Dragon Ball Superartist Toyotarou has long been a fan of theDragon Ballfranchise, as dedicated a fan as one can be. However, he certainly surprised some fans with his choice of favoriteDragon Ball Zstory arc, and that choice sheds some light on one controversialDragon Ball Superstoryline.
Toyotarou became Akira Toriyama’s artist whenDragon Ball Superstarted back in 2015, and worked with the man right up until his untimely death in March 2024. But Toyotarou was a fan ofDragon Balllong before that, first stirring up waves with his fan manga,Dragon Ball AF, all the way back in 2000. As a fan who’s ascended to the level of creator for a beloved franchise, Toyotarou largely understands what theDragon Ballfandom wants to see, and has been responsible for some ofDragon Ball Super’s most important moments,like Vegito’s return in the Future Trunks arc.
When asked about his favoriteDragon Ball Zstory arc, however, he had a very unusual answer.
Toyotarou’s Love for Great Saiyaman Inspired Super’s Least Popular Arc
In an interview from around the time of the release ofDragon Ball Supervolume 1,as translated and maintained by fan site Kanzenshuu, Toyotarou was asked what his favorite part ofDragon Ballwas. He answered,“I really like the very start of the Majin Buu arc, when Gohan is attending Orange Star High School. I guess because it was so laid back,“a statement which Toriyama himself vocally agreed with. Toriyama even says that he “would have liked to just go on with the ‘slice of life’ stuff…” but needed a new enemy to appear, which eventually led to the creation of Buu.
This is a rather surprising answer, as many fans don’t particularly like that part of the series since it’s so very different from the majority ofDragon BallZ. It should perhaps come as no surprise, then, that while working onDragon Ball Super, Toyotarou and Toriyama put together something of a successor tothe Great Saiyaman storylinein the form of Goten and Trunks' adoption of the Saiyaman X-1 and X-2 identities. This part was original to theDragon Ball Super: Super Heromovie originally, but was expanded into its own mini-arc in the manga right before the manga began to directly adapt the plot of the film.
It’s known that Toyotarou had a fair amount of input on the story that Toriyama wrote, so he may have simply seized upon the opportunity to do his own take on his favorite arc fromDBZ. Fortunately, while the High School saga ofDragon Ball Superisn’t the most popular, it’s also among the shortest arcs, covering just three chapters of the manga, so fans who didn’t enjoy the school setting as much as Toyotarou apparently does didn’t have to suffer too much. Still, one can hardly blame Toyotarou for sneaking in a bit more of his favorite element of the series, andDragon Ball Superis still just as good as it ever was.
Dragon Ball
From the creative mind of Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball is a mega multimedia franchise that spans back to the 1980s. Dragon Ball expanded quickly, starting as a serialized manga for Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan. It made its way overseas via manga and an anime adaptation that is enjoyed worldwide. Dragon Ball was the initial starting animated series that followed the adventures of the young Son Goku as he sought after the Dragon Balls. These mystical orbs would grant the wish of any who gathered them together. Then, the series would branch off into the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z, which followed Goku as an adult and featured high-intensity battles and Goku’s never-ending search to be the strongest. The series has also enjoyed several popular video game adaptations and continues to release several new animated series and theatrical films up to the recent popular Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
