The inspiration for Super Saiyan.

     

The most well-known aspect of the massively successful Dragon Ball franchise is the iconic Super Saiyan transformation. Debuting in the three hundred and seventeenth chapter of the manga published on March 19, 1991 in Weekly Shounen Jump, the first Super Saiyan transformation had Son Gokuu's hair spiking upward and changing color. Also changing the color of his eyes and giving him a prominent fiery aura, the transformation made Gokuu significantly stronger as he could finally defeat the evil Freeza, who had just killed his close friend Kurilin in front of him. Gokuu's rage from seeing his friend slaughtered triggered the transformation, and it's one of the most iconic anime/manga moments of all time. There would be many other Super Saiyan transformations in Dragon Ball and the concept would often be homaged or parodied in many other works. But the question is, what truly inspired series creator Toriyama Akira to come up with such a flashy transformation?

    Toriyama's usual explanation for its iconic design was that he wanted to save ink. His assistant would often complain about having to always ink Gokuu's usual black hair, so Toriyama wanted to make his job easier. Appearing as white in uncolored pages of the manga, Toriyama said he eventually made it blonde because he wanted it to look glamorous (here's a translation). In addition, the hair spiking upward was an exaggeration of piloerection. As for why he decided to have Gokuu transform at all, he said it was the most effective way of showing that Gokuu had gotten stronger, and also because he was inspired by a TV show with a hero who would transform when he'd fight; Toriyama would watch this show with his son. These were the answers Toriyama himself had given, but was there more to it than he let on? To get the answer, we'll have to rewind time a bit. In 1964, during the "Greatest Robot on Earth" story arc of the iconic Astro Boy manga (known as Tetsuwan Atom in Japan, literally "Iron-armed Atom" or "Mighty Atom"), titular protagonist Astro Boy (or Atom) undergoes a transformation when he's upgraded to have 1 million horsepower. His synthetic "hair" (or whatever it is that looks like his hair) begins glowing and he becomes significantly stronger, becoming able to challenge his enemy Pluto. This transformation would never be used again after this story arc, not even in any of Astro Boy's many adaptions.

    Tezuka Osamu's Astro Boy is widely considered to be the most iconic anime/manga franchise of all time. Toriyama himself admitted to being a fan of it as a child, so could Astro Boy have been the inspiration for Super Saiyan? Perhaps he had the read the "Greatest Robot on Earth" story arc as a child, but it doesn't look like Astro Boy was the one to popularize the trope of characters changing their hair to get stronger. As said before, Astro Boy's 1 million horsepower transformation would never be seen again. Although I'm not too knowledgeable of manga from back then, it doesn't seem like there were other notable examples of character changing their hair to get stronger during the 1960s. In that case, what series popularized the trope? From what I can tell, it seems like it was Cutie Honey. Created by Nagai Goh and first serialized in 1973 by Weekly Shounen Champion, this manga marked the first time a female character was the protagonist of a Shounen. Protagonist Kisaragi Honey is an android who uses a device from inside of her body to transform into her alter-ego, Cutie Honey. Turning into Cutie Honey makes her go from a blonde to a redhead, and as Cutie Honey, she has many other transformations, many of which have different hair colors.

    Cutie Honey is an ecchi manga, and it's hard to find transformation pages that are safe for work. It seems like she gets naked whenever she transforms. I'm not trying to get this blog flagged. I'll take a risk and post a gif from the 1973 anime that gets the point across. These are some of her transformations in the anime. The show apparently did well in ratings, but was cancelled due to the salacious content. Now who could have seen that coming? Shounen is stupid as hell. Anyway, it makes sense that a series starring women would popularize hair transformations, because hair care is traditionally seen as a feminine interest. But since Cutie Honey starred women, it probably influenced Shoujo series more than Shounen, which normally star boys or men; for example, Sailor Moon is a Shoujo and it was very influenced by Cutie Honey. And Cutie Honey itself is obviously influenced by Shoujo (it was even originally going to be one); transformations have always been a big part of Shoujo, so I'm sure a lot of them had hair transformations before Cutie Honey did. The Dragon Ball character Lunch transforms whenever she sneezes; her hair color changes between blue and blonde, and this was probably an influence from Shoujo, if not a female-led Shounen like Cutie Honey. As far as female-led Shounen go, though, Cutie Honey was definitely a pioneer. Since Dragon Ball doesn't star women, however, this raises the question of whether there was a male-led Shounen predating Dragon Ball with hair transformations. And as it turns out, yes, there was, and it was also created by Nagai Goh.

    Serialized from 1976 to 1978 by Weekly Shounen Magazine, Shutendouji was an action manga that combined traditional Japanese folklore with science fiction. The protagonist was Shutendoh Jiroh aka Shutendouji, a 15-year-old high school student who turns out to be a demon (or "oni", colloquially translated as an ogre). When his demon powers first awaken, his hair spikes up and he grows horns on his head. Later on, his anger from seeing his comrades die triggers a transformation that makes him significantly stronger and causes his hair to change color (or at least, it looks like that way on the B&W pages). He gains an aura that makes him glow brightly, and he even gets a sword that he uses to fight. Nobody can look at those pages and not think of Dragon Ball, and this series predated Dragon Ball by 8 years. In colored illustrations, we even see that he has golden/blonde hair (although I don't think his hair color actually changed in the manga. In the 70s, he seemed to almost always be colored with red hair. He was given yellow/blonde/golden hair when the manga was first rereleased in 1985, but on these colored pages, he seemed to have blonde hair even when he's not in the glowing transformation. We can see on the original B&W version of these pages that his hair was shaded like it is when he's in his normal state, so if he's given blonde hair on the colored version of these pages, that would suggest his regular hair color is blonde. Note this colored illustration of him with blonde hair in his normal state, too. In any case, his hair color started turning from brown to blonde as far back as at least the second OVA in 1990, which you'll see in the next paragraph). He looks just like a Super Saiyan, and this series predates Super Saiyans by 15 years. Admittedly, though, while Nagai's other series like Devilman, Mazinger Z, and Violence Jack are all well-known among anime/manga fans, Shutendouji is considered to be one of his more obscure works. 

    Toriyama said he stopped reading manga after graduating elementary school (although this is questionable, because he also said he was in a manga club at his high school. While he may not have read it as much, it's safe to say he did read manga occasionally as a teenager). It wasn't until after he already became a professional mangaka in 1978 that he started reading them again, in order to get a better understanding of what Shounen readers wanted. He'd mainly just read the series that were serialized in Weekly Jump, so he may have not caught eye of Shutendouji back then. However, fast-forward to 1989. Not only is this the year that Dragon Ball Z began airing in Japan, but it's also when Shutendouji was adapted into a series of OVAs that were released until 1991. Here's a scene from the second OVA, released on July 1, 1990. There's no way you can see this without thinking of DBZ ... and it came out almost a year before Super Saiyans debuted in 1991. The chapter in which Gokuu turns Super Saiyan came out on March 19, 1991. Technically, this wasn't the first appearance of a Super Saiyan; it was just 10 days earlier on March 9, 1991 that Gokuu turned into a Super Saiyan in the fourth DBZ movie Super Saiyan, Son Gokuu (better known as Lord Slug in America). The Super Saiyan form that appeared in the movie still spiked the hair up and had a golden aura, but it kept the hair black. Because it looks so different from the Super Saiyan that appears in the story proper, it was retroactively labeled "Pseudo Super Saiyan". 

    Some people dismiss it as a non-canon transformation that Toei made up, but Toriyama was involved in the development of the movie. He designed Slug and his henchmen, and most importantly, he was the one who suggested having Gokuu's hair spike up as a Super Saiyan in the movie. It can be assumed that the movie's version of Super Saiyan was the prototype design before Toriyama decided to make it blonde in the manga. The second Shutendouji OVA came out on July 1, 1990, a week before the third DBZ movie Super Decisive Battle for Earth (better known as Tree of Might in America) came out in theaters on July 7, 1990. The fourth DBZ film entered development around the time the third one was released in theaters in July 1990, which also happened to be around the time the second Shutendouji OVA was released. Less than a year later, in March 1991, Gokuu turns into a Super Saiyan both in the manga and a movie, basically looking just like Shutendouji (minus the horns) in the former. It seems highly likely that Toriyama or someone at Shuiesha or Toei saw the Shutendouji OVA and got the idea to have Gokuu get golden, spiky hair in his Super Saiyan form. Another thing, Future Trunks debuted and turned into a Super Saiyan in the manga on July 2, 1991, not long after the form debuted in March of that year. He uses a sword like Shutendouji did. Now where could Toriyama have gotten the idea for a teenage swordsman who transforms by getting golden spiky hair? It all points to Shutendouji. 

    While Shutendouji may not be one of Nagai's most popular works, it still had OVAs coming out from 1989 to 1991, and as well as a videogame in 1990. Clearly, it had a fair amount of popularity from the late 80s to early 90s, so it's very likely Toriyama or somebody he was working with saw it. The similarities are too strong to ignore, and the timing is too convenient. Also of note is the anime Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel, which aired from 1983 to 1984. Episode 45 "The Psychic Boy of Sorrow" featured a psychic boy named Makoto whose hair spikes up and turns yellow when he gets angry (his skin would turn red, too). This anime came out after Shutendouji's manga, but before Dragon Ball and long before Super Saiyans. With not one, but two series that predated Dragon Ball in having yellow hair transformations, it's plausible to theorize that there could be even more. Note that it's not even just the appearance of the characters when they transform; it's also the fact rage serves as the trigger to their transformations. Also, remember that piloerection has been a trope in anime/manga for the longest time; it's meant to convey intense emotions such as anger and shock. Sometimes, when a character with black or darker hair undergoes piloerection while in stress or shock, their hair also turns white (and note that Shutendouji's glowing transformation and Super Saiyan are white in the standard black and white pages of their respective manga). It's normally done for the sake of gags, but it makes sense that this would lead to someone playing it straight and using it for a genuine transformation. Toriyama was evidently not the first to do it. 

    And there you have it. I gotta say, though ... Nagai's works are fucking disgusting. Goddamn, I thought Toriyama was bad, but this guy is even worse. Not necessarily in terms of writing, but there's so much fucked up, nasty shit in his works. "Look, here's another woman getting violently raped or murdered!" Dude was literally drawing women getting fucked by dogs. Good thing most of his works are obscure. Shounen was disgusting in the 70s.

    Bonus: Komatsuzaki Ran, protagonist of the manga Crimson Fang Blue Sonnet (serialized from 1981 to 1987), has her hair go up and turn red (on B&W pages, it goes from black to white) when she unleashes her psychic powers. This series was adapted into OVAs from 1989 to 1990. Her transformation is fairly Super Saiyan-like, and its manga precedes Super Saiyan by 10 years. Although it was serialized in a Shoujo magazine, it featured graphic violence akin to Shounen.