How did the Japanese first react to Goku's Super Saiyan?

DB1984 · Post by **DB1984** » Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:02 pm

It has been 25 years since Goku first turned into a Super Saiyan, in the Manga and in the Anime. It has been often called THE most iconic moment in all of Dragon Ball. How did the Japanese originally react to this moment?

precita · Post by **precita** » Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:17 pm

Probably the same reaction any dub fans had over Goku going Super Saiyan for the first time.

MadSaiyantist · Post by **MadSaiyantist** » Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:34 pm

precita wrote:Probably the same reaction any dub fans had over Goku going Super Saiyan for the first time.

Most dub fans had probably seen Ssj Goku before he transformed on Tv.

Lord Beerus · Post by **Lord Beerus** » Thu Jun 23, 2016 8:55 pm

With shock and awe wondering why Goku had dyed his hair blond and become a delinquent.

KonohaKillas · Post by **KonohaKillas** » Thu Jun 23, 2016 9:53 pm

DB1984 wrote:It has been 25 years since Goku first turned into a Super Saiyan, in the Manga and in the Anime. It has been often called THE most iconic moment in all of Dragon Ball. How did the Japanese originally react to this moment?

I can imagine that it was a lot like it was for me. The moment was completely confusing and inspired all at the same time. What an iconic moment.

DBZAOTA482 · Post by **DBZAOTA482** » Thu Jun 23, 2016 10:04 pm

precita · Post by **precita** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 12:16 am

I wonder if the Japanese felt Goku getting blonde hair was "too foreign" because all Japanese have dark black hair naturally.

MozillaVulpix · Post by **MozillaVulpix** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:20 am

Although the manga readers didn't immediately know the Super Saiyan was blonde, did they? Not until that colour chapter.

I wonder it too, though. Nowadays, shonen heroes transforming is so commonplace you expect it to happen in almost every series at some point. But in 1991, it seemed like it was a pretty original concept.

gogeta97 · Post by **gogeta97** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 3:36 am

MadSaiyantist wrote:Most dub fans had probably seen Ssj Goku before he transformed on Tv.

ALL American dub fans had seen Goku and Vegeta go SSJ since the first episode. As well as a SSJ Trunks killing Freeza.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP75aZvWVdw

Kinda dropped the ball on that one Funimation.

Snow_Lilies · Post by **Snow_Lilies** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 10:05 am

gogeta97 wrote:
MadSaiyantist wrote:Most dub fans had probably seen Ssj Goku before he transformed on Tv.
ALL American dub fans had seen Goku and Vegeta go SSJ since the first episode. As well as a SSJ Trunks killing Freeza.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP75aZvWVdw

Kinda dropped the ball on that one Funimation.

Kid me at the time didn't really understand what it was though. And the Freeza bit went by too fast for me to see or care about. =P (though I did wonder who the purple-haired guy on the left was.)

I was a bit shocked years later when I realize such a huge plot moment was just hiding away in the intro.

Lunaar · Post by **Lunaar** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:04 am

Oh jeez - there is absolutely no comparison for the early US dub fans. They plastered Goku's Super Saiyan face all over the damned place. The "Rock the Dragon" opening featured Trunks, Vegeta and Goku going all fire-blonde since episode 1. Episode 1! They really didn't care what children saw as the show started. This show is full of action, grunting and ENERGY BLASTS! ...buuuuut I guess it worked, as Snow_Lilies can confirm. Kids didn't really pay much attention. I mean I did, but... I used to watch recorded VHS tapes of this stuff over and over again, so...

Hit up the Internet Wayback Machine and you'll see that as early as April 1998 (just about when "Season 3" was ready to be released on home video, before the Toonami broadcast later that year), FUNimation's "dragonballz.com" had nothing but a black backdrop with the Dragon Ball Z logo and this:

That stayed for a couple months it seems, until they were ready to announce the coming resurgence. I remember logging onto AOL that following autumn and seeing a bunch of screencaps for the coming episodes, right there on the front page. One of which featuring the now-iconic image of Full-Power Freeza and Super Saiyan Goku clashing fists.

(In case anyone needs clarification, this was before the Ginyu plot had been wrapped up. As far as most children knew, Butta and Jheese were the next "big threats" for Goku to face)

...ANYWAY, I'm very interested to know if there are any recorded opinions from reviewers or fans from way back in the early 90's. Anybody know of any Jump issues that might've contained letters from fans or a feature on reactions to that story development?

Shinomori · Post by **Shinomori** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:10 am

DBZAOTA482 wrote:

DB1984 · Post by **DB1984** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 11:13 am

Lunaar wrote:...ANYWAY, I'm very interested to know if there are any recorded opinions from reviewers or fans from way back in the early 90's. Anybody know of any Jump issues that might've contained letters from fans or a feature on reactions to that story development?

Or some BBS/USENET posts.,

TheBlackPaladin · Post by **TheBlackPaladin** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:31 pm

precita wrote:I wonder if the Japanese felt Goku getting blonde hair was "too foreign" because all Japanese have dark black hair naturally.

What was always rather interesting to me is that the English dub was the only version to portray Goku's first Super Saiyan transformation as a cool/good/"the chosen one has arrived"-type moment. Likewise, Faulconer's score was the only one that portrayed it in a "badass/heroic" way. The original music selections for this scene--in DBZ, with the Yamamoto-Kai score, and the Kikuchi-Kai score--all seemed to suggest that this was intended as more of a shocking/scary/"what's happening to good ol' Goku?"-type moment. As it relates to what you said, I read a translation of an interview with Masako Nozawa one time that said...

Masako Nozawa, [url=http://www.thegrandline.com/dbzinfo/mninterview.html]according to this translation[/url] of an interview she did for [i]GT Perfect File 2[/i] wrote:
INTERVIEWER: What kind of people are your fans?

NOZAWA: ...Besides [some other examples she mentioned earlier], I was on a train....five boys who had hair dyed like Super Saiya-jin****, and chains on them walked on the train. I felt pretty scared, but then I heard what they were saying, "Did you see yesterday's episode of Dragon Ball?". After that, I thought they were cute and I was happy.

The translation included a note at the bottom explaining the four asterisk marks, and it said...

The translator's notes wrote:"****- In other words, their hair was dyed blonde. Japanese children (or adults) who dye their hair blonde are known as 'kinpatsu' and often considered defiant and rebellious by older generations.

So, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know this for a fact, and would love someone with more familiarity with Japanese culture to chime in. However, it seems that, since blonde is not a naturally occurring hair color among Japanese people, many times when Japanese people dye their hair blonde, it's a sign of rebellion and going against the cultural norms. Again, I could be wrong, but for me, that further reinforces my interpretation that the scene, at least in Japan, was initially meant to be a little on the scary side.

StrawHatPatriot · Post by **StrawHatPatriot** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:52 pm

^
So that's why Chi Chi calls sayians delinquents or punks.

Marugoto · Post by **Marugoto** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:59 pm

Judging from the manga version only... kinda lukewarm maybe? The anime adaptation was pretty epic though.

NeoKING · Post by **NeoKING** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 7:41 pm

I'd imagine it was like the first time we all saw Spider-Man get/use the black suit.

Anime Kitten · Post by **Anime Kitten** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 8:50 pm

Lord Beerus wrote:With shock and awe wondering why Goku had dyed his hair blond and become a delinquent.

Oh yes. Fist bump, please?

thaman91 · Post by **thaman91** » Sat Jun 25, 2016 12:27 am

gogeta97 wrote:
MadSaiyantist wrote:Most dub fans had probably seen Ssj Goku before he transformed on Tv.
ALL American dub fans had seen Goku and Vegeta go SSJ since the first episode. As well as a SSJ Trunks killing Freeza.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP75aZvWVdw

Kinda dropped the ball on that one Funimation.

But the thing is, that opening didn't even play on most episodes. Usually, Toonami had their own custom opening for the show. I only ever remember Rock the Dragon playing on rare occasions, like if they were showing a movie.

When I first saw it (in the dub), it didn't even dawn on me that Goku had transformed into a Super Saiyan. I didn't even know Super Saiyan was a transformation, since Vegeta kept referring to himself and Goku as one without any apparent transformation. It wasn't until the Trunks episodes that I really believed that it was actually THE Super Saiyan transformation, since that's when everyone in the dub actually starts referring to it as that.

StrawHatPatriot · Post by **StrawHatPatriot** » Sat Jun 25, 2016 11:24 am

thaman91 wrote:
gogeta97 wrote:
MadSaiyantist wrote:Most dub fans had probably seen Ssj Goku before he transformed on Tv.
ALL American dub fans had seen Goku and Vegeta go SSJ since the first episode. As well as a SSJ Trunks killing Freeza.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP75aZvWVdw

Kinda dropped the ball on that one Funimation.
But the thing is, that opening didn't even play on most episodes. Usually, Toonami had their own custom opening for the show. I only ever remember Rock the Dragon playing on rare occasions, like if they were showing a movie.

When I first saw it (in the dub), it didn't even dawn on me that Goku had transformed into a Super Saiyan. I didn't even know Super Saiyan was a transformation, since Vegeta kept referring to himself and Goku as one without any apparent transformation. It wasn't until the Trunks episodes that I really believed that it was actually THE Super Saiyan transformation, since that's when everyone in the dub actually starts referring to it as that.

That's what always confused me. Wasn't Rock the Dragon just for the first 53 episodes - Ocean dub?

And then the Toonami intro was for the in-house funimation cast?

Kanzenshuu

How did the Japanese first react to Goku's Super Saiyan?

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