Reducing the time of coloring was important for a weekly manga

Have you ever wondered why Super Saiyans sported blonde hair and blue eyes while transformed? While we can't really account for the blue eyes, an answer regarding the blonde hair was recently given to us.

It has been reported by Kotaku that Japanese TV had Weekly Jump editor in chief Hiroyuki Nakano explain this occurrence. Apparently, it was for the sake of reducing the time it took to create manga issues.

When Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan for the very first time, it was in a manga -- which are in black and white. This transformation made its debut in April 1991 during chapter 317 of the Dragon Ball manga which was titled "Life or Death;" the debut in the anime also aired in 1991 and it was titled "Transformed at Last."

Akira Toriyama had stated that he "wanted to eliminate the time spent coloring in black" for Goku's hair. Leaving the hair uncolored essentially translated to blonde.

Time was apparently a very precious commodity for a manga that was published weekly. “For a serialization that’s published weekly, each minute and every second is precious,” Nakano said. “Even trimming only a little bit of time means more time can be spent on the story and drawing cool art.”

And there you have it. The iconic look that is even present in Dragon Ball FighterZ that we easily recognize today was originally made blonde for the sake of saving time.



Click image for animated version

Images belong to Weekly Shōnen Jump and Toei Animation.