Where was it confirmed Tenshinhan is an alien?

[precita]

Where did Toriyama confirm that Tien was an alien? Can someone post the translated interview here because I missed it. And do you agree with it?

[LightBing]

I think he never said such a thing. It was in one of the Daizenshuu's, I can't remember which.

[Hujio]

Akira Toriyama has never personally made any statement about Tenshinhan being an alien, and to my recollection, has only ever referred to him as a human or Earthling (most official sources refer to Tenshinhan as an Earthling as well). The concept of Tenshinhan being an alien was first brought up in Daizenshuu 4, where in the "Racial Groups" Tenshinhan is described as being "a descendant of aliens who use unique techniques". The section later expands on this, stating the following about Tenshinhan:

Tenshinhan uses techniques that are impossible to think of being those of an Earthling, such as growing arms from his back or splitting into four people. It's a small wonder then that Tenshinhan is a descendant of the Three-Eyed people, themselves the posterity of aliens, and that he has a unique physical composition as a throwback to his ancestors.

Note that this statement is in no way attributed to Akira Toriyama, so there is no confirmation that the idea of a being an alien comes directly from Toriyama. Essentially, the consensus among most fans and guide books, is that Tenshinhan is so far descended from these aliens that he is just a human.

[Wezenheim]

I never really bought into the idea of him being an alien. The idea was never really explored in the series and it's only hinted at in the Daizenshuu mentioned above. So, even if it is true, I like to believe that Tenshinhan is a human who just has wacky powers. Let some of the fantasy aspects remain, darn it!

[DB1984]

I can accept the Goku is an Alien retcon, because it flowed in very well, but the idea of retconing Tenshinhan into an Alien just makes me scratch my head in disbelief. Hopefully, they'll never do that.

[Lord Beerus]

I can accept the Goku is an Alien retcon, because it flowed in very well, but the idea of retconing Tenshinhan into an Alien just makes me scratch my head in disbelief. Hopefully, they'll never do that.

It's the three eyes he has. It just throws people off so much.

[LightBing]

I can accept the Goku is an Alien retcon, because it flowed in very well, but the idea of retconing Tenshinhan into an Alien just makes me scratch my head in disbelief. Hopefully, they'll never do that.

It's the three eyes he has. It just throws people off so much.

It's very silly that it happens in this series since we have: small Mime like person, Humanoid Pig, talking and flying Cat, Humanoid Rabbit who transforms people into carrots, Inverted Werewolf, Humanoid Dragon, Woman who changes personality by sneezing..., I could be here all night.

I really enjoy the little tidbits and retcons Mr.Toriyama delivers(makes up on the fly?) in interviews. If this one came into fruition; ouch that would hurt.

[Herms]

Two things people always get wrong about this tidbit:

A) Tenshinhan is not described as an "alien"; instead he is said to be descended from aliens known as the "Three-Eyed Clan". He didn't come down in a spaceship like Goku or the nameless Namekian. There's no reason to think he even knows about his ancestry.

B) This tidbit was mainly introduced as a way of explaining why Tenshinhan can grow extra arms and split into four people. That's how it's always presented in the guides: "Tenshinhan can grow extra arms/split into four people due to being descended from the alien Three-Eyed Clan". Amusingly enough, they never, ever say that his three eyes are likewise a result of being descended from the Three-Eyed Clan, presumably because they considered it too obvious to spell out.

Bottom line, the idea isn't simply "he has three eyes, so he must be an alien!". Instead it's that "he has three eyes, can grow arms, and splits into four people, all of which comes from him having alien ancestry". It's a reaction to the cumulative pile of weird things about Tenshinhan.

[Kunzait_83]

I went into this in the browser-demolishing Wuxia thread, but concepts like warriors with three eyes or fighters using body-dividing as a mystical martial arts technique all likewise come from Wuxia/ancient Chinese lore.

I detail it in Tenshinhan's little segment on the third page (scroll down a bit in the link until you hit Tenshinhan's huge pic with "The Assassin" in big bold text underneath).

In most of the Wuxia fiction these concepts appear in, obviously none of those fighters with these abnormalities are said to be in any way extraterrestrial (sci-fi concepts appearing in Wuxia wouldn't become much of a thing until the 80s, which I also go into detail on much earlier in the thread): these bizarre quirks are simply by-products of intense, lifelong training in mystical, Taoism-based martial arts techniques.

Dragon Ball is very much a product of the 80s & 90s Wuxia landscape as a whole, a time where bonkers genre merging (sci-fi most definitely included) was all the rage as an extremely popular trend across wuxia as a whole throughout Asia, but all the same that Daizenshuu blurb always did reek of the editors grasping hard to over-explain something that didn't really need any background detail in the first place (which I guess is what super-nerdy things like guidebooks are for, but still), particularly if you were already a magical/fantasy martial arts genre veteran and were well acquainted with these concepts elsewhere.

It works either way as an ignorable tidbit, but its definitely superfluous. And as fun as the sci fi stuff can be (I love Freeza, the Saiya-jin, Namekians, all the other the space pirates, and even Cell as much as anybody), its nice to have a least a BIT of more pure wuxia in there rather than for every magical Chinese element to have a sci fi underpinning to it.

[Son_Gohan]

When the subject was brought up in one of his interviews for the American Shonen Jump, Toriyama pointed towards its mystical origins, and doesn't allude to anything about Tenshinhan not being human, contrary to what the guidebooks say.

[Vijay]

I sec LightBing's post. This is a series with walking animals & lossely adapted parody of Journey To The West we're talking about.

Tien's 3rd eye shouldnt be a prob when Krill's got no nose

Though the 4 Arm Move Tien unleashed at TB (just watched it yesterday) bugs me to think if he "human"

Like I know its just a "trick" like Solar Flare, Ki Ko Ho & such, but the way his arms ripped frm his Traps are so....abnormal even by DB's standard. I'd understand if its YYH you're talking about with Tugoro and stuff.

But I do think Tien is human. Strongest for me.

[Ss5Troten]

Akira Toriyama has never personally made any statement about Tenshinhan being an alien, and to my recollection, has only ever referred to him as a human or Earthling (most official sources refer to Tenshinhan as an Earthling as well). The concept of Tenshinhan being an alien was first brought up in Daizenshuu 4, where in the "Racial Groups" Tenshinhan is described as being "a descendant of aliens who use unique techniques". The section later expands on this, stating the following about Tenshinhan:

Tenshinhan uses techniques that are impossible to think of being those of an Earthling, such as growing arms from his back or splitting into four people. It's a small wonder then that Tenshinhan is a descendant of the Three-Eyed people, themselves the posterity of aliens, and that he has a unique physical composition as a throwback to his ancestors.

Note that this statement is in no way attributed to Akira Toriyama, so there is no confirmation that the idea of a being an alien comes directly from Toriyama. Essentially, the consensus among most fans and guide books, is that Tenshinhan is so far descended from these aliens that he is just a human.

Thank you for this, I was just discussing this with a friend recently, the central discussion was whether Kuririn or Tenshinhan
was indeed the strongest among the humans. I argued for Ten, but he insists Ten isn't human. Could this tribe that had alien ancestry essentially be akin to say how Pan is technically Saiyan though? Was I wrong in this sense? Or are they simply so far offset that they are human in all but the outlying traits?

[Kamiccolo9]

I think it's also worth noting that the section that Tenshinhan's ancestry is mentioned is the section on Earthlings. Even the Daizenshuu considers him one. He just has some alien DNA from really far back. Same way that Goku's great great great great great great great great great great etc grandchildren will be considered Earthlings, not Saiyans.

[Ss5Troten]

I think it's also worth noting that the section that Tenshinhan's ancestry is mentioned is the section on Earthlings. Even the Daizenshuu considers him one. He just has some alien DNA from really far back. Same way that Goku's great great great great great great great great great great etc grandchildren will be considered Earthlings, not Saiyans.

Pretty much exactly what I'm asking above, thank you so much!

[LightBing]

The Daizenshuu entry is awful if it's intention is to explain Tenshinhan's weird techniques. Which for me and I think for most, was never an issue. When I first saw him grow arms and multiplying, I though they were simple martial arts techniques. It goes hand-in-hand with him, who has an amazing arsenal.
There's also filler in the Saiyan Arc were Kuririn and Piccolo use the multi-body technique, for what it's worth.

If answering a question, leaves us with even more questions, than it did a bad job. I almost put this in DB wiki level of disinformation. Sure this is an official source but it comes out of nowhere, "forcing" the fans into having discussions if Tenshinhan's actually human. Creating something like those cycles of threads wasting pages discussing bad translations and what-not.
The difference is the wrong, in this case, is right because of the entry. When there's no actual proof, the entry almost reads like a fan assuming stuff.

Master Roshi had the Bankoku Bikkuri Sho, was his grandmother an eel? See my hyperbole?

How funny would it be, if in tomorrow's episode Tenshinhan introduces his alien cousin. Explaining he emigrated to Earth because of the great ophthalmologists.

[apex_pretador]

I can accept the Goku is an Alien retcon, because it flowed in very well, but the idea of retconing Tenshinhan into an Alien just makes me scratch my head in disbelief. Hopefully, they'll never do that.

was it even a retcon? I don't think that goku having a tail & thus being different than others was focused soooo much in the early part of manga so much for no reason.
Also his transformation, & doesn't bulma call him an alien in the early series (or it is just mistranslation?)

[LuckyCat]

It's the three eyes he has. It just throws people off so much.

The third eye represents spiritual awakening in Buddhism/Hinduism. Since Tenshinhan awoke in such a manner during the 22nd TB, I'd say it's safe to attribute it to Toriyama's (limited?) knowledge of Buddhism.

[Kuririn Fan]

Its so stupid and non canon to me. Its never mentioned in the show and Tenshinhan is always referred to as human.

[B]

Its so stupid and non canon to me. Its never mentioned in the show and Tenshinhan is always referred to as human.

This is another example of fans being super-hyper-pedantically literal about the terms DB uses. "Human" and "Earthling" are essentially interchangeable here. Tenshinhan is never actually said to be an alien.

It doesn't make a lot of sense that a throwaway line in a guidebook gets all this flak. Kunzait is the only person I've ever seen verbalize it from a point-of-view I can get behind; that it's nice to have a couple of characters who's background don't delve into science fiction, but he is so far removed from whatever alien ancestry he has and it's not even mentioned in-series. It doesn't take anything away from the character. I don't want to put words in people's mouths, but much of the complaining reeks of "I want Tenshinhan to be strong because he trains a lot, and not because he was predisposed to be strong." Which, really, isn't even what the blurb says.

These complaints feel like the descendant of the "Power Level Debate Clan."

[ekrolo2]

Its so stupid and non canon to me. Its never mentioned in the show and Tenshinhan is always referred to as human.

I don't see why him having some alien ancestry is necessarily a problem. Sure I did say in another thread that it's one of the examples of everything remotely weird on Earth being explained away by aliens but him having some alien ties doesn't immediately make him not human. That's like saying a white guy in America can't be considered white because 20 generations ago, he had a native American ancestor.

Tien is basically like Goku & Vegeta Jr. At some point one of his family boinked an alien but the rest of his family boinked humans and thus, he's pretty much human after all the boinking is said and done.