Dragon Ball Super is the first significant series after Akira Toriyama’s highly successful and influential action series; the original Dragon Ball Z. Toriyama provides the insight and plotlines on which Dragon Ball Super’s manga continues. However, the artwork in the series is made by an artist named Toyotaro.
Being a massive fan of the Dragon Ball Z series since childhood, he was incredibly excited to work with Toriyama. However, he realized something about the series while working with the mangaka. A lot of fans might think that the heart of the show is action-filled plotlines, but it’s something else altogether. This was a surprising discovery, as Akira Toriyama doesn’t put as much importance on action as we thought he did.
What does Toriyama care about more than action in Dragon Ball Super?
Anime News Network interviewed the Dragon Ball Super artist Toyotaro in 2016 and asked him about his experience working with the creator of the series, Akira Toriyama.
Regarding Toriyama’s feedback, Toyotaro says, “I thought Toriyama would be more particular about the story, but he’s actually more particular about the gags and the comedic moments!”
Being a fan of the Dragon Ball series since childhood, Toyotaro was quite overwhelmed at the opportunity to work with Toriyama on the manga.
He values the chance to pick the creator’s brain, saying, “When I’m working with Toriyama, there are many portions he gives me props for coming up with, but he is very particular about other things and always points them out for me to correct…It’s a lot of fun to be able to get closer to his way of thinking.”
It was revealed that the mangaka values the comedic moments in the plot more than anything else.
“When he corrects me, I think, wow, I guess I don’t completely understand the way he looks at things,” Toyotaro said.
“I thought Toriyama would be more particular about the story, but he’s actually more particular about the gags and the comedic moments! I can tell that he really loves those parts.”
Some mangaka can be very strict regarding the adaptation of their works but it was surprising that Toriyama only focuses on the comedic aspect of the series. This persistent focus of Toriyama implies that the back of the series is Comedy.
Akira Toriyama truly values the comedic aspects of Dragon Ball.
From the interview with Toyotaro, it turned out that working with the creator of his favorite series helped him to perceive it from an entirely new angle. Dragon Ball Super’s artist Toyotaro realized how vital the light-hearted and funny moments are for Akira Toriyama. Contrary to popular belief, being a series filled with powerful scenes and fights, the key of the show was never action. The artist received a lot of feedback on a monthly basis, but the sheer focus on the jokes and gags helped him to understand the series and look at it in a completely new light.
Source: Anime News Network
