Did other anime/manga inspire Super Saiyan?

[Zebra]

Characters transforming by changing their hair to become stronger was done in a number of anime/manga before DBZ.

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1964 chapter of Astro Boy:

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Shutendouji, 1976-1978:

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Crimson Fang Blue Sonnet, 1981-1987:

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1984 episode of Creamy Mami:

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1988 Urusei Yatsura OVA:

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1989 Crimson Fang Blue Sonnet OVA:

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1990 Shutendouji OVA:

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[FinalForumPodcast]

It's a "trope"(?) of East Asian storytelling, and rooted in a lot of religious/cultural texts that detail mythological/religious figures transforming for important battles and/or because they've achieved enlightenment/ascendancy.

Hell, it's a trope of STORYTELLING and human culture in general, as Greek mythology has tons of transformations, and even the Bible describes things like transfiguration.

It's hard to pin it to any ONE thing having influenced Toriyama because even specifically gaining a golden aura is just a cultural trope: enlightened Buddhists were being depicted with gold auras for centuries before Toriyama did Dragon Ball.

Toriyama claimed he never read much manga (backed up by Torishima saying that one of the things that drew him to Toriyama was that he didn't write or draw like typical mangaka), but also some of this stuff (like Astroboy) is so ubiquitous, he may have seen it without specifically clocking it as an 'influence'.

[Skar]

These were really interesting . I knew the concept of transformations existed before but I didn't realize how many anime and manga had a similar transformation to Super Saiyan. I guess because DB has become so popular that any series using that type of transformation is treated as a homage or reference to DB specifically.

[Zebra]

It's a "trope"(?) of East Asian storytelling, and rooted in a lot of religious/cultural texts that detail mythological/religious figures transforming for important battles and/or because they've achieved enlightenment/ascendancy.

Your hair spiking up and turning golden is more specific, though. I'm pretty sure the 1990 Shutendouji OVA inspired Super Saiyan because of how similar the transformation looks. This OVA came out in July 1990, 8 months before Super Saiyan debuted in the manga in March 1991. The protagonist even gets a sword like Future Trunks, who debuted in July 1991.

Toriyama claimed he never read much manga (backed up by Torishima saying that one of the things that drew him to Toriyama was that he didn't write or draw like typical mangaka)

Toriyama said he read manga like Astro Boy as a kid, and while he said he stopped reading it as often after entering middle school, he said he was in his high school's manga club. I'm pretty sure he occasionally read manga as a teenager. After he became a professional mangaka in 1978, he read popular Jump series that Torishima recommended like Ring ni Kakero to get an understanding of what readers wanted.

[Hellspawn28]

Given that he is a fan of Astro Boy, I'm willing to bet that that scene inspired Super Saiyan.

[Zebra]

That Astro Boy transformation only appears in one chapter, though. It's never been adapted in any of the anime, either. Jiroh's transformation in Shutendouji and Makoto's transformation in Creamy Mami look the most like Super Saiyan.

Fun fact: Jiroh in Shutendouji is voiced by Horikawa Ryou, voice of Vegeeta.