As Goku and the gang make their way inside the Demon Realm, fans are curious to know what’s up with Gohan. In Dragon Ball DAIMA episode 1, Goku states that Gohan has been a little distant from everyone as he’s busy studying to become a certified scholar. Remember, back in the early days of Dragon Ball Z, Gohan wanted to become a scholar himself and in Dragon Ball Super, he achieves his dream of being one while marrying the love of his life, Videl.
However, he suddenly crashed into the list of the universe’s strongest warriors by activating his Beast mode against Cell Max in the Super Hero arc. His eyes flicker from black to red before fully manifesting the form, in which his eyes become fully red with black pupils. This sparked a theory amongst the fandom that Gohan’s power could have a Demoniac origin.
The foreshadowing behind Gohan Beast and its demoniac aura
Demon Gohan has been a thing even before Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero decided to make Gohan Black a reality. After Gohan was born, Chichi refused to let Goku teach and train his son in martial arts, so his first lesson came from Piccolo, who literally left him in the wilderness to fend for himself. The takeaway from Gohan’s training with Piccolo is the fact that the Namekian wanted to recreate the boy in his own image, channeling his inner demoniac instincts but in a purified state.
Remember, Piccolo was originally Great Demon King Piccolo, who was spit out to carry forward his father’s goal of killing Goku and ruling over the Earth. However, Piccolo changed through the association of Goku and Gohan. While Orange Piccolo is a result of his demoniac aura, he used to save the Earth, thereby purifying its utility.
Dragon Ball DAIMA revealed that the Namekians originated from the Demon Realm. Therefore, a part of Piccolo’s evil nature still lingered on and was subconsciously passed onto Gohan, which he recognized later on.
Gohan’s evolution to Beast mode is hinted at in Dragon Ball Super Episode 90, where Goku tests Gohan’s regained sense of power in preparation for the Tournament of Power. In reply to Goku’s question, “You aren’t going to use Super Saiyan?” Gohan says his goal is an ultimate form that no one has ever seen before, which he strives to achieve with a different method than Goku.
Series creator Akira Toriyama stated that the name “Gohan Beast” comes from the sensation that “the wild beast within has awakened.” Beasts mostly have pointy ears and since the Supreme Kai said that a lot of the residents of the Demon Realm have pointy ears, there’s a good chance that Beast mode might be explained further in Dragon Ball DAIMA.
Gohan Beast mode is just a start to his boundless demoniac powers?
While it’s true that Beast mode was first introduced in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Toriyama could lay hints of the transformation in DAIMA. This means that Gohan will appear later in the series and help the gang retrieve their original bodies. What’s more, Toriyama also hinted at Gohan achieving a stronger form after Beast.
To be honest, if he were to continue transforming, I’m not sure what sort of design I should make it (laughs)
Before his death, he might have left notes of Gohan’s next evolution to the team at Toei Animation or Toyotaro. However, fans won’t see this new form in DAIMA itself since Dragon Ball Super hasn’t mentioned any such thing at all. Both Goku and Vegeta have stated numerous times that Gohan has the biggest potential amongst the current Saiyan race, so it’s more than likely that Gohan Beast is just an intermediate form for what’s to come.
Gohan’s potential has been unlocked twice by Grand Elder Guru and the Old Kai respectively, but that potential increases when he begins to actively train again. Remember, in the Dragon Ball Super manga, Goku began training seriously in the Goku Black arc and reclaimed his Ultimate form during his training with Piccolo before the Tournament of Power.
In the Super Hero arc, he mentioned that he had been training to unleash Piccolo’s signature attack, the Special Beam Cannon. Goku sparred with Goku at the end of the arc and managed to beat the Ultra Instinct out of him. This means that the current creators of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Super will give him another form arising from his demonic instincts in future arcs.
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, and Dragon Ball DAIMA are all available to watch on Crunchyroll.
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