The Study of the Kamehameha

[The S]

Over the past few days, I've found myself researching the Kamehameha technique (I know, I should be studying for something important, like my MCSE, or Japanese). Of course, we all know that the Kamehameha is based on an supposed ancient ki technique that has its roots in several mythology, including China, Japan, and Greece, but I'm going to go a bit deeper into it. Of course, I am only human, so I may have made some mistakes, and I've probably omitted a thing or two.

Who knows at least one Kamehameha Technique, and how they learned it

Cell
Undoubtedly, he knows the attack because some of his cells belong to Goku.

Cell Jr.
Like father like son. They grew from Cell knowing nearly all of his moves.

Chiao-tzu
Like Tenshinhan, he merely saw the attack, and knew how to perform it.

Chi-Chi
Now, it's not confirmed that she knows it, but it's apparent that she uses the Kamesennin (Turtle) fighting style, and it's been proved that she can manipulate ki. If she does know the move, she must have learned it from her father.

Fat Buu
He used it after seeing Goku perform the move.

Future Trunks
Well, he WAS trained by Gohan, right? Explains why Trunks knows both the Kamehameha and Masenko.

Gogeta
Obviously because he's a Fusion of Goku and Vegeta. Duh.

Gohan
Apparently he learned it from his father, but the exact time period he learned it is still hotly debated.

Goku
He did a minature version of it from watching Master Roshi, then improved the move under the turtle hermit's training. It later became his own signature move.

Goten
He learned it from his big brother

Gotenks
Well, both Goten and Trunks know the move. 'Nuff said.

Grandpa Gohan
Goku's grandfather was a pupil of Master Roshi's. It's only a given that he'd know the Kamehameha.

Kid Buu
As far as I know, he never used it in the manga or anime, but in Budokai 2, he's got two versions of it.

Krillin
He learned it as a pupil of Master Roshi's.

Master Roshi
Well, no duh. He INVENTED the damned thing!

Ox King
Although he's never used it in the series, there is no doubt in my mind he knows it. After all, he trained under Roshi right alongside Grandpa Gohan.

Pan
I believe she would have learned it from her father.

Super Buu
Well, this is a no-brainer. Fat Buu used it, also he absorbed both Gotenks and Gohan.

Tenshinhan
He learned it after simply watching it being performed

Trunks
Probably learned it from Goten or Gohan.

Uub
As far as I know, he hasn't used it, but if he trained with Goku all those years, and he's a fast learner, wouldn't he know it? Also, he gains all of Fat Buu's moves when he fuses with him, and Fat Buu knows Kamehameha...

Vegetto
I'm not even gonna explain this one...

Yamcha
He obviously learned it under Master Roshi's teachings, but Roshi himself is shocked when he sees Yamcha use it.

The different forms of the Kamehameha (confirmed characters only)

Name: 10x Kamehameha (Juubei [juubai] Kamehameha)
Who used it first: Goku
When: Dragonball GT - Baby Saga
Who else knows it: None

A Kamehameha move powered up to be ten-times more powerful.

Name: Ashi-kara Kamehameha
Who used it first: Goku
When: Dragonball - 23rd Budoukai
Who else knows it: None

Goku fired this Kamehameha attack from his feet in order to gain elevation.

Name: Big Bang Kamehameha
Who used it first: Gogeta
When: Dragonball GT: Shadow Dragons Saga
Who else knows it: None

Of course, with my idiotic memory, I forgot this attack was used in GT. Take one part Big Bang attack, one part Kamehameha, stir and simmer, and BOOM! One kickass attack.

Name: Continuous Kamehameha (AKA Renzoku Kamehameha)
Who used it first: Goku
When: ???
Who else knows it: Gohan, Goten

I don't remember when it was first used, but I do know it's a series of rapid-fire Kamehameha blasts fired upon the opponent.

Name: Directed Kamehameha (AKA Magaru Kamehameha)
Who used it first: Goku
When: Dragonball - Piccolo-Daimao Saga
Who else knows it: I'm not certain, but I believe that's it's a normal Kamehameha, except that it can be controlled after it's left the attacker's hands, allowing them to move it behind someone for a surprise attack.

Name: Dodohameha
Who used it first: Yamhan ("Tiencha")
When: Dragonball Z Budokai 2
Who else knows it: Krilotzu

A fusion between the Kamehameha and the Dodonpa. It actually looks more like Gotenks' Victory Cannon, fired from Tiencha's index fingers. Note that there is no such thing as Krilotzu; I put it there to see if you were paying attention :p

Name: Father-Son Kamehameha
Who used it first: Gohan
When: Dragonball Z - Budokai 2
Who else knows it: None

I'm going on the record as saying that this move, at least in my list, is seperate from the One-Armed Kamehameha. In this attack, Goku physically appears to assist Gohan in the move.

Name: Final Chou Kamehameha
Who used it first: Gogeta
When: Dragonball Z - Ultimate Battle 22
Who else knows it: None

Supposedly a cross between the Final Flash and the Super (Chou) Kamehameha, but in the game, it's just a faster and more powerful version of the regular Kamehameha.

Name: Hanagaeshi Kamehameha
Who used it first: Tenshinhan
When: Dragonball: 22nd Budoukai
Who else knows it: None

A move used to counter the Kamehameha, and send it packing right back toward them. Obviously taught to Ten by his master to defend against Roshi's main move.

Name: Justice Kamehameha
Who used it first: Gohan (Great Saiyaman)
When: Dragonball Z - Ultimate Battle 22
Who else knows it: None

A bunch of flashy moves preceeding a Super Kamehameha. That's it, really.

Name: Kamehameha
Who used it first: Master Roshi
When: Dragonball - Pilaf Saga
Who else knows it: Goku, Gohan, Goten, Cell, Cell Jr., Chiao-tzu, Fat Buu, Future Trunks, Gogeta, Gotenks, Grandpa Gohan, Kid Buu (Budokai 2 only), Krillin, Pan, Super Buu, Tenshinhan, Trunks, Vegetto, Yamcha

The same ol' attack we all know & love. If I have to explain this one, you don't belong on this board.

Name: One-Armed Kamehameha
Who used it first: Gohan
When: Dragonball Z - Cell Games Saga
Who else knows it: None

Gohan's final death move against Cell. Basically, it's a Super Kamehameha, used by one arm, and powered up even more, not only by Gohan's rage, but the spirit of his father helping him. It's rumored to be so powerful, it had its OWN power level!

Name: Maximum Kamehameha
Who used it first: Master Roshi
When: Dragonball Z: Pilaf Saga
Who else knows it: None

Roshi beefs up and fires off an immense Kamehameha.

Name: Rage Kamehameha
Who used it first: Gohan (Great Saiyaman)
When: Dragonball Z Taiketsu
Who else knows it: None

I'm not certain what's so special about this Kamehameha move. Maybe it's just another name for the Justice Kamehameha...?

I don't know.

Name: Reverse Kamehameha (AKA Flying Kamehameha)
Who used it first: Goku
When: Dragonball - 22nd Budoukai
Who else knows it: Krillin, I believe

Only given a name in Ultimate Battle 22, as far as I know. It's when a Kamehameha is fired, sending the user flying backward.

Name: Perfect Kamehameha
Who used it first: Cell
When: Dragonball Z Taiketsu (Cell Games Saga?)
Who else knows it: None

Only named in the horrible GBA game Taiketsu, apparently it's supposed to be the Kamehameha that Cell used in that final tug-of-war with Gohan.

Name: Super Kamehameha (AKA Ultra Kamehameha, or Chou Kamehameha)
Who used it first: Goku
When: Dragonball - 23rd Budoukai
Who else knows it: Gohan, Goten (UB22 only), Cell, Master Roshi, Super Buu

Simply a more powerful version of the Kamehameha.

Name: Ultimate Kamehameha (AKA Perfect Kamehameha)
Who used it first: Goku, Gohan, & Goten
When: Dragonball Z Movie 10
Who else knows it: None

Three Kamehameha blasts from a father and his two sons, all which fuse to become one huge blast. It was what finally killed that big brute Broly.

Name: Warp Kamehameha
Who used it: Goku
When: Dragonball Z: Cell Games
Who else knows it: None

Goku begins charging a Kamehameha, then uses Instantaneous Movement (Shunkan Idou) to teleport directly in front of the opponent, delivering the blast at point-blank range.

Name: Warp Kamehameha (Kid Buu Version)
Who used it: Kid Buu
When: Dragonball Z: Budokai 2
Who else knows it: None

I refer to this as the Warped Kamehameha. Kid Buu fires a Spirit Bomb-sized Kamehameha at the opponent, and blows it up with another Kamehameha blast.

[SaiyaJedi]

[see above]

Yeesh... that's quite an expansive list you've got there. And unfortunately, I think a lot of it is also based on speculation (and different sources giving different names for the same or similar things). But it is pretty interesting how much mileage DB got out of that one technique.

By the way, I took the liberty of editing your post; there were some weird random line breaks in there, as well as some annoying dub names I just had to step in and fix. From this point forward, "Master Shen" shall be referred to as "Tsuru-Sen'nin" or "the Crane Hermit" (since the only Shens in DB are Shen Long the Dragon God, and Shen, the guy Kami possessed during the 23rd Budoukai); and "Tien Shinhan" should be "Tenshinhan," with only one "i" and no space in the middle (Chiao-tzu calls him "Ten," but that's more of a friendly abbreviation than anything else). Just so's you know.

[The S]

Well, the line breaks are probably because I typed all this up last night in Notepad, and the dub names are because I live around and work with dubbies, so I'm used to them. I often find myself in a conversation with a hardcore DBZ fan, only to say "H e r c u l e" or something. It's not that I don't know the Japanese names, it's that I don't use them often enough for them to be a habit.

But like I said, feel free to let me know of any mistakes you see!

[Dai]

Whelp.... *Cracks fingers*

Tsuru Sen'nin didn't know the Kamehameha, and couldn't have passed it on. Tenshinhan learned it after viewing Yamcha doing it, and quickly picked it on. Arguably Chaozu learned it this way too. Fat Buu learned it the same way, after seeing Goku doing. Goten says Gohan taught him the move.

It is never known if Trunks knows the move or not, but probably not. It's not known whether Chi Chi can manipulate Ki or not... She can't even fly. She also doesn't practice the Kame style of fighting, and therefore it would be extremely odd for her to know the move.

Both Kuririn and Yamcha learned the Kamehameha the same way as Goku did, and Tenshinhan, and Fat Buu. They all had seen it performed before, and then somehow naturally could do it themselves. It was never taught to them. It's kind of interesting how every ''confirmed'' character learned the move simply by watching...

I was probably wrong on most of those accounts, but I had to fix some mistakes.

[omae no kaasan]

You've really thought a great deal about that, but um....why not just go by the guide already provided in the Daiz that tell exactly who knows what ^_^;

[Adamant]

Name: Directed Kamehameha (AKA Magaru Kamehameha)
Who used it first: Goku
When: Dragonball - 23rd Budoukai
Who else knows it: I'm not certain, but I believe that's it's a normal Kamehameha, except that it can be controlled after it's left the attacker's hands, allowing them to move it behind someone for a surprise attack.

I'm pretty sure Goku used that attack during his second battle with Piccolo Daimaou, 3 years before the 23rd Budokai.

[The S]

Curse you Julian! You screwed up some of my text there! I said it was done first in Piccolo Saga, and you changed it to say "23rd Budokai"

[SpiritBomb]

WHOA! I'm impressed..I never knew people studied these things...exept for me, I absolutely love the Spirit Bomb technique, its cool and it helped a hell lot everytime its been used. Since I like it so much, I used its name for my username on almost everything!

I knew Chi-Chi used to fight and all but I had no idea she used it too! Well, I always did find it odd that anybody can learn to fly and do this stuff. I was kind of mad at that for some reason because it makes too many damn characters! Akira's gotta stop! He's making everybody have kids and pushing away all the characters I grew up with. I mean, Yamcha used to be cool! Oh, but lets all make him a loser who refuses to fight now just so we can move in the little kids!

Come on, man!

[VegettoEX]

You've really thought a great deal about that, but um....why not just go by the guide already provided in the Daiz that tell exactly who knows what ^_^;

'Cuz we don't HAVE an attack list, poopie-head

[Dai]

Isn't he referring to the attack list in the actual Daizenshuus?

Not that I have any sort of clue whether the daizenshuus actually have attack lists.

[Neon Z]

Like Chiao-tzu, I'm not sure how he learned it. I'd guess that the crane hermit taught it to him to spite his old rival, Roshi.

Tenshinhan stated he could learn any attack such as the kamehameha by watching it been done once. He said that just after using it, I don't know how you could miss this.

Kuririn: He learned it as a pupil of Master Roshi's.

Kuririn learned it during his fight with Chiao-tzu. Roshi's training is only about getting you stronger and some general information classes, he doesn't teach any attack/skill to his disciples.

[The S]

Tenshinhan stated he could learn any attack such as the kamehameha by watching it been done once. He said that just after using it, I don't know how you could miss this.

Umm... lousy memory? As I said with Majin Buu, I could have seen the episode yesterday, and I would have forgotten it by now. I seriously do have a very crappy memory... you're lucky you got this much outta me!

I knew Chi-Chi used to fight and all but I had no idea she used it too!

I never said she could. I said by logical terms, she should be able to. And when I said she can manipulate ki, I now realize it was in the Garlic Jr. Saga... my bad! Also, she does know the Turtle fighting style. Kamesennin himself commented on it in the Ma Junior arc.

[VegettoEX]

Isn't he referring to the attack list in the actual Daizenshuus?

Haha... I guess so. I just automatically associate that word with my site, these days

[Dai]

Don't sweat it. Most people here do, as well, I guess.

And would people here please read my first post before repeating the exact same statement over and over again? It makes me feel all unloved...

[Sun_Wukong]

A note on Gojiita: He really doesnt fight in movie 12. He's in it for barely less than 5 minutes, well in his "final" form anyway. Its actually in GT where he first uses the "Big Bang Kamehameha", against Li Shenron.

[Dayspring]

Chichi never learned the kamehameha. She could NOT manipulate her ki because, although her dad did train with Kame-senin, he never progressed to a level where he could teach her. It's the fighting style (hand to hand) that Kame-senin said was his own.

Chaozu never learns the Kamehameha either. Being able to reproduce a technique after viewing it once is a trait specific to Tenshinhan's fighting genious.

Future Trunks never learned it from Gohan, most likely since Future Gohan never had a chance to learned it himself. (Manga sourcing here. Gohan learns the Kamehameha during the room of spirit and time or during the 3 year training before the androids arrive)

I believe Uub+Pan would have learned the kamehamehas from Goku since he was training them.

I believe Grandpa Gohan learned the kamehameha in heaven, since he kept training after he left Kame-senin (and we see him use it against Goku when he's dead). I say after he died because Goku would have known about the technique if Gohan used it.

Goten: well technically he knows the "Kamekameha"... ^_^

Trunks: When did he use it?

Any form of Boo: I believe that if Fat Boo knows it, all form of Boo know it, with the possible exception of Kid Boo since Kid spat out Fat.

Gotenks/Vegetto: I believe if a fusor knows the technique, than the final fusion knows it.

Cell Jrs: You say "nearly" all of Cells moves. I dunno why. If Imperfect Cell can know all techniques of the people he's cloned from at the time the cloned cells were taken (ie: Cell wouldn't know the genkidama if he were cloned from a Goku who didn't learn it yet), then the Cell Jrs would know all of the techniques in Cell's repertoire.

[parron]

I don't pretend to know as much about this stuff as all the rest of ya'll, but didn't Pan teach herself the attack? Goku seemed impressed that she knew it in one episode of GT (the one with that 'Bisshu' kid), and she said she had trained herself in it... I dunno, I'm only remembering this because a joke with my friends that Bisshu is my favorite character. 9.9

[PsyLiam]

I'd argue slightly against the "continuous kamehameha", which I'm guessing you've got from the Budokai games. That move looks just like every other "continuous barrage of ki blast" move used by all the characters in the game. It's only called a Kamehameha with Goku (and maybe a few others). That, along with the fact that the hand motions look more like generic ki blasts than a kamehameha, and that the bolts produced are yellow rather than blue, would lead me to ignore that as a naming error.

[B-kun]

I'd argue slightly against the "continuous kamehameha", which I'm guessing you've got from the Budokai games. That move looks just like every other "continuous barrage of ki blast" move used by all the characters in the game. It's only called a Kamehameha with Goku (and maybe a few others). That, along with the fact that the hand motions look more like generic ki blasts than a kamehameha, and that the bolts produced are yellow rather than blue, would lead me to ignore that as a naming error.

Well, I think Goku uses a continuous version while training in the animanga sometimes. Though not often.

[Dayspring]

In the manga the only time a continuous kamehameha is used is when he was training en route to namek. He blasted himself and then took a senzu.