Dragon Ball Z: Goku Turning Super Saiyan Killed the Series' Charm

• Super Saiyan’s introduction forever changed Dragon Ball, shaping the series’ power standard and sidelining non-Saiyan characters.
• The Super Saiyan transformation led to a power-focused narrative, shifting away from creative fights to a focus on unlocking higher forms.
• Super Saiyan’s dominance took away the suspense of battles, replacing it with a predictable pattern of transformation levels in fights.

These days, transformations are the bread and butter of Dragon Ball. When the concept of Super Saiyan was introduced, it fundamentally changed the foundations of the franchise and implanted itself in the cultural zeitgeist in ways that no one could have predicted. References to the Super Saiyan transformation exist across the world in multiple forms of media. What started as a way for Akira Toriyama to save a little bit of time on inking in Goku’s hair became the kind of iconography that is sprayed on restaurants in New York and Mexico, floats over the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and is referenced in music across genres.

However, with any major shake-up for any series, there can be downsides. While it can be hard to imagine how something as truly iconic as Super Saiyan could ever be a downside for a franchise as powerful as Dragon Ball, there are definitely places where the existence of the form managed to drain a little of the energy from Dragon Ball Z. While that first transformation will always be incredibly important for the series, it can also be seen as the moment when Dragon Ball Z began to lose a lot of what made Dragon Ball as charming as it once was.

Perfect Baby, Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta, and True Nuova Shenron from Dragon Ball GT.

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How Did Super Saiyan Become So Dominant In Dragon Ball?

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Before audiences were even introduced to the form for the first time, Vegeta began invoking the story of the Legendary Super Saiyan on Namek. He claimed that the legend was part of the reason why Frieza wiped out Planet Vegeta and the vast majority of the Saiyan race, as the galactic conqueror had Saiyans in his army and had become paranoid over the idea that they could gain the ability to overthrow and kill him. Power is, after all, a monster that requires constant feeding on the part of those who wield it and Frieza was no exception. The Saiyans were, after all, more than capable of growing in strength exponentially, as damage in battle would often equal gains in power when the Saiyan recovered. From that point of view, it does make sense as to why Frieza would be afraid of such a possibility, as people like Bardock showed just how powerful they could become. Vegeta would make multiple claims toward unlocking the transformation during the Namek Saga, but he wouldn’t have access to it until much later.

Frieza would be the arbiter of his own downfall due to his actions on Namek. By killing Krillin so violently, he triggers something primal in Goku. In a blinding flash of power, Goku finally achieved the legend that Vegeta had spent his entire life trying to pursue. The Super Saiyan form first debuted on March 19, 1991, in chapter 317 of the Dragon Ball manga, “Life or Death.” It made its anime debut in June 1991, in Dragon Ball Z episode 95, “Transformed at Last.” Originally, the form was given its first hint of existence in the “Lord Slug” movie, but this was later retconned to “pseudo” Super Saiyan to give the major display of the form its proper due. One of the major benefits of the change in Goku’s hair color was that the time spent coloring Goku’s hair would be cut in half. It also managed to make him look tougher, as it drew on the Japanese association of “dyed” hair with being rebellious and strong. But when Goku finally transformed, it was given all the pomp and circumstance that it truly deserved. Goku was able to thrash Frieza, though he would end up leaving the despot alive as he could breathe in the vacuum of space and was reconstructed. It would be a different Super Saiyan, Trunks from the future doing his Marty McFly thing, that would be his true end.

From that point forward, Super Saiyan would become the power standard for Dragon Ball Z. Pretty much every character with some form of Saiyan heritage would achieve the first form of Super Saiyan relatively quickly after Goku did. Other forms of the transformation would follow, with Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3 taking their place in their arcs. Dragon Ball GT would bring about the unique sight of Super Saiyan 4 and Dragon Ball Super would give audiences Super Saiyan God and the hilariously named Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan. That would be shortened to Super Saiyan Blue later for the sake of brevity. That one moment in 1991 ended up shifting the entirety of Dragon Ball as it shifted the goalposts of power away from creative fighting, for the most part, and firmly sidelined the majority of the non-Saiyan cast as a result. This change in energy cut out some of the real creativity that the earlier parts of the franchise had to offer all the time.

Super Saiyan Became The Answer To Everything

While Super Saiyan left an indelible mark on the world, it also left a mark on the entirety of the Dragon Ball franchise that would never be changed. After the first appearance of the form, any semblance of a level playing field for any of the non-Saiyan and non-Namekian cast was summarily cast aside. The more creative fights of the series ended up changing into something more akin to a tug of war with power levels. Before the Saiyan Saga that would demarcate Dragon Ball Z for anime watchers, Dragon Ball had a much stronger focus on the choreography of the fights themselves. It was less about power and more about overcoming limitations, learning around them, and getting creative. The introduction of Super Saiyan changed all of that.

Before, the human characters had a lot more to do with the plot. In fact, a majority of the cast ends up being more than a little irrelevant in the face of the exponential multiplication of power that the Super Saiyan transformations offer. They end up being more in the way than anything else as time goes on, making their inclusion feel like filler at best and an annoyance at worst. This shift away in this direction undermines some of the earlier themes of the franchise as well. So much of Goku’s story was about him overcoming his own weaknesses to become better, but by making so much of it tied to his very genetics, it almost feels like he cheated his way to the top. Characters like Tien and Krillin would have almost no way to reach the same heights and Piccolo was only recently able to close the gap in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and that required the influence of Shenron to get him over the edge.

Super Saiyan also took a lot of the suspense out of the fighting as well. Rather than trying to figure out their way around a problem, the formula shifted to focus on what level of transformation would end up being unlocked. Cell was defeated by Super Saiyan 2, Vegeta’s fight with Goku was completely undercut by the revelation of Super Saiyan 3, and Super Saiyan Blue has basically become Dragon Ball Super’s version of the original Super Saiyan at this point. When the whole rhythm of the show came to be reflected around the Super Saiyan transformation, it killed some of the momentum and mystery of the franchise. Half of the fun of the World Martial Arts Tournaments and even the Saiyan Saga was watching to see how the heroes would handle it. Sitting back and waiting for Goku was one of the results of Super Saiyan and that might be one of the biggest ways in which the transformation was the beginning of the end for Dragon Ball Z.

Cast of Dragon Ball Z leaping towards the camera in Anime Poster

Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball tells the tale of a young warrior by the name of Son Goku, a young peculiar boy with a tail who embarks on a quest to become stronger and learns of the Dragon Balls, when, once all 7 are gathered, grant any wish of choice.

Created byAkira ToriyamaFirst FilmDragon Ball: Curse of the Blood RubiesLatest FilmDragon Ball Super: Super HeroFirst TV ShowDragon BallLatest TV ShowDragon Ball SuperUpcoming TV ShowsDragon Ball DAIMAFirst Episode Air DateApril 26, 1989CastBrian Drummond, Scott McNeil, Christopher Sabat, Laura Bailey, Sean SchemmelCurrent SeriesDragon Ball Super