Goku, the protagonist of Dragon Ball and one of the strongest characters in the anime world, is known for a lot of things. From his goofy attitude to his never-ending hunger to fight strong opponents, Goku has developed quite a distinctive personality for himself. But one thing that makes him iconic is his unique hair.
Goku’s hairstyle is one of the most popular traits of the character. His different Saiyan forms have had different hairstyles, and fans have loved all of them. These hairstyles also became a depiction of his various power-ups in the Dragon Ball universe. His style became so iconic that Akira Toriyama started using it with other Saiyan characters too.
However, Toriyama once revealed that Goku’s unique hair is not just a fashion statement or a power depiction, but it helps him compensate for a major factor in the Dragon Ball manga.
Akira Toriyama Explains the Reason Behind Goku’s Unique Hair
In 2018, Weekly Shonen Jump celebrated its 50th anniversary and shared an interview with Akira Toriyama and Takehiko Inoue, the creators of Slam Dunk. This interview was translated and shared by Skullknight. During the interview, Toriyama was asked about the flow of panel layouts and how they achieve it in a manga.
Toriyama stated:
“I didn’t have anything specific in mind, but I did try to include panels that would attract the readers’ eyes when they open the pages. And Torishima-san always told me to draw so it would always be clear who was doing what. That’s why I always tried to include long shots. The characters get smaller, but you can identify the characters by their characteristics, like Goku’s spunky hair.”
Toriyama revealed that he wanted the panels to attract readers, which is why Kazuhiko Torishima (the former editor of Dragon Ball) suggested that he should draw the panels more clearly. Toriyama stated that in order to do that, he had to include long shots, which made the characters look small. Therefore, the unique hair of characters like Goku became their identity.
Goku’s Iconic Hairstyles Has Become His Identity
Goku’s hair, even when it is normal, is quite unique. Initially, Goku had only one transformation, and that was Kaio-ken. While Kaio-ken did change Goku’s hair when he was powering up, it eventually went back to normal when he was ready. But the first Super Saiyan transformation in Dragon Ball Z was when Goku’s hair started gaining popularity.
Since then, almost every transformation of Goku has been defined by a unique hairstyle. These hairstyles became so iconic that Toriyama started using them on other Saiyan characters too, and it helped the series gain a lot of hype among anime and manga fans. Akira Toriyama also introduced a little variation among these hairstyles with Super Saiyan 3 and Super Saiyan God.
But these iconic hairstyles came to an end when Goku started using Ultra Instinct in Dragon Ball Super. Although he still sometimes uses Super Saiyan mode, the Ultra Instinct is his strongest form, and it keeps Goku’s spunky hair just the way it is.
You can watch the Dragon Ball series on Crunchyroll.
