“I made the story simple”: Akira Toriyama’s Editor Had to Rely on Another Manga After Dragon Ball Found Itself in an Inescapable Mess

Kazuhiko Torishima, Akira Toriyama’s editor, believes that Dragon Ball is meaningless. Although Torishima is as responsible for Dragon Ball‘s success as Toriyama, his opinions may differ from almost all Dragon Ball fans on this planet. Without Torishima, there would be no Akira Toriyama, no video game character designs, no movies, and none of the manga series that Dragon Ball inspired.

In his interview with Hiroshi Matsuyama, the President and CEO of Japanese video game company CyberConnect2, Kazuhiko Torishima talks about Dragon Ball‘s story and character development. Matsuyama is responsible for developing the Naruto series of video games, the .hack series, and the Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.

Kazuhio Torishima’s Concern For The Dragon Ball’s Story

In the interview with Matsuyama, translated by Derek Padula, Torishima mentioned that although Dragon Ball was popular initially, it dwindled around the end of the interaction with the Pilaf Team. According to Torishima, there was a lull in the story after Sheron was introduced and their wish was fulfilled. He further wondered if the readers would think that the story process would be too repetitive.

Also Read: “It would be useless if you couldn’t feel the harmony”: Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball Saw a Rough Patch During a Crucial Moment in the Saga

Torishima also felt it would be useless if the fans failed to perceive the harmony and excitement of the pacing due to the increase in the number of characters. Matsuyama interjected and said that at that particular time, the number of characters had increased quite a bit with the introduction of Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, Oolong, Kame-sennin, Chichi, the Ox King, and Pilaf.

How Did The Future Of Dragon Ball Evolve?

Once Torishima realized that the popularity of Dragon Ball had declined, he was left with no choice but to study it. That’s when he came across Fist of the North Star, which was overwhelmingly popular during that time. Although Torishima wasn’t particularly enraptured by the story, he read up to Volume 3 of Fist of the North Star to understand what made it so popular. He said:

“I don’t like it. But Fist of the North Star was so popular at the time, so I read it carefully and studied it, and that’s how the future of Dragon Ball evolved. I decided the policies.“

Also Read: “I wasn’t particularly conscious of it”: Akira Toriyama Was Forced to Abandon His Original Plans for Dragon Ball, Changing Goku Completely

Torishima further explained that he made the story simple by reducing the number of characters. He found the story of Fist of the North Star a bit too preachy, so he decided to make Dragon Ball “a work without substance“. Torishima hammered the final nail into the coffin by stating that there’s nothing to learn by reading Dragon Ball and that “it’s useless in our lives“.

Read Dragon Ball on VIZ Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.