"A Super Saiyan appears once every thousand years… a Saiyan who overcomes the wall which no warrior, no matter how gifted, can overcome… That's supposed to just be a stupid tradition… And even if the legend were true… only I would have the potential to become a Super Saiyan." |
Yamoshi (ヤモシ Yamoshi) is an ancient Saiyan who could transform into a Super Saiyan long before Goku could. After his death, his spirit wandered in search of six pure-hearted Saiyans, to create the ceremony that would birth the first Super Saiyan God.[1]
He was immortalized as the Legendary Super Saiyan (伝説の超サイヤ人 Densetsu no Sūpā Saiya-jin), thought to be nothing more than a myth until Goku's first ascension during his fight with Frieza one thousand years later.
Quick Answers
Who was the first Super Saiyan God in history?
What is the significance of Yamoshi in Goku's first Super Saiyan transformation?
Is Yamoshi considered a canon character in the Dragon Ball series?
What was Yamoshi's quest after his death?
Who was the first Saiyan to transform into a Super Saiyan before Goku?
Personality[]
Yamoshi is very righteous, despite being a Saiyan, and he alongside his five comrades attempted to wipe out the evil of the Saiyan race. As a Super Saiyan, Yamoshi is a fierce fighter, even for a Saiyan, which led to the legend of the Super Saiyan being destructive and violent.
Biography[]
Background[]
Yamoshi is a Saiyan with a righteous heart who existed long before Planet Vegeta was the Saiyan's planet. Alongside his five comrades, Yamoshi starts a rebellion against the evil Saiyans. He is cornered and becomes a Super Saiyan but is still defeated as he runs out of energy. However, his spirit continued to search for a new savior: Super Saiyan God.[1]
A Namekian elder sympathized with Yamoshi's spirit, and so recorded the information about him in the Namekian Book of Legends.[1]
Super Saiyan Legend[]
Yamoshi in a filler scene
Vegeta states that the last Super Saiyan to appear was a thousand years prior (three thousand in the Ocean dub) to the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. The original legend of the Super Saiyan was more about his power than the Saiyan himself. This is likely due to all modern Saiyans being descended from the evil Ancient Saiyans who historically wiped out the righteous Saiyans.
In the filler scene, Yamoshi attacks his enemies
When the Dragon Ball Z anime was released, a filler scene in the episode "Goku's New Power" was added showing Yamoshi as what looks like a Great Ape with yellowish colored fur instead of the standard brown. In the filler visual, Yamoshi is shown attacking people around him, ending with his power destroying the planet that he was on.[2]
Yamoshi in a filler scene
The Super Saiyan form is believed to be a myth, until Vegeta begins to suspect that Goku is a Super Saiyan after seeing Goku easily defeating the Ginyu Force on Namek, thus witnessing his drastic increase in power in a short period of time.[2][3][4] Vegeta's suspicions are not confirmed until later, when Goku transforms against Frieza, and states himself that he is a Super Saiyan.[5]
Dragon Ball Super[]
God of Destruction Beerus Saga[]
Beerus saw Yamoshi's spirit in his prophetic dream. Many years later while trying to remember the warrior he saw in his dreams, Beerus saw his spirit once again as he destroyed a planet, mistaking it for Super Saiyan God.[6]
When Super Saiyan God Goku is battling Beerus and believes he has reached the limit of Super Saiyan God's power and is going to lose, the "Super Saiyan God power" speaks to Goku and tells him to keep on pushing - allowing Goku to tap into more power and continue the battle.[7][8]
Film appearances[]
Battle of Gods[]
Beerus saw Yamoshi's spirit in his prophetic dream.[1]
Power[]
Yamoshi is able to achieve the Super Saiyan form.
- Anime
In Vegeta's story in the anime, Yamoshi also appears to be in the Golden Great Ape form, with the English dub implying he was only able to become Super Saiyan when he is a Great Ape.
Techniques and Special Abilities[]
- Flight - The ability to fly using ki.
- Saiyan Power - A genetic trait that continually lets a Saiyan increase in performance against adversity, either by recovering from great injuries or enduring great struggle in battle.
- Crushing in Hands – In Vegeta's story about the previous Super Saiyan, he uses his hands to crush people.
Transformations[]
Great Ape[]
As a pure Saiyan, Yamoshi possessed a tail and thus the ability to become a Great Ape.
Super Saiyan[]
Yamoshi is able to turn into a Super Saiyan a thousand years prior to the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, and he is the last Super Saiyan to reach the form until Goku transformed on Namek. Yamoshi's fearsome fighting style that shocked even other Saiyans[1] seems to be the reason for the Super Saiyan legend depicting the Super Saiyan as loving violence.
Golden Great Ape[]
Yamoshi as a Golden Great Ape in the filler scene
An anime scene shows Yamoshi as a Great Ape in the Super Saiyan form. In the English dub, Vegeta notes that Yamoshi could only maintain his Super Saiyan power in the Great Ape transformation, unlike Goku - who Vegeta at the time believed may have had the power of Super Saiyan in his untransformed state. The GT: Perfect Files also notes that the Golden Great Ape form appears to be the Super Saiyan form from the legends, further implying that Yamoshi utilized the Golden Great Ape form.
The GT: Perfect Files also go on to state that Super Saiyan 4 might be the form from the legend that Yamoshi utilized.
Legendary Super Saiyan[]
In Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan, Paragus and Vegeta believe that the form used by Broly is the form that Yamoshi utilized. In Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai, Goku also believes that Yamoshi was utilizing the Legendary Super Saiyan state commonly displayed by Broly. In the Dragon Ball Super manga, it is said that the Legendary Saiyan appears once every 1,000 years, further implying that this was the form Yamoshi utilized.[9][10] On a similar note, Vegeta when describing the Super Saiyan state indicates that Yamoshi ultimately ended up killed as a result of his own power destroying him,[2] which was similar to the Legendary Super Saiyan state that was implied by Broly and Kale regarding their need to vent energy.
In Dragon Ball Super, Goku and Vegeta refer to the form that Kale uses once her power is mastered as the true legendary Super Saiyan.[11]
Battles[]
- Pre-Dragon Ball
- Yamoshi (Base/Super Saiyan) and his comrades vs. Evil Saiyans
Video Game Appearances[]
Yamoshi's cameo in Dokkan Battle
Trivia[]
- In the Dragon Ball manga, Vegeta's monologue about the Super Saiyan informs the audience of the legend. However, unlike the anime, the monologue in the manga is not accompanied by visual account.
- Yamoshi's name is a pun on "Moyashi" (もやし), the Japanese term for bean sprouts. This not only fits with Saiyan nomenclature, but also the legends of both Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan God as a whole (with Yamoshi being the "seed" that both legends sprouted from).
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Toriyama Saiyan interview. pbs.twimg.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dragon Ball Z episode 66, "Goku's New Power"
- ↑ Dragon Ball Z episode 67, "A Legend Revealed"
- ↑ Dragon Ball Z episode 68, "Ginyu Assault"
- ↑ Dragon Ball Z episode 95, "Transformed at Last"
- ↑ Dragon Ball Super episode 2, "To the Promised Resort! Vegeta Takes a Family Trip!"
- ↑ Dragon Ball Super chapter 4, "Battle of Gods"
- ↑ Dragon Ball Super episode 12, "The Universe Will Shatter? Clash! Destroyer vs. Super Saiyan God!"
- ↑ Dragon Ball Super chapter 38, "Universe 6's Last Resort"
- ↑ Herms' tweet on Chapter 38. Twitter (July 19, 2018).
- ↑ Dragon Ball Super episode 114, "Bloodcurdling! The Explosive Birth of a New Super Warrior!" Funimation sub preview