Summary
Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Dragon Ball Super manga. Dragon Ball is now streaming onCrunchyroll.
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Gohan practically spent more time being raised by the Namekian Piccolo rather than Goku. That’s not to downplay the relationship between the Saiyan father and son, butGohan and Piccolo’s teacher-student relationshipinDragon Ballreally is something special. And when it comes to shōnen anime with tons of fighting, you know what to expect from characters who are that close to each other: team attacks; and one of Gohan and Piccolo’s greatest team attacks is the Masenko Beam Cannon.
ManyDragon Ballfans might immediately recognize that the Masenko Beam Cannon’s name is just a combination of the Masenko and the Special Beam Cannon. To be fair, it is, as many other combination attacks in the series follow the same naming convention.Both moves were invented by Piccolotoo, with the Masenko being an energy wave attack that starts with both hands on the user’s forehead, with palms facing forward. When both hands are thrust forward, a ki beam fires toward its target. The Special Beam Cannon, on the other hand, is a move Piccolo created specifically to beat Goku, and requires him to channel his ki through two fingers by placing them on his forehead. Once done channeling, he will point the fingers toward his target, andtwo ki beams will come out, one going straight forward while the other spirals around the first beam. Separate, these two attacks are already formidable, but combined, they introduce a whole new world of hurt to anyone in the way.
What Is the Masenko Beam Cannon?
A Move Made to Beat an Enemy Neither of Them Could Beat Alone
As mentioned above, the Masenko Beam Cannon combines the Masenko and the Special Beam Cannon.Gohan charges up the Masenkowhile Piccolo readies the Special Beam Cannon. However, Piccolo’s Special Beam Cannon now only fires one beam instead of two, and his beam will twirl around Gohan’s Masenko. So essentially, the Masenko Beam Cannon looks ike a typical Special Beam Cannon, except the beam moving straight forward is a Masenko.
In the main canon, the Masenko Beam Cannon has only been seen in the manga since the event where it was used occursafter the Tournament of Powerand has yet to be adapted into the anime. It was used by Gohan and Piccolo in theDragon Ball Supermanga chapter 56, “Warriors of Earth Assemble”, against the alien android Seven-Three. The android’s special ability is that he can perfectly copy any fighter’s move set, which gives him an advantage since he has unlimited ki as an android and can just fight his opponent to a standstill until they inevitably tire out. To counter this,Gohan and Piccolo decide to team upand unleash combo attacks that Seven-Three can’t match since he can only copy one person at a time. One of the combo attacks they developed was the Masenko Beam Cannon.
“Of course! Combo Moves!! Seven-Three can only use one set of powers at a time, so there’s no way he can dodge attacks from a duo!” - Jaco just before Gohan and Piccolo unleashed the Masenko Beam Cannon
Other Versions of the Masenko Beam Cannon
A fewDragon Ballvideo gamesalso have the Masenko Beam Cannon as a usable move, and not all of them are done the same way as they were in the manga.
Other Gohan and Piccolo Combo Moves
Their Team Attacks Mostly Appear in Video Games
Video games of action anime often have to come up with new attacks to keep the fights fresh.Dragon Ballvideo gamesare no different and have come up with tons of combo attacks for Gohan and Piccolo.
