Toriyama stated that the name comes from the sensation that “the wild beast within has awakened”. The initial design included pale skin and a more intimidating face with the big, upturned hair added when this was decided not to be enough. Prior to this name being finalized, this form was referred to as Final Gohan[6] ( Saigo Gohan, lit. “Final/Last/End Gohan”) in the storyboards.

In the Dragon Ball Super anime, Gohan had previously mentioned striving for “an ultimate form that no one has ever seen before”. Similarly, in the manga, he had brought up to Kefla his goal to evolve as his own person (“as a human” in Viz’s translation) rather than as a Saiyan.