Created by the merger of Goten and Trunks through the Metamoran Fusion Dance, Gotenks was introduced as planet Earth's last hope against Majin Buu during the Fusion Saga of Dragon Ball Z. At a time when the Dragon Team's strongest combatants such as Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Goku were out of commission, Gotenks was the only one who stood a chance against Majin Buu's might.

Although his character did have many shortcomings, Gotenks' initial story arc in Dragon Ball Z showed a great deal of promise, highlighting Trunks and Goten's combined latent potential. Unfortunately, he was ultimately sidelined in favor of other characters in the Majin Buu Saga's final arcs, and has now been reduced to a gag character. In this vein, why has Gotenks been entirely neglected?

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Gotenks' Introduction As The First Metamoran Fusion

In the Dragon Ball manga, Gotenks is the first recorded instance of a successful Metamoran Fusion Dance. Originally, Goku forced Goten and Trunks to learn the Fusion Dance, after Gohan went missing and Vegeta's sacrificial last stand failed to take out Majin Buu.

At first, the duo had some trouble mastering the Fusion Dance, even as Goku bought them time by battling Majin Buu after unleashing his new Super Saiyan 3 form. Fortunately, after two failed attempts, Goten and Trunks were able to fuse properly, yielding a new being in the form of Gotenks.

By virtue of being an amalgamation of the two young Half-Saiyans, Gotenks exhibited behavioral traits linked to both characters. His overconfidence and arrogance were naturally quite similar to Trunks and his father, Vegeta, whereas his playfulness and tendency to complain had their roots in Goten's nature. In a way, his personality combines some of the less endearing traits of Goku, Vegeta, and their respective sons.

Gotenks also displayed a constant need to showboat, which manifested in bestowing extravagant names on ordinary attacks, or acting like he was on the verge of defeat before revealing a new ability. He was extremely full of himself and refused to believe that anyone could defeat him, even when facing a much stronger opponent in Majin Buu.

The Only One Capable Of Facing Majin Buu

Despite his pompousness and taste for theatricality, Gotenks did actually possess immense strength, since the Fusion Dance yielded a warrior whose power was several times greater than the combined strength of the two individuals performing it. As a result, his arrogance was somewhat justified, since he was the only remaining member of the Dragon Team who could even hold a candle to Majin Buu.

While he was defeated during his first confrontation with Buu, Goten and Trunks trained to enhance their fusion even further, by tapping into the Super Saiyan transformation. Super Saiyan Gotenks would likely have been able to fight on par with Majin Buu, although by the time they came face-to-face, he had already transformed into his much stronger counterpart, Super Buu.

Overconfidence And Showboating Become His Downfall

Upon being confronted by a vastly more powerful adversary, Gotenks continued to dawdle and play around instead of making focused efforts to neutralize the threat in front of him. At first, he was able to inflict some damage on Super Buu, albeit on a superficial level. While his incredible growth over a very brief span of time had been nothing short of incredible, it was all for naught, since he never really went all-out against his opponent.

The slew of confusing and borderline comical techniques he performed, such as the Galactic Donut and the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, also did not have too much of an effect on Buu. Moreover, instead of pulling out his trump card immediately, Gotenks chose to build up tension by pretending to run out of steam, which caused Piccolo to destroy the exit to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, trapping himself, Gotenks, and Super Buu within it.

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At this point, Super Buu managed to rip a portal through the fabric of space-time to exit the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, making it seem as if Gotenks' constant showboating had doomed the entire world. Even after escaping confinement and unveiling his trump card with the Super Saiyan 3 form, Gotenks still did not take the battle seriously enough, and this played a hand in his eventual defeat.

During his battle with Buu, Gotenks managed to gain the upper hand at a certain juncture, and succeeded in blowing his foe to pieces. However, instead of finishing Super Buu off completely, he let his guard down and began celebrating, which gave Buu enough time to regenerate.

In the ensuing moments, the reformed Super Buu successfully restrained and absorbed Gotenks, ending the fight for good. Hence, in spite of coming so far in such a short time, Gotenks was ultimately doomed to fail due to his own character flaws, which is a real travesty for a character whose growth rate appeared to have no ceiling.

Reduced To A Comic Relief Character

This entire passage of Dragon Ball Z'sFusion Saga was a bitter disappointment, since Gotenks had been built up as the next defender of Earth, following the deaths of Goku and Vegeta alongside Gohan's disappearance. This was at a time when the series' longstanding theme of responsibility being passed down over generations was emerging at the heart of the narrative once again.

Unfortunately, Gotenks' defeat indicated that his only real purpose was to stall for time until Gohan, Vegeta, and Goku returned to save the day — which is exactly what happened. Since then, Gotenks has been used primarily as a gag character, as seen in his appearances during both Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. From being disciplined by Beerus to his minor supporting role against Cell Max, Gotenks is now a caricature of the character he was once touted to be, overshadowed by Fusion characters such as Vegito and Gogeta by an absurd margin.

Dragon Ball Z is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

Dragon Ball Z (1989)

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Dragon Ball Z is a Japanese anime series produced by Toei Animation and a sequel to the 1986 Dragon Ball series. It continues the adventures of Son Goku as an adult while also paralleling the life of his son Gohan. Son Goku typically defends the Earth from villains like Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu. The series is followed by Dragon Ball GT and then Dragon Ball Super.

Release Date

April 26, 1989

Studio

Toei Animation

Creator

Akira Toriyama

Number of Episodes

291

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll