Gohan and Piccolo’s Masenko Beam Cannon, Explained

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Dragon Ball Super manga. Dragon Ball is now streaming on Crunchyroll.

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, but Gohan and Piccolo’s teacher-student relationship in Dragon Ball really 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.

Many Dragon Ball fans 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 Piccolo too, 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, and two 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.

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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 Masenko while 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 occurs after the Tournament of Power and has yet to be adapted into the anime. It was used by Gohan and Piccolo in the Dragon Ball Super manga 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 up and 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.

Other Versions of the Masenko Beam Cannon

A few Dragon Ball video games also 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.

• Supersonic Warriors 2 has the move as Gohan and Piccolo’s team attack, except this time, it’s performed by Teen Super Saiyan 2 Gohan with Piccolo. In the game, the attack is simply called Special Beam Cannon, even though Gohan is obviously putting his hands on his forehead in the iconic Masenko pose. The attack is also all green instead of a yellow beam with a purple spiral.
• Dragon Ball Fusions has a different interpretation of the attack altogether. Instead of it being a team attack performed by two people, it’s just one person using a single unique attack that’s a combination of the Masenko and Special Beam Cannon.
• Dragon Ball Legends also has the Masenko Beam Cannon, but it isn’t limited to just the Gohan and Piccolo duo. Any Masenko Special Move Arts user paired with a Special Beam Cannon Special Move Arts user can perform the attack.

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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 Ball video games are no different and have come up with tons of combo attacks for Gohan and Piccolo.

• Demon Cannon (Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans) – Piccolo starts with a flurry of melee attacks that ends with the opponent bashed into a wall. Gohan then follows up with a Masenko to finish them off.
• Meteor Impact (Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans) – This one’s special because it’s not just Gohan and Piccolo; Goku joins in on this combo attack too. Gohan performs his Burst Rush, Goku follows up with a Meteor Combination, and Piccolo ends it with a Special Beam Cannon.
• Another Hope (Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle) – This is another attack performed by a trio of Gohan, Piccolo, and Goku, but this time, it’s the one-armed Future Gohan. Another Hope is basically Future Gohan’s version of the Father-Son Kamehameha. He fires a One-Handed Kamehameha, which is boosted by his emotions for his father and Piccolo.
• Evil Shot (Supersonic Warriors 2) – Kid Gohan and Piccolo take turns striking their opponent, with the combo ending with Piccolo’s Special Beam Cannon.
• Master and Disciple Special Beam Cannon (Xenoverse 2 and Dokkan Battle) – Beast Gohan and Orange Piccolo each charge up a Special Beam Cannon side by side. They then fire simultaneously, resulting in a massive blue Special Beam Cannon that can be seen well beyond Earth. They used this move to defeat Cell Max in the game, but didn’t use it in the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie.

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Dragon Ball is now available to stream on Crunchyroll.

Release Date

February 26, 1986

Studio

Toei Animation

Writers

Akira Toriyama

MyAnimeList Score

7.97