10 Iconic Moments From Shounen Anime

Sure, Goku wasn’t exactly a shounen by the time this came around, but well, the Dragon Ball franchise is one of the standard bearers of the genre so of course it qualifies. With that out of the way, holy fluttering sheep, this was one for the ages.

The first Super Saiyan transformation was a moment that elevated the franchise, Gohan going Super Saiyan 2 was an incredible passing of the torch moment. But Super Saiyan 3 was the one that left everyone speechless and in disbelief of what they were witnessing.

Having been gone for seven whole years, Goku had been granted one day back in the world of the living, courtesy of winning a fighting tournament. After some wonderful reunions, and seeing his younger son for the first time, he finds himself in the same old situation as always, when Babidi and Majin Buu appear.

With everyone taking a battering against Buu, Goku is left with no choice but to enter the battlefield himself. Still not wanting to make the world reliant on him again, he decides on a diversion tactic, with the main plan being for Gohan and Trunks to learn fusion.

And that is when it happened. Sensing that Buu’s power was unlike anything he had ever fought, Goku decides he is going show his trump card. He starts by going up to Super Saiyan 2, before dropping a cosmic sized bombshell by revealing he could in fact go higher. Seconds later, we got to experience THAT scream, THAT grunt, THAT epic music, and THAT iconic transformation into Super Saiyan 3.