Episode 95 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on June 12, 1991 and titled Transformed at Last in Funimation's dub, is one of the most important in the entire series: it is the one where Goku becomes a Super Saiyan for the first time. He gets there in the most painful way, after watching Frieza, who survived the Spirit Bomb, wound Piccolo and kill his best friend, Krillin, right in front of him.
Summary
After the explosion, Gohan and Krillin fear they are the only survivors. Then Piccolo surfaces from the water, dragging Goku onto a small island, and the four celebrate what looks like Frieza's end. On King Kai's planet, Yamcha, Tien and Chiaotzu overpower the Ginyu Force and knock them off the planet into the pool of blood guarded by Goz and Mez; King Kai admits that he invited them himself, as a test for his pupils.
On Namek the mood is light. They talk about going back to Earth, Krillin admits he would like to find himself a girlfriend, then lets out a yell: he has remembered they forgot Bulma. Everyone laughs, until Krillin's face freezes. On a rock above them stands Frieza, wounded, his tail cut short, and furious.
The tyrant fires a beam at Goku, but Piccolo shoves him aside and is pierced in his place. Goku orders Gohan and Krillin to take the Namekian, find Bulma and leave the planet, but Frieza has no intention of letting them go. He lifts Krillin with telekinesis, carries him high into the air and, while Goku begs him to stop, makes him explode.
Goku begins to tremble. The sky darkens, lightning strikes around him, the ground crumbles: his hair turns golden, his eyes green, and a yellow aura surrounds him. Gohan and Frieza look on, stunned. Goku, his strength restored, orders his son to take Piccolo away while he can still keep himself under control, and this time Gohan obeys. Far away, Bulma and the Ginyu frog see a yellow light flare up on the horizon.
Our take
The Super Saiyan is the moment Dragon Ball changes forever, and this episode knows it. For dozens of installments the legend had been invoked by Vegeta like an obsession; now it becomes real, and it does so in the least heroic way possible, through grief. It is not the reward for training, it is a rage that can no longer be held back.
The manga comparison is revealing. In chapter 317 the transformation is almost instantaneous: Toriyama draws Goku with clouded eyes, as if he had been holding something back for a while, and Krillin's death is enough to set it off. The anime does the opposite, turning the moment into a long sequence with a black sky, lightning and splitting earth. This time the stretching dilutes nothing: the dilated time makes you feel the weight of the moment.
Other details shift the meaning of scenes. In the manga Frieza aims straight at Piccolo; in the anime the Namekian sacrifices himself for Goku, and the shove is animated from a panel in which Piccolo, falling, bumped into his friend by accident. The Ginyu Force in the afterlife, meanwhile, stays filler until its exit.
The manga version was not lost, though: the original transformation sequence was reused years later in Battle of Gods and Dragon Ball Super: Broly. To see how the Super Saiyan evolved afterwards, check our guide to Super Saiyan transformations.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 317 of the manga. Written by Hiroshi Toda, directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, with animation direction by Minoru Maeda; 19.9% ratings share in Japan.
- It is Krillin's second death in the series.
- In the Funimation dub, Frieza triggers the transformation with a sick joke about Krillin; in Japanese he simply announces that Gohan is next.
Did you know? In the original Japanese, Krillin dies screaming Goku's name. Funimation's first dub changed it to a cry for help, though Dragon Ball Z Kai restored the original.
Characters
- Goku and Frieza
- Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo
- Bulma and Captain Ginyu
- King Kai, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu
- Recoome, Burter, Jeice, Guldo, Goz and Mez