FEATURE: A Mother’s Day Apology for Dragon Ball Z’s Most Protective Mom
My favorite Dragon Ball Z arc is the Cell Saga but not for a reason you’d expect. I do love the battles and Gohan’s Super Saiyan transformation being accompanied by “Unmei no Hi: Tamashi tai Tamashi” is one of my favorite moments from the entire series, but the reason I really love the Cell Saga is because it’s the arc with a lot of solid character growth. Vegeta realizes how harmful his pride is and, honestly, so does Goku as he comes to terms with what he’s signed Gohan up for. As Piccolo says, Gohan’s a scared little boy who’s fighting all by himself because of Goku’s actions, leading to a major epiphany from the seasoned fighter.
When I first saw this arc play out on Toonami I was in my senior year of high school, a rather critical point in a teenager’s life. For me, I was preparing for college, set to go to a school in a different state that was six hours away from my house. This meant I’d be away from my parents for the first time in my life, and while the prospect was exciting, I was quietly terrified about being out there alone. Well, maybe, not so quietly, as my mother tells me I used to call her every day I was at school. Eventually, the calls did reduce in number.
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In hindsight, it makes sense that Piccolo’s words struck a chord with me. It was the first time I’d heard someone acknowledge Gohan’s legitimate fears, taking the time to explain why sending him to fight an android-absorbing bug man was, perhaps, not a good idea. Except… that wasn’t the first time someone had done that. There’s a character who’d been doing that the entire time.
Chi-Chi.
Back when Dragon Ball Z started I wasn’t interested in hearing what Chi-Chi had to say. I was 13 years old and whenever she showed up I thought she was being unreasonably overprotective. She always insisted that Gohan stay at home and study even if he was one of the most powerful warriors on Earth (maybe even the most powerful depending on who you asked).
At the time I thought it was Gohan’s responsibility to use his enormous well of power to defend others. To be honest, I felt like that about a lot of anime characters at the time. Usagi from Sailor Moon. Shinji from Neon Genesis Evangelion. If they were called upon to use their skills I expected them to do it, no questions asked. Of course, they did ask questions, they protested and cried and complained and I… told Shinji to get in the damn robot because that’s what needed to be done.
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I’ve thought about why I felt that way back then and the answer I’ve come up with is this: I was also expected to do as I was told, no questions asked. A lot of kids are, heck, a lot of adults are, too. If the task is deemed important enough you’re supposed to do it, no matter what, especially if it’ll benefit other people. Seeing characters in my age group putting up a fuss was bizarre to me, not just because they weren’t supposed to raise their voices, but because I didn’t think saying “no” was an option.
Gohan was a bit of a special case in my anime viewing. It wasn’t just him being hesitant about training out in the middle of nowhere, he actually had an adult figure, a mother, in his life doing everything in her power to try and prevent his intergalactic space adventures.
While I didn’t appreciate Chi-Chi at first, I’ve grown to realize how meaningful it is to have a parent who is genuinely concerned about your well-being. As I approach 40, having lived a life full of some really great ups and some pretty abysmal downs, I understand what she was so worried about. Of course, there’s a bit of pushback there, as is the case with kids sometimes. If your parents tell you not to do something you kinda want to do the opposite if you think you can get away with it. Gohan insists he go to Namek despite Chi-Chi’s refusal, for example, then he proceeds to watch a space tyrant stab a guy in the gut and bounce him up and down like he’s jingling a set of keys in front of a baby. Live and learn, I guess.
The world can be a scary place on a regular basis so I imagine the stakes that were constantly added in Dragon Ball Z made things unbearable for the mother of the strongest kid in the world. Sure, you have to let your kids grow up, but asking a mom to let that happen when her son is four years old is unfair.
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Besides the fact that Chi-Chi has been a part of Goku’s life since Dragon Ball, the way Dragon Ball Z starts is a strong indicator of why she’s so protective. A four-year-old Gohan is kidnapped by his uncle, Raditz, after meeting Goku’s friends for the very first time. Not their fault, of course, but the coincidence of your child being taken as soon as he’s brought into the group of World Tournament fighters is hard to ignore.
After Piccolo kills Raditz (and Goku) he overhears a conversation between Vegeta and Nappa, two Saiyans who are so strong it makes Raditz feel like a filler character. Vegeta and Nappa are coming to Earth, so Piccolo does the first thing that comes to mind: kidnap Gohan to get him ready for battle. So Chi-Chi’s a widow now. Also? Her baby boy has been kidnapped by Piccolo who, back in the Dragon Ball days, was one of the greatest threats they’d ever faced. Krillin doesn’t even want to tell her about it! Technically, he doesn’t. She doesn’t find out until she pursues the truth herself.
From that point on, Gohan’s life is constantly in peril. He goes to Namek to help retrieve a new set of Dragon Balls only to run into Vegeta again (yikes) and the tyrannical Frieza (big yikes). There’s a bit of peace after Namek’s blown up, only for a teenager from the future to show up and bring news of a world where everyone is dead. This is after that space tyrant returns via mechanical cosplay bits. Goku gets a terrible heart disease. The Androids thoroughly embarrass Vegeta and the rest of the Z-Fighters. There’s another creature Trunks didn’t know about who’s even worse than those Androids. It’s a lot to deal with.
All this happened before Gohan was even in high school, and since I was in high school, preparing to leave for college, I started to see things differently the closer I got to turning 18 and leaving home. Now I was expected to go out and face the world, on my own, and there was nothing more stressful than that. Watching Gohan fight Cell by himself with everyone standing on the sidelines hit me in a way I wasn’t ready for, and as I championed Piccolo’s words to Goku I realized… I owed Chi-Chi an apology.
I’m sorry, Chi-Chi, for not fully appreciating you. But like any mom doing her best to take care of her family, you probably already knew that.
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Briana Lawrence is the Senior EN Features Editor here at Crunchyroll. When she’s not writing she’s taking care of her three butthead cats and playing Hades for the 100th time. You can check out her writings and her book series over at her website and give her a shout over on Twitter.
