Dragon Ball Z's Gohan as the Great Saiyaman Revealed to 'Represent Modern-Day Japan'

On the official Dragon Ball website, a prominent Japanese scholar argues that Dragon Ball Z's “Great Saiyaman” represents the modern version of Japan.

In Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series, Goku's son Gohan creates his “Great Saiyaman” persona to secretly take down the criminals of Satan City. In a recent interview for the Dragon Ball website, Timothy Takemoto, who teaches Cultural Psychology at Yamaguchi University, sat down to discuss Gohan's comedic alter ego. In the academic world, Cultural Psychology is the branch of human psychology that deals with the formation of culture. In his research, Takemoto primarily studies Japanese subculture, tourism, and management with a focus on how these factors reflect a society's overall image and self-esteem.

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Dragon Ball Z's The Great Saiyaman is a mix of Western and Japanese superheroes

According to Takemoto, The Great Saiyaman “represents modern Japan” by showing the fusion of Japanese and Western elements present in Japanese society, many of which have been highlighted above. national media. In Takemoto's case, anime and manga involving superheroes serve as useful tools for distinguishing Japanese notions of self-image from those of other cultures. According to Takemoto, a hero represents the concept of the ideal self, which is “the projection of a desire to escape the mundaneness of your everyday self” by creating an idealized version. Although Western and Japanese heroes share the same ideal of strength, they generally differ in their transformation; the former often tries to avoid attention, while the latter embraces it and sometimes turns it into a public spectacle.

“For example, Superman and Spider-Man try to avoid being seen when they transform, while Japanese heroes transform in a way to express themselves…He [The Great Saiyaman] wears his costume to hide, but he also has a flashy side that shouts things like, 'SAIYAMAN IS GREAT!' while performing a particular pose. The hidden transformation looks Western, while the ostentatious pose looks more Japanese,” Takemoto said. The scholar also notes how Saiyaman uses the clock to transform, consistent with the “identity of the double” as conceived by Western philosophers. “To put it simply, as long as humans are limited by time it is difficult for us to confirm who we are…I would argue that the watch, as an object that indicates time, ensures Gohan's identity and the great Saiyaman. This is probably based on the Western understanding of humans.”

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According to Takemoto, the difference between the self-image of Japanese and Westerners stems at least partly from linguistics. While Western language models place particular emphasis on the verbal concept of “self,” Japanese self-image is generally more “intuitive” in nature. “In Japan there is a saying 'God is watching', right? Not 'God is scolding you' or 'God is accusing you', but observing. I argue that the self is thus captured as an image using the divine as a mirror. This is a different characteristic from the self-image that Westerners create through language,” Takemoto said.

Dragon Ball and Japanese Manga often turn villains into heroes

Takemoto also draws particular attention to the clear division between good and evil portrayed in iconic American superhero series such as Batman. In contrast, Japanese comics, including Dragon Ball, often have heroes transition from evil to good over the course of the story. To Takemoto, Gohan's “Saiyaman” character seemed to reinforce the simplified notion of morality often found in American comics; When Saiyaman admonishes the villains, he is trying to guide them from “evil” to the other side of “good.” Furthermore, Takemoto suggested that Saiyaman's comedic personality is being used to mock the Western influences present in modern Japanese society, saying, “I feel as if this depiction is being sarcastic. caricatures modern Japanese people who have taken on too many Western characteristics and are therefore losing their original self-image.”