Why does Gohan's power keep depleting?

[vegeta623i]

Can someone please explain to why Gohan's power keeps reducing if his full potential was unlocked? I get the lack of training thing but he should still be as strong as he was during the late Buu saga because I don't get how someone's potential can reduce.

[Polyphase Avatron]

There's a difference between potential and power. Just because you have full access to your potential, it doesn't mean you won't become weaker if you slack off.

[NeoKING]

The whole point of his character is potential. At any given arc, people are always in Gohan's business about his potential power. Either he's much stronger than he should be or much weaker than he should be. The Buu arc and RoF went out of their way to remind us on-screen that Gohan is a slacker.

[B]

Maybe the better question is how do Goku and Vegeta keep increasing their power?

[RandomGuy96]

Can someone please explain to why Gohan's power keeps reducing if his full potential was unlocked? I get the lack of training thing but he should still be as strong as he was during the late Buu saga because I don't get how someone's potential can reduce.

It doesn't, unless you count the movies (and if you count them, you have to disregard most of the Buu arc, including the Uub stuff). He's still "Ultimate" at the end of the manga, with no implication he lost any power.

[sintzu]

Maybe the better question is how do Goku and Vegeta keep increasing their power?

They train 24/7.

[Lord Beerus]

Gohan just doesn't keep up with his training. It's as simple as that. It's his duty to maintain the immense potential that was unlocked for him by training regularly again, and he just can't be arsed to do it.

[fadeddreams5]

Considering this is not in the in-universe section, I'll say this: his power keeps depleting because Toriyama had 2nd thoughts about Gohan by the middle of the Buu arc. This is a series about fighting, and the strongest character gets the spotlight. Both him and Toei don't want him to have that. They don't like or respect the character, or care about his fans. This is the Goku Show, and making Gohan the new star is viewed as too much of a risk for them. In the case of Toriyama, I don't think he liked the character he developed Gohan into, and simply has more fun writing for Goku. As such, now, more than ever, he is surreptitiously writing Gohan out of relevance. You know, besides making him the usual cheerleader, fodder bitch, or using him for some sort of quirky comedy relief.

[DemonRin]

I'd agree with fadeddreams5 for the most part, but I don't think that's QUITE right.

It's stated in the early Boo arc, as in, while they're on Babidi's ship that Gohan slacked and lost some of his power during the timeskip.

The reason they're depowering him more and more lately may come from Toriyama and/or Toei rethinking his status and wanting to make Goku and/or Vegeta more important, but it isn't something entirely without precident.

[ABED]

I'm glad they are instead of constantly saying he has more hidden power.

[IDreamtIWasABee]

Dramatically speaking, Gohan was eclipsed in the Boo saga, so they're just adjusting his power to his status and hoping nobody notices. Pretty stupid since they just gave Goku and Vegeta new power-ups anyway.

[NitroEX]

It's stated in the early Boo arc, as in, while they're on Babidi's ship that Gohan slacked and lost some of his power during the timeskip.

That was very clearly done to juxtapose his return to form at the end of the arc. A hero being incomplete at the beginning of a story (in this case the start of the Buu arc) is a very common part of storytelling.

Just because you make your hero look weak at the start doesn't justify keeping them weak. Making them weak in the first place is usually done to show growth and progress of the character later on, there should always be a greater purpose to the actions of your characters. Unfortunately in the case of Gohan the rug was pulled out from under him at the last minute and plans were changed to accommodate Goku. This left Gohan with an incomplete character arc for that particular story.

[dbzfan7]

Because there is no interest in his character. Just like how we hardly know where Piccolo stands when he trains, or how the human stand, Gohan also falls into the category of no fucks given. There's simple reasoning as to why we never hear about Piccolo or the humans development anymore. It's because they're no longer relevant as warriors anymore. Gohan is unwanted and since he's a known slacker when it comes to fighting, it's easier to write that he has gotten weaker. Only Goku and Vegeta matter as warriors, and so they're the only one's who will ever get development in that category. People like Gohan, Piccolo, Goten, Trunks, Krillin, Tenshinhan, etc will never go any further as no interest is in them growing as warriors.

[Zephyr]

It appears that the powerup wasn't perfect/permanent. It was partly the result of the abilities of a witch, after all. People like to bring up the way his eyes are drawn during the manga's epilogue, but that's a really minor detail (which has only implicit relevance, not explicit) that modern producers of the series (including Toriyama himself after having re-read the manga) apparently don't regard as relevant. This is treated as a contradiction by some, which is silly since "he didn't lose power" isn't an explication that is being contradicted.

He's a slacker (when it comes to martial arts), so he doesn't train. He landed the best possible wife in the entire franchise, so he's also mellowed out. He has a career as a scholar, so he's also busy.

There are also two people who enjoy fighting and training way more than he does around, so he has no need to worry. There's also two sets of Dragon Balls in existence, so he really doesn't need to worry. I don't even need to bring up how drastically his need to worry has shrunk, now that we know more about what Whis can do (and Earth's delicious cuisine isn't going anywhere).

[DemonRin]

It's stated in the early Boo arc, as in, while they're on Babidi's ship that Gohan slacked and lost some of his power during the timeskip.

That was very clearly done to juxtapose his return to form at the end of the arc. A hero being incomplete at the beginning of a story (in this case the start of the Buu arc) is a very common part of storytelling.

I know WHY it was done from a storytelling perspective, my point is, it's not without precident that "Lack of training = Gohan gets weaker". It's not as if recent movies and the like are Toriyama and Toei pulling the concept that Gohan doesn't want to train, and that lack of training causing him to get wearker out of their asses.

[dbzfan7]

It's stated in the early Boo arc, as in, while they're on Babidi's ship that Gohan slacked and lost some of his power during the timeskip.

That was very clearly done to juxtapose his return to form at the end of the arc. A hero being incomplete at the beginning of a story (in this case the start of the Buu arc) is a very common part of storytelling.

I know WHY it was done from a storytelling perspective, my point is, it's not without precident that "Lack of training = Gohan gets weaker". It's not as if recent movies and the like are Toriyama and Toei pulling the concept that Gohan doesn't want to train, and that lack of training causing him to get wearker out of their asses.

What bugs me is we have the guidebooks saying the same things about the other humans like Krillin or Yamcha being removed from battle, and you never hear them getting weaker.

[DemonRin]

What bugs me is we have the guidebooks saying the same things about the other humans like Krillin or Yamcha being removed from battle, and you never hear them getting weaker.

I get the impression Piccolo, Krilli,n and Tenshinhan at least keep up some level of training.

[dbzfan7]

What bugs me is we have the guidebooks saying the same things about the other humans like Krillin or Yamcha being removed from battle, and you never hear them getting weaker.

I get the impression Piccolo, Krilli,n and Tenshinhan at least keep up some level of training.

Yamcha was said to be retired. Krillin was far removed from battle during the 7 year gap too with parenting and family stuff, and nothing was said about him. Piccolo is the only one who's said to train but absolutely nothing is said about his progress no more. Since Piccolo is no longer an important warrior, he's pretty much never noted to be any different than he has been since his last notable mention.

Krillin http://web.archive.org/web/201111031656 ... ow_up#link

After the battle with Cell, he peacefully lives with No. 18 at Kame House. Even having a daughter now, he has thoroughly distanced himself from battle.

No longer training, his hair has grown out.

[DemonRin]

Yamcha was said to be retired. Krillin was far removed from battle during the 7 year gap too with parenting and family stuff, and nothing was said about him. Piccolo is the only one who's said to train but absolutely nothing is said about his progress no more. Since Piccolo is no longer an important warrior, he's pretty much never noted to be any different than he has been since his last notable mention.

Krillin http://web.archive.org/web/201111031656 ... ow_up#link

Still, Krillin and Gohan have vastly different levels.

Simply Put, Gohan has more to lose so the change looks more drastic.

If you take two containers, a barell of water and a dinner glass of water and remove 40% of the liquid from both, you took the same amout of water out of each relative to the original whole, but the Barrel is going to look like a more drastic drop. You DEFINITELY lost several dinner glasses worth of water in this process.

[dbzfan7]

[quote="dbzfan7]Yamcha was said to be retired. Krillin was far removed from battle during the 7 year gap too with parenting and family stuff, and nothing was said about him. Piccolo is the only one who's said to train but absolutely nothing is said about his progress no more. Since Piccolo is no longer an important warrior, he's pretty much never noted to be any different than he has been since his last notable mention.

Krillin http://web.archive.org/web/201111031656 ... ow_up#link

Still, Krillin and Gohan have vastly different levels.

Simply Put, Gohan has more to lose so the change looks more drastic.

If you take two containers, a barell of water and a dinner glass of water and remove 40% of the liquid from both, you took the same amout of water out of each relative to the original whole, but the Barrel is going to look like a more drastic drop. You DEFINITELY lost several dinner glasses worth of water in this process.[/quote][/quote][/quote][/quote]

There's no reason he should drastically weaken much more than Krillin, who has no noticeable difference even though he did the same thing as Gohan did. I don't think there's a weaken multiplier or percentage. My theory is that it's because Krillin has spent more time training overall than Gohan, but that still isn't a good enough answer honestly.