ABSTRACT
Issues relating to that colonization and the changes that took place in Japan during the nineteenth century have long fascinated artists, authors, and other creators in the country, with opinions and perspectives on the intrusion by white Americans and Europeans expressed in a variety of ways. This chapter examines the Freeza Saga from a postcolonial perspective, establishing the depiction of the racial conflict between Freeza, a white-bodied tyrant, and the nearly extinct Saiya-jin and Namekusei-jin races—"Saiyans" and "Namekians" in the American translation—as Toriyama's own take on the legacies of white colonialism and genocide, fascistic militarism, unbridled capitalism, and racism in East Asia. In Toriyama's original vision, Freeza is shown as a slumped-over and feeble creature in military armor with light pink/peach skin, whose forehead and horns form the illusion of a crown. Playing into this racial and imperial pillager element even further is how Toriyama transforms both Goku and Freeza—literal transformations—as their conflict on Planet Namek escalates.
