‘Dragon Ball’ Creator Shares The Finer Details Of Fusion

Dragon Ball has done several genius things in its time, but few have been praised as highly as Fusion. When Akira Toriyama first brought up the idea, fans were given a whole new way to envision their favorite characters fighting. So, if you’ve got questions about how Fusion works, then you’ve come to the right place.

After all, Toriyama knows the rules to Fusion better than anyone, and he’s spoken about them in an interview you may have missed.

During a chat with Shueisha for Dragon Ball Ball Full Color, Toriyama answered a slew of Fusion questions to usher in the ‘Majin Boo’ arc. It was there the artist revealed how he came up with the concept, and it came to him while watching TV.

“I thought of it by watching TV,” Toriyama said (via Kanzenshuu).

“I wanted to make it have these stupid poses even though it was an important technique, so I settled on this sort of action. I think I probably got the hint for the “Sion” part from performers’ signature poses when I was watching TV.

The artist also said there is a way to streamline the Fusion Dance, but it takes a lot of practice. While the dance’s various poses may look silly, Toriyama says they are meant to help the people fusing sync up. So, once partners get good at the technique, they may be able to merge with just the final pose.

As for who can perform the Fusion technique, Toriyama says just about anyone can do it if they can sync with their partner well enough.

“I think it’s possible to merge no matter the conditions, as long as it all goes well. I even think it’s possible for a larger number of people. However, since it’s quite hard for both parties to strike that delicate balance, it’s very difficult for two extremely different people to fuse,” the artist explained.

“In that sense, synchronized swimmers would probably be really good at Fusion. By the way, there are many different types of Fusion, and the kind Goku learned is the one for increasing battle power.”

So, which characters from the series do you still need to see fuse? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

If you are interested in the anime series, Dragon Ball Super is currently airing its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings and Adult Swim on weeknights. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on Funimation, VRV and Crunchyroll. Dragon Ball Super: Broly will also hit theaters this year in Japan before arriving in the U.S. next January.