The Saiyans possess the ability to transform with increasing power levels in Dragon Ball. In this process, their hair color changes to a light blonde in the anime, and at higher levels, even to red or blue. In an interview, the editor-in-chief of “Weekly Shonen Jump” magazine, Hiroyuki Nakano, explained why Akira Toriyama decided to change the hair color during the transformation.
What was the reason? Nakano stated that the color change primarily served a practical purpose. The Super Saiyan not only changes hair color but also gets a spiky hairstyle. This makes the hair appear even more voluminous. With black hair, it would take much longer to fill the hair with black color.
Since there is only black color in the manga, Toriyama decided to keep the hair blonde. This is noticeable in the manga, as the hairstyle simply isn’t filled in. This allowed the artist to save a lot of time.
Due to the publication pressure at Weekly Shonen Jump, it was important to save time on every possible option. Earlier, the Dragon Ball manga was published weekly, which must have been a significant strain on Toriyama. The savings from not having to color the hair reduced some pressure from the publication process.
Moreover, the blonde hair had another advantage: readers of the manga could directly see when Son Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan.
In Dragon Ball Daima, we probably won’t see the Super Saiyan:
Such is the life of a mangaka
Does a mangaka really have so little time? Toriyama’s search for a way to save time shows how tough life is as a mangaka. As CBR reports, the mangaka of Berserk, Kentaro Miura, indirectly died due to the extreme stress situation.
As shown by the weekly schedule of a mangaka who prefers to remain anonymous, the conditions are quite harsh (via Comcisbeat):
- His weekly schedule includes working on sketches, working on the cover or colored pages, and several meetings with the editor.
- The mangaka sleeps between 2 and 8 hours, depending on the day of the week.
- There are only one or two meal breaks a day during which the artist can relax a bit.
- On Saturdays, there are only 3 hours of free time each week when the mangaka does not have to think about his work.
Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, has a similar daily routine. He gets up at 5:00 AM and goes to bed at 2:00 AM. So he sleeps only 3 hours a day. He only takes breaks when he eats (via Soranews24).
What is the Super Saiyan anyway? With the transformation into a Super Saiyan, the fighter’s fighting power and speed increase enormously. There are several levels of Super Saiyans. The SSJ3, however, is rarely seen in the anime, as it costs too much stamina.
Over time, Son Goku unlocks more Super Saiyan levels, including the Super Saiyan God, which turns the hair red, and the Super Saiyan Blue, where the Saiyan – as the name suggests – gets blue hair.
By the way, did you know that Akira Toriyama did not draw the four-fold Super Saiyan himself? Dragon Ball Daima: The creator draws his own version of Super Saiyan 4 and drives the fans crazy
