Dragon Ball is especially known for its great transformations that many characters have been able to learn over the years. One of the most extraordinary forms even made the designer hesitate. Today, it is considered a great fan favorite.
Which transformation is it? After the Dragon Ball anime ended on Japanese television on January 31, 1996, fans of Son Goku did not have to wait long for a new adventure. The first episode of Dragon Ball GT was released on February 7, 1996.
The special thing about this was that GT, unlike Z, was not based on a manga by Akira Toriyama. So there was an original story set several years after the end of Z. There, a new transformation occurred: the Super Saiyan 4. But before this form was drawn, the designer hesitated.
Dragon Ball Daima is the latest anime in Son Goku’s universe:
Did we really need to go further?
Why did the designer hesitate? Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru is responsible for the design of the Super Saiyan 4. He had previously worked on Dragon Ball Z and also in some films as a character designer. For GT, he was to design the Super Saiyan 4. However, he initially hesitated, as he revealed in an interview (via kanzenshuu.com).
I personally felt that in the original story, we had already gone so far using things like fusion and merging; did we really need to go further? It was an incredible task. Goku’s transformations are an important part of the show, and so I thought for a long time about what would be best to do.
Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru on the development process of Super Saiyan 4
He was initially puzzled when the producers of the anime came to him to draw the new form. Although he was unsure, he decided on the form. Nakatsuru wanted to stand out from the known transformations.
He wanted a different hairstyle than the Super Saiyan 3 and also implemented the red fur in the design. The form should generally be wilder
, which is why aspects of the werewolf design were also incorporated. To beautifully combine the red fur with the hair, he also chose black instead of the classic Super Saiyan gold.
In contrast to the other forms, the Super Saiyan 4 differs significantly, yet it became a great fan favorite. Over the years, several contributions have also stated that it is even Goku’s best-looking form (via Reddit).
In 2024, the Super Saiyan 4 returned. The story of Dragon Ball GT is rather the story of an alternative world since Dragon Ball Super at the latest. Since then, new forms have been established with the Super Saiyan God, and for a long time, the 4th form was at most a guest in various games. However, with Dragon Ball Daima, the transformation returned: In Dragon Ball Daima, Son-Goku enters a realm rarely seen in the anime so far
