Taiyoken aka Solar Flare

[DarkPrince_92]

I've noticed that some instances in the anime, the Taiyoken was used with the character standing before the view of the sun, even though in the manga it was used wherever the character was standing (specifically the Cell Arc). Why is that? It makes me think the sun is involved with the "Fist of the Sun", when it really isn't. Or am I missing something?

[Hitiro]

I've always used view them using the sun as a strategic move. If a powerful opponent jumps up into the view of the sun you have to be cautious of what they are doing as your vision is impaired they move into the position of the sun. This means that you would need to focus more to see what they are actually doing and that would be the perfect opportunity for them to fire off a Taiyoken.

[DarkPrince_92]

I figured that too. I was trying to figure out if the sun was necessary for the move to work.

[Shoryuken]

Well...

Taiyou-Ken [Fist of the Sun]
First Appearance: Chapter 124
Category: ki manipulation
People: Tenshinhan, Krillin, Son Goku, Cell
Special Characteristics: A Tsuru-sen School technique. Tenshinhan first used it during his fight with Goku at the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai [he actually first uses it against Jacky Chun]. Gathering ki in his upper body, he converts it to light energy and radiates it out in front of his face. Blinding the opponent’s eyes, this is used when retreating from battle. The amount of light is connected to the strength of the person’s ki, and the light source will become stronger the more ki the user has. The first person from outside the Tsuru-sen School to use this technique was Goku. (Daizenshuu 4, p.113)

So there seems to be no indicator that this move is dependent on the sun.

[Darkprince410]

This was brought up in another topic awhile back, but basically it came down to being almost exclusively an anime thing. In the manga, most every situation of the character using the Taiyoken doesn't involve the sun in any way.

1) When Goku used it against Vegeta, we can see behind him and he's not in front of the sun.

2) When Kuririn uses it against Dodoria and again against Freeza, we can again see the sky behind him, and the sun is nowhere to be seen, suggesting again that he wasn't in between the sun and them.

3) Both times Cell used it, he was actually standing on the ground, and the second time he used it, he was actually directing it at an individual above him.

As far as the manga goes, other than when Goku used it to blind Tenshinhan during their Budokai match, whenever it was used the sun was just not behind them.

I think it was done in the anime for the sake of dramatic effect, just to make the attack more visually impressive by suggesting that it's actually affecting/being affected by the sun rather than generating its own light.

[matt0044]

I think it was done in the anime for the sake of dramatic effect, just to make the attack more visually impressive by suggesting that it's actually affecting/being affected by the sun rather than generating its own light.

Or rather the sun's enhancing the attack.