One ofDragon Ball’s most iconic scenes reached legendary meme status almost two decades ago, although it started causing problems long before then. That scene, of course, is Vegeta’s declaration of “It’s over 9,000!”, referring to the rising power level of Goku with his scouter.
Power levels inDragon Ballwere first introduced after Goku drank the Ultra Divine Water, which granted him the ability to sense the ki within another person. However, most actual, numerical power levels are due to the scouters that Frieza issued to his men, which provided a technological means of exactly measuring the ki power of any individual it’s used upon. Scouters are often shown to have trouble with very high power levels, and certain characters become capable of suppressing their power levels as time moves on, making the scouter unreliable. This hasn’t stopped fans, however, who often treat power levels as absolute fact.
Power Levels in Dragon Ball Don’t Mean Much
A Being’s Power Level Isn’t Always Indicative of Combat Performance
As technological devices used primarily by enemies, the scouter’s power level meter really shouldn’t be trusted as an ultimate, authoritative declaration of a character’s ability in combat. The scouter already has a number of known weaknesses–it can’t measure the potential of androids like 17 and 18, for example, andit doesn’t register “god ki,“making it ineffective on beings like Beerus, or even Super Saiyan Blue Goku. At best, the scouter can provide a relative idea of one’s ability compared to their opponent; Vegeta presumably knew his own power level, and realized Goku was exceeding it.
As an in-universe tool, the scouter makes perfect sense. While experienced warriors can often gauge one another at a glance, the scouter makes this far easier by offering a quantitative analysis, making direct comparison simple. Power level is also a relative measure, only evaluating the target at that point in time; training can increase power levels, while injuries can lower them.It isn’t, and was never intended to be, the be-all, end-all measurement of a character’s power.
Many fans, however, quickly took to using scouter power levels as a shorthand for a character’s overall strength, and that’s where problems began to crop up. Based solely on power levels, one might expect a character to lose a battle, while the actual fight in the anime or manga has a very different outcome.Dabura, for example, is noted as having the highest power levelon record inDragon Ball Z, but he really didn’t pose that much threat to the main characters. Characters like Krillin and Roshi, on the other hand, have been said to cap out at around 100, but were able to defeat opponents far more powerful than them through clever tactics.
Dragon Ball’s Power Levels Have Influenced Other Anime, Too
Dragon Ball is Far From the Only Series to Attempt to Measure Strength
WhileDragon Ballonly really used scouters in the beginning, and power levels soon became far less relevant and fewer exact numbers were given out, many other series attempted to echoDragon Ball’s power levels. Most don’t try to use exact numbers, likeBleach, which measures a character’s strength based on their reiatsu (spiritual pressure), whileNarutouses chakra levels.Still, these alternative “power levels” are used for the same purpose–to relatively gauge the strength of an opponent compared to a known quantity, like a main character’s strength.
As a result of this, however, many fans have taken to trying to construct “absolute” power rankings, using the measures of these levels as a basis for their ranking. This inevitably leads to a lot of infighting, as fans of other characters might balk at the idea of their favorite being weaker than another character. It also puts a strange value on strength, such that the only strength worthy of any attention is whoever holds the number one slot. It creates an obsession with numbers and being the strongest, but not through deeds or actions, but through arbitrary numerical evaluations.
The idea of a character who absolutely blows every other known “power level” out of the water has become extremely popular in shonen anime as well. This can be done in a skillful way, such asin series likeOne-Punch Man, which is all about how overwhelmingly powerful its protagonist is (and how much of a problem being so strong can be). Ultimately, though,One-Punch Manis simply parodying the already existing phenomena of power rankings, and is taking what other series do to its logical conclusion. In a sense, the whole point ofOne-Punch Manis that trying to power scale characters is ridiculous.
Dragon Ball Never Relied on Power Levels to Dictate Fights, So Fans Shouldn’t Either
Power Levels Only Mean So Much in a Narrative
To obsess so much over power levels, be they numerical representations or not, is to miss the forest for the trees. When you get down to it,Dragon Ball’s best fights weren’t won simply because one character had a power level advantage on another. Frieza claims on Namek to have a power level over 1,000,000, far above the 180,000 seen from Goku earlier;while Super Saiyan raised Goku’s power level far beyond that point, that’s not why Goku won that fight. Goku won because he channeled his righteous fury over Krillin’s needlessly cruel death, his extensive training, and his ideals.
While it can be fun and exciting to debate the strengths and weaknesses of various anime characters, taking arbitrary measures of power as the gospel truth of a character’s strength is ultimately a little silly. These measures of power were never meant to be definitive, only relative, and to treat them as such is to miss the point.Dragon Ballphased out scouters because trying to quantitatively evaluate a concept like ki was proving difficult to do in a logical manner, especially when faced with power creep. Fans of bothDragon Balland other shonen series would do well to avoid taking power readings too seriously, and simply enjoy the fights for what they are.
