“I don’t have many variations to offer”: Akira Toriyama was So Done with Dragon Quest that He was Willing to Pass the Baton to His Juniors
Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series provided the blueprint for modern manga series like One Piece and Black Clover. His seminal work lives on in various forms of media, from films to video games. Although Toriyama is best known for Dragon Ball in the West, his work on the Dragon Quest series is as important in Japan. In 2017, with Dragon Quest XI on the way, Toriyama commented on his work for the series.
For fans who are still unaware, Dragon Quest is a series of role-playing games created by Square Enix for various video game platforms. Dragon Quest is considered the all-time best-selling video game in Japan and enjoys decent popularity outside Japan as well. Every Dragon Quest game typically follows a prophesized Hero on a quest to the world from a powerful demon, most commonly a Dragonlord. There are elements of humor and comical-looking monsters for a lighthearted tone.
Akira Toriyama Created Tons Of Designs That Were Rejected
It does sound bizarre that someone as celebrated as Akira Toriyama would have trouble designing characters, but Toriyama admitted that he had created tons of designs that were rejected. He mentioned that since the series is a fantasy, there was a certain established time period and setting that one couldn’t remove for their design work, so every time they returned to that period, it got more difficult and it turned into a situation where they had to use every trick in the book. He mentioned:
“To have such a highly specific design setting limits your artistic options, and since I like to create fanciful designs every once in a while, I created tons of designs that were rejected, back in the old days, but I got to paint countless small-fry monsters which is what I love to do do, and sometimes I get nostalgic for that.“
However, Toriyama reassured his fans and told them not to worry since he had undertaken the work with the full principle of his being, so he endeavored to create Dragon Quest XI with all his might. In an interview with Kazuhiko Torishima, Toriyama’s editor, it was revealed that the Dragon Quest series had a close connection with his manga work and that Toriyama’s involvement even back then was an important aspect of these games.
Akira Toriyama Found Designing Characters For Dragon Quest A Fun But Difficult Task
2016 marked the 30th anniversary of Dragon Quest and there was a commemorative program on NHK about the series. Toriyama wrote that he couldn’t appear in person because public exposure was not good for him. He revealed that it was easy to convince him to take on the job of character designer for Dragon Quest. When he took up the role of character designer, he wasn’t even aware of what a role-playing game actually was.
“Really, if I had known that it would still be going on after 30 years, I don’t think I would have taken the job! Honestly, if I had known how long it would last, I would have politely declined. I’m not good at doing the same thing over and over again.“
He further stated that designing characters for Dragon Quest was fun but difficult work. He said:
“Designing characters for Dragon Quest is fun but difficult work. Nowadays, there are a lot of people working on the series, and all of the ones responsible for designing characters are good and serious people, so I don’t have to do as many designs. I’m personally not terribly interested in designing wholesome characters, so I don’t have many variations to offer.“
He mentioned that there are a lot of people working on the series and all of the people involved in designing characters are serious people, so he didn’t have to work on as many designs. He also revealed that he was personally not terribly interested in designing characters and henceforth he didn’t have many variations to offer.
