The Ultimate Redemption: How Dragon Ball Super Can Correct GT's Most Disastrous Flaw

Highlights

Pan's potential as a Saiyan-Human hybrid with a strong martial arts lineage should be fully explored in Dragon Ball Super, avoiding the mistakes made in Dragon Ball GT.

Pan's mentorship with Piccolo in Dragon Ball Super demonstrates her exceptional strength and talent, surpassing even her father's potential. This provides a strong indication that she may ultimately achieve a transformation into a Super Saiyan.

In the realm of Dragon Ball Super, Pan's future appears promising. Her character undergoes significant growth and improvement, paving the way for potential advancements that are uniquely tailored to her personal journey.

The Dragon Ball GT anime, despite its initial promise, ultimately failed to fully develop the character of Goku's granddaughter, Pan. Instead of showcasing her strong-willed nature and resilience, the show reduced her to a helpless damsel in distress. One glaring disappointment was Pan's inability to achieve a Super Saiyan transformation, a defining trait of the Saiyan bloodline. However, with the introduction of Dragon Ball Super and its revised canon, there is hope for Pan's character to be properly realized. By learning from past mistakes, the Super Hero arc presents an opportunity to unlock Pan's true potential and fulfill the expectations set by her parents.

Genealogy

Pan, the granddaughter of Goku born to Gohan and Videl, is a first-generation Saiyan-Human hybrid. Despite the mixed heritage, Saiyan genetics seem to dominate, evident in Gohan's initial character design, which featured a tail similar to Kid Goku. However, these tails were forgotten in subsequent characters like Trunks and Goten. Both sides of Pan's family have a history of martial arts, although her maternal grandfather Hercule Satan proved to be a pathetic fighter despite being the World Martial Arts Champion. In contrast, Videl herself was a strong fighter, learning ki control from Gohan, and Grandma Chichi was a formidable martial artist in her youth.

Pan's unique lineage combines generations of martial arts experience and Saiyan blood. She exists in a time where various characters have access to extraordinary powers like Angels, Gods of Destruction, and transcendent forms. Unlike her father, Gohan, who had surpassed Goku in his childhood but lacked the desire to fight, Pan displays immense potential from a young age. In GT, her fiery personality drives her to seek out battles. This fundamental difference sets her apart and makes her a promising candidate to become the first female Saiyan warrior in Universe 7 since the destruction of Planet Vegeta. Unlike previous female characters, Pan would not be overshadowed, undeveloped, or merely used to showcase the abilities of others.

Mentorship

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One major difference between Pan's upbringing in Super and Dragon Ball GT is the lost years, the peaceful period between Dragon Ball Z and GT. During this time, Pan would have grown into an 11 or 12-year-old child. In GT, Pan has an interest in martial arts but doesn't train much, relying on Goku and Vegeta's powers during dangerous situations. However, in Super, we learn about Pan's existence when Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan God, as the unborn Pan is counted as one of the pure-hearted Saiyans required for the ritual. Since then, various powerful threats have emerged, and Pan benefits from having a mentor, Piccolo, which significantly improves her character's depiction and overall role in the story. Furthermore, the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie provides Pan with more screen time than ever before.

In the movie, we discover that despite only being three years old, Pan is immensely strong for an Earthling. She can knock out grown men with a single punch and eventually re-learns how to fly. Her training with Piccolo showcases her incredible talent, surpassing her father's potential. This implies that she could potentially surpass her father and address one of GT's major flaws: her lack of a transformation. In the final episode of GT, a fight takes place between descendants of Goku and Vegeta, born several generations after Pan. Goku Jr., Pan's great-great-grandchild (grandchild in the English dub, but the exact relation is unknown), is born in Age 880, over 100 years after Pan's birth in Age 779 (approximately 17 years after Goku's battle against Frieza). Despite their diluted human genes, both Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr. can still access the Super Saiyan transformation.

Future

Flying Baby Pan – Dragon Ball Super

Super's storyline involving Pan shows promise due to the Super Hero arc, which gives her more focus than before, though not as the main character. Despite being just three years old, Pan's character shines through remarkably. Her growth throughout the movie suggests that she will continue to train and improve, and with her immense confidence and a good mentor, Gohan and Videl's daughter has a bright future ahead. Considering Dragon Ball Super's current direction, it is possible for Pan to embark on a personal and unique character journey, one that we eagerly anticipate.