'Dragon Ball' Creator Explains How Saiyan Society Really Works

When it comes to Dragon Ball, fans have a never-ending pool of questions about the Saiyan race. Goku and Vegeta stand as the race's spokespeople, but there is plenty of information about Saiyans fans just don't know yet. So, you can see why fans are happy that creator Akira Toriyama opened up about the race during a recent chat.

Late last month, Saikyo Jump published a lengthy interview it did with Toriyama about his famous franchise. It was there Toriyama revealed new details about how Saiyan culture worked, and fans learned the society was at intense as they had expected.

When Toriyama was asked about Saiyans and their love of battle, the creator said the race structured its entire hierarchy around power levels.

"A baby's battle power is measured as soon as they are born. If their numbers pass a certain standard, then they are considered upper-level warriors and immediately raised as combatant candidates. On the other hand, those whose numbers remain low even after a certain amount of time has passed are regarded as lower-level warriors, and become either engineers or are sent off to a planet somewhere as 'infiltration babies,'" the artist explained.

"If they grow strong enough to conquer that planet, then they can return to their home world as a combatant. However, infiltration babies do not have a high survival rate. Raditz was an upper-level warrior and assigned to the same group as Nappa as a proper combatant. Before long Vegeta was added to that group, too."

Toriyama also went on to explain how Saiyans learned their most valuable offensive skills. Goku may be able to fly, but Saiyans like him have to learn the techniques to fly and increase their power.

"Most Saiyans are born with a talent for battle, but they still need to be taught the trick behind flying and stuff like that. Of course, some kids manage to fly even without being taught," the creator revealed.

"In Goku's case, he was on Earth where people flying was simply unheard of, so he was pretty slow to learn it. Only a select few Saiyan children receive a short period of special training in order to acquire even greater battle power."

Are you surprised by how the Saiyan race operates? Hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to let me know and talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!