The latest chapter of the Dragon Ball Super saw Gohan step up to fight Kefla in the last fifteen minutes of the Tournament of Power, and that fight revealed something very interesting about how Gohan views his own Saiyan heritage!
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As the Gohan vs. Kefla fight unfolds, Kefla taunts Gohan for not going Super Saiayan in order to keep up with her in the fight. Gohan claps back by revealing an impressive power that allows him to land some key hits on his fused opponent. That power-up doesn’t just shock Kefla, it surprises Goku and the rest of the Universe 7 fighters, just as much. When Kefla questions why Gohan doesn’t need to turn Super Saiyan in order to achieve such power, Gohan responds with the following:
“I chose to keep evolving as a human, not a Saiyan. I’m not relying on my Saiyan blood anymore.”
This line of dialogue provides a major turn in Gohan’s character – one that the Dragon Ball Super anime didn’t even come close to examining. The anime basically nerfed Gohan, power-wise, and not even the challenges of the Tournament of Power were enough to draw out out any significant power boost or limit break in him. We certainly didn’t get any indication that Gohan has a particular outlook on his training and/or evolution as a warrior – a matter that the manga is establishing pretty firmly, here.
Ultimately, Gohan and Kefla battle one another to a draw, with the match ending in a double ring-out. However, after seeing how strong both Kale and Caulifla were in the manga’s version of the ToP, the fact that Gohan was able to stand toe-to-toe against their fused form speaks volumes. Even Krillin wonders out loud what a lot of fans will now be thinking: could Gohan once again prove to have much higher potential power than his father, Goku?
With the Dragon Ball Super manga taking such a big deviation from the anime’s treatment of Gohan, one has to wonder if Toriyama and Co. aren’t setting him up for a much more active future in the series. The manga is considered to carry a much bigger stamp of validity as “official canon,” so its version of Gohan is presumably one that the anime will eventually have to adapt. The question of how half-Saiyans like Gohan self-identify and control their powers is one Dragon Ball hasn’t never really delved into – but that could soon be changing, if this manga chapter is any indication.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly will hit Japanese theaters in December, and is expected to arrive in the U.S. around mid-January 2019. Dragon Ball Super is currently airing its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on Funimation, VRV, and Crunchyroll.
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