Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero’s Stars Explain How It’s a Movie About Gohan’s Real Dad

Fans have long talked about how the relationship between Dragon Ball’s odd pairing of Gohan and Piccolo is often more nurturing and parental than the relationship between Gohan and his own father, Goku. Dragon Ball Super Hero, soon to be released in US theaters, strays from a usual Dragon Ball story by centering the two characters and attempts to address this perspective.

Speaking with IGN, members of the main cast of Dragon Ball have weighed in on this debate themselves. Kyle Hebert, who plays Gohan, began by saying, “It’s definitely true that Piccolo is pretty much [Gohan’s] real dad through thick and thin. Not that Goku doesn’t love Gohan, he obviously very much does, but he’s busy off saving the universe.”

The voice of Piccolo – as well as Vegeta – Christopher Sabat, continued saying: “I hate to get too deep into psychology here but if you think about it, Goku, he didn’t have a family, he didn’t have a father figure, and in many ways he didn’t have an example of who a father was going to be. So it’s kind of hard for him to understand what his role as a father is even supposed to be.

“And whereas Piccolo comes from a kind of a tribal mentality where they all are grouped together… It would make sense that Piccolo would take on this kind of nurturing sensibility that Goku isn’t able to have. Goku is busy, he’s busy saving the universe and he’s very focused on that.”

When asked if he thought that Dragon Ball is a story about the struggles of parenting and fatherhood, Sean Schemmel, the voice of Goku, replied “There is definitely a father-son-parenting theme and it definitely elucidates the fact that the sad truth for many people is the people who end up being your family aren’t necessarily the people that brought you into the world always. Sometimes you get parental guidance and inspiration from the least likely of areas.”

Schemmel continued: “[Series Creator] Akira Toriyama recently just settled the bet on, ‘Is Goku a bad father?’, and basically said in an interview like last year that he’s not the best. So Piccolo is really the driving force.”

A key component of the new film is how Gohan’s relationship with his own daughter Pan suffers from a similar imbalance in priorities. On this, Hebert continues by saying. “Gohan has proven that he is a hard worker, a great husband, and he’s trying to balance being a father too, but he has that great relationship with Piccolo where he trusts him implicitly to the point where it’s like, ‘Hey, can you go to school and pick her up because I’m too busy right now.'”

Sabat adds “I think a lot of people in their lives relate to Piccolo, because they all have that Piccolo character in their life. The person who was there for them, whether they were their dad or not, the person that helped them become who they are.”

Given that Gohan and Piccolo have been side characters for some time, and are now getting a starring role, we asked if series punching-bag Yamcha will ever get a similar opportunity to hold his own and be the main star of a Dragon Ball film.

Sabat replies “I think that Akira Toriyama is too in on the joke that Yamcha is a loser to ever give him anything.” However, jokingly, he says “I keep pitching the concept of Resurrection L, it’s Launch’s return, and Tien is still in love with Launch and Yamcha has to fight Tien because he knows that Launch is inherently evil,” then clarifies, “I’m just making it up right now, but if Akira Toriyama wants to talk to me about it I’ll be happy.”

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero finally arrives in western theaters on August 19 in the US and UK, and August 18 in Australia. In our review, we called it “a fun, low-stakes love letter to Gohan fans with exciting momentum as well as room for some moving sentimentality amidst earth-shattering fights.”