dragon-ball-meta:

OK, we’re actually gonna address this piece by piece here since it’s long.

Truth be told, we actually do get a lot more information than people think we do. It’s just not specific. For example, Goku’s choice to stay on Yardrat was strongly implied to be an effort by him to learn to fully control his newfound strength before he returned, as illustrated in this panel here.

A simple pat on the back was enough to send Chi-Chi through a wall and Goku scrambling after her to tend to any injuries and apologize profusely. From that, as well as his ability to not only transform at will but to take a guy who just beat Freeza even more easily than he himself did by using a single finger, simple logic dictates that’s probably a good part of why he stayed on Yardrat: to hone his power. So in that sense, a lot of this is actually the fandom simply being unable to grasp what’s in the series.

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© In Super, Gohan is an adult. He doesn’t need his dad’s support much anymore and we actually see him spend a bunch of time with Goten and support all of Gohan’s endevors (becoming a scholar and starting martial arts again). Goku and Chichi clearly must be miserable because of their cartoony fights, which people ignore to be comedic moments and because we never *see* the relationship blossom on screen. People always *assume* the worst ©

This is true, but again, it’s clearly communicated yet the fans do not grasp it. They also will then often turn to Toyotaro’s manga (which Toriyama himself is disregarding in his current writing) to reinforce their bias as Toyotaro shares that bias and even went out of his way to very specifically write it into the dialogue. (But remember, Goku is totally his favorite character).

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© Equally, Vegeta and Bulma must not have a connection at all because of the rocky start of their relationship, eventhough Super and the Buu arc show Vegeta genuinely cares now. It’s all pretty simple. Personally, I think all relationships except Gohan’s and Videl’s have this problem – much of their dynamic is implied or not elaborated. I’m so grateful for Super for actually giving those slice of life episodes. I don’t think Krillin and 18 had much interaction in the original manga either. ©

Ok, this is actually not entirely true. In fact, it’s simply not. Next to nobody assumes Vegeta and Bulma have no connection; rather, the majority of the fanbase way, way overestimated and overstated that connection to a very high level even when there really was none in the series. When Bulma had baby Trunks, for example, she genuinely could not stand Vegeta, and Vegeta was perfectly willing to let her and their son die to chase Gero and prove himself “superior”. That bond didn’t come til much later (and frankly could be argued to be in direct response to fan demand and expectation more than anything else). Much of the others, including Vegeta and Bulma to a point, was Toriyama simply putting his visions he’d had off-paper into the series proper, with 17 becoming a ranger, 18 and Krillin having a very loving and normal household, etc. 

That being said, Krillin and 18 actually had a pretty healthy amount of interaction in the manga, especially given their supporting roles by the Buu arc, and they were shown to care for each other very much, with 18 very specifically telling Krillin to get back to her immediately if he was in danger. Before that, in the Cell arc, there was quite a bit as well. Goku and Chi-Chi have also had a good bit of interaction in the manga, much of it positive except where played for blatant comedy.

And not to bag on Videl and Gohan, but their “romantic” interactions are hardly fleshed out. She goes from trying to expose his alter ego and barely giving him the time of day, to suddenly crushing on him as she blackmails him, and vice versa. It’s a very very SUB subplot, as was most of the romance in the series. It’s just also one that’s based on a very common trope in both Eastern and Western media, so readers and viewers are much more easily able to fill in the proverbial blanks for them.

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© Super actually *shows* us the relationships and fleshes them out. I seriously did not care much for any of them outside of Gohan/Videl because they actually interacted on screen much more than any other and had a much more fleshed out dynamic than the others, but now I care for all of them. That was long, but tl;dr people like to assume the worst when not much is there. Toriyama just isn’t much of a fan of writing romance, so he left that to the background and then, well, people assume worst

Well, yes and no. While Super’s been able to make it more prominent, it was, again, still present in Toriyama’s work. Just not in the forefront.

All people have to do is be willing to see it rather than try to dismiss it out of hand.