Why does Gohan's power keep depleting?

[DemonRin]

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.

I'm saying Gohan had more power to begin with. I never said there was an actual official percentage, just saying that Gohan had more to lose. So if they were both inactive for the same amount of time and both lost about as much power relative to their original states, it'll look more drastic seeing Gohan lose a lot of power than it would Krillin.

[dbzfan7]

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.

I'm saying Gohan had more power to begin with. I never said there was an actual official percentage, just saying that Gohan had more to lose. So if they were both inactive for the same amount of time and both lost about as much power relative to their original states, it'll look more drastic seeing Gohan lose a lot of power than it would Krillin.

Krillin is hardly noticed at all, and he even fought. Though I guess we can take that him training with 18 whipped him back into shape better than Gohan training with Goten. Though the Daizenshuu specifies it's only that Gohan isn't tapping into his rage power, and that he never lost his standalone power. The manga makes it more clear when they seperate Gohan from his hidden power strength. Though he's still mentioned as rusty.

[DemonRin]

Krillin is hardly noticed at all, and he even fought. Though I guess we can take that him training with 18 whipped him back into shape better than Gohan training with Goten. Though the Daizenshuu specifies it's only that Gohan isn't tapping into his rage power, and that he never lost his standalone power. The manga makes it more clear when they seperate Gohan from his hidden power strength. Though he's still mentioned as rusty.

You're not getting what I'm saying.

On top of what I was saying tho, Gohan not only has a LOT more power than Krillin at his peak, but tbh, we have kindof a clearer picture of how Strong Gohan was at his peak than we do Krillin... Think about it, Krillin started slacking post Cell... the last time he fights a named character is during the Namek arc. NAMEK. He didn't really have an actual 1x1 fight in the entire Cyborg/Cell arc... and that carried over to the Boo arc.... he fought that scrub at the Tenkaichi Budokai.... and then got spit on by Dabra.... hardly a way to measure his strength.

We really have no idea how strong he got training for the Cyborgs for example. Like, let's throw out an arbitrary number and say he was a 1000 during Namek. How much did he improve to fight the Cyborgs? We don't know, he never fought anyone that entire arc.

For all we know, he could have gone from a 1000 in Namek to a 1700 at his peak during Cyborgs and then went down to 1400 by Resurrection F due to inactivity.

Again, he NEVER fought anyone of cosequence during this time, so we have no idea how strong he got and how much of it he lost due to inactivity.

Gohan, however, is drastically different. He gained a LOT of power and we WATCHED him USE that power against strong people. He fought Cell, The Cell Jrs, Dabra, Fat Boo, Base Super Boo, and Super Gotenks Boo. It was stated that Dabra was about on par with Cell and Vegeta explicitly states Gohan wasn't as strong during the Dabra fight as he was against Cell, then we saw him fight Fat Boo and get his ass kicked, then he got an upgrade and fought Base Super Boo and was stomping him, but struggled against Super Gotenks Boo.

This is why the argument that Gohan is somehow depleting in his power in a way that nobody else is is baffling to me. It's more noticable for Gohan because he reached a level nobody else sans Goku and Vegeta even approached, and we watched him all the way up to it, and then it's a VERY noticable drop when he lets himself go.

Krillin, Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Piccolo, etc all really got nothing in the way of 1x1 fights during the Boo arc and got very minimal fights during the Cyborg arc, so we don't have NEARLY as clear a picture of what their powers are or were vs where they are now.

It's not even comparable. It's apples and oranges.

[dbzfan7]

Krillin is hardly noticed at all, and he even fought. Though I guess we can take that him training with 18 whipped him back into shape better than Gohan training with Goten. Though the Daizenshuu specifies it's only that Gohan isn't tapping into his rage power, and that he never lost his standalone power. The manga makes it more clear when they seperate Gohan from his hidden power strength. Though he's still mentioned as rusty.

You're not getting what I'm saying.

On top of what I was saying tho, Gohan not only has a LOT more power than Krillin at his peak, but tbh, we have kindof a clearer picture of how Strong Gohan was at his peak than we do Krillin... Think about it, Krillin started slacking post Cell... the last time he fights a named character is during the Namek arc. NAMEK. He didn't really have an actual 1x1 fight in the entire Cyborg/Cell arc... and that carried over to the Boo arc.... he fought that scrub at the Tenkaichi Budokai.... and then got spit on by Dabra.... hardly a way to measure his strength.

We really have no idea how strong he got training for the Cyborgs for example. Like, let's throw out an arbitrary number and say he was a 1000 during Namek. How much did he improve to fight the Cyborgs? We don't know, he never fought anyone that entire arc.

For all we know, he could have gone from a 1000 in Namek to a 1700 at his peak during Cyborgs and then went down to 1400 by Resurrection F due to inactivity.

Again, he NEVER fought anyone of cosequence during this time, so we have no idea how strong he got and how much of it he lost due to inactivity.

Gohan, however, is drastically different. He gained a LOT of power and we WATCHED him USE that power against strong people. He fought Cell, The Cell Jrs, Dabra, Fat Boo, Base Super Boo, and Super Gotenks Boo. It was stated that Dabra was about on par with Cell and Vegeta explicitly states Gohan wasn't as strong during the Dabra fight as he was against Cell, then we saw him fight Fat Boo and get his ass kicked, then he got an upgrade and fought Base Super Boo and was stomping him, but struggled against Super Gotenks Boo.

This is why the argument that Gohan is somehow depleting in his power in a way that nobody else is is baffling to me. It's more noticable for Gohan because he reached a level nobody else sans Goku and Vegeta even approached, and we watched him all the way up to it, and then it's a VERY noticable drop when he lets himself go.

Krillin, Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Piccolo, etc all really got nothing in the way of 1x1 fights during the Boo arc and got very minimal fights during the Cyborg arc, so we don't have NEARLY as clear a picture of what their powers are or were vs where they are now.

It's not even comparable. It's apples and oranges.

They're also different people, but more importantly the amount of power Gohan is losing is what make it an issue. He went from over SSJ3 tier, down to simple SSJ tier in like a year or two. That's not simple slack off losing power, that's like being drained of it. That's getting over 8x weaker in an incredibly short timespan, with 8x being the bare minimum, and 16x being about the average ball park considering he went from Saikyo no Senshi, to Super Saiyan is the best he can manage. Gohan's super huge drop is as notable as Goku's super GT buff. What I'm saying is while I can see Gohan losing more power than Krillin and the others, but not to this insane degree. I mentioned how the reason it's hardly noted for Piccolo or Krillin is because they're no longer relevant warriors, and we no longer follow their progress.

[pacz360]

It's simple cause of two things 1.toei and toriyama 2. He's an idiot.

[DemonRin]

They're also different people, but more importantly the amount of power Gohan is losing is what make it an issue. He went from over SSJ3 tier, down to simple SSJ tier in like a year or two. That's not simple slack off losing power, that's like being drained of it. That's getting over 8x weaker in an incredibly short timespan, with 8x being the bare minimum, and 16x being about the average ball park considering he went from Saikyo no Senshi, to Super Saiyan is the best he can manage. Gohan's super huge drop is as notable as Goku's super GT buff. What I'm saying is while I can see Gohan losing more power than Krillin and the others, but not to this insane degree. I mentioned how the reason it's hardly noted for Piccolo or Krillin is because they're no longer relevant warriors, and we no longer follow their progress.

We don't ACTUALLY know how much Gohan's power depleted exactly. I think most people assume he's SS1 because of the "I can still go Super Saiyan... I think..." Joke, but I think that was more "Haha, Gohan never fights anymore, it's a joke!" kinda thing. I'd argue he's probably still at least SS2 level.

Piccolo, without a doubt, was still training post Boo. We know this because the movie actually makes a joke about his weighted training clothes (He drops his clothes on some scrubs and it drops them lol) So I'd say it's reasonable to assume Piccolo is AT LEAST as strong as he was at his strongest known point, probably stronger.

That was against Cyborg 17, and he was mostly equal footing with him. That big guy Piccolo fights in Resurrection F was giving him a hard time, meaning that guy was definitely more powerful, at least a little, than Cyborg 17. Gohan ONE SHOTTED him.

SS2 was about what he was early Boo before he got the Mystic upgrade. I think the lack of training just made him lose the Mystic Upgrade.

[dbzfan7]

They're also different people, but more importantly the amount of power Gohan is losing is what make it an issue. He went from over SSJ3 tier, down to simple SSJ tier in like a year or two. That's not simple slack off losing power, that's like being drained of it. That's getting over 8x weaker in an incredibly short timespan, with 8x being the bare minimum, and 16x being about the average ball park considering he went from Saikyo no Senshi, to Super Saiyan is the best he can manage. Gohan's super huge drop is as notable as Goku's super GT buff. What I'm saying is while I can see Gohan losing more power than Krillin and the others, but not to this insane degree. I mentioned how the reason it's hardly noted for Piccolo or Krillin is because they're no longer relevant warriors, and we no longer follow their progress.

We don't ACTUALLY know how much Gohan's power depleted exactly. I think most people assume he's SS1 because of the "I can still go Super Saiyan... I think..." Joke, but I think that was more "Haha, Gohan never fights anymore, it's a joke!" kinda thing. I'd argue he's probably still at least SS2 level.

Piccolo, without a doubt, was still training post Boo. We know this because the movie actually makes a joke about his weighted training clothes (He drops his clothes on some scrubs and it drops them lol) So I'd say it's reasonable to assume Piccolo is AT LEAST as strong as he was at his strongest known point, probably stronger.

That was against Cyborg 17, and he was mostly equal footing with him. That big guy Piccolo fights in Resurrection F was giving him a hard time, meaning that guy was definitely more powerful, at least a little, than Cyborg 17. Gohan ONE SHOTTED him.

SS2 was about what he was early Boo before he got the Mystic upgrade. I think the lack of training just made him lose the Mystic Upgrade.

Gohan and the others are told to go full power, and Gohan is only an SSJ while doing so. So it doesn't seem like a joke at all and that's literally his max.

Piccolo can be assumed stronger or as strong, and that's my point. Because he's no longer important, we don't follow his progression as a warrior no more. He's never noted as being stronger, which means even if he is, it's hardly noticeable or worth commenting on. It's also why Gohan is as strong or weaker over time as he's also irrelevant as a warrior too in the neo era.

The guy Piccolo fought was nothing special at all. The movie makes it clear, and it's really power level preconceptions that make people try and say Shisami is something special when it's never implied at all. It's just the writers not giving a crap about consistent power levels. Hence Freeza's controversial line.

Not sure how you lose a potential unlock that has absolutely nothing to do with training. I think out of universe answers pretty much answer that they just wanted a Super Saiyan to be in the movie since they're cool and stuff.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

Sometimes the best answeres are the simple one.

Like in real life, if a martial artist doesn't train and practice his body and techniques in a regular basis he gets rusty, weakens and can't improve; Gohan represents this in the most painful way possible.

Just deal with it !

[Kishido]

Wait until the next episodes where he lose Mstic completely

[Zelvin]

Gohan can't improve because he's already long since been tainted by ChiChi. He doesn't need to fight anymore so all he does is study and help Videl. They don't even do the Great Saiyaman thing anymore. We've been seeing this for a while now, but after the Buu arc, Gohan just became irrelevant. At the time he was the strongest non-fused character out there. And if anything, his training with the Supreme Kai did indicate that if he put the effort in, he could regain all of his lost strength in a short time and even improve himself.

It's simply that he's not putting the effort in. He's a bookworm now. A father. A husband. Moreso than Goku ever was. And yet, Piccolo still has to come by and play babysitter for them when Videl and Gohan go out. Which kinda makes Piccolo the best parental figure of the whole cast.

[MCDaveG]

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.

Well, go to the gym regularly for one year, then quit and you will get your answer.
If you will back it up with chocolate bars and hamburgers, you will pop your belly button out.

[TheGreatness25]

Gohan always had the most potential out of anybody out of the Z Warriors. The thing is, though, that Gohan was never interested in fighting. There was never a moment where he was excited about fighting; he saw it as a means to an end and knew that he HAD to fight. So at times of peace, he'd stop his training to focus on his normal life, that he never really had until he defeated Cell. If you don't train, you become weaker and so the trend continued.

Gohan never wanted to be a fighter. He wanted a girlfriend and he wanted to be a normal kid. He wanted to get a real job and become a contributing member of society. Doesn't make him a bad guy, but it does kind of wast his potential.

[dbzfan7]

The thing is, though, that Gohan was never interested in fighting. There was never a moment where he was excited about fighting

Guess he was just went insane when he wanted to go to namek, train for the Cyborgs, train in the rosat, and train for the 25th Tourney, and wanting to fight Dabura all by himself when he could have let Goku or Vegeta do it.

[DBZAOTA482]

The thing is, though, that Gohan was never interested in fighting. There was never a moment where he was excited about fighting

Guess he was just went insane when he wanted to go to namek, train for the Cyborgs, train in the rosat, and train for the 25th Tourney, and wanting to fight Dabura all by himself when he could have let Goku or Vegeta do it.

1. Survivor's guilt. He didn't wanna lay around doing nothing.

2. He wanted to be of use and prove his worth to his father and Piccolo.

3. The situation's critical. Not particularly excited about it.

4. Videl blackmailed him.

5. They weren't gonna do anything and Gohan didn't wanna let his pops down.

[TheGreatness25]

Guess he was just went insane when he wanted to go to namek,

Who said there was going to be fighting on Namek? As far as they all knew, it would just be a trip there and back to make wishes on he Namekian Dragon Balls

train for the Cyborgs,

Did Gohan say he wanted to train for the Cyborgs? What was his quote? Also, sure, Gohan wanted to train with his dad who he hasn't seen in forever. Well that, plus he KNEW he had to because next to Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo, he was probably the most powerful one there.

train in the rosat,

He was knee deep into the fight at this point. There was no turning back. But again, see my answer for the fight against the Cyborgs.

and train for the 25th Tourney,

Um, he didn't think that there would be any competition for him. Look at his training. Running around, having rocks thrown at him? Then he spent the majority of the time training Videl and Goten. That's like bodybuilder going to the gym to do 3 sets of 10 reps of biceps curls using 10 lb weights.

and wanting to fight Dabura all by himself when he could have let Goku or Vegeta do it.

Um yeah, but it was in the moment where all the Saiyans were showing how excited they were to fight. Plus, the other fighters until that moment served no challenge. He took Dabura lightly.


None of that proves that he loves fighting.

[funrush]

I do think RoF was a little ridiculous with how they treated Gohan's strength though. There were 7 years between Cell and Buu and Gohan was still able to hit SSJ2 easily, even if he was a little weaker. Only 5-6 years between Buu and RoF and Gohan can barely even hit SSJ1, and gets one-shotted by first form Freeza. I know he's not really training but shit, that drop was kinda severe.

[DemonRin]

Guess he was just went insane when he wanted to go to namek, train for the Cyborgs, train in the rosat, and train for the 25th Tourney, and wanting to fight Dabura all by himself when he could have let Goku or Vegeta do it.

Oh come on now, did you even watch this series or read the manga?

In all of those circumstances, he either didn't think there would be much fighting (Namek) or he did it out of some level of necessity.

Goku wants to fight JUST to fight, that's why Goku has, on several occasions, ignored the easy way out in order to get to fight a strong guy, IE: "Hey, why don't we just use the Dragonballs to find out where Gero's lab is and destroy the Cyborgs before they're even made?"
Goku's response was "Nah, I want to fight them"

Gohan only ever fights because he feels he needs to. It's a necessity and survival thing rather than a "because I want to" thing. This was heavily underscored during the Cell games when he resisted fighting for a long time until he was snapped. Gohan does have a temper, and will go all out if provoked, but unprovoked, he's not really interested.

[irreality]

Gohan never wanted to be a fighter. He wanted a girlfriend and he wanted to be a normal kid. He wanted to get a real job and become a contributing member of society. Doesn't make him a bad guy, but it does kind of wast his potential.

I really want them to pick up on the plot thread they had for Gohan in Dragon Ball Online, where he combines his studies (maybe in physics?) with his knowledge of ki to write a book to allow more normal humans to learn ki manipulation and have other humans like Krillin and Tenshinhan start ki training schools. I think that would be a good use of his character and knowledge without having him have to be a super strong fighter, and it is something he can do as a team with Videl.

[dbzfan7]

Guess he was just went insane when he wanted to go to namek, train for the Cyborgs, train in the rosat, and train for the 25th Tourney, and wanting to fight Dabura all by himself when he could have let Goku or Vegeta do it.

Oh come on now, did you even watch this series or read the manga?

In all of those circumstances, he either didn't think there would be much fighting (Namek) or he did it out of some level of necessity.

Goku wants to fight JUST to fight, that's why Goku has, on several occasions, ignored the easy way out in order to get to fight a strong guy, IE: "Hey, why don't we just use the Dragonballs to find out where Gero's lab is and destroy the Cyborgs before they're even made?"
Goku's response was "Nah, I want to fight them"

Gohan only ever fights because he feels he needs to. It's a necessity and survival thing rather than a "because I want to" thing. This was heavily underscored during the Cell games when he resisted fighting for a long time until he was snapped. Gohan does have a temper, and will go all out if provoked, but unprovoked, he's not really interested.

Namek he did it because he wanted to go to restore his friends. Hell like you said for Namek he didn't think there'd be much fighting which would mean he wouldn't be needed, but still went anyways. He's completely irrelevant and useless anyways for Cyborgs yet still trained anyways to be of some use. Without reaching Super Saiyan he's literally of no use since the prophecy said Super Saiyans couldn't win. He trained in the rosat to help Goku and no where in the ROSAT is he like "Ugh this shit again." He didn't have to train for the 25th tournament at all as he didn't learn about Goku or Vegeta entering til later. He was gonna train for something he'd highly outclass before they all said they'd enter the tournament. He could have passed on fighting Dabura and had Goku or Vegeta fight for him no problem, and yet he still demanded he fight alone against him.

Gohan doesn't like fighting as much as Goku or Vegeta, but he doesn't hate it either. It's like a sport he's not crazy about. I like playing basketball but I don't go out of my way to do it. It's the same with him. He doesn't really dislike fighting, he just has more interesting things he prefers to do. The only time he actively hated fighting was as a 4 year old where he cried and whined about it. When he's older he says he doesn't like to fight like his dad does, which usually entails fighting that ends up killing...though really we're talking about a scenario where he stands still while his friends are being slaughtered for no reason.

[Nad45]

I do think RoF was a little ridiculous with how they treated Gohan's strength though. There were 7 years between Cell and Buu and Gohan was still able to hit SSJ2 easily, even if he was a little weaker. Only 5-6 years between Buu and RoF and Gohan can barely even hit SSJ1, and gets one-shotted by first form Freeza. I know he's not really training but shit, that drop was kinda severe.

Between Cell and Buu, Gohan became a teenager. So his strengh naturally growed during that time
It's like us, at 16 years old, we are a lot stronger than at 9, even whithout any training.
So i think that's why he didn't lose that much power during those 7 years., the lack of training was offset by his growth.
But after that, he became an adult and between 16 and 22, we don't gain a lot of strengh so he lost more power than he gained.