'Dragon Ball': Why Piccolo and Cell have five fingers in the anime, but fewer in the manga

‘Dragon Ball’, the famous manga created by Akira Toriyama, holds many secrets and curiosities, and 40 years is a long time. One aspect that usually goes unnoticed by the public is the small differences between the original manga and the anime produced by Toei Animation. And one of them is really strange: the difference in the number of fingers of characters like Piccolo or Cell in his imperfect form. So much so, that while they have four and three fingers on their hands in the manga, respectively, they always had five fingers in the anime. Why did this happen?

Between mafias, numbers, and superstition

Thus, Toriyama conceived Piccolo Daimaoh as a demonic being before he gave his race the Namekian origin - although in ‘Dragon Ball Daima’ we discover his true origin - so he drew the villain with four fingers instead of five. The same would happen with Piccolo Jr. in the manga. This has up to three connotations directly related to Japanese popular culture. First of all, the number four is a bad omen in Japan, as it is associated with death due to its pronunciation “shi”; without going any further, many Japanese hospitals -and other buildings- do not have a fourth floor as such.

Another reason is that during the Edo period in Japan, having four fingers was considered low class, as these people were most likely butchers or in other jobs where they could easily lose a finger; the so-called “burakumin”. Although the most current motive would be the relationship of the Japanese Yakuza and their punishment of cutting off a finger, either for having made a mistake or as an initiation ritual. Thus, having four fingers is considered a “bad person” in Japan.

So what does all this have to do with ‘Dragon Ball’? While there are no clear restrictions or censorship for manga in Japan, there are several rules that must be followed for television broadcasts; and anime is no stranger to these rules that can hurt sensibilities, especially in the ‘80s and ‘90s when the anime of Goku and company was originally released. Therefore, while in the manga ‘Dragon Ball’ we see the Namekians with four fingers, or Cell in his imperfect form with three, in the anime they were always shown with five fingers.

As for Piccolo in the ‘Dragon Ball Super’ manga -illustrated by Toyotaro and written and supervised by Akira Toriyama until his death- the Namekians are actually drawn with five fingers, skipping their own canon for reasons that are not entirely clear, though it is most likely that Shueisha cut to the chase in this regard to avoid controversy in Japan.

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