‘Dragon Ball’ Creator Reveals Surprising New Saiyan Trivia

As strong as the Saiyans have gotten in Dragon Ball, the little things often go unnoticed. Luckily the series creator Akira Toriyama recently filled in a few blanks.

Speaking with Saikyo Jump for the January 2018 issue, Akira Toriyama dished many surprising details going into Saiyan likes and dislikes and much more.

When asked what kind of food Saiyans enjoyed, “As you can probably tell by looking at Goku and co., Saiyans basically eat any food that seems edible; likes and dislikes aren’t a factor. I think they have fairly sturdy digestive systems in order to survive. The children still aren’t quite so sturdy, but they soon get used to it.”

This might seem like a an unnecessary detail, but it does explain the Saiyan’s massive appetite and ability to travel to multiple planets and conquer them. They would surely need a digestive system strong enough to digest whatever they come across.

When asked whether or not Saiyans celebrate human customs like holidays, Toriyama responded with “Saiyans are individualists at heart, so sadly they don’t hold those kinds of celebrations. Besides, lots of Saiyan warriors are off on other worlds and can’t come back home constantly, so I don’t think it could be like that.”

This also explains why Goku and Vegeta are often depicted as having cold relationships with their siblings. Not only did Raditz’s mentality not align with Goku’s, but he didn’t seem to care about Goku or his son, rather kidnapping Gohan to ehance his Saiyan power instead of familial ties.

This is also the same interview where Toriyama revealed the existence of the Star Wars-like S-Cells, which determine whether or not a Saiyan can transform into a Super Saiyan, “In order to become a Super Saiyan, one’s body must contain something called ‘S-cells.’ Once these S-Cells reach a certain amount, a trigger such as anger will explosively increase the S-Cells and cause a change in the body: that’s Super Saiyan.”

Surely these extra tidbits will flesh out the Saiyans outside of battle, something the Dragon Ball franchise doesn’t always have the luxury to do.

Dragon Ball Super‘s “Universal Survival” arc is part of the recent simulcast agreement that sites like Crunchyroll and Funimation have scored. Dragon Ball Super airs on Crunchyroll Saturday evenings at 7:15 p.m. CST. Adult Swim airs the English dub during its Toonami block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m, and is now available to stream on FunimationNOW and Amazon Video.

via Kazenshuu