.

 

[Future Warrior]

My main issue with the Boo arc stems from Toriyama constantly shifting the narrative focus, seemingly not being able to make a conclusion until the very climax of the arc. While Son Goku by and large is considered the primary protagonist throughout it's entire story, the idea of Gohan taking a lead role in the story has been entertained since practically his first appearance. While this concept is mostly brought up during the Saiyan arc, Toriyama felt compelled to take it further along to have him be the one to finish off the big baddie later down the line. Although I definitely agree that the Genki Dama is arguably just as good thematically for an alternate ending, Goku and Vegeta were still the main opposing force to Boo by the end, basically backtracking on any foreshadowing for the next generation taking the spotlight.

You make a very interesting point about Gohan himself not being a fitting protagonist in a story like DB, and it's one that I think I can agree on on some level. The vast majority of the english speaking fandom have a very misconstrued view on the type of franchise that the series is, more than likely due to the way the original dub of DBZ was marketed as. DB isn't a superhero story nor is it a ''save the world'' story. To put it shortly, DB is a story that's based on fantasy martial arts stories that involve Kung Fu masters who dedicate their lives to seeking martial arts mastery. The characters constantly make selfish decisions that threaten the safety of humanity multiple times at the expense of fighting strong opponents to test their abilities against. Gohan as the lead role would clash with the foundation of the series so much that it would turn it into a completely different work of fiction.

I think there are some solutions that can be made here to remedy this problem however. If Toriyama found a way to have Gohan be more accepting of martial arts as something he can do as a hobby, but without making it so that he'd essentially be a Goku clone, then I think a compromise would have been reached. However, this is something I'd say is fairly difficult to do and it's questionable if Toriyama is fit to handle this kind of writing.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

My main issue with the Boo arc stems from Toriyama constantly shifting the narrative focus, seemingly not being able to make a conclusion until the very climax of the arc.

I'd say that was still preferable to his constant shifting of the goalpost on who the main threat was in the Cell Arc, regardless of editorial influence. At least the themes of a story are up to interpretation and the narrative focus seemed to become fairly mixed almost immediately upon the start of the Babidi's spaceship events to the extent it could be seen as evenly divided, whereas there's a clear drop in consistency when you can only use "time travel changed the timeline" as a means of bringing in a new enemy (in a manner that shows Toriyama's lack of understanding in how the butterfly effect works, I might add) and end up making a web of timelines that's both overly-convoluted and filled with holes.
That, and the narrative focus we got for Gohan if anything weakened the idea he'd become the hero from Toriyama's writing style. Gohan being treat with such reverence by Shin and pulling out the legendary Z-Sword seemed like too much of a generic hero story and could be seen as cementing Gohan's role as a red herring. Toriyama may have opened up new mystical power ups for the protagonist in the past that they were the first to do in-universe such as the Choshinsui, but there was a distinct difference in tone with how the events with Gohan almost fall under parody. The Z-Sword is way too much of a Sword in the Stone knockoff with the classic Excalibur traits thrown on and Elder Kaioshin's ritual is immediately satirised by Goku as "a pretty common ability". Whilst Toriyama isn't shy of utilising cliches, he also found fame in being unconventional such as how his selfish cast in the first arc and the perverted old master that was Muten Roshi defied standard archetypes of traditional Chinese Wuxia storytelling. It stands to reason that Gohan's role could also be him flipping the typical hero's journey on its head.

I'd also say that in going back and forth on the matter, it offered more to both the thematic content and the characters. I've already talked about the limitations of a main theme in Gohan beating Boo, but it would also limit Goku's character to just having a belief and being right about it. Goku being proven wrong not only adds more to his character for this arc, but stands in contrast to the previous arc where despite his poor methodology he was ultimately proven right in his belief.

Although I definitely agree that the Genki Dama is arguably just as good thematically for an alternate ending, Goku and Vegeta were still the main opposing force to Boo by the end, basically backtracking on any foreshadowing for the next generation taking the spotlight.

That's indeed a major problem for the climax, though I wouldn't say the next generation didn't get the spotlight. Gotenks and Gohan were both the centre of attention against Boo prior and I'd say there was a lot more to the Boo Arc's narrative than the next generation route. Goku and Vegeta as well as their rivalry were the primary focus during the Majin Vegeta events, yet this is left with little catharsis due to how hard Vegeta dropped the ball and his method of atonement through the Final Explosion not fixing the situation, nor did their fight conclude any conflict between their characters. To that end, their fusion as Vegetto, Vegeta's admittance of Goku's superiority and the effort they both went through against Pure Boo were what was necessary to give some catharsis to that part of the narrative without everything about Vegeta in this arc coming off as hollow.

The vast majority of the english speaking fandom have a very misconstrued view on the type of franchise that the series is, more than likely due to the way the original dub of DBZ was marketed as. To put it shortly, DB isn't a superhero story

Pretty ironic that the most hated part of DBZ in the west (not counting 100% filler like Fake Namek) was Gohan becoming a literal superhero.

I think there are some solutions that can be made here to remedy this problem however. If Toriyama found a way to have Gohan be more accepting of martial arts as something he can do as a hobby, but without making it so that he'd essentially be a Goku clone, then I think a compromise would have been reached. However, this is something I'd say is fairly difficult to do and it's questionable if Toriyama is fit to handle this kind of writing.

Even if Gohan were to find that balance, it would still end up distracting from DB's focus due to his own aspirations. He'd still want to be a scholar which would result in a lot more slice of life moments and social drama, which regardless of execution would still result in plenty of tonal shifts.