News culture Akira Toriyama was a great prankster, the creator of Dragon Ball took revenge on his publisher directly in manga!
Published on 16/11/2024 at 08:45
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On paper, manga authors who have become famous seem to demonstrate limitless imagination. But like everyone else, they can also be victims of blank page syndrome. It is probably thanks to their ability to overcome it that they can claim the notoriety they have today. For example, Akira Toriyama used his entourage during a moment when he was lacking inspiration.
Dr Slump : l’avant Dragon Ball
It was with his work Dr. Slumpthe manga that contributed to the author’s popularity before Dragon Ball. It was his editor at the time, Kazuhiko Torishima, who explained the creation of the antagonist Dr. Mashirito in an interview with Forbes :
Toriyama made a draft of a new story for a new episode, in which a mad scientist would appear. The story was good, but the mad scientist character wasn’t strong enough. I knew from Doberman Deka that the character’s appearance was very important. So I told Toriyama that the current mad scientist was too weak and that he needed to go back and find someone really bad, with big impact. So I told him to imagine the person he hates the most and to think of the meanest person on the planet (…) So I waited and waited, but I didn’t receive the number until ‘on the deadline, which meant I didn’t have time to edit it. Anyway, Toriyama had given my face to the mad scientist.
Mashirito in Dr. Slump.
He adds that Toriyama called Dr. Masharito also in reference to the publisher: it’s his name backwards! An anecdote which quickly became famous since, already at the time, Toriyama was creating small mangas after each episode. He had already taken the opportunity to talk about his publisher.
Toriyama et Torishima.
He starts again (unconsciously) in Dragon Ball
This isn’t the only time Toriyama has used his professional circle to conceptualize antagonists. The proof with its first publishers such as Torishima, Yû Kondô and Fuyuto Takeda. They would have served as respective models for Piccolo, Freeza and Majin Boo. In any case, this is how they were presented in 1995, in the second edition of the Shenlong Times.
From left to right: Kondo, Torishima, Takeda
An inspiration denied by Toriyama, at least in part. This is what he explains in Dragon Ball Forevera guide to Dragon Ball released in 2004 in Japan (2018 in France):
On that note, there seems to be a rumor that Piccolo, Freeza and Boo’s models are my old editors, but I don’t remember doing that consciously… no, maybe that’s the case, basically; maybe I reflected them unconsciously. Other than that, it’s said that there are a variety of models for the characters, but those are just lies…or rather, they’re just stories I’ve never heard before. (laughs) I didn’t use models.
He only adds that the image of Bruce Lee enraged helps him draw Goku’s eyes when he fights, the latter being difficult to imagine.
