One of the most fascinating characters in DBZ to me is Future Gohan. He is Future Trunk’s master and best friend. His life was the opposite of present Gohan’s life. It was filled with death, fear, and sorrow. There was not any time to study under Chi Chi’s strict rules. He had to train in hopes of defeating Android 17 and Android 18. His life ends at the hands of Androids 17 and 18 in an intense to end the chaos. His lack of strength gained over a 13 year period makes me and others question this major conflict within the story’s writing.
Ruthless Training For 13 Years
Future Gohan trained for thirteen years to becomes stronger than the androids. He eventually started to train Future Trunks once he was old enough to fight by Future Gohan’s side. Thirteen years are a very long period of time to train. The present characters’ power levels always reach new levels never seen before just by training over the course of a few years. Future Gohan’s power level be great than Future Vegeta’s power level as a Super Saiyan. Furthermore, Future Gohan is also older than present Gohan in the Buu Saga. Their most notable difference is Future Gohan trained while present Gohan was focused on his studies, and as a result present Gohan’s power level decreased after the Cell Games. Reaching his full potential without Old Kai’s help in the future timeline appears to be very possible.
Training Under 100 Times Gravity
My second point directly ties to the very first opinion. Goku trained under 100 times Earth’s normal gravity during his long and dangerous trip to Namek. Goku’s power level increased to new heights beyond his previous base power from just a saga ago. Vegeta also trained under the same rough conditions in the present time to prepare for the Androids, and continued to train in this method after the Cell Games. Future Bulma could have built a new machine for Future Gohan to train in to become stronger than the Androids. It would have taken less than 13 years for Future Gohan to outclass the Androids and destroy them for good. Future Bulma thought about building a time machine, but never once thought about how Goku and Vegeta trained to become elite warriors.
Zenkai
Another key plot hole in Future Gohan being weaker is the lack of Zenkai boosts. Saiyans become stronger after every fight and when they survive major wounds. Future Gohan fought the androids for over a decade. He survived in more battles against the evil Androids than his fallen comrades. There were plenty of fights for him to be able to experienced many Zenkai boosts over a thirteen-year period. He should have received many Zenkai boosts to outclass the wicked duo.
Gohan’s Hidden Powers
Gohan’s full potential is a key characteristic to his character. Future Gohan has present Gohan’s same genes and history up to the Frieza’s arrival on Earth. It is very unlikely that Future Gohan never became emotional with a large burst of power against the Androids. He has a lot of motivation to destroy them for killing his father figure Piccolo, Krillin, and the other Z Fighters. This emotional burst may have also pushed him to the next level to a Super Saiyan 2 like it did for his present counterpart.
My Final Thoughts
Future Gohan’s death by the Androids is one of the biggest plot holes in Dragon Ball Z. All of the evidence clearly points to poor writing without putting everything together in a logical manner. There is absolutely no reason for Future Gohan being much weaker than both Android 17 and 18. He had all of the resources necessary to carry out the job. The major factor is Future Gohan training for 13 years and not using the gravity training methods to push himself to the next level. Future Gohan’s story will always be a very noticeable dent in Dragon Ball Z’s story.
