High-quality anime still from Dragon Ball Super featuring the definitive Black Frieza character design reveal in an urban setting.

Black Frieza

2022Reaction image / fan edit / fandom jokesemi-active

Published March 24, 2026

Also known as: Black Freeza

Black Frieza is a Dragon Ball Super meme that erupted across social media in August 2022, following the reveal of the villain Frieza's newest transformation in chapter 87 of the manga. The "Black Frieza" form instantly became meme fuel because of years of fan jokes about Frieza being the most racist character in anime, with his habit of calling Saiyans "monkeys" now colliding with a power-up literally named "Black." The result was a wave of edits, fan dubs, and jokes that turned a manga plot twist into one of the biggest anime meme moments of 2022.

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Overview

Black Frieza, the latest and most powerful transformation of the Dragon Ball villain Frieza, debuting in chapter 87 of the Dragon Ball Super manga. In-universe, the form gives Frieza a dark black and purple color scheme and enough raw power to one-shot opponents that Goku and Vegeta couldn't beat together2. But the meme isn't really about power scaling. It's about the collision of Frieza's long-running reputation as anime's most openly racist villain with a transformation whose name, "Black Frieza," set off every joke the internet had been saving up for years.

The memes typically take two forms: edits of Black Frieza styled with stereotypical "Black culture" signifiers (chains, fitted caps, Hennessy), and jokes about Frieza "earning" a particular vocabulary upgrade through his new form3. Fan dubs, image macros, and reaction tweets all play on the same core irony.

Origin & Background

Platform
Dragon Ball Super manga (source material), Twitter / YouTube (viral meme spread)
Key People
Akira Toriyama & Toyotarou, community-created meme format, @TooRealUnreal, Typically Kesi
Date
2022

Frieza's racism has been a running gag in the Dragon Ball fandom for over a decade. Throughout Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super, one of Frieza's defining traits is his hatred of Saiyans, whom he consistently calls "monkeys" due to their Great Ape transformation3. The real-world connotation of that word wasn't lost on fans. On June 27, 2020, YouTuber Saiyan Goku uploaded a supercut of every instance of Frieza saying "monkey" in the anime, pulling in over 180,000 views in two years3.

This characterization led to a long-running joke that Frieza is the most racist character in anime. Fan creators took it further, recording voice lines of Frieza using the N-word and dubbing them over clips from the show3. One of the most widely shared was a fan-animated dub of Frieza saying "You n****s in trouble," reuploaded to YouTube by the channel Typically Kesi on September 6, 20193.

All of this context exploded when Dragon Ball Super chapter 87 dropped on August 17, 2022. Frieza, absent for most of the Granolah arc, returned with a new power-up that the manga explicitly named "Black Frieza"1. The form was obtained through 10 years of training inside a Hyperbolic Time Chamber on another planet, spending just 10 real-world days to get a decade of practice2. The character promptly defeated Gas, an opponent Goku and Vegeta had been struggling against, with a single blow2.

The combination of the name "Black Frieza" and years of "Frieza is racist" memes created the perfect storm.

How It Spread

The meme reaction was immediate. Within hours of chapter 87's release on August 17, 2022, Twitter was flooded with Black Frieza edits and jokes1. One of the first major viral posts came from @TooRealUnreal, who edited Black Frieza's manga panel to include a Yankee hat with a tilted brim, a gold chain, and a bottle of Hennessy in each hand, earning over 25,000 likes in two days3.

Twitter users ran with the joke from every angle. One widely shared tweet read: "Toriyama gave the most racist being in existence the N Word pass," paired with skull emojis and a panel of Black Frieza looking menacing1. Others pointed out that Vegeta had warned Goku about Frieza getting stronger, framing it as a vindication moment1.

YouTube reacted just as fast. Dragon Ball content creator MaSTAR Media uploaded a video titled "BLACK FREEZA IS REAL! FREEZA NEW FORM REVEALED!" on August 17, 2022, pulling in over 196,000 views and 10,000 likes within five days3. User kishinpain posted a meme video on August 20 that hit 230,000 views and 25,000 likes in just two days3.

The 2019 fan dub by Typically Kesi got a second life, as fans retroactively declared Frieza had "earned" his vocabulary through his new mixed-race status courtesy of the Black form3. ComicBook.com published a roundup of the meme explosion, calling it "peak hyped" and noting that the Dragon Ball fandom's meme game was rivaling even The Boys1.

Power scaling discussions also dominated anime forums. Black Frieza's casual defeat of Gas, who had been one-on-two against Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku and Ultra Ego Vegeta, established the form as the strongest transformation in Universe 72. The stamina issues that plagued Golden Frieza appeared completely eliminated2. Fans debated what this meant for the series going forward, with many noting that Goku and Vegeta now needed entirely new power-ups just to compete2.

Frequently Asked Questions