Why Gohan Was So Weak at the Start of the Buu Saga in Dragon Ball Z

Gohan was weaker at the start of the Buu saga in Dragon Ball Z (1989) than he was as a child fighting Cell. That came down to one thing: he stopped training, both physically and mentally, during the seven years of peace. In theory he shouldn't have gotten weaker at all, but things changed, and I think the way Akira Toriyama handled it was sloppy.

The question is simple. Why was Gohan, the great Saiyan who had been so powerful and so ferocious, so weak compared to his former self when the Buu saga began?

Goku and Vegeta trained through the seven-year gap while Gohan neglected his training

It's mentioned several times at the start of the Buu saga, especially by Vegeta, who mocks Gohan for it, that Gohan neglected his training. What we know for certain is that Goku trained hard in the other world and Vegeta trained hard on Earth during the seven years between the Cell saga and the Buu saga.

When we saw them again in the Buu saga, they came back with enormous strength, beyond anything Gohan could have imagined. Both of them managed to surpass Gohan at the start of that saga. Later in the Buu saga Gohan did reach his Ultimate form and became extremely strong, but that's a separate matter. The focus here is the start of the saga and why Gohan was so weak.

Gohan against Cell was a child and a monster nobody could match

People call him teen Gohan, but that's inaccurate. Gohan in the Cell Games wasn't a teenager. He was a young boy, either 9 or 11 depending on the reference, somewhere in that age range. And he was a genuine monster. Nobody could rival him at that point, not even Goku or Vegeta.

So if you think about it logically, you'd assume Gohan in the Buu saga would be stronger than he was as a child, because he grew up. Seven years had passed. Of course this is anime, so it isn't that precise, but the human body works a certain way. After puberty, from 11 to 18 or 19, or whatever age someone stops growing, the body gets bigger. The bones grow, the sternum grows, the whole body grows, the brain grows, and that person gains more strength, especially males.

In theory Gohan should have gotten stronger during the seven-year gap, but that didn't happen. Some people will bring up muscle memory. Muscle memory exists, but it doesn't apply here. First, this is a fictional series and manga. Second, it doesn't work after seven years. That means Gohan's level went down.

Gohan was weaker, but Piccolo still couldn't match him

I want to be clear about something. Gohan was weaker, but he wasn't weak. Not completely. Piccolo, who trains every day, was no match for Gohan. Think about that for a moment. Gohan was so strong against Perfect Cell that Piccolo, training daily, couldn't keep up with him. That's amazing, and it confirms how powerful Gohan was and how much potential he had against Cell.

When you analyze what the series shows, it's clear how strong Gohan still was. Goku and Vegeta had surpassed him, that much is certain, but Gohan was close to them, in third place.

Babidi singled out three fighters, which I take to be Goku, Vegeta and Gohan

Babidi was looking to gather energy to bring back Majin Buu. While doing that, he was searching for people on Earth with enough energy to bring Buu back. It isn't a revival in the literal sense. It's more like releasing him.

Babidi made several statements, including one where he said he didn't care about anyone else, because those three, clearly Goku, Vegeta and Gohan, had enough energy, more than enough, or more energy than Buu himself. Babidi didn't care about anyone but them. And remember, he hadn't even seen them at their full power.

Dabura was said to be at Cell's level, and Gohan held his own

During the fight between Gohan and Dabura, the king of the demon realm, Gohan's power came up, and most of the time he was mocked. It was said that Dabura was at Cell's level. But as at other points in the series, they didn't specify which Cell.

We can assume it was probably Super Perfect Cell, because Goku, Vegeta and Gohan all experienced Super Perfect Cell firsthand. Goku counts too, not because he died, but because he could still sense Cell's energy from the other world. All three were fully aware of Super Perfect Cell, so you'd think that's the one meant.

Even if it wasn't Super Perfect Cell, even if it was just Perfect Cell, Gohan was still holding his own. He wasn't as ferocious as he had been against Super Perfect Cell. So there's no doubt Gohan's power dropped during those seven years, but the drop wasn't as big as many people think.

Gohan didn't train physically or mentally during the seven years

So what happened during those seven years? The truth, as everyone knows, is that he didn't train. It's a little worse than that, in fact. He didn't really train. Logically, it makes no sense for someone to grow up, go through puberty, have their bones grow, have their skin toughen, get bigger, get heavier, get taller, and then end up weaker.

The reason isn't only that Gohan didn't train physically. He didn't train mentally either. Dragon Ball Super gives a clear example of mental training with Golden Frieza. After the events of Resurrection F, when Goku sent Frieza back to hell, Frieza was trapped inside a cocoon and couldn't move. In the end Frieza got stronger, because he learned how to train using mental imagery.

Gohan didn't meditate. He did nothing worth mentioning during those seven years, or if he did, it was very little. As a result, Gohan got weaker. In my opinion, that's pathetic.

Why did no one push Gohan to keep training?

The really puzzling part is why nobody encouraged Gohan to get stronger. It was a time of peace, and I suspect Vegeta, Piccolo and the others didn't think Gohan would be called on to fight. They thought that after Cell was defeated, the big battles against villains were over.

But these guys had been fighting villains relentlessly for decades. They should have known better. Instead of someone coming to Gohan and telling him he had to keep training and sharpen his skills, they left him alone. That's remarkable.

He could have meditated. He could have practiced martial arts. We saw him and Krillin training in martial arts at the start of the Namek events. That was a filler episode, so that may be why it doesn't count in Toriyama's story, but we did see him do it. He clearly knew martial arts and learned it from Piccolo. After all the training he got from Goku and Piccolo over the years, you'd think he would at least have kept exercising. Maybe he did. But it's very strange to me that a young man goes through puberty, gets a fully grown adult body, or close to one, and then becomes weaker.

Gohan could still go Super Saiyan 2 at the tournament

Gohan clearly still knew how to transform into Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2. We know that for sure because he did it during the tournament when Kibito asked him to. That's how the big secret about Babidi and the plan came out, through that scheme set up by the Supreme Kai.

So it's very strange that Gohan didn't get stronger.

I think Toriyama broke Gohan down to rebuild him, and the execution was sloppy

I feel Toriyama used this as a device to rebuild Gohan. It was his way of breaking Gohan down and giving him a chance to build himself back up with the Z Sword, which made him extremely strong in the middle of the Buu saga. That's what led to Ultimate Gohan.

The thing about Ultimate Gohan is that it sometimes seems sloppy. Did he actually train to become Ultimate Gohan? It looks like he had enormous potential that Old Kai unlocked. Did he really earn it the way Vegeta or Goku did? I'll leave that open. I know Gohan fans don't like hearing this, but it's the truth. Goku and Vegeta earned their power, while Gohan sat there and Old Kai gave it to him. It's sloppy, and I think the story could have been written so that Gohan put in more effort.

Toriyama couldn't even find a way to end the Buu saga. He was writing it as he went, as he always did, but in the Buu arc it was very obvious. He also changed his mind about Gohan later and replaced him as the main character. Some people believe that was because of fan pressure, and that isn't true. So while I think Toriyama had good intentions at the start of the saga in tearing Gohan down to rebuild him, I feel the execution may have fallen short of what it needed to be.