In many respects, this fic savagely deconstructs Goku's character. By showing how his childish nature and inability to think of the long term consequences, it shows how a man who can be so brilliant on the battlefield, can be a poor father. Gohan's character certainly seems OOC, but that very OOC-ness is taken very seriously, but also demonstrating the sheer difference between the two of them. Gohan has been forced by circumstances to grow up far too young, his father never did grow up.
FanficRecs Might as well be called Goku, the Deconstruction
In many respects, this fic savagely deconstructs Goku's character. By showing how his childish nature and inability to think of the long term consequences, it shows how a man who can be so brilliant on the battlefield, can be a poor father. Gohan's character certainly seems OOC, but that very OOC-ness is taken very seriously, but also demonstrating the sheer difference between the two of them. Gohan has been forced by circumstances to grow up far too young, his father never did grow up.