“I wasn’t particularly conscious of it”: Akira Toriyama Was Forced to Abandon His Original Plans for Dragon Ball, Changing Goku Completely
Dragon Ball has evolved multiple times over the decades. Initially starting as a small boy going on an adventure to collect dragon balls, to now fighting God-like entities. It had many transitions along the way.
During this time, Dragon Ball shifted from being a comedic series to focusing more on action and fighting. As Akira Toriyama shifted the series towards fighting, he also wanted to make a drastic change in Goku’s character style to make him better suited for combat.
Toriyama on How Dragon Ball Style Changed
In an interview with Shonen Jump, Toriyama was asked if he noticed his art style changing as Dragon Ball moved from being funny to focusing more on action and fighting.
Toriyama accepted that his art style had changed during the shift in Dragon Ball, but he didn’t realize it at that time. Even though the story was changing, he mentioned he enjoyed creating funny and ridiculous comedies more than anything else.
“Shonen Jump: Dragon Ball developed from a comedy series to an action/fighting series. Do you feel that your art style changed in the process?”
“Toriyama: I wasn’t particularly conscious of it, but my art style did change depending on the circumstances. But when it comes down to it, more than anything, I like drawing really silly, absurd comedies.”
We have seen many times in the series where Toriyama kept his comedic tendency alive, even when the fight had high stakes. This helped to keep the story entertaining throughout the years and also to maintain a good balance between action and comedic themes.
Significant Change in Goku’s Character Style
Toriyama said he faced a lot of challenges while changing Goku’s appearance. In shōnen manga, it was usually not okay to alter the main character’s appearance, but Toriyama wasn’t bothered by that. He argued that the character’s head/body proportions made it difficult to draw fight scenes.
He insisted on making the main character an adult if the series was going to focus more on battles. However, this idea surprised people, as back then, Dragon Ball had started getting attention, so it was a risky move to change the main character.
“I got a lot of pushback on that at the time. Apparently in shōnen manga changing what the main character looked like was a big no-no, but I didn’t care about that. His head/body ratio made fighting hard, so I said that if the series was going to start focusing more on battles, then I needed to make him an adult. But this really shocked them: “The series has finally gotten popular, and now you want to go and change everything!” That was the kind of reaction I got.”
Toriyama’s choice to change the main character’s appearance in Dragon Ball, despite not meeting the expectations in shōnen manga, shows his focus on drawing fight scenes.
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He wanted the character to be an adult so he could make the fighting sequence even better. Although this idea surprised many because the series was becoming popular, Toriyama’s determination to take risks helped Dragon Ball evolve in its storyline and characters.
