Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Dragon Ball Super chapter #102!Gohan goes through no shortage of transformations throughout Dragon Ball Z, but the strongest form he ever achieved was never officially named in the manga, at least until Dragon Ball Super corrected that mistake and made Gohan Ultimate officially manga canon.
In Dragon Ball Super chapter #102 by Akira Toriyama and Toyotarou, Goku returns to the Earth for the first time in this arc. Immediately following “Granolah the Survivor Saga”, Goku and Vegeta went to train with Whis and Beerus to become strong enough to face Black Frieza. However, when Goku learned of Gohan’s new ‘Beast Mode’ form, he had to see it for himself.
After Goku used Instant Transmission to teleport himself and Gohan – along with Trunks and Goten – to Beerus’ world, Vegeta – wanting to test the strength of his own son – suggests that Trunks and Goten team up to fight Gohan before Goku does. Gohan powers up to his “Potential Unleashed” form, which Trunks and Goten call Gohan’s “Ultimate” form – marking the first time this transformation has ever been called that in Dragon Ball canon.
Dragon Ball Super Shows How Goku Can Obtain a Form Stronger Than Ultra Instinct
Dragon Ball Super casually mentioned one way Goku could power up before the Tournament of Power, but he never did it. Could Goku surpass his limits?
“Ultimate Gohan” Is a Name Coined By Dragon Ball Video Games
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi is the first time this form is called “Ultimate Gohan”
What is now officially known as “Ultimate Gohan” debuted in Dragon Ball chapter #496 (or Dragon Ball Z chapter #302) by Akira Toriyama. While on the Kai’s world, Elder Kai does an ancient ritual to unlock Gohan’s latent potential so he can defeat Majin Buu. The result was Gohan’s “Potential Unleashed” form, a term used to refer to power-ups resulting from a warrior unleashing their latent power (usually due to some external intervention). Ultimate Gohan was the strongest “pure” warrior to appear in Dragon Ball Z, excluding Goku and Vegeta’s Potara Fusion and the forms Majin Buu took after absorbing Gohan himself.
Gohan used his “Ultimate” form to fight Majin Buu during a time when all hope seemed lost, during the Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super, and in the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie and manga adaptation. However, in every manga/anime appearance, the form was without a name – something that was fixed in the series’ video game franchise. Given that Gohan and all his forms are playable characters in practically every Dragon Ball game, every version of all characters must have a title, meaning the games had to name this previously nameless form, and “Ultimate Gohan” is what it ended up being.
While some older games called this form variations of ‘Unlocked Potential Gohan’, it was 2005’s Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi that coined “Ultimate Gohan”, which was widely accepted in the fandom as this transformation’s true name. Seeing the manga acknowledging that this form was never officially named in canon and fixing the mistake is a great sign for the health of the franchise. Also, Dragon Ball Super finally naming Gohan’s previous strongest form, before Beast came around, means that Goku’s son will be around a lot more.
Dragon Ball Super chapter #102 is available from Viz Media and MANGA Plus.
Dragon Ball Super chapter #102 (2024) | |
|---|---|
 |
|
Read on Manga Plus
Dragon Ball Super
Dragon Ball Super is a sequel to the original Dragon Ball series as well as the fan-favorite Dragon Ball Z anime. Dragon Ball Super takes place ten years after Majin Buu is defeated and follows Goku and his friends on all-new adventures. Much like its predecessors, Dragon Ball Super was praised throughout its 131 episodes.
- Release Date
- July 5, 2015
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu
- Franchise(s)
- Dragon Ball
-Featured.jpg)
