Talk:Brave Pair Gohan (Teen) & Videl/@comment-32388579-20181125121042/@comment-24874732-20190425212905

She had legitimate, realistic growth as a character.

Piccolo hasn't tried to take over the world even once in over 25 years. His interactions with Gohan as a mentor and father figure fundamentally changed him, bringing out the good that Goku said he saw inside of him years before. His genuine compassion was enough for him to sacrifice his own life to protect somebody weaker than him. His merging with Nail and Kami only further solidified his move to the light. By this point in the series, Piccolo is completely unrecognizable as the character he was in the Piccolo Jr. saga. In fact, he occasionally spends his time babysitting Pan.

Vegeta hasn't destroyed a random planet since he came to Earth. When his planet was destroyed, he couldn't care less about his family dying, only being upset that he would never become king. He murdered Nappa, the only person left that he could call an ally, for being weak. By the end of the Cell saga, he shows his firsthint of actually caring for his family in the way that he reacted after Cell killed Future Trunks. When Majin Buu was first awakened, Vegeta chose to knock out Trunks and Goten so Piccolo could take them to safety, then proceeded to sacrifice his life to try to save the planet he originally intended to destroy. By the end of the Buu saga, his hatred of Goku has faded entirely and he has accepted their rivalry. Vegeta fear Lord Beerus more than anything, but when Lord Beerus slaps Bulma, Vegeta goes berserk and attacks him, further banking on the character growth and hidden love for his family that he showed in the Cell and Buu sagas.

Yamcha is no longer a desert bandit that's terrified of girls. He had a decade-long relationship with Bulma. After that, he got a job as a major league baseball player. He could have been doing that almost from the beginning (he was already one of the best fighters on Earth, and the technique he uses as a pitcher was introduced in his first appearance in the series), but he chose to be a bandit.

Krillin in no longer a mischievous troublemaker trying to cheat his way through Roshi's training. He's died three times now, and he's easily our most-realistic depiction of what the aftereffects of that would be like after coming back to life. Both he and Vegeta were brutally beaten to within an inch of their life by Frieza, then callously executed. Vegeta has no change at all to his personality to show for that event, but Krillin still harbors deep-seated terror regarding his murder. At this point, he has a wife and a 9-year-old daughter. He's formed a stable, healthy life for himself as a police officer rather than seeking wealth and fame as a martial artist.

Even Frieza has shown character growth. In his first appearance, he detests fighting, only enjoying the opportunity to torture his foes. By his revival, he admits that he's grown to enjoy fighting against powerful opponents, though he still shows his love for torture. Once the Tournament of Power is nearing its start, he's even been shown to have improved upon his impatience.

Even within the Buu saga, Videl changes drastically. In the beginning, she was serious and certain of her own strength. She worked with the police to take down criminals because she thought she was the only one that could help. Meeting Gohan and Goten showed her that there were others even stronger than her. When Gohan first asked her to pose with him, she said it was dumb and that she wouldn't do it, then she found out that she loved the goofy posing and being Saiyaman 2 / Saiyawoman. Meeting Gohan's friends showed her just how many people are so insanely beyond her father and herself. Her fight with Spopovic was truely traumatic for her on multiple levels. First, for several moments, she had to deal with the guilt of killing a person for the first time. Second, before she could even process that, the man un-snapped his own neck and continued fighting. Third, she was mercilessly beat to within an inch of her life, then nearly had her skull crushed. After that was over, then came Majin Buu. She hears that Gohan was killed by Buu (although he was actually taken by the Supreme Kai). Not only had she grown to love Gohan, but she understood that he was powerful in a way that neither her nor her father could hope to compare to, and now a monster has caused the death of not only Gohan but Vegeta, and she knew that her father had also gone to face Buu. Less than a day later, the monster showed up at what she was told was the safest place on Earth, and he then proceeds to effortlessly kill every single human on Earth. Only minutes after that, he defeats Gotenks, a fighter that she was told was so incredibly powerful that none of the insanely powerful fighters she's just met could hope to match him. Before she can even process that, she and everybody around her get killed. At this point, Videl's world has been shattered repeatedly in under the span of a week, after having not only just been opened up to a new world of posibilities, but also falling in love. After everybody is revived and Buu is stopped, she can come to terms with everything. She's not the strongest person around. She doesn't have to bear the weight of protecting everybody anymore. She doesn't have to be the serious, tough girl anymore. Gohan already showed her how fun it is to relax and be a dork. She accepts that she is basically a tadpole in a tank filled with sharks, and she's okay with that. Everybody she cares about is safe again. She gets to let down her guard, enjoy herself, and be in love with Gohan. When Super begins, she's grown accustomed to her new reality. She lets her hair grow back out because she doesn't need it short for fights anymore. All of the people she's around her have been her friends for years. She's been with the love of her life for years and they've gotten married. By the time Lord Beerus shows up, she's just found out she's pregnant and hasn't told anybody yet. By the time Frieza returns, she's a mother. By the time the Tournament of Power has started, she's been a mother for over a year.

Goku's emotional growth across the entire series boils down to being able to let go of Grandpa Gohan in the Fortuneteller Baba saga and then accepting his own mortality in the Cell saga. Just because he doesn't truly change throughout the series doesn't mean that other characters have to remain the same as when they're first introduced. Out of everybody introduced during the Buu saga, Videl has had the most personal growth and character development by far, and it's all completely believable. She's honestly even had more development than characters introduced in earlier sagas. This is something that should be celebrated, not condemned.