Dragon Ball: The 8 Youngest Super Saiyans in the Series

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Many Dragon Ball fans remember Super Saiyan as a rare, special transformation, but the series quickly started using it more casually. For example, Goku was still quite young when he first became a Super Saiyan on Namek. And shortly after his fight with Frieza, Akira Toriyama introduced Future Trunks, who was even younger when he achieved the same form.

Although becoming a Super Saiyan was originally presented as a rare and difficult achievement, many young Saiyans in Dragon Ball eventually unlock the transformation. Vegeta jokingly complains about a “Super Saiyan bargain sale” after Goten and Trunks become Super Saiyans with relative ease, unlike the intense emotional struggles Goku, Gohan, and he himself endured. Over the course of the Dragon Ball series, numerous young characters have become Super Saiyans and quickly matched the power of their elders, often without much effort.

8. Goten is the Youngest Super Saiyan in History

7 Years Old

Before Pan became a Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball Super, Goten held the record as the youngest person to achieve the transformation in the entire Dragon Ball series. He first turned Super Saiyan while training with his mother, Chichi, at the remarkably young age of seven. Some believe that at this point, Goten’s Super Saiyan power was comparable to Gohan’s at the beginning of the Majin Buu Saga.

I always thought Goten was incredibly gifted – reaching Super Saiyan at such a young age showed he had more raw potential than almost any other Saiyan in the Dragon Ball universe. It’s a shame, though, because he just didn’t seem to care about training. By the time of the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai, he’d gotten surprisingly weak; it was actually a little embarrassing to watch his four-year-old cousin, Pan, defeat him in the tournament.

7. Trunks Unlocked Super Saiyan Around the Same Time as Goten

8 Years Old

Not long after Goten demonstrates his ability to transform into a Super Saiyan, Trunks surprises Vegeta by doing the same during their training in the gravity chamber. It seems Trunks achieved this transformation around the same time as Goten. At eight years old, and one year older than Goten, Trunks first became a Super Saiyan.

Trunks is a little stronger than Goten because he’s older, but the difference isn’t much. When they fuse to become Gotenks, Trunks has to reduce his power to match Goten’s level. Like Goten, Trunks doesn’t bother training to increase his strength – which is quite different from his future self, who worked incredibly hard just to achieve the Super Saiyan transformation.

6. Super Saiyan Gotenks Was Stronger Than Super Saiyan 3 Goku as a Child

7 – 8 Years Old

Gotenks is created when Goten and Trunks use the Fusion Dance to become one being. Initially, he can’t transform into a Super Saiyan, but after training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he quickly masters both Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 3. Interestingly, even as a Super Saiyan 1, Gotenks was more powerful than Goku in his Super Saiyan 3 form.

Gotenks is formed by the fusion of Goten and Trunks, so he’s about seven and a half years old. By the end of Dragon Ball Z, he was the fourth strongest fighter, after Vegito, Buuhan/Buutenks, and Ultimate Gohan. While he hasn’t been as prominent in Dragon Ball Super, Gotenks remains one of the most powerful fusions in the entire Dragon Ball series.

5. Goku Jr. Turns Super Saiyan in His Quest For the 4-Star Dragon Ball

9 Years Old

Goku Jr. is the great-great-grandson of Goku and the star of Dragon Ball GT: A Hero’s Legacy. When his friend Pan gets sick, he goes on a quest to find the Four-Star Dragon Ball, thinking just one will be enough to make her better. During his adventure, Goku Jr. discovers his Super Saiyan power, using it to rescue a baby bear and ultimately defeat the movie’s villain, Lord Yao.

Goku Jr. first transforms into a Super Saiyan at age nine. Interestingly, despite only being 1/16th Saiyan, he achieves this transformation, something his cousin Pan never manages in Dragon Ball GT. Later, in Episode 64 of Dragon Ball GT, Goku Jr. competes in the 64th Tenkaichi Budokai, ultimately facing off against Vegeta Jr. in the final match of the Junior Division.

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4. Vegeta Jr. Never Reveals When Exactly He Unlocked Super Saiyan

9 Years Old

I remember seeing Vegeta Jr. in Dragon Ball GT – he’s Vegeta and Bulma’s great-great-grandson, and like Goku Jr., he’s one-sixteenth Saiyan. He only showed up in one episode, number 64, to battle Goku Jr. during the World Martial Arts Tournament. It was surprising to see him transform into a Super Saiyan, and the story never explained how he learned to do it. They actually fought pretty evenly matched as Super Saiyans, which was a cool moment.

Vegeta Jr. and Goku Jr. are both nine years old when they battle in the final episode of Dragon Ball GT. While Vegeta Jr. might have achieved Super Saiyan form earlier than Goku Jr., their equal strength in the tournament suggests they’ve likely been using the transformation for a similar length of time.

3. Gohan Turned Super Saiyan For the First Time While Training With Goku

9 Years Old

Before the battle with Majin Buu, Gohan was the youngest character to achieve the Super Saiyan transformation in Dragon Ball Z. He mastered controlling his anger and became a Super Saiyan thanks to training with Goku in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. It’s also suggested that Goku helped Gohan unlock Super Saiyan 2 by encouraging him to fight Perfect Cell and tap into his hidden rage.

When Gohan begins training with Goku in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he’s nine years old. Because time moves differently inside the Chamber, the nine months he spends training with Goku actually ages him a full year. This means he’s ten years old when he fights Cell. The Dragon Ball Z anime acknowledges this with a filler episode showing Gohan celebrating his birthday.

2. Future Trunks Unlocked Super Saiyan 6 Years Later Than His Main Timeline Counterpart

14 Years Old

Future Trunks had a really hard time becoming a Super Saiyan because he didn’t have Vegeta to help train him. Also, Future Gohan thought the Super Saiyan form Goku achieved on Namek was the strongest possible level, which prevented him from getting as powerful as his alternate self. This, in turn, limited how strong Future Trunks could become.

In the special Dragon Ball Z: History of Trunks, Trunks first transforms into a Super Saiyan when he discovers the lifeless body of Future Gohan. He was fourteen years old at the time. However, in the original Dragon Ball manga, Future Trunks is already a Super Saiyan when Gohan dies, so his age when he first achieved this form is unknown. Notably, unlike the main timeline’s Trunks, Future Trunks consistently trains and becomes one of the most powerful Saiyans in the series.

1. Goku Was Still a Young Man When He First Turned Super Saiyan

25 Years Old

When Goku first transformed into a Super Saiyan on Namek, he was 25 years old. While not the youngest Saiyan to achieve this form, he unlocked it much earlier than Vegeta, who didn’t become a Super Saiyan until his early 30s. Considering his age throughout the entire Dragon Ball series, Goku was still relatively young when this happened.

When Goku first arrived on Namek, he was still relatively inexperienced as a father and in life generally. He grows up a lot during the Cell and Majin Buu storylines, becoming more mature and wanting to help the next generation of fighters. While he wasn’t the youngest Super Saiyan ever in Dragon Ball, he was the first one to achieve that level of power in hundreds of years.

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2026-05-23 21:36