Chi-Chi, being the good wife of Goku and mother to Goten and Gohan, is commonly regarded as an exemplary parent dedicated to the well-being of her family. Actually, Chi-Chi was shown fighting a losing battle. With Goku constantly away to train or fight to save the world, she had to shoulder bringing up their sons alone – thereby becoming a single parent.
Such was the challenging situation that might have driven her to a much darker path in her parenting approach, influencing Goten’s upbringing in most unthought-of ways.
Chi-Chi Wanted To See Goku So Bad That She Did The Unthinkable
This certain Reddit post also enlightened us on how bad Chi-Chi actually felt with Goku’s frequent absences, that she ended up doing something really sinister to fill this gap in her heart. So what exactly did she do? She literally brought up their youngest son, Goten, as a replica of Goku. Chi-Chi dressed him like Goku, gave him his kind of hair, and raised him to personify Goku himself.
Chi-Chi’s efforts paid off though, as Goten grew up possessing many of Goku’s qualities, more so than even his brother Gohan. The training she provided to him contributed towards shaping Goten’s personality, indeed reminiscent of his father. This was questionable yet very much touching, which proved to be an attribute of Chi-Chi’s unconditional love and longing for Goku.
Goten Got The Silver Spoon While Gohan Pulled The Short End Of The Stick
The contrasting fortunes of Goten and Gohan have been discussed within the Dragon Ball Z fandom for a while now. Though Goten was “born with a silver spoon” and automatically inherited the incredible potential of his father, Goku, Gohan drew the short straw. According to fans, he had huge potential but his upbringing and other factors worsened his case.
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indbz
Chi-Chi made him focus on his studies rather than training in martial arts. Thus, the warrior spirit within him was suppressed from the get-go.
The story of Gohan is indeed similar to a tragic loss of potential. With his father being Goku, he had extraordinary latent power, but it was held back by his mother’s strong belief in prioritizing Goten over him. Unlike Goten, who was trained by Goku from a young age, the skills Gohan had were mostly self-taught. Even so, he turned out to be among the strongest Z-Warriors, but one can only help but think what could have been if he had the same level of guidance as Goten.
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