Dragon Ball is by far the most successful and popular anime in history. There is no one who has never heard of Dragon Ball. There are 20 movies and countless games that many of us played when we were kids. For many of us is Dragon Ball an important part of our childhood, we all wanted to become a Super Saiyan like Son Goku or Vegeta and save the world. There are also many interesting facts about the work that Akira Toriyama created. Here are seven facts about Dragon Ball.
1. Akira Toriyama’s favorite Characters
A fact that will surprise many is that Toriyama’s favorite character is not Son Goku but Demon King Piccolo. In an interview for the book Daizenshuu 2, Toriyama spoke about his favorite characters from Dragon Ball. “Off all characters, I like Demon king Piccolo the most and Piccolo (his son) comes shortly after.” Another favorite character of Toriyama is Mr. Satan, because of his funny personality. “It was fun drawing Mr. Satan when I first created him, I didn’t think I would make him such an important character, I thought he was just a one-shot-character. But making funny gags is more entertaining than doing battle scenes.”
2.Android 17’s and 18’s real name
In an interview, Akira Toriyama reveals the real names of Android 17 and Android 18. Android 17’s name is Lapis and Android 18’s name is Lazuli. They were humans before they were made androids by Professor Gero. After the Cell arc, Lapis (17) was revived with the dragonballs and became a park ranger in a national park. He married a zoologist and adopted two children. Lazuli (18) married Krillin, they have a daughter with the name of Maron. The funny thing is that the name of Krillin’s ex-girlfriend was Maron.
3.Goku’s voice actor passed out
Son Goku’s voice actor Sean Shemmel passed out while voicing the transformation from Son Goku into Super Saiyan 4.
4.The longest fight in anime history
The fight between Frieza and Goku on Namek is with almost 4 hours, the longest fight in anime history. The fight is not only the longest but also the most intense and merciless fight in all of Dragon Ball. At the beginning of the fight, Frieza is too powerful. Son Goku has no chance against him but after Goku turns into a Super Saiyan for the first time in Dragon Ball, the tide turns and Frieza is defeated. This fight is, in my opinion, the best fight in Dragon Ball. Fun fact, Frieza said to Son Goku that Namek exploded in five minutes. In reality, it took 53 minutes and 3 seconds before the planet exploded.
5.What does the name Saiyajin (Saiyan) mean?
The word Saiya is an anagram for the word “yasai” the Japanese word for vegetables, and “jin” means people/person. So Saiyajin means vegetable people or person. Another interesting fact is that all Saiyans are named after vegetables. Vegeta (vegetable), Kakarot (carrot), Raditz (radish) and Broly means broccoli. Toriyama loves to use wordplay when it comes to character names in Dragon Ball.
6.Why are Super Saiyans blonde?
The transformation is legendary, but why does the hair turn blonde? There is a practical reason behind this. In the manga, the hair is black in the base form, but white in the Super Saiyajin state. The reason is that Toriyama had to write a new chapter every week. It saved a lot of time because the hair did not have to be painted and the difference between the forms was easier to see.
7.Vegeta was meant to be a on-off character
In Dragon Ball, Vegeta is one of the most important and popular characters. But it is hard to imagine that Vegeta should no longer play a role in the planning of Toriyama after the Saiyan arc. However, believe it or not, Vegeta was originally intended to be a disposable villain who would be killed off fairly quickly after being defeated. However, Vegeta proved popular with the fans who demanded that the Saiyan prince be kept on in the series. The producers listened to the fans and the rest is history.
