Super Saiyan 2

"Gohan's power has grown far beyond mine. When we were training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, I knew he had hidden strengths, but I never knew he would ascend to this level."
— Goku ("Cell's Break Down")

Super Saiyan 2 (超サイヤ人ツー) is the direct successor to the first Super Saiyan transformation. It is very similar to the original form in appearance and attainment; however, the power output is far greater, as speed, strength, and energy output all drastically increase. Gohan was the first person to attain the form, and used it while fighting against Cell in the Cell Games. Goku and Vegeta soon followed, with Goku learning it in the Other World and Vegeta learning it through intense training.

Overview

The Super Saiyan 2 form

In order to achieve this transformation, the Saiyan must first gain a huge amount of energy (usually by training), far beyond that required for the first Super Saiyan form. Once enough energy is acquired, the Saiyan must experience a powerful emotional upheaval, much like the Super Saiyan transformation, but to a greater extent. Because of the intense emotion required to initiate the transformation, any mastery of the Full-Power Super Saiyan state, and mental stability attained therein, is negated, and the naturally remorseless nature of the Saiyan race is magnified, requiring them to remaster the personality changes. Even the gentle, polite Gohan became a hotheaded, merciless fighter after transforming, opting to torture Cell rather than kill him, despite Goku's pleas. The power output emitted by this form is greatly increased as well, as it doubles the strength of the regular Super Saiyan transformation.^[12]^[13]

Appearance

GokuSuperSaiyanIIvsFatBuu — Goku as a Super Saiyan 2 before ascending to Super Saiyan 3 during the battle against Majin Buu

The golden hair brought on by the original transformation becomes longer and rigid and stands up even more. Increased energy radiation causes the aura to take on a jagged, fierce flame-like appearance rather than smooth or flowing. Because the energy output and radiation is higher than that of a Super Saiyan, the aura pulses at a higher frequency. Muscle mass is barely increased, but energy output is multiplied manifold; such that greater amounts of the Saiyan's increased energy reserves can be used at once for much more powerful energy attacks without the onset of exhaustion later. Even speed is increased proportionally, unlike the Ultra Super Saiyan state which causes the muscle mass to swell to the point of impeding the user. Another notable feature of the form seen in pictures from the manga, some scenes of the show, and almost all Dragon Ball Z video games is the electrical aura; many electrical sparks (normally blue, but gold in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3) constantly surround the body, especially when charging up. However, they are not always present (especially in the anime; Gohan and Vegeta lack the trait completely in some episodes) and may sometimes appear on a charging Super Saiyan (such as Vegito) causing some viewers to mistake the regular Super Saiyan form for a Super Saiyan 2.

Usage and power

"He did it right. He increased his strength without losing speed."
— Future Trunks after seeing Gohan as a Super Saiyan 2

SSJ2Gohan(HTC) — Gohan's brief Super Saiyan 2 transformation in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber

The Super Saiyan 2 is twice as strong as regular Super Saiyan,^[12]^[13] so the form multiplies the Saiyan's base power by 100x times its normal amount. According to Goku, Gohan technically first transformed into this form during their training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. This scene was shown in a filler flashback in the anime, and it is shown that Gohan was too exhausted to maintain the form when he first transformed.^[14] This is the reason why Goku knew about this power before Gohan transformed into it during his fight with Cell. The first time the Super Saiyan 2 form was fully achieved and maintained by Gohan occurred after he witnessed the Cell Juniors' attack on the Z Fighters and Android 16's death at the hands of Perfect Cell.

File:SSJ2TeenGohanCellSagaTwo.png

Super Saiyan 2 Gohan at the Cell Games

The power of the Super Saiyan 2 form skyrockets far beyond the power of the Super Saiyan, Ascended Super Saiyan, Ultra Super Saiyan, and even Full-Power Super Saiyan forms. Perfect Cell and Bojack, who could both easily dominate those in the Ascended and Ultra Super Saiyan forms and were somewhat stronger than Full-Powered Super Saiyans even without accessing their full strength, were easily slaughtered by Gohan in his Super Saiyan 2 form. In addition, when Perfect Cell produced seven Cell Jrs., each of the Z Fighters were unable to fight evenly with even one of them (including Goku, Vegeta and Future Trunks, but the former was exhausted from his previous fight with Perfect Cell himself). However, when Gohan fought the Cell Juniors in his Super Saiyan 2 form, he killed all of them effortlessly on his own with simple, single blows while also being unaffected by their most powerful attacks.

Gohan proceeded to fight and severely injure Perfect Cell with just two punches, even after the android unleashed his full power. However, in a Kamehameha struggle against Super Perfect Cell, Gohan had a very hard time due to having his left arm broken by Super Perfect Cell's attack when he defended Vegeta after he attacked the Android to try to avenge his son's death (a blast which was stated to reduce Gohan's power output to less than half its normal amount), with the manga also implying that Cell did not put his full power into the blast when he injured him. It was only a little help from Goku and Vegeta that Gohan needed to summon enough power to destroy Super Perfect Cell.

GohanSSIIWMATNV — Gohan demonstrates the Super Saiyan 2 transformation to Kibito at the World Martial Arts Tournament

Seven years after the Cell Games, Gohan demonstrated the Super Saiyan 2 transformation to Kibito at the World Martial Arts Tournament and, according to Daizenshuu 7, reused the form to fight against Dabura. However, Vegeta mentioned that Gohan's Super Saiyan 2 form was now much weaker than when he fought Perfect Cell due to his lack of training.

Following the events leading up to Majin Buu's revival, Goku and Vegeta (after becoming a Majin by Babidi's spell) fought evenly matched in their Super Saiyan 2 forms. The power of Majin Buu is shown to far surpass the power of the Super Saiyan 2 form; Vegeta inflicted little damage to the monster, and even after he expelled all of his energy at once in a devastating suicidal explosion, Majin Buu managed to fully regenerate after some time.

VegetaSuperSaiyan2 — Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta's final attack against Kid Buu

When Vegeta returned to Earth from Other World (with the help of Fortuneteller Baba), he and Goku fought Super Buu in their Super Saiyan 2 forms. However, due to the massive power he achieved from absorbing Gotenks, Piccolo, and Gohan, Super Buu's strength easily outclassed Goku and Vegeta, reverting them back to their normal states. It was not until Goku finally convinced Vegeta for both of them to wear the Potara earrings so they could fuse into Vegito, giving them enough strength to easily dominate Super Buu.

During the fight with Kid Buu on the Sacred Kai Planet, Goku and Vegeta battled while using the Super Saiyan 2 form for a short time. This occurred only in the anime, as Goku went straight to Super Saiyan 3 in the manga, stating that he would have no chance if he did not use his full strength.

File:GotenSSIINV02.png

Gotenks bypasses Super Saiyan 2 to ascend to Super Saiyan 3 during the battle with Super Buu

It is stated in Daizenshuu 7 that Gotenks can theoretically transform into Super Saiyan 2. However, due to bypassing Super Saiyan 2 when transforming from a Super Saiyan into Super Saiyan 3, his complete Super Saiyan 2 form is never fully revealed in the manga/anime, and remains unused. However, Adult Gotenks has the form in Dragon Ball Heroes.

By the time of Dragon Ball GT, the Super Saiyan 2 form has been majorly outclassed by Super Saiyan 3 and the new Super Saiyan level, Super Saiyan 4. Goku appears to briefly use the form as a kid in combat only once, to deflect an attack from Meta-Rilldo. When Goku appears on the battlefield to fight Super 17, he fights in the first level Super Saiyan state before using the Super Saiyan 4 form without any usage of either the Super Saiyan 2 or Super Saiyan 3 levels.

Movie appearances

"Believe in yourself son. Unleash your true power, it's the only way."
— Goku, urging Gohan to transform into a Super Saiyan 2 in Bojack Unbound

The Super Saiyan 2 form makes its first movie appearance in the film Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound, where the Z Fighters struggle to combat Bojack and his henchmen. After being saved from Bojack by Goku (who used Instant Transmission to teleport from the Other World to Earth) and hearing his father's words of encouragement, Gohan taps into his Super Saiyan 2 powers and defeats Bojack and his henchmen in a matter of minutes.

SSJ2GohanInBojackUnbound — Super Saiyan 2 Gohan in *Bojack Unbound*

Gohan also uses this form to battle Broly when the latter reappears in Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming. Despite putting up a far better fight than he did previously, Gohan is outstripped by the Legendary Super Saiyan's massive power. However, this is partially because of Gohan's lack of training that made him noticeably weaker up to that point, and since Broly survived being impaled in the stomach by Goku's punch in Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly's power most likely increased due to achieving a zenkai after recovering from near-death, as all beings with Saiyan genetics undergo when in the same predicament. Though, to Gohan's credit, one of his strikes manages to inflict a noticeable level of injury to Broly (whereas nobody in Broly's first appearance could damage him in the least), as Broly is knocked back when kneed in the face by Super Saiyan 2 Gohan.

The Super Saiyan 2 form is also used by Goku and Vegeta in the movies Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn and Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon, against Janemba and Hirudegarn respectively. However, in both of the movies, either the Fusion Dance or the Super Saiyan 3 form is used to kill the main enemy. The form appears again in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, with Goku showing it to the God of Destruction Beerus on King Kai's planet along with the other Super Saiyan forms after the latter asked if Goku knew something about the Super Saiyan God.

Video game appearances

The form is playable for Gohan, Goku, and Vegeta in several Dragon Ball Z video games. In the Game Boy Advance game Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II, this form is named Super Saiyan Rage. This was changed in its sequel, in which Gohan states it to be a form "far beyond that of Super Saiyan" and Goku labels it "what you could call a Super Saiyan 2". It is however not playable in a different fashion like in the previous game, whereas Super Saiyan 3 is.

In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 and Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World, Future Trunks is given the Super Saiyan 2 form even though he never took that form in the manga and anime series. The form is virtually no different to his previous form in the game in terms of looks and techniques. It became clear that it was a mistake made by the game developer that remained in the game since Budokai 2, contradicting Future Trunks having the correct form of Ultra Super Saiyan in the first game of the Budokai series.

A Super Saiyan 2 versions of Adult Gotenks, Bardock, and Vegito are playable in the arcade game Dragon Ball Heroes.

Trivia

Gotenks and GT Goku transform directly from Super Saiyan to Super Saiyan 3, skipping the Super Saiyan 2 form.
- In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Goku (GT) has all his Super Saiyan transformations with the exception of the Super Saiyan 2 form (although unlike Gotenks, Goku does transform into the state in the series). Also, in Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World, Goku and Vegeta's GT versions have all their Super Saiyan transformations apart from Super Saiyan 2.
In the FUNimation Dub of the episode "Super Saiyan 3?!", Goku says that Super Saiyan 2 is also known as Ascended Saiyan. However, this should NOT be confused with the Ascended Super Saiyan, which is a branch of the Super Saiyan level.
The Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game card "Broly - Legendary Super Saiyan" lists Super Saiyan 2 as one of Broly's forms.