Anyone who’s familiar with Goku knows that every bit of power and strength he’s unlocked within himself throughout Dragon Ball canon has been earned through hardened training, intense battles, and even death, though with one sentence uttered in the already controversial Dragon Ball Super anime, Goku’s entire character and history gets utterly destroyed.
Goku began his training to be the best martial artist in the world even before the start of the original Dragon Ball series, as his adoptive grandfather, Gohan, took him under his wing both as his child and as his student. After Gohan’s passing, Goku started training with perhaps the greatest human fighter the world had ever seen, Master Roshi. From there, Goku would go on to train with some of the most powerful entities in the universe (including literal gods like Kami, King Kai, and finally Lord Beerus/Whis). With all this accumulated training, Goku has not only become immensely powerful on a cosmic scale, but he’s also become an inspirational character who values hard work and believes that’s the only way true strength can be gained. Despite all that, in Dragon Ball Super, Goku nearly takes a shortcut for the sake of a quick upgrade.
Dragon Ball Super Shows Goku Excited About Old Kai’s Upgrade, Betraying His Character
In Dragon Ball Super episode #91, Goku has just finished gathering all the warriors who will participate in the multiversal Tournament of Power. At the beginning of the episode, while Goku is pondering what to do with the little free time he had before the tournament, Old Kai chimes in, saying that he could perform the same ritual he did on Gohan to unlock his ‘Potential Unleashed’, an incredibly powerful state that would bring out all of Goku’s latent potential. However, that ritual takes about twenty-five hours to complete, and they didn’t have that much time before the tournament. When Old Kai is forced to recant his offer after learning of their time constraint, Goku is audibly disappointed, after having expressed excitement for the chance to have his full power unlocked with no training required.
Goku is supposed to be the archetype of every Shonen hero, who has worked hard for every bit of strength and power he now wields, and up until this point in Dragon Ball Super, he wouldn’t have it any other way. Goku’s commitment to doing things the hard way is what has made him powerful and in control of his abilities, and accepting a quick upgrade would undermine his growth. If he just had power handed to him, he’d be no better than the likes of Zamasu or Gas, who took similar shortcuts. Therefore, the fact that Goku was excited to have his latent power unlocked without having to train for it, and then disappointed when he learned it couldn’t be done, was an insult to his character and his established history in Dragon Ball lore.
Accepting Old Kai’s Offer Goes Against Everything Goku Stands For
It’s true that Goku has, in the past, accepted a quick power upgrade when he drank the Super Holy Water. However, he was just a kid back then, and his personality as a martial artist was not yet completely developed. Also, on that occasion, King Piccolo had just killed many of Goku’s friends, so he was understandably angry and willing to compromise.
Dragon Ball Super has always been a controversial series because many fans don’t agree with how some characters are portrayed compared to their original DBZ counterparts. Luckily, the Dragon Ball Super manga, which is written by Toriyama, completely removed this scene, so fans can try to forget this ever happened. However, as long as this episode of the anime exists, it will be one more misstep those fans can reference in their overall disappointment for the sequel, as Dragon Ball Super destroyed Goku’s character and history with just one brief scene.
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