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Toyotaro Details How Involved Akira Toriyama Was in Dragon Ball Super Manga

One of the greatest anime and manga franchises is undoubtedly Dragon Ball created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. Since stepping away from the manga after an 11-year run, Toriyama has contributed to numerous Dragon Ball projects, including the manga adaptation of the anime sequel Dragon Ball Super. But how involved was Toriyama in the production of the Dragon Ball Super manga? In a recent interview with Shueisha's V Jump magazine, artist Toyotarō gave us some insight into Toriyama's involvement in the Super Heroes arc.

The interview in the August issue of V Jump is the third installment of an interview series with Toyotarō. “Dragon Ball Super Interval Special vol. 3” focused on the Super Heroes Prequel mini arc, one of the final story arcs before the manga went on indefinite hiatus. While the interview focused more on Toyotarō's experience working on the story and his favorite parts, Toyotarō noted where Toriyama gave input.

Toyotarō said he was incredibly happy when he got the go-ahead sign from Toriyama to make the mini arc. The reason for this is (roughly translated), “I loved Gohan's high school arc and wanted to place Trunks and Goten into that world.” So, we see how Toriyama still had control over broader plot points within Dragon Ball Super. However, further in the interview Toyotarō remarked how Toriyama touched up some of his initial designs of Saiyaman X.

Yet, one of the striking parts of Toriyama's input into Dragon Ball Super was for teenage Trunks' personality. With teenage Trunks' design becoming closer to the preexisting future Trunks (from the Android arc from Dragon Ball), Toyotarō noted he was having difficulty differentiating the two characters. Yet, Toyotarō revealed it was Toriyama himself who made teenage Trunks want to become a hero. It's a bit shocking thinking Toriyama came up with this, but it shows he understood the difference between teenage Trunks and future Trunks. Surprisingly, this setting also lined up well with Toyotarō's initial pitch of mirroring Trunks and Goten's high school life with Gohan's.

While it's a shame we'll never know what other ideas Toriyama had for future story arcs in the Dragon Ball franchise, knowing he was involved with it until his passing is comforting. Hopefully we'll get to see more Dragon Ball in the future. But without the input from Toriyama, the stories might be something vastly unfamiliar to us. Then again, it would be interesting seeing Toyotarō's take on the franchise.

Sources: V Jump August 2024 issue