Was Chi-Chi truly a worthless character?

[DBZAOTA482]

If you've been around the fandom long enough, you'd know Chi-Chi isn't too well liked among the community… some even treating her presence in the series as cancerous… is that affirmative?

First, is her character/role. When we first saw her… she was the incredibly fearsome Ox-king's scared "warrior princess" who was capable of decapitating a T-rex by accident (shocking Yamcha and Puar)… she even gave Yamcha a hard time (in which he compliments her as a "fearsome brat") and developed a crush on Goku by a misunderstanding…culminating in a proposal of marriage. 6-7 years later she became even stronger than before (not just physically) with now she seems to have actual martial arts training under her belt even entering the 23rd Budokai (the hardest year where only the super experts make it through) and coming to fulfill the promise Goku made with her (likely also impressing him with how strong she gotten).

Then DBZ happens, she loses just about everything special about her and her character is seemingly reduced to only having her supposedly negative traits focused on. Some even go as far as to claim that Goku's life and the turns of events of the series would pan out for the better if he had married Bulma (or other female character) regardless of the facts.

Then there's her fighting abilities. Just because Goku beat her with only a Shockwave Fist (Kiai Cannon; which is like striking the air with tremendous energy according to Muten Roshi) technique that Kami taught him and never did anything outside filler/movies people tend to ignore the rest of her fight against Goku in the 23rd TB, the praise she received, and the implications surrounding her entry into the tournament and even making it to fight Goku. Even going as far as to claim Mr. Satan or Videl (of all people) can beat her or people believing she's not even comparable to fighters from the early volumes… which still happen even to this day.

Basically the fact she breezed through the preliminary rounds just as the other finalists did (casually OHKO'ing opponents) even surprising Krillin with how strong she was, was fast/strong enough to catch Goku off-guard and actually push him back (even forcing him into the air… which she very easily matched)… the same Goku who effortlessly OHKO'd King Chappa in the prelims of the same tournament (and that guy was already up there), can jump super high (she jumped over 100 feet in the air at least) with total ease, can fight at intense speed even in the air (which wasn't even seen till around the 22nd Budokai), and generally demonstrated fighting prowess that actually left Muten Roshi himself more than just a little surprised (in addition to her style resembling his Turtle School style)… all rendered moot just because Goku didn't lay a finger on her (even though the new move he used to take her out was suggested to be quite powerful and she got up barely hurt from it regardless). Even her feat of being able to decapitate a T-rex is downplayed just cuz she used a weapon… even though she used her own strength to throw the blade and that was enough to cut the dinosaur's head off… it's also possible she was holding back given how emotion she was (I don't think even strong men can do that).

Are they correct? Did Chi-Chi really offer nothing to the series, and the series would be better off without her? Is Videl also basically everything Chi-Chi failed at being (a female love interest for the main character who has natural fighting talent)? Of course, her potential is cut short but she's at least respected/taken seriously as a fighter (even going as far as to making her out to be a lot stronger than she actually) and is a love interest who's generally remembered for something other than her supposedly negative qualities.

 

[Lethal]

Well, Chi Chi gave birth to Gohan who contributed a lot. That alone shows that she isn't completely useless, although her character is extremely annoying.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

She's really annoying. Pan is just mini Chi Chi hence I hate her as well.

 

[FoolsGil]

Worthless in the way Puar and Oolong is, which they aren't. Chi Chi and her inability to look at the big picture is one of the more irritating aspects of the series, but all the characters bring life to the series. No matter how you see her, you'd never say she's dull, or a wall decoration. No, she's not a worthless character, but she had being turned into an egg coming for a long, long time.

 

[Southern Gothic]

I dont think she was worthless. More of a minor side character. And somebody had to be the intellectual influance on Gohan. Without Chi Chi he wouldn't be the scholar we have come to know and love.

She had a couple spots in the movies that were alright. Like when she was ready to throw down in dead zone.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Her role in part 1, whilst minor, was fair enough. In DBZ, however, she became intentionally annoying. Her only real purposes were her influence on Gohan and her interactions with him helped shape his development as a character.

Power-wise, she's vastly underrated as well, for the reasons already provided. Her anime self is even more powerful, with Piccolo initially believing he'd get to see Goku's full power from her fight with him in the anime. The fact that she's at least above Chappa from training with her father who's weaker than 21st TB Roshi also supports that she had the potential to be a fairly strong support character, or at least more relevant than Chaozu under the right circumstances.

One thing I hate about her DBZ self, however, is the shift in tone between how she was compared to her 23rd TB self. Back then, she was a martial artist and fully supportive of fighting. You'd think that this would continue with a battle crazy husband, but no. She shields her son from it on every occasion until his fighting ended up saving the world.

 

[Southern Gothic]

She did train Goten so I think its worth noting that she came around on the idea of not fighting. Not that it changes the bulk of her portrayal across the majority of Z.

 

[Papasmurf]

Well, to be fair the world was rapidly modernized in Z, with scientific progress being evident even in the ruined future (heart virus cure and all that). Chi-Chi's prediction that a good education was the way to go wasn't incorrect, just that no one could have predicted foe after foe would target Earth from outer space.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

True, though the point is that when foe after foe did indeed arrive from the far reaches of space, her stance remained unchanged until the end of the Cell Games.

 

[Papasmurf]

Well, I can sort of understand where she was coming from, since she was separated from her 4-year old son for a year, lost her husband, and when he finally came back he was trying to train him to fight superpowered robots despite multiple friends of his getting killed in prior battles.

 

[DBZAOTA482]

She did train Goten so I think its worth noting that she came around on the idea of not fighting. Not that it changes the bulk of her portrayal across the majority of Z.

Which ultimately amounted to nothing... unfortunately.

 

[POOHEAD189]

She did train Goten so I think its worth noting that she came around on the idea of not fighting. Not that it changes the bulk of her portrayal across the majority of Z.

Which ultimately amounted to nothing... unfortunately.

I hate it when people say this. Just because Gotenks and Ultimate Gohan didn't beat Buu indefinitely, they still held Buu's attention and caused the chain of events that led to Buu's defeat. Without Gotenks, Buu would have been done with earth before Gohan got there, which gave Goku/Vegeta have the time to get ready and lead to them fusing. And I think a huge chunk of the spirit bomb was from Gohan as well.
Back to the main topic though, other than being the mother of Goku's kids, Chi Chi was also Goku's motivation with surviving Beerus' giant ki blast in BoG from the look of it. She was the first thing he thought about when he realized everything he loved was going to die. He thought of her before anyone else.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

I wonder what will Son Goku is gonna say here lol.

 

[DBZAOTA482]

She did train Goten so I think its worth noting that she came around on the idea of not fighting. Not that it changes the bulk of her portrayal across the majority of Z.

Which ultimately amounted to nothing... unfortunately.

I hate it when people say this. Just because Gotenks and Ultimate Gohan didn't beat Buu indefinitely, they still held Buu's attention and caused the chain of events that led to Buu's defeat. Without Gotenks, Buu would have been done with earth before Gohan got there, which gave Goku/Vegeta have the time to get ready and lead to them fusing. And I think a huge chunk of the spirit bomb was from Gohan as well.
Back to the main topic though, other than being the mother of Goku's kids, Chi Chi was also Goku's motivation with surviving Beerus' giant ki blast in BoG from the look of it. She was the first thing he thought about when he realized everything he loved was going to die. He thought of her before anyone else.

No, what I mean is it did little for Chi-Chi's character in the end... though it did create an aura of awkwardness between Goten and his father that he never met. In the manga, we didn't even get any details to the training Chi-Chi gave him (which the Daiz supplement with stupid-ass basic martial arts).

So... no sympathy for Chi-Chi.

 

[DBZAOTA482]

Power-wise, she's vastly underrated as well, for the reasons already provided. Her anime self is even more powerful, with Piccolo initially believing he'd get to see Goku's full power from her fight with him in the anime. The fact that she's at least above Chappa from training with her father who's weaker than 21st TB Roshi also supports that she had the potential to be a fairly strong support character, or at least more relevant than Chaozu under the right circumstances.

One thing I hate about her DBZ self, however, is the shift in tone between how she was compared to her 23rd TB self. Back then, she was a martial artist and fully supportive of fighting. You'd think that this would continue with a battle crazy husband, but no. She shields her son from it on every occasion until his fighting ended up saving the world.

Didn't Goku also get excited about fighting her and actually expected her to put up a good fight? That automatically puts her well above Chappa since he was taken down he was nothing.

About the Gohan thing, she did explain herself at the beginning if it's worth anything.