Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball has no doubt been cherished by people all around the world, thanks to its well-written characters, gripping storylines, and the long list of characters that keep the series interesting. The series has continued to capture its audience’s attention for several decades and is responsible for making our childhood awesome.
Featuring Son-Goku, one of the most renowned protagonists, whose popularity has made him the face of the anime and manga industries. While the Shonen series has been top-rated and is often praised for how beautifully the story has been written, it featured a major plothole.
Surprisingly, the flaw was so massive that even with Toriyama-Sensei’s creativity, he failed to overcome this issue. The issue is none other than the Super Saiyan Brain Limiter Theory, where Saiyans can transform into an SSJ without any emotional discrepancy.
Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Featured One Major Plothole
There’s no denying that Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball is the most unique Shonen series and probably features, Son-Goku, the most distinguished protagonist of all time. Throughout the long run of the series, the character has dedicated his life to breaking past his limits and featuring a new transformation when all hope seems to be lost.
Over the years, there have been many iconic moments that Kakarot has been a part of. One of them was in Dragon Ball Z’s episode 95, titled Transformed at Last. The iconic form featured our beloved protagonist in a new look, as his hair transformed from black to blond, his physique buffed, and his energy level increased significantly.
However, following the memorable moment, the SSJ transformation became a common phenomenon that started to occur regularly as several Saiyans in the series began to achieve it without much trouble. As a result, a fan has come up with a Saiyan Brain Limiter theory in r/dragonball that states how Akira Toriyama has messed up with the whole Super Saiyan transformation idea.
The fan stated that the Super Saiyan can considered an evolutionary defense mechanism, and SSJ1, SSJ2, and SSJ3 forms could be used with great training as they are used to control Ki. They have “evolved to use this power as much as the body could passively use it.” However, this form can only be unlocked when they are in massive distress and it’s their ultimate fight or flight response.
As fans would remember, in the 95th episode, Goku transformed into an SSJ1, when Frieza killed Vegeta, blew up his best friend, Krillin, and attempted the same with his son. This led to breaking the mind’s limiter and handling the great amount of Ki released by their body.
However, even with a great deal of training, the body can’t deal with the stress felt on it, as they believe that Super Saiyan 3 would repel if the Saiyan’s body has had too much. They also stated that SSJ God can be used in their base form. After all, it is different from the SSJ Ki because it’s a new form of Ki that the body can use without pushing the body to its limit.
Hence, that explains how Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan have unlocked these forms. However, since the Cell Games Saga, Toriyama-Sensei started to feature more Super Saiyans, which has made the transformation so mid-tier.
Akira Toriyama Explains Why He Came Up With SSJ God
Akira Toriyama’s magnum opus became a fan-favorite series that was loved by the viewers, especially for the macho SSJ transformations, making him look macho. However, this cycle was broken in Dragon Ball Super, when the mangaka deviated from a traditional SSJ transformation and introduced the SSJ God.
This look featured Kakarot in his base-form crimson hair instead of the blond look, with a divine aura emanating from his body. However, unlike the traditional SSJ power-up, the SSJ God can be unlocked by harnessing the power of 6 pure-hearted Saiyans.
Surprisingly, this look didn’t enhance Kakarot’s physique and fans thought it might be a mistake. However, it was not because Toriyama-Sensei did it intentionally. During an exclusive interview translated via Kanzenshuu, he mentioned that he wanted to make a course correction and decided to come up with his form. Toriyama-Sensei said,
I was resistant to [the idea of] Goku getting more and more macho, or having a flashy transformation, so I wanted to make a course-correction. Except, visually-speaking, a Goku who doesn’t have any change at all would be difficult to understand, so I changed just his hair color and his eyes
Nevertheless, the form was still not equivalent to Lord Beerus’ power level, as he explained in how Beerus’ “strength is a 10, [Super Saiyan] God would be right about 6.” However, Kakarot was quickly catching up as all Saiyans developed as they fought stronger foes.
Dragon Ball Super can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
